Al-Ashraf Sayf al-Din Qa'it Bay was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk sultan of Egypt from 872-901/1468-1496. He was Circassian by birth, and was bought for fifty dinars by the ninth sultan Barsbay (1422 to 1438) before being freed by the eleventh sultan Jaqmaq (1438 to 1453). He went on to become the greatest patron of art and architecture in the Circassian Mamluk period. Other transliterations of his name include Qaytbay and Kait Bey.

The half century immediately preceding his becoming the sultan was a period of political, economic, and artistic decline. He re-established the authority of the sultanate, stabilized the economy, and oversaw a revival of the arts. He fought sixteen military campaigns, but is best remembered for the spectacular buildings he left. His buildings graced Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Damascus, and every quarter of Cairo.

Sources

• Philip K. Hitti. History of the Arabs. Rev. 10th ed. Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
• André Raymond. Cairo. 1993, English translation 2000 by Willard Wood.
• R.F. Tapsell. Monarchs, Rulers, Dynasties and Kingdoms of the World. London: Thames & Hudson, 1983.