Last article tackled the beginning of King Al-Adel Junior’s era, who assumed the rule of Egypt after the death of his father, King Al-Kamel. He assumed kingship although he was the youngest son, the princes of Egypt chose him to become king. However, his eldest brother King Al-Saleh Najm Al-Din did not accept what happened, so he moved with his soldiers towards Damascus then to Nablus. After several incidents, he was taken to Karak where he was captured for seven months, when the news reached his brother King Al-Adel Junior in Egypt, he was greatly rejoiced and sent to King Al-Nasser Dawoud, the ruler of Karak asking him to release his brother King Al-Saleh for a hundred thousand dinars, but he refused. Afterwards, both the ruler of Baalbek and the ruler of Homs sent to King Al-Nasser Dawoud asking him to hand over King Al-Saleh to his brother, King Al-Adel Junior but he ignored their requests. So, King Al-Saleh remained in his confinement until King Al-Nasser Dawoud got him out and they made an alliance together. Ibn Taghri mentions: “So Al-Nasser took him out and they allied and agreed at the end of Ramadan month. Al-Nasser Dawoud made Al-Saleh Ayoub swear on something that a king shall do; to take for him Damascus, Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Al-Jazeera, Mosul, Diyarbakir and half of Egypt, as well as half of the money, jewels, clothes, and other things in the treasuries. Al-Saleh swore on all of this while he was under threat of the sword.”
The alliance between Al-Nasser Dawoud and King Al-Saleh led to the formation of a counter-alliance between King Al-Adel Junior and his uncle King Al-Saleh Ismail and Asad Al-Din, the ruler of Homs, as they agreed to go to Al-Nasser and Al-Saleh. King Al-Adel Junior headed with his armies until he reached Belbeis, and there a dispute occurred between the king and his princes, and the dispute intensified that the princes arrested King Al-Adel Junior and sent to his brother King Al-Saleh to hurriedly come to Egypt. So King Al-Saleh quickly headed to Egypt accompanied with King Al-Nasser Dawoud. When they arrived in Belbeis, they stayed in the tent of Al-Adel Junior, who was detained. Abu Al-Muzaffar mentions that King Al-Saleh narrated to him some events that took place while heading to Egypt, he said: “I took Al-Nasser in my company only for fear that a plot would be planned against me, but since we left Gaza, he began to treat me in a bad manner, no doubt some of my enemies filled him with greed to take over kingship, a group of my Mamluks even told me he talked to them about killing me.”
In Belbeis, King Al-Nasser asked King Al-Saleh to release Al-Adel Junior, but Al-Saleh got up at night and took Al-Adel in a palanquin and left to Cairo. Once he entered it, he sent twenty thousand dinars to King Al-Nasser, but he did not accept the money and wanted half of the treasuries of Egypt. Thus, King Al-Saleh Ayoub took over the rule of Egypt from his brother, King al-Adel Junior and imprisoned him in the citadel for years, then sent someone to kill him by strangulation with gauze and hung him with it so that his death would appear as suicide! It was mentioned about King Al-Saleh, “King Al-Saleh lived afterwards for ten months, during which he fell severely ill, and being cautious did not protect him.” Thus, King Al-Adel Junior ruled Egypt for nearly one year and two months, which were filled with strife and instability, and it was said about him: “His condition was not known there due to his young age and short period of ruling.” King Al-Adel Junior had a son called King Al-Mughith, who remained settled in the Citadel of the Mountain (Salah Al-Din Castle) until his cousin, King Turan Shah arrived there, he took Al-Mughith to Shobak and stayed there till the death of Turan Shah. So King Al-Mughith took possession of Al-Karak and its environs. As for Egypt, it was still under the rule of King Al-Saleh Ayoub, and… stories about beautiful Egypt never end!
General Bishop
Head of the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center
