Lajin

Lajin
Gold dinar of Lajin, minted in Cairo in 1297-99
Sultan of Egypt and Syria
Reign	7 December 1296 – 16 January 1299
Predecessor	Al-Adil Kitbugha
Successor	An-Nasir Muhammad
Died	16 January 1299 Cairo

Dominion of Bahri Mamluks (red)

Lajin (Template:Lang-ar), full royal name al-Malik al-Mansour Hossam ad-Din Lajin al-Mansuri (الملك المنصور حسام الدين لاجين المنصورى; d. January 16, 1299, Cairo) was a Mamluk sultan of Egypt from 1296 to 1299.

Early career

Lajin was initially a mamluk of Al-Mansur Ali, then he was bought by Al-Mansur Qalawun, whom had him to marry his daughter. He was imprisoned by Sunqur al-Ashqar in Damascus, then he became the Mamluk na'ib of Damascus in 1280, when Sunqur was defeated. He was later sacked by Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil and sentenced to death, but emir Badr ad-Din Bidra Al-Mansuri sought mercy for him. In 1293, he participated in the assassination of Qalawun's son the Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil, he then tried assassinating the Sultan Al-Adil Kitbugha but failed, Kitbugha, fearing for his life, sent to him afterwards that he was ready to remove himself from the Sultanate for him to be the Sultan instead, Lajin agreed and became Sultan under the title "Al-Mansur Hussam ad-Din", while Kitbugha was given a fief in the Levant.

Reign

In 1297, he allowed Baibars' wife and son Khadir along with Solamish's corpse to return to Cairo from their exile in Constantinople, based on demands from his wife, Baibars' daughter. Later on, he appointed his mamluk named Mankutumur as atabeg, which displeased emirs especially Bisri who was killed by a conspiracy from Mankutumur.

As the Ilkhanids were preoccupied with internal matters, Lajin sent an army led by Bader ad-Din Baktash, later joined by Sanjar al-Dawdardi, to raid the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia.

However, Mankutumur had started to change emirs positions which angered them, especially Karja, to the extent they had both Lajin and Mankutumur killed on 16 January 1299.

External links

• Sultan Lajin - History Avenue