mamluk sultanate interactions with the environment
[37] The Bahriyyah subsequently raided areas around Syria, threatening an-Nasir Yusuf's power in Damascus. [167] The offices of ustadar (majordomo), hajib (chamberlain), emir jandar and khazindar (treasurer), which existed during the Ayyubid period, were preserved, but Baybars established the additional offices of dawadar, emir akhur, ru'us al-nawab and emir majlis. [67] An-Nasir Muhammad went further in imposing his rule by intervening to have al-Wathiq succeed Caliph al-Mustakfi, as well as compelling the qadi to issue legal rulings that advanced his interests. [201], Metalware, whether in the form of ewers, basins, or candlesticks, was widely used in various contexts and many examples have survived today. [93] Towards the end of the 14th century, challengers to the Mamluks emerged in Anatolia, including the Ottoman dynasty who absorbed the territory of the Karamanids in central Anatolia and installed a vassal as the leader of the Dulkadirids in 1399, and the Turkic allies of Timur, the Aq Qoyonlu and Kara Qoyounlu tribes who entered southern and eastern Anatolia in the same time period. In 1260, after a period of confusion following the death of the last Ayyubid, a Qipchaq Turk called Baybars became Sultan. [182], Over time, the iqta system was expanded, and increasingly larger areas of kharaj (taxable lands) were appropriated as iqta lands in order to meet the fiscal needs of the Mamluk military institution, namely payment of Mamluk officers and their subordinates. [15] Each Ayyubid sultan and high-ranking emir had a private mamluk corps. The latter's forces fell into a Mamluk trap once they reached the springs of Ain Jalut, with Baybars's men turning around to confront the Mongols and Qutuz's units ambushing the Mongols from the hills. Al-Maqrizi, al-Mawaiz wa al-'i'tibar bi dhikr al-khitat wa al-'athar, Matabat aladab, Cairo 1996, This page was last edited on 9 January 2023, at 15:33. [65] Like his two Bahri predecessors, Khalil's main priorities were organization of the sultanate, defeat of the Crusaders and the Mongols, incorporation of Syria into the Mamluk domain and preservation of the import of new mamluks and weaponry. [155] Typically, the faction most loyal to the sultan were the Royal Mamluks, particularly those mamluks whom the sultan had personally recruited and manumitted. Source: Wikimedia Commons. [71] In 1351, Hasan attempted to assert his executive power and was ousted by the senior emirs, led by Emir Taz, and replaced with his brother, as-Salih Salih. [200] Cairo, Damascus, and Aleppo were among the main centers of manuscript production. [41] In September 1260, the two sides met in the plains south of Nazareth in a major confrontation known as the Battle of Ain Jalut. Emirates NBD. The iqta system was inherited from the Ayyubids and further organized under the Mamluks to fit their military needs. [47] According to historian Thomas Asbridge, the methods used to capture Arsuf demonstrated the "Mamluks' grasp of siegecraft and their overwhelming numerical and technological supremacy". [31] Instead of isolating Aktay as was Aybak's intention, the assignment allowed Aktay to impose extortionate taxes in Upper Egypt and provide him the personal funds to finance his patronage of the Bahriyyah. [155] This was in contrast to the qaranis, who were those in the Royal Mamluks' ranks who had been recruited by a sultan's predecessors and thus lacked khushdashiyyah bonds with the sultan. [178] In the Mamluk era, the iqta was an emir's principal source of income,[179] and starting in 1337,[180] Mamluk iqta holders would lease or sell rights to their iqtaat to non-mamluks in order to derive greater revenues. [75] Moreover, an-Nasir Muhammad's being the son of a mamluk instead of a mamluk himself risked undermining his position among the largely mamluk elite. [101] With regards to European pirates, he launched campaigns against Cyprus in 14251426, during which the island's king 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. Due to the laws of the Islamic faith in the Medieval Era, it was illegal to enslave Muslims; however, any non-Muslim was allowed to be enslaved. Ultimately, however, consensus settled on as-Salih's widow, Shajar ad-Durr. The Mamluks under Sultan Qutuz and Baybars routed the Mongols in 1260, halting their southward expansion. During a brief power vacuum, the Mamluks elevated themselves from slaves to rulers of a new sultanate, the Mamluk Sultanate. Decorative motifs in one art form were often applied in other art forms, including architecture. Mosque lamps had a bulbous body with a wide flaring neck at the top. True or False: The Mamluks were massacred by the Ottoman Empire in 1517, effectively ending their existence. [30] Aybak moved against the Bahriyyah in 1251 by shutting down their Rawda headquarters in a bid to sap Aktay's power base. Hulagu Khan's Siege of Baghdad ended the Islamic Golden Age. Why do historians concern themselves with the Mamluks, a brief period of rule between the fall of the Ayyubid Sultanate and the Abbasid Caliphate, and the rise of the Ottoman Empire? [171] The Mamluks introduced greater centralization over the economy by organizing the state bureaucracy, particularly in Cairo (Damascus and Aleppo already had organized bureaucracies), and the Mamluk military hierarchy and its associated iqta system. [111][113], The ruling military elite of the sultanate was exclusive to those of mamluk background, with rare exceptions. The quality and quantity of metalwork was also generally higher in the early period. Sultanate versus Caliphate, Sultan versus Caliph: What's the difference? [165] To bring further uniformity to the military, Baybars and Qalawun standardized the undefined Ayyubid policies regarding the distribution of iqtaat to emirs. They were successful in combat, beating them at the Battle of Ain Jalut and the Battle of Homs. On January 25, the Mamluk Sultanate collapsed. [166] The reformation of iqta distribution created a clear link between an emir's rank and the size of his iqta. Unlike the coastal Crusader fortresses, the Mamluks strengthened and utilized the interior cities as major garrisons and administrative centers. [154] When emirs felt the sultan was not ensuring their benefits, disruptive riots, coup plots or delays to calls for service were all likely scenarios. [162] The Royal Mamluks, who were under the direct command of the sultan, were the highest-ranking body within the army, entry into which was exclusive. To accomplish this, he instituted a postal network that extended across the cities of Egypt and Syria. [131] By the end of the Mamluk period, the ratio of Muslims to Christians in Egypt may have risen to 10:1. [168], The ustadar (from the Arabic ustadh al-dar, "master of the house") was the chief of staff of the sultan, responsible for organizing the royal court's daily activities, managing the personal budget of the sultan and supervising all of the buildings of the Cairo Citadel and its staff. [93], Barquq died in 1399 and was succeeded by his eleven-year-old son, an-Nasir Faraj, who was in Damascus at the time. Stop procrastinating with our study reminders. [169] Mamluk emirs also had their own ustadars. [145] The Bedouin were ultimately purged from Upper and Lower Egypt by the campaigns of Emir Shaykhu in 1353. Egypt and Syria already possessed a rich tradition of glassmaking prior to this period and Damascus was the most important production center during the Mamluk period. The early Mamlks carried out a host of large-scale construction projects developing, extending, and intensifying the irrigation system, widening and deepening canals, erecting and strengthening dikes, and constructing dams and sluices that helped to control the system during the Nile flood season. [155], The sultan was the head of state and among his powers and responsibilities were issuing and enforcing specific legal orders and general rules, making the decision to go to war, levying taxes for military campaigns, ensuring the proportionate distribution of food supplies throughout the sultanate and, in some cases, overseeing the investigation and punishment of alleged criminals. [45], Another major component to Baybar's rule was intrastate communication. [38], While various mamluk factions competed for control of Egypt and Syria, the Mongols under the command of Hulagu Khan had sacked Baghdad, the intellectual and spiritual center of the Islamic world, in 1258, and proceeded westward, capturing Aleppo and Damascus. [208][209] The decoration of monuments also became more elaborate over time, with stone-carving and colored marble paneling and mosaics (including ablaq) replacing stucco as the most dominant architectural decoration. [38] The surviving Mu'izzi and Bahri mamluks made their way to Gaza, where Baybars had created a virtual shadow state in opposition to Qutuz. However, Louis IX died, allowing the Mamluks to refocus their efforts at further conquests of Crusader territories in Syria, including the County of Tripoli's Krak des Chevaliers fortress, which Baybars captured in 1271. [63] Construction of the hospital, a contrast from his Mamluk predecessors who focused on establishing madrasas, was done to gain the goodwill of the public, create a lasting legacy, and secure his spot in the afterlife. [190] Early into their rule, the Mamluks sought to expand their role in foreign trade, and to this end Baybars signed a commercial treaty with Genoa, while Qalawun signed a similar agreement with Ceylon. [95] The new Egyptian niyabas were Alexandria, Damanhur and Asyut. Source: Wikimedia Commons. [151] It more or less involved the election of a sultan by a council of emirs and mamluks (who would give him an oath of loyalty), the sultan's assumption of the monarchical title al-malik, a state-organized procession through Cairo at the head of which was the sultan, and the reading of the sultan's name in the khutbah (Friday prayer sermon). [71] Concurrent with an-Nasir Muhammad's 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 political entities. [193] Thus, during the 15th century, the long-established trade between Europe and the Islamic world began to make up a significant part of the sultanate's revenues as the Mamluks imposed taxes on the merchants who operated or passed through the sultanate's ports. [155] According to Holt, the factious nature of emirs who were not the sultan's khushdashiyyah derived from the primary loyalty of emirs and mamluks to their own ustadh (master) before the sultan. The Mamluk's largest industry was agriculture, yet their urban areas became increasingly impressive. After thorough training in various fields such as martial arts, court etiquette and Islamic sciences, these slaves were freed. By then, mamluk solidarity and loyalty to the emirs had dissipated. Keep reading to learn more about the Mamluk Sultanate environment, culture, and more. Qalawun's forces were significantly outnumbered by the estimated 80,000-strong Ilkhanid-Armenian-Georgian-Seljuk coalition, but marched north from Damascus to meet the Ilkhanid army at Homs. When word of his death reached Hulagu, the Ilkhanate's Khan pulled back to Mongolia with a large portion of his army. [20] Opposition among the Salihiyyah to as-Salih rose when the latter ordered the assassination of his brother Abu Bakr al-Adil in 1249, a task that affronted many of the Salihiyyah and by whom was rejected; four of the Salihiyyah ultimately agreed to execute the controversial operation. [180] The revenues emanating from the iqta also served as a more stable source of income than other methods the Mamluks sometimes employed, including tax hikes, the sale of administrative posts and extortion of the population. The Abbasid caliphs were the nominal sovereigns (figureheads). [106] The Mamluk influence remained a force in Egyptian politics until their abrupt end at the hands of Muhammad Ali in 1811. Due to the Mamluk power, they were able to shield and protect the western Islamic world from the threat of the Mongols. [136] The Greek Orthodox Church experienced a decline following the Mamluk destruction of its spiritual center, Antioch, and the Timurid destruction of Aleppo and Damascus in 1400. In addition, his diplomacy was also intended to maintain the flow of Turkic mamluks from Mongol-held Central Asia. Rather, it caused disruption of agricultural activities, destruction of crops and economic loss. [102], Barsbay launched military expeditions against the Aq Qoyonlu in 1429 and 1433. Many Bedouin women mourned his death. [57] However, the latter's ineptness precipitated a power struggle that ended with Qalawun being elected sultan in November 1279. [10] Arabic sources for the period of the Bahri Mamluks refer to the dynasty as the 'State of the Turks' (Dawlat al-Atrak or Dawlat al-Turk) or 'State of Turkey' (al-Dawla al-Turkiyya). "[112] 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. [64], Qalawun was the last Salihi sultan and following his death in 1290, his son, al-Ashraf Khalil, drew his legitimacy as a Mamluk by emphasizing his lineage from Qalawun, thus inaugurating the Qalawuni period of Bahri rule. [4] The less than year-long reign of Caliph al-Musta'in as sultan in 1412 was an anomaly. [139] Under the third reign of an-Nasir Muhammad in particular, the Bedouin tribes, particularly those of Syria, such as the Al Fadl, were strengthened and integrated into the economy as well. The Mamluk Sultanate appeared to be on a collision course with Hulagu's Ilkhanate, one of Mongol Empire's four khanates, whose forces were advancing through the Mamluk-held Levant. [116] The sons of mamluks, known as the awlad al-nas, did not typically hold positions in the military elite and instead, were often part of the civilian administration or the Muslim religious establishment. [22], Prior to Turanshah's arrival at the front facing the French, the Bahriyyah, a junior regiment of the Salihiyyah commanded by Baibars al-Buduqdari, defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of al-Mansurah on 11 February 1250. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks (manumitted slave soldiers) headed by the sultan. [214] The peak of this stone dome architecture was achieved under the reign of Qaytbay in the late 15th century. The Mamluk sultan Qansuh al-Ghawri was warned by the Ottoman sultan Selim I that al-Ghawri was providing the envoys of the Ismail I safe passage through Syria on their way to Venice and harboring refugees. [146], The Mamluks did not significantly alter the administrative, legal and economic systems that they inherited from the Ayyubid state. [119] Under Sultan 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,[119] and Ismailism, the branch of Islam of the Fatimid state. Trade continued nonetheless and despite papal restrictions on trade with the Muslims during the Crusades. [51] Furthermore, the Mamluks also received the submission of king Adur of al-Abwab further south. Under the Ayyubid sultanate, Mamluk generals used their power to establish a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517. The Mamluks took advantage of their power to become the principal landholders in Egypt. [201] The production of high-quality paper at this time also allowed for pages to be larger, which in turn encouraged artists to elaborate new motifs and designs to fill these larger formats. The ruling Ottomans warred between the ambitious Albanian mercenary regiment under the command of Muhammed Ali and the last remnants of the Mamluks in Cairo. ", "Chapter Nineteen Bedouin and Mamluks in Egypt-Co-Existence in a State of Duality", "Chapter 7 Personal loyalty and political power of the Mamluks in the eighteenth century", "The Art of the Mamluk Period (12501517)", "The logistics of the Mamluk-Mongol war, with special reference to the Battle of Wadi'l-Khaznadar, 1299 C.E. . [41] The battle ended in a Mongol rout and Kitbuqa's capture and execution. [139] Bedouin tribes were also a major source of the Mamluk cavalry's Arabian horses. In the Persian culture, succeeding Indo-Muslim monarchs built a "centralized organization" whose mission was to mobilize human and physical resources for the battles. [46], Baybars attempted to institute dynastic rule by assigning his four-year-old son al-Said Barakah as co-sultan, thereby ending the Mamluk tradition of electing a leader, but this effort was ultimately unsuccessful, at least for his Zahirid household; successful rulership became highly dependent on Baybars' personal qualities[clarification needed]. [66] With regards to the latter policy, Baybars had purchased 4,000 mamluks, Qalawun purchased 6,0007,000 and by the end of Khalil's reign, there was an estimated total of 10,000 mamluks in the sultanate. Although the Mamluk sultanate was destroyed, the Mamluks remained intact as a class in Egypt and continued to exercise considerable influence in the state. [185] Centralization over Syria and Palestine was also more complicated than in Egypt due to the diversity of those regions' geography and the frequent invasions of the Syro-Palestinian territories. Starting with Qalawun, the Mamluks also monopolized the tradition of providing the annual decorated covering of the Kaaba, in addition to patronizing Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock. ", "A Damascene Eyewitness to the Battle of Nicopolis", "The Complex of Sultan Hasan in Cairo: Reading Between the Lines", "Social Milieus and Worldviews in Mamluk Adab-Encyclopedias: The Example of Poverty and Wealth", "The Position and Power of the Mamluk Sultan", "The Military Institution and Innovation in the Late Mamluk Period", "Representing the Mamluks in Mamluk Historical Writing", "Identifying a Late Medieval Cadastral Survey of Egypt", "Introduction: Constantinople and Granada, Christian-Muslim Interaction 1350-1516", "The Re-Emergence of the Mamluks Following the Ottoman Conquest", "The Term Mamlk and Slave Status during the Mamluk Sultanate", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mamluk_Sultanate&oldid=1132582141, States and territories established in 1250, States and territories disestablished in 1517, Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the flag caption or type parameters, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from December 2021, Articles to be expanded from February 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. [19], Tensions between as-Salih Ayyub and his mamluks came to a head later in 1249 when Louis IX of France's forces captured Damietta in their bid to conquer Egypt during the Seventh Crusade. [92][93] The rebels took over Syria and headed for Egypt, prompting Barquq to abdicate in favor of as-Salih Hajji. iii DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108557382 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Print publication year: 2022 Access options
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