Shajara al-Durr
شجرة الدر
From Slave to Sultan of Egypt
Born: ~early 1200s CE
Died: 1257 CE
Also known as: Shajar al-Durr, Shajarat al-Durr, Spray of Pearls
Shajara al-Durr rose from enslaved concubine to become Sultan of Egypt, the only woman to officially rule the Mamluk state. She played a pivotal role in defeating the Seventh Crusade of Louis IX, concealing her husband's death to maintain military command, and her brief reign marked the transition from Ayyubid to Mamluk rule.
Key Accomplishments
- Concealed Sultan al-Salih's death and rallied the defense against the Seventh Crusade
- Became the only woman to officially rule as Sultan of Mamluk Egypt
- Played a decisive role in the defeat and capture of Louis IX of France in 1250
The Full Story
Shajara al-Durr was a Turkic or Armenian woman who was purchased as a slave and became the favorite concubine and then wife of the Ayyubid Sultan al-Salih Ayyub of Egypt. When al-Salih died during the Seventh Crusade in 1249, with the French army of Louis IX threatening Egypt, Shajara al-Durr made the extraordinary decision to conceal his death, continuing to issue orders in his name and rallying the Mamluk commanders to defend against the Crusader invasion.
The Mamluk army, galvanized by her leadership, defeated and captured Louis IX at the Battle of Mansourah in 1250. In the political upheaval that followed, Shajara al-Durr was proclaimed Sultan of Egypt, with coins minted and the Friday sermon read in her name -- the only woman to hold such titles in Mamluk history. However, opposition from the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad and from factions within the Mamluk elite forced her to cede formal authority after approximately eighty days, and she married the Mamluk commander Aybak, ruling through him.
The arrangement proved unstable. When Aybak took another wife, Shajara al-Durr had him murdered in 1257, and was herself killed days later by Aybak's supporters, reportedly beaten to death by slave women with bath clogs. Her extraordinary life -- from slavery to the throne and back to a violent end -- encapsulates the brutal political dynamics of the Mamluk state, while her decisive action during the Seventh Crusade was instrumental in the birth of the Mamluk Sultanate.
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Notes
Sources
- [1]Mernissi, Fatema. The Forgotten Queens of Islam. University of Minnesota Press, 1993.
- [2]Northrup, Linda S. "The Bahri Mamluk Sultanate." in The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. 1. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
- [3]Levanoni, Amalia. "Shajara al-Durr." Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Brill.