Al Mansur Qalawun Saif ad - Dīn Qalawun aṣ - Ṣāliḥī ( also Qalāʾūn or Kalavun ) ( ) ( " epithet : " al - Malik al - Manṣūr Saif ad - Dīn Qalāʾūn al - Alfi as - Ṣālihī an - Najmī al - ʿAlāʾī ( Arabic : الملك المنصور سيف الدين قلاوون الألفى الصالحى النجمى العلاءى ) ) ( c . 1222 – November 10 , 1290 ) was the seventh Mamluk sultan of Egypt . He was in the Baḥrī line and ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1290 . Biography and rise to power . Qalawun was a Kipchak Turk who became a Mamluk in the 1240s after being sold for 1000 dinar s to a member of sultan al - Kāmil ' s household . Qalawun was known as al - Alfi [ ' the Thousand - man ' ] because al - Malik aṣ - Ṣāliḥ bought him for a thousand dinars of gold . He barely spoke Arabic . He rose in power and influence and became an emir under sultan Baibars , whose son Barakah Khan was married to Qalawun ' s daughter . Baibars died in 1277 and was succeeded by Barakah . In early 1279 , as Barakah and Qalawun invaded the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia , there was a revolt in Egypt that forced Barakah to abdicate upon his return home . He was succeeded by his brother Solamish , but it was Qalawun , acting as atabeg , who was the true holder of power . Because Solamish was only seven years old , Qalawun argued that Egypt needed an adult ruler , and Solamish was sent into exile in Constantinople in late 1279 . As a result , Qalawun took the title al - Malik al - Mansur . The governor of Damascus , Sungur , did not agree with Qalawun ' s ascent to power and declared himself sultan . Sungur ' s claim of leadership , however , was repelled in 1280 , when Qalawun defeated him in battle . In 1281 , Qalawun and Sungur reconciled as a matter of convenience when the Mongol Il - Khan emperor of Persia , Abaqa , invaded Syria . Qalawun and Sungur , working together , successfully repelled Abuqa ' s attack at the Second Battle of Homs . Barakah , Solamish , and their brother Khadir were exiled to Al Karak , the former Crusade r castle . Barakah died there in 1280 ( it was rumored that Qalawun had him poisoned ) , and Khadir gained control of the castle , until 1286 when Qalawun took it over directly . Mamluk diplomacy . As Baibars had done previously , Qalawun entered into land control treaties with the remaining Crusader state s , military orders and individual lords who wished to remain independent ; he recognized Tyre and Beirut as separate from the Kingdom of Jerusalem , now centered on Acre . The treaties were always in Qalawun ' s favor , and his treaty with Tyre mandated that the city would not build new fortifications , would stay neutral in conflicts between the Mamluks and other Crusaders , and Qalawun would be allowed to collect half the city ' s taxes . In 1281 Qalawun also negotiated an alliance with Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus to bolster resistance against Charles of Anjou , who was threatening both the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Jerusalem . In 1290 , he concluded trade alliances with the Republic of Genoa and the Kingdom of Sicily . Offensive action against Crusader states . Undeterred by the terms of these newly formed peace treaties , Qalawun sacked the " impregnable " Hospitaller fortress of Margat in 1285 , and established a Mamluk garrison there . He also captured and destroyed the castle of Maraclea . He captured Latakia in 1287 and Tripoli on April 27 , 1289 , thus ending the Crusader County of Tripoli . The siege of Tripoli in 1289 was spurred by the Venetians and the Pisa ns , who opposed rising Genoese influence in the area . In 1290 , reinforcements of King Henry arrived in Acre and drunkenly slaughtered peaceable merchants and peasants , Christians and Muslims alike . Qalawun sent an embassy to ask for an explanation and above all to demand that the murderers be handed over for punishment . The Frankish response was divided between those who sought to appease him and those who sought a new war . Having received neither an explanation nor the murderers themselves , Qalawun decided that the ten - year truce he had formed with Acre in 1284 had been broken by the Franks . He subsequently besieged the city that same year . He died in Cairo on November 10 , before taking the city , but Acre was captured the next year by his son Al - Ashraf Khalil . Despite Qalawun ' s distrust of his son , Khalil succeeded him following his death . Khalil continued his father ' s policy of replacing Turkish Mamluks with Circassians , which eventually led to conflict within the Mamluk ranks . Khalil was assassinated by the Turks in 1293 , but Qalawun ' s legacy continued when his younger son , Al - Nasir Muhammad , claimed power .