Slave-soldiers and enslaved mercenaries in the Muslim world
This article is about the class of slave-soldiers. For the medieval kingdom centered in Egypt, seeMamluk Sultanate. For other uses, seeMamluk (disambiguation).
Over time, Mamluks became a powerful military knightly class in variousMuslim societies that were controlled by dynastic Arab rulers.[31] Particularly inEgypt andSyria,[32] but also in theOttoman Empire,Levant,Mesopotamia, and India, mamluks held political and military power.[9] In some cases, they attained the rank ofsultan, while in others they held regional power asemirs orbeys.[13] Most notably, Mamluk factions seized the sultanate centered onEgypt andSyria, and controlled it as theMamluk Sultanate (1250–1517).[33] The Mamluk Sultanate famously defeated theIlkhanate at theBattle of Ain Jalut. They had earlier fought the western European ChristianCrusaders in 1154–1169 and 1213–1221, effectively driving them out of Egypt and the Levant.In 1302 the Mamluk Sultanate formally expelled the last Crusaders from the Levant, ending the era of the Crusades.[9][34]
While Mamluks were purchased as property,[35] their status was above ordinary slaves, who were not allowed to carry weapons or perform certain tasks.[36] In places such as Egypt, from theAyyubid dynasty to the time ofMuhammad Ali of Egypt, mamluks were considered to be "true lords" and "true warriors", with social status above the general population inEgypt and theLevant.[9] In a sense, they were likeenslavedmercenaries.[38]
Daniel Pipes argued that the first indication of the Mamluk military class was rooted in the practice of earlyMuslims such asZubayr ibn al-Awwam andUthman ibn Affan who, before Islam, owned many slaves and practicedMawla (Islamic manumission of slaves).[39] TheZubayrids army underAbd Allah ibn al-Zubayr, son of Zubayr, used these freed slave retainers during the second civil war.[39]
Meanwhile, historians agree that the massive implementation of a slave military class such as the Mamluks appears to have developed inIslamic societies beginning with the 9th-centuryAbbasid Caliphate based inBaghdad, under the Abbasid caliphal-Muʿtaṣim.[6] Until the 1990s, it was widely believed that the earliest Mamluks were known asGhilman orGhulam[8] (another broadly synonymous term for slaves)[Note 1] and were bought by the Abbasid caliphs, especially al-Muʿtaṣim (833–842).
By the end of the 9th century, such slave warriors had become the dominant element in the military. Conflict between the Ghilman and the population of Baghdad prompted the caliph al-Muʿtaṣim to move his capital to the city ofSamarra, but this did not succeed in calming tensions. The caliphal-Mutawakkil was assassinated by some of these slave soldiers in 861 (seeAnarchy at Samarra).[40]
Since the early 21st century, historians have suggested that there was a distinction between the Mamluk system and the (earlier) Ghilman system, inSamarra, which did not have specialized training and was based on pre-existing Central Asian hierarchies. Adult slaves and freemen both served as warriors in the Ghilman system. The Mamluk system developed later, after the return of the caliphate to Baghdad in the 870s. It included the systematic training of young slaves in military and martial skills.[41] The Mamluk system is considered to have been a small-scale experiment ofal-Muwaffaq, to combine the slaves' efficiency as warriors with improved reliability. This recent interpretation seems to have been accepted.[42]
After the fragmentation of the Abbasid Empire, military slaves, known as either Mamluks or Ghilman, were used throughout the Islamic world as the basis of military power. TheFatimid Caliphate (909–1171) of Egypt had forcibly taken adolescent male Armenians,Turks, Sudanese, andCopts from their families to be trained as slave soldiers. They formed the bulk of their military, and the rulers selected prized slaves to serve in their administration.[25] The powerful vizierBadr al-Jamali, for example, was a Mamluk fromArmenia. In Iran and Iraq, theBuyid dynasty usedTurkic slaves throughout their empire. The rebelal-Basasiri was a Mamluk who eventually ushered inSeljuq dynastic rule in Baghdad after attempting a failed rebellion. When the later Abbasids regained military control over Iraq, they also relied on the Ghilman as their warriors.[43]
UnderSaladin and the Ayyubids of Egypt, the power of the Mamluks increased and they claimed the sultanate in 1250, ruling as theMamluk Sultanate.[13] Throughout the Islamic world, rulers continued to use enslaved warriors until the 19th century. TheOttoman Empire'sdevşirme, or "gathering" of young slaves for theJanissaries, lasted until the 17th century. Regimes based on Mamluk power thrived in such Ottoman provinces as the Levant and Egypt until the 19th century.
An Egyptian Mamluk warrior in full armor and armed with lance, shield,Mameluke sword,yatagan and pistols.
Under the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo, Mamluks were purchased while still young males. They were raised in the barracks of theCitadel of Cairo. Because of their isolated social status (no social ties or political affiliations) and their austere military training, they were trusted to be loyal to their rulers.[37] When their training was completed, they were discharged, but remained attached to the patron who had purchased them. Mamluks relied on the help of their patron for career advancement, and likewise the patron's reputation and power depended on his recruits. A Mamluk was "bound by a strong esprit de corps to his peers in the same household".[37]
Mamluks lived within their garrisons and mainly spent their time with each other. Their entertainments included sporting events such asarchery competitions and presentations ofmounted combat skills at least once a week. The intensive and rigorous training of each new recruit helped ensure continuity of Mamluk practices.[13]
Sultans owned the largest number of mamluks, but lesseramirs also owned their own troops. Many Mamluks were appointed or promoted to high positions throughout the empire, including army command.[13] At first their status was non-hereditary. Sons of Mamluks were prevented from following their father's role in life. However, over time, in places such as Egypt, the Mamluk forces became linked to existing power structures and gained significant amounts of influence on those powers.[13]
In Egypt, studies have shown that mamluks fromGeorgia retained theirnative language, were aware of the politics of theCaucasus region, and received frequent visits from their parents or other relatives. In addition, they sent gifts to family members or gave money to build useful structures (a defensive tower, or even a church) in their native villages.[44]
From the 900s through the 1200s,medieval Egypt was controlled by dynastic foreign rulers, notably theIkhshidids,Fatimids, andAyyubids. Throughout these dynasties, thousands of Mamlukslave-soldiers and guards continued to be used and even took high offices.[3] This increasing level of influence among the Mamluks worried theAyyubids in particular. Eventually, a Mamluk rose to becomeSultan of Egypt.[6][13][45] The Mamluks in medieval Egypt were predominantly ofWhite Turkic andCircassian origins,[3][13] and most of them descended fromenslaved Christians.[13] After they were taken from their families, they became renegades.[13] Because Egyptian Mamluks were enslaved Christians,Muslim rulers andclerics did not believe they were true believers of Islam despite the fact that they were deployed for fighting in wars on behalf of several Islamic kingdoms as slave-soldiers.[13]
By 1200,Saladin's brotheral-ʿĀdil succeeded in securing control over the whole empire by defeating and killing or imprisoning his brothers and nephews in turn. With each victory, al-ʿĀdil incorporated the defeated Mamluk retinue into his own. This process was repeated at al-ʿĀdil's death in 1218, and at his sonal-Kāmil's death in 1238. The Ayyubids became increasingly surrounded by the Mamluks, who acted semi-autonomously as regionalatabegs. The Mamluks increasingly became involved in the internalcourt politics of the kingdom itself as various factions used them as allies.[13]
When the Egyptian sultanas-Salih Ayyub died, the power passed briefly to his sonal-Muazzam Turanshah and then his favorite wifeShajar al-Durr, aTurk according to most historians, while others say she was anArmenian. She took control with Mamluk support and launched a counterattack against the French. Troops of theBahri commanderBaibars defeated Louis's troops. The king delayed his retreat too long and was captured by the Mamluks in March 1250. He agreed to pay a ransom of 400,000livres tournois to gain release (150,000 livres were never paid).[46]
Because of political pressure for a male leader,Shajar married the Mamluk commander,Aybak. He was assassinated in his bath. In the ensuing power struggle,viceregentQutuz, also a Mamluk, took over. He formally founded theMamluke Sultanate and theBahri mamluk dynasty.
The first Mamluk dynasty was named Bahri after the name of one of the regiments, theBahriyyah or River Island regiment. Its name referred to their center onRhoda Island in theNile. The regiment consisted mainly ofKipchaks andCumans.[citation needed]
Mamluk-Syrian glassware vessel from the 14th century; in the course of trade, the middle vase shown ended up inYemen and then China.
When theMongol Empire's troops ofHulagu Khan sackedBaghdad in 1258 and advanced towards Syria, the Mamluk emirBaibars left Damascus forCairo. There he was welcomed by SultanQutuz.[47] After taking Damascus, Hulagu demanded that Qutuz surrender Egypt. Qutuz had Hulagu's envoys killed and, with Baibars' help, mobilized his troops.
WhenMöngke Khan died in action against theSouthern Song, Hulagu pulled the majority of his forces out of Syria to attend thekurultai (funeral ceremony). He left his lieutenant, the ChristianKitbuqa, in charge with a token force of about 18,000 men as a garrison.[48] The Mamluk army, led by Qutuz, drew the reducedIlkhanate army into an ambush near theOrontes River, routed them at theBattle of Ain Jalut in 1260, and captured and executed Kitbuqa.
After this great triumph, Qutuz was assassinated by conspiring Mamluks. It was widely said that Baibars, who seized power, had been involved in the assassination plot. In the following centuries, the Mamluks ruled discontinuously, with an average span of seven years.
The Mamluks defeated the Ilkhanids a second time in theFirst Battle of Homs and began to drive them back east. In the process they consolidated their power over Syria, fortified the area, and formed mail routes and diplomatic connections among the local princes. Baibars' troops attackedAcre in 1263, capturedCaesarea in 1265, and tookAntioch in 1268.
Mamluks also defeated new Ilkhanate attacks in Syria in 1271 and 1281 (theSecond Battle of Homs). They were defeated by the Ilkhanids and their Christian allies at theBattle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299. Soon after that the Mamluks defeated the Ilkhanate again in 1303/1304 and 1312. Finally, the Ilkhanids and the Mamluks signed a treaty of peace in 1323.
By the late fourteenth century, the majority of the Mamluk ranks were made up ofCircassians from theNorth Caucasus region, whose young males had been frequently captured for slavery.[16] In 1382 theBurji dynasty took over whenBarquq was proclaimed sultan. The name "Burji" referred to their center at thecitadel ofCairo.
Barquq became an enemy ofTimur, who threatened to invade Syria. Timur invaded Syria, defeating the Mamluk army, and he sacked Aleppo and captured Damascus. The Ottoman sultan,Bayezid I, then invaded Syria. After Timur's death in 1405, the Mamluk sultanan-Nasir Faraj regained control of Syria. Frequently facing rebellions by localemirs, he was forced to abdicate in 1412. In 1421, Egypt was attacked by theKingdom of Cyprus, but the Egyptians forced the Cypriotes to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Egyptian sultanBarsbay. During Barsbay's reign, Egypt's population became greatly reduced from what it had been a few centuries before; it had one-fifth the number of towns.
Al-Ashraf came to power in 1453. He had friendly relations with the Ottoman Empire, which capturedConstantinople later that year, causing great rejoicings in Muslim Egypt. However, under the reign ofKhushqadam, Egypt began a struggle with the Ottoman sultanate. In 1467, sultanQaitbay offended the Ottoman sultanBayezid II, whose brother was poisoned. Bayezid II seizedAdana,Tarsus and other places within Egyptian territory, but was eventually defeated. Qaitbay also tried to help theMuslims in Spain, who were suffering after the CatholicReconquista, by threatening the Christians in Syria, but he had little effect in Spain. He died in 1496, several hundred thousand ducats in debt to the great trading families of theRepublic of Venice.
Vasco da Gama in 1497 sailed around theCape of Good Hope and pushed his way east across the Indian Ocean to the shores ofMalabar andKozhikode. There heattacked the fleets that carried freight and Muslim pilgrims from India to theRed Sea, and struck terror into the potentates all around. Various engagements took place. Cairo's Mamluk sultanAl-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri was affronted at the attacks around the Red Sea, the loss of tolls and traffic, the indignities to whichMecca and its port were subjected, and above all for losing one of his ships. He vowed vengeance upon Portugal, first sending monks from theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre as envoys, he threatenedPope Julius II that if he did not checkManuel I of Portugal in his depredations on the Indian Sea, he would destroy all Christian holy places.[49]
The rulers ofGujarat in India andYemen also turned for help to the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. They wanted a fleet to be armed in the Red Sea that could protect their important trading sea routes from Portuguese attacks.Jeddah was soon fortified as a harbor of refuge soArabia and the Red Sea were protected. But the fleets in the Indian Ocean were still at the mercy of the enemy.
The last Mamluk sultan, Al-Ghawri, fitted out a fleet of 50 vessels. As Mamluks had little expertise in naval warfare, he sought help from the Ottomans to develop this naval enterprise.[50] In 1508 at theBattle of Chaul, the Mamluk fleet defeated the Portuguese viceroy's sonLourenço de Almeida.
But, in the following year, the Portuguese won theBattle of Diu and wrested the port city ofDiu from theGujarat Sultanate. Some years after,Afonso de Albuquerque attackedAden, and Egyptian troops suffered disaster from the Portuguese in Yemen. Al-Ghawri fitted out a new fleet to punish the enemy and protect the Indian trade. Before it could exert much power, Egypt had lost its sovereignty. The Ottoman Empire took over Egypt and the Red Sea, together withMecca and all its Arabian interests.
The Ottoman SultanBayezid II was engaged in warfare in southern Europe when a new era of hostility with Egypt began in 1501. It arose out of the relations with theSafavid dynasty inPersia. ShahIsmail I sent an embassy to theRepublic of Venice via Syria, inviting Venice to ally with Persia and recover its territory taken by the Ottomans.Mameluk Egyptian sultan Al-Ghawri was charged bySelim I with giving the Persian envoys passage through Syria on their way to Venice and harboring refugees. To appease him, Al-Ghawri placed in confinement the Venetian merchants then in Syria and Egypt, but after a year released them.[51]
After theBattle of Chaldiran in 1514, Selim attacked the bey ofDulkadirids, as Egypt's vassal had stood aloof, and sent his head to Al-Ghawri. Now secure against Persia, in 1516 he formed a great army for the conquest of Egypt, but gave out that he intended further attacks on Persia.
In 1515, Selim began the war which led to the conquest of Egypt and its dependencies. Mamluk cavalry proved no match for the Ottoman artillery andJanissary infantry. On 24 August 1516, at theBattle of Marj Dabiq, Sultan Al-Ghawri was killed. Syria passed into Turkish possession, an event welcomed in many places as it was seen as deliverance from the Mameluks.[51]
The Mamluk Sultanate survived in Egypt until 1517, when Selim captured Cairo on 20 January. Although not in the same form as under the Sultanate, the Ottoman Empire retained the Mamluks as an Egyptian ruling class and the Mamluks and the Burji family succeeded in regaining much of their influence, but as vassals of the Ottomans.[51][52]
In 1768,Ali Bey Al-Kabir declared independence from the Ottomans. However, the Ottomans crushed the movement and retained their position after his defeat. By this time new slave recruits were introduced from Georgia in the Caucasus.
Charge of the Mamluks during theBattle of Austerlitz byFelician Myrbach. An elite body of cavalry whom the French encountered during theircampaign in Egypt in 1798, the Mamluks could trace their lineage of service to the Ottomans back to the mid-13th century.
The French defeated a Mamluk army in theBattle of the Pyramids and drove the survivors out toUpper Egypt. The Mamluks relied on massed cavalry charges, changed only by the addition ofmuskets. The French infantryformed square and held firm. Despite multiple victories and an initially successful expedition into Syria, mounting conflict in Europe and the earlier defeat of the supporting French fleet by the BritishRoyal Navy at theBattle of the Nile decided the issue.
On 14 September 1799, GeneralJean-Baptiste Kléber established a mounted company of Mamluk auxiliaries and SyrianJanissaries from Turkish troops captured at thesiege of Acre.Menou reorganized the company on 7 July 1800, forming three companies of 100 men each and renaming it the "Mamluks de la République". In 1801 GeneralJean Rapp was sent to Marseille to organize a squadron of 250 Mamluks. On 7 January 1802 the previous order was canceled and the squadron reduced to 150 men. The list of effectives on 21 April 1802 reveals three officers and 155 of other rank. By decree of 25 December 1803 the Mamluks were organized into a company attached to theChasseurs-à-Cheval of theImperial Guard (seeMamelukes of the Imperial Guard).
Napoleon left with his personal guard in late 1799. His successor in Egypt, GeneralJean-Baptiste Kléber, was assassinated on 14 June 1800. Command of the Army in Egypt fell toJacques-François Menou. Isolated and out of supplies, Menou surrendered to the British in 1801.
After the departure of French troops in 1801 the Mamluks continued their struggle for independence; this time against the Ottoman Empire. In 1803, Mamluk leadersIbrahim Bey andOsman Bey al-Bardisi wrote to theRussian consul-general, asking him to mediate with the Sultan to allow them to negotiate for a cease-fire, and a return to their homeland Georgia. The Russian ambassador inConstantinople refused however to intervene, because of nationalist unrest in Georgia that might have been encouraged by a Mamluk return.[51]
In 1805, the population of Cairo rebelled. This provided a chance for the Mamluks to seize power, but internal friction prevented them from exploiting this opportunity. In 1806, the Mamluks defeated the Turkish forces in several clashes. in June the rival parties concluded an agreement by whichMuhammad Ali, (appointed as governor of Egypt on 26 March 1806), was to be removed and authority returned to the Mamluks. However, they were again unable to capitalize on this opportunity due to discord between factions. Muhammad Ali retained his authority.[13]
Muhammad Ali knew that he would have to deal with the Mamluks if he wanted to control Egypt. They were still the feudal owners of Egypt and their land was still the source of wealth and power. However, the economic strain of sustaining the military manpower necessary to defend the Mamluks's system from the Europeans and Turks would eventually weaken them to the point of collapse.[53]
On 1 March 1811, Muhammad Ali invited all of the leading Mamluks to his palace to celebrate the declaration of war against the Wahhabis in Arabia. Between 600 and 700 Mamluks paraded for this purpose inCairo. Muhammad Ali's forces killed almost all of these near the Al-Azab gates in a narrow road down from Mukatam Hill. This ambush came to be known as theMassacre of the Citadel. According to contemporary reports, only one Mamluk, whose name is given variously as Amim (also Amyn), or Heshjukur (aBesleney), survived when he forced his horse to leap from the walls of the citadel.[54]
During the following week an estimated 3,000 Mamluks and their relatives were killed throughout Egypt, by Muhammad's regular troops. In the citadel of Cairo alone more than 1,000 Mamluks died.
Despite Muhammad Ali's destruction of the Mamluks in Egypt, a party of them escaped and fled south into what is nowSudan. In 1811, these Mamluks established a state atDunqulah in theSennar as a base for their slave trading. In 1820, the sultan of Sennar informed Muhammad Ali that he was unable to comply with a demand to expel the Mamluks. In response, thePasha sent 4,000 troops to invade Sudan, clear it of Mamluks, and reclaim it for Egypt. The Pasha's forces received the submission of the Kashif, dispersed the Dunqulah Mamluks, conqueredKordofan, and accepted Sennar's surrender from the lastFunj sultan,Badi VII.
According to Eric Chaney and Lisa Blades, the reliance on mamluks by Muslim rulers had a profound impact on the Arab world's political development. They argue that, because European rulers had to rely on local elites for military forces, lords and bourgeois acquired the necessary bargaining power to push for representative government. Muslim rulers did not face the same pressures partly because the Mamluks allowed the Sultans to bypass local elites.[55]
There were various places in which Mamluks gained political or military power as a self-replicating military community. Some examples of this can be seen in the Tripolitania region of Libya, where Mamluk governors instated their various policies under the Ottoman Empire until October 18, 1912, when Italian forces took over the region in theItalo-Turkish War.
In 1206, the Mamluk commander of the Muslim forces in the Indian subcontinent,Qutb al-Din Aibak, proclaimed himself Sultan, creating theMamluk Sultanate in Delhi which lasted until 1290.
Mamluk corps were first introduced inIraq byHassan Pasha ofBaghdad in 1702. From 1747 to 1831 Iraq was ruled, with short intermissions, by Mamluk officers ofGeorgian origin[22][56] who succeeded in asserting autonomy from theSublime Porte, suppressed tribal revolts, curbed the power of the Janissaries, restored order, and introduced a program of modernization of the economy and the military. In 1831 the Ottomans overthrewDawud Pasha, the last Mamluk ruler, and imposed direct control over Iraq.[57]
The following terms originally come from eitherTurkish orOttoman Turkish language (the latter composed of Turkish, Arabic, and Persian words and grammar structures).
English
Arabic
Notes
Alama Sultaniya
علامة سلطانية
The mark or signature of the Sultan put on his decrees, letters and documents.
Al-Nafir al-Am
النفير العام
General emergency declared during war
Amir
أمير
Prince
Amir Akhur
أمير آخور
supervisor of the royal stable (from Persianآخور meaning stable)
Amir Majlis
أمير مجلس
Guard of Sultan's seat and bed
Atabek
أتابك
Commander in chief (literally "father-lord," originally meaning an appointed step-father for a non-Mamluk minor prince)
Astadar
أستادار
Chief of the royal servants
Barid Jawi
بريد جوى
Airmail (mail sent by carrier-pigeons, amplified by SultanBaibars)
Bayt al-Mal
بيت المال
treasury
Cheshmeh
ششمه
A pool of water, or fountain (literally "eye"), from Persianچشمه
Title of the Vice-sultan (Guardian of the Prince of Command [lit. Commander-in-command] of the Dignified Islamic Kingdoms)
Khan
خان
A store that specialized in selling a certain commodity
Khaskiya
خاصكية
Courtiers of the sultan and most trusted royal mamluks who functioned as the Sultan's bodyguards/ A privileged group around a prominent Amir (from Persianخاصگیان, meaning close associates)
Khastakhaneh
خاصتاخانة
Hospital (from Ottoman Turkishخستهخانه, from Persian)
Khond
خند
Wife of the sultan
Khushdashiya
خشداشية
Mamluks belonging to the same Amir or Sultan.
Mahkamat al-Mazalim
محكمة المظالم
Court of complaint. A court that heard cases of complaints of people against state officials. This court was headed by the sultan himself.
Mamalik Kitabeya
مماليك كتابية
Mamluks still attending training classes and who still live at the Tebaq (campus)
Mamalik Sultaneya
مماليك سلطانية
Mamluks of the sultan; to distinguish from the Mamluks of the Amirs (princes)
Modwarat al-Sultan
مدورة السلطان
Sultan's tent which he used during travel.
Mohtaseb
محتسب
Controller of markets, public works and local affairs.
Morqadar
مرقدار
Works in the Royal Kitchen (from Persianمرغدار meaning one responsible for the fowl)
Mushrif
مشرف
Supervisor of the Royal Kitchen
Na'ib Al-Sultan
نائب السلطان
Vice-sultan
Qa'at al-insha'a
قاعة الإنشاء
Chancery hall
Qadi al-Qoda
قاضى القضاة
Chief justice
Qalat al-Jabal
قلعة الجبل
Citadel of the Mountain (the abode and court of the sultan in Cairo)
Qaranisa
قرانصة
Mamluks who moved to the service of a new Sultan or from the service of an Amir to a sultan.
Qussad
قصاد
Secret couriers and agents who kept the sultan informed
Ostaz
أستاذ
Benefactor of Mamluks (the Sultan or the Emir) (from Persian استاد)
Rank
رنك
An emblem that distinguished the rank and position of a Mamluk (probably from Persianرنگ meaning color)
Sanjaqi
سنجاقى
A standard-bearer of the Sultan.
Sharabkhana
شرابخانة
Storehouse for drinks, medicines and glass-wares of the sultan. (from Persianشرابخانه meaning wine cellar)
Silihdar
سلحدار
Arm-Bearer (from Arabicسلاح + Persianدار, meaning arm-bearer)
Tabalkhana
طبلخانه
The amir responsible for the Mamluk military band, from Persianطبلخانه
Tashrif
تشريف
Head-covering worn by a Mamluk during the ceremony of inauguration to the position of Amir.
Tawashi
طواشى
AEunuch responsible for serving the wives of the sultan and supervising new Mamluks. Mamluk writers seem not to have consulted the eunuchs themselves about "their origins."[58]
Tebaq
طباق
Campus of the Mamluks at the citadel of the mountain
Tishtkhana
طشتخانة
Storehouse used for the laundry of the sultan (from Persianتشتخانه, meaning tub room)
Wali
والى
viceroy
Yuq
يوق
A large linen closet used in every mamluk home, which stored pillows and sheets. (Related to the present Crimean Tatar word Yuqa, "to sleep". In modern Turkish: Yüklük.)
^David Ayalon uses the term "Mamluk" to refer to military slaves inEgypt andSyria, and "Ghulam" (sing. of "Ghilman") to refer to military slaves elsewhere in theMuslim world. For further informations, see:
^abcdefghijklmLevanoni, Amalia (2010). "Part II: Egypt and Syria (Eleventh Century Until the Ottoman Conquest) – The Mamlūks in Egypt and Syria: the Turkish Mamlūk sultanate (648–784/1250–1382) and the Circassian Mamlūk sultanate (784–923/1382–1517)". In Fierro, Maribel (ed.).The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 2: The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries.Cambridge and New York City:Cambridge University Press. pp. 237–284.doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521839570.010.ISBN978-1-139-05615-1.The Arabic termmamlūk literally means 'owned' or 'slave', and was used for theWhiteTurkishslaves ofPagan origins, purchased from Central Asia and theEurasian steppes byMuslim rulers to serve as soldiers in their armies. Mamlūk units formed an integral part of Muslim armies from the third/ninth century, and Mamlūk involvement in government became an increasingly familiar occurrence in themedieval Middle East. The road to absolute rule lay open before themin Egypt when the Mamlūk establishment gained military and political domination during the reign of theAyyūbid ruler of Egypt, al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb (r. 637–47/1240–49).
^abcdefghijklmn"Warrior kings: A look at the history of the Mamluks".The Report – Egypt 2012: The Guide. Oxford Business Group. 2012. pp. 332–334.Archived from the original on 25 September 2020. Retrieved1 March 2021.The Mamluks, who descended from non-Arabslaves who were naturalised to serve and fight for ruling Arab dynasties, are revered as some of the greatest warriors the world has ever known. Although the wordmamluk translates as "one who is owned", the Mamluk soldiers proved otherwise, gaining a powerful military standing invarious Muslim societies, particularlyin Egypt. They would also go on to hold political power for several centuries during a period known as theMamluk Sultanate of Egypt. [...] Before the Mamluks rose to power, there was along history of slave soldiers in the Middle East, with many recruited into Arab armies by theAbbasid rulers ofBaghdad in the ninth century. The tradition was continued by the dynasties that followed them, including theFatimids andAyyubids (it was the Fatimids who built the foundations of what is now IslamicCairo). For centuries, the rulers of the Arab world recruited men from the lands of theCaucasus and Central Asia. It is hard to discern the precise ethnic background of the Mamluks, given that they came from a number of ethnically mixed regions, but most are thought to have beenTurkic (mainlyKipchak andCuman) orfrom the Caucasus (predominantlyCircassian, but alsoArmenian andGeorgian). The Mamlukswere recruited forcibly to reinforce the armies of Arab rulers. As outsiders, they had no local loyalties, and would thus fight for whoever owned them, not unlikemercenaries. Furthermore, the Turks and Circassians had a ferocious reputation as warriors. The slaves were either purchased or abducted as boys, around the age of 13, and brought to the cities, most notably to Cairo and itsCitadel. Herethey would be converted to Islam and would be put through a rigorous military training regime that focused particularly onhorsemanship. A code of behaviour not too dissimilar to that of theEuropean knights'Code of Chivalry was also inculcated and was known asFurusiyya. As in many military establishments to this day the authorities sought to instil an esprit de corps and a sense of duty among the young men. The Mamluks would have to live separately from the local populations in their garrisons, which included the Citadel andRhoda Island, also in Cairo.
^abcFreamon, Bernard K. (2019). "The 'Mamluk/Ghulam Phenomenon' – Slave Sultans, Soldiers, Eunuchs, and Concubines". In Freamon, Bernard K. (ed.).Possessed by the Right Hand: The Problem of Slavery in Islamic Law and Muslim Cultures. Studies in Global Slavery. Vol. 8.Leiden:Brill Publishers. pp. 219–244.doi:10.1163/9789004398795_006.ISBN978-90-04-36481-3.S2CID191690007.Ibn Khaldun argued that in the midst of the decadence that became the hallmark of the laterAbbasid Caliphate, providence restored the "glory and the unity" of the Islamic faith by sending the Mamluks: "loyal helpers, who were brought from the House of War to the House of Islam under the rule of slavery, which hides in itself a divine blessing." His expression of the idea that slavery, considered to be a degrading social condition to be avoided at all costs, might contain "a divine blessing", was the most articulate expression ofMuslim thinking on slavery since theearly days of Islam. Ibn Khaldun's general observation about the paradoxical nature of slavery brings to mindHegel's reflections on the subject some five hundred years later. The great philosopher observed that, in many instances, it is the slave who ultimately gains the independent consciousness and power to become the actual master of his or her owner. The Mamluk/Ghulam Phenomenon is a good historical example of this paradox.
^abcdefghijklmnoStowasser, Karl (1984). "Manners and Customs at the Mamluk Court".Muqarnas.2 (The Art of the Mamluks).Leiden:Brill Publishers:13–20.doi:10.2307/1523052.ISSN0732-2992.JSTOR1523052.S2CID191377149.The Mamluk slave warriors, with an empire extending fromLibya to theEuphrates, fromCilicia to theArabian Sea and theSudan, remained for the next two hundred years the most formidable power of theEastern Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean – champions ofSunni orthodoxy, guardians ofIslam's holy places, their capital, Cairo, the seat of the Sunni caliph and a magnet for scholars, artists, and craftsmen uprooted by theMongol upheaval in the East or drawn to it from all parts of the Muslim world by its wealth and prestige. Under their rule, Egypt passed through a period of prosperity and brilliance unparalleled since the days of thePtolemies. [...] They ruled as a militaryaristocracy, aloof and almost totally isolated from the native population, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, and their ranks had to be replenished in each generation through fresh imports of slaves from abroad. Only those who had grown up outside Muslim territory and who entered as slaves in the service either of thesultan himself or of one of the Mamlukemirs were eligible for membership and careers within their closed military caste. The offspring of Mamluks were free-born Muslims and hence excluded from the system: they became theawlād al-nās, the "sons of respectable people", who either fulfilled scribal and administrative functions or served as commanders of the non-Mamlukḥalqa troops. Some two thousand slaves were imported annually:Qipchaq,Azeris,Uzbec Turks,Mongols,Avars,Circassians,Georgians,Armenians,Greeks,Bulgars,Albanians,Serbs,Hungarians.
^А.Ш.Кадырбаев, Сайф-ад-Дин Хайр-Бек – абхазский "король эмиров" Мамлюкского Египта (1517–1522), "Материалы первой международной научной конференции, посвященной 65-летию В.Г.Ардзинба". Сухум: АбИГИ, 2011, pp. 87–95
^Thomas Philipp, Ulrich Haarmann (eds),The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 115–116.
^Jane Hathaway,The Politics of Households in Ottoman Egypt: The Rise of the Qazdaglis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 103–104.
^"Relations of the Georgian Mamluks of Egypt with Their Homeland in the Last Decades of the Eighteenth Century". Daniel Crecelius and Gotcha Djaparidze.Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 45, No. 3 (2002), pp. 320–341.ISSN0022-4995
^Hathaway, Jane (February 1995). "The Military Household in Ottoman Egypt".International Journal of Middle East Studies.27 (1):39–52.doi:10.1017/s0020743800061572.S2CID62834455.
^D. Sourdel. "Ghulam" in theEncyclopedia of Islam.
^See E. de la Vaissière,Samarcande et Samarra, 2007, and also M. Gordon,The Breaking of a Thousand Swords, 2001.
^See for instance the review inDer Islam 2012 of de la Vaissière's book by Christopher Melchert: 'Still, de la Vaissière's dating of the Mamluk phenomenon herewith becomes the conventional wisdom'
^"Relations of the Georgian Mamluks of Egypt with Their Homeland in the Last Decades of the Eighteenth Century." Daniel Crecelius and Gotcha Djaparidze.Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, Vol. 45, No. 3 (2002), pp. 320–341.ISSN0022-4995.
^Thomas Philipp, Ulrich Haarmann (1998). The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society
^Abu-Lughod, Janet L.Before European Hegemony The World System A.D. 1250–1350. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. 213 pp.
^For the use of the name Amim, see Giovanni Finati,Narrative of the Life and Adventure of Giovanni Finati native of Ferrara, 1830; for Heshjukur, Mustafa Mahir,Marks of the Caucasian Tribes and Some Stories and Notable Events Related to Their Leaders, Boulaq, Cairo, 1892
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