Mamlūk

▪ Islamic dynasty

Introduction

also spelled  Mameluke 

      slave soldier, a member of one of the armies of slaves (slavery) that won political control of several Muslim (Islāmic world) states during the Middle Ages. Under the Ayyūbid sultanate, Mamlūk generals used their power to establish a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria from 1250 to 1517. The name is derived from an Arabic word for slave.

      The use of Mamlūks as a major component of Muslim armies became a distinct feature of Islāmic civilization as early as the 9th century AD. The practice was begun in Baghdad by the ʿAbbāsid caliph (Caliphate) 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.

The Mamlūk dynasty.

      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 (Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb, aṣ-) (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.

      Historians have traditionally broken the era of Mamlūk rule into two periods—one covering 1250–1382, the other, 1382–1517. Western historians call the former the “Baḥrī” period and the latter the “Burjī,” because of the political dominance of the regiments known by these names during the respective times. The contemporary Muslim historians referred to the same divisions as the “Turkish” and “Circassian” periods, in order to call attention to the change in ethnic origin of the majority of Mamlūks, which occurred and persisted after the accession of Barqūq in 1382, and to the effects that this change had on the fortunes of the state.

      There is universal agreement among historians that the Mamlūk state reached its height under the Turkish sultans and then fell into a prolonged phase of decline under the Circassians. The principal achievements of the Turkish Mamlūks lay in their expulsion of the remaining crusaders from the Levant and their rout of the Mongols in Palestine and Syria; they thereby earned the thanks of all Muslims for saving Arabic-Islāmic civilization from destruction. It is doubtful, however, that such a goal figured in their plans; rather, as rulers of Egypt they were seeking to reconstitute the Egyptian Empire. The Mamlūks also sought to extend their power into the Arabian (Arabia, history of) Peninsula and into Anatolia and Little Armenia; (Little Armenia) to protect Egypt's rear, they strove to establish their presence in Nubia.

      To consolidate their position in the Islāmic world, the Mamlūks revived the caliphate, which the Mongols had destroyed in 1258, and installed a caliph under their surveillance in Cairo. Their patronage of the rulers of the holy cities of Arabia, Mecca and Medina, served the same purpose. Spectacular success in war and diplomacy was underpinned economically by the Mamlūks' support of industries and crafts as well as by their restoration of Egypt as the principal trade and transit route between the Orient and the Mediterranean.

      Among the most outstanding Mamlūk sultans were Baybars I (1260–77) and al-Malik an-Nāṣir (1293–1341). The Mamlūks' failure to find an able successor after the latter's death weakened the strength and stability of their realm. But the historians of the era date the beginning of the dynasty's decline from the accession of the first Circassian sultan (Barqūq) in 1382, claiming that thereafter, advancement in the state and the army was dependent on race (i.e., Circassian descent) rather than on proved skill in the art of war, which had served as the chief criterion for promotion during the Turkish period. The increased importance assigned to ethnic affiliation was, however, only one cause of decline; equally or even more important were economic and other factors. Part of the explanation undoubtedly lies in the inability of the Mamlūks, split into hostile factions, to provide necessary safeguards against the Bedouins for the peaceful conduct of trade and agriculture. Furthermore, the demographic losses caused by plagues that raged in Egypt and elsewhere in the East contributed to economic decay. In such conditions the Mamlūks were unable to defend Syria against the Turkic conqueror Timur (Timur Lenk) in 1400. Under the rule of Sultan Barsbay (1422–38) internal stability was restored briefly and Mamlūk glory resuscitated by the conquest of Cyprus in 1426. Yet the increasingly higher taxes demanded to finance such ventures enlarged the Mamlūks' financial difficulties. The final economic blow fell with the Portuguese assault on trade in the Red Sea (c. 1500), which was accompanied by Ottoman (Ottoman Empire) expansion into Mamlūk territory in Syria. Having failed to adopt field artillery as a weapon in any but siege warfare, the Mamlūks were decisively defeated by the Ottomans both in Syria and in Egypt and from 1517 onward constituted only one of the several components that formed the political structure of Egypt.

      Culturally, the Mamlūk period is known mainly for its achievements in historical writing and in architecture and for an abortive attempt at socio-religious reform. Mamlūk historians were prolific chroniclers, biographers, and encyclopaedists; they were not strikingly original, with the exception of Ibn Khaldūn, whose formative and creative years were spent outside Mamlūk territory in the Maghrib (North Africa). As builders of religious edifices—mosques, schools, monasteries and, above all, tombs—the Mamlūks endowed Cairo with some of its most impressive monuments, many of which are still standing; the Mamlūk tomb-mosques can be recognized by stone domes whose massiveness is offset by geometrical carvings. By far the most famous single religious figure of the period was Ibn Taymīyah (Ibn Taymiyyah), who was imprisoned by Mamlūk authorities because of his attempts to rid Mamlūk Islām of superstition and foreign accretions.

The Mamlūks under the Ottomans (1517–1798).

      With the Ottoman victories over the Mamlūks in 1516–17, Egypt and Syria reverted to the status of provinces within an empire. Although the Mamlūk sultanate was destroyed, the Mamlūks remained intact as a class in Egypt and continued to exercise considerable influence in the state. As had been the case during the Mamlūk dynasty, the Mamlūk elite continued to be replenished by purchases from slave markets. The slaves, after a period of apprenticeship, still formed the core of the army and were soon being appointed to offices in the Ottoman government. Thus, gradually the Mamlūks infiltrated the Ottoman ruling class and eventually were able to dominate it.

      One major innovation changed the character of the Mamlūks. Earlier, during the era of the Mamlūk sultanate, the sons of Mamlūks had been excluded from serving in any but the nonslave regiments and from holding offices reserved for Mamlūks in the state. But under Ottoman rule the sons were no longer denied these privileges, so that the principles of Mamlūk loyalty and solidarity were undermined by ties of kinship. Consequently, rather than grouping themselves into military factions that lasted no longer than the lifetime of their individual members, the Ottoman Mamlūks formed “houses” that perpetuated themselves through their sons. The importance of these houses arose from the attempts of each house to dominate the others; thereby a new element of instability, perpetuated by heredity, was introduced into the Mamlūk institution.

      To the degree that the Ottoman governors were able to exploit Mamlūk divisiveness, they were able to retain some degree of influence in the government of Egypt. But near the end of the 17th century, when Ottoman power was in decline throughout the empire, the Mamlūks once again held virtual control over the army, the revenues, and the government. Eventually, Istanbul was reduced to recognizing the autonomy of that faction of Mamlūks that would guarantee annual payment of certain sums to the Ottomans. And thus it was that when Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 he was confronted by Mamlūk armies and a Mamlūk state. Their power there was finally destroyed by Egypt's new ruler, Muḥammad ʿAlī Pasha, in a massacre in 1811.

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