Mamluks

10 Key excerpts on "Mamluks"

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  The Adventures of Ibn Battuta

  A Muslim Traveler of the Fourteenth Century, With a New Preface

  • Ross E. Dunn(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • University of California Press

    (Publisher)

  When Ibn The Mamluks 47 Battuta entered the Mamluk domain, he fell under a political authority whose relationship to the general population was quite unlike what he had known at home. Whereas the Marinids of Morocco were of Berber stock, ethnically undifferentiated from most of the local population, the Mamluks were, in their Central Asian origins, Turkish language, and military ethos, utterly alien to their native Egyptian subjects. At the heart of the Mamluk government was the practice of recruiting the members of the ruling military and administrative elite from among young men of Turkish tribes in the steppe lands north of the Black and Caspian Seas. These youths entered Syria and Egypt as slaves, or in Arabic Mamluks. They were then converted to Islam, educated in the fundamentals of religion, taught the arts of mounted warfare, and finally given their legal freedom and position of service in the Mamluk state. It was from among the ranks of these alien-born cavalrymen that the top government commanders (amirs) were chosen. Though the day to day management of the realm required constant contact and intertwining of interests between Mamluks and native Eyptians, the ruling minority nonetheless stood as a caste apart in its monopoly of political power and physical force. Ordinary folk were not even permitted to ride horses. Indeed, the purpose of the Mamluk system of recruitment and social insulation was not only to build and perpetuate an army of rugged Asian soldiers, unequivocally loyal to the state, but also to preserve the integrity and esprit de corps of the whole governing establishment by locking the subject peoples, even the locally born sons of Mamluks, out of it entirely. The ever-looming symbol of Mamluk dominance and exclusivity was the Citadel, an awesome complex of palace, mosques, offices, living quarters, and stables that stood on a rocky prominence 250 feet above Cairo.

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  Military Diasporas

  Building of Empire in the Middle East and Europe (550 BCE-1500 CE)

  • Georg Christ, Patrick Sänger, Mike Carr, Georg Christ, Patrick Sänger, Mike Carr(Authors)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  9 PROFESSIONAL TURKS OR MILITARY DIASPORA? The Mamluks and Dynamics of Ethnicity in Late Medieval Egypt and Syria Julien Loiseau

  DOI: 10.4324/9781003245568-10

  Military slavery has long been a privileged way to ensure strength and to build loyalty in Islamic polities. Beginning in the 870s, the wealthiest princes used to surround themselves with Praetorian guards of former slaves (“Mamluks”) selected for their military skills within “martial races” living at the fringes of the Islamicate world. In 1250, one of the largest regiments of Mamluks of Turkic background ousted the heir of their former master and seized power in Egypt and Syria. Their history is that of an allochtonous Turkic-like military élite, recruited through slavery and manumission. During its almost three-century-long rule (1250–1517), the Mamluk military had to face dynamics of ethnicity that either buttressed or challenged its collective identity. These “ethnic trends” were linked to the patterns of slave trade that supplied the sultanate with young boys and girls, and to global migration phenomena. They also might have been brought about by political decision and by the rulers’ propensity to favour their own people. This chapter therefore aims to identify military diasporic groups with para- (or imagined) ethnic background and respective ethnic self-awareness, that acted as distinct forces within the Mamluk military in late medieval Egypt and Syria.

  Introduction

  For almost three centuries (1250–1517), Egypt and Syria formed the core of the mightiest polity in the Middle East—the Mamluks—which relied on an allochthonous military élite for its strength.1 Mamluks, i.e. military slaves, were professional soldiers, theoretically born outside the Islamicate world, that is in the “abode of war” (dār al-ḥarb), enslaved in childhood and trained to serve their master who manumitted them upon completing their military training and entering adulthood.2 The institution of military slavery dates to late ninth-century Iraq, where the Abbasid caliphs tried to free themselves from their entourage by relying on forces of undivided allegiance directly depending on their person.3

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  Egyptian Society Under Ottoman Rule, 1517-1798

  • Michael Winter(Author)
  • 2003(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  1 Generally, it was not ruled by a dynasty, but by an oligarchy of soldiers, Mamluks, or enfranchised military slaves. The Mamluks were white slaves who were bought, raised, and then trained as elite troops. They were born outside the Islamic domain, usually in the Euro-Asian steppe, north of the lands of Islam or in the Caucasus, to non-Muslim parents preferably of Turkish stock, and were imported when still boys or adolescents by the slave traders. The system of Mamluk military slavery had been practised from early times in Islam; it entrenched itself during the reign of the .Abbasid Caliph al-Mu‘tasim (833–42) and then spread throughout the Islamic lands.

  Al-Malik al-Salih purchased Mamluks in large numbers, a policy which prepared the ground for the eventual Mamluk takeover of the state. The phenomenon of former slaves replacing their masters was unprecedented and left the Mamluks vulnerable. They needed to legitimize their rule and eliminate the remaining Ayyubids. Their chance came after they trounced the seemingly invincible Mongols at .Ayn Jalut in Palestine (1260). Al-Malik al-Zahir Baybars (1260–77) then brought to Cairo a scion of the .Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad, after that dynasty had almost been wiped out during the devastating Mongol occupation of the city in 1258, thus giving to his rule an aura of legitimacy.

  Baybars, the founder of the Mamluk Sultanate, was an exceptionally able ruler and general. He transformed Egypt, Syria and the Hijaz into a stronger and more cohesive unit. This vigorous regime later put an end to the presence of the Franks in the east (the reconquest of Acre, 1291) and pushed the Mongols back beyond the Euphrates. Defended by the superb Mamluk horsemen, the new Sultanate constructed social and religious life on the principles of Sunni orthodoxy, continuing the religious policy of the Ayyubid dynasty. It patronized learning and piety, organized and protected the annual caravan of pilgrims to Mecca and Medina, and erected magnificent monuments in the major Egyptian and Syrian cities. These and other achievements were financed by the revenue from agriculture and international commerce, primarily the lucrative Eastern spice trade that passed through the Sultanate en route to Europe.

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  A Window to the Past?

  Tracing Ibn Iy?s's Narrative Ways of Worldmaking

  • Anna Kollatz(Author)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • V&R Unipress

    (Publisher)

  146 According to this understanding, the system re- newed its politico-military and, to a certain extent, administrative elites ex- clusively by the purchase, training and subsequent manumission of military slaves born outside the Islamic world. Simultaneously, the progeny of the thus recruited Mamluks has been understood as being formally barred from partic- ipation in power. David Ayalon has repeatedly outlined the Mamluk system as being based on a one-generation military aristocracy constantly renewed from the outside. This idea has been fundamentally questioned most decisively by Donald Richards, who refuses to see anything exotic about the Mamluk order. 147 Indeed, the sons of Mamluks participated in the social life of the Mamluk Empire in various ways between 1248 and 1517, depending on their personal circum- stances and the changing conditions of politics and institutions. The reigns of al-Na ¯s ˙ ir Muh ˙ ammad have received special attention in this respect. Studies on the configuration of the politico-military elites have proved that besides Mamluks from different factions, refugees from the Mongol Ilkha- nate and Seljukid Anatolia (wa ¯ fidiyya) as well as Mamluk descendants formed a vital part of leading circles around the sultan. 148 Even if regarded as a static 144 Clifford (1997) proposing a broader perspective including non-elite layers of society; Lap- idus (1969) arguing for vertical rather than horizontal social layers; Sabra (2000), who departs from al-Maqrı ¯ zı ¯’s (static) concept of social layers (see below). Elbendary’s (2015) argument about social mobility underlines the fluidity of Mamluk society without ques- tioning existing societal models; Hirschler (2008) traces the development of a provincial civilian elite.

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  Fortunes of Africa

  A 5,000 Year History of Wealth, Greed and Endeavour

  • Martin Meredith(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Simon & Schuster UK

    (Publisher)

  PART IV 14 Mamluks AND OTTOMANS S hortly after Salah al-Din ibn Ayyub took control of Cairo in 1171, he chose a new site for the seat of government, building a fortress known as the Citadel on a promontory beneath the Muqattam hills which gave him a commanding view of the city. In an area just below the Citadel he laid out a parade ground where his troops gathered for military exercises and sporting activities, including games of polo. For the next 700 years, Egypt was ruled from the Citadel. The Ayyubid dynasty founded by Salah al-Din came increasingly to rely on the services of a caste of elite slave soldiers called Mamluks recruited from the Eurasian steppes and the Caucasus to provide military backbone. Mamluks had bolstered the armies of several Islamic rulers since the ninth century. Sold by their families and separated from their homeland, they owed total obedience to their patrons. Because of their loyalty, mamluk amirs or commanders often rose to high positions in government. Their role in Egypt became even more important as a result of threats that Ayyubid rulers faced both from Crusader armies and from approaching Mongol hordes. When French invaders landed in Egypt in 1249, a mamluk regiment played a decisive role in their defeat. The following year, mamluk amirs seized power and established their own sultanate. The Mamluk sultanate became a self-perpetuating military oligarchy that lasted for more than 260 years. To fortify their numbers, mamluk amirs used Muslim merchants to purchase youths from Turkic tribes north of the Caspian Sea who were brought to Cairo, given rigorous training in Islam and in military skills, notably horsemanship and archery, then freed to become professional soldiers in cavalry regiments. Military schools instilled into the youths a strict code of obedience and discipline and a clear sense of hierarchy

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  Mamluk History through Architecture

  Monuments, Culture and Politics in Medieval Egypt and Syria

  • Nasser Rabbat(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • I.B. Tauris

    (Publisher)

  14

  R EPRESENTING THE M AMLUKS IN M AMLUK H ISTORIOGRAPHY

  In the Abbasid period, the Mamluks and the literati were distinctly separate groups although over time they had developed a symbiosis from which they both benefited. In later regimes that used Mamluks in their armies – especially the Seljuqs, Zengids and Ayyubids – both Mamluks and the literati served the ruling dynasty or clan, and had equal access to power. Several of the literati, in fact, reached high positions, such as al-Qadi al-Fadil (1131–1199), Salah al-Din’s vizier, who helped shape the policies of his sultan and stirred him towards the jihad against the Crusaders.15 Some among the important literati even owned their own Mamluks. The most notable case is that of Nizam al-Mulk al-Tusi (r. 1063–1092), the great vizier of Alp Arslan and Malikshah. In his famous treatise on politics, Siyasat-Namah, he stressed the importance of employing Mamluks in what had up to then been an army of mostly free-born horsemen. He also surrounded himself with an army of Turkish Mamluks that numbered in the thousands. They were probably the reason why he kept his position for as long as he did in the treacherous Seljuq court.16

  When the Mamluk regime took over in Egypt and Syria, however, it imposed new restrictions on the civilian elite that redefined the relationship between the Mamluks and literati. It effectively barred the literati from attaining high political positions.17 The army and, through it, all political power and its attendant financial and landholding prerogatives became the exclusive domain of the Mamluk class. This military aristocracy was closed to all but the Mamluks (and, after the formative period, their sons or, in few cases, exceptional local recruits). Their clannish mentality, reinforced by linguistic and ethnic separation from the rest of the society, erected a regime that stressed exclusion and segregation as means of control. It was inscribed in particular nomenclature and insignia (rank) systems and in elaborate vestmental, dietary, musical and ceremonial codes.18

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  Mamluks in the Modern Egyptian Mind

  Changing the Memory of the Mamluks, 1919-1952

  • Il Kwang Sung(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  PART I Mamluks in Official Memory 3 © The Author(s) 2017 I.K. Sung, Mamluks in the Modern Egyptian Mind, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-54830-6_1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction The Mamluk periods have often been described as decade of chaos in Egypt. Politically tyranny, oppression and destruction became the characteristic fea- ture of their rule. The many Mamluk sultans are demonized as a warmon- ger and lustful of power. The point of departure of the present study is to critically delve into whether if the unfavorable attitude of modern Egyptian historical literatures toward the Mamluks actually did so or not. Thus the purpose of this study is to explore the ways in which modern Egyptian his- torians and intellectuals discussed the Mamluk past to discern their percep- tions and understandings of the Mamluks and Mamluk era. Following the periodization of Egyptian historians, we will examine the representations of the Mamluks in two historical periods: the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517) era and the Mamluks under Ottoman era (1517–1811), 1 focusing mostly on the years 1760–1811. To critically analyze and compare the diverse dimensions of distinction, contrast, and similarity among multifaceted rep- resentations of the Mamluks presented in the years 1919 and 1952, we will focus on historical literature of representative historians and intellectuals. Although the Mamluks have had a great impact on the Egyptian col- lective memory and, in particular, modern Egyptian thought, to date, the subject has hardly been researched seriously. 2 One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that the existing scholars have given too much promi- nence to stereotypical negative representation of the Mamluks in Egyptian historical works. However, as we shall see, many Egyptian historians and intellectuals presented the Mamluk era positively, and even symbolized the Sultans as national icons. The present study aims to shed light on this

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  The Mamluk Sultanate from the Perspective of Regional and World History

  Economic, Social and Cultural Development in an Era of Increasing International Interaction and Competition

  • Reuven Amitai, Stephan Conermann, Reuven Amitai, Stephan Conermann(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • V&R Unipress

    (Publisher)

  […] Second, the Mamlu ¯ k empire had two enemies, the Mongols of Ilkha ¯nid Iran and the crusaders on the Syro-Pales- tinian littoral. […] Third, the Mamlu ¯ ks took power at an extremely turbulent moment in the political history of the Mediterranean basin. […] In the face of all this, the early Mamlu ¯ k sultans (especially Baybars and Qala ¯wu ¯ n) constituted their empire as a for- tress. In their judgment, their empire could not hope to pursue an expansionist policy with any prospects of success; indeed, unbridled expansionism would almost surely 1 This article has been finalised within the context of the project ‘The Mamlukisation of the Mamluk Sultanate II: Historiography, Political Order and State Formation in Fifteenth-Cen- tury Egypt and Syria’ (UGent, 2017–21); this project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Consolidator Grant agreement No 681510). 2 R. Stephen Humphreys, “Egypt in the World System of the Later Middle Ages,” The Cambridge History of Egypt. Volume I: Islamic Egypt, 640–1517, ed. C.F. Petry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 445–461, p. 445. © 2019, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847104117 – ISBN E-Book: 9783847004110 lead to disaster. What they could do was to secure the borders of Egypt and Syria and convert these lands into a powerful citadel which the enemies of Islam could not penetrate. […] Thus, the early Mamlu ¯ k empire derived exceptional prestige from the fact that it was the only major Muslim state between the Atlantic Ocean and the Hindu Kush which could hold its own against powerful non-Muslim enemies – the only one which could defend the cause of Islam in a desperate age.

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  Mamluk Descendants

  In search for the awlād al-nās

  • Anna Kollatz(Author)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • V&R Unipress

    (Publisher)

  © 2022 V&R unipress | Brill Deutschland GmbH ISBN Print: 9783847114581 – ISBN E-Book: 9783847014584 Koby Yosef The Rise of Mamlu ¯ ks’ Descendants in the Turkish Period (648–784/1250–1382): The Status and Identity of Mamlu ¯ ks’ Descendants who were Amirs in Cairo according to the Jarı ¯ da Iqt ˙ a ¯ʿiyya of the Year 778/1377 1 Introduction In his pioneering works conducted starting from the 1940s, David Ayalon ad- vanced the view that “[t]he mamlu ¯ k upper class constituted an exclusive society. Only a person who himself was born an infidel and brought as a child slave from abroad, who was converted to Islam and set free after completing his military training… could belong to that society. These rules implied that the mamlu ¯ k upper class should be a non-hereditary nobility”. 1 The “Mamluk military aristocracy” was so exclusive that even the maml u ¯ ks’ de- scendants (normally referred to by Ayalon and Mamlukists as awla ¯ d al-na ¯ s) 2 could not become members. Because “sons of the mamlu ¯ ks and mamlu ¯ k amı ¯ rs were Muslims and free men by birth… they could not belong to the upper class and were automatically ejected from it”. 3 They were excluded from the rights and titles reserved for the elite and blocked from effective power. 4 Because the maml u ¯ ks’ descendants could not be accepted to the maml u ¯ k “upper class” and were excluded by their “very nature”, their chances for advancement and attaining key military and political positions were seriously limited, and “[i]n as far as they joined the army they were automatically cast off from the pure mamluk corps and assigned to the h ˙ alqa, a much lower unit”. 5 Therefore, according to Ayalon, maml u ¯ ks’ de- 1 David Ayalon, “Awla ¯d al-Na ¯s”, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2 nd Edition (Leiden: Brill, 1986), 1:765. 2 The broader meaning of the term “awla ¯d al-na ¯ s” is free persons.

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  Muslims, Mongols and Crusaders

  • Dr Gerald Hawting(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  1

  A second passage of Poliak’s reads: ‘In view of the fact that the Mamluk sultans and Amirs married into the principal families of Circassia, and were doubtless aided by their relatives, who had remained in the home country, one is led to believe that the ruling power was practically held by the same group in Circassia and the Mamluk kingdom. This group is called in the Mamluk sources al-qarānīṣ, al-qarāniṣa , sing. qirnāṣ . The qarānīṣ were represented in the diverse ranks of the military hierarchy, but were everywhere held in greater esteem than their colleagues, even their superiors, and were the first candidates for promotion. Thus one Amir recommended Ṭaṭar (who later became sultan) to the sultan as qirnāṣ , while Ṭaṭar was still an unliberated mamluk. There were also qarānīṣ among the mamālīk sulṭānīya , i.e. the freed Mamluks who were in the service of the sultan. A small and special corps was called al-ajnād al-qarānīṣ ; its members were candidates for the amirate and holders of large fiefs (arzāq ), and their social position was similar to that of Amirs of Five. This corps was composed of men who had served in the Mamluk kingdom for a long time. Naturally, there were qarānīṣ also among the julbān , the recently arrived Mamluks. Needless to say, they were represented also among the amirs, and here also, it was the fact of belonging to this nobility more than the military rank which determined the amir’s social standing. The governor of Jerusalem, Khushqadam as-Sayfī (d. 853 A.H. ), in spite of his bravery, “ did not belong to the notables and to those who are the chiefs of their compatriots ”, while a private soldier (jundī ), Lājīn (d. 804 A.H. ), was considered by the Circassians and even the amirs a certain candidate for the sultanate. The qirnāṣ did not need to wear fine clothes or ride handsome horses in order to gain high esteem but, on the contrary, many of them (i.e. the qarānīṣ ) thought it an honour to be distinguished by old and tattered garments. I know of no case in which an ibn nās was called qirnāṣ . It is interesting to note that even in al-Jabartī’s chronicle, which was very much influenced by the language of the Mamluk sources, we meet the word al-qarānīṣa in the sense of “ high amirs ”. Just as they (the qarānīṣ ) constituted the aristocracy of the Circassians, so the Circassians formed the aristocracy of the “ Turks ”,2 among whom the proportion of other races was considerable’.3

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