page_title: Qaitbay
section_title: Final years
hierarchical_section_title: Qaitbay / Biography / Final years
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the dome of Sultan Qaytbay's mausoleum in the Northern Cemetery.
context_page_description: Sultan Abu Al-Nasr Sayf ad-Din Al-Ashraf Qaitbay was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872-901 A.H. He was Circassian by birth, and was purchased by the ninth sultan Barsbay before being freed by the eleventh Sultan Jaqmaq. 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. To some historians, he is infamous for building a fortress on the remains of the ancient wonder, the Lighthouse of Alexandria, in 1480, resulting in the final disappearance of the lighthouse, confining it to the history books.
context_section_description: The end of Qaitbay's reign was marred by increasing unrest among his troops and a decline in his personal health, including a riding accident that left him comatose for days. Many of his most trusted officials died, and were replaced by far less scrupulous upstarts; a long period of palace intrigue ensued. In 1492 the plague returned to Cairo, and was reported to have claimed 200,000 lives. Qaitbay's health became markedly poor in 1494, and his court, now lacking a figure of central authority, was wracked by infighting, factionalism, and purges.
  He died on 8 August 1496 and was interred in the spectacular mausoleum attached to his mosque in Cairo's Northern Cemetery which he had built during his lifetime. He was succeeded by his son, an-Nasir Muhammad (not to be confused with the famed 14th-century sultan of the same name.)
caption: The dome of Qaytbay's mausoleum, Northern Cemetery, Cairo.
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