Qaitbay

Qaitbay
Mamluk Sultan Qaytbay ("Mag Caitbeivs Cairi Svltan") by Florentine painter Cristofano dell'Altissimo (16th century), Galleria degli Uffizi
Sultan of Egypt and Syria
Reign31 January 1468 – 7 August 1496
PredecessorTimurbugha
Successoran-Nasir Muhammad
Bornc. 1416/1418
Circassia
Died7 August 1496 (aged 77–80)
Spouse
  • Khawand Fatima
  • Khawand Zaynab
  • Khawand Aṣalbāy (concubine)
Issue
ReligionSunni Islam
Anonymous Venetian painting depicting the reception of Venetian ambassadors in Damascus. The wall in the background is decorated with Qaitbay's blazon.[1]

Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay (Arabic: السلطان أبو النصر سيف الدين الأشرف قايتباي; c. 1416/1418 – 7 August 1496)[a] was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872 to 901 A.H. (1468–1496 C.E.). He was Circassian by birth, and was purchased by the ninth sultan Barsbay (1422 to 1438 C.E.) before being freed by the eleventh Sultan Jaqmaq (1438 to 1453 C.E.). During his reign, he stabilized the Mamluk state and economy, consolidated the northern boundaries of the Sultanate with the Ottoman Empire, engaged in trade with other contemporaneous polities, and emerged as a great patron of art and architecture. In fact, although Qaitbay fought sixteen military campaigns, he is best remembered for the spectacular building projects that he sponsored, leaving his mark as an architectural patron on Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo, Alexandria, and every quarter of Cairo.

  1. ^ Carboni, Venice, 306.


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