ABSTRACT
Baybars had taken steps to ensure the succession of his son, al-Malik al-Sa'id Muhammad Baraka Khan, whose name, the arabicized form of Berke Khan, was not taken from Baybars's ally, the chief of the Golden Horde, but from the Khwaraz-mian warrior whose daughter Baybars had married. When Baybars died in Damascus, Bilik al-Khazindar, his Mamluk and chief minister as vicegerent in Egypt, secretly sent word to Baraka Khan, and concealed the sultan's death until the army had been brought back to Cairo. About the same time, two other magnates were arrested, Sungur al-Ashqar and Bay sari, both veterans of the Bahriyya. The new sultan was Baraka Khan's half-brother, a seven-year-old boy named Salamish, who was entitled al-Malik al-Adil. The Kalavunid dynasty thus survived, although in little more than name, while the great offices of state were shared out among the Mamluk magnates. Kitbogha became vicegerent, Sanjar al-Shuja'i wazir and administrator of the realm.
