Mamluk Sultanate

Did You Know?

• Arabic sources for the Bahri period refer to the dynasty as the 'State of the Turks' or 'State of Turkey'.
• During Burji rule, the sultanate was also referred to as the 'State of the Circassians'.
• Mamluk writers did not explicitly highlight their status as slaves, except on rare occasions during the Circassian period.

History

The mamluk was a manumitted slave, distinguished from the household slave, who after thorough training in martial arts, court etiquette and Islamic sciences was freed but expected to remain loyal to his master. Mamluks formed part of the military apparatus in Syria and Egypt since at least the 9th century, rising to become the Tulunid and Ikhshidid governing dynasties. Under Ayyubid rule, mamluk regiments became the backbone of Egypt's military, beginning with Sultan Saladin, who replaced the Fatimid Caliphate's black African infantry with mamluks. Most mamluks in Ayyubid service were ethnic Kipchak Turks from Central Asia, converted to Sunni Islam and taught Arabic upon entering service. The Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub acquired about one thousand mamluks called the Salihiyya, promoting them and provisioning them through confiscated iqta from his predecessors' emirs. Historian Winslow William Clifford notes that contemporaries viewed Egypt as 'Salihi-ridden'. In 1249, Louis IX of France captured Damietta during the Seventh Crusade; after al-Salih died, his son al-Mu'azzam Turanshah challenged the Salihiyya's dominance by promoting his Kurdish retinue. Turanshah then promoted his own entourage, leading disgruntled Salihi emirs to assassinate him on 2 May 1250 at his camp in Fariskur.

Society

By the time the Mamluks took power, Arabic had already been established as the language of religion, culture and the bureaucracy in Egypt, and was widespread among non-Muslim communities. Arabic's wide usage among commoners was likely motivated by their aspiration to learn the language of the ruling and scholarly elite, along with Arab tribal migration to Egypt and intermarriage between Arabs and the indigenous population. The Mamluks contributed to the expansion of Arabic through their victories over the Mongols and Crusaders, creating a Muslim haven for Arabic-speaking immigrants. Although Arabic was the administrative language, a variety of Kipchak Turkic, namely the Mamluk-Kipchak language, was the spoken language of the Mamluk ruling elite. According to Petry, the Mamluks regarded Turkish as their caste's vehicle of communication, even though they themselves spoke Central Asian dialects such as Qipjak, or Circassian. Historian Michael Winter states that Turkishness was the distinctive aspect of the Mamluk ruling elite, for only they knew how to speak Turkish and had Turkish names. Ethnically Circassian mamluks who gained prominence with the Burji regime were educated in Turkish and considered Turks by the Arabic-speaking population. Kipchak Turkish was also used in writing, mainly for a mamluk audience, but over time was replaced by Oghuz Turkish due to the growing influence of Turkish Anatolia.