Mamluk Studies Series

Research on the Mamluk period has so far remained relatively silent about the Mamluk descendants, who are often referred to by the Arabic term awlād al-nās (roughly: children of the elite). After Ulrich Haarmann's fundamental theses, research on this group seems to have paused, in comparison to the study dedicated to other social groups of Mamluk society. This volume brings together the results of an international conference and presents the state of the art in approaching the Mamluk descendants, whose emic perception as a group and social roles were far more differentiated and variable than previously assumed. The contributions shed light on the status of the Mamluk descendants from a variety of viewpoints, including historiographies, archival material, and artifacts produced by Mamluk descendants.

A unique Mamlūk manuscript tells the story of a Damascene jurist. Ibn al-Zamlakānī's story revolves around a dramatic episode in the life of his master, the great judge Tāj al-Dīn al-Subkī, who is the central figure (hero) of the tale. The composer justly names his document maqāmah. In rhyming prose, it narrates several episodes. Transmitted by a narrator (or at least his voice), who distances himself from the event, it is a story about an escape from hardship of a hero who is supported by good characters and face some evil enemies. Yet, it is not a biography, but a dramatic plot that transmits a moral lesson. The maqāmah illuminates the relations between the Mamlūk ruling military aristocracy and the religious establishment, as well as the competition that divided the Damascene urban elite.

This volume is a collection of research essays submitted by fellows of the Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg, an Advanced Center of Research in Mamluk Studies. It covers three themes, which correspond to the research agenda of the final three academic years of the Annemarie Schimmel Kolleg. These were: environmental history, material culture studies, and im/mobility. The aim of the contributions is to overcome the disciplinary boundaries of the field and to engage in scholarly debates in Ottoman Studies, European history, archae-ology and art history, and even the natural sciences.

Starting from 135 manuscripts that were once part of the library of the late Mamluk sultan Qāniṣawh al-Ghawrī (r. 1501–1516), this book challenges the dominant narrative of a "post-court era", in which courts were increasingly marginalized in the field of adab. Rather than being the literary barren field that much of the Arabic and Arabic-centred sources, produced extra muros, would have us believe, it re-cognizes Qāniṣawh's court as a rich and vibrant literary site and a cosmopolitan hub in a burgeoning Turkic literary ecumene. It also re-centres the ruler himself within this court. No longer the passive object of panegyric or the source of patronage alone, Qāniṣawh has an authorial voice in his own right, one that is idiosyncratic yet in conversation with other voices. As such, while this book is first and foremost a book about books, it is one that consciously aspires to be more than that: a book about a library, and, ultimately, a book about the man behind the library, Qāniṣawh al-Ghawrī.

This book focuses on the Man??riyya regiment, the mamluks of sultan al-Man??r Qal?w?n. It traces the lives of these mamluks during the career of their master Qal?w?n (ca. 1260–1290), the period they ruled the Sultanate of Egypt and Syria de jure or de facto (1290–1310), and their aftermath, during the third reign of sultan al-N??ir Mu?ammad b. Qal?w?n (1310–1341). Based on dozens of contemporary Arabic sources, the book traces the political and military events of the turbulent Man??riyya period, as well as the basic military-political principles and socio-political practices that evolved during this period. It suggests that the Man??riyya period marks the beginning of the demilitarization, or politicization, of the Mamluk sultanate.

The only Arabic voice to have witnessed the Ottoman conquest of Cairo, Ibn Iyās, is an eminent historical source for the late Mamluk period. This book is the first to take stock of the author's complete works, approaching him through an examination of his narrative voice and writing strategies. Tracing Ibn Iyās's working process by compilation analysis, it shows how the author adapted his representations of Egyptian history to his writing projects and audience. Ibn Iyās's ways of worldmaking are shaped deeply by beliefs, biases and intellectual trends as well as the impact of the social and historical context the author wrote in. Knowing these conditioning factors allows to understand his presentation of history as an individual voice of his time.

The general field of study of this volume is the history and culture of the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). It contains the proceedings of the First German-Japanese Workshop held at the Toyo Bunko in Tokyo, Japan. The authors write about a variety of topics from rural irrigation systems to high diplomacy vis à vis the Safavid empire and the Ottoman threat. The volume includes case studies of important personalities and families living in the centres of Mamluk power such as Cairo and Damascus as well as analyses of contemporary writers and their stance toward the ruling military class. Next to innovation in the field, this volume is an agenda of an increasing globalisation of scholarship that is fertilizing future research.

Ibn Aybak ad-Dumyaṭī was an historian specialized in recording the scholarly lives of the learned men of his generation. His most important work of this genre was at-Tarāǧim al-ǧalīla al-ǧaliyya wa-l-ašyāḫ al-ʿāliya al-ʿaliyya in which he recounted the intellectual life of the chief judge Taqī d-Dīn as-Subkī (d. 756/1355) and which is important for the following reasons: It is the only source which mentions in detail the books that as-Subkī studied with his teachers and reveals a clear picture of his strong interest in the Prophetic hadīṯs. It unveils information about as-Subkī's travels and mentions teachers that are found in no other source. It is one of the most important sources which were relied upon by Ibn Ḥaǧar in ad-Durar al-kāmina and by aṣ-Ṣafadī in Aʿyān al-ʿaṣr and al-Wāfī bi-l-wafayāt.

This book contributes to the history of medieval Jewry in general, as a basis for a comparative study of the position of the Jews in Christian Europe in the Late Middle Ages. The eight articles written by leading experts on this topic pay special attention to the following issues: the measure of tolerance of the Mamluk rulers and the Muslim populace toward the Jews; Jews in government positions and as court physicians; conversion and attitudes toward converted Jews; the Sufi (mystical) nature of Jewish leadership and its relation to the Sufi Islamic discourse; professional, intellectual, and legal interactions between Jews and Muslims. In the end, the contributions help us to sharpen our understanding of Jewish life during the Middle Islamic Period in the Near East.

The Mamluk Sultanate represents an extremely interesting case study to examine social, economic and cultural developments in the transition into the rapidly changing modern world. On the one hand, it is the heir of a political and military tradition that goes back hundreds of years, and brought this to a high pitch that enabled astounding victories over serious external threats. On the other hand, as time went on, it was increasingly confronted with "modern" problems that would necessitate fundamental changes in its structure and content. The Mamluk period was one of great religious and social change, and in many ways the modern demographic map was established at this time. This volume shows that the situation of the Mamluk Sultanate was far from that of decadence, and until the end it was a vibrant society (although not without tensions and increasing problems) that did its best to adapt and compete in a rapidly changing world.

Ziel dieses Bandes ist, neue Akzente in der Mamlukenforschung zu setzen. Die Beiträge berühren eine Reihe spannender Themen: Heirat, Ehe und Scheidung, narrative Strategien in den Biogrammen hanbalitischer Richter, Wissensvermittlung, die zeitgenössische politische Ordnung, Wirtschaftswachstum, islamische Philosophie, die Präsenz der Zawawi-Gruppen in der Ayyubiden- und Mamlukenzeit sowie die Islamisierung von Ägypten und Syrien. Alle Beiträge tragen dazu bei, zu einem besseren, differenzierten Verständnis der Mamlukenzeit zu gelangen.Die Autorinnen und Autoren dieses Bandes, Fellows des Bonner Annemarie Schimmel Kollegs »History and Society of the Mamluk Era«, präsentieren in diesem Band die Ergebnisse ihrer am Kolleg durchgeführten Forschungen.

In this volume, we try to understand the "Mamluk Empire" not as a confined space but as a region where several nodes of different networks existed side-by-side and at the same time. In our opinion, these networks constitute to a great extent the core of the so-called Mamluk society; they form the basis of the social order. Following, in part, concepts refined in the New Area Studies, recent reflections about the phenomenon of the "Empire – State", trajectories in today's Global History, and the spatial turn in modern historiography, we intend to identify a number of physical and cognitive networks with one or more nodes in Mamluk-controlled territories. In addition to this, one of the most important analytical questions would be to define the role of these networks in Mamluk society.

This volume discusses Mamluk historical texts with an emphasis on literary/stylistic analysis, basically ignoring issues of 'factuality' versus 'fictivity'. None of the authors set out to write 'fiction'; nor would their audience have received their accounts as such. The events depicted were a matter of historical record; but their meaning was geared both to contemporary and to general concerns. The fact of telling them is part and parcel of the historian's task; the means of telling them has to do with the historian's choice of style; and style is all-important in conveying meaning. Were these accounts not considered 'true', the purpose behind their telling and the meaning they convey, would, arguably, be lost; but were they not told in the most effective manner, their meaning might not be clearly grasped.

Slavery touched many aspects of Mamluk society. This volume focuses on the role of slaves within the family, from birth to purchase, liberation, and death. It investigates domestic slavery in Syrian and Egyptian society from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century. Jan Hagedorn focuses on the agency of slaves in the context of master-slave relationships within households and in wider society. He argues that the ability of slaves to shape the world around them was underpinned by a constant process of negotiation within the master-slave relationship and that intermediaries such as the court system channelled the agency of slaves. The principal sources for this study are purchase contracts, listening certificates, marriage contracts, and estate inventories in combination with scribal, market inspection, and slave purchase manuals as well as chronicles.

Eine Frau stiftete ein Haus zugunsten ihres Sohnes und dessen Nachkommen und gab dafür einen iqrār ab. Sie erklärte darin, dass es sich in ihrer Hand und in ihrem Eigentum befinde, dass es ihr zur Verfügung stehe und dass sie sich die Aufsicht darüber vorbehalte. Der zuständige Ḥākim urteilte über den »mūğab ihres iqrār«. Welche Wirkung hat dieses Urteil? Ist es gültig? Was bedeutet »der mūğab des iqrār?« Und was heißt »der mūğab« überhaupt? Warum fällte der Ḥākim kein Urteil über die Rechtsgültigkeit des gestifteten Objekts? Und welche Rolle spielte die Beglaubigung in diesem Urteil? Mit diesem umstrittenen Urteil und anderen Fragen beschäftigte sich der Imam und Oberkadi Taqī ad-Dīn Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī as-Subkī in dieser Handschrift »al-Qaul al-mūʿab fī l-qaḍāʾ bi l-mūğāb.« The responsible Ḥakim passes judgement on the "mugab of her iqrar". What impact does this judgement have? Is it valid? What does "mugab of the iqrar" mean? And what in fact does "mugab" mean? Why does the Ḥakim not pass judgment on the legal validity of the endowment? And what role does the notarization play in this judgement? Taqī ad-Dīn Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī as-Subkī, Imam and Supreme Cadi, addresses this controversial judgement as well as other issues in this manuscript " al-Qaul al-mūʿab fī l-qaḍāʾ bi l-mūğāb".

Winslow Williams Clifford ist einer der wenigen Historiker, die sich bisher auf der Basis von theoretischen Ansätzen der Geschichte und Kultur des sogenannten Mamlukensultanates (1250–1517) gewidmet haben. In diesem Band erscheint nun posthum seine 1995 an der University of Chicago eingereichte Dissertation. Durch die geschickte Benutzung gesellschaftstheoretischer Ansätze gelingt es Clifford, sehr überzeugend zu zeigen, dass der mamlukische Herrschaftsverbund – wie lange Zeit behauptet – keine statische »Orientalische Despotie« darstellte, sondern im Gegenteil eine sehr ausdifferenzierte Gesellschaft war. Sie fußte vor allem auf der Einhaltung eines komplexen Ordnungssystems, das sich während der Herrschaft der ersten Sultane etabliert hatte.