[48] Baybars' strategy regarding the Crusader fortresses along the Syrian coast was not to capture and utilize the fortresses, but to destroy them and thus prevent their potential future use by new waves of Crusaders. Abstract: Agriculture has been the main source of the economy for all dynasties established in Egypt and the Mamluk kingdom was no exception. [74], The third reign of an-Nasir Muhammad also saw a departure from the traditions of succession and administrative elevation of his predecessors since he observed in his first two reigns that such traditions had been ignored anyway, while sultans were being assassinated and mamluks were abusing other mamluks in bids for power. In the 28 October battle of Homs, the Mamluks routed the Ilkhanids and confirmed Mamluk dominance in Syria. [163], The Ayyubid army had lacked a clear and permanent hierarchical system and one of Baybars' early reforms was creating a military hierarchy. While the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II was engaged in Europe, a new round of conflict broke out between Egypt and the Safavid dynasty in Persia in 1501. [155] However, emirs who were part of the sultan's khushdashiyyah also rebelled at times, particularly the governors of Syria who formed power bases within their territory. The Mamluk Sultanate (14th and 15th Centuries) Asia at the Death of Kublai Khan (1294 CE) Sufi Orders (1145-1389 CE) Travels of Ibn Battuta (1325-1354 CE) [92][93] The rebels took over Syria and headed for Egypt, prompting Barquq to abdicate in favor of as-Salih Hajji. [92] In Cairo, Barquq's loyalists took over the citadel and arrested as-Salih Hajji. The Mamluk Sultanate was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) in the mid-13th-early 16th centuries. [22] However, Turanshah sought to challenge the dominance of the Salihiyyah in the paramilitary apparatus by promoting his Kurdish retinue from Upper Mesopotamia ("al-Jazira" in Arabic) and the Levant as a counterweight to the predominantly Turkic Salihiyyah. That year, he managed to dispatch Aktay to Upper Egypt to suppress an Arab uprising. [20] Opposition among the Salihiyyah to as-Salih rose when the latter ordered the assassination of his brother Abu Bakr al-Adil in 1249, a task that affronted many of the Salihiyyah and by whom was rejected; four of the Salihiyyah ultimately agreed to execute the controversial operation. . The Mamluk's largest industry was agriculture, yet their urban areas became increasingly impressive. Will you pass the quiz? Stop procrastinating with our study reminders. [148] However, unlike the collective sovereignty of the Ayyubids where territory was divided among members of the royal family, the Mamluk state was unitary. Their presence has had an influence and an impact on the people and customs. [84][86], Yalbugha became the regent of Hasan's successor and the young son of the late sultan Hajji, al-Mansur Muhammad. [164] To that end, he began the system of assigning emirs ranks of ten, forty and one hundred, with the particular number indicating how many mounted mamluk troops were assigned to an emir's command. [19], As the Crusaders advanced, as-Salih died and was succeeded by his son al-Muazzam Turanshah,[21] who was in al-Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia) at the time. [26], Shajar ad-Durr ensured the Salihiyyah's dominance of the paramilitary elite, and ushered in a process of establishing patronage and kinship ties with the Salihiyyah. [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). 1. Create the most beautiful study materials using our templates. Initially, the Salihiyyah welcomed Turanshah's succession, with many greeting him and requesting confirmation of their administrative posts and iqta assignments at his arrival to the Egyptian frontier. Source: Wikimedia Commons. [92], Barquq solidified his control over the sultanate in 1393, when his forces killed the major opponent to his rule, Mintash, in Syria. Although he was assassinated years later, the precedent of a Mamluk rule was evident to all. [67] An-Nasir Muhammad went further in imposing his rule by intervening to have al-Wathiq succeed Caliph al-Mustakfi, as well as compelling the qadi to issue legal rulings that advanced his interests. Amid conditions that stemmed the flow of mamluks from the Mongol-held lands to the sultanate, an-Nasir Muhammad resolved to make up for the loss of the purged mamluks by adopting new methods of training and military and financial advancement that introduced a great level of permissiveness. Nonetheless, the Mamluks lived on within the Ottoman Empire, positioning themselves as a high-level class in society. [155] The qaranis occasionally constituted a hostile faction to a sultan, such as in the case of Sultan as-Salih Ayyub and the Qalawuni successors of an-Nasir Muhammad. [26] Moreover, an electoral college dominated by the Salihiyyah convened to choose a successor to Turanshah among the Ayyubid emirs, with opinion largely split between an-Nasir Yusuf of Damascus and al-Mughith Umar of al-Karak. [156] Besides his khushdashiyyah, the sultan derived power from other emirs, with whom there was constant tension, particularly in times of peace with external enemies. True or False: The Mamluks were massacred by the Ottoman Empire in 1517, effectively ending their existence. [35] Their deaths left a relative power vacuum in Egypt, with Aybak's teenage son, al-Mansur Ali, as heir to the sultanate. Caliphs were descendants of the Prophet Muhammedthe founder of the Islamic faith. [166] The reformation of iqta distribution created a clear link between an emir's rank and the size of his iqta. In 1260, after a period of confusion following the death of the last Ayyubid, a Qipchaq Turk called Baybars became Sultan. [123] Other Sufi orders with large numbers of adherents were the Rifa'iyyah and Badawiyyah. [173] Typically, a qadi or Muslim scholar would occupy the post, but in the 15th century, Mamluk emirs began to be appointed as muhtasibs in an effort to compensate emirs during cash shortages or as a result of the gradual shift of the muhtasib's role from the legal realm to one of enforcement.[175]. The sultanate then experienced a long period of stability and prosperity during the third reign of al-Nasir Muhammad (r. 12931294, 12991309, 13101341), before giving way to the internal strife characterizing the succession of his sons, when real power was held by senior emirs. Mamluk terracotta cup from the 14th century. The main source of popular hostility was resentment at the privileged positions many Christians held in the Mamluk bureaucracy. [78] By January 1342, however, Qawsun and Kujuk were toppled, and the latter's half-brother, an-Nasir Ahmad of al-Karak, was declared sultan. The Mamluk Sultanate was the strongest military power in the central Muslim world. [71] The first of an-Nasir Muhammad's son to accede to the sultanate was Abu Bakr, who an-Nasir Muhammad designated as his successor before his death. metal-faced doors, doorknockers, window grilles, and window shutters, and aims to . [129] Coptic bureaucrats would often be restored to their positions after the moment of tension passed. [15] Each Ayyubid sultan and high-ranking emir had a private mamluk corps. [92] Ali died in May 1381 and was succeeded by his nine-year-old brother, as-Salih Hajji. [110] The continuing invasions of Syria by Mongol armies led to further waves of Syrian immigrants, including scholars and artisans, to Egypt. They were produced in the thousands and suspended from the ceiling by chains. Keep reading to learn more about the Mamluk Sultanate environment, culture, and more. [202], Glass lamps were another high point of Mamluk art, particularly those commissioned for mosques. Under the Ayyubid sultanate, Mamluk generals used their power to establish a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517. [97] To that end, Barquq dispatched the Berber Hawwara tribesmen of the Nile Delta to Upper Egypt to keep the Arab tribes in check. At around the same time, Baybars' forces captured Safad from the Knights Templar, and shortly after, Ramla, both cities in interior Palestine. Al-Maqrizi, al-Mawaiz wa al-'i'tibar bi dhikr al-khitat wa al-'athar, Matabat aladab, Cairo 1996, This page was last edited on 9 January 2023, at 15:33. [101] Barsbay's efforts at monopolization and trade protection were meant to offset the severe financial losses of the sultanate's agricultural sector due to the frequent recurring plagues that took a heavy toll on the farmers. Sell on Amazon Other Sellers on Amazon Added Not added Add to Cart View Cart $31.81 & FREE Shipping Sold by: Book Depository US Sold by: Book Depository US (948804 ratings) 91% positive over last 12 months In stock. 2016 by Bethany J. Walker, Sofia Laparidou, Annette Hansen, and Chiara Corbino. 1: Map of the Mamluk Sultanate, 1317 CE Author: User "Ro4444" Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC BY-SA 4.0. [152] More often than not, the sons of sultans were elected by the senior emirs with the ultimate intention that they serve as convenient figureheads presiding over an oligarchy of the emirs. With the Ottoman victories over the Mamluks in 1516-17, Egypt and Syria reverted to the status of provinces within an empire. That is, until the Mamluk Massacre of 1811. Their decoration consists almost entirely of Arabic calligraphy, with the thuluth script prominently used. [199] One of the best examples of this period is the so-called Baptistre of Saint-Louis (kept at the Louvre today), a large brass basin inlaid with arabesques and horizontal scenes of animals, hunters, and riders playing polo. After the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, Selim I attacked the Dulkadirids, an Egyptian vassal, and sent their chief's head to al-Ghawri. They were mostly drawn from among the Cumans-Kipchaks who controlled the steppes north of the Black Sea. Many Bedouin women mourned his death. The role of a muhtasib was to inspect weights and measures and the quality of goods, maintain legal trade, and to remain vigilant of price gouging. [71] Most of his successors, except for an-Nasir Hasan (r. 13471351, 13541361) and al-Ashraf Sha'ban (r. 13631367), were sultans in name only, with the patrons of the leading mamluk factions holding actual power. [68], Khalil's death in 1293 led to period of factional struggle, with Khalil's prepubescent brother, an-Nasir Muhammad, being overthrown the following year by a Mongol mamluk of Qalawun, al-Adil Kitbugha, who in turn was succeeded by a Greek mamluk of Qalawun, Husam ad-Din Lajin. Mamluk sultans were known as Sultans of Egypt and Syria. [117], A wide range of Islamic religious expression existed in Egypt during the early Mamluk era, namely Sunni Islam and its major madhabs (schools of thought) and various Sufi orders, but also small communities of Ismai'li Shia Muslims,[118] particularly in Upper Egypt. [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. Mamluk Sultanate, 1317 CE Illustration by Ro4444 published on 13 September 2018 Download Full Size Image A map indicating the territory of the Mamluk Sultanate based in Cairo, 1317 CE. 1. Imported luxury goods from the east sometimes influenced local artistic vocabularies, as exemplified by the incorporation of Chinese motifs into both objects and architecture. 76-80 Seljuk Empire Mamluk Sultanate Delhi Sultanate Geographic Location and Dates they maintained powe r 11 century, Middle east North Africa 1250-1517 South Asia Social Social classes & social hierarchy Who has power in society? A state ruled by slave soldiers of predominantly Turkish, and later Circassian, origin from 1250 to 1517. [63] Construction of the hospital, a contrast from his Mamluk predecessors who focused on establishing madrasas, was done to gain the goodwill of the public, create a lasting legacy, and secure his spot in the afterlife. The Mamluks defeated the Mongolian Ilkhanate on multiple occasions, exhibiting their martial power and leading to a peace treaty in the 14th century. During the 7th Crusade, the widow Sultaness Shajar al-Durr sought a suitable marriage to consolidate her power. At one point, a Caliph was installed to provide legitimacy to their state. Art depicting a Mamluk horseback rider. The sultanate was established with the . Baibars attempts to expand into Mongol Territory The seventh Crusade begins [83] Coinciding with Hasan's first term,[84] in 13471348, the Bubonic Plague arrived in Egypt and other plagues followed, causing mass death in the country, which in turn led to major social and economic changes in the region. [151] It more or less involved the election of a sultan by a council of emirs and mamluks (who would give him an oath of loyalty), the sultan's assumption of the monarchical title al-malik, a state-organized procession through Cairo at the head of which was the sultan, and the reading of the sultan's name in the khutbah (Friday prayer sermon). [95] A major innovation to this system by Barquq was the division of Egypt into three provinces (niyabat) similar to the administrative divisions in Syria. [54] Despite an alliance with the Assassins in 1272, in July 1273, the Mamluks, who by then determined that the Assassins' independence was problematic, wrested control of the Assassins' fortresses in Jabal Ansariyah, including Masyaf. [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. Sign up to highlight and take notes. ", "Chapter Nineteen Bedouin and Mamluks in Egypt-Co-Existence in a State of Duality", "Chapter 7 Personal loyalty and political power of the Mamluks in the eighteenth century", "The Art of the Mamluk Period (12501517)", "The logistics of the Mamluk-Mongol war, with special reference to the Battle of Wadi'l-Khaznadar, 1299 C.E. Coloured glass had been common in the preceding Ayyubid period, but during the Mamluk period enamel and gilding became the most important techniques of decorating glass. "Slave-soldiers" who served the Islamic dynasties during the Medieval Era, meaning "one who is owned.". In an attempt to dislodge Aybak, the Bahriyyah petitioned an-Nasir Yusuf to claim the Ayyubid throne and invade Egypt, but an-Nasir Yusuf initially refused. But how did a former class of enslaved people come to the head of the Islamic world? [165] To bring further uniformity to the military, Baybars and Qalawun standardized the undefined Ayyubid policies regarding the distribution of iqtaat to emirs. [165], Gradually, as mamluks increasingly filled administrative and courtier posts within the state, Mamluk innovations to the Ayyubid hierarchy were developed. Then, Aybak's successor, another Mamluk commander named Qutuz, officially founded the Mamluk Sultanate in 1250 CE. [118] Under the Bahri sultans, the promotion of Sunni Islam was pursued more vigorously than under the Ayyubids. The halqa regiments declined in the 14th century when professional non-mamluk soldiers generally stopped joining the force. [100] Tatar died three months into his reign and was succeeded by Barsbay, another Circassian emir of Barquq, in 1422. [80] This unorthodox move, together with his seclusive and frivolous behavior and his execution of loyal partisans, ended with Ahmad's deposition and replacement by his half-brother as-Salih Ismail in June 1342. The Mamluks quickly rose from a caste of enslaved people to rulers within the Dar Al-Islam. [74] The latter situation applied to the sultans Baybars, Qalawun, the latter's son, an-Nasir Muhammad and Barquq, who formally arranged for one or more of their sons to succeed them. [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. [46] The new force was rigidly disciplined and highly trained in horsemanship, swordsmanship and archery. Muhammad Ali took advantage of Al-Alfi's death to try to assert authority over the Bedouins. [110] The Mamluks contributed to the expansion of Arabic in Egypt through their victory over the Mongols and the Crusaders and the subsequent creation of a Muslim haven in Egypt and Syria for Arabic-speaking immigrants from other conquered Muslim lands.