Sultan Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Qa'it Bay (c. 1416/14181496) was the eighteenth Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt from 872-901 A.H. (AD 1468-1496). (Other transliterations of his name include Qaytbay and Kait Bey.) He was Circassian  by birth, and was purchased by the ninth sultan Barsbay (AD 1422 to 1438) before being freed by the eleventh Sultan Jaqmaq (AD 1438 to 1453). During his reign, he stabilized the Mamluk state and economy, consolidated the northern boundaries of the Sultanate with the Ottoman Empire, engaged in trade with other contemporaneous polities, and emerged as a great patron of art and architecture. In fact, although Qaitbay fought sixteen military campaigns, he is best remembered for the spectacular building projects that he sponsored, leaving his mark as an architectural patron on Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Damascus, Aleppo, Alexandria, and every quarter of Cairo.