The Qaymariyya (or Ḳaymariyya) were a Kurdish tribe that formed an important military unit under the late Ayyubids and early Mamluks between the 1240s and 1260s.
[1] In 1239, the leader of the Qaymariyya was Nasir al-Din Abi al-Ma'ali al-Husayni al-Qaymari, who acted as viceregent in Damascus during al-Salih Ayyub's campaign against Mujahid Shirkuh of Homs in March that year.
Under Saladin, the tribes of Hakkariyya, Humaydiyya, Zarazariyya and Mihraniyya were dominanta, but the Qaymariyya became dominant in al-Salih Ayyub's time.
After al-Salih Ayyub became sultan of Egypt, he began purchasing Turk mamluks, diminishing the influence of the Kurds in the army.
The other amirs and the cavalry of al-halqa were granted villages as iqta's, and the Khwarizmiya were given the entire province of Damascus with the exception of Nablus.
The joined with an Egyptian army near Gaza and defeated a combined Syrian and Crusader force at the battle of La Forbie in October.
[11] When al-Nasir Yusuf and the Aleppan army arrived before Damascus on 9 July 1250, Nasir al-Din opened the Bab al-Saghir to them.
[14] Upon being mistakenly informed that the Ayyubids had scored a victory at Kura', Sayf al-Din urged that the khutba be pronounced in Cairo in the name of al-Nasir Yusuf.
[16] Around the same time, the Kurdish Shahrazuriyya began fleeing to al-Nasir Yusuf's territory in the face of Mongol invasions.
[17] The Qaymariyya encouraged him to recruit the Shahrazuriyya, who had a fighting strength of 3,000 cavalry and would greatly increase the influence of Kurds over Turks in the military.
[1][17] The Shahrazuriyya proved rebellious and when al-Nasir Yusuf appointed the Qaymari emir Badr al-Din Huri al-Hadari to bring them into submission, the latter instead joined them.
[3] In 1263, Nasir al-Din, the leading Qaymari emir, was appointed governor of the al-futuhat (new territories) on the Palestinian coast by Baybars.