People/Zengids and Ayyubids

c. 1177–1238 · Ayyubid sultan

al-Kamil

Other names · al-Kāmil Muḥammad

Ayyubid sultan who defended Egypt against the Fifth Crusade and concluded the 1229 Treaty of Jaffa with Frederick II.

No verified depiction added

BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER

Life and historical role

01

Life and political setting

Al-Kamil was a son of al-Adil and became sultan of Egypt after his father's death. His reign required him to preserve Egypt's economic and military centre while competing with Ayyubid relatives ruling in Syria. Diplomacy with western rulers therefore operated within a continuing Ayyubid family struggle.

02

Role in the Crusades

During the Fifth Crusade he resisted the siege of Damietta and repeatedly offered peace terms that included the return of Jerusalem. In 1221 he trapped the crusading army between the Nile flood and the canal system, forcing its evacuation. In 1229 his treaty with Frederick II transferred Jerusalem for a limited period while preserving Muslim control of the sanctuary.

Method note

Biographical information is linked to the sources shown on the page and to the connected event records. Disputed dates are given as approximate, gaps are not filled by conjecture, and later literary or visual depictions are not treated as contemporary portraits.

CONTEXTUAL READING

Related cases

May 1218 – 5 November 1219 · Damietta

Capture of Damietta

The army of the Fifth Crusade besieged Damietta in the Nile delta in May 1218. After the chain tower was taken in August 1218 the siege lasted a year and a half; weakened by hunger and disease, the city was taken on 5 November 1219.

Open record →28 August – 8 September 1221 · Mansurah – Damietta

Surrender of the Fifth Crusade army

In July 1221 the army of the Fifth Crusade, advancing toward Cairo under Cardinal Pelagius, was trapped near Mansura by the flooding Nile and dikes opened by Ayyubid forces. The army surrendered at the end of August; Damietta was returned, an eight-year truce was made and prisoners were released on both sides.

Open record →1228–1229 · Cyprus, Acre and Jerusalem

Sixth Crusade

The excommunicated emperor Frederick II reached Acre via Cyprus in 1228. Without fighting a major battle, his negotiations with al-Malik al-Kamil led to the Treaty of Jaffa in February 1229, which handed Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth to the Latins for ten years.

Open record →18 February 1229 · Jaffa – Jerusalem

Treaty of Jaffa

The Treaty of Jaffa, signed on 18 February 1229 between Frederick II and the Ayyubid sultan al-Malik al-Kamil, handed Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth to the Franks for ten years, together with a corridor to the coast. The Haram al-Sharif remained under Muslim administration.

Open record →