Practising Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: Gifts and Material Culture in the Medieval Islamic World By Doris Behrens-Abouseif

Abstract

Doris Behrens-Abouseif has undertaken a significant project on diplomatic gifts in the Mamluk Sultanate, and has made an important and meaningful contribution to knowledge. Although previously scholars addressed either art historical questions on the one hand, or Mamluk diplomacy on the other, they provided only limited coverage of the diplomatic gifts themselves. By contrast, Behrens-Abouseif presents an innovative blend of historical detail and art history to fill a significant gap in our knowledge of the material culture of diplomatic exchange, and the meaning contained within the gifts themselves. To do this she both draws a vivid and comprehensive picture of the actual components of Mamluk diplomatic gift packages and situates these packages squarely in the historical context they deserve. She focuses on the Mamluk world, which includes the Mediterranean, Africa, Central Asia, India and Iran. The book is composed of nine chapters arranged in three sections. The first section (of two chapters) addresses the culture of gifts. Behrens-Abouseif opens (ch. 1) with a solid, concise and readable general discussion of the Mamluk Sultanate, explaining its history, foreign relations and the unique Mamluk recruitment process, all of which explain why so many states and rulers were diplomatically involved with the Mamluks. The second chapter outlines diplomatic protocol and regulations at the Mamluk court. Here she covers not only lodging, meals and stipends, but also how gifts had to appear in a public display; how some were chosen from collections of marvels and rarities designed to please and delight the recipient; how gifts accompanied even hostile embassies; and finally, how the Mamluks recorded the monetary value of their own and others’ gifts in order to determine the appropriate response to each embassy. Of particular use are Behrens-Abouseif’s comments on recycling gifts. Although to modern eyes recycling and ‘re-gifting’ are generally seen as less desirable practices, in the Mamluk world re-gifting an object actually added lustre to it because this highlighted the object’s ownership by more than one ruler. These two chapters combine to clarify the general context for gifts, present a clear outline of the regulations and protocol of diplomatic gift giving, note standard assumptions about the meaning of particular items or type of gifts, and point to the relative universality of gift protocol across most courts, with the occasional European exception.