Ruler
Shajar al-Durr
Sultana of Egypt in 1250 CE
1250 – 1257
From her accession to her killing; her birth year is unknown.
Biography
Wife of the Ayyubid sultan al-Salih Ayyub. She concealed his death during the Crusader campaign at Damietta, then ruled Egypt as sultana for some months in 1250 CE before marrying the Mamluk commander Aybak, who took power. She was killed in 1257.
Key facts
Certainty: Established
Shajar al-Durr ruled Egypt as sultana in 1250 CE, one of the few women to rule a state in the medieval Islamic world.
- Robert Irwin (1986) “The Middle East in the Middle Ages: The Early Mamluk Sultanate 1250–1382” Croom Helm
- Carl F. Petry (ed.) (1998) “The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 1: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517” Cambridge University Press