791 AH, muḥarram
In the meanwhile also, reports had become common in Egypt that amir Yalbughā al-Nāṣirī, governor of Aleppo,had revolted, and they grew even more numerous in muḥarram 791. The origin of the trouble was a quarrel between Yalbughā and Sūdūn al-Muẓaffarī, ʾatābak al-ʿasākir of Aleppo, who before this had been deposed from the governorship there; and each had sent letters to the sultan making charges against the other. The sultan, whose fear of Yalbughā al-Nāṣirī had become profound, stood perplexed between the two amirs. Al-Maqrīzī (God be merciful to him) says; “God (Who is praised and exalted) had made current on the tongues of the people the question: “Who has overcome the ruler of Aleppo?” and there was hardly anyone, young or old, who did not continue to repeat it until the affair of al-Nāṣirī was finally settled”.
791 AH, sun, 05/02
When this report became widespread the sultan, on sunday, ṣafar 5, assembled the amirs and the khāṣṣakiyya in the Race Course (the maydān) below the citadel and drunk qumizz with them; he also designated mondays and wednesday for doing so regularly, for by this means he hoped to win back their affection.
791, 10/02
Ṣafar 10. The sultan sent a gift, including a number of horses with saddlecloths of gold, to amir Yalbughā al-Nāṣirī, and summoned him to Cairo for a conference concerning Minṭāsh. Yalbughā, when the messenger arrived and summoned him to come to Egypt, feared lest the sultan might seize him and imprison him in Alexandria as he had amir ʾAlṭunbughā al-Jūbānī, governor of Damascus. He therefore wrote in reply excusing himself from coming to the sultan, on the ground of the hostile movements of the Turkumān, the revolt of Minṭāsh, and his own fear for the safety of Aleppo; The sultan, he said, should inform him of whatever he wished him to do, and he would fulfill his wishes. When the messenger brought this reply to Egypt, the sultan, while he ostensibly accepted it, entally rejected it, while his suspicious concerning Yalbughā grew stronger, and he began to devise with his intimate attendants (khawāṣṣ) plans directed against him. Finally they all agreed that Maliktamur al-Muḥammadī al-dawādār should be sent to Aleppo to carry out a scheme which they had devised. Maliktamur accordingly set out with two notes respectively for Yalbughā al-Nāṣirī, governor of Aleppo, and Sūdūn al-Muẓaffarī, the above-mentioned ʾatābak of Aleppo, ordering them to agree to a reconciliation (yaṣṭaliḥā) in the presence of the amirs, the judges and the notables; he sent also two robes of honor for them to put on after the reconciliation. But the sultan also secretly sent by Maliktamur a number of dispatches to Sūdūn al-Muẓaffarī and other amirs and office holders of Aleppo directing them to arrest al-Nāṣirī, and put him to death if he refused the truce.
Al-Nāṣirī’s mamlūk, instead of setting out for Alepp, had stayed in Cairo for the prupose of distributing among the egyptian amirs letters from his master calling on them to join him in a revolt against the sultan. The sultan also purposely held back his reply to the letter of al-Nāṣirī which had been brought by his mamlūk, in order that Maliktamur might have time to reach Aleppo first. But this mamlūk was a wide-awake and intelligent individual; he learned of the dispatches which Maliktamur carried regarding the seizure of his master Yalbughā, and realized that his own departure had been delayed until Maliktamur should have set out. The when the answer was given he left Egypt on the same day, made a quick journey, and pressed on so rapidly that he reached Aleppo before Maliktamur, and told his master secretly the facts concerning him; al-Nāṣirī was therfore on his guard.
It is also said that Maliktamur al-dawādār and Shaykh Ḥasan, raʾs nawbat al-Nāṣirī, were related by marriage; and when the former approached Aleppo he sent to inform Shaykh Ḥasan for what purpose he had come. But this second account does not seem to me correct; the first seems more probable and I think in all respects is borne out by the circumstances. At all events al-Nāṣirī took precautions.