Source: Wikimedia Commons. On 24 August 1516, at the Battle of Marj Dabiq, al-Ghawri was killed. [166] For example, an emir of forty would be given an iqta a third of the size of an emir of one hundred's iqta. Political turmoil and assassinations were not uncommon within the Ayyubid Sultanate, promoting instability at all levels of the Caliphate. The Dar Al-Islam was on its heels, the Islamic Golden Age at its end. The current sultan, as-Salih Ayyub, of the Ayyubid dynasty, dies during their invasion. [55] In 1275, the Mamluk governor of Qus, with Bedouin allies, launched an expedition against Makuria, defeating king David in battle at Dongola in 1276, and installed Shakanda as king. The Mamluk sultans organized the yearly pilgrimages to Mecca in what was an attempt to revive the caliphate and consolidate their position in the Islamic world but it was regarded more as being "shadow caliphs". Lasting from the deposition of the Ayyubid dynasty (c. 1250) to the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, this regime of slave-soldiers incorporated many of the political structures and cultural traditions of its Fatimid and Ayyubid predecessors. [66] With regards to the latter policy, Baybars had purchased 4,000 mamluks, Qalawun purchased 6,0007,000 and by the end of Khalil's reign, there was an estimated total of 10,000 mamluks in the sultanate. Monumental decorated entrance portals became common compared to earlier periods, often carved with muqarnas. The Mamluks were distinctly Islamic, but many Christians and Jews lived within their Sultanate. [129], In Syria, the Mamluks uprooted the local Maronite and Greek Orthodox Christians from the coastal areas as a means to prevent their potential contact with European powers. [47] According to historian Thomas Asbridge, the methods used to capture Arsuf demonstrated the "Mamluks' grasp of siegecraft and their overwhelming numerical and technological supremacy". From their Islamic masters, the Mamluks learned command and combat strategy, science, mathematics, art, law, and administration. Qalawun's forces were significantly outnumbered by the estimated 80,000-strong Ilkhanid-Armenian-Georgian-Seljuk coalition, but marched north from Damascus to meet the Ilkhanid army at Homs. [98] Shaykh's main goal in office was restoration of the state's authority within the sultanate, which saw further plagues in 14151417 and 1420. [71] Meanwhile, the perceived harshness of Yalbugha's educational methods and his refusal to rescind his disciplinary reforms led to a mamluk backlash. [65] Like his two Bahri predecessors, Khalil's main priorities were organization of the sultanate, defeat of the Crusaders and the Mongols, incorporation of Syria into the Mamluk domain and preservation of the import of new mamluks and weaponry. Although the Crusade was a catastrophe for the Christian forces, initial differing strategies between the reigning Sultan and Mamluks resulted in the execution of many military commanders. 1. Inal's reign was particularly noted by historians for the severe absence of restraint among the roughly 1,000 mamluks under his direct authority, known as the julban or ajlab.The julban were responsible for mass disturbances throughout the sultanate. [159] Al-Mustansir's Abbasid successors continued in their official capacity as caliphs, but virtually held no power in the Mamluk government. [100] Shaykh also commissioned and led military expeditions against the Mamluks' enemies in Anatolia, reasserting the state's influence in that region. The Mamluk Sultanate fell to the Ottomans in 1517. TIME PERIOD: 1260 - 1517 CE. But how did a former class of enslaved people come to the head of the Islamic world? 4. [71] An-Nasir Muhammad also attempted to assert permanent Mamluk control over the Makurian vassal state, launching an invasion in 1316 and installing a Muslim Nubian king, Abdallah Barshambu. In 1254, Aybak had his Mu'izzi mamluks assassinate Aktay in the Citadel of Cairo. [189], Egypt and Syria played a central transit role in international trade in the Middle Ages. [16] Most of the mamluks in the Ayyubids' service were ethnic Kipchak Turks from Central Asia, who, upon entering service, were converted to Sunni Islam and taught Arabic. [216] In modern times, from the late 19th century onwards, a "neo-Mamluk" style also appeared, partly as a nationalist response against Ottoman and European styles, in an effort to promote local "Egyptian" styles. The Mamluk Sultanate ruled Egypt, Syria and the Arabian hinterland along the Red Sea. Interactions - Byzantine Empire It was the most powerful state in Europe through most of its over 1000-year existence. Source: RomanDeckert, CC-BY-SA-4.0, Wikimedia Commons. [38] The surviving Mu'izzi and Bahri mamluks made their way to Gaza, where Baybars had created a virtual shadow state in opposition to Qutuz. [90] Afterward, he managed to bring to Egypt his father Anas and many of his kinsmen,[90] possibly in an attempt to establish a power base outside of the Mamluk establishment. [172] The Mamluks used the same currency system as the Ayyubids, which consisted of gold dinars, silver dirhams and copper fulus. [180] The revenues emanating from the iqta also served as a more stable source of income than other methods the Mamluks sometimes employed, including tax hikes, the sale of administrative posts and extortion of the population. "Slave-soldiers" who served the Islamic dynasties during the Medieval Era, meaning "one who is owned.". Compared to the likes of the American Slave Trade, Mamluks were treated well and even granted freedom after years of initial servitude, though they were expected to keep loyal to their former masters. Drought's effects on the population slowed the Ottoman Empire's expansion in the 16th century. [123] It incorporated Sunni Islamic piety with its basis in the Qur'an and hadith, Sufi mysticism, and elements of popular religion such as sainthood, ziyarat (visitation) to the tombs of saintly or religious individuals, and dhikr (invocation of God). However, an-Nasir Muhammad's senior aide, Qawsun, held real power and ultimately imprisoned and executed Abu Bakr and had an-Nasir Muhammad's infant son, al-Ashraf Kujuk, appointed in his stead. [161] The army Baybars inherited consisted of Kurdish and Turkic tribesmen, refugees from the various Ayyubid armies of Syria and other troops from armies dispersed by the Mongols. [122], The Mamluks also embraced the various Sufi orders that existed in the sultanate. Tensions between the Mamluks and Ayyubid leadership came to a head during the Seventh Crusade, an attack on Damietta orchestrated by French King Louis IX. Abstract: Agriculture has been the main source of the economy for all dynasties established in Egypt and the Mamluk kingdom was no exception. Map 8.13. Husam al-Din ibn Baghdad accused the Mamluks of the murders due to their Ottoman sympathies at a council of Arab shaykhs. Most of the Mamluks, especially in the early years of its class, were ethnic Turks. [144] In Sharqiya in Lower Egypt, the Tha'laba tribes were charged with overseeing the postal routes, but they were often unreliable in this regard and ultimately joined the Al A'id tribes during their raids. [151] The process was not formalized and the electoral body was never defined, but typically consisted of the emirs and mamluks of whatever Mamluk faction held sway; usurpations of the throne by rival factions were relatively common. [92] His rule was challenged in Syria in 1389 during a revolt by the Mamluk governor of Malatya, Mintash, and the governor of Aleppo, Yalbugha an-Nasiri, who was a former mamluk of both an-Nasir Hasan and Yalbugha al-Umari. [111] According to Petry, "the Mamluks regarded Turkish as their caste's vehicle of communication, even though they themselves spoke Central Asian dialects such as Qipjak, or Circassian, a Caucasic language. [92] The alliance between Yalbugha an-Nasiri and Mintash soon fell apart, however, and factional fighting ensued in Cairo ending with Mintash ousting Yalbugha. They are made of engraved brass, with black bitumen filling parts of the surfaces in order to create contrast with the motifs in polished brass. [155], The sultan was the head of state and among his powers and responsibilities were issuing and enforcing specific legal orders and general rules, making the decision to go to war, levying taxes for military campaigns, ensuring the proportionate distribution of food supplies throughout the sultanate and, in some cases, overseeing the investigation and punishment of alleged criminals. Mamluk history is generally divided into the Turkic or Bahri period (12501382) and the Circassian or Burji period (13821517), called after the predominant ethnicity or corps of the ruling Mamluks during these respective eras.[5][6][7][8][9]. [37] An-Nasir Yusuf proceeded to besiege al-Mughith and the Bahriyyah at al-Karak, but the growing threat of a Mongol invasion of Syria ultimately led to a reconciliation between an-Nasir Yusuf and al-Mughith, and Baybars's defection to the former. [168], The ustadar (from the Arabic ustadh al-dar, "master of the house") was the chief of staff of the sultan, responsible for organizing the royal court's daily activities, managing the personal budget of the sultan and supervising all of the buildings of the Cairo Citadel and its staff. [100], Before Shaykh died in 1421, he sought to offset the power of the Circassian mamluks by importing Turkish mamluks and installing a Turk as atabeg al-asakir in 1420 to serve as regent for his infant son Ahmad. [37] Qutuz deposed al-Mansur Ali in 1259. [105], Although the Mamluk Sultanate was ended by the Ottoman conquest, the Mamluks as a "self-perpetuating, largely Turkish-speaking warrior class" continued to influence politics under Ottoman rule. [22], Prior to Turanshah's arrival at the front facing the French, the Bahriyyah, a junior regiment of the Salihiyyah commanded by Baibars al-Buduqdari, defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of al-Mansurah on 11 February 1250. [193] In the late 15th and early 16th centuries the Portuguese Empire's expansion into Africa and Asia began to significantly decrease the revenues of the Mamluk-Venetian monopoly on the trans-Mediterranean trade. Why do historians concern themselves with the Mamluks, a brief period of rule between the fall of the Ayyubid Sultanate and the Abbasid Caliphate, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire? The Mamluk Sultanate survived until 1517, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. The Mamluk Sultanate The Mongols besiege Baghdad King Louis IX of France invades Egypt, capturing the city Damietta and proceeding southwards. The Mamluk sultans are usually divided into two dynasties, the Bahris (1250-1382), chiefly Turks and Mongols, and the Burjis (1382-1517), chiefly Circassians who were chosen from the garrison of Cairo. Art depicting a Mamluk horseback rider. The Mamluks under Sultan Qutuz and Baybars routed the Mongols in 1260, halting their southward expansion. [23], Turanshah proceeded to place his own entourage and mamluks, known as the "Mu'azzamiyah",[21] in positions of authority to the detriment of Salihi interests. [200] Cairo, Damascus, and Aleppo were among the main centers of manuscript production. Mosque lamps had a bulbous body with a wide flaring neck at the top. [169], The Mamluk economy essentially consisted of two spheres: the state economy, which was organized along the lines of an elite household and was controlled by a virtual caste government headed by the sultan, and the free market economy, which was the domain of society in general and which was associated with the native inhabitants in contrast to the ethnically foreign origins of the Mamluk ruling elite. In the ensuing half-hour clash, Baybars's men feigned a retreat and were pursued by Kitbuqa. [136] The Maronite Church was especially suspected by the Mamluks of collaboration with the Europeans due to the high degree of relations between the Maronite Church and the papacy in Rome and the Christian European powers, particularly Cyprus. [166] Baybars also began biweekly inspections of the troops to verify that sultanic orders were carried out, in addition to the periodic inspections in which he would distribute new weaponry to the mamluk troops. [16] Shajar al-Durr's efforts and the lingering desire among the military in Egypt to maintain the Ayyubid state was made evident when the Salihi mamluk and atabeg al-askar, Aybak, attempted to claim the sultanate, but was prevented from monopolizing power by the army and the Bahriyyah and Jamdariyyah, which asserted that only an Ayyubid could exercise sultanic authority. [13] Mamluks had formed a part of the state or military apparatus in Syria and Egypt since at least the 9th century, rising to become governing dynasties of Egypt and the Levant during the Tulunid and Ikhshidid periods. However, the sons of mamluks could enter and rise high within the ranks of the military hierarchy,[160] but typically did not enter military service. The Ilkhanate was poised to tread into a new continent: Africa. [155] Typically, the faction most loyal to the sultan were the Royal Mamluks, particularly those mamluks whom the sultan had personally recruited and manumitted. [45] However, Baybars success in establishing centralized rule resulted in the consolidation of the Mamluk Sultanate. [176] Iqtaat were a central component of the Mamluk power structure. [53], An-Nasir Muhammad died in 1341 and his rule was followed by a succession of his descendants to the throne in a period marked by political instability. [43] Upon Qutuz's triumphant return to Cairo, he was assassinated in a Bahri plot. Frontispieces were often decorated with star-shaped or hexagonal geometric motifs. Test your knowledge with gamified quizzes. From bondservants to masters, the Islamic Mamluk warriors continued to prove themselves on the battlefield, in bureaucracy, and as exemplary leaders within the Medieval Dar Al-Islam. Mamluk authority across the empire eroded under his successors due to foreign invasions, tribal rebellions, and natural disasters, and the state entered into a long period of financial distress. as being heretical by the Sunni establishment patronized by the Mamluks. [35] Their deaths left a relative power vacuum in Egypt, with Aybak's teenage son, al-Mansur Ali, as heir to the sultanate. [122], The Mamluks sought to cultivate and utilize Muslim leaders to channel the religious feelings of the sultanate's Muslim subjects in a manner that did not disrupt the sultanate's authority. 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