, 1310–1341.
British Museum In 1296 Kitbugha was deposed by his vice-Sultan Lajin and he fled to Syria and died in 1297 while holding the post of the governor of
Hama. Lajin ruled as a sultan until he was murdered with his vice-sultan Mangu-Temur in 1299 by a group of Emirs led by Saif al-Din Kirji. After the murder of Lajin and his vice-Sultan, the Emirs, including
Baibars al-Jashnakir (Baibars II), assembled and decided to call an-Nasir Muhammad from Karak and re-install him as Sultan with Emir Taghji as Vice-Sultan. However, the recall of an-Nasir was delayed for some time as Emir Kirji, who murdered Lajin, and the Ashrafiyah Emirs insisted that Taghji should become the sultan and Kirji be the vice-sultan. At last, an-Nasir was recalled and he arrived with his mother in Cairo amid widespread celebration by its population. An-Nasir, who was by now 14 years old, was re-installed with
Sayf al-Din Salar, who was an Oirat Mongol as vice-Sultan and Baibars al-Jashnakir who was a
Circassian as Ostadar. An-Nasir was, again, a nominal Sultan, with the actual rulers being Salar and Baibars. The Burji Mamluks became more powerful during the second reign of an-Nasir. They imposed taxes on people who needed their services or their protection. This official bribery was called "Himayah". The rivals of the Burjis, who were led by Baibars al-Jashnakir, were the Salihiyya and the Mansuriyya Emirs led by Salar and al-Ashrafiyy led by Emir Barlghi. Early in the second reign of an-Nasir, a
Bedouin rebellion in
Upper Egypt was crushed and the army "slew mercilessly every Bedouin in the land and carried off their women captive". The army was led by the Emirs Salar and Baibars.
The Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar . Miniature from the 14th century manuscript of ''Fleur des histoires de la terre d'Orient'' by
Hayton of Corycus.
Bibliothèque nationale de France|left News reached Cairo that
Ghazan of the
Ilkhanate was preparing to attack the
Levant with a big army and about 30 Crusade ships arrived in
Beirut. The emirs decided to send forces from Egypt to
Syria. While the crusader ships were destroyed by a storm before the crusaders could get ashore, Ghazan, after arriving in Baghdad had to change his plan after one of his commanders named Solamish Ben Afal fled to Egypt and asked for help to fight him. In 1299 an-Nasir led the Egyptian Army to Syria to take on the army of Ghazan. While the Sultan was on his way to Syria, some
Oirats conspired with a mamluk of the Sultan to kill Baibars al-Jashnakir and Salar in order to bring Kitbugha who was in Hama back to power. The sultan's mamluk attacked Baibars and tried to kill him but he was himself killed. The Oirats attacked the Dihliz of the Sultan but they were stopped in a way that made Salar and Baibars think the Sultan was involved in the conspiracy. The Oirats were arrested and punished and the mamluks who were involved were sent to the castle of
Al-Karak. The army of an-Nasir (about 20,000 soldiers) clashed with Ghazan's army (about 12,000 soldiers) in a battle that became known as the
Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar. An-Nasir's army was defeated with relatively low casualties (200 to 1000 men) after inflicting major casualties on Ghazan's army (about 2500 casualties). An-Nasir's forces retreated to
Homs followed by the army of Ghazan. An-Nasir left for Egypt and Ghazan took Homs. Much of the population of Damascus fled towards Egypt. The leaders of Damascus appealed to Ghazan not to kill the remaining population of the city. Ghazan arrived at the outskirts of Damascus and his soldiers looted the city. Damascus, with the exception of its
citadel, submitted to the Mongol commander Qubjuq and Ghazan's name was mentioned during the
Friday prayer at the main mosque of Damascus as: ("The Greatest Sultan, the Sultan of Islam and of Muslims, the victorious in life and in faith, Mahmud Ghazan). The Mongols kept looting Syrian villages, towns and Damascus itself. In Egypt, the defeated soldiers of an-Nasir kept arriving in disorder. The deposed Sultan Kitbugha, who was in Syria, also fled to Egypt. Cairo became overcrowded as many Syrian refugees fled there. An-Nasir and the Emirs began to prepare for a new march to the Levant. Money, horses and arms were collected from all over Egypt. An attempt to reuse an old
fatwa which was issued during the reign of Sultan
Qutuz which obliged each Egyptian to pay one dinar to support the army failed. Therefore, it was decided that the Egyptian people should pay voluntarily and not by force of law. But suddenly the news arrived in Cairo that Ghazan had left the Levant after he had installed two of his commanders as his deputies there. An-Nasir sent letters to Ghazan's deputies asking them to submit to him and they agreed. Kitbugha was granted the post of the governor of Hama and Salar and Baibars travelled with an army to the Levant to liquidate the remaining forces of Ghazan. The
Druze who attacked and looted an-Nasir's soldiers during their retreat to Egypt were attacked at their strongholds and they were forced to give back the weapons and the properties which they had taken from the retreating soldiers. The submitted deputies arrived in Egypt and were received by an-Nasir. The name of Sultan an-Nasir was mentioned again at the Syrian mosques. He was again the sovereign of the Levant. In addition to Mongol threats in the Levant, the second reign of an-Nasir also witnessed disturbances inside Egypt. There were religious riots in Cairo and rebellions in
Upper Egypt which were harshly suppressed. In 1301 parts of
Armenian Cilicia were looted and
Sis was attacked by an-Nasir's forces led by his Emirs as the Armenians tried to support Ghazan. In 1302 the crusader-held island of
Arwad was attacked and ransacked because the crusaders had been using it as a base for attacks on Muslim shipping. In 1308 an-Nasir permitted the
Georgians to celebrate on
Calvary and probably in that year allowed two of them to stay closed in at the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Battle of Marj al-Saffar In 1303 Ghazan's army crossed the Euphrates River and marched towards Syria. The Syrians fled from
Aleppo and Hama to Damascus. An Egyptian force led by Baibars Al-Jashnakir arrived in Damascus. The population of Damascus wanted to flee but they were warned that they would be killed and their money would be seized if they tried to do that. Ghazan's troops attacked
Turcoman villages and took women and children as prisoners but the Sultan's forces led by his Emirs clashed with the Mongols and freed about 6000 Turkmen after they destroyed the Mongol force. On 20 April, an-Nasir and the Caliph arrived in Syria from Egypt and while the Emirs were greeting them, news reached them that a Mongol army of 50,000 soldiers led by
Qutlugh-Shah, the deputy of Ghazan, was approaching. An-Nasir and the Emirs decided to fight the Mongol forces at
Marj al-Saffar. The Caliph who stood beside the sultan at the heart of the army exclaimed to the soldiers: "Warriors, do not worry about your Sultan but worry about your women and the religion of your Prophet." A force of about 10,000 men led by Qutlugh-Shah attacked the right flank of an-Nasir's army but units led by Baibars and Salar gave their support and pushed Qutlugh-Shah back. There was confusion on the battleground as many thought that an-Nasir's army had been defeated when they saw the Mongols passing the right flank of an-Nasir's army. Qutlugh-Shah withdrew to a mountain also believing that he had won. But from his position on the mountain he saw the army of an-Nasir standing firm on the left flank and his soldiers were filling the field. Qutlugh-Shah was puzzled and asked an Egyptian Emir who was taken prisoner about the army that he was seeing. The Emir answered him that it was the army of the Sultan of Egypt. Qutlugh-Shah was shocked as he did not know that an-Nasir has arrived with the Egyptian army. When Qutlugh-Shah saw his army defeated and fleeing he too fled at sunset. Next morning Qutlugh-Shah returned to the battlefield but he was defeated again. His third offensive happened early in the morning of the third day but his army was utterly annihilated. Only a small number of the Mongols survived. When Ghazan heard about the defeat of his army it was said that he was so upset that he suffered a severe hemorrhage and he died a year later (11 May 1304). An-Nasir returned to Egypt to great celebrations. Cairo was decorated from
Bab al-Nasr (Victory Gate) to Qal'at al-Jabal The prominent Egyptian Mamluk historian Baibars al-Dewadar was present at the battle of Marj al-Saffar.
Achievements and withdrawal In 1304 Sis was raided again by an-Nasir's Emirs and a group of Mongols led by a prominent commander named Badr ad-Din Albaba were brought to Egypt and welcomed by an-Nasir in Cairo.
Madrasah Al-Nasiryah had the gate of the
Church of Saint Andrew installed which
al-Ashraf Khalil had brought to Egypt in 1291 after reconquering Acre. In 1304 an-Nasir's son Ali was born. By 1309 An-Nasir was no longer willing to be dominated by Salar and Baibars al-Jashnakir. He informed them that he was going to
Mecca for a
pilgrimage but, instead, he went to
al-Karak and stayed there ending his second reign. But an-Nasir did not actually mean to resign. He knew he would not be able to rule while Baibars and Salar were in power as sooner or later they would depose him or even kill him. An-Nasir tried to arrest Baibars and Salar but when he failed he calculated that he would be able to make new alliances with the Sultanate deputies in the Levant who could offer him support against the two Emirs for a return later to Egypt. When an-Nasir refused to go back to Egypt, Baibars installed himself as the Sultan of Egypt with Salar as his vice-Sultan. ==Third reign==