The mediaeval Sultanate of Egypt, established by Saladin in 1171, lasted until 1249. On 22 November of that fateful year, As-Salih Ayyub, who had ruled Egypt since 1240, underwent an operation to save his life from a severe abscess on his leg. The amputation failed, and As-Salih died. The power passed to his son and then his wife, Shajar al-Durr, who took advantage of Mamluk support to repel the French crusaders threatening her kingdom. The Mamluks were non-Arab slave-soldiers and freed slaves entrusted with administrative and military authority. The Mamluks defeated the French, and after a brief power struggle that saw their first leader assassinated in his bath, they founded the Mamluk dynasty that ruled Egypt until the Ottoman conquest in 1517.