Who were the Mamluks?
World History
E. Napp
Name: __________________
Date: __________________
Historical Context:
“A Mamlūk, also spelled Mameluke, [was a] slave soldier, a member of one of the
armies of slaves that won political control of several Muslim states during the
Middle Ages…
The use of Mamlūks as a major component of Muslim armies became a distinct
feature of Islamic civilization as early as the 9th century C.E. The practice was
begun in Baghdad by the ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Muʿtaṣim (833–842), and it soon spread
throughout the Muslim world. Moreover, the political result was almost invariably
the same: the slaves exploited the military power vested in them to seize control over
the legitimate political authorities, often only briefly but sometimes for astonishingly
long periods of time. Thus, soon after al-Muʿtaṣim’s reign the caliphate itself fell
victim to the Turkish Mamlūk generals, who were able to depose or murder caliphs
almost with impunity. Although the caliphate was maintained as a symbol of
legitimate authority, the actual power was wielded by the Mamlūk generals; and by
the 13th century, Mamlūks had succeeded in establishing dynasties of their own,
both in Egypt and in India, in which the sultans were necessarily men of slave origin
or the heirs of such men.
This process of usurping power was epitomized by and culminated in the
establishment of the Mamlūk dynasty, which ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to
1517 and whose descendants survived in Egypt as an important political force
during the Ottoman occupation (1517–1798). The Kurdish general Saladin, who
gained control of Egypt in 1169, followed what by then constituted a tradition in
Muslim military practice by including a slave corps in his army in addition to
Kurdish, Arab, Turkmen, and other free elements. This practice was also followed
by his successors. Al-Malik aṣ-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb (1240–49) is reputed to have been the
largest purchaser of slaves, chiefly Turkish, as a means of protecting his sultanate
both from Ayyūbid rivals and from the crusaders. Upon his death in 1249 a struggle
for his throne ensued, in the course of which the Mamlūk generals murdered his
heir and eventually succeeded in establishing one of their own number as sultan.
Thenceforth, for more than 250 years, Egypt and Syria were ruled by Mamlūks or
sons of Mamlūks.”
~ Britannica
What are the main points of the passage?
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The Article: Goodbye to the Mamluks; Economist Magazine, December 23, 1999
IN AUGUST 1516, on the plain of Marj Dabik in northern Syria, an Ottoman
army smashed the forces of the Mamluk sultan of Cairo. The Turkish victory
abruptly ended Cairo’s 500-year domination of the central lands of Islam. For 400
years, half the Mediterranean and most of the Arab world would henceforth be
ruled from Constantinople.
The event stunned contemporaries. Since taking power in Cairo in the 13th
century, the Mamluks – a samurai-like regime of mercenary slaves turned masters –
had been the mightiest force in the Middle East. It was they who chased the
crusaders out of Palestine, they whose superb cavalry fought off Genghis Khan and
his Mongol army in 1260.
A later Mongol onslaught, led by Tamerlane, who seized Damascus and then, in
1401, sacked Baghdad, had left Cairo the greatest city in Islam. The Mamluk
Empire stretched from Alexandria to Aleppo, and far to the south-east beyond
Mecca. It monopolized the global spice trade, driving Portuguese venturers around
the Cape of Good Hope, and Spanish fleets to the Americas, in search of alternative
sources.
The shock was not just that this mighty empire had been beaten. The scale of its
defeat was appalling. The 75-year-old Mamluk sultan, Qansuh al-Ghuri, had
marched to Syria in style. His magnificent train included 50 camel-loads of gold,
and 40 huge illuminated Korans. Besides the chiefs of all Cairo’s courts and guilds
and dervish orders, he had brought along the caliph, Mutawakkil, latest of the
Abbasid family, whose lineage as titular leader of Islam extended back 800 years.
For the past 250 of them, Mamluk sultans had used these powerless caliphs as props
to legitimize their own rule.
The battle was over in 20 minutes. As it began, the commander of the Mamluk left
flank pulled his troops out. This treachery (it earned him an Ottoman governorship)
assured the rout of the Mamluks. The sultan was killed, the caliph shipped to
Constantinople as a prisoner. The Abbasid line had ended, and Ottoman rulers
would now claim its perquisites. The Ottoman sultan, Selim the Grim, on entering
Aleppo insultingly dispatched a lame clerk leaning on a cane to take the citadel,
where al-Ghuri had parked his camel-loads of treasure.
Within a year the rest of the Mamluk realm had fallen. Within 20 the Ottoman
Turks ruled almost all the Arab world, except for distant Morocco and Oman. One
battle had transformed an essentially European power into a great IslamicMediterranean empire. Selim's successor, Suleiman the Magnificent, was now the
richest potentate on earth, Servant of the Holy Places and Commander of the
Faithful.
With 480 years of hindsight, the fall of the Mamluks looks less surprising than at
the time. The forces at Marj Dabik were not balanced. The 20,000 Mamluks relied
on tactics and equipment perfected in the 13th century. The highly trained, horsemounted archers at the core of their army were no match for Ottoman foot-soldiers
wielding new-fangled arquebuses, nor for the Turks' deadly light artillery. The
Ottomans' logistics, with separate corps for transport, engineering, food supply and
surgery, enabled them to keep 60,000 men in the field.
The Ottomans also represented a new kind of thinking. The regimes they replaced
were feudal and venal. In the Mamluk realm, non-Muslims had been tolerated, but
only just. The Ottomans had a different vision. Like the British in 19th-century
India, they respected local grandees. They also installed a cohesive system of taxes
and administration. Customs tariffs were kept low, and foreign merchants
welcomed. Enjoying nearly autonomous status, the empire’s large religious
minorities prospered. For all its later decay, in its early centuries the Ottoman
Empire was an outstanding success.
Yet the very success of its system sowed the seeds of future trouble. As a loose
collection of sanjaks, beyliks, bishoprics and rabbinates, tied to Constantinople with
the flimsiest of threads, the peoples of regions like the Balkans and the Middle East
got along fairly well. But schisms would eventually arise. Ethnic and religious
nationalism, those gloomy fashions of the 20th century, were to make the Ottoman
mix explosive.”
What are the main points of the passage?
12345678910The Art of the Mamluk Period: (1250 – 1517)
~ Suzan Yalman; Department of Education, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
“The Mamluk sultanate (1250 – 1517) emerged from the weakening of the Ayyubid
realm in Egypt and Syria (1250–60). Ayyubid sultans depended on slave (Arabic:
mamluk, literally ‘owned,’ or slave) soldiers for military organization, yet mamluks
of Qipchaq Turkic origin eventually overthrew the last Ayyubid sultan in Egypt, alMalik al-Ashraf (r. 1249–50) and established their own rule. Their unusual political
system did not rely entirely on family succession to the throne – slaves were also
recruited into the governing class. Hence the name of the sultanate later given by
historians. Following the defeat of Mongol armies at the Battle of cAyn Jalut (1260),
the Mamluks inherited the last Ayyubid strongholds in the eastern Mediterranean.
Within a short period of time, the Mamluks created the greatest Islamic empire of
the later Middle Ages, which included control of the holy cities Mecca and Medina.
The Mamluk capital, Cairo, became the economic, cultural, and artistic center of
the Arab Islamic world.
Mamluk history is divided into two periods based on different dynastic lines: the
Bahri Mamluks (1250–1382) of Qipchaq Turkic origin from southern Russia,
named after the location of their barracks on the Nile (al-bahr, literally ‘the sea,’ a
name given to this great river), and the Burji Mamluks (1382–1517) of Caucasian
Circassian origin, who were quartered in the citadel (al-burj, literally ‘the tower’).
After receiving instruction in Arabic, the fundamentals of Islam, and the art of
warfare, slaves in the royal barracks were manumitted and given responsibilities in
the Mamluk hierarchy.
The Bahri reign defined the art and architecture of the entire Mamluk period.
Prosperity generated by the east-west trade in silks and spices supported the
Mamluks’ generous patronage. Despite periods of internal struggle, there was
tremendous artistic and architectural activity, developing techniques established by
the Ayyubids and integrating influences from different parts of the Islamic world.
Refugees from east and west contributed to the momentum. 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. The influence of Mamluk glassware on the
Venetian glass industry is only one such example.
The reign of Baybars’s ally and successor, Qala’un (r. 1280–90), initiated the
patronage of public and pious foundations that included madrasas, mausolea,
minarets, and hospitals. Such endowed complexes not only ensured the survival of
the patron’s wealth but also perpetuated his name, both of which were endangered
by legal problems relating to inheritance and confiscation of family fortunes.
Besides Qala’un's complex, other important commissions by Bahri Mamluk sultans
include those of al-Nasir Muhammad (1295–1304) as well as the immense and
splendid complex of Hasan (begun 1356). These structures were emulated by highranking officials and influential emirs who built similar foundations, such as the
complex of Salar and Sanjar al-Jawli (begun 1303) and that of the emir Shaykhu
(1350–55).
The Burji Mamluk sultans followed the artistic traditions established by their
Bahri predecessors. Although the state was faced with its greatest external and
internal threats in the early fifteenth century, including the devastation of the
eastern Mediterranean provinces by the Central Asian conqueror Timur
(Tamerlane; r. 1370–1405), as well as famine, plague, and civil strife in Egypt,
patronage of art and architecture resumed. Mamluk textiles and carpets were
prized in international trade. In architecture, endowed public and pious foundations
continued to be favored. Major commissions in the early Burji period in Egypt
included the complexes built by Barquq (r. 1382–99), Faraj (r. 1399–1412),
Mu’ayyad Shaykh (r. 1412–21), and Barsbay (r. 1422–38).
In the eastern Mediterranean provinces, the lucrative trade in textiles between
Iran and Europe helped revive the economy. Also significant was the commercial
activity of pilgrims en route to Mecca and Medina. Large warehouses, such as the
Khan al-Qadi (1441), were erected to satisfy the surge in trade. Other public
foundations in the region included the mosques of Aqbugha al-Utrush (Aleppo,
1399–1410) and Sabun (Damascus, 1464) as well as the Madrasa Jaqmaqiyya
(Damascus, 1421).
In the second half of the fifteenth century, the arts thrived under the patronage of
Qa’itbay (r. 1468–96), the greatest of the later Mamluk sultans. During his reign,
the shrines of Mecca and Medina were extensively restored. Major cities were
endowed with commercial buildings, religious foundations, and bridges. In Cairo,
the complex of Qa’itbay in the Northern Cemetery (1472–74) is the best known and
admired structure of this period. Apart from his own patronage, Qa’itbay
encouraged high-ranking officials and influential emirs to build as well.
Building continued under the last Mamluk sultan, Qansuh al-Ghawri (r. 1501–17),
who commissioned his own complex (1503–5); however, construction methods
reflected the finances of the state. At this time, the Portuguese were gaining control
of the Indian Ocean and barring the Mamluks from trade, their richest source of
revenue. Though the Mamluk realm was soon incorporated into the Ottoman
Empire (1517), Mamluk visual culture continued to inspire Ottoman and other
Islamic artistic traditions.”
What are the main points of the passage?
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