MAMLUK MILITARY ELITE IN THE ESCORT OF AL-ASHRAF QAITBAY (ACCORDING TO ABŪ AL-BAQĀʾ IBN AL-JĪʿĀN’S NOTES ON THE SULTAN’S VOYAGE IN 1477–1478)
Keywords:
the Mamluk Sultanate, Egypt, Syria, al-Ashraf Qaytbay, political eliteAbstract
In the chronicle “al-Qawl al-Mustaẓraf fī Safar Mawlānā al-Malik al-Ashraf”, Abū al-Baqāʾ Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyá Ibn al-Jīʿān (1443–1497) mentioned seven Mamluk amirs, who escorted the Sultan al-Ashraf Qaitbay in his tour to Syria in 1477–1478. The purpose of the sultan’s journey was to inspect the fortifications in the northern regions of al-Shām. Only few emirs and a small group of Mamluks (about twenty-five warriors) travelled with the Sultan. The article investigates the background of these emirs on the basis of several Arabic sources of the Mamluk period. Four of these seven emirs were married to women from the Sultan’s household. The paper highlights the importance of the in-law relations, which formed a powerful facilitator of an emir’s career advancement. Most of al-Ashraf Qaitbay’s escort were those emirs whose service was somehow connected with the financial sector and who were engaged in replenishing the Sultan’s treasury. They were the second davadar Tanibak Qara, muhtasib Yashbak al-Jamali, wali Yashbak min Haydar, and the governor of Jidda Shahin al-Jamali. The trend associated with the promotion of the emirs-administrators who headed financial departments into the political elite was formed during the reign of Qaitbay and was a new phenomenon in the political life of the Sultanate. The “report” on the trip of the Sultan, compiled by Abū al-Baqāʾ Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyá Ibn al-Jīʿān, showed how important those emirs were for the Sultan who had experience in the financial sphere and could assess not only the condition of the fortifications, but how much money would be needed for their effective protection, and most importantly – to ensure the receipt of these funds to the treasury.References
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