The Mamluk sultan who founded a dynasty that ruled Egypt for a century, checked the Mongols, rolled back the Crusaders, and endowed a famous hospital in Cairo.
Life
Qalawun (reigned 1279–1290), a Kipchak Mamluk who rose through the ranks after Baybars, secured the sultanate and founded the Qalawunid line that dominated Mamluk Egypt for a hundred years. He defeated the Mongol Ilkhanate at Homs (1281) and captured Crusader strongholds such as Tripoli (1289). His great complex in Cairo, with its hospital (bimaristan), madrasa, and mausoleum, remains a masterpiece of Mamluk architecture and charity.