Sayf ad-Din Qawsun ibn Abdullah an-Nasiri as-Saqi (1302 – April 1342), commonly known as Qawsun (also spelled Qausun or Qusun) was a prominent Mamluk emir during the reigns of sultans an-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1310–41), al-Mansur Abu Bakr (r. 1341) and al-Ashraf Kujuk (r. 1341–42).
Origin
An ethnic Mongol, Qawsun was born in 1302, in the Kipchak steppe north of the Black Sea during the region's rule by the Golden Horde, a Mongol empire. An alternative location of his birthplace was the village of Barqa, near Bukhara. In his early career he was a merchant. In 1320, he joined an Egypt-bound naval caravan of 2,400 people, possibly led by his brother Tughay. The caravan was carrying Tulunbay, the daughter of the Golden Horde's emperor at the time, Özbeg Khan, who was heading to Egypt to marry Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad. The caravan arrived by sea to Alexandria on 5 May 1320. Qawsun had joined Tulunbay's retinue as a traveling merchant, and once he arrived in Egypt, he moved to the Mamluk Sultanate's capital, Cairo, to sell his leather wares.
Senior emir of an-Nasir Muhammad
In the course of his leather goods trade, Qawsun encountered one of an-Nasir Muhammad's imperial horse groomers, which ultimately led to an unplanned encounter with an-Nasir Muhammad. The latter was impressed by Qawsun's physical appearance (Qawsun was described as tall, handsome and youthful by Mamluk-era sources) and inquired about him. After Qawsun informed an-Nasir Muhammad that he was only in Egypt for travel, an-Nasir Muhammad insisted that he remain and enter his service, offering to invite Qawsun's family to immigrate to Egypt. Qawsun agreed and sold himself to an-Nasir Muhammad, thus becoming a mamluk. The latter act was key to entry into the Mamluk hierarchy and to develop good standing with the Mamluk elite. Qawsun was made part of the sultan's saqut (royal cup-bearers) and his 40-strong khassakiya (personal retinue), whose members held prominent positions in the sultanate. By 1323, he had grown powerful enough to have the naqib al-jaysh, Emir Sunqur al-Sa'di, exiled to Tripoli because he angered Qawsun.
Qawsun's adulthood, his bypassing of the rigorous mamluk training and education process and his lack of military service were an exception to the standard practice of mamluk promotion set by earlier Mamluk sultans. Responsibility for Qawsun's military training was handed to an-Nasir Muhammad's favorite emir at the time, Baktamur as-Saqi. In relatively quick succession, Qawsun was promoted to the rank of amir ashara, amir arba'in and in May 1326 the highest rank of amir mi'a muqaddam alf. The latter rank was held by 24 select emirs in the sultanate. Concurrent with his promotion, Qawsun was transferred the iqta (fief) of Emir Taynal, which, unprecedentedly was added to his older iqta. That year, an-Nasir Muhammad also gave Qawsun his daughter's hand in marriage, while an-Nasir Muhammad married Qawsun's sister. Qawsun often boasted of his circumstances, stating I was bought by the sultan and became one of those closest to him; he made me amir, awarded me commander of one thousand and gave me the hand of his daughter, while others went from the traders directly to the military schools.
Qawsun's status among the emirs was unique at the time because he was allowed to publicly demonstrate his status; he would often ride in Cairo backed by two columns of 300 horsemen and was accompanied by up to one-third of the Mamluk army on his hunting expeditions. While an-Nasir Muhammad favored Qawsun for his company and physical attributes, his principal motivation in elevating Qawsun was to establish an outsider power base to balance the ambitions and power of his own Nasiri mamluks. The establishment of a counterbalance between the Nasiri mamluks and outsiders was a means by the sultan to avoid being toppled by powerful mamluk factions as he had been twice before.