Islam
Al-Kamil
Al-Muzzam sent help to his brother in 1218, to hold the Franks away from Cairo. He also made the decision to dismantle the walls of Jerusalem, as well as several fortresses in the neighborhood. He stayed in Egypt until 1219, when he felt compelled to return to Damascus. He tried without success to attack the Frankish strongholds while the Crusader army was pinned down in Egypt. This pulled John of Ibelin back to Palestine, but al-Muzzam was unable to capture anything. In 1221, he began raising a new army to return to Egypt. The help was not needed, however, for al-Kamil defeated the invaders at Mansourah.
No sooner had the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Crusade than they fell once more to conspiring against one another. Al-Muzzam died in 1228 and al-Kamil moved immediately to take over his lands. He invaded Palestine and, after some maneuvering, arranged to divide the territories between himself and his brother al-Ashraf of Aleppo, who likewise had designs on Palestine. The city of Damascus itself was held by a nephew, an-Nasir. Neither al-Muzzam nor al-Ashraf felt strong enough to besiege the city.
Thus, when the Emperor Frederick showed up on the Sixth Crusade, al-Kamil was inclined to negociate rather than to fight. The Sultan still held Jerusalem, and he knew it was a powerful bargaining chip. He did not mind letting the Franks have the city back, for its walls were gone and the city itself could not be defended. Moreover, al-Kamil controlled most of the fortresses in the area.
He was not prepared for the reaction. The Sultan was criticized throughout Islam for having given up a sacred city to the infidel without a fight. In vain he argued that he could take the city back any time he pleased. His forebears had done their work too well: the Sultan was the Defender of the Faith, and al-Kamil had not done his duty.
But, like Frederick, who endured a storm of protest in Europe over his strangely peaceful Crusade, al-Kamil was strong enough to wait things out. His later years were spent contending with the Khwarismian Turks in the north and keeping one eye on the Mongols. Al-Kamil died in 1238. No strong leaders emerged after him from the family of Ayub. Within fifteen years of his death, the Ayyubids were eliminated as a dynasty, replaced by Mongols, Turks and Mameluks.