KAMIL, AL-MALIK AL-

born 1180 died 1238 sultan (from 1218) of the Ayyubid line, who ruled Egypt, Palestine, and Syria during the Fifth and Sixth crusades. On his accession to the sultanate, al-Kamil engaged the armies of the Fifth Crusade and eventually negotiated their withdrawal from Egypt in 1221. During this conflict he had an interview with St. Francis of Assisi, who wished to convert him to Christianity. In 1229 al-Kamil ceded Jerusalem and other Palestinian towns to Emperor Frederick II, leader of the Sixth Crusade.