[65] Early into an-Nasir Muhammad's second reign, the Ilkhanids, whose leader, Mahmud Ghazan, had converted to Islam, invaded Syria and routed a Mamluk army near Homs in the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299. [90] Among the senior emirs who rose to prominence under Ali was Barquq, a Circassian mamluk of Yalbugha who was involved in Sha'ban's assassination,[89][90] and Baraka, another of Yalbugha's mamluks. . [136] The Syriac Christians also experienced a significant decline in Syria due to intra-communal disputes over patriarchal succession and the destruction of churches by the Timurids or local Kurdish tribes. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks (manumitted slave soldiers) headed by the sultan. Stop procrastinating with our smart planner features. Hulagu Khan's Siege of Baghdad ended the Islamic Golden Age. Between 1688 and 1755, Mamluk beys, allied with Bedouin and factions within the Ottoman garrison, deposed no fewer than thirty-four governors. [186] In order to ensure that rural life was undisturbed by Bedouin raiding, which could halt agricultural work or damage crops and agrarian infrastructure and thus decrease revenues, the Mamluks attempted to prevent Bedouin armament and confiscate existing weapons from them. [129] As a result of popular pressure, Coptic Christians had their employment in the bureaucracy terminated at least nine times between the late 13th and mid-15th centuries, and on one occasion, in 1301, the government ordered the closure of all churches. [171][183] Agricultural products were the main exports of Mamluk Egypt, Syria and Palestine. The muhtasib in Cairo was the most senior of the four and his position was akin to that of a finance minister. Stop procrastinating with our study reminders. The Mamluks were ubiquitous in Egypt within the Ayyubid Sultanate (11711250). [158] Three years later, Baybars reestablished the institution of the caliphate by making a member of the Abbasid family, al-Mustansir, caliph, who in turn confirmed Baybars as sultan. While the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II was engaged in Europe, a new round of conflict broke out between Egypt and the Safavid dynasty in Persia in 1501. [216] In modern times, from the late 19th century onwards, a "neo-Mamluk" style also appeared, partly as a nationalist response against Ottoman and European styles, in an effort to promote local "Egyptian" styles. The role of a muhtasib was to inspect weights and measures and the quality of goods, maintain legal trade, and to remain vigilant of price gouging. [189], Egypt and Syria played a central transit role in international trade in the Middle Ages. Aybak was still unable to promote his own mamluks, known as the "Mu'izziyah", to senior posts until 1252. [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. [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. [136] The Maronite Church was especially suspected by the Mamluks of collaboration with the Europeans due to the high degree of relations between the Maronite Church and the papacy in Rome and the Christian European powers, particularly Cyprus. [201], Metalware, whether in the form of ewers, basins, or candlesticks, was widely used in various contexts and many examples have survived today. Interactions - Byzantine Empire It was the most powerful state in Europe through most of its over 1000-year existence. Mamluk terracotta cup from the 14th century. [26] Moreover, an electoral college dominated by the Salihiyyah convened to choose a successor to Turanshah among the Ayyubid emirs, with opinion largely split between an-Nasir Yusuf of Damascus and al-Mughith Umar of al-Karak. [74], The third reign of an-Nasir Muhammad also saw a departure from the traditions of succession and administrative elevation of his predecessors since he observed in his first two reigns that such traditions had been ignored anyway, while sultans were being assassinated and mamluks were abusing other mamluks in bids for power. The quality and quantity of metalwork was also generally higher in the early period. 2016 by Bethany J. Walker, Sofia Laparidou, Annette Hansen, and Chiara Corbino. [41], The Mamluks entered Palestine to confront the Mongol army that Hulagu left behind under the command of Kitbuqa. [187], Among the responsibilities of a Mamluk provincial or district governor were repopulating depopulated areas to foster agricultural production, protecting the lands from Bedouin raids, increasing productivity in barren lands[186] (likely through the upkeep and expansion of existing irrigation networks),[188] and devoting special attention to the cultivation of the more arable low-lying regions. In the 28 October battle of Homs, the Mamluks routed the Ilkhanids and confirmed Mamluk dominance in Syria. [148], A consistent accession process occurred with every new Mamluk sultan. [126] Jews generally fared better than Christians, and the latter experienced more difficulty under Mamluk rule than under previous Muslim powers. Decorative motifs in one art form were often applied in other art forms, including architecture. "Bahriyyah") elements of the Salihiyyah, by distributing to them iqta and other benefits. Lasting from the deposition of the Ayyubid dynasty (c. 1250) to the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, this regime of slave-soldiers incorporated many of the political structures and cultural traditions of its Fatimid and Ayyubid predecessors. The Mamluks were a caste of Turkic and Circassian slave-soldiers within the Medieval Ayyubid Sultanate. The Mamluks were Muslim warriors but were not of Arabic descent. [15] Each Ayyubid sultan and high-ranking emir had a private mamluk corps. Inal's reign was particularly noted by historians for the severe absence of restraint among the roughly 1,000 mamluks under his direct authority, known as the julban or ajlab.The julban were responsible for mass disturbances throughout the sultanate. [184] To that end, in 1387, Barsbay established direct control over Alexandria, the principal Egyptian commercial port, thereby transferring the tax revenues of the port to the sultan's personal treasury (diwan al-khass) instead of the imperial treasury which was linked with the military's iqta system. While Inal and his close circle of officials were notably less tyrannical and brutal than their predecessors, the transgressions of the julban . Warring continued between the Mamluks and Mongols, with the Mamluks consistently defeating the Central Asian invaders. The Crusade ended with King Louis IX defeated and ransomed back to France for a hefty sum (some historians estimate the ransom to be equivalent to a third of France's economy at the time). On January 25, the Mamluk Sultanate collapsed. [184], In Egypt, Mamluk centralization over agricultural production was more thorough than in Syria and Palestine for a number of reasons. Sultanate versus Caliphate, Sultan versus Caliph: What's the difference? [113] While the Mamluk elite was ethnically diverse, those who were not Turkic in origin were Turkicized nonetheless. Mamluk authority across the empire eroded under his successors due to foreign invasions, tribal rebellions, and natural disasters, and the state entered into a long period of financial distress. [140], Sultans Baybars and Qalawun, and the Syrian viceroys of an-Nasir Muhammad during his first two reigns, emirs Salar and Baybars II, were averse to granting Bedouin sheikhs iqtaat, and when they did, the iqtaat were of low quality. [54] Despite an alliance with the Assassins in 1272, in July 1273, the Mamluks, who by then determined that the Assassins' independence was problematic, wrested control of the Assassins' fortresses in Jabal Ansariyah, including Masyaf. [45] During his early reign and through heavy financial expense, Baybars rebuilt and stringently trained the Mamluk army, which grew from 10,000 cavalry to 40,000, with a 4,000-strong royal guard at its core. Map depicting the territorial holdings of the Mamluk Sultanate in 1337 CE. [48], In August 1266, the Mamluks launched a punitive expedition against the Armenian Cilician Kingdom for its alliance with the Mongols, laying waste to numerous to Armenian villages and significantly weakening the kingdom. Bank of Alexandria. From Arabic, Mamluk (or Mameluke) translates as "one who is owned." [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. As stated previously, the Mamluks spoke Arabic and practiced Islam, but many came from foreign roots, whether from the Turkic tribes or Central Asia, or the Caucuses. [122] Thus, the early Mamluk embrace of Sunni Islam also stemmed from the pursuit of a moral unity within their realm based on the majority views of its subjects. 1. [77], Under an-Nasir Muhammad, the Mamluks successfully repelled an Ilkhanid invasion of Syria in 1313 and then concluded a peace treaty with the Ilkhanate in 1322, bringing a long-lasting end to the Mamluk-Mongol wars. [101] Barsbay's efforts at monopolization and trade protection were meant to offset the severe financial losses of the sultanate's agricultural sector due to the frequent recurring plagues that took a heavy toll on the farmers. [71] Following the dtente, an-Nasir Muhammad was able to usher in a period of stability and prosperity in the sultanate through the enacting of major political, economic and military reforms that were ultimately intended to ensure his continued rule and consolidate the Qalawunid-Bahri regime. [123] While Ibn Taymiyyah was not a typical representative of Sunni orthodoxy in the sultanate, he was the most prominent Muslim scholar of the Mamluk era and was arrested numerous times by the Mamluk government for his religious teachings, which are still influential in the modern-day Muslim world. [196] Furthermore, in 1429, he ordered that the spice trade to Europe be conducted through Cairo before goods reached Alexandria, thus attempting to end the direct transportation of spices from the Red Sea to Alexandria. [155] The qaranis occasionally constituted a hostile faction to a sultan, such as in the case of Sultan as-Salih Ayyub and the Qalawuni successors of an-Nasir Muhammad. Packed within defensive walls, the cities grew vertically, new temples and mosques built to tower over the older ones, only to be overshadowed by even newer buildings. [58][59] The Ilkhanids took advantage of the disarray of Baybars' succession by raiding Mamluk Syria, before launching a massive offensive against Syria in the autumn of 1281. Amid conditions that stemmed the flow of mamluks from the Mongol-held lands to the sultanate, an-Nasir Muhammad resolved to make up for the loss of the purged mamluks by adopting new methods of training and military and financial advancement that introduced a great level of permissiveness. Qutuz had the emissaries killed, an act which historian Joseph Cummins called the "worst possible insult to the Mongol throne". The reign of the Mamluk Sultanate can be divided into two main periods, the Bahri and Burji regimes, characterized by the predominated ethnic culture during each regime; Turkic during the Bahri period (1250-1382) and Circassian during the Burji period (1382-1517). [148] In Hama, the Mamluks had permitted the Ayyubids to continue to govern until 1341 (its popular governor in 1320, Abu'l Fida, was granted the honorary title of sultan by an-Nasir Muhammad), but otherwise the nuwwab of the provinces were Mamluk emirs. The term 'Mamluk Sultanate' is a modern historiographical term. Ottoman sultan Selim I captured Cairo on January 20, the center of power transferred then to Constantinople. Earn points, unlock badges and level up while studying. [199] The Mamluks themselves, as former slaves who rose through the ranks by their own efforts, were status-conscious patrons who commissioned luxury objects marked with emblems of their ownership. Frontispieces were often decorated with star-shaped or hexagonal geometric motifs. [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. After so many other cities were destroyed by the Mongols, Cairo became possibly the greatest city in Afro-Eurasia by the end of the 13th century. The halqa regiments declined in the 14th century when professional non-mamluk soldiers generally stopped joining the force. [163], The Ayyubid army had lacked a clear and permanent hierarchical system and one of Baybars' early reforms was creating a military hierarchy. [110] Similar to their Ayyubid predecessors, the Bahri sultans showed particular favoritism towards the Shafi'i madhab, while also promoting the other major Sunni madhabs, namely the Maliki, Hanbali and Hanafi. Geometric motifs the Mongol throne '' that hulagu left behind under the command of.. 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