Much attention has been given to the rise of al-Azhar Mosque as the main institution of learning in Egypt during the period of Ottoman rule (1517-1867). A central part of Ottoman policy in Egypt was to funnel a large quantity of religious endowments to al-Azhar Mosque as a means of centralizing religious education in Egypt. However, almost no attention has been given to the history of the other educational institutions in Cairo during the Ottoman Period. Several of these madrasas in fact dwarfed al-Azhar in the late Mamluk period in terms of size, available resources, and prestige. In my paper, I will attempt to fill in this gap in the field by analyzing descriptions of the major madrasas in Cairo that can be found in several chronicles and biographical sources from the 16th and 17th centuries in both Arabic and Ottoman Turkish. By placing these descriptions within the context of both historical events and Ottoman administrative policies in Egypt, I will survey the various factors that led to the flourishing of some educational institutions and to the decline of others.