ABSTRACT
The later Kalavunids were figureheads, behind whom the great amirs managed the state, and struggled for power and the control of the royal fisc. The reconciliation of Beshtek and Qawsun, and the settlement of the succession imposed by al-Nasir Muhammad on his deathbed, did not long endure. The nominated heir, al-Mansur Abu Bakr, was about twenty when he became sultan. In Ramadan 748/December 1347 matters came to a head, when Hajji was confronted by a group of Circassian conspirators. Al-Salih Isma'il's position at the beginning of his reign was weakened by the existence of his two predecessors in the sultanate: al-Nasir Ahmad in his distant lordship of al-Karak, and al-Ashraf Kuchuk, who had returned to his mother's care in the women's quarters. The sultan who was enthroned by the victorious faction was another son of al-Nasir Muhammad, who reigned as al-Muzaffar Hajji. The Kalavunid dynasty was now approaching its end.
