Mameluke

Origins

The first Mamelukes form, at the 9th century, the guard of the caliphs Abbassides with Baghdad. They are initially recruited among the nonMoslem prisoners coming from the current Turkestan, of Europe of the East (Greek Slaves, , Circassie NS) or of southernmost Russia (plains of Kipchak). At the beginning, the position is not hereditary. Certain Mamelukes arrive to important positions of command. They are then with the service of the dynasty Ayyoubide.

Mamelukes in Egypt

Sources

The period of the sultanate is very well documented thanks in particular to acts of Waqf and to testimonys of the historians. The sources mainly used are:

writings of the historian Ibn Khaldoun (Tunis, 1332 - Cairo, 1406). In its Universal History ( Mukkadima ), the Kitab Al-Hibar is a talk on the system Mameluke.
writings of Ibn Taghri Birdî, dating from the 15th century, mainly on the furusiyya .
writings of the historian Makrizi.

The system Mameluke

The system Mameluke, by holding to the high positions with men born slaves, is highly original for a leading class. Clean with Islam, this system perdure of and with the massacre of the Mamelukes chiefs by Mohammed Ali in 1811 ends.

The Mamelukes recruit their future elites among children captured in nonMoslem countries, which makes it possible for example to circumvent the rules prohibiting to the Moslems to be made the war between them. These children come in particular from Turkish-speaking territories (Kipchak plain, the Caucasus cirassien) and are selected on criteria of capacity, of absence of bonds, and resistance. Raised far from his country of origin, the future Mameluke receives an religious education and soldier ( Furusiyya in particular). Arrived at the adulthood, the sultanate or the emir (military chief) frees it and provides him equipment and pay. He preserves all his life the team spirit or asabiyya which characterizes the Mamelukes. Each Mameluke, indeed, is related to his house, i.e. with his chief and the Mamelukes who were trained at the same time as him. One quotes cases where, the Sultan having died, of the Mamelukes refuse, by fidelity with their former chief, to be freed by its successor and give up their career thus.

The Mamelukes are distributed in distinct bodies according to their chief. The sultan forms the troops of elite while the emirs constitute bodies of Mamelukes of less value.

This system is very expensive because of the important losses at the time of the voyage and the need for treating with the Byzantine and the Mongolian . Moreover, it is necessary to find new Mamelukes with each generation, because their children cannot remain in the body of the Mamelukes: born Moslem and regarded as “less resistant” because of their contact with the Islamic company, they marry women autochtones and their descent is melted in the local company. Moreover the system degrades itself during time: one passes from a promotion every ten years to a promotion every five years under Barkuk, then every fourteen months.

Military organization: the furûsiyya

The sultanate Mameluke has best armed with the Islamic world, in particular thanks to the practice of the furûsiyya . The furûsiyya is a whole of practical and theoretical knowledge related to the horse: horsemanship, hippology, veterinary medicine, art of warfare. It includes/understands also the disciplines of the fauconnery, the archery, the handling of the weapons, the fight, swimming and the set of failures, all considered as art of warfares. It does not put ahead bravery but the discipline and gives place to an important literature. One counts with the Cairo many hippodromes (at least seven for the period bahrite). However, as of 1340, the hippodromes start to be degraded and are in the middle of the 15th century in a disastrous situation: the furûsiyya is not practiced any more whereas in the court of the palate. It is besides at this period that the firearms arrive, that the Mamelukes do not adopt, contrary to the Othomans. The hippodromes play a crucial role while being used as meeting room.

The exercises of furûsiyya are numerous and include/understand exercises with the lance as well as the practice of the sports shirt, of the kabak (described by Makrizi), of the shooting to the arc, the fencing, the play of Birjas, the play of the mass of weapon, the fight, hunting, the shooting to the crossbow, the horse-races and the play of failure. Each one of these branches has a Master.

The Mamelukes consume in addition meat of horse and Kumis (milk of mare fermented), foreign practices in the Arab world.

Economic organization

The Mamelukes practice the trade of spices with Europeans, through the Indian Ocean. This practice is source of great richness until the skirting of the Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese, which causes the end of the monopoly.

Art Mameluke

Egypt mamelouke produced an art of very first order, in particular in the architectural field with the Cairo. See the articles Art Mameluke and Architecture mamelouke.

History of the Mamelukes in Egypt

One in general divides the sultanate Mameluke into two periods: that of Bahrites (1250 - 1382), which is Turkish kipchaks, and that of Burjites (1382 - 1517), of origin circassienne and géorgienne. The Mamelukes however preserved a role in Egypt during several centuries after the end of the sultanate.

The period bahrite (1250 - 1382)

In 1250, with died of Have-Sâlih Ayyûb (1240 - 1249), the Mamelukes Turkish (known as bahrites , of bahr , “the river” because they are confined in an island on the the Nile) assassinate his heir Al-Mu' adham. Their chief, Al-Muizz Izz AD-DIN Aybak wife her mother-in-law (or mother, according to the sources) Chajar Al-Durr, and seizes the power. It controls until in 1257. The bag of Baghdad by the Mongolian in 1258 assistance the dynasty bahri to be established: it destroys the Abbassides, which could have wanted to take again Cairo.

Az-Zâhir Rukn AD-DIN Baybars Al-Bunduqdari (Baybars), a Mameluke exiled in Syria, turns over then to Egypt where it reigns between 1260 and 1277, sitting its capacity with the Bataille of Ain Djalout against the Mongols (1261). After the stop of the Mongolian troops, the external threats decrease considerably and territorial uncertainties die out. The control field of the Mamelukes extends then on Egypt, Syria and Arabia (holy places), and a protectorate is set up with respect to Yemen. They also control the trade in the Indian Ocean, through the Red Sea. At the end of the reign of Baybars a forwarding in takes place Anatolia.

Baybars dies in 1277. His/her son Have-Said Nâsir AD-DIN Luck Khan Ben Baybars, which it had associated with the capacity before his death, goes up on the throne at the 18 years age. This fact is important, because it constitutes an attempt to found a hereditary dynasty, in contradiction with the principles Mamelukes. This will mark all the first period of the sultanate.

Luck is deposited three years later by Al-Mansûr Sayf AD-DIN Qala' Al-Alfi, which belongs to the house of Baybars. It reigns ten years (1280 - 1290), in a relative calm. It is him which puts an end to the franque presence in Syria (falls of the last frank State: 1291). Like Baybars, it tries to establish a dynasty but one of its sons dies while the other is assassinated. 17 years of political instability follow then to the course which takes place the first two reigns of Year-Nâsir Muhammad Ben Qala' a, another of its sons.

In 1309, year-Nâsir leaves its Syrian exile, goes on Cairo and seizes third once the capacity thanks to the Mamelukes whom it recruited and with the Syrian governors. He then knows a long reign of 1309 with 1340. It is under its reign that the Egyptian population becomes in Moslem majority, because in particular of the pressures exerted on Coptes such as the prohibition of certain religious holidays. It is also under its reign that a first recasting of the Iqt takes place' has , i.e. the distribution of income of Egypt between the emirs (military chiefs) and the sultan. This new system makes it possible to the sultans to follow a policy of patronage.

In 1341, the death of Qala' one opens the way at a new period of instability (12 sultans in 40 years). It is in fact the emirs who hold the reins of the capacity. In 1348 the Black Death kills a third of the Egyptian population. The sultan Year-Nâsir Nâsir AD-DIN Al-Hassan reign one second time between 1354 and 1361; he will be particularly hated by the Egyptian population because of his taste for the expenditure whereas the country has just been devastated by the epidemic.

The period burjite (1382 - 1517)

In 1382, the sultan Az-Zâhir Sayf AD-DIN Barquq arrives on the throne and installs the second line, that of Circassiens and Géorgiens, known as burjites (of burj , “citadel”, because they are confined in the citadel of the Cairo). It immediately places emirs of its house and its family at the stations - keys. It is one isolated moment of the capacity in 1389, when Bahrite tries to take again the command, but finds its throne since 1390. With its death in 1399, Barquq also tries to establish a dynasty, by entrusting the capacity to his/her son, Year-Nâsir Faraj Ben Barquq, which knows two reigns (1399-1405 and 1405-1412). About 1400, this one drives out the Timurides (carried out by Tamerlan) of Syria, and undergoes, between 1403 and 1406, a counterpart of the Black Death which causes the death of 20% of the population. The plague precipitates the renewal of the Mamelukes, and in addition causes a strong economic decline (Treasury drops due to a fall of the land incomes) to the human drama. Cairo is ruined.

Under Al-Achrâf Sayf AD-DIN Barsbay, which reigns of 1422 to 1437, Iqt' has is again remelted: the sultan recovers the near total of the land incomes and the commercial taxes. The Mamelukes conquer Cyprus in 1424-1426. But the trade even falls him: while managing to make the turn of Africa, the Portuguese put an end to the monopoly Mameluke on spices.

About 1485-1491, the Othoman enter in war against the Mamelukes, while a new enemy is born in Iran, the dynasty Safavide. In 1516, the Syria is invaded by Selim {{Ier}}. In August, this one seizes Cairo by overcoming the sultan Al-Achrâf Qânsûh Al-Ghûrî.

Mamelukes after the Othoman conquest

The Othomans maintain Mamelukes chiefs with key positions in their giving the title of beys . This enables them to try a revolt in 1766 under the direction of Ali Bey Al-Kabir. This revolt is controlled in 1777 by the Othoman .

In 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte crushes the Mamelukes at the time of the Campagne of Egypt, with the Bataille of the Pyramids. It chooses one of them, Roustam Raza, to attach it to its personal service until the end of its reign.

When its troops must withdraw in 1801, the Mamelukes must fight at the same time the Othoman and the Britanniques. In 1806, Méhémet Ali is named governor of Egypt by the Othomans. Learning that the Mamelukes seek to assassinate it, it makes massacre their chiefs on May 1st 1811, in a ambush, and pursues the remainder of the troops. It is the end of the Mamelukes of Egypt.

In France

During the countryside of Egypt carried out by Napoleon, part of the Mamelukes joins with him and follows it in France. They train a squadron of the imperial guard and are useful in particular in Belgium. They charge the Russian Guard with the battle with Austerlitz and capture many prisoners among whom prince Repnine is.

Present among the French troops of occupation to Madrid at the time of the revolt of May 1808, they were an additional cause of the hatred of the Spaniards against Napoleon, those refusing to be occupied by Moslem combatants.

After the fall of the First Empire, they are dispersed. Number of them are assassinated with Marseilles during the white Terreur.

In the Ottoman Empire

One can compare the Mamelukes with the Janissaire S, body of slaves to the service of the Othoman sultans. The janissaries were recruited among the Christian populations of Balkans and converted with Islam.

Inside the Ottoman Empire, the Mamelukes of Baghdad proclaim their independence at the 18th century, and preserve it until in 1830.

In India

In 1211, Qutb ud-DIN Aibak, the commander of the Moslem forces mameloukes in India autoproclame Sultan of Delhi. The dynasty of the slaves will remain until in 1290.

See too

Internal bonds

External bonds

The Chicago Online Encyclopedia off Mamluk Studies

Simple: Mamluk

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