The Mamluk Sultanate

The Mamluk Sultanate, also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks (freed slave soldiers) headed by a sultan. The sultanate was established with the overthrow of the Ayyubid dynasty in Egypt in 1250 and was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1517. Mamluk history is generally divided into the Turkic or Bahri period (1250–1382) and the Circassian or Burji period (1382–1517), named after the predominant ethnicity or corps of the ruling Mamluks during these respective eras.

The first rulers of the sultanate hailed from the mamluk regiments of the Ayyubid sultan al-Salih Ayyub, usurping power from his successor in 1250. The Mamluks under Sultan Qutuz and Baybars routed the Mongols in 1260, halting their southward expansion. They then conquered or gained suzerainty over the Ayyubids' Syrian principalities. Baybars also reestablished the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs in Cairo, though their role was ceremonial. By the end of the 13th century, through the efforts of sultans Baybars, Qalawun and al-Ashraf Khalil, the Mamluks had conquered the Crusader states, expanded into Makuria (Nubia), Cyrenaica, the Hejaz, and southern Anatolia. The sultanate experienced a long period of stability and prosperity during the third reign of al-Nasir Muhammad, before giving way to the internal strife characterizing the succession of his sons, when real power was held by senior emirs.

One such emir, Barquq, overthrew the sultan in 1382 and again in 1390, inaugurating Burji rule. 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. Under Sultan Barsbay, major efforts were taken to replenish the treasury, particularly monopolization of trade with Europe and tax expeditions into the countryside. He also managed to impose Mamluk authority abroad, forcing Cyprus to submit in 1426. The sultanate stagnated after this. Sultan Qaitbay's long and competent reign ensured some stability, though it was marked by conflicts with the Ottomans. The last effective sultan was Qansuh al-Ghuri, whose reign was known for heavy-handed fiscal policies, attempted military reforms, and confrontations with the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean. In 1516, he was killed in battle against Ottoman sultan Selim I, who subsequently conquered Egypt in 1517 and ended Mamluk rule.

Under Mamluk rule, Cairo reached the peak of its size and wealth before the modern period, becoming one of the largest cities in the world at the time. The sultanate's economy was primarily agrarian, but its geographic position also placed it at the center of trade between Europe and the Indian Ocean. The Mamluks themselves relied on the iqta system to provide revenues. They were also major patrons of art and architecture: inlaid metalwork, enameled glass, and illuminated Qur'an manuscripts were among the high points of art, while Mamluk architecture still makes up much of the fabric of historic Cairo today and is found throughout their former domains.

The 'Mamluk Sultanate' is a modern historiographical term. Arabic sources for the period of the Bahri Mamluks refer to the dynasty as the 'State of the Turks' ( or ) or 'State of Turkey'. During Burji rule, it was also referred to as the 'State of the Circassians'. These names emphasized the ethnic origin of the rulers, and Mamluk writers did not explicitly highlight their status as slaves, except on rare occasions during the Circassian period.

Origins

The mamluk was a manumitted slave, distinguished from the, or household slave. After thorough training in martial arts, court etiquette and Islamic sciences, these slaves were freed but expected to remain loyal to their master and serve his household. Mamluks formed part of the military apparatus in Syria and Egypt since at least the 9th century, rising to become the Tulunid and Ikhshidid governing dynasties in these regions.

Mamluk regiments constituted the backbone of Egypt's military under Ayyubid rule, beginning under Sultan Saladin, who replaced the Fatimid Caliphate's black African infantry with mamluks. Each Ayyubid sultan and high-ranking emir had a private mamluk corps. 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. After their manumission, mamluks were given a position in either the courtly administration or the army.

The Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub had acquired about one thousand mamluks, who were called the Salihiyya (sing. 'Salihi') after their master. Upon his accession, he promoted the Salihiyya, provisioning them through confiscated (akin to fiefs; sing. ) from his predecessors' emirs and creating a loyal paramilitary apparatus so dominant that contemporaries viewed Egypt as "Salihi-ridden", according to historian Winslow William Clifford. While historian Stephen Humphreys asserts the Salihiyya's increasing dominance of the state did not personally threaten al-Salih due to their fidelity, Clifford believes the Salihiyya's autonomy fell short of such loyalty.

Rise to power

Conflict with the Ayyubids

In 1249, Louis IX of France captured Damietta during the Seventh Crusade. As the Crusaders advanced, al-Salih died and was succeeded by his Jazira (Upper Mesopotamia)-based son al-Mu'azzam Turanshah. Turanshah challenged the Salihiyya's dominance in the paramilitary apparatus by promoting his Kurdish retinue from the Jazira and Syria as a counterweight. On 11 February 1250, the Bahriyya (sing. Bahri), a junior regiment of the Salihiyya commanded by Baybars, defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of al-Mansura. On 6 April, Egypt's forces annihilated the Crusader army, capturing Louis IX. The victorious Turanshah promoted his own entourage and mamluks, the 'Mu'azzamiya', at the expense of the Salihiyya. On 2 May 1250, disgruntled Salihi emirs assassinated Turanshah at his camp in Fariskur.

An electoral college dominated by the Salihiyya convened to choose Turanshah's successor among the Ayyubid emirs, with opinion largely split between an-Nasir Yusuf of Damascus and al-Mughith Umar of al-Karak. Consensus settled on al-Salih's widow, Shajar al-Durr. She ensured the Salihiyya's paramilitary dominance and inaugurated patronage and kinship ties with them. She cultivated especially close ties with the Jamdari (pl. Jamdariyya) and Bahri corps. Her and the military's preference to preserve the Ayyubid state were evident when the army, supported by the Bahriyya and Jamdariyya, rebuffed the attempt of the Salihi mamluk and (commander of the military), Aybak, to monopolize power. The Bahriyya compelled Aybak to share power with al-Ashraf Musa, a grandson of Sultan al-Kamil.

Aybak was the main bulwark against the Bahri and Jamdari emirs, and his promotion as led to Bahri rioting in Cairo, the first of many intra-Salihi clashes about his ascendancy. The Bahriyya and Jamdariyya were represented by their patron, Faris al-Din Aktay, a principal organizer of Turanshah's assassination. Shajar al-Durr viewed Aktay as a counterweight to Aybak. Aybak moved against the Bahriyya by shutting their Roda headquarters in 1251 and assassinating Aktay in 1254. Afterward, Aybak purged the Salihiyya of dissidents, causing a temporary exodus of Bahri mamluks to Gaza.

Aybak was assassinated on 10 April 1257, possibly on orders from Shajar al-Durr, who was assassinated a week later. Their deaths left a power vacuum in Egypt, with Aybak's teenage son, al-Mansur Ali, as heir to the sultanate and Aybak's close aide, Sayf al-Din Qutuz, as strongman. The Bahriyya and al-Mughith Umar twice attempted to conquer Egypt in November 1257 and 1258 but were defeated. Qutuz deposed Ali in 1259 and purged or arrested the Mu'izziya and any remaining Bahri mamluks in Egypt to eliminate potential opposition. The surviving Mu'izzi and Bahri mamluks rallied around Baybars, who had established an opposing shadow state in Gaza.

While mamluk factions struggled over power, the Mongols under Hulagu Khan had sacked Baghdad, the intellectual and spiritual center of the Islamic world, in 1258, and proceeded westward, capturing Aleppo and Damascus. Qutuz sent reinforcements to his erstwhile Ayyubid enemy an-Nasir Yusuf in Syria, and reconciled with Baybars, who was allowed to return to Egypt, to face the common threat. With their unified army, Qutuz and Baybars entered Palestine and routed the Mongols under Kitbuqa at the Battle of Ain Jalut in September 1260. Afterward, the Mamluks conquered Damascus and other Syrian cities. Upon his triumphant return to Cairo, Qutuz was assassinated in a Bahri plot. Baybars then assumed power in October 1260, inaugurating Bahri rule.

Bahri rule (1250–1382)

Reign of Baybars

In 1263, Baybars deposed al-Mughith, thereby consolidating his authority over Islamic Syria. Baybars expanded the army from 10,000 cavalry to 40,000, with a 4,000-strong royal guard at its core. The new force was rigidly disciplined and highly trained in horsemanship, swordsmanship and archery. He established a (postal network) across Egypt and Syria, which entailed the wide scale building of roads and bridges along the route. His military and administrative reforms cemented the power of the Mamluk state. He diplomatically engaged the Mongols to stifle their potential alliance with Christian Europe, sow divisions between the Mongol Ilkhanate and Golden Horde empires, and maintain the flow of Turkic mamluks from Mongol-controlled Central Asia.

With his power consolidated by 1265, Baybars launched expeditions against the Crusader fortresses across Syria, capturing Arsuf in 1265, and Halba and Arqa in 1266. Baybars captured and destroyed fortresses along the Syrian coast to prevent their potential future use by new waves of Crusaders. He often established new cities further inland, irreversibly changing settlement patterns in the region, as was the case, for example, with Ascalon whose inhabitants were moved to al-Majdal Asqalan.

In August 1266, the Mamluks launched a punitive expedition against the Armenian Cilician Kingdom for its alliance with the Mongols, laying waste to numerous Armenian villages and significantly weakening the kingdom. At around the same time, Baybars captured Safed from the Knights Templar, and shortly after, Ramla, both cities in inner Palestine. Unlike the coastal fortresses, the Mamluks strengthened and utilized the inland cities as major garrisons and administrative centers. In 1268, the Mamluks captured Jaffa before conquering the Crusader stronghold of Antioch on 18 May. In 1271, Baybars captured the major Krak des Chevaliers fortress from the County of Tripoli. Despite an alliance with the Isma'ili Shia Assassins, in July 1273, the Mamluks, who by then considered the Assassins' independence problematic, wrested control of their fortresses in the Jabal Ansariya range, including Masyaf. In 1277, Baybars launched an expedition against the Ilkhanids, routing them in Elbistan in Anatolia, but withdrew to avoid overstretching his forces and risk being cut off from Syria by a larger incoming Ilkhanid army.

To Egypt's south, Baybars had initiated an aggressive policy toward the Christian Nubian kingdom of Makuria. In 1265, the Mamluks invaded northern Makuria, forcing the Nubian king into their vassalage. Around that time, the Mamluks had conquered the Red Sea areas of Suakin and the Dahlak Archipelago. In 1268, the Makurian king, David I, overthrew the Mamluks' vassal and in 1272, raided the Mamluk Red Sea port of Aydhab. In 1276, the Mamluks defeated King David of Makuria in the Battle of Dongola and installed their ally Shakanda as king. This brought the fortress of Qasr Ibrim under Mamluk suzerainty. The conquest of Nubia was not permanent and the process of invading the region and installing vassal kings was repeated by Baybars's successors. Nonetheless, Baybars' initial conquest led to the annual expectation of tribute from the Nubians by the Mamluks until the Makurian kingdom's demise in the mid-14th century. Furthermore, the Mamluks received the submission of King Adur of al-Abwab further south.

Baybars attempted to establish his Zahirid house as the state's ruling dynasty by appointing his four-year-old son al-Sa'id Baraka as co-sultan in 1264. This represented a break from the Mamluk tradition of choosing the sultan by merit rather than lineage. In July 1277, Baybars died en route to Damascus, and was succeeded by Baraka.

Early Qalawuni period

Baraka was ousted in a power struggle ending with Qalawun, a top deputy of Baybars, as sultan in November 1279. The Ilkhanids launched a massive offensive against Syria in 1281. The Mamluks were outnumbered by the 80,000-strong Ilkhanid-Armenian-Georgian-Seljuk coalition, but routed the coalition at the battle of Homs, confirming Mamluk dominance in Syria. The Ilkhanids' rout enabled Qalawun to proceed against Crusader holdouts in Syria and in May 1285, he captured and garrisoned the Marqab fortress.

Qalawun's early reign was marked by policies intended to garner support from the merchant class, the Muslim bureaucracy and the religious establishment. He eliminated the illegal taxes that burdened the merchants and commissioned extensive building and renovation projects for Islam's holiest sites, such as the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron. His building activities later shifted to more secular and personal purposes, including his large, multi-division hospital complex in Cairo. After the détente with the Ilkhanids, Qalawun suppressed internal dissent by imprisoning dozens of high-ranking emirs in Egypt and Syria. He diversified the hitherto mostly Turkic mamluk ranks by purchasing numerous non-Turks, particularly Circassians, forming out of them the Burjiyya regiment.

Qalawun was the last Salihi sultan and after his death in 1290, his son, al-Ashraf Khalil, drew legitimacy by emphasizing his lineage from Qalawun. Like his predecessors, Khalil's main priorities were organizing the state apparati, defeating the Crusaders and Mongols, integrating Syria, and preserving the flow of new mamluks and weaponry into the empire. Baybars had purchased 4,000 mamluks, Qalawun 6,000–7,000 and by the end of Khalil's reign, there was an estimated total of 10,000 mamluks in the sultanate. In 1291, Khalil captured Acre, the last major Crusader stronghold in Palestine and Mamluk rule consequently extended across all of Syria.

Khalil's death in 1293 led to a period of factional strife, with Khalil's prepubescent brother, al-Nasir Muhammad, being overthrown the following year by an ethnic Mongol mamluk of Qalawun, al-Adil Kitbugha, who in turn was succeeded by a Greek mamluk of Qalawun, Husam al-Din Lajin. To consolidate control, Lajin redistributed to his supporters. He was unable to keep power and al-Nasir Muhammad was restored as sultan in 1298, ruling over a fractious realm until being toppled by Baybars II, a Circassian mamluk of Qalawun, who was wealthier, and more pious and cultured than his immediate predecessors.

Early into al-Nasir Muhammad's second reign, the Ilkhanids, whose leader Mahmud Ghazan was a Muslim convert, had invaded Syria and routed a Mamluk army near Homs in the Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar in 1299. Ghazan largely withdrew from Syria shortly after and the residual Ilkhanid force retreated in 1300 at the approach of the rebuilt Mamluk army. Another Ilkhanid invasion in 1303 was repulsed after a Mamluk victory at the Battle of Marj al-Suffar in the plains south of Damascus.

Third reign of al-Nasir Muhammad

Baybars II ruled for roughly one year before al-Nasir Muhammad became sultan again in 1310, this time ruling for over three decades in a period often considered by historians to be the zenith of the Mamluk empire. To avoid the experiences of his previous two reigns where the mamluks of Qalawun and Khalil held sway and periodically assumed power, al-Nasir Muhammad established a centralized autocracy. In 1310, he imprisoned, exiled or killed any Mamluk emirs that supported those who toppled him in the past, including the Burji mamluks. He assigned to over thirty of his own mamluks. Initially, he left most of his father's mamluks undisturbed, but in 1311 and 1316, he imprisoned and executed most of them, and again redistributed to his own mamluks. By 1316, the number of mamluks decreased to 2,000. Al-Nasir Muhammad further consolidated power by replacing Caliph al-Mustakfi with his own appointee, al-Wathiq, as well as compelling the qadi (head judge) to issue legal rulings advancing his interests.

Under al-Nasir Muhammad, the Mamluks repulsed an Ilkhanid invasion of Syria in 1313 and concluded a peace treaty with the Ilkhanate in 1322, bringing a long-lasting end to the Mamluk–Mongol wars. Afterward, al-Nasir Muhammad ushered in a period of stability and prosperity through the enactment of major political, economic and military reforms ultimately intended to ensure his continued rule and consolidate the Qalawuni–Bahri regime. Concurrent with his reign was the disintegration of the Ilkhanate into several smaller dynastic states and the consequent Mamluk effort to establish diplomatic and commercial relationships with the new states. Amid conditions reducing the flow of mamluks from the Mongol territories to the sultanate, al-Nasir Muhammad compensated by adopting new methods of training, and military and financial advancement that introduced a great level of permissiveness. This led to relaxed conditions for new mamluks and encouraged the pursuit of military careers in Egypt by aspiring mamluks outside of the empire.

End of the Bahri regime

Al-Nasir Muhammad died in 1341 and his rule was followed by a succession of descendants in a period marked by political instability. Most of his successors, except for al-Nasir Hasan and al-Ashraf Sha'ban, were sultans in name only, with the patrons of the leading mamluk factions holding actual power. The first of al-Nasir Muhammad's sons to accede was al-Mansur Abu Bakr, who al-Nasir Muhammad designated as successor. Al-Nasir Muhammad's senior aide, Qawsun, held real power and imprisoned and executed Abu Bakr and had al-Nasir Muhammad's infant son, al-Ashraf Kujuk, appointed instead. By January 1342, Qawsun and Kujuk were toppled, and the latter's half-brother, al-Nasir Ahmad of al-Karak, was declared sultan. Ahmad relocated to al-Karak and left a deputy to govern in Cairo. This unorthodox arrangement, together with his seclusive and frivolous behavior and his execution of loyal partisans, ended with Ahmad's deposition and replacement by his half-brother al-Salih Isma'il in June 1342. Isma'il ruled until his death in August 1345, and was succeeded by his brother al-Kamil Sha'ban. The latter was killed in a mamluk revolt and was succeeded by his brother al-Muzaffar Hajji, who was also killed in a mamluk revolt in late 1347.

After Hajji's death, the senior emirs hastily appointed another son of al-Nasir Muhammad, the twelve-year-old al-Nasir Hasan. Coinciding with Hasan's first reign, in 1347–1348, the Bubonic Plague arrived in Egypt and other plagues followed, causing mass death in the country, which led to major social and economic changes in the region. In 1351, the senior emirs, led by Emir Taz, ousted and replaced Hasan with his brother, al-Salih Salih. The emirs Shaykhu and Sirghitmish deposed Salih and restored Hasan in 1355, after which Hasan gradually purged Taz, Shaykhu and Sirghitmish and their mamluks from his administration. Hasan recruited and promoted the (descendants of mamluks who did not undergo the enslavement/manumission process) in the military and administration, a process lasted for the remainder of the Bahri period. This caused resentment among Hasan's own mamluks, led by Emir Yalbugha al-Umari, who killed Hasan in 1361.

Yalbugha became regent to Hasan's successor, the young son of the late sultan Hajji, al-Mansur Muhammad. By then, mamluk solidarity and loyalty to the emirs had dissipated. To restore discipline and unity within the Mamluk state and military, Yalbugha revived the rigorous training of mamluks used under Baybars and Qalawun. In 1365, a Mamluk attempt to annex Armenia, which had since replaced Crusader Acre as the Christian commercial foothold of Asia, was stifled by an invasion of Alexandria by Peter I of Cyprus. The Mamluks concurrently experienced a deterioration of their lucrative position in international trade and the economy declined, further weakening the Bahri regime. Meanwhile, the harshness of Yalbugha's educational methods and his refusal to rescind his disciplinary reforms provoked a mamluk backlash. Yalbugha was killed by his mamluks in an uprising in 1366. The rebels were supported by Sultan al-Ashraf Sha'ban, who Yalbugha had installed in 1363. Sha'ban ruled as the real power in the sultanate until 1377, when he was killed by mamluk dissidents on his way to Mecca perform the Hajj.

Burji rule (1382–1517)

Reign of Barquq

Sha'ban was succeeded by his seven-year-old son al-Mansur Ali, though the oligarchy of the senior emirs held the reins of power. Among the senior emirs who rose to prominence under Ali were Barquq and Baraka, both Circassian mamluks of Yalbugha. Barquq was made in 1378, giving him command of the Mamluk army, which he used to oust Baraka in 1380. Ali died in May 1381 and was succeeded by his nine-year-old brother, al-Salih Hajji, with real power held by Barquq as regent. The next year, Barquq toppled al-Salih Hajji and assumed the throne.

His accession was enabled by Yalbugha's mamluks, whose corresponding rise to power left Barquq vulnerable. His rule was challenged by a revolt in Syria in 1389 by the Mamluk governors of Malatya and Aleppo, Mintash and Yalbugha al-Nasiri, the latter a mamluk of Yalbugha. The rebels took over Syria and headed for Egypt, prompting Barquq to abdicate in favor of al-Salih Hajji. The alliance between Yalbugha al-Nasiri and Mintash soon fell apart and factional fighting ensued in Cairo, with Mintash ousting Yalbugha. Barquq was arrested and exiled to al-Karak where he rallied support. In Cairo, Barquq's loyalists took the citadel and arrested al-Salih Hajji. This paved the way for Barquq's usurpation of the sultanate once more in February 1390, firmly establishing the Burji regime. The ruling Mamluks of this period were mostly Circassians drawn from the Christian population of the northern Caucasus.

Barquq solidified power in 1393, when his forces killed the major opponent to his rule, Mintash, in Syria. Barquq oversaw the mass recruitment of Circassians (estimated at 5,000 recruits) into the mamluk ranks and the restoration of the state's authority throughout its realm in the tradition of Baybars and Qalawun. A major innovation to this system was the division of Egypt into three (sing. ; provinces), similar to the administrative divisions in Syria. The new Egyptian were Alexandria, Damanhur and Asyut. Barquq instituted this to better control the Egyptian countryside from the rising strength of the Bedouin tribes. He further dispatched the Berber Hawwara tribesmen of the Nile Delta to Upper Egypt to check the Arab Bedouins.

During Barquq's reign, in 1387, the Mamluks had forced the Anatolian entity in Sivas to become a Mamluk vassal. Towards the end of the 14th century, challengers to the Mamluks emerged in Anatolia, including the Ottoman dynasty and the Turkmen allies of Timur, the Aq Qoyunlu and Qara Qoyunlu tribes of southern and eastern Anatolia.

Crises and restoration of state power

Barquq died in 1399 and was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son, an-Nasir Faraj. That year, Timur invaded Syria, sacking Aleppo and Damascus. Timur ended his occupation of Syria in 1402 to fight the Ottomans in Anatolia, whom he deemed a more dangerous threat. Faraj held onto power during this turbulent period, which, in addition to Timur's devastating raids, the rise of Turkmen tribes in the Jazira, and attempts by Barquq's emirs to topple Faraj, also saw a famine in Egypt in 1403, a severe plague in 1405 and a Bedouin revolt that practically ended Mamluk control of Upper Egypt between 1401 and 1413. Mamluk authority throughout the sultanate significantly eroded, while the capital Cairo underwent an economic crisis.

Faraj was toppled in 1412 by the Syria-based emirs, Tanam, Jakam, Nawruz and al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh, against whom Faraj had sent seven military expeditions. The emirs could not usurp the throne themselves, and had Caliph al-Musta'in installed as a puppet sultan; the caliph had the support of the non-Circassian mamluks and legitimacy with the local population. Six months later, Shakyh ousted al-Musta'in after neutralizing his main rival, Nawruz, and assumed the sultanate. Shaykh's main policy was restoring state authority within the empire, which experienced further plagues in 1415–1417 and 1420. Shaykh replenished the treasury through tax collection expeditions akin to raids across the empire to compensate the tax arrears that accumlated under Faraj. Shaykh also commissioned and led military campaigns against the Mamluks' enemies in Anatolia, reasserting the state's influence there.

Reign of Barsbay

Before Shaykh died in 1421, he attempted to offset the power of the Circassians by importing Turkish mamluks and installing a Turk as to serve as regent for his infant son Ahmad. After his death, a Circassian emir, Tatar, married Shaykh's widow, ousted the and assumed power. Tatar died three months into his reign and was succeeded by Barsbay, another Circassian emir of Barquq, in 1422. Under Barsbay, the Mamluk Sultanate reached its greatest territorial extent and was militarily dominant throughout the region, but his legacy was mixed in the eyes of contemporary commentators who criticized his fiscal methods and economic policies.

Barsbay pursued an economic policy of establishing state monopolies over the lucrative trade with Europe, particularly spices, at the expense of local merchants. European merchants were forced to buy spices from state agents who set prices that maximized revenue rather than promoting competition. This monopoly set a precedent for his successors, some of whom established monopolies over other goods such as sugar and textiles. Barsbay compelled Red Sea traders to offload their goods at the Mamluk-held Hejazi port of Jeddah rather than the Yemeni port of Aden to derive the greatest financial gain from the Red Sea transit route to Europe. Barsbay's efforts at monopolization and trade protection were meant to offset the severe financial losses of the agricultural sector due to the frequent recurring plagues that took a heavy toll on the farmers. In the long term, the monopoly over the spice trade had a negative effect on Egyptian commerce and became a motivation for European merchants to seek alternative routes to the east around Africa and across the Atlantic.

Barsbay undertook efforts protect the caravan routes to the Hejaz from Bedouin raids. He reduced the independence of the Sharifs of Mecca to a minimum, sent troops to occupy the Hejaz and rein in the Bedouin, and took direct control of much of the region's administration. He aimed to secure the Egyptian Mediterranean coast from Catalan and Genoese piracy. Related to this, he launched campaigns against Cyprus in 1425–1426, during which the island's Lusignan king, Janus, was taken captive, because of his alleged assistance to the pirates; the large ransoms paid to the Mamluks by the Cypriots allowed them to mint new gold coinage for the first time since the 14th century. Janus became Barsbay's vassal, an arrangement enforced on his successors for several decades after.

In response to Aq Qoyonlu raids against the Jazira, the Mamluks launched expeditions against them, sacking Edessa and massacring its Muslim inhabitants in 1429 and attacking their capital Amid in 1433. The Aq Qoyonlu consequently recognized Mamluk suzerainty. While the Mamluks succeeded in forcing the Anatolian beyliks to largely submit to their suzerainty, Mamluk authority in Upper Egypt was mostly relegated to the emirs of the Hawwara tribe. The latter had grown wealthy from their burgeoning trade with central Africa and achieved a degree of local popularity due to their piety, education and generally benign treatment of the inhabitants.

Successors of Barsbay

Barsbay died on 7 June 1438 and, per his wishes, was succeeded by his fourteen-year-old son, al-Aziz Yusuf, with a leading emir of Barsbay, Sayf al-Din Jaqmaq, appointed regent. The usual disputes over succession ensued and after three months Jaqmaq won and became sultan, exiling Yusuf to Alexandria. Jaqmaq maintained friendly relations with the Ottomans. His most important foreign military effort was an abortive campaign to conquer Rhodes from the Knights of St. John, involving three expeditions between 1440 and 1444. Domestically, Jaqmaq largely continued Barsbay's monopolies, though he promised to enact reforms and formally rescinded some tariffs. Jaqmaq died in February 1453. His eighteen-year-old son, al-Mansur Uthman, was installed on the throne but soon lost all support when he tried to buy the loyalty of other mamluks with debased coins.

Sayf al-Din Inal, who Barsbay had made his, won enough support to be declared sultan two months after Jaqmaq's death. He ruled when Mehmed II, the Ottoman sultan, conquered Constantinople in 1453 and ordered public celebrations to commemorate the event, much like the celebrations of a Mamluk victory. It is unclear whether Inal and the Mamluks understood the implications of this event. It marked the rise of the Ottomans as a superpower, a status that brought them into increasing conflict with the evermore stagnant Mamluk Sultanate. By then, the state was under severe financial stress and was selling off, depriving the treasury of their tax revenues. Coins based on precious metals nearly disappeared from circulation.

Inal died on 26 February 1461. His son, al-Mu'ayyad Ahmad, ruled for a short stint under challenges from the governors of Damascus and Jeddah. A compromise candidate, the Greek Khushqadam al-Mu'ayyadi, was then chosen and eventually neutralized his opposition. His reign was marked by further political difficulties abroad and domestically. Cyprus remained a vassal, but Khushqadam's representative was killed in battle after insulting James II (who had been installed by Inal). At home, Bedouin tribes caused unrest and the sultan's attempts to suppress the Labid tribe in the Nile Delta and against the Hawwara in Upper Egypt had little effect.

Reign of Qaitbay

Khushqadam died on 9 October 1467 and the mamluk emirs initially installed Yalbay al-Mu'ayyadi as his successor. After two months he was replaced by Timurbugha al-Zahiri. Timurbugha was deposed in turn on 31 January 1468, but voluntarily consented to the accession of his second in command, Qaitbay. Qaitbay's 28-year-long reign, the second longest in Mamluk history after al-Nasir Muhammad, was marked by relative stability and prosperity. Historical sources present a sultan whose character was markedly different from other Mamluk rulers. Notably, he disliked engaging in conspiracy, even though this had been a hallmark of Mamluk politics. He had a reputation for being even-handed and treating his colleagues and subordinates fairly, exemplified by his magnanimous treatment of the deposed Timurbugha. These traits seem to have kept internal tensions and conspiracies at bay throughout his reign. While the Mamluk practices of confiscation, extortion, and bribery continued in fiscal matters, under Qaitbay they were practiced in a more systematic way that allowed individuals and institutions to function within a more predictable environment. His engagement with the civil bureaucracy and the ulema (Islamic jurists and scholars) appeared to reflect a genuine commitment to Sunni Islamic law. He was one of the most prolific Mamluk patrons of architecture, second only to al-Nasir Muhammad, and his patronage of religious and civic buildings extended to the provinces beyond Cairo. Nonetheless, Qaitbay operated in an environment of recurring plague epidemics that underpinned a general population decline. Agriculture suffered, the treasury was often stretched thin, and by the end of his reign the economy was still weak.

The challenges to Mamluk dominance abroad were also mounting, particularly in Anatolia, where the Ottomans backed the Dulkadirids under Shah Suwar and Qaitbay supported the Karamanid principality under Ahmad. Shah Suwar was defeated in 1471 by a Mamluk expedition led by Qaitbay's top field commander, Yashbak min Mahdi. Qaitbay later had Shah Suwar executed and replaced by Shah Budaq as a Mamluk vassal and the Ottoman-Mamluk rivalry over the Dulkadirid throne continued. Qaitbay was afterward challenged by the Aq Qoyunlu, who launched an expedition into Mamluk territory around Aleppo in 1472, but were routed by Yashbak. Yashbak was killed the next year assisting an Aq Qoyunlu expedition against the Ottomans, depriving Qaitbay of his most important field commander.

In 1489, the Republic of Venice annexed Cyprus. The Venetians promised Qaitbay their occupation would benefit him as well, as their large fleet could better keep the peace in the eastern Mediterranean than the Cypriots. Venice also agreed to continue the Cypriots' yearly tribute of 8,000 ducats to Cairo. A treaty signed between the two powers in 1490 formalized this arrangement. It signaled the Mamluks were now depending partly on the Venetians for naval security.

With the death of Mehmed II in 1481 and the accession of his son, Bayezid II, to the Ottoman throne, Ottoman-Mamluk tensions escalated. Bayezid's claim to the throne was challenged by his brother, Jem. To The latter was granted sanctuary by Qaitbay in Cairo in September 1481, infuriating Bayezid. Qaitbay also supported the Dulkadirid leader, Ala al-Dawla (who had replaced Shah Budaq), against the Ottomans, but Ala al-Dawla was compelled to shift his loyalty to Bayezid or 1484, which soon triggered the start of an Ottoman–Mamluk war over the next six years. By 1491, both sides were exhausted and an Ottoman embassy arrived in Cairo in the spring. An agreement was concluded and the status quo ante bellum was reaffirmed. During the rest of Qaitbay's reign, no further external conflicts took place.

Reign of al-Ghuri

Qaitbay's death on 8 August 1496 inaugurated several years of instability. Eventually, following several brief reigns by other candidates, Qansuh al-Ghuri (or al-Ghawri) was placed on the throne in 1501. Al-Ghuri secured his position over several months and appointed new figures to key posts. His nephew, Tuman Bay was appointed and his second in command. In Syria, al-Ghuri appointed Sibay, a former rival who opposed him in 1504–1505, as governor of Damascus in 1506. The latter remained a major figure during his reign but he acknowledged Cairo's suzerainty and helped to keep the peace.

Al-Ghuri is often viewed negatively by historical commentators, particularly Ibn Iyas, for his draconic fiscal policies. He inherited a state beset by financial problems. In addition to the demographic and economic changes under his predecessors, changes in the organisation of the Mamluk military over time had also resulted in large numbers of soldiers feeling alienated and repeatedly threatening to revolt unless given extra payments, which drained the state's finances. To address the shortfalls, al-Ghuri resorted to heavy-handed and far-reaching taxation and extortion to refill the treasury, which elicited protests that were sometimes violent. He used the raised funds to repair fortresses throughout the region, to commission his own construction projects in Cairo, and to purchase a large number of new mamluks to fill his military ranks.

Al-Ghuri also attempted reforms of the Mamluk military. He recognized the impact of gunpowder technology used by the Ottomans and Europeans, but which the Mamluks had eschewed. In 1507, he established a foundry to produce cannons and created a new regiment trained to use them, known as the 'Fifth Corps'. The latter's ranks were filled by recruits from outside the traditional mamluk system, including Turkmens, Persians,, and craftsmen. The traditional mamluk army, however, regarded firearms with contempt and vigorously resisted their incorporation into Mamluk warfare, which prevented al-Ghuri from making effective use of them until the end of his reign.

In the meantime, Shah Ismail I had emerged in 1501 and forged the Safavid Empire in Iran. The Safavids styled themselves as champions of Twelver Shi'ism, in direct opposition to the Sunnism of the Mamluks and Ottomans. Tensions along this frontier encouraged al-Ghuri to rely more on the Ottomans for aid, a policy that the Venetians ultimately also urged him to follow in order to counter their common foe, the Portuguese.

The latter's expansion into the Indian Ocean was one of the major concerns of al-Ghuri's time. In 1498, the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama had circumnavigated Africa and reached India, thus opening a new route for European trade with the east which bypassed the Middle East. This posed a serious threat to Muslim commerce, which was dominant in the area, as well as to the prosperity of Venice, which relied on trade passing from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean through Mamluk lands. For over more than a decade, a series of confrontations took place between Portuguese forces in the Indian Ocean and Muslim expeditions sent against them. A Mamluk fleet of fifty ships left from Jeddah in 1506, with assistance of forces from the Gujarat Sultanate. It defeated the Portuguese in 1507 but lost at the Battle of Diu in 1509. In 1515, a joint Ottoman-Mamluk fleet set out under the leadership of Salman Ra'is, but ultimately it did not accomplish much.

Fall to the Ottomans

Selim I, the new Ottoman sultan, defeated the Safavids decisively at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514. Soon after, he attacked and defeated the Dulkadirids, a Mamluk vassal, for refusing to aid him against the Safavids. Secure now against Ismail I, in 1516 he drew together a great army aiming at conquering Egypt, but to obscure the fact he presented the mobilisation of his army as being part of the war against Ismail I. The war started in 1516 which led to the later incorporation of Egypt and its dependencies in the Ottoman Empire, with Mamluk cavalry proving no match for the Ottoman artillery and the janissaries. On 24 August 1516, at the Battle of Marj Dabiq, the Ottomans were victorious against an army led by al-Ghuri himself. Khayr Bak, the governor of Aleppo, had secretly conspired with Selim and betrayed al-Ghuri, leaving with his troops part-way during the battle. In the subsequent chaos, al-Ghuri was killed. The surviving Mamluk forces returned to Aleppo but were denied entry to the city and marched back to Egypt, harassed along the way. Syria passed into Ottoman possession, and the Ottomans were welcomed in many places as deliverance from the Mamluks.

The Mamluk Sultanate survived a little longer until 1517. Tuman Bay, whom al-Ghuri had left as deputy in Cairo, was hastily and unanimously proclaimed sultan on 10 October 1516. The emirs rejected his plan to confront the next Ottoman advance at Gaza, so instead he prepared a final defense at al-Raydaniyya to the north of Cairo. In the early days of 1517, Tuman Bay received news that a Mamluk army was defeated at Gaza. The Ottoman attack at al-Raydaniyya overwhelmed the defenders on 22 January 1517 and reached Cairo. Over the following days, furious fighting continued between Mamluks, locals, and Ottomans, resulting in much damage to the city and three days of pillaging. Selim proclaimed an amnesty on 31 January, at which point many of the remaining Mamluks surrendered. Tuman Bay fled to Bahnasa in Middle Egypt with some of his remaining forces.

Selim initially offered the Mamluk sultan peace as an Ottoman vassal, but his messengers were intercepted and killed by mamluks. Tuman Bay, with 4,000 cavalry and some 8,000 infantry, confronted the Ottomans in a final bloody battle near Giza on 2 April 1517, where he was defeated and captured. Selim intended to spare him, but Khayr Bak and Janbirdi al-Ghazali, another former Mamluk commander, persuaded the Ottoman sultan that Tuman Bay was too dangerous to keep alive. Accordingly, the last Mamluk sultan was executed by hanging at Bab Zuwayla, one of Cairo's gates, on 13 April 1517. In reward for his betrayal at Marj Dabiq, Selim installed Khayr Bak as Ottoman governor of Egypt. Janbirdi was appointed governor of Damascus.

Mamluks under Ottoman rule

While the Mamluk Sultanate ceased to exist with the Ottoman conquest and the recruitment of Royal Mamluks ended, the mamluks as a military-social class survived. They constituted a "self-perpetuating, largely Turkish-speaking warrior class" that continued to influence politics under Ottoman rule. They existed as military units in parallel with the more strictly Ottoman regiments like the janissaries and the s. The difference between these Ottoman regiments and the Egyptian mamluk regiments became blurred over time as intermarriage became common, resulting in a more mixed social class.

During this period, a number of mamluk 'households' formed, with a complex composition including both true mamluks and, who could also rise to high ranks. Each household was headed by an, who could be an Ottoman officer or a local civilian. Their patronage extended to include retainers recruited from other Ottoman provinces as well as allies among the local urban population and tribes. Up to the early 17th century, the vast majority of Egyptian mamluks were still of Caucasian or Circassian origin. In the later 17th and 18th centuries, mamluks from other parts of the Ottoman Empire or its frontiers, such as Bosnia and Georgia, began to appear in Egypt.

Throughout the Ottoman period, powerful mamluk households and factions struggled for control of important political offices and of Egypt's revenues. Between 1688 and 1755, mamluk beys, allied with Bedouin and factions within the Ottoman garrison, deposed at least thirty-four governors. The mamluks remained a dominating force in Egyptian politics until their final elimination at the hands of Muhammad Ali following the Egyptian civil war in 1811.

Language

By the time the Mamluks took power, Arabic had already been established as the language of religion, culture and the bureaucracy in Egypt, and was widespread among non-Muslim communities there as well. Arabic's wide usage among Muslim and non-Muslim commoners had likely been motivated by their aspiration to learn the language of the ruling and scholarly elite. Another contributing factor was the wave of Arab tribal migration to Egypt and subsequent intermarriage between Arabs and the indigenous population. 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. The continuing invasions of Syria by Mongol armies led to further waves of Syrian immigrants, including scholars and artisans, to Egypt.

Although Arabic was used as the administrative language of the sultanate, a variety of Kipchak Turkic, namely the Mamluk-Kipchak language was the spoken language of the Mamluk ruling elite. 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." According to historian Michael Winter, Turkishness was the distinctive aspect of the Mamluk ruling elite, for only they knew how to speak Turkish and had Turkish names. While the Mamluk elite was ethnically diverse, those who were not Turkic in origin were Turkicized nonetheless. As such, the ethnically Circassian mamluks who gained prominence with the rise of the Burji regime and became the dominant ethnic element of the government, were educated in the Turkish language and were considered to be Turks by the Arabic-speaking population. Kipchak Turkish was also used in writing, but to a lesser extent than Arabic and mainly for a mamluk audience. Over time, it was replaced in this role by Oghuz Turkish due to the growing influence of Turkish Anatolia.

The ruling military elite of the sultanate was exclusive to those of mamluk background, with rare exceptions. Ethnicity served as a major factor separating the mostly Turkic or Turkicized Mamluk elite from their Arabic-speaking subjects. Ethnic origin was a key component of an individual mamluk's identity, and ethnic identity manifested itself through given names, dress, access to administrative positions and was indicated by a sultan's. The sons of mamluks, known as the, did not typically hold positions in the military elite and instead, were often part of the civilian administration or the Muslim religious establishment. Among the Bahri sultans and emirs, there existed a degree of pride of their Kipchak Turkish roots, and their non-Kipchak usurpers such as sultans Kitbuqa, Baybars II and Lajin were often de-legitimized in the Bahri-era sources for their non-Kipchak origins. The Mamluk elites of the Burji period were also apparently proud of their Circassian origins.

Religion

Muslim community

A wide range of Islamic religious expression existed in Egypt during the early Mamluk era, namely Sunni Islam and its major s (schools of jurisprudence) and different Sufi orders, but also small communities of Ismai'li Shia Muslims, particularly in Upper Egypt. There remained a significant minority of Coptic Christians. Under Saladin, the Ayyubids embarked on a program of reviving and strengthening Sunni Islam in Egypt to counter Christianity, which had been reviving under the religiously benign rule of the Fatimids, and Isma'ilism, the branch of Islam of the Fatimid state. Under the Bahri sultans, the promotion of Sunni Islam was pursued more vigorously than under the Ayyubids. The Mamluks were motivated by personal piety or political expediency for Islam was both an assimilating and unifying factor between the Mamluks and the majority of their subjects; the early mamluks had been brought up as Sunni Muslims and the Islamic faith was the only aspect of life shared between the Mamluk ruling elite and its subjects. While the precedent set by the Ayyubids highly influenced the Mamluk state's embrace of Sunni Islam, the circumstances in the Muslim Middle East in the aftermath of the Crusader and Mongol invasions also left Mamluk Egypt as the last major Islamic power able to confront the Crusaders and the Mongols. Thus, the early Mamluk embrace of Sunni Islam also stemmed from the pursuit of a moral unity within their realm based on the majority views of its subjects.

The Mamluks cultivated and utilized Muslim leaders to channel the religious feelings of their Muslim subjects in a manner that did not disrupt the sultanate's authority. Similar to their Ayyubid predecessors, the Bahri sultans favored the Shafi'i, while additionally promoting the other major Sunni s, namely the Maliki, Hanbali and Hanafi. Baybars ended the Ayyubid and early Mamluk tradition of selecting a Shafi'i scholar as (chief judge) and instead appointed a from each of the four s. This policy was partly motivated to accommodate an increasingly diverse Muslim population whose components had immigrated to Egypt from regions where other s prevailed. The diffusion of the post of enabled Mamluk sultans to patronize each and gain more influence over them. Nevertheless, the Shafi'i scholars kept a number of privileges over their counterparts.

The Mamluks embraced the Sufi orders in the empire. Sufism was widespread in Egypt by the 13th century, and the Shadhiliyya was the most popular order. The Shadhiliyya lacked an institutional structure and was flexible in its religious thought, allowing it to easily adapt to its local environment. It incorporated Sunni Islamic piety with its basis in the Qur'an and hadith, Sufi mysticism, and elements of popular religion such as sainthood, (visitation) to the tombs of saintly or religious individuals, and (invocation of God). Other Sufi orders with large numbers of adherents were the Rifa'iyya and Badawiyya. While the Mamluks patronized the Sunni ulema through appointments to government office, they patronized the Sufis by funding s (Sufi lodges). On the other end of the spectrum of Sunni religious expression were the teachings of the Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya, which emphasized stringent moral rigor based on literal interpretations of the Qur'an and the Sunna, and a deep hostility to the aspects of mysticism and popular religious innovations promoted by the Sufis. While Ibn Taymiyya was not a typical representative of Sunni orthodoxy in the sultanate, he was the most prominent Muslim scholar of the Mamluk era and arrested several times by the Mamluks for his religious teachings, which are still influential in the modern Muslim world. Ibn Taymiyya's doctrines were regarded as heretical by the Sunni establishment patronized by the Mamluks.

Christian and Jewish communities

Christians and Jews in the empire were governed by the dual authority of their respective religious institutions and the sultan. The authority of the former extended to many of the everyday aspects of Christian and Jewish life and was not restricted to the religious practices of the two communities. The Mamluk government, often under the official banner of the Pact of Umar which gave Christians and Jews (protected peoples) status, determined the taxes paid by Christians and Jews, including the jizya (poll tax on non-Muslims), permission to construct houses of worship, and the public appearance of Christians and Jews. Jews generally fared better than Christians, and the latter experienced more difficulties under the Mamluks than their Muslim predecessors. The association of Christians with the Mongols, due to the latter's use of Armenian and Georgian Christian auxiliaries, the attempted alliance between the Mongols and the Crusader powers, and the massacres of Muslim communities and the sparing of Christians in cities captured by the Mongols, contributed to rising anti-Christian sentiments in the Mamluk era. The manifestations of anti-Christian hostility were mostly spearheaded at the popular level rather than by the Mamluk sultans. The main source of popular hostility was resentment at the privileged positions many Christians held in the Mamluk bureaucracy.

The Coptic decline in Egypt occurred under the Bahri sultans and accelerated further under the Burji regime. There were several instances of Egyptian Muslim protests against the wealth of Copts and their employment with the state, and both Muslim and Christian rioters burned down each other's houses of worship during intercommunal clashes. As a result of popular pressure, Copts had their employment in the bureaucracy terminated at least nine times between the late 13th and mid-15th centuries, and on one occasion, in 1301, the government ordered the closure of all churches. Coptic bureaucrats were often restored to their positions after tensions passed. Many Copts were forced to convert to Islam or at least adopted outward expressions of Muslim faith to protect their employment and avoid the jizya and official measures against them. A large wave of Coptic conversions to Islam occurred in the 14th century, as a result of persecution, destruction of churches, and to retain employment. By the end of the Mamluk period, the ratio of Muslims to Christians in Egypt may have risen to 10:1.

In Syria, the Mamluks uprooted the local Maronite and Greek Orthodox Christians from the coastal areas to prevent their contact with European powers. The Maronite Church was especially suspected by the Mamluks of collaboration with the Europeans due to the close relations between the Maronite Church and the papacy in Rome and the Christian European powers, particularly Cyprus. The Greek Orthodox Church declined after the Mamluk destruction of its spiritual center, Antioch, and the Timurid destruction of Aleppo and Damascus in 1400. The Syriac Christians also significant declined in Syria due to intra-communal disputes over patriarchal succession and the destruction of churches by the Timurids or local Kurdish tribes. The Mamluks inaugurated a similar decline of the Armenian Orthodox Church after their conquest of the Cilicia in 1374, in addition to the raids of the Timurids in 1386 and the conflict between the Timurids and the Aq Qoyunlu and Kara Qoyonlu tribal confederations in Cilicia.

Bedouin relationship with the state

Bedouins were a reserve force in the Mamluk military. During the third reign of al-Nasir Muhammad, the Bedouin tribes, particularly those of Syria, such as the Al Fadl, were strengthened and integrated into the economy. Bedouin tribes were also a major supplier of the Mamluk cavalry's Arabian horses. Qalawun purchased horses from the Bedouin of Barqa, which were inexpensive but of high quality, while al-Nasir Muhammad spent extravagantly for horses from Bedouins in Barqa, Syria, Iraq and Bahrayn (eastern Arabia).

Baybars and Qalawun, and the Syrian viceroys of al-Nasir Muhammad during his first two reigns, emirs Salar and Baybars II, were averse to granting Bedouin sheikhs, and when they did, the were of low quality. During al-Nasir Muhammad's third reign, the Al Fadl were granted high-quality in abundance, strengthening the tribe to become the most powerful among the Bedouin of the Syrian Desert. Beyond his personal admiration of the Bedouin, al-Nasir Muhammad's distributed to the Al Fadl to prevent their defection to the Ilkhanate, which the Al Fadl had frequently done during the early 14th century. Competition over and the post of (chief commander of the Bedouin) in Syria, led to conflict and rebellion among the tribes, leading to mass bloodshed in Syria in the aftermath of al-Nasir Muhammad's death. The Mamluk leadership in Syria, weakened by the losses of the Black Plague, was unable to quell the Bedouin through military expeditions, so they resolved to assassinate the chiefs of the tribes. The Al Fadl eventually lost favor, to the advantage of the Bedouin tribes around al-Karak under later Bahri sultans.

In Egypt, during al-Nasir Muhammad's third reign, the Mamluks had a similar relationship with the Bedouin. The Isa Ibn Hasan al-Hajjan tribe became powerful there after being assigned massive. The tribe remained strong after al-Nasir Muhammad's death, but frequently rebelled against the succeeding Bahri sultans. They were restored after each rebellion, before the tribe's sheikh was finally executed in 1353. In Sharqiya in Lower Egypt, the Tha'laba tribes were entrusted to supervise the postal routes, but were often unreliable and joined the Al A'id tribe during their raids. Bedouin tribal wars frequently disrupted trade and travel in Upper Egypt, and destroyed cultivated lands and sugar processing plants. In the mid-14th century, the rival Arak and Banu Hilal tribes of Upper Egypt, became de facto rulers of the region, forcing the Mamluks to rely on them for tax collection. The Bedouin were purged from Upper and Lower Egypt by the campaigns of Shaykhu in 1353.

The Mamluks did not significantly alter the administrative, legal and economic systems they inherited from the Ayyubid state. The Mamluk ruled over essentially the same territory of the Ayyubid state, i.e. Egypt, Syria and the Hejaz. Unlike the collective sovereignty of the Ayyubids, where territory was divided among members of the royal family, the Mamluk state was unitary. Under many Ayyubid sultans, Egypt had paramountcy over the Syrian provinces, but under the Mamluks this paramountcy was consistent and absolute. Cairo remained the capital of the empire and its social, economic and administrative center, with the Citadel of Cairo serving as the sultan's headquarters.

Authority of the sultan

The Mamluk sultan was the supreme government authority, while he delegated power to provincial governors known as (deputy sultans, sing. ). The vice-regent of Egypt was the top, followed by the of Damascus, then Aleppo, then the of al-Karak, Safed, Tripoli, Homs and Hama. In Hama, the Mamluks permitted the Ayyubids to continue governing until 1341 (its popular governor in 1320, Abu'l Fida, was granted the honorary title of sultan by al-Nasir Muhammad), but otherwise the of the provinces were mamluk emirs.

A consistent accession process occurred with every new sultan. It mostly involved an election by a council of emirs and mamluks (who would proffer an oath of loyalty), the sultan's assumption of the regal title, a state-organized procession through Cairo led by the sultan, and the reading of the sultan's name in the (Friday prayer sermon). The process was not formalized and the electoral body never defined, but typically consisted of the emirs and mamluks of whichever Mamluk faction held sway; usurpations of the throne by rival factions were relatively common. Despite the electoral nature of accession, dynastic succession was nonetheless a reality at times, especially during the Bahri period, where Baybars' sons Baraka and Solamish succeeded him, before Qalawun usurped the throne and was thereafter succeeded by four generations of direct descendants, with occasional interruptions. Hereditary rule was much less frequent under the Burji regime. Nonetheless, with rare exception, the Burji sultans were all linked to the regime's founder Barquq through blood or mamluk affiliation. The accession of blood relatives to the sultanate was often the result of the decision or indecision of leading Mamluk emirs or the will of the preceding sultan. The latter situation applied to the sultans Baybars, Qalawun, the latter's son, al-Nasir Muhammad and Barquq, who formally arranged for one or more of their sons to succeed them. More often than not, the sons of sultans were elected by the senior emirs with the intention that they serve as convenient figureheads presiding over an oligarchy of the emirs.

Lesser-ranked emirs viewed the sultan as a peer whom they entrusted with ultimate authority and as a benefactor whom they expected to guarantee their salaries and monopoly on the military. When emirs felt the sultan was not ensuring their benefits, disruptive riots, coup plots or delays to calls for service were all likely scenarios. Often, the practical restrictions on a sultan's power came from his own, defined by historian Amalia Levanoni as "the fostering of a common bond between mamluks who belonged to the household of a single master and their loyalty towards him." The foundation of Mamluk organization and factional unity was based on the principles of, which was a crucial component of a sultan's authority and power. The sultan also derived power from other emirs, with whom there was constant tension, particularly in peacetime. According to Holt, the factious nature of emirs who were not the sultan's stemmed from their primary loyalty being to their. Emirs who were part of the sultan's also rebelled at times, particularly the of Syria who had power bases in their provinces. Typically, the faction most loyal to the sultan were the Royal Mamluks, particularly those whom the sultan had personally recruited and manumitted, as opposed to the s, who were recruited by his predecessors. The s occasionally constituted a hostile faction, such as with as-Salih Ayyub and the Qalawuni successors of al-Nasir Muhammad.

Among the sultan's 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 empire and, in some cases, overseeing the investigation and punishment of alleged criminals. The sultan or his appointees led the Hajj caravans from Cairo and Damascus to Mecca in the capacity of (commander of the Hajj caravan). Starting with Qalawun, the sultans monopolized the provision of the (mantle) that was annually draped over the Kaaba, in addition to patronizing Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock. Another prerogative, at least of the early Bahri sultans, was to import as many mamluks as possible, preferably those from the territories of the Mongols. The Mamluks' enemies, namely the Mongol states and their Muslim vassals, the Armenians, and the Crusaders, disrupted the flow of mamluks to the sultanate. Unable to meet the military's need for new mamluks, the sultans often resorted to recruiting (Ilkhanid deserters or prisoners of war).

Role of the caliph

To legitimize their rule, the Mamluks presented themselves as the defenders of Islam, and, beginning with Baybars, sought confirmation of their executive authority from a caliph. The Ayyubids had owed their allegiance to the Abbasid Caliphate, but the latter was destroyed when the Mongols sacked the Abbasid capital Baghdad in 1258 and killed Caliph al-Musta'sim. Three years later, Baybars reestablished the institution of the caliphate by making a member of the Abbasid dynasty, al-Mustansir, caliph, who in turn confirmed Baybars as sultan. The caliph recognized the sultan's authority over Egypt, Syria, the Jazira, Diyar Bakr, the Hejaz and Yemen and any territory conquered from the Crusaders or Mongols.

Al-Mustansir's Abbasid successors continued in their official capacity as caliphs, but held no real power. The less than year-long reign of Caliph al-Musta'in as sultan in 1412 was an anomaly. In an anecdotal testament to the caliph's lack of real authority, a group of rebellious mamluks responded to Lajin's presentation of the Caliph al-Hakim's decree asserting Lajin's authority with the following comment, recorded by Ibn Taghribirdi: "Stupid fellow. For God's sake—who pays any heed to the caliph now?"

The Abbasid presence was nonetheless an important political asset for the legitimacy of the Mamluk rulers and conferred significant prestige on them. The caliphs themselves also continued to be relevant figureheads even to other Muslim rulers until the end of the 14th century; for example, the sultans of Delhi, the Muzaffarid sultan Muhammad, the Jalayirid sultan Ahmad, and the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I all sought diplomas of investiture from the Abbasid caliphs or declared nominal allegiance to them. During the 15th century, however, the institution of the caliphate declined in importance and the caliphs became little more than religious dignitaries who visited the sultan on special occasions. Among other changes, this was exemplified by a shift in the caliph's ceremonial role during the accession of a Mamluk sultan to power: whereas Baybars formally pledged an oath of allegiance (bay'ah) to the Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir in 1261, some or most later caliphs formally performed a pledge of allegiance to the Mamluk sultan instead.

Military and administrative hierarchy

The sultans were products of the military hierarchy, entry into which was essentially restricted to mamluks. could enter and rise high within the hierarchy, but typically did not enter military service. Instead, many entered into mercantile, scholastic or other civilian careers. The army Baybars inherited consisted of Kurdish and Turkic tribesmen, refugees from the Ayyubid armies of Syria, and other troops from armies dispersed by the Mongols. After the Battle of Ain Jalut, Baybars restructured the army into three components: the Royal Mamluk regiment, the soldiers of the emirs, and the (non-mamluk soldiers). The Royal Mamluks, were under the direct command of the sultan and the highest-ranking body within the army, entry into which was exclusive. The lower-ranking emirs had their own corps, akin to private armies, which were also mobilized by the sultan as needed. As emirs were promoted, the number of soldiers in their corps increased, and when rival emirs challenged each other's authority, they often utilized their forces, leading to major disruptions of civilian life. The had inferior status to the mamluk regiments. It had its own administrative structure and was under the direct command of the sultan. The regiments declined in the 14th century when professional non-mamluk soldiers generally stopped joining the force.

One of Baybars's early reforms was creating a clear and permanent hierarchy, a system which the Ayyubids had lacked. To that end, he established a ranking system for emirs of ten, forty and one hundred, each indicating the number of mamluks assigned to an emir's command. An emir of one hundred could further be assigned one thousand mounted soldiers during battle. Baybars instituted uniformity within the army and ended the improvised nature of the Ayyubid forces in Egypt and Syria. Baybars and Qalawun standardized the undefined Ayyubid policies of distributing to emirs. This reform created a clear link between an emir's rank and the size of his. Baybars started biweekly inspections of the troops to verify sultanic orders were implemented, in addition to the periodic inspections where he distributed new arms to the troops. Beginning under Qalawun, the sultan and the military administration recorded all emirs in the empire and defined their roles as part of the right or left flanks of the army during wartime.

Gradually, as mamluks filled administrative and courtier posts within the state, Mamluk innovations to the Ayyubid hierarchy were developed. The offices of (majordomo), (chamberlain), (commander of the arsenal) and (treasurer), which existed during the Ayyubid period, were preserved, but Baybars added the offices of (secretary or adviser), (commander of the royal stables), (chief of the mamluk corps) and (commander of the audience). These additional offices were largely ceremonial posts and were closely connected to the military hierarchy.

The (from the Arabic, ) was the sultan's chief of staff, responsible for organizing the royal court's daily activities, managing the sultan's personal budget, and supervising all of the buildings of the Citadel of Cairo and its staff. The was often referred to as the (grand master of the house) to distinguish from his subordinate s (lesser majordomos) who oversaw specific aspects of the court and citadel, such as the sultan's treasury, private property, and the kitchens of the citadel. Emirs had their own s. The became a powerful office in the late 14th century, particularly under Barquq and al-Nasir Faraj, who transferred the responsibilities of the special bureau for their mamluks to the authority of the, turning the latter into the state's chief financial official.

The Mamluk economy essentially consisted of two spheres: the state economy, which was organized like an elite household and controlled by the caste government headed by the sultan, and the free market economy, which was the domain of society and associated with the local subjects, in contrast to the ethnic outsiders of the ruling elite. The Mamluks introduced greater centralization of the economy by organizing the state bureaucracy in Cairo (Damascus and Aleppo already had organized bureaucracies), and the military hierarchy and its associated system. In Egypt, the centrality of the Nile River facilitated Mamluk centralization of the region. The Mamluks used the same currency system as the Ayyubids, consisting of gold dinars, silver dirhams and copper fulus. The monetary system during the Mamluk period was highly unstable due to frequent monetary changes enacted by the sultans. Increased circulation of copper coins and the increased use of copper in dirhams often led to inflation.

The Mamluks created an administrative body called the to supervise the market, with a (inspector-general) in charge. There were four s based in Cairo, Alexandria, al-Fustat and Lower Egypt. The in Cairo was the most important and his position akin to a finance minister. The muhtasib inspected weights and measures and the quality of goods, maintained legal trade, and detected price gouging. A qadi or Muslim scholar occupied the post, but in the 15th century, mamluk emirs began to be appointed as to recompense them during cash shortages or as a result of the gradual shift of the 's role from the legal realm to enforcement.

system

The system was inherited from the Ayyubids and further organized under the Mamluks to fit their military needs. were a central component of the Mamluk power structure. The of the Muslims differed from the European concept of fiefs in that the represented a right to collect revenue from a fixed territory and was accorded to an officer (an emir) as income and a financial source to provision his soldiers. Before the Mamluks' rise, there was a growing tendency of holders to treat their as personal, heritable property. The Mamluks effectively ended this, with the exception of some areas, mainly in Mount Lebanon, where longtime Druze holders (see Buhturids), who became part of the, successfully resisted the abolition of their hereditary. In the Mamluk era, the was an emir's main income source, and starting in 1337, holders sometimes leased or sold rights to their to non-mamluks to extract more profits. By 1343, the practice was commonplace and by 1347, the sale of became taxed. The was a more stable revenue source than other methods the Mamluks employed, such as tax hikes, the sale of administrative offices, and extortion of the population. According to historian Jo van Steenbergen, The system was fundamental in assuring a legitimized, controlled and guaranteed access to the resources of the Syro-Egyptian realm to an upper level of Mamluk society that was primarily military in form and organization. As such it was a fundamental feature of Mamluk society, on the one hand giving way to a military hierarchy that crystallized into an even more developed economic hierarchy and that had substantial economic interests in society at large; on the other hand, it deeply characterized the realm's economic and social development, its agriculture, grain trade, and rural demography in particular.

The system consisted of land assignments from the state in return for military services. Land was assessed by the periodic (cadastral survey), which was a survey of land parcels (measured by units), assessment of land quality, and the annual estimated tax revenue of the parcels, and classification of a parcel's legal status as (endowment) or. The organized the system and the first was carried out in 1298 under Lajin. A second and final was completed in 1315 under al-Nasir Muhammad and influenced political and economic developments of the Mamluk Sultanate until its fall in the early 16th century.

Gradually, the system was expanded, and increasingly larger areas of (taxable lands) were appropriated as lands to meet the fiscal needs of the military, namely payment of emirs and their subordinates. The state resolved to increase allotments by dispersing an emir's across several provinces and for short terms. This led to holders neglecting the administrative oversight, maintenance, and infrastructure of their, and concentrating solely on collecting taxes, resulting in less productivity.

Agriculture

Agriculture was the primary source of revenue in the Mamluk economy. Agricultural products were the main exports of Mamluk Egypt, Syria and Palestine. Moreover, the major industries of sugar and textile production depended on crops (sugar cane and cotton). Every agricultural commodity was taxed by the state, with the sultan's treasury taking the largest share of the revenues; emirs and major private brokers followed. An emir's main source of income were the agricultural products of his.

In Egypt, Mamluk centralization of agricultural production was more thorough than in Syria and Palestine. All agriculture in Egypt depended on a single source of irrigation, the Nile, and the measures and rights to irrigation were determined by the river's flooding, whereas in Syria and Palestine, there were multiple sources of mostly rain-fed irrigation, and measures and rights were determined at the local level. Centralization in Syria and Palestine was also more complicated than in Egypt due to the diversity of those regions' geography and their frequent invasions. The state's role in Syro-Palestinian agriculture was restricted to the fiscal administration and to the irrigation networks and other rural infrastructure. Although the degree of centralization was not as high as in Egypt, the Mamluks imposed sufficient control over the Syrian economy to derive significant revenues. The maintenance of the Mamluk army in Syria relied on the state's control over Syrian agricultural revenues.

Among the responsibilities of a Mamluk provincial or district governor were repopulating abandoned areas to foster agricultural production, protecting the lands from Bedouin raids, increasing productivity in barren lands (likely through the upkeep and expansion of existing irrigation networks), and devoting special attention to the cultivation of the more arable low-lying regions. To ensure rural life was undisturbed by Bedouin raiding, which disrupted agricultural work or damaged crops and agrarian infrastructure and thus decreased revenues, the Mamluks attempted to prevent Bedouin armament and confiscate existing weapons from them.

Trade and industry

Egypt and Syria played a central transit role in international trade in the Middle Ages. Early into their rule, the Mamluks expanded the empire's role in foreign trade, with Baybars signing a commercial treaty with Genoa and Qalawun signing a similar agreement with Ceylon. By the 15th century, internal upheaval from Mamluk power struggles, diminishing revenue from plagues, and the encroachment of abandoned farmlands by Bedouin tribes had led to a financial crisis in the sultanate. To compensate these losses, the Mamluks applied a three-pronged approach: taxing the urban middle classes, boosting production and sale of cotton and sugar to Europe, and profiting from their transit position in the trade between Europe and the Far East. The last was the Mamluks' most lucrative policy and was accomplished by cultivating trade ties with Venice, Genoa and Barcelona, and increasing tariffs on commodities. At this time, the long-established trade between Europe and the Islamic world began to make up a significant part of state revenues as the Mamluks taxed the merchants operating or passing through the empire's ports.

Mamluk Egypt was a major producer of textiles and a supplier of raw materials for Western Europe. The frequent outbreaks of the Black Plague led to a decline in the production of textiles, silk products, sugar, glass, soaps, and paper, which coincided with the Europeans' increasing production of these goods. Trade continued nonetheless and despite papal restrictions on trade with the Muslims during the Crusades. Mediterranean trade was dominated by spices, such as pepper, muscat nuts and flowers, cloves and cinnamon, as well as medicinal drugs and indigo. These goods originated in Persia, India, and Southeast Asia and made their way to Europe via the Mamluk ports of Syria and Egypt. These ports were frequented by European merchants, who in turn sold gold and silver ducats and bullion, silk, wool and linen fabrics, furs, wax, honey, and cheeses.

Under Barsbay, a state monopoly was established on luxury goods, namely spices, with the state setting prices and collecting a percentage of the profits. In 1387, Barsbay established direct control over Alexandria, the principal Egyptian commercial port, transferring its tax revenues to his personal treasury instead of the imperial treasury, which was linked with the military's system. In 1429, he ordered the spice trade to Europe be conducted through Cairo before goods reached Alexandria to end the direct transportation of spices from the Red Sea to Alexandria. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, the Portuguese expansion into Africa and Asia significantly decreased the revenues of the Mamluk–Venetian monopoly on trans-Mediterranean trade. This contributed to and coincided with the fall of the sultanate.

Art

Mamluk decorative arts—especially enameled and gilded glass, inlaid metalwork, woodwork, and textiles—were prized around the Mediterranean as well as in Europe, where they had a profound impact on local production. Mamluk glassware influenced the Venetian glass industry. Trade with Iran, India, and China was even more extensive, turning Mamluk cities into centers of both trade and consumption. Imported luxury goods from the East sometimes influenced local artistic vocabularies, as exemplified by the incorporation of Chinese motifs into both objects and architecture. The Mamluks themselves, as former slaves who rose through the ranks by their own efforts, were status-conscious patrons who commissioned luxury objects marked with emblems of their ownership. Architecture was the most significant form of Mamluk patronage, and numerous artistic objects were commissioned to furnish Mamluk religious buildings, such as glass lamps, Qur'an manuscripts, brass candlesticks, and wooden minbars. Decorative motifs in one art form were often applied in other art forms, including architecture.

Patronage varied over time, but the two high points of the arts were the reigns of al-Nasir Muhammad and Qaitbay. Some art forms also varied in importance over time. For example, enameled glassware was a prominent industry during the first half of the Mamluk period but declined significantly in the 15th century. Most of the surviving examples of carpets, by contrast, date from the end of the Mamluk period. Ceramic production was relatively less important overall, in part because Chinese porcelains were widely available.

In the art of manuscript decoration, the Qur'an was the book most commonly produced with a high degree of artistic elaboration. Cairo, Damascus, and Aleppo were among the main centers of manuscript production. Mamluk-period Qur'ans were richly illuminated and exhibit stylistic similarities with those produced under the contemporary Ilkhanids in Iran. The production of high-quality paper at this time also allowed for pages to be larger, which encouraged artists to elaborate new motifs and designs to fill these larger formats. Some manuscripts could be monumental in size; for example, one Qur'an manuscript produced for al-Ashraf Sha'ban measured between 75 and 105 centimetres tall. One of the stylistic features that distinguished Mamluk manuscript decoration was the presence of gilded foliate scrollwork over pastel-coloured backgrounds set within wide margins. Frontispieces were often decorated with star-shaped or hexagonal geometric motifs.

Metalware, whether in the form of ewers, basins, or candlesticks, was widely used in various contexts and many examples have survived today. They were made of brass or bronze with inlaid decoration, though in the later periods decoration was often engraved rather than inlaid. The quality and quantity of metalwork was also generally higher in the early period. One of the best examples of this period is the so-called Baptistère 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. An example of the later period is a series of candlesticks commissioned by Qaitbay for Muhammad's tomb in the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. 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. Their decoration consists almost entirely of Arabic calligraphy, with the script prominently used.

Glass lamps were another high point of Mamluk art, particularly those commissioned for mosques. Egypt and Syria already possessed a rich tradition of glassmaking before this period and Damascus was the most important production center during the Mamluk period. 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. Mosque lamps had a bulbous body with a wide flaring neck at the top. They were produced in the thousands and suspended from the ceiling by chains.

Architecture

Mamluk architecture is distinguished in part by the construction of multi-functional buildings whose floor plans became increasingly creative and complex due to the limited available space in the city and the desire to make monuments visually dominant in their urban surroundings. While Cairo was the main center of patronage, Mamluk architecture also appears in Damascus, Jerusalem, Aleppo, and Medina. Patrons, including sultans and high-ranking emirs, typically set out to build mausoleums for themselves but attached to them charitable structures such as madrasas, s, s (public fountains), or mosques. The revenues and expenses of these charitable complexes were governed by inalienable agreements that also served the secondary purpose of ensuring some form of income or property for the patrons' descendants.

The cruciform or four-iwan floor plan was adopted for madrasas and became more common for new monumental complexes than the traditional hypostyle mosque, though the vaulted iwans of the early period were replaced with flat-roofed iwans in the later period. The decoration of monuments also became more elaborate over time, with stone-carving and colored marble paneling and mosaics (including ) replacing stucco as the most dominant architectural decoration. Monumental decorated entrance portals became common compared to earlier periods, often carved with. Influences from Syria, Ilkhanid Iran, and possibly even Venice were evident in these trends. Minarets, which were also elaborate, usually consisted of three tiers separated by balconies, with each tier having a different design than the others. Late Mamluk minarets, for example, most typically had an octagonal shaft for the first tier, a round shaft on the second, and a lantern structure with finial on the third level. Domes also transitioned from wooden or brick structures, sometimes of bulbous shape, to pointed stone domes with complex geometric or arabesque motifs carved into their outer surfaces. The peak of this stone dome architecture was achieved under Qaitbay in the late 15th century.

After the Ottoman conquest of 1517, new Ottoman-style buildings were introduced, however the Mamluk style continued to be repeated or combined with Ottoman elements in many subsequent monuments. Some building types which first appeared in the late Mamluk period, such as s (a combination of and ) and multi-storied caravanserais (s or khans), actually grew in number during the Ottoman period. 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.

Emblems and blazons

Mamluk sultans and emirs had personal blazons, which were important symbols of their status and a distinctive cultural feature of the Mamluk ruling class. With the possible exception of the earliest years of the regime, Mamluks chose their own blazons. This was done while they were emirs, and the blazon usually symbolized the office or position they held at this time. The blazon appeared on their banners, and it was retained even after they became sultans. Such blazons were an important feature of Mamluk visual culture, and they are found on all kinds of objects manufactured for Mamluk patrons. They were also featured in Mamluk architecture, though less consistently. This heraldic practice was unique in the medieval Muslim world.

Unlike European heraldry, Mamluk blazons used a much more limited set of images and symbols for their charges: only about forty-five symbols were used. Early Mamluk blazons were simple, usually featuring a single symbol such as a cup, sword, or an animal. Some banners were merely distinguished by patterned fabrics and plain geometric divisions. The blazon of Baybars was a panther, lion, or leopard, while that of Qalawun, according to one author, was a fleur-de-lis. From the late 13th century to the mid-14th century, the crescent moon appears on Mamluk ceramics and some Mamluk coins, either alone or in conjunction with other symbols, though it was rarely used for personal blazons. Starting with al-Nasir Muhammad, epigraphic blazons (with Arabic calligraphy) became part of the heraldic repertoire.

From the late 14th to the mid-15th centuries, blazons became more complex and their shields were usually divided into three parts, with the main symbol placed within each division, sometimes in pairs. After this, late Mamluk blazons became even more elaborate but were more homogenous in style. They were filled with details, including up to five or six different symbols. By this point, they were possibly no longer used as individualized personal blazons but perhaps more as general marks of their social class.

The Mamluk sultans also followed the Ayyubids in using yellow as the official colour associated with the sultan and used on sultanic banners. Baybars is said to have noted the yellow colour of his banners in opposition to the red banners of Bohemund VI. After Selim II conquered Damascus in 1516, a contemporary writer, Ibn Tulun, noted that the rich yellow silk banner of the Mamluks was replaced by the plain red banner of the Ottomans. Red banners are also known to have been used by the Mamluks, as the historian Ibn Taghribirdi (d. 1470) recorded that Sultan al-Mu'ayyad gifted a red banner to one of his vassals in Anatolia.

Various symbols were also used to represent the Mamluk realm in European sources. The Book of Knowledge of All Kingdoms, written by an anonymous European author after 1360, attributes to Cairo a white flag with a blue crescent moon. In the Catalan Atlas of 1375, created by a Majorcan cartographer (likely Abraham Cresques), the Mamluk empire is symbolized by the drawing of a Muslim ruler shown with a green parrot on his arm, the latter possibly a symbol of nobility. Next to this, an icon symbolizing Babylon (alongside Cairo), is marked by a yellow flag with a crescent moon, with the crescent representing Muslim rule. Nearby, the city of Alexandria is marked with a flag containing the panther symbol of the former Sultan Baybars, whose reputation was known from the Crusades.

The Bahri Mamluks, sometimes referred to as the Bahri dynasty, were the rulers of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1250 to 1382, following the Ayyubid dynasty. The members of the Mamluk ruling class were purchased as slaves (mamluks) and manumitted, with the most powerful among them taking the role of sultan in Cairo. While several Bahri Mamluk sultans tried to establish hereditary dynasties through their sons, these attempts were ultimately unsuccessful, with the role of sultan often passing on to another powerful Mamluk.

The Bahri Mamluks were of mostly Kipchak Turkic origin. Fourteen of eighteen sultans between 1279 and 1390 belonged to the Qalawunid lineage. After 1382/1390, they were succeeded by a second Mamluk regime, the Burji Mamluks, who were largely of Circassian origin. The name Bahri or Bahriyya means 'of the river', referring to the location of their original barracks on Roda Island in the Nile (Nahr al-Nil) in Cairo, at the citadel of Al-Rodah which was built by the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub.

History

The Mamluks formed one of the most powerful and wealthiest empires of the time, lasting from 1250 to 1517 in Egypt, North Africa, and the Levant—Near East.

Development

In 1250, when the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub died, the Mamluks he had owned as slaves murdered his son and heir al-Muazzam Turanshah, and Shajar al-Durr the widow of as-Salih became the Sultana of Egypt. She married the Atabeg (commander in chief) Emir Aybak and abdicated, Aybak becoming Sultan. He ruled from 1250 to 1257.

The Mamluks consolidated their power in ten years and eventually established the Bahri dynasty. They were indirectly helped by the Mongols' sack of Baghdad in 1258, which effectively destroyed the Abbasid caliphate. Cairo became more prominent as a result and remained a Mamluk capital thereafter.

The Mamluks were powerful cavalry warriors mixing the practices of the Turkic steppe peoples from which they were drawn and the organizational and technological sophistication and horsemanship of the Arabs. In 1260 the Mamluks defeated a Mongol army at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine and eventually forced the invaders to retreat to the area of modern-day Iraq. The defeat of the Mongols at the hands of the Mamluks enhanced the position of the Mamluks in the southern Mediterranean basin. Baibars, one of the leaders at the battle, became the new Sultan after the assassination of Sultan Qutuz on the way home.

In 1250 Baibars was one of the Mamluk commanders who defended Mansurah against the Crusade knights of Louis IX of France, who was later definitely defeated, captured in the Battle of Fariskur and ransomed. Baibars had also taken part in the Mamluk takeover of Egypt. In 1261, after he became a Sultan, he established a puppet Abbasid caliphate in Cairo, and the Mamluks fought the remnants of the Crusader states in Palestine until they finally captured Acre in 1291.

Tatars and Mongols

Many Tatars settled in Egypt and were employed by Baibars. He defeated the Mongols at the battle of Elbistan and sent the Abbasid Caliph with only 250 men to attempt to retake Baghdad, but was unsuccessful. In 1266 he devastated Cilician Armenia and in 1268 he recaptured Antioch from the Crusaders. In addition, he fought the Seljuks, and Hashshashin; he also extended Muslim power into Nubia for the first time, before his death in 1277.

Sultan Qalawun defeated a rebellion in Syria that was led by Sunqur al-Ashqar in 1280, and also defeated another Mongol invasion in 1281 that was led by Abaqa outside Homs. After the Mongol threat passed he recaptured Tripoli from the Crusaders in 1289. His son Khalil captured Acre, the last Crusader city, in 1291.

The Mongols renewed their invasion in 1299, but were again defeated in 1303 in the Battle of Shaqhab. The Egyptian Mamluk Sultans entered into relations with the Golden Horde who converted to Islam and established a peace pact with the Mongols in 1322.

Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad married a Mongol princess in 1319. His diplomatic relations were more extensive than those of any previous Sultan, and included Bulgarian, Indian, and Abyssinian potentates, as well as the pope, the king of Aragon and the king of France. Al-Nasir Muhammad organized the re-digging of a canal in 1311 which connected Alexandria with the Nile. He died in 1341.

Decline

The constant changes of sultans that followed led to great disorder in the provinces. Meanwhile, in 1349 Egypt and the Levant in general were introduced to Black Death, which is said to have killed many inhabitants.

In 1382 the last Bahri Sultan Hajji II was dethroned and the Sultanate was taken over by the Circassian Emir Barquq. He was expelled in 1389 but returned to power in 1390, setting up an era where the sultanate was controlled by the Burji Mamluks.

List of Bahri Sultans

While the Mamluk rulers before al-Zahir Baybars are generally considered part of the Bahri period, they were not part of the Bahriyya Mamluks and actually opposed their political interests. Shajar al-Durr was not a Mamluk, but is generally included in the lists due to the nature of her ascent and her status as a concubine of as-Salih Ayyub. In 1382 the Burji period began when Barquq, a Circassian mamluk and regent of Hajji II, deposed him. Hajji II was briefly restored in 1389 when Barquq was overthrown, but Barquq soon claimed it back.

Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari (; 1223/1228 – 30 June 1277), commonly known as Baibars or Baybars and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh (, ), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, ruling from 1260 to 1277. He is noted for leading the vanguard of the Mamluk army that inflicted the first substantial defeat of the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut, as well as his successful campaigns against the Crusaders. Through a combination of diplomacy and military action, he ushered in an age of Mamluk dominance in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Of Turkic Kipchak origin, Baybars was sold into slavery during the Mongol invasions and ultimately entered the service of Ayyubid sultan As-Salih Ayyub. He subsequently rose to become a prominent military leader in Egypt. In 1250, he was a commander of the Muslim forces that defeated and captured King Louis IX of France during the Seventh Crusade, and led the group of Mamluks that assassinated sultan Turanshah. Later, he played a significant role in the victory over the invading Mongol army at Ain Jalut and soon thereafter orchestrated the assassination of sultan Qutuz, seizing the throne for himself.

As sultan, Baybars set about asserting Mamluk authority in Syria. After securing the loyalty of Ayyubid emirs, he launched extensive campaigns against the Crusader states, culminating in the capture of Antioch in 1268. He continued to fend off threats from the Mongols by engaging with the Ilkhanate, while forging an alliance with the Golden Horde. In 1276, he launched an expedition into Nubia that concluded with the subjugation of Makuria.

Name and appearance

In his native Turkic language, Baybars' name means "great panther" or "lord panther" (see also Wiktionary: bay "rich person, noble" + pars "leopard, panther").

Possibly based on the Turkic meaning of his name, Baybars used the panther as his heraldic blazon, and placed it on both coins and buildings. The lion/panther used on the bridge built by Baybars near al-Ludd (today's Lod) plays with a rat, which may be interpreted to represent Baybars' Crusader enemies.

Baybars was described as a tall man with olive skin and blue eyes. He had broad shoulders, slim legs, and a powerful voice. It was observed that he had cataract in one eye.

Biography

Baybars was a Kipchak thought to be born in the steppe region north of the Black Sea, or Dasht-i Kipchak at the time. There is a discrepancy in Ibn Taghrībirdī's dating of his birth, since he says it took place in 625 AH (12 December 1227 – 29 November 1228) and also that Baybars was about 24 years old in 1247, which would put his birth closer to 1223. He belonged to the Barli tribe. According to a fellow Cuman and eyewitness, Badr al-Din Baysari, the Barli fled the armies of the Mongols, intending to settle in the Second Bulgarian Empire (named in the sources Wallachia). They crossed the Black Sea from either Crimea or Alania, where they had arrived in Bulgaria in about 1242. In the meantime, the Mongols invaded Bulgaria, including the regions where the Cuman refugees had recently settled. Both Baybars, who witnessed his parents being massacred, and Baysari were among the captives during the invasion and were sold into slavery in the Sultanate of Rum at the slave market in Sivas. Afterwards, he was sold in Hama to, an Egyptian of high rank, who brought him to Cairo. In 1247, al-Bunduqārī was arrested and the sultan of Egypt, As-Salih Ayyub, confiscated his slaves, including Baybars.

Al-Sha'rani (d. 973/1565) counted him among Ibn 'Arabi's students.

Rise to power

In 1250, he supported the defeat of the Seventh Crusade of Louis IX of France in two major battles. The first was the Battle of Al Mansurah, where he employed an ingenious strategy in ordering the opening of a gate to let the crusader knights enter the town; the crusaders rushed into the town that they thought was deserted to find themselves trapped inside. They were besieged from all directions by the Egyptian forces and the town population, and suffered heavy losses. Robert of Artois, who took refuge in a house, and William Longespée the Younger were both killed, along with most of the Knights Templar. Only five Templar Knights escaped alive. The second was the Battle of Fariskur which essentially ended the Seventh Crusade and led to the capture of Louis IX. Egyptian forces in that battle were led by Sultan Turanshah, the young son of recently deceased as-Salih Ayyub. Shortly after the victory over the Crusaders, Baybars and a group of Mamluk soldiers assassinated Turanshah, leading to as-Salih Ayyub's widow Shajar al-Durr being named sultana.

In 1254, a power shift occurred in Egypt, as Aybak killed Faris ad-Din Aktai, the leader of the Bahri Mamluks. Some of his Mamluks, among them Baybars and Qalawun al-Alfi, fled to an-Nasir Yusuf in Syria, persuading him to break the accord and invade Egypt. Aybak wrote to an-Nassir Yusuf warning him of the danger of these Mamluks who took refuge in Syria, and agreed to grant him their territorial domains on the coast, but an-Nasir Yusuf refused to expel them and instead returned to them the domains which Aybak had granted. In 1255, an-Nasir Yusuf sent new forces to the Egyptian border, this time with many of Aktai's Mamluks, among them Baybars, and Qalawun al-Alfi, but he was defeated again. In 1257, Baybars and other Bahri Mamluks left Damascus to Jerusalem, where they deposed its governor Kütük and plundered its markets, then they did the same in Gaza. Later on, they fought against the forces of an-Nasir Yusuf at Nablus, then fled to join the forces of in Kerak. The combined forces tried in vain to invade Egypt during the reign of Aybak.

Baybars then sent 'Ala al-Din Taybars al-Waziri to discuss with Qutuz his return to Egypt, which was eagerly accepted. He was still a commander under sultan Qutuz at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, when he decisively defeated the Mongols. After the battle, Sultan Qutuz (aka Koetoez) was assassinated while on a hunting expedition. It was said that Baybars was involved in the assassination because he expected to be rewarded with the governorship of Aleppo for his military success, but Qutuz, fearing his ambition, refused to give him the post. Baybars succeeded Qutuz as Sultan of Egypt.

Becoming Sultan

Soon after Baybars had ascended to the Sultanate, his authority was confirmed without any serious resistance, except from Alam al-Din Sinjar al-Halabi, another Mamluk amir who was popular and powerful enough to claim Damascus. Also, the threat from the Mongols was still serious enough to be considered as a threat to Baybars' authority. However, Baybars first chose to deal with Sinjar, and marched on Damascus. At the same time the princes of Hama and Homs proved able to defeat the Mongols in the First Battle of Homs, which lifted the Mongol threat for a while. On 17 January 1261, Baybars's forces were able to rout the troops of Sinjar outside Damascus, and pursued the attack to the city, where the citizens were loyal to Sinjar and resisted Baybars, although their resistance was soon crushed.

There was also a brief rebellion in Cairo led by a leading figure of the Shiite named al-Kurani who is said originated from Nishapur. Al-Kurani and his follower are recorded to have attacked the weapon stores and stables of Cairo during a night raid. Baybars, however, manage to suppress the rebellion quickly as he surrounded and arrested them all. Al-Kurani and another rebel leaders were executed (crucified) in Bab Zuweila.

After suppressing the revolt of Sinjar, Baybars then managed to deal with the Ayyubids, while quietly eliminating the prince of Kerak. Ayyubids such as Al-Ashraf Musa, Emir of Homs and the Ayyubid Emir Dynasty of Hama Al-Mansur Muhammad II, who had earlier staved off the Mongol threat, were permitted to continue their rule in exchange for their recognizing Baybars' authority as Sultan.

After the Abbasid caliphate in Iraq was overthrown by the Mongols in 1258 when they conquered and sacked Baghdad, the Muslim world lacked a caliph, a theoretically supreme leader who had sometimes used his office to endow distant Muslim rulers with legitimacy by sending them writs of investiture. Thus, when the Abbasid refugee Abu al-Qasim Ahmad, the uncle of the last Abbasid caliph al-Musta'sim, arrived in Cairo in 1261, Baybars had him proclaimed caliph as al-Mustansir II and duly received investiture as sultan from him. Unfortunately, al-Mustansir II was killed by the Mongols during an ill-advised expedition to recapture Baghdad from the Mongols later in the same year. In 1262, another Abbasid, allegedly the great-great-great-grandson of the Caliph al-Mustarshid, Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad, who had survived from the defeated expedition, was proclaimed caliph as al-Hakim I, inaugurating the line of Abbasid caliphs of Cairo that continued as long as the Mamluk sultanate, until 1517. Like his unfortunate predecessor, al-Hakim I also received the formal oath of allegiance of Baybars and provided him with legitimation. While most of the Muslim world did not take these caliphs seriously, as they were mere instruments of the sultans, they still lent a certain legitimation as well as a decorative element to their rule.

According to ʿIzz al-Dīn ibn Shaddād the Mongols tried to conquer Al-Bireh in 1264, after a brutal fight with the Mamluks and Sultan Baybars the mongols retreated beyond the euphrates.

Campaign against the Crusaders

As sultan, Baybars engaged in a lifelong struggle against the Crusader kingdoms in Syria, in part because the Christians had aided the Mongols. He started with the Principality of Antioch, which had become a vassal state of the Mongols and had participated in attacks against Islamic targets in Damascus and Syria. In 1263, Baybars laid siege to Acre, the capital of the remnant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, although the siege was abandoned when he sacked Nazareth instead. He used siege engines to defeat the Crusaders in battles such as the Fall of Arsuf from 21 March to 30 April. After breaking into the town he offered free passage to the defending Knights Hospitallers if they surrendered their formidable citadel. The Knights accepted Baybars' offer but were enslaved anyway. Baybars razed the castle to the ground. He next attacked Atlit and Haifa, where he captured both towns after destroying the crusaders' resistance, and razed the citadels.

In the same year, Baybars laid siege to the fortress of Safed, held by the Templar knights, which had been conquered by Saladin in 1188 but returned to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1240. Baybars promised the knights safe passage to the Christian town of Acre if they surrendered their fortress. Badly outnumbered, the knights agreed. On capturing Safed, Baybars did not raze the fortress to the ground but fortified and repaired it instead, as it was strategically situated and well constructed. He installed a new governor in Safed, with the rank of Wali.

Later, in 1266, Baybars invaded the Christian country of Cilician Armenia which, under King Hethum I, had submitted to the Mongol Empire. After defeating the forces of Hethum I in the Battle of Mari, Baybars managed to ravage the three great cities of Mamistra, Adana and Tarsus, so that when Hetoum arrived with Mongol troops, the country was already devastated. Hetoum had to negotiate the return of his son Leo by giving control of Armenia's border fortresses to the Mamluks. In 1269, Hetoum abdicated in favour of his son and became a monk, but he died a year later. Leo was left in the awkward situation of keeping Cilicia as a subject of the Mongol Empire, while at the same time paying tribute to the Mamluks.

This isolated Antioch and Tripoli, led by Hethum's son-in-law, Prince Bohemond VI. After successfully conquering Cilicila, Baybars in 1267 settled his unfinished business with Acre, and continued the extermination of remaining crusader garrisons in the following years. In 1268, he besieged Antioch, capturing the city on 18 May. Baybars had promised to spare the lives of the inhabitants, but he broke his promise and had the city razed, killing or enslaving much of the population after the surrender. prompting the fall of the Principality of Antioch. The massacre of men, women, and children at Antioch "was the single greatest massacre of the entire crusading era." Priests had their throats slit inside their churches, and women were sold into slavery.

Then he continued to Jaffa, which belonged to Guy, the son of John of Ibelin. Jaffa fell to Baybars on 7 March after twelve hours of fighting; most of Jaffa's citizens were slain, but Baybars allowed the garrison to go unharmed. After this he conquered Ashkalon and Caesarea.

Further Ilkhanate attempt to attack the Mamluks

In 1272 the Mongol Ilkhanates attempted to besiege Al-Bira but failed when Sultan Baybars attacked the Mongols with a relief force of an unknown number, the Mongols tried to repel the attack, but they failed. After Mongol commander Samagar heard that the mongols have been defeated he retreated back into Mongol land.

Alliance with Golden Horde

Baybars actively pursued a close relationship with Berke, the Khan of Golden Horde. He particularly was recorded to receive the first two hundred soldiers from Golden Horde to visit warmly, where Baybars persuade them to convert to Islam while also observing the growing enmity between the Golden Horde Khan with Hulagu. Baybars, who at that time has just defeated Hulagu, immediately sent envoy to Berke to inform the latter about this. Then, As soon as Berke converted to Islam, he sent envoy to Egypt to give news about this matter, and later, Baybars brought more peoples from Golden Horde to be sent into Egypt, where they also converted to Islam.

In some time around October to November 1267, or about 666 Safar of Hijra year, Baybars wrote condolences and congratulations to the new Khan of the Golden Horde, Mengu-Timur, to urge him to fight Abaqa. Baybars continued to conduct warm correspondence with the Golden Horde, particularly with Mengu Timur's general Noqai, who unlike Mengu Timur was very cooperative with Baybars. It is theorized that this intimacy was not only due to the religious connection (as Noqai was a Muslim, unlike his Khan), but also because Noqai was not really fond of Mengu-Timur. However, Baybars was pragmatic in his approach and did not want to become involved in complicated intrigue inside the Golden Horde, so instead he stayed close to both Mengu Timur and Noqai.

Continued campaign against Crusaders

On 30 March 1271, after Baybars captured the smaller castles in the area, including Chastel Blanc, he besieged the Krak des Chevaliers, held by the Hospitallers. Peasants who lived in the area had fled to the castle for safety and were kept in the outer ward. As soon as Baybars arrived, he began erecting mangonels, powerful siege weapons which he would turn on the castle. According to Ibn Shaddad, two days later the first line of defences was captured by the besiegers; he was probably referring to a walled suburb outside the castle's entrance. After a lull of ten days, the besiegers conveyed a letter to the garrison, supposedly from the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller in Tripoli, Hugues de Revel, which granted permission for them to surrender. The garrison capitulated and the Sultan spared their lives. The new owners of the castle undertook repairs, focused mainly on the outer ward. The Hospitaller chapel was converted to a mosque and two mihrabs were added to the interior.

Baibars led a campaign against the Assassins. In 1271, Baibars' forces seized al-'Ullaiqah and ar-Rusafa, after taking Masyaf the year before. Later in the year, Shams ad-Din surrendered and was deported to Egypt. Qala'at al-Khawabi fell that year and within two years Gerdkuh and all of the Assassin fortresses were held by the sultan. With the Assassins under his control, Baibars was able to use them to counter the forces arriving in the Ninth Crusade.

Baybars then turned his attention to Tripoli, but he interrupted his siege there to call a truce in May 1271. The fall of Antioch had led to the brief Ninth Crusade, led by Prince Edward of England, who arrived in Acre in May 1271 and attempted to ally himself with the Mongols against Baybars. So Baybars declared a truce with Tripoli, as well as with Edward, who was never able to capture any territory from Baybars anyway. According to some reports, Baybars tried to have Edward assassinated with poison, but Edward survived the attempt and returned home in 1272 following the failure of the crusade.

Campaign against Makuria

In 1265 a Mamluk army allegedly raided Makuria as far south as Dongola while also expanding southwards along the African Red Sea coast, thus threatening the Nubians. In 1272 king David marched east and attacked the port town of Aidhab, located on an important pilgrimage route to Mecca. The Nubian army destroyed the town, causing “a blow to the very heart of Islam”. This initiated several decades of intervention by the Mamluks in Nubian affairs. A punitive Mamluk expedition was sent in response, but did not pass beyond the second cataract. Three years later the Makurians attacked and destroyed Aswan, but this time, Baybars responded with a well-equipped army setting off from Cairo in early 1276, accompanied by a cousin of king David named Mashkouda or Shekanda. The Mamluks defeated the Nubians in three battles at Gebel Adda, Meinarti and finally at the Battle of Dongola. David fled upstream the Nile, eventually entering al-Abwab in the south, which, previously being Alodia's northernmost province, had by this period become a kingdom of its own. The king of al-Abwab, however, handed David over to Baybars, who had him executed.

Baybars then completed his conquest of Nubia, including the Medieval lower Nubia which was ruled by Banu Kanz. Under the terms of the settlement, the Nubians were now subjected to paying jizya tribute, and in return they were allowed to keep their religion, being protected under Islamic law as 'People of the Book'; they were also allowed to continue being governed by a king from the native royal family, although this king was chosen personally by Baybars, namely a Makurian noble named Shakanda. In practice this was reducing Makuria to a vassal kingdom, effectively ending Makuria's status as an independent kingdom.

Further campaign against Ilkhanate

In 1277, Baybars invaded the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm, then controlled by the Ilkhanate Mongols. He defeated a Ilkhanate army at the Battle of Elbistan Baybars himself went with a few troops to deal with the Mongol right flank that was pounding his left wing. Baybars ordered a force from the army from Hama to reinforce his left. The large Mamluk numbers were able to overwhelm the Mongol force, who instead of retreating dismounted from their horses. Some Mongols were able to escape and took up positions on the hills. Once they became surrounded they once again dismounted, and fought to the death. During the celebration of victory, Baybars said that "How can I be happy? Before I had thought that I and my servants would defeat the Mongols, but my left wing was beaten by them. Only Allah helped us".

The possibility of a new Mongol army convinced Baybars to return to Syria, since he was far away from his bases and supply line. As the Mamluk army returned to Syria the commander of the Mamluk vanguard, Izz al-Din Aybeg al-Shaykhi, deserted to the Mongols. Pervâne sent a letter to Baybars asking him to delay his departure. Baybars chastised him for not aiding him during the Battle of Elbistan. Baybars told him he was leaving for Sivas to mislead Pervâne and the Mongols as to his true destination. Baybars also sent Taybars al-Waziri with a force to raid the Armenian town of al-Rummana, whose inhabitants had hidden the Mongols earlier.

Death

Baybars died in Damascus on 30 June 1277, when he was 53 years old. His demise has been the subject of some academic speculation. Many sources agree that he died from drinking poisoned kumis that was intended for someone else. Other accounts suggest that he may have died from a wound while campaigning, or from illness. He was buried in the Az-Zahiriyah Library in Damascus.

Family

Sultan Baybars married a noble lady from Tripoli (modern-day Lebanon) named Aisha al Bushnatiya, a prominent Arab family. Aisha was a warrior who fought the Crusaders along with her brother lieutenant Hassan. She met Sultan Baybars after he camped in Tripoli during his siege. They had a short relationship and after that they got married. There are conflicting stories of whether Aisha returned with Baybars to Egypt or was martyred in Tripoli.

One of Baibar's wives was the daughter of Amir Sayf ad-Din Nogay at-Tatari. Another wife was the daughter of Amir Sayf ad-Din Giray at-Tatari. Another wife was the daughter of Amir Sayf ad-Din Tammaji. Another wife was Iltutmish Khatun. She was the daughter of Barka Khan a former Khwarazmian amir. She was the mother of his son Al-Said Barakah. She died in 1284–85. Another wife was the daughter Karmun Agha, a Mongol Amir. He had three sons al-Said Barakah, Solamish and Khizir. He had seven daughters; one of them was named Tidhkarbay Khatun.

Legacy

As the first Sultan of the Bahri Mamluk dynasty, Baybars made the meritocratic ascent up the ranks of Mamluk society, where he commanded Mamluk forces in the decisive Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, repelling Mongol forces from Syria. Although in the Muslim world he has been considered a national hero for centuries, and in the Near East and Kazakhstan is still regarded as such, Baybars was reviled in the Christian world of the time for his successful campaigns against the Crusader States.

Baybars also played an important role in bringing the Mongols to Islam. He developed strong ties with the Mongols of the Golden Horde and took steps for the Golden Horde Mongols to travel to Egypt. The arrival of the Mongol's Golden Horde to Egypt resulted in a significant number of Mongols accepting Islam.

Military legacy

Baybars was a popular ruler in the Muslim world who had defeated the crusaders in three campaigns, and the Mongols in the Battle of Ain Jalut which many scholars deem of great macro-historical importance. In order to support his military campaigns, Baybars commissioned arsenals, warships and cargo vessels. He was also arguably the first to employ explosive hand cannons in war, at the Battle of Ain Jalut. However this claim of hand cannons usage is disputed by other historians who claim hand cannons did not appear in the Middle East until the 14th century. His military campaign also extended into Libya and Nubia.

Culture and science

He was also an efficient administrator who took interest in building various infrastructure projects, such as a mounted message relay system capable of delivery from Cairo to Damascus in four days. He built bridges, irrigation and shipping canals, improved the harbours, and built mosques. He was a patron of Islamic science, such as his support for the medical research of his Arab physician, Ibn al-Nafis. As a testament of a special relationship between Islam and cats, Baybars left a cat garden in Cairo as a waqf, providing the cats of Cairo with food and shelter.

His memoirs were recorded in Sirat al-Zahir Baibars ("Life of al-Zahir Baibars"), a popular Arabic romance recording his battles and achievements. He has a heroic status in Kazakhstan, as well as in Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria.

Al-Madrassa al-Zahiriyya is the school built adjacent to his Mausoleum in Damascus. The Az-Zahiriyah Library has a wealth of manuscripts in various branches of knowledge to this day.

The Battle of Ain Jalut, also spelled Ayn Jalut, was fought between the Bahri Mamluks of Egypt and the Ilkhanate on 3 September 1260 near the spring of Ain Jalut in southeastern Galilee in the Jezreel Valley. It marks the first major halt to Mongolian advances and paused their expansion into Arabia and Europe.

Continuing the westward expansion of the Ilkhanate, the armies of Hulegu Khan captured and sacked Baghdad in 1258, along with the Ayyubid capital of Damascus sometime later. Hulegu sent envoys to Cairo demanding Qutuz surrender Egypt, to which Qutuz responded by killing the envoys and displaying their heads on the Bab Zuweila gate of Cairo. Shortly after this, Möngke Khan was slain in battle against the Southern Song. Hulegu returned to Mongolia with the bulk of his army to attend the kurultai in accordance with Mongol customs, leaving approximately 10,000 troops west of the Euphrates under the command of Kitbuqa.

Learning of these developments, Qutuz quickly advanced his army from Cairo towards Palestine. Kitbuqa sacked Sidon, before turning his army south toward Ain Jalut to meet Qutuz' forces. Using hit-and-run tactics and a feigned retreat by Mamluk general Baibars, combined with a final flanking maneuver by Qutuz, the Mamluks forced the Mongol army to retreat toward Bisan, after which the Mamluks led a final counterattack, which resulted in the deaths of many Mongols, including Kitbuqa himself.

The battle has been cited as the first time the Mongols were permanently prevented from expanding their influence; it also marked the first of two defeats the Mongols would face in their attempts to invade Egypt and the Levant, the other being the Battle of Marj al-Saffar in 1303.

Background

When Möngke Khan became Great Khan in 1251, he immediately set out to implement his grandfather Genghis Khan's plan for a world empire. To lead the task of subduing the nations in the West, he selected his brother, another of Genghis Khan's grandsons, Hulegu Khan. Assembling the army took five years, and it was not until 1256 that Hulegu was prepared to begin the invasions. Operating from the Mongol base in Persia, Hulegu proceeded south. Möngke had ordered good treatment for those who yielded without resistance and destruction for the rest. In that way, Hulegu and his army had conquered some of the most powerful and longstanding dynasties of the time.

Other countries in the Mongols' path submitted to Mongol authority and contributed forces to the Mongol army. When the Mongols had reached Baghdad, their army included Cilician Armenians and even some Frankish forces from the Principality of Antioch. The Assassins in Persia fell, the 500-year-old Abbasid Caliphate of Baghdad was destroyed (see Battle of Baghdad) and the Ayyubid dynasty in Damascus fell as well. Hulegu's plan was then to proceed southwards through the Kingdom of Jerusalem towards the Mamluk Sultanate, to confront the major Islamic power.

During the Mongol attack on the Mamluks in the Middle East, most of the Mamluks were Kipchaks, and the Golden Horde's supply of Kipchaks replenished the Mamluk armies and helped them fight off the Mongols.

Prelude

In 1260, Hulegu sent envoys to Qutuz in Cairo with a letter demanding his surrender. Qutuz responded, however, by killing the envoys and displaying their heads on Bab Zuweila, one of the gates of Cairo. Hulegu withdrew from the Levant with the bulk of his army, leaving his forces west of the Euphrates with only one tumen (nominally 10,000 men, but usually fewer), and a handful of vassal troops under the Naiman Nestorian Christian general Kitbuqa. Contemporary Mamluk chronicler al-Yunini's Dhayl Mirat Al-Zaman states that the Mongol army under Kitbuqa, including vassals, numbered 100,000 men in total, but this was likely an exaggeration.

Upon receiving news of Hulegu's departure, Mamluk Sultan Qutuz quickly assembled a large army at Cairo and departed on July 26, 1260, and traveled to al-Salihiyya. Al-Nasir Yusuf's Syrian battalions and the Egyptian army proper, along with the Shahraziriyya, Arabs, and Turcomans, made up his forces. However, al-Magrizi claims that the amirs at al-Salihiyya declined to pursue Qutuz's attack on the Mongols. After then, the sultan had to use a powerful speech to overcome their opposition. Baybars was subsequently elevated by Qutuz to head the vanguard in order to scout the enemy's movements. With the soldiers he commanded, Baybars advanced on Gaza, which was then a Mongol outpost.

Upon his approach, Baydara, the Mongol commander, dispatched an urgent report to Kitbugha. However, before Baydara received orders from Kitbugha to hold Gaza and await the main Mongol force, the town had been taken by Baybars, and Qutuz's Egyptian army had already entered Gaza. Deflated, Baydara was forced to retreat. An advance to the north was required if Kitbugha's main Mongol force was to be routed and expelled from Syria following this initial victory. The Palestinian coast was by far the most practical path for a sizable army during the hot season, and it also ensured that the army would have access to water. However, this road went through Jerusalem, which was part of the Frankish realm. In order to secure the right of free passage for his army from the Acre administration, or more likely to gain the support from the Franks Qutuz dispatched negotiators there.

There were lengthy discussion of how to react. The Franks have long viewed their Muslim neighbors as close trading partners and more or less calculating rivals. The rulers of Acre, in contrast to Bohemond VI, prince of Antioch and count of Tripoli, viewed the Mongols as barbarians and preferred the Muslims. The Franks had not been unimpressed by the Mongols' recent conquest and looting of Sidon. As Egypt's rulers since 1250, the Mamluks, on the other hand, had not yet taken on the appearance of being a threat to the Franks. They eventually remained neutral but allowed Qutuz to march through their territories, and supplied his army with provisions while it was encamped on the plain of Acre. Qutuz led his army from Acre to the interior against the Mongols after securing the Franks' neutrality, which relieved him of the concern that they might stab him in the back. Rashid al-Din claims that Kitbugha was lodging at Ba'labakk when he learned of the Egyptian army's impending arrival. Yunini claims that he initially set his camp in the Biga' plain.

While still in the Biqac valley, Ketbugha heard that the Mamluks had invaded Syria and were moving north. Then he marched south, gathering his dispersed men, probably scattered for grazing and garrison chores. His prudence appears to have sprung from his awareness of Qutuz's strength and his limited men. Ketbugha seems to have had between 10,000 and 12,000 soldiers left. In addition to the Georgian and Lesser Armenian battalions, the army also included contingents of two Ayyubid princes, al-Ashraf Musa and al-Said Hasan, as well as local levies who had previously served the Syrian Ayyubids. Ketbugha chose to make a stand near Ayn Jalut. The evidence strongly indicates the Mongols arrived first and took up their positions: when Baybars reached a nearby height, he found their camp already in place.

The battlefield

Ayn Jalut is a perennial spring at the northwestern foot of Mount Gilboa, about 15 km north-northwest of Baysan, just west of today's Gidona; the spring is now called 'Ayn or Ma'yan Harod. For the Mongols, it was a sensible defensive choice. Wadi (Nahr) Jalut runs along the northern base of Gilboa, providing ample water for the horses, while the adjacent valley offered pasture and favorable ground for cavalry operations. Additional benefits were clear: the slopes of Gilboa secured a flank and supplied commanding observation points, as did the nearby Hill of Moreh (Givat HaMoreh).

Battle

The first to advance were the Mongols, whose force also included troops from the Kingdom of Georgia and about 500 troops from the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, both of which had submitted to Mongol authority. The Mamluks had the advantage of knowing the terrain, and Qutuz capitalized on that by hiding the bulk of his force in the highlands and hoping to bait the Mongols with a smaller force, under Baibars.

Both armies fought for many hours, with Baibars usually implementing hit-and-run tactics to provoke the Mongol troops and to preserve the bulk of his troops intact. When the Mongols carried out another heavy assault, Baibars, who it is said had laid out the overall strategy of the battle since he had spent much time in that region earlier in his life as a fugitive, and his men feigned a final retreat to draw the Mongols into the highlands to be ambushed by the rest of the Mamluk forces concealed among the trees. The Mongol leader, Kitbuqa, already provoked by the constant fleeing of Baibars and his troops, committed a grave mistake. Instead of suspecting a trick, Kitbuqa decided to march forward with all of his troops on the trail of the fleeing Mamluks. When the Mongols reached the highlands, Mamluk forces emerged from hiding and began to fire arrows and attack with their cavalry. The Mongols then found themselves surrounded on all sides. Additionally, Timothy May hypothesizes that a key moment in the battle was the defection of the Mongol Syrian allies.

The Mongol army fought fiercely and aggressively to break out. Some distance away, Qutuz watched with his private legion. When Qutuz saw the left wing of the Mamluk army almost destroyed by the desperate Mongols seeking an escape route, he threw away his combat helmet, so that his warriors could recognize him and cried loudly three times "O Islam! O Allah grant your servant Qutuz a victory against these Mongols". He was seen the next moment rushing fiercely towards the battlefield yelling wa islamah! ("Oh my Islam"), urging his army to keep firm and advancing towards the weakened side, followed by his own unit. The Mongols were pushed back and fled to a vicinity of Beisan, followed by Qutuz's forces, but they managed to reorganize and to return to the battlefield, making a successful counterattack. However, the battle shifted toward the Mamluks, who now had both the geographic and psychological advantage, and some of the Mongols were eventually forced to retreat. Kitbuqa, with almost the rest of the Mongol army that had remained in the region, perished.

Aftermath

Hulegu Khan ordered the execution of the last Ayyubid emir of Aleppo and Damascus, An-Nasir Yusuf, and his brother, who were in captivity, after he heard the news of the defeat of the Mongol army at Ain Jalut. However, the Mamluks captured Damascus five days later after Ain Jalut, followed by Aleppo within a month.

On the way back to Cairo after the victory at Ain Jalut, Qutuz was assassinated by several emirs in a conspiracy led by Baibars. Baibars became the new Sultan. Local Ayyubid emirs sworn to the Mamluk sultanate subsequently defeated another Mongol force of 6,000 at Homs, which ended the first Mongol expedition into Syria. Baibars and his successors would go on to capture the last of the Crusader states in the Holy Land by 1291.

Internecine conflict prevented Hulegu Khan from being able to bring his full power against the Mamluks to avenge the pivotal defeat at Ain Jalut. Berke Khan, the Khan of the Golden Horde to the north of Ilkhanate, had converted to Islam and watched with horror as his cousin destroyed the Abbasid Caliph, the spiritual and administrative center of Islam. The Muslim historian Rashid-al-Din Hamadani quoted Berke as sending the following message to Mongke Khan, protesting the attack on Baghdad since he did not know that Mongke had died in China: "He (Hulegu) has sacked all the cities of the Muslims, and has brought about the death of the Caliph. With the help of God I will call him to account for so much innocent blood." The Mamluks, learning through spies that Berke was a Muslim and was not fond of his cousin, were careful to nourish their ties to him and his Khanate. Later on, Hulegu was able to send only a small army of two tumens in his sole attempt to attack the Mamluks in Aleppo in December 1260. They were able to massacre a large number of Muslims in retaliation for the death of Kitbuqa, but after a fortnight could make no other progress and had to retreat.

After the Mongol succession was finally settled, with Kublai as the last Great Khan, Hulegu returned to his lands by 1262 and massed his armies to attack the Mamluks and avenge Ain Jalut. However, Berke Khan initiated a series of raids in force that lured Hulegu north, away from the Levant, to meet him. Hulegu suffered a severe defeat in an attempted invasion north of the Caucasus in 1263. That was the first open war among the Mongols and signaled the end of the unified empire. Hulegu Khan died in 1265 and was succeeded by his son Abaqa. The Muslim Mamluks defeated the Mongols in all battles except one. Beside a victory to the Mamluks in Ain Jalut, the Mongols were defeated in the second Battle of Homs, Elbistan and Marj al-Saffar. After five battles with the Mamluks, the Mongols only won at the Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar. They never returned to Syria again.

Legacy

Medieval

The large number of sources in vastly-different languages caused Mongol historians to have generally focused on one limited aspect of the empire. From that standpoint, the Battle of Ain Jalut has been represented by numerous academic and popular historians as an epochal battle. One that saw, for the first time, a Mongol advance that experienced their first major defeat and a permanent halt to forward movements.

According to Ahmad Yousef al-Hassan, Arabic military treatises of the 14th centuries state that the hand cannon was used by the Mamluk side in the Battle of Ain Jalut to frighten the Mongol armies, making it the earliest known battle for hand cannon being used. The compositions of the gunpowder used in the cannon were also given in those manuals. Hassan's claims are contradicted by other historians such as David Ayalon, Iqtidar Alam Khan, Joseph Needham, Tonio Andrade, and Gabor Ágoston. Khan argues that it was the Mongols who introduced gunpowder to the Islamic world, and believes cannons only reached Mamluk Egypt in the 1370s.

According to Needham, fire lances or proto-guns were known to Muslims by the late 13th century and early 14th century. However the term midfa, dated to textual sources from 1342 to 1352, cannot be proven to be true hand-guns or bombards, and contemporary accounts of a metal-barrel cannon in the Islamic world do not occur until 1365. Needham also concludes that in its original form the term midfa refers to the tube or cylinder of a naphtha projector (flamethrower), then after the invention of gunpowder it meant the tube of fire lances, and eventually it applied to the cylinder of hand-gun and cannon. Similarly, Andrade dates the textual appearance of cannon in middle eastern sources to the 1360s. However, such claim contradicts other historians who claim hand cannons did not appear in the Middle East until the 14th century.

A recent study claims that the Mongol defeat was in part caused by a short term climate anomaly following the eruption of Samalas volcano a few years earlier, stating that "a return to warmer and dryer conditions in the summer of 1260 CE, [...] likely reduced the regional carrying capacity and may therefore have forced a mass withdrawal of the Mongols from the region that contributed to the Mamluks’ victory."

Modern

One of the three original brigades of the Palestine Liberation Army was named "Ain Jalut", after the battle. In July 1970, Yasser Arafat referred to the modern area in the context of the historical battle:

This will not be the first time that our people has vanquished its enemies. The Mongols came and swept away the Abbasid caliphate, then they came to Ain Jalut in our land – in the same region where we are today fighting the Zionists – and they were defeated at Ain Jalut.

(, – November 10, 1290) was the seventh Turkic Bahri Mamluk sultan of Egypt; he ruled from 1279 to 1290. He was called (, "Qalāwūn the Victorious"). After having risen in power in the Mamluk court and elite circles, Qalawun eventually held the title of "the victorious king" and gained de facto authority over the sultanate. He is the founder of the Qalawunid dynasty that ruled Egypt for over a century.

The current sultan, Barakah was exiled and rumored to have been poisoned by Qalawun. He would then wage war against the Crusaders, capturing lands held by the County of Tripoli, and later totally defeating them in 1289. Acre, a major Crusader stronghold was besieged by Qalawun but would only be taken by his son al-Ashraf Khalil as the former died before the siege was won in 1291. His son Khalil succeeded him as sultan.

Biography and rise to power

Qalawun was a Kipchak (a Turkic people living between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea) from the Burj Oghli tribe, the same tribe as the earlier Mamluk sultan Baybars. They were both probably sold into slavery during the Mongol invasions of Kipchak territories in the 1220s and 1230s. When he was 14 years old, Qalawun was brought by slave merchants to Egypt, which was under Ayyubid rule at the time. He was then purchased as a mamluk (slave soldier) sometime in the 1230s or 1240s, by a mamluk amir (commander) whom different historical sources name as either 'Ala al-Din Aqsunqur al-Kamili (a mamluk of Sultan al-Kamil) or 'Ala al-Din Aqsunqur al-Saqi al-'Adili (a mamluk of Sultan al-Adil). He was bought for the unusually high price of a thousand dinars, which earned him the nickname al-Alfī ("the Thousander").

Qalawun initially spoke little Arabic, but he rose in power and influence, becoming an emir under Sultan Baibars, whose son, al-Said Barakah, was married to Qalawun's daughter. Baibars died in 1277 and was succeeded by Barakah. In early 1279, as Barakah and Qalawun invaded the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, a revolt in Egypt forced Barakah to abdicate upon his return home. He was succeeded by his brother Solamish, but it was Qalawun, acting as atabeg, who was the true holder of power. Because Solamish was only seven years old, Qalawun argued that Egypt needed an adult ruler, and Solamish was sent into exile in Constantinople in late 1279. As a result, Qalawun took the title al-Malik al-Manṣūr ("the victorious king").

The governor of Damascus, Sunqur al-Ashqar, opposed Qalawun's ascent to power and declared himself sultan. Sunqur's claim of leadership, however, was repelled in 1280, when Qalawun defeated him in battle. In 1281, Qalawun and Sunqur reconciled as a matter of convenience when Abaqa Khan, head of the Ilkhanate, invaded Syria. Qalawun and Sunqur, working together, successfully repelled Abaqa's attack at the Second Battle of Homs.

Barakah, Solamish, and their brother Khadir were exiled to al-Karak, the former Crusader castle. Barakah died there in 1280 (it was rumored that Qalawun had him poisoned), and Khadir gained control of the castle, until 1286 when Qalawun took it over directly.

In 1282 he founded Ribat al-Mansuri, a ribat (hospice) next to the in Jerusalem. The nearby was founded by Kurd al-Manṣūrī, a mamluk of Qalawun.

Mamluk diplomacy

As Baibars had done previously, Qalawun entered into land control treaties with the remaining Crusader states, military orders and individual lords who wished to remain independent; he recognized Tyre and Beirut as separate from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, now centered on Acre. The treaties were always in Qalawun's favor, and his treaty with Tyre mandated that the city would not build new fortifications, would stay neutral in conflicts between the Mamluks and other Crusaders, and Qalawun would be allowed to collect half the city's taxes.

In 1281 Qalawun also negotiated an alliance with Michael VIII Palaiologos of the Byzantine Empire to bolster resistance against Charles I of Naples, who was threatening both the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1290, he concluded trade alliances with the Republic of Genoa and the Kingdom of Sicily.

Wars against the Crusader states

Undeterred by the terms of these newly formed peace treaties, Qalawun sacked the "impregnable" Hospitaller fortress of Margat in 1285, and established a Mamluk garrison there. He also captured and destroyed the castle of Maraclea. He captured Latakia in 1287 and Tripoli on April 27, 1289, thus ending the Crusader County of Tripoli. The Fall of Tripoli in 1289 was spurred by the Venetians and the Pisans, who opposed rising Genoese influence in the area. In 1290, reinforcements of King Henry arrived in Acre and drunkenly slaughtered peaceable merchants and peasants, Christians and Muslims alike.

Qalawun sent an emissary to ask for an explanation and above all to demand that the murderers be handed over for punishment. The Frankish response was divided between those who sought to appease him and those who sought a new war. Having received neither an explanation nor the murderers themselves, Qalawun decided that the ten-year truce he had formed with Acre in 1284 had been broken by the Franks. He subsequently besieged the city that same year. He died in Cairo on 10 November 1290, before taking the city, but Acre was captured the next year by his son and successor al-Ashraf Khalil.

Despite Qalawun's distrust of his son, Khalil succeeded him following his death. Khalil continued his father's policy of replacing TurkicMamluks with Circassians, which eventually led to conflict within the Mamluk ranks. Khalil was assassinated by the Turks in 1293, but Qalawun's legacy continued when his younger son, an-Nasir Muhammad, claimed power.

Family

Qalawun's first wife was Fatima Khatun, known as Umm Salih. She was the daughter of Sayf ad-Din Karmun (Karamūm), a Mongol commander from the Golden Horde who had integrated the Mamluks. They married in 1265–66. She was the mother of his eldest son, as-Salih Ali (died 2 September 1288) and Ghaziya Khatun. She died in 1283–84, and was buried in her own mausoleum in Southern Cemetery, Cairo.

After her death, he married her sister, the widow of Sayf ad-Din Kunduk. Another wife was Qutqutiya Khatun. She was the mother of his second son, Sultan al-Ashraf Khalil.

Another wife was Sitt Ashlun Khatun (Ašlūn), the daughter of an Ilkhanate Mongol notable named Suktay bin Qarajin bin Jighan Nuwan (Šaktāy) who also had joined the Mamluks. They married in 1282. She was the mother of his third son, Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad. An-Nasir Muhammad was raised and behaved in Mongol fashion until the age of 29, until he had a change of mood after an illness in 1315, which led him and his followers to "shave their heads [...] and give up their flowing locks".

Another wife was the daughter of Amir Shams ad-Din Sunqur al-Takriti al-Zahiri. They married in 1288–89. Qalawun, however, dissolved the marriage shortly thereafter. Another son was Amir Ahmad, who died during the reign of his brother al-Ashraf Khalil. Qalawun's daughter Ghaziya Khatun was betrothed to as-Said Barakah (son of Sultan Baibars) on 28 May 1276, with a dowry of five thousand dinars. The wedding took place on 8 June 1277. She died in August 1288, and was buried in the mausoleum of her mother. Another daughter was Dar Mukhatar al-Jawhari (Altumish). She was the wife of Mukhtar al-Jawhari. Another daughter was Dar Anbar al-Kamili. She was the wife of Anbar al-Kamili.

The Mosque-Madrasa of Sultan Hasan is a monumental mosque and madrasa located in Salah al-Din Square in the historic district of Cairo, Egypt. It was built between 1356 and 1363 CE during the Bahri Mamluk period, commissioned by Sultan an-Nasir Hasan. The mosque was considered remarkable for its massive size and innovative architectural components, and is still considered one of the most impressive historic monuments in Cairo today.

History

Patron and founder: Sultan Hasan

Sultan al-Nasir Hasan (full name: An-Nasir Badr ad-Din Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun) ascended the throne at the age of 13 in. When he reached maturity in 1350, he arrested the Emir Manjaq who controlled all of the state's affairs. Prior to that arrest, the emir was restricted to an allowance of just one hundred dirham per day. This pocket change was collected by servants for the Sultan. It's especially striking considering that during that time, the emir Shaykhu was estimated to have an income of 200,000 dirham per day. This deprivation may be viewed as a prompt for his later extravagance. Upon taking over the reins, Sultan Hasan placed people of his own favor into positions of power. This happened at the expense of dignitaries currently in position; it upset many of them. Discontented Emirs arrested the Sultan in 1351, held him in jail for three years, and promoted his brother as-Salih Salih to the throne. Hasan spent his time in jail studying and his obituaries commented on his learning as a result. He returned to power and again reshuffled the ruling establishment attempting to solidify power, but Sultan Hasan was assassinated by his commander in chief of the army, Yalbugha al-Umari, a Mamluk thought to be loyal. Because of the Sultan's extravagance in spending fortunes on women and other forms of favoritism, the commander rebelled against the Sultan. A contemporary Syrian historian, Ibn Kathir, backed this reputation. Ibn Kathir blamed the sultan for his greed and squandering of public funds. The lavish expenses noted coincide with the Sultan's extensive mosque. After his assassination in 1361, Sultan Hasan's body was never found; the mausoleum never served its purpose.

Construction

The mosque's construction is considered all the more remarkable as it coincided with the devastation wrought by the Black Plague, which struck Cairo repeatedly from the mid-14th century onwards. Its construction began in 1356 CE (757 AH) and work proceeded for three years "without even a single day of idleness". In fact, work appears to have continued even up to 1363, even after Sultan Hasan's death, before eventually ceasing. An inscription on the mosque notes the name of amir Muhammad ibn Biylik al-Muhsini as the supervisor of the construction of the mosque. Unusually, his name was placed near Sultan Hasan's in the inscription, which demonstrates how important the undertaking of the project must have been. The amir's high standing otherwise was another indication of this prestige, as he was appointed governor of Cairo in 1330 and oversaw other construction projects including the renovation of the hippodrome established by al-Zahir Baybars near the Citadel.

The most substantial available source concerning the mosque's construction is al-Maqrizi, writing six decades afterwards, as he had access to administrative documents that are unavailable to historians today. The manual labour needed for construction must have been partly depleted by the ongoing ravages of the plague, yet this does not appear to have been the main challenge. Maqrizi mentions that the construction of the mosque cost 30,000 dirham every day. The total construction costs amounted to over one million dinars, making it the most expensive mosque in medieval Cairo. Even the Sultan is said to have become discouraged at times by the cost of the project. Financing for the mosque was made possible by a few factors: first, the austerity measures implemented by Manjaq, one of the amirs in charge of state affairs before Sultan Hasan reached maturity; secondly, the influx of wealth to the state caused by the plague-related deaths of many Mamluk amirs whose properties were subsequently transferred to the state treasury, including the enormous wealth of amir Shaykhu; and thirdly, through extortion of the sultan's subjects during his reign.

The importance and scale of the building project also attracted craftsmen from all over the Mamluk empire, including the far-away provinces of Anatolia, which may explain the diversity and innovativeness of the mosque's design and decoration. It is also believed that limestone from the Pyramids of Giza was quarried for use in the mosque's construction.

Later events

Due to the mosque's location near the Citadel and because of its massive and sturdy construction, it was used on more than one occasion as a fortified position or as a platform from which to launch attacks on the Citadel. Al-Maqrizi, noted that "as soon as there occurred strife between the people the state, a number of amirs and others ascended to the top of the mosque and began to bombard the Citadel from there". This, in turn, persuaded more than one sultan to order the mosque to be demolished or blocked up. In 1391, rebel amirs against Sultan Barquq mounted the roof of the mosque and launched projectiles at the Citadel, provoking the sultan into ordering the stairs and platform of the entrance destroyed and the doorway boarded up. In 1500, Sultan Janbalat, anticipating another rebel attack from the mosque, ordered it demolished; however, after three days of unsuccessful demolition attempts on the mosque's southeastern (Citadel-facing) walls, he was forced to give up. In 1517, the very last Mamluk sultan, Tumanbay, took refuge inside the mosque in an attempt to evade capture by the victorious Ottoman army as it took control of Cairo, resulting in the Ottomans bombarding the mosque with cannonballs from the Citadel. In 1660, chronicles described the mausoleum's dome as still being full of holes made by cannonballs. Even in the 18th century, during the period of Ottoman control, the mosque was apparently closed for many years after unrest in 1736, and was only reopened in 1786 by order of Salim Agha. Some of these demolition attempts, however, drew criticism from Cairo's population and authorities were often subsequently pressured into repairing damages.

In 1659, the northern minaret attached to the mausoleum collapsed. In 1671-1672, the minaret was replaced with a smaller one, with a slightly different form, and at same time the original wooden dome of the mausoleum was replaced with the current dome, also in a different shape from the original.

In 1869, construction began on a monumental new mosque, the Mosque of ar-Rifa'i, right next to the existing mosque of Sultan Hasan. Completed in 1912, its size is comparable to Sultan Hasan's construction and it was built in a neo-Mamluk style. The two buildings together now dominate the old Rumayla Square (now renamed Midan Salah ad-Din) across from the Citadel.

Architectural description

The site

The mosque occupies almost 8000 square meters in a location close to the Citadel of Cairo. It stands on the site of a lavish palace which had previously been built at great cost by Hasan's father, Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad, for one of his amirs, Yalbugha al-Yahawi, and which was demolished to make way for the mosque. The construction of monumental buildings on this location was likely meant in part to create a pleasing sight for the Sultan to look down on from his palace in the Citadel.

During the medieval era, an open square, known as Rumayla, lay between the mosque and the Citadel. Today, the square is occupied by a large traffic circle and has been renamed Salah ad-Din Square. The square and the former hippodrome nearby (on the southwestern side of the Citadel) were historically used for military parades, equestrian games, and official ceremonies, thus giving the location added symbolic significance.

Exterior

The building is about 150 meters long, 68 meters wide, and 36 meters high. Like all mosques, it is oriented towards Mecca, which is to the southeast of Cairo. The building's southwestern and northeastern facades (its longer sides) are marked by vertical rows of eight windows each (spread across four stories inside) which are a unique feature that helps to visually emphasize the structure's height. The top edge of the exterior facades are crowned by a thick cornice of muqarnas (stalactite-like carving) projecting 1.5 meters over the rest of the wall, another unprecedented feature in Mamluk architecture, although it does not extend around the entire building. Likewise, a crest of fleur-de-lis-shaped crenellations also ran along the whole length at the very top edge of the walls, but today it is only preserved around the mausoleum's walls on the southeastern side. The southeastern or Citadel-facing walls of the mosque and mausoleum have windows framed by more elaborate stone decoration in various patterns. The triangular-shaped spaces above the bottom windows here were once filled with geometric ceramic decoration, possibly of Anatolian Turkish inspiration.

Near the bottom of the southwestern wall, below today's street level, is a row of stone corbels projecting from the wall which likely served to support the roof of a covered market along the street on this side.

The minarets

The mosque today has two minarets flanking the mausoleum chamber on the southeastern side of the structure. The southern one of this pair, which is still in its original form, is the highest minaret of Mamluk architecture, its summit being 84 meters above the street level at the time. The northern one collapsed in 1659 and was rebuilt in its current form in 1671-72. The original northern minaret was said to be more monumental, and its summit was "double-headed"; in other words, it culminated in two lantern structures (instead of the usual one), a feature that reappeared much later in the minaret of Sultan al-Ghuri at the al-Azhar Mosque and in the minaret of the nearby Mosque of Qanibay ar-Rammah.

Additionally, two more minarets were originally intended to stand above the monumental portal of the mosque, very much like in the architecture of Mongol Ilkhanid and Anatolian Seljuk madrasas and mosques around the same period (for example, the Gök Madrasa in Sivas, Turkey, or the Great Mosque of Yazd, Iran), which were almost certainly an inspiration. This would have given the mosque a total of four minarets, which would have been unprecedented in Islamic architecture in Egypt. However, in 1361, during construction, one of those minarets toppled and killed around 300 people, including children in the primary school below. After this, the builders abandoned their construction, leaving only the two minarets adjacent to the mausoleum that we see today.

The entrance portal

The entrance portal is gigantic by the standards of mosque architecture and is 38 meters high. It was built at an angle projecting 17 degrees outwards from the rest of the wall so as to be visible from the Citadel. Its shape and the layout of its decoration indicate obvious inspiration from the portals of madrasas and mosques in Anatolian Seljuk and Mongol Ilkhanid architecture of the time, particularly the portal of the Gök (Blue) Madrasa in Sivas, Turkey, built in 1271. On the inside of the portal, behind the stone benches and flanking the doorway, are a pair of marble niches filled with geometric patterns reminiscent of Qur'an illumination and culminating in shallow muqarnas hoods (also Anatolian in style). Above these are black marble panels inlaid with white Kufic Arabic inscriptions of parts of the Surat al-Fath (Sura of Victory) from the Qur'an. The Shahada (the Muslim declaration of faith) is inscribed in "square" Kufic higher up above this, while further up is a band of inscription containing another Quranic verse (24:36-37), running along the full width of the inside of the portal, just below the muqarnas canopy.

The decoration of the portal was apparently never finished. There are many examples of stone carvings whose initial outlines were drawn into the stone but were never carved out. The broad and impressive muqarnas canopy over the doorway does not appear to be fully carved out either, while above this a section of stone cladding appears to be missing. Other bands of stone-carved decoration were only partially executed. For example, at the foot of the decorative niche on the left side of the portal one arabesque medallion was carved on the left while the one on the right was not. (This is also a rare demonstration of the steps in the stone-carving process: it is likely that a master craftsman drew the outlines of the pattern into the stone and that apprentices were later responsible for carving it out; in this case, the second step was not completed.) Some of the carved patterns, even if unfinished, are themselves notable; for example, there are floral chinoiserie motifs here which appear in other Mamluk crafts of the time but do not appear anywhere else in Mamluk architecture. Another minor but curious feature is the sculpted image of other architectural buildings in some of the carvings just above the stairs leading up to the portal; these are possibly spoils from a Gothic-style Christian monument, presumably from Crusader churches located on the estates donated to the madrasa-mosque's foundation.

The original bronze-covered doors of the entrance were forcibly purchased at a modest price by Sultan Mu'ayyad in the early 15th century for use on his own mosque, and can still be seen there today.

Interior

Although the exterior walls of the building are in stone, much of the interior is brick, with facades covered in stucco and finished with stonework for decorative details.

The entrance vestibule

The vestibule chamber upon entering the mosque is an unusually ornate space, covered by a small central dome surrounded by elaborate muqarnas vaults. The dome and half-dome arrangement here is reminiscent of Byzantine architecture, but may have been inspired from Armenian craftsmanship, if not original. The back wall facing the doorway is covered in marble paneling: in the middle is a square panel made of inlaid white and red marble in a geometric pattern of Syrian style, while on either side are marble panels with other carved patterns. From this chamber, a bending passage leads to the central courtyard.

Also located behind the walls of the vestibule on the floor plan is a space which may have once housed, or was intended to house, a doctor and medical students, as mentioned in the foundation (waqf) document. The space is now ruined, or might have never been finished.

The central courtyard and mosque area

The enormous central courtyard is a vast square space surrounded by four monumental iwans (vaulted chambers open on one side), of which the qibla iwan (the iwan in the direction of prayer) is larger than the other three. This space acted as a Friday mosque accessible to the public, but it was also used for teaching by the madrasas that were part of the foundation. The four iwans are said to have each been devoted to the teaching of one of the four maddhabs (schools of thought) of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence: the Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki, and Shafi'i maddhabs.

The size of the main qibla iwan was frequently acknowledged as an awe-inspiring achievement, with Mamluk historians like Maqrizi claiming it was greater than the famous arch of the Sassanid Persian palace of Ctesiphon (still the largest single-span vault of brickwork in the world today). The iwan of Sultan Hasan's mosque is not actually as large as that arch, but the comparison nonetheless emphasized the building's legendary reputation. This iwan is also richly decorated. A monumental inscription in Kufic style, set against a swirling vegetal arabesque background, runs along the entire length of the iwan and is unique in Mamluk architecture. The text is a fragment of the Surat al-Fath (Sura of Victory) from the Qur'an. Below this inscription band, the qibla wall is covered in multicolored marble paneling, centered around the mihrab (the niche symbolizing the direction of prayer) which is framed by its own golden inscription and whose central half-dome hood features a sunrise motif radiating from the word "Allah". The stone and marble minbar (pulpit) next to it may have once been covered in inlaid geometric patterns like that on the minbar of the Mosque of Aqsunqur, but this is not visible today. The minbar does still feature finely crafted bronze doors with geometric patterns. A dado of marble also runs along the other two walls of the iwan, although at a much shorter height. A stone platform, known as a dikka, stands in the middle of the space and was where reciters of the Qur'an would recite aloud for communal prayers.

The other three iwans and the rest of the courtyard are largely plain except for the doorways at the corners of the courtyard. These doorways lead to the madrasa units and with their own smaller courtyards. They are framed in ablaq stonework, bands of stone inscriptions, and colored mosaics. It is possible that the other iwans were intended to be decorated too but were never finished. Additionally, a marked-out but empty band running along the top edge of the entire courtyard, above the iwans, may have been intended for another monumental inscription.

The floor of the central courtyard is paved in rich marble mosaics. The pavement dates from a restoration by the "Comité" in 1912, but the patterns may well be from Sultan Hasan's time. The domed pavilion at the center of the courtyard shelters an ablutions fountain (for washing before prayer), but it was originally meant to be only a decorative fountain (ablutions facilities were once located next to the mosque building). The domed structure itself is made of wood and has likely been repaired or restored many times. Its current shape may date from Ottoman times, but it may also be the earliest Mamluk example of this type of fountain.

The madrasa courtyards

The doors in the corners of the main courtyard each lead to one of the four madrasa devoted to one of the four maddhabs (schools of thought in Sunni Islamic jurisprudence). Each was centered on a small courtyard surrounded by four stories of living quarters and cells for students. The madrasas were not of equal size (at least in part because of the irregular floor plan of the mosque, which was limited by existing streets and structures), with the Hanafi and Shafi'i madrasas being the largest, located on either side of the great iwan of the main mosque.

These madrasa areas were almost entirely separate from the central courtyard (aside from the doorways leading to them), unlike in other madrasas were the rooms of the students often had windows overlooking the main courtyard. This may have been because the main courtyard was used as a mosque by members of the public and a greater measure of privacy or tranquility was desired for the students. Each madrasa courtyard also had its own smaller iwan used for prayers and oriented towards the qibla (direction of prayer), which was decorated by a stucco inscription band much like the one in the great qibla-side iwan of the main mosque.

The mausoleum and the dome

The position of the mausoleum relative to the rest of the building was unusual in that it was located directly behind the qibla wall of the mosque, meaning it stood in the direction towards which Muslims in the mosque would pray. This is something not found in any other Mamluk religious building, though there is apparently no evidence that this was seen as controversial at the time. This layout had the consequence of making the mausoleum project outwards into Rumayla square and towards the Citadel, probably to make it more prominent when seen from the Citadel. The mausoleum chamber is accessed from inside the mosque, through a doorway to the left of the mihrab in the qibla wall. On the same wall, on the right side, there is a large, door-sized window which also opens to the mausoleum chamber. This window is distinguished by a set of doors which are notable for their exceptionally fine craftsmanship, made from copper-niello, inlaid with gold and silver, and featuring geometric star patterns and Thuluth-style Arabic inscriptions.

Inside, the chamber is even more lavishly decorated, with multicolored marble mosaic paneling on the lower walls and a large painted inscription of the Throne Verse, carved in wood, running around the entire chamber above this. The marble mihrab is similar to the one in the main qibla iwan of mosque. The square chamber transitions gradually to the round dome (12 meters in diameter) with the use of wooden pendentives, typical of Mamluk architecture, which are sculpted into muqarnas forms and richly painted and gilded.

The dome of the mausoleum chamber, visible from outside and from the Citadel, is no longer original but was replaced with the current one in 1671. This might have been due to damage from the fallen minaret in 1659 or from cannonballs fired from the Citadel in times of conflict. The original dome was also made of wood, despite the heavy buttressed walls of the chamber being able to support something heavier. However, the original dome had a very different shape. An Italian traveler in the early 17th century described it as being shaped like an egg; more specifically, it started narrow at the bottom then swelled out like a bulb, before finishing in a pointed tip.

The cenotaph at the middle of the mausoleum chamber, placed behind a wooden screen, is dated to 1384. Sultan Hasan's body was never found after he was killed and as such he was never buried here. Instead, the tomb is occupied by his two young sons. The mausoleum is also furnished with a large wooden lectern decorated with geometric star patterns and inlaid with ivory, which was meant to hold one of the giant royal copies of the Qur'an owned by the foundation.

Other structures of the foundation

The northwestern side of the mosque-madrasa is currently occupied by ruins and excavated remains. A primary school (maktab) once stood on this side, as well as a set of latrines and ablutions fountains. A row of arched rooms or units is also visible, and may have been used for shops as part of a weapons market. There was also a rectangular pool and a waterwheel, probably part of a pre-existing water aqueduct system which brought water to the royal stables of the Citadel.

The Burji Mamluks or Circassian Mamluks, sometimes referred to as the Burji dynasty, were the rulers of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1382 until 1517. As with the preceding Bahri Mamluks, the members of the Burji Mamluk ruling class were purchased as slaves (mamluks) and manumitted, with the most powerful among them taking the role of sultan in Cairo. During this period, the ruling Mamluks were generally of Circassian origin, drawn from the Christian population of the northern Caucasus. The name Burji, meaning 'of the tower', refers to the traditional residence of these Mamluks in the barracks of the Citadel of Cairo.

Although sultans typically designated their sons to succeed them after death, the latter rarely lasted more than a few years before being usurped by one of the powerful Mamluk commanders, usually from among the Mamluks purchased by previous sultans. Political power-plays often became important in designating a new sultan.

During this period, the Mamluks fought Timur and conquered Cyprus. Over the course of the 15th century, the sultanate was weakened by infighting and economic decline brought about by multiple factors. Although militarily powerful, they were eventually unable to compete with the more modern army of the Ottoman Empire, leading to their eventual conquest in 1517 by the Ottomans.

History

Establishment and early challenges

From 1250, Egypt had been ruled by the first Mamluk dynasty, the mostly Cuman-Kipchak Turkic Bahri dynasty. In 1377 a revolt broke out in Syria which spread to Egypt, and the government was taken over by the Circassians Barakah and Barquq; Barquq was proclaimed sultan in 1382, ending the Bahri dynasty. He was expelled in 1389 but recaptured Cairo in 1390. Early on, the Zahiri Revolt threatened to overthrow Barquq though the conspiracy was discovered before agitators could mobilize. Permanently in power, he founded the Burji dynasty.

Faced with a common enemy, Timur, Barquq joined with Bayezid I and Toktamish in a combined resistance and executed Timur's peace envoys. In the following months Timur was engaged in Georgia and unable to respond to Barquq's actions, while Barquq had died by 1399. In 1401, Timur invaded Syria and sacked Aleppo and Damascus. Syria was regained by Barquq's son, sultan Nasir-ad-Din Faraj, after Timur died in 1405, but Faraj continually faced rebellions from the emirs there and he was forced to abdicate in 1412.

After Faraj, the Abbasid caliph al-Musta'in was permitted to rule the sultanate in Cairo for several months, but the role of sultan was soon taken by another Mamluk, Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh.

Apogee and decline

Under the reign of Sultan Barsbay, the Mamluk Sultanate grew to its widest territorial extent. In 1426, he invaded the Kingdom of Cyprus and forced its kings to become Mamluk vassals. However, Barsbay also introduced a number of economic policies that were damaging in the long term, such as a state monopoly on the spice trade. During Barsbay's reign Egypt's population was greatly reduced from what it had been a few centuries before, with only one fifth of the number of towns. He frequently raided Asia Minor, but died in 1438.

During the reign of Sayf ad-Din Jaqmaq an attempt to conquer Rhodes in 1444 from the Knights of St. John was repelled.

Sayf ad-Din Inal came to power in 1453 and had friendly relations with the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II, who captured Constantinople later that year, causing great celebration in Egypt. The relationship between the Ottomans and the Mamluks became more adversarial after this time. Both states constantly vied for control of the spice trade, and the Ottomans aspired to eventually take control of the Holy Cities of Islam. Under the reign of Khusqadam, of Greek origin, tensions increased. Both Khusqadam and Mehmed II supported different candidates to the principality of Karaman.

After the death of Mehmed II in 1481, Sultan Qaitbay offended the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II by harboring his rebellious brother, Cem. Bayezid II later seized Adana, Tarsus and other places within Mamluk territory, but was unable to defeat the Mamluks during a prolonged war that ended in 1491. Qaitbay also tried to help the Muslims in Spain by threatening the Christians in Syria, but without effect. He died in 1496, leaving several hundred thousand ducats in debts to the great Venetian trading families.

Following another several years of political instability and succession disputes, the last major Mamluk sultan was Qansuh al-Ghuri, who came to power in 1501. While he attempted some reforms, including the introduction of the first military regiment with gunpowder weapons, he was unable to fully integrate them into the Mamluk army and he could not fix the country's economic problems.

Conquest by the Ottomans

By 1516, the Ottomans were free from other concerns — Sultan Selim I had just vanquished the Safavid Persians at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514 —and turned their full might against the Mamluks, who still ruled in Syria and Egypt, to complete the Ottoman conquest of the Middle East. Al-Ghuri led his army to confront Selim I's invasion of Syria in 1516, but he died in the Battle of Marj Dabiq and the Mamluk army was routed.

In 1517, the Ottomans completed their conquest with the capture of Cairo on January 22. The centre of power transferred from Cairo to Constantinople. However, the mamluks continued to exist as a political and military class in Ottoman Egypt. While the governors were appointed by the Ottoman sultan, the mamluks vied for influence within the country and held many high political positions. They were finally destroyed and exterminated by Muhammad Ali Pasha during his rise to power in Egypt in the early 19th century.

Culture

Some of the Circassian Mamluks who composed the ruling elite in this period could speak the Circassian language of their origins, but they generally learned Turkish while in Egypt, specifically Kipchak Turkish, as it was the main spoken language among the mamluks during the wider Mamluk Sultanate period. The main language for writing was Classical Arabic, while the common language of the general population was a form of colloquial Arabic. Kipchak Turkish was also used in writing, but to a lesser extent and mainly for a mamluk audience. Over time, it was replaced in this role by Oghuz Turkish due to influence from Turkish Anatolia.