Sultan Baybars Research Articles

Gift of the Mamelukes: Animal ambassades as vectors of exotic fauna introductions in the Spanish Middle Ages

The number of exotic animal species that were introduced in Iberia during the Middle Ages constitute a defectively documented area of research, mostly addressed through historiographic methods. In this paper we evidence that even in the case of large, exotic animals exchanged as gifts among dignitaries the documentary data can be painfully incomplete. This is the case of the animal embassy that the Mamluk sultan Baybars al Bunduqdari sent in 1261 to the Castilian king Alfonso X. Although the written sources do not specify the complete list of species nor the reasons for mentioning some but not others, documentary and iconographic data suggest that, in addition to an elephant, a giraffe and a zebra, this lot included, in a decreasing order of probability, a lion, a dromedary, an ostrich, and a Nile crocodile. If such conspicuous beasts could pass unnoticed in a royal chronicle, one may contend that even in the most thoroughly documented cases, written sources may refer but a minimal fraction of the animals translocated into Iberia during the Medieval period. Such information vacuum stresses the difficulties of granting “indigenous” status to species traditionally assumed to constitute elements of the Iberian fauna when their historical contingencies are defectively known, a matter of concern for the current rewilding debate in Spain.

Religious Policy of the Mamluk Sultan Baybars (1260–1277 AC)

This study focuses on the religious policy of the Mamluk Sultan Rukn al-Din Baybars (d. 1277), and its application throughout his rule in Egypt and Syria (Bilād al-Shām). This study also discusses the impact of this policy and its benefit for Muslims and Islam in general in the region. Dealing with the character of Baybars of Mamluk origin is very important in this study to obtain the required answers to the questions related to the Islamic character of Mamluk rule in the regions of the Middle East in the Middle Ages. Although Baybars’ background was as a slave (mamlūk), who was not familiar with the religion of Islam, he had to prove his ability to act as a leader of an Islamic state. Baybars worked to implement the principles of Islam according to the Quran and the tradition of the Prophet (sunna), thus exploiting his status as an Islamic leader and as Sultan during his reign. Baybars was strict in his religious policy toward those who committed forbidden acts according to the Islamic religion, and he was keen to punish them and implement the Sharīʿa as required, in cooperation with the ʿulamā. Baybars was given relevant degrees and titles he deserved by the revived Abbasid Caliph in Cairo, such as a “holy warrior” (Mujāhid), “partner of emir of believers/the Caliph” (Qasīm Amīr al-Mu’minīn), and other religious titles that testify his high-ranking religious status as defender of Islam.

MEDIEVAL EAST IN THE NOVEL BY E. TURSUNOV «THE MAMLUK»

The article focuses on the study of E. Tursunov's novel «Mamluk» in which the main character is Sultan Baybars. Appeal of E. Tursunov to the subject of Mamluks was a continuation after M. Simashko described the theme of the medieval East in the literature of Kazakhstan. A novel of E. Tursunov can be regarded as a historical novel, as its author, while recreating a life way of Sultan of Egypt – the country of Misr, turned to historical and archive documents and sources. There is a colossal literature about Baybars. The literary texts about Sultan Baybars by various Kazakh authors create a literary environment, an intersection. The novel of E. Tursunov «Mamluk» is directed at comprehension of the epoch and the scale of the personality of Baybars in the new ideological conditions. The modern prose writer of Kazakhstan continues the tradition of his predecessors who created fiction based on the synthesis of two or more cultures that had a synthetic – general cultural and philosophical approach to the phenomena under study. For example, in the works of Ch. Aitmatov the Kyrgyz and Kazakh themes are inseparable. The Turkmen and Kazakh themes are presented in the prose and journalism of M. Simashko. Aesthetic focus on the synthesis of cultural influences and dialogue of cultural traditions leads Tursunov to artistic discoveries. The sources to which the author refers, act as a reference point in the development of the author's vision of the world and distant historical times. The research is based on the scientific concepts of analysis of the artistic text and the artistic national world. The philological analysis of the text undertaken by the authors of this article is relevant, because the artistic text as an object of scientific analysis has several levels of comprehension of meaning. Leading trends in the humanities affect the nature of the reader's communication with cultural texts. The motif of the way in the epic tradition of the Kazakh literature evolves and is studied in this publication as an artistic sign in the aspect of semantics.

Mamluk leadership between religious and political arrangements under Sultan Baybars’ rule

This research aims to show the role of Sultan Baybars (d. 1277CE), in contributing to the support and consolidation of the Mamluk state in Egypt and the Levant on Islamic foundations, which gave Baybars an Islamic leader who bears the appropriate titles like the senior Muslim leaders who preceded him. This study will examine Baybars’ political characteristics and leadership in light of Islamic norms of conduct and culture. Baybars proved his military abilities through his victory and success in two decisive battles: al-Manṣūra against the Crusaders (Franks) in 1249 and ʿAyn Jālūt against the Mongols in 1260. In 1261, he came to power by force after the assassination of Sultan Quṭuz. This aspect of Baybars’ rule (r. 1260–1277) is referred to by Muslim scholars as wilāya jabriyya or istīlā’ (ruling by force). Baybars acted in various fields of religion and politics (sharīʿa and siyāsa) until he managed to achieve stability, security, and a powerful Islamic regime. Therefore, the Baybars deserved the title qasīm amīr al-mu’minīn” (partner of the Commander of the Faithful, i.e., the Caliph), which was given to him by the restored Caliph in Cairo, in addition to other titles that testify to his high-ranking religious status as a defender of Islam. This research relied on the method of literary research on the personality of Sultan Baybars, through comparison and analysis of his characteristics and approach to governance, as mentioned in contemporary historians’ works who documented Baybars’ biography and the sources of the Mamluk era. This paper also relied on conclusions and extrapolations of Baybars’ personality through official documents and letters received from him or issued for him, in addition to recent historical literature and research on Baybars and the Mamluk era.1

The occupation of Belvoir by the Hospitallers

What do we know about the occupation of the castle of Belvoir by the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem? This paper endeavors to draw up the state of the written documentation, consisting of a few chronicles, both Arabic and Latin, supplemented by charters from the Hospital’s collections. The history of the castle is put into perspective with the process of militarization of the Order and its growing involvement in the defense of the Latin states of the East. Acquired between 1165 and 1168, Belvoir quickly played a key role in the defense of Galilee, to the point of appearing as a major fortress of the Hospital. By January 1189, however, the place was taken over by the Ayyūbids. In 1241, following a treaty with al-Kâmil, Sultan of Egypt, the castle and its territory were returned to the Hospitallers. However, we do not know the circumstances under which the brothers moved back into a castle that had, in the meantime, suffered several destructions. In 1255, the Order strengthened its position by absorbing the possessions of the monastery of Mount Tabor. But, between 1263 and 1266, the campaigns of the Sultan Baybars resulted in the destruction of the Hospitaller settlement in eastern Galilee.

Judicial Crisis in Damascus on the Eve of Baybars’s Reform: The Case of the Minor Orphan Girl (651–55/1253–57)

Abstract This essay reconstructs a late-Ayyubid court case in Damascus that was litigated repeatedly between 651/1253 and 655/1257, five years prior to the beginning of Sultan Baybars’s judicial reform in 660/1262. The case involved the marriage of a minor orphan girl. The Shāfiʿī chief justice of Damascus initially permitted the marriage but later instructed his deputy judge to annul it, a move that outraged jurists and elicited a transregional debate. I reconstruct the case proceedings and ensuing controversies primarily from an unpublished treatise by Abū Shāma al-Maqdisī (d. 665/1268), which is partly corroborated by contemporaneous fatwas and historical chronicles. The case illustrates that pre-reform Ayyubid courts lacked the coherent jurisprudence and institutional oversight that might have prevented abuses of power by unscrupulous and inept officials. Although Baybars’s reform has long been recognized as a critical turning point in Islamic legal history, this case exposes the social and institutional dilemmas that the reform sought to address.

Reused Pharaonic blocks in Cairo Islamic monuments: Part two

This paper is the second part of the study of some reused Pharaonic blocks in Cairo Islamic monuments. These blocks are mostly unpublished. The studied blocks are the threshold in Khanqah-Mausoleum of Sultan Baybars AL Jashankir, the text on this block dates to the time of Ramesses IX. The second block is the threshold in Gateway of Wekala of Qusoun, the text on this block dates to the time of Ramesses II. The third block is the threshold in Ahmed Ibn Shaaban Zawia, which dates to the time of Senwosert. The fourth block is the threshold in Othman Katkhoda (Kekhya) mosque, this block was noted by Daressy, and he thought it is a part of a Saite period sarcophagus lid. The provenance of these blocks could be suggested according to the texts on each of them. According to the study of these blocks, Heliopolis is the provenance of most of them.

The Mamluk Bridge at Dayr Sunayd

A long-overlooked Mamluk bridge spanning the W?d? al-Hasi (Na?al Shiqma) between Gaza andMajdal (Ashqelon) was built at the behest of Sultan Baybars about 1270, as mentioned by ?Izz al-D?n Ibn Shadd?d in his Ta?r?khal-M?lik al-??hir. It was also noted in a variety of travel accountsspanning the 17th through 19th centuries and it was even photographed in the 1880s. Later itbecame a point of interest during the Great War when it was shelled by the British Navy as partof the Third Battle of Gaza, yet it survived to be repaired. Since it was on an important road evenin 1948, it was destroyed by a unit of Palmach in an attempt to impact infrastructure. The bridgeis one of the smallest of the six known Baybars bridges, yet it fully fits with the technologicalcharacteristics of the other examples.

The First Step to Apostasy? (An Ethiopian Ruler’s Missive to the Sultan Baybars Re-interpreted)

Abstract A majority of the sources on medieval Ethiopia are written in the Gǝ‘ǝz language in the “genre” of history. However, some texts written in Arabic remain equally important. Among such texts the missive addressed by a ruler of Ethiopia to the Mamluk Sultan Baybars (known as al-Malik al-Ẓāhir) in AH 673 / AD 1274-75 is of considerable interest. The Ethiopian ruler can be identified as the founder of the Ethiopian Solomonic dynasty Yǝkunno Amlak. The text of this missive survived in three Arabic versions: in the Islamic “encyclopaedias” by al-Nuwayrī and al-Qalqashadī (resp. AH 730 / AD 1330 and AH 814 / AD 1412) and in the dhayl (continuation) to the Universal history by al-Makīn, compiled by the Coptic author al-Mufaḍḍal b. Abī’l-Faḍā’il in AH 759 / AD 1358. All three versions are almost identical, however, the version by al-Nuwayrī is the longest one and the closest to the original. The detailed analysis of this version supplied by the full translation into English made for the first time by the present author clearly shows that the person who wrote it was the amīr (commander) of the Amhara and not yet the king of Ethiopia. However, he had an intention to become himself with his people a subject of Baybars to obtain help from him against the Zagwe dynasty. As a consequence, the Ethiopian Christians would have been under the Muslim power. However, the Mamluk Sultan was less interested in that affair.

Jerusalem Mamluk Regional Building Style as Demonstrated at Maqām al-Nabī Mūsā

Abstract Maqām al-Nabī Mūsā, situated just off the route connecting Jerusalem to Jericho and to Amman further to the east, was a meeting place for thousands of pilgrims that gathered around the shrine during the mawsim (festival). Sultans, clerks, muftis, and wealthy families, who sought the saint’s blessing, put efforts into building facilities for those pilgrims. The earliest products of those donations, still identifiable on the ground, are the mausoleum built by the order of Sultan Baybars (r. 1260–1277) in the early days of the Mamluk era and the manāra (minaret) and the riwāq (open arcade) added by the order of Sultan al-Ashraf Qāytbāy (r. 1468–1496) toward the end of that era. Both building phases bear the imprint of local masons who were active in building Mamluk Jerusalem. Those masons developed their own regional style that differed from that of their counterparts in major Mamluk centers like Damascus and Cairo. A concomitant theme in this article is thus regional styles in architecture.

REMOVAL OF CRUSADERS FROM THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN IN THE MAMLUK-CRUSADER STRUGGLE

One of the most important issues facing the Mamluk State since its establishment was to continue the struggle with the Crusaders who settled in the region. In fact, after the failure of the 3rd Crusade, Egypt became the new strategic target of the Crusaders under the Ayyubid administration. The developments that started during the reign of Sultan Baybars continued in the period of Kalavun and al-Eshref until the conquest of Akka. From this point on, ez-Zâhir Baybars marched at the head of a large army at the beginning of February 1265 and took over the cities of Kaysariyye, Yafa, Aslis, and Arsuf. In the summer of 1266, he tookover Safad and er-Remle. It caused a heavy blow to Armenia Minor. In 1267, Sultan Baybars looted the districts of Taberiyye and Akkâ and invaded the cities of Jaffa, es-Shakif, and Arnun the following year. Finally, he crowned the invasion wars against the Crusaders with the conquest of Antioch (April 1268). Baybars’ conquering of Antioch has been marked by contradictions. However, he will eliminate the crusader presence in Antioch and its surrounding by various methods and occupy the areas in the north of Syria, and finally narrow the area of the Crusader activity. It is an extremely important event that Antioch was conquered by Muslims in 1268. Because Antioch is the second principality established by the Crusaders in the East (1097) after Urfa, and the capture of this place is a piece of new evidence that the great structure that the Crusaders set up in Syria towards the end of the 11th century began to collapse. This eliminated the presence of crusaders on the shores of the eastern Mediterranean, where they could indeed dominate until the First Crusade, and their withdrawal from the eastern Mediterranean is shown here. The struggle that took place in the period after Sultan Baybars and later, resulted in the fact that the defense against the Crusader attacks was first poured into the Mediterranean and then they were completely removed from there. The great Crusader attack in the 14th century spread over a century from different fronts and took place through the Balkans, the Aegean, and the Eastern Mediterranean. After the Crusaders’ main body was removed from Syria, the Armenian and Cypriot structures, which were their deputies, were also eliminated in the following periods. The Mamluks caused great losses to the Crusaders and their allies in the Eastern Mediterranean during the last period of the Crusades. This article examines how the Crusader presence was eliminated by the Mamluks in Antioch, Çukurova, and Cyprus.

Baybars, naval power and Mamlūk psychological warfare against the Franks

ABSTRACTThis paper discusses two events relating to Mamlūk warfare under the Sultan Baybars al-Bunduqdārī (r. 658–676/1260–1277). The first is a failed naval attack on Cyprus in 669/1271 and the second is a prison break of the surviving captains in 673/1274. Although the first event is well documented in both Frankish and Mamlūk sources, the second is found only in the latter. I argue that it is likely that the prison break did occur and was connected to efforts by the sultan to simultaneously engage in psychological warfare against the neighbouring Franks while securing his own defences against an anticipated crusade. A close analysis and comparison of the contemporary and near-contemporary accounts of these events shows a brief period in which Baybars was presented as undertaking serious efforts to build his naval forces, but this did not last beyond the first chroniclers of the shipwreck and prison break.

Личность султана Бейбарса и его роль в раз­витии взаимоотношений мамлюкского Египта с Золотой Ордой по арабским источникам

Личность султана Бейбарса и его роль в раз­витии взаимоотношений мамлюкского Египта с Золотой Ордой по арабским источникам

Carnivalesque Homoeroticism in Medieval Decadent Cairo: Ibn Dāniyāl'sThe Love-Stricken One and the Lost One Who Inspires Passion

This study explores the theme of carnivalesque homoeroticism in medieval decadent Cairo as portrayed by oculist andlittérateurIbn Dāniyāl in his third shadow playThe Love-Stricken One and the Lost One Who Inspires Passion. The playwright's satirical response to Sultan Baybars's campaign against vice in Egypt in the thirteenth century falls within the irreverent burlesque tradition. The article analyses the playwright's carnivalesque and satirical shadow play in light of Bakhtin's theory of carnival. He related the carnivalesque – a burlesque dramatic genre aiming to secretively challenge and sabotage the social and political hierarchy of an autocratic regime through satirical obscenity and rhetoric – to the medieval carnivals and feasts of fools throughout Europe. Bawdy burlesque comedies were intended to provoke hilarious laughter by mockingly satirizing the despotic government's absurd subjugation of its citizens. The study shows how carnivalesque dialogic, long thought to be limited to medieval literature in Europe, found fertile soil in medieval Cairo. Ibn Dāniyāl's trilogyṬayf al-Khayāl, which consists ofThe Shadow Spirit,The Amazing Preacher and the Stranger, andThe Love-Stricken One and the Lost One Who Inspires Passion, can unquestionably be studied in the context of Bakhtin's plebeian popular culture of laughter and the carnivalesque tradition.

Pope Gregory X and the Crusades

Pope Gregory X stood at the very centre of the crusading movement in the later thirteenth century. An able diplomat, he showed himself adept at navigating the political waters of Europe and the Mediterranean World. His crusade gained the participation of virtually all of the leaders of Western Europe, and even the Byzantine emperor and the Ilkhan of the Mongols: crucial if his crusade were to have a chance of defeating the very formidable and successful Mamluk Sultan Baybars. However, Gregory's premature death put paid to his crusade plans. Perhaps because of this, Gregory has hitherto been somewhat neglected by historians - a gap which this book aims to fill. It provides a full account of his contribution to the Crusade, demonstrating that he left a lasting mark on how crusading would operate in the years to come. Philip Baldwin received his doctorate from Queen Mary, University of London.

Sultan Baybars I and the Georgians—In the Light of New Documents related to the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem

AbstractThroughout the Middle Ages, the Monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem was a highly symbolic place to Georgians and to their kings. Although the monks were expropriated and their abbot was killed at the end of Sultan Baybars's reign, the Monastery preserved two documents that guaranteed its protection by Mamluk authorities, a court-authenticated testimony and a Sultan's missive. These documents, which were issued before the Monastery was turned into a Sufi convent by Šayh Hadir, shed new light on the complex relations of the Mamluk state with its Christian minorities. The radical change in the Mamluk's attitude towards the Monastery coincided with a rupture in political relations between the Mamluks and Georgian polities in the aftermath of the battle of 'Ayn Gālūt. The Sultan's missive that was addressed to one of his emirs is one of the oldest specimens of Mamluk chancellery. It proves that the Mamluk military ranking system did not yet exist under Sultan Baybars.

Legal Diversity in the Age of Taqlid: the Four Chief Qadis Under the Mamluks

Sultan Baybars' decision to appoint four Chief Qādīs , one from each of the Sunni schools of law, has long been recognized as a turning point in the history of the madhhabs. To date, historians have explained this decision only in political or ideological terms, paying little attention to its implications for the judicial system. Here I argue that the purpose of the new quadruple structure of the judiciary was two-fold: to create a uniform but at the same time flexible legal system. The need for predictable and stable legal rules was addressed by limiting qādīs' discretion and promoting taqlīd , i.e., adherence to established school doctrine. The establishment of Chief Qādīs from the four schools of law, on the other hand, allowed for flexibility and prevented the legal system from becoming too rigid. The quadruple judiciary enabled litigants, regardless of personal school affiliation, to choose from the doctrines of the four schools.

THE DECLINE OF COURTLY PATRONAGE AND THE APPEARANCE OF NEW GENRES IN ARABIC LITERATURE: THE CASE OF THE ZAJAL, THE MAQĀMA, AND THE SHADOW PLAY

AbstractThis article begins with a detailed structural analysis of "Zajal 90" by the Andalusī poet Ibn Quzmān (d. 555/1160). On the basis of this analysis, It is concluded that the poem employs irony to condemn the anti-Berber prejudice prevalent among native Andalusīs in Almoravid-ruled twelfth-century al-Andalus. It is also pointed out that the poem shares a number of key features with the maqāma genre, and may, in fact, be viewed as a maqāma in verse. The article then ascribes the invention of the maqāma genre by al-Hamadānī (358/969-398/1008) in the East, as well as its cultivation by al-Saraqustī (d. 538/1143) in the West, to two separate but parallel crises in literary patronage that took place (1) when the Persian-speaking Buwayhids reduced the Arab Abbāsid caliphs to puppets in Iraq (334/945), and (2) when the Berber-speaking Almoravids deposed the Arabic-speaking mulūk al-tawā if (448/1056) in al-Andalus. The article concludes by drawing a parallel between the above crises in literary patronage, and the rise of the shadow play, as it was cultivated by Ibn Dāniyāl (d. 710/1310), in late thirteenth-century Egypt, under the régime of the Mamlūk Sultan Baybars I (r. 658/1260-676/1277). Finally, the article attempts to illustrate how certain crises in literary patronage - resulting in the abandonment of the courtly, panegyrical qasīda - often led to extremely creative attempts at incorporating popular genres into the canon of formal Arabic literature.

Archaeological Fieldwork at the Citadel of Homs, Syria: 1995–1999

The Citadel of Homs is set on one of the largest urban tells of Syria but it has been neglected in terms of its archaeology as it was occupied by the military until recent years. The tell goes back to at least the Early Bronze Age although the present paper focuses primarily on its Islamic fortifications. The extant Islamic walls were built during the Ayyubid period and the Mamluk sultan Baybars subsequently carried out restorations. All of this work is testified by inscriptions although without exception, they are lost. A joint Syrian-British study of the Citadel of Homs commenced in 1994, and this has involved recording the remains of the walls and towers, while excavations have attempted to understand the stratigraphic sequence of floors in the rooms of the mediaeval Islamic defences.

The Fall and Rise of the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate

In A.D. 1258 the Mongols conquered Baghdad and brought the Abbasid caliphate to an end. Three years later, however, under the aegis of the Mamluk sultan Baybars, the caliphate was resurrected, providing legitimacy to the sultan and the Mamluk state in general, both internally and in its foreign relations. The book under review here follows and analyzes in detail the whole process of the reestablishment of the caliphate, with particular emphasis on the Aleppan interlude. The study is based on a careful reading of the literary sources along with a comprehensive presentation of the numismatic material. The latter represents a third of the entire book, and constitutes an important study in its own right.