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al-Malik al-Afdal ibn Badr al-Jamali Shahanshah
(1066-December 11, 1121) was a vizier of the
Fatimid caliphs of Egypt. 

He was born in Akko|Acre, the son of Badr
al-Jamali, an Armenian Mamluk. Badr was vizier for
the Fatimids in Cairo from 1074 until his death in
1094, when al-Afdal succeeded him. Caliph Ma'ad
al-Mustansir Billah died soon afterwards, and
al-Afdal appointed as caliph al-Musta'li, a child,
instead of al-Mustali's much older brother Nizar,
who had been designated successor. Nizar revolted
and was defeated in 1095; his supporters, led by
Hassan-i-Sabah, fled west, where Hassan
established the Hashshashin (Assassins).

At this time Fatimid power in Palestine
(region)|Palestine had been reduced by the arrival
of the Seljuk Turks. In 1097 he captured Tyre from
the Seljuks, and Jerusalem in 1098 Jerusalem,
expelling its Ortoqid governor Ilghazi in place of
a Fatimid. The next year, Siege of Jerusalem
(1099)|Jerusalem was captured by crusaders;
al-Afdal was at first unconcerned with them,
assuming that they were Byzantine mercenaries and
would be content with the capture of Antioch from
the Seljuk Turks, also enemies of the Fatimids.
When it became apparent that the crusaders would
not rest until they had control of the city,
al-Afdal marched out from Cairo, but was too late
to rescue Jerusalem, which fell on July 15, 1099.
On August 12, the crusaders under Godfrey of
Bouillon surprised al-Afdal at the Battle of
Ascalon and completely defeated him. 

Al-Afdal marched out every year to attack the
newfound Kingdom of Jerusalem, and in 1105
attempted to ally with Damascus against them, but
was defeated at the Battle of Ramla. Al-Afdal and
his army enjoyed success only so long as no
European fleet interfered, but they gradually lost
control of their coastal strongholds; in 1109
Tripoli, Lebanon|Tripoli was lost, despite the
fleet and supplies sent by al-Afdal, and the city
became the centre of an important County of
Tripoli|crusader county. In 1110 the governor of
Ascalon, Shams al-Khilafa, rebelled against
al-Afdal with the intent of handing over the city
to Jerusalem (for a large price). Al-Khilafa's
Berber troops assassinated him and sent his head
to al-Afdal. The crusaders later took Tyre and
Acre as well, and remained in Jerusalem until the
arrival of Saladin decades later. 

Al-Afdal also introduced tax (iqta) reform in
Egypt, which remained in place until Saladin took
over Egypt. Al-Afdal was nicknamed Jalal al-Islam
("glory of Islam") and Nasir al-Din ("Protector of
the Faith"). Ibn al-Qalanisi describes him as "a
firm believer in the doctrines of Sunna, upright
in conduct, a lover of justice towards both troops
and civil population, judicious in counsel and
plan, ambitious and resolute, of penetrating
knowledge and exquisite tact, of generous nature,
accurate in his intuitions, and possessing a sense
of justice which preserved him from wrongdoing and
led him to shun all tyrannical methods." 

He was murdered during Eid ul-Adha in 1121;
according to Ibn al-Qalanisi, "it was asserted
that the Batinis (Hashshashin) were responsible
for his assassination, but this statement is not
true. On the contrary it is an empty pretence and
an insubstantial calumny." The real cause was the
growing boldness of the caliph al-Amir
Bi-Ahkamillah, who had succeeded al-Musta'li in
1101, and his resentment of al-Afdal's control.
Ibn al-Qalanisi states that "all eyes wept and all
hearts sorrowed for him; time did not produce his
like after him, and after his loss the government
fell into disrepute." He was succeeded as vizier
by Al-Ma'mum.

In Latin, his name was rendered as "Lavendalius"
or "Elafdalio". 

==Sources==
*Steven Runciman, A History of the Crusades, vol.
I: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge University Press,
1951.
*Kenneth Setton, ed. A History of the Crusades,
vol. I. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1958
(http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/History/
History-idx?type=browse&scope=HISTORY.HISTCRUSADES
available online).
*William of Tyre. A History of Deeds Done Beyond
the Sea.  Edited and translated by E. A. Babcock
and A. C. Krey. Columbia University Press, 1943.
*The Damascus Chronicle of the Crusades: Extracted
and Translated from the Chronicle of Ibn
al-Qalanisi. H.A.R. Gibb, London, 1932.