As-Salih Ayyub

As-Salih Ayyub was the son of Al-Kamil, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt and Syria. He was born in Cairo in 1205 and became a hostage at the end of the Fifth Crusade in 1221. He was later released and given Hasankeyf in the Jazira, which his father had captured from the Artuqids. In 1234, he was sent to rule Damascus, but his father suspected him of conspiring with the Mamluks and removed him from the succession in Egypt. After his father’s death in 1238, he fought with his brother Al-Adil II for the control of Egypt and Syria. He eventually captured Damascus in 1239 and was invited to take over Egypt by his father’s old emirs, who had imprisoned his brother. He became the sultan of Egypt in 1240 and faced the threat of the Mongols, the Crusaders, and the Khwarezmians. He allied with the Khwarezmians to attack the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem in 1244, which provoked the launching of the Seventh Crusade by Louis IX of France. He prepared to defend Egypt from the invasion and hired a large number of Mamluks, whom he gave extensive power and privileges. He also married Shajar al-Durr, a former slave and the mother of his son Turanshah. He fell ill in 1249 and had his leg amputated due to gangrene. He died in Al Mansurah on 22 November 1249, while the Crusaders were besieging the city. He was succeeded by his son, who was soon killed by the Mamluks, who overthrew the Ayyubid dynasty and established their own rule in Egypt.