Qutlubugha al-Fakhri

Qutlubugha al-Fakhri (died May/June 1342) was a Mamluk emir during the reigns of sultans an-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1310–1341), al-Mansur Abu Bakr (r. 1341), al-Ashraf Kujuk (r. 1341–1342) and an-Nasir Ahmad (r. 1342). Qutlubugha had been purchased by an-Nasir Muhammad, who promoted him to the highest Mamluk military rank. He was demoted and exiled to Syria under the protection of Emir Tankiz in 1327 after an-Nasir Muhammad held him responsible for an incident which could have potentially caused a mutiny of Qutlubugha's mamluks against the sultan.

After an-Nasir Muhammad's death, Qutlubugha was commissioned by the strongman of Egypt, Emir Qawsun, to arrest their former master's son, an-Nasir Ahmad. After besieging the latter in al-Karak for twenty days, Qutlubugha defected to an-Nasir Ahmad. Thereafter, he and his closest ally, Emir Tashtamur Hummus Akhdar of Aleppo, launched a campaign to topple Qawsun and his puppet sultan, al-Ashraf Kujuk, and place an-Nasir Ahmad on the throne. They succeeded in January 1342, but their high-ranking positions in the new government was cut short when each was arrested on an-Nasir Ahmad's orders. The reason for Qutlubugha's arrest was unclear. It was likely related to an-Nasir Ahmad's resentment toward Qutlubugha for playing the key role in installing him as sultan and thus taking him away from his isolated stronghold of al-Karak, which he preferred to the Mamluk capital in Cairo. An-Nasir Ahmad brought Qutlubugha and Tashtamur to al-Karak when he moved the sultanate there in May 1342 and subsequently had them executed.

Qutlubugha was a mamluk of Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad. At the onset of his third reign (1310–1341), an-Nasir Muhammad made Qutlubugha and another of his mamluks, Tashtamur Hummus Akhdar, umara mi'a (emirs of one hundred mamluk horsemen). Qutlubugha and Tashtamur were favored by an-Nasir Muhammad because of their good looks. In the following years, Qutlubugha raised a powerful mamluk faction of his own.

In March 1327, Qutlubugha concocted a plot to oust a rival emir, Baktamur as-Saqi, by writing an anonymous note to an-Nasir Muhammad that stated Qutlubugha and Tashtamur were plotting to assassinate him and usurp the throne. Qutlubugha's plan was to provoke an-Nasir Muhammad to arrest him and Tashtamur and thereby cause an uproar and mutiny among their mamluks against the sultan. In Qutlubugha's estimation, his mamluks and those of Tashtamur would, in their outrage, blame Baktamur as the anonymous author of the note with the motive of bringing about Qutlubugha's downfall. This would in turn persuade an-Nasir Muhammad to exonerate Qutlubugha and depose Baktamur. Qutlubugha's plan initially succeeded, with his mamluks going on a hunger strike and threatening a mutiny should Qutlubugha and Tashtamur remain incarcerated. An-Nasir Muhammad was compelled to bow to their demands for fear of a mamluk mutiny in the Cairo Citadel, headquarters of the sultanate. Emir Tankiz al-Husami, the viceroy of Syria, mediated on Qutlubugha's behalf and negotiated an end to the standoff with an-Nasir Muhammad, who ultimately agreed to send Qutlubugha to Damascus with Tankiz. However, after the issue was settled, an-Nasir Muhammad discovered that Qutlubugha was responsible for the incident and had him demoted, a relatively light penalty.

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