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Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), مماليك, mamālīk (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arabs, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic peoples, Caucasian, Eastern Europe and Southeast Europe) enslaved mercenaries, , and who were assigned high-ranking military and administrative duties, serving the ruling Arab and Ottoman dynasty dynasties in the Muslim world.
The most enduring Mamluk realm was the military class in medieval Egypt, which developed from the ranks of . Originally the Mamluks were slaves of Turkic peoples from the Eurasian Steppe, but the institution of military slavery spread to include Circassians, Abkhazians,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. 87–95Thomas 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. Georgians, Armenians, Russians, and Hungarians, as well as peoples from the Balkans such as Albanians, Greeks, and South Slavs ( see Saqaliba). They also recruited from the Egyptians. (1998). 9780521033060, Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521033060 The "Mamluk/Ghulam Phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior class, was of great political importance; for one thing, it endured for nearly 1,000 years, from the 9th century to the early 19th.
Over time, Mamluks became a powerful military knightly class in various Muslim world that were controlled by dynastic Arab rulers. Particularly in Egypt and Syria, but also in the Ottoman Empire, Levant, Iraq, and India, mamluks held political and military power. In some cases, they attained the rank of sultan, while in others they held regional power as or . Most notably, Mamluk factions seized the sultanate centered on Egypt and Syria, and controlled it as the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). The Mamluk Sultanate famously defeated the Ilkhanate at the Battle of Ain Jalut. They had earlier fought the western European Christian Crusades 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.
While Mamluks were purchased as property, their status was above ordinary slaves, who were not allowed to carry weapons or perform certain tasks. In places such as Egypt, from the Ayyubid dynasty to the time of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, mamluks were considered to be "true lords" and "true warriors", with social status above the general population in Egypt and the Levant. In a sense, they were like enslaved mercenaries.
Meanwhile, historians agree that the massive implementation of a slave military class such as the Mamluks appears to have developed in Muslim world beginning with the 9th-century Abbasid Caliphate based in Baghdad, under the Abbasid caliph al-Muʿtaṣim. Until the 1990s, it was widely believed that the earliest Mamluks were known as Ghilman or Ghulam (another broadly synonymous term for slaves) 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 of Samarra, but this did not succeed in calming tensions. The caliph al-Mutawakkil was assassinated by some of these slave soldiers in 861 (see Anarchy at Samarra).D. Sourdel. "Ghulam" in the Encyclopedia of Islam.
Since the early 21st century, historians have suggested that there was a distinction between the Mamluk system and the (earlier) Ghilman system, in Samarra, 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.See E. de la Vaissière, Samarcande et Samarra, 2007, and also M. Gordon, The Breaking of a Thousand Swords, 2001. The Mamluk system is considered to have been a small-scale experiment of al-Muwaffaq, to combine the slaves' efficiency as warriors with improved reliability. This recent interpretation seems to have been accepted.See for instance the review in Der 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'
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. The Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171) of Egypt had forcibly taken adolescent male Armenians, Turkic peoples, Sudanese, and Copts 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. The powerful vizier Badr al-Jamali, for example, was a Mamluk from Armenia. In Iran and Iraq, the Buyid dynasty used Turkic peoples slaves throughout their empire. The rebel al-Basasiri was a Mamluk who eventually ushered in Seljuq dynasty 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.Eric Hanne. Putting the Caliph in His Place.
Under Saladin and the Ayyubids of Egypt, the power of the Mamluks increased and they claimed the sultanate in 1250, ruling as the Mamluk Sultanate. Throughout the Islamic world, rulers continued to use enslaved warriors until the 19th century. The Ottoman Empire's devşirme, or "gathering" of young slaves for the Janissaries, lasted until the 17th century. Regimes based on Mamluk power thrived in such Ottoman provinces as the Levant and Egypt until the 19th century.
Mamluks lived within their garrisons and mainly spent their time with each other. Their entertainments included sporting events such as archery competitions and presentations of mounted combat skills at least once a week. The intensive and rigorous training of each new recruit helped ensure continuity of Mamluk practices.
Sultans owned the largest number of mamluks, but lesser also owned their own troops. Many Mamluks were appointed or promoted to high positions throughout the empire, including army command. 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.
From the 900s through the 1200s, medieval Egypt was controlled by dynastic foreign rulers, notably the Ikhshidids, Fatimid dynasty, and Ayyubid dynasty. Throughout these dynasties, thousands of Mamluk and guards continued to be used and even took high offices. This increasing level of influence among the Mamluks worried the Ayyubid dynasty in particular. Eventually, a Mamluk rose to become Sultan of Egypt.David Nicole The Mamluks 1250–1570 The Mamluks in medieval Egypt were predominantly of Aq Qoyunlu and Circassians origins, and most of them descended from enslaved Christians. After they were taken from their families, they became renegades. Because Egyptian Mamluks were enslaved Christians, Muslim rulers and Ulama 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.
By 1200, Saladin's brother Al-Adil 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 son Al-Kamil's death in 1238. The Ayyubids became increasingly surrounded by the Mamluks, who acted semi-autonomously as regional . The Mamluks increasingly became involved in the internal court politics of the kingdom itself as various factions used them as allies.
When the Egyptian sultan as-Salih Ayyub died, the power passed briefly to his son al-Muazzam Turanshah and then his favorite wife Shajar al-Durr, a Turkish people according to most historians, while others say she was an Armenians. She took control with Mamluk support and launched a counterattack against the French. Troops of the Bahri Mamluks commander Baibars 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 400,000 livres tournois to gain release (150,000 livres were never paid).Madden, Thomas F. Crusades: The Illustrated History. 1st ed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005. p. 159
Because of political pressure for a male leader, Shajar al-Durr married the Mamluk commander, Aybak. He was assassinated in his bath. In the ensuing power struggle, regent Qutuz, also a Mamluk, took over. He formally founded the Mamluke Sultanate and the Bahri Mamluks.
The first Mamluk dynasty was named Bahri after the name of one of the regiments, the Bahriyyah or River Island regiment. Its name referred to their center on Rhoda Island in the Nile. The regiment consisted mainly of Kipchaks and Cumans.
When Möngke Khan died in action against the Southern Song, Hulagu pulled the majority of his forces out of Syria to attend the kurultai (funeral ceremony). He left his lieutenant, the Christian Kitbuqa, in charge with a token force of about 18,000 men as a garrison.David Chambers, The Devil's Horsemen, Atheneum, 1979. pp. 153–155 The Mamluk army, led by Qutuz, drew the reduced Ilkhanate army into an ambush near the Orontes River, routed them at the Battle 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 the First 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 attacked Acre in 1263, captured Caesarea in 1265, and took Antioch in 1268.
Mamluks also defeated new Ilkhanate attacks in Syria in 1271 and 1281 (the Second Battle of Homs). They were defeated by the Ilkhanids and their Christian allies at the Battle 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.
Barquq became an enemy of Timur, 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 sultan an-Nasir Faraj regained control of Syria. Frequently facing rebellions by local , he was forced to abdicate in 1412. In 1421, Egypt was attacked by the Kingdom of Cyprus, but the Egyptians forced the Cypriotes to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Egyptian sultan Barsbay. 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 captured Constantinople later that year, causing great rejoicings in Muslim Egypt. However, under the reign of Khushqadam, Egypt began a struggle with the Ottoman sultanate. In 1467, sultan Qaitbay offended the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II, whose brother was poisoned. Bayezid II seized Adana, Tarsus and other places within Egyptian territory, but was eventually defeated. Qaitbay also tried to help the Muslims in Spain, who were suffering after the Catholic Reconquista, 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 the Republic of Venice.
The rulers of Gujarat in India and Yemen 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 so Arabia 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.Andrew James McGregor, A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War , Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006 In 1508 at the Battle of Chaul, the Mamluk fleet defeated the Portuguese viceroy's son Lourenço de Almeida.
But, in the following year, the Portuguese won the Battle of Diu and wrested the port city of Diu from the Gujarat Sultanate. Some years after, Afonso de Albuquerque attacked Aden, 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 with Mecca and all its Arabian interests.
After the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514, Selim attacked the bey of Dulkadirids, 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 and Janissaries. On 24 August 1516, at the Battle 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.
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.Thomas Philipp, Ulrich Haarmann (1998). The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society
The French defeated a Mamluk army in the Battle of the Pyramids and drove the survivors out to Upper Egypt. The Mamluks relied on massed cavalry charges, changed only by the addition of . The French infantry Infantry 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 British Royal Navy at the Battle of the Nile decided the issue.
On 14 September 1799, General Jean-Baptiste Kléber established a mounted company of Mamluk auxiliaries and Syrian Janissaries from Turkish troops captured at the siege 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 General Jean 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 the Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard (see Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard).
Napoleon left with his personal guard in late 1799. His successor in Egypt, General Jean-Baptiste Kléber, was assassinated on 14 June 1800. Command of the Army in Egypt fell to Jacques-François Menou. Isolated and out of supplies, Menou surrendered to the British in 1801.
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 which Muhammad 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.
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 in Cairo. 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 the Massacre of the Citadel. According to contemporary reports, only one Mamluk, whose name is given variously as Amim (also Amyn), or Heshjukur (a Besleney), survived when he forced his horse to leap from the walls of the citadel.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
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 now Sudan. In 1811, these Mamluks established a state at Dunqulah in the Sennar 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, the Pasha 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, conquered Kordofan, and accepted Sennar's surrender from the last Funj sultan, Badi VII.
| 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 Persian آخور 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 Sultan Baibars) |
| Bayt al-Mal | بيت المال | treasury |
| Cheshmeh | ششمه | A pool of water, or fountain (literally "eye"), from Persian چشمه]] |
| Dawadar | دوادار | Holder of Sultan's ink bottle (from Persian دواتدار meaning bearer of the ink bottle) |
| Fondok | فندق | Hotel (some famous hotels in Cairo during the Mamluk era were Dar al-Tofah, Fondok Bilal and Fondok al-Salih) |
| Hajib | حاجب | Doorkeeper of sultan's court |
| Iqta | إقطاع | Revenue from land allotment |
| Jamkiya | جامكية | Salary paid to a Mamluk |
| Jashnakir | جاشنكير | Food taster of the sultan (to assure his beer was not poisoned) |
| Jomdar | جمدار | An official at the department of the Sultan's clothing (from Persian جامهدار, meaning keeper of cloths) |
| Kafel al-mamalek al-sharifah al-islamiya al-amir al-amri | كافل الممالك الشريفة الاسلامية الأمير الأمرى | Title of the Vice-sultan (Guardian of the Prince of Command lit. 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 Persian خاصگیان, meaning close associates) |
| Khastakhaneh | خاصتاخانة | Hospital (from Ottoman Turkish خستهخانه]], 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 Persian مرغدار 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 Persian رنگ]] meaning color) |
| Sanjaqi | سنجاقى | A standard-bearer of the Sultan. |
| Sharabkhana | شرابخانة | Storehouse for drinks, medicines and glass-wares of the sultan. (from Persian شرابخانه meaning wine cellar) |
| Silihdar | سلحدار | Arm-Bearer (from Arabic سلاح + Persian دار, meaning arm-bearer) |
| Tabalkhana | طبلخانه | The amir responsible for the Mamluk military band, from Persian طبلخانه |
| Tashrif | تشريف | Head-covering worn by a Mamluk during the ceremony of inauguration to the position of Amir. |
| Tawashi | طواشى | A Eunuch 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." |
| Tebaq | طباق | Campus of the Mamluks at the citadel of the mountain |
| Tishtkhana | طشتخانة | Storehouse used for the laundry of the sultan (from Persian تشتخانه, 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.) |
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