An Armenian woman on the Islamic throne
El-Salih-Ayyoub died (in 1249) in the arms of his Armenian wife, who immediately took charge of the military operation and continued to fight against the enemies of Egypt. The brilliant Armenian Sultana connived with the Memluks of her palace, kept the death of the Sultan secret in order to give herself time to consolidate her power, and allow her stepson, Turanshah to return to Egypt and assume his father’s throne. His reign lasted only a few months. He began to quarrel with his stepmother. Armenian Sultana ordered her favourite Memluk, Baybars, to kill Turanshah1.
Memluks after killing Turanshah declared the Armenian woman as the Queen of Egypt. She became the first woman ruler in a world in which woman’s were considered inferior to men. During her reign Egypt continued its growth. With the sport of Armenian Queen non-Moslem population of country got almost the same right which had Moslems.
When the Armenian woman died the Memluks took over the reign of the government. Thus began the Memluk rule.
With brutal power unmatched in the annals of Moslem history, Memluks began to rule Egypt. They were concerned only with military affairs and left the administration of their Empire to the Christians, mainly Armenians living in Egypt.
REFERENCES
The Armenians – John M. Gouglas – 1992
