Muhammad I al-Mustansir 🌐

Muhammad I al-Mustansir (1228–1277) succeeded his father Abu Zakariya in 1249. Following the devastating Mongol sack of Baghdad and the execution of the Abbasid caliph in 1258, the Sharif of Mecca proclaimed Al-Mustansir as Caliph of all Muslims, a title recognized across Egypt, al-Andalus, and the Maghreb.

In July 1270, King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) landed a massive Crusader army at Carthage during the Eighth Crusade. Al-Mustansir cut off their water supplies and surrounded their camp while dysentery and typhus decimated the Crusaders, claiming the life of King Louis IX himself. In October 1270, the Crusaders signed a treaty paying an enormous gold indemnity to the Hafsid Caliph.