The Mamlūk period (648-922 A.H./1250-1517 C.E.) produced the largest corpus of Arabo-Islamic sources from the premodern era, ushering in a golden age of unparalleled historiographical production. While past scholarship on Mamlūk history deployed these rich sources to compose a “history from above,” or chronologies of the past shaped mainly by ruling elites, recent scholarship in Mamlūk studies began to implement new methodologies to deconstruct the historiographical corpus. These ground-breaking analyses have yielded insights into, for example, archival practices, knowledge transmission, regional perspectives, authors as actors, and biographies as instruments of legitimacy. This panel will engage with these recent innovative explorations in Mamlūk history.
The first paper examines the diplomatic and political activity of Sultan Qalāwūn (r. 678-689/1279-1290) vis-à-vis his Frankish neighbours and his decision to terminate a truce with them. In investigating this event, this paper engages recent scholarship on the Mamlūk chancery, archival practices, and Mediterranean diplomacy, offering a fresh perspective on the factors behind the sultan’s decision and its representation in Mamlūk sources, especially in the works of al-Shāfiʿ ibn ʿAlī (d. 730/1330).
The second paper also addresses diplomatic dynamics by investigating the Meccan biographical dictionary al-ʿIqd al-Thamīn, composed by the renowned historian Taqī al-Dīn al-Fāsī (d. 832/1429), which is a much-neglected source for regional perspectives on the Mamlūk sultanate. The paper probes al-Fāsī’s biographical dictionary to explore how he combined and repurposed competing discursive strategies employed by Syro-Egyptian and Yemeni historians to show a Meccan point of view.
The third paper also evaluates regional perspectives in (auto)biographical sketches embedded in al-Uns al-jalīl bi-taʾrīkh al-Quds wa-al-Khalīl, the paramount city chronicle on Mamlūk Jerusalem by the Maqdisī chief judge, Mujīr al-Dīn al-ʿUlaymī (d. 928/1522). The study delves into al-Uns al-jalīl to extract Mujīr al-Dīn’s autobiographical reports and reconstruct a detailed biography of the famous Jerusalemite. Overall, it elucidates how Mujīr al-Dīn interweaved his life and career as qāḍī al-quḍā into his chronicles of Mamlūk Jerusalem, thus transforming himself into an author as actor.
The fourth paper also undertakes a biographical reassessment by exploiting unpublished sources to sketch the early life of the last major Mamlūk sultan, Qāniṣawh al-Ghawrī (r. 906-922/1501-1516). By tracing the formative years of Qāniṣawh, the paper adds further insight into how biographical writings served an important purpose in Mamlūk religio-political culture, including enjoining good governance. The study also demonstrates how authors selected their sources, framed their narratives, communicated their messages, and engaged with textual production.
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By the late seventh century AH/thirteenth century AD, the Mamluk sultans Baybars (658–676 AH/1260–1277 AD) and Qalawun (678–689 AH/1279–1290 AD) had significantly diminished the remaining territories of the “crusader states”, established by the first crusaders (1096–1099) along the Eastern Mediterranean coast. Only Acre, Athlit, Beirut, Haifa, Tortosa, Tyre, and a handful of rural estates remained under Frankish control. These remaining territories were protected by a truce renewed in 682/1283 between Qalawun and Frankish leaders: Odo Poilechien, the bailiff of Charles I of Anjou (1266–1285), and the Masters of the Hospitaller and Templar military orders. However, the validity of this truce was called into question in 689/1290, when a party of Muslims were attacked in Acre.
Upon hearing of the incident, Qalawun convened a war council to deliberate whether the Franks had indeed broken the truce. A chancery official known as Shafi‘ ibn ‘Ali (d. 730/1330) was present at the council. He included two short recollections of the conversation that took place between the sultan and his advisors in his two regnal biographies of the sultans Qalawun and Baybars, produced about twenty years apart. However, Shafi‘ ibn ‘Ali’s two accounts exhibit significant discrepancies. In addition, Arabic, Latin, and Old French also diverge on how events unfolded in the city. This presentation will revisit these accounts, focusing on Shafi‘ ibn ‘Ali’s recollection (or reconstruction) of events, arguing that Shafi‘ ibn ‘Ali’s earlier biography of Qalawun presents a more accurate version, while his later version reflects a recalibration intended to reinforce the legal basis for the agreement’s termination and highlight the author’s supporting role. This presentation will also attempt to offer a new perspective on the factors contributing to the sultan’s decision, taking into consideration new scholarship on the Mamluk chancery, archival practices, and Mediterranean diplomacy.
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In contrast to the richness of literature on Mamluk Syro-Egyptian historiography, the historiography of the medieval Hijaz has been barely addressed as a discrete topic. Due to this lack of attention, how historians of the Hijaz responded to competing claims of legitimacy remains unclear. To fill this gap, this paper explores how the famous Meccan historian, Taqī al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Fāsī (d. 832/1429), described the Mamluk and the Rasulid sultans, adopting Syro-Egyptian and Yemeni perspectives in his biographical dictionary, al-ʿIqd al-Thamīn.
Traveling to Egypt, Syria, and Yemen, al-Fāsī engaged in the historiographical traditions of both the Mamluk Sultanate and the Rasulid Sultanate. His attitude towards the Mamluk and the Rasulid sultans is twofold. On the one hand, al-Fāsī wrote longer biographies for the Yemeni sultans than for their Syro-Egyptian counterparts, showing Rasulid superiority in the architectural projects in Mecca: unlike the Rasulid sultans, until al-Fāsī’s time, the Mamluk sultans were not enthusiastic patrons of the construction of educational institutions. Incorporating the Rasulid historiography, al-Fāsī presented the Yemeni sultans in a more favorable light than the Syro-Egyptian sultans, which demonstrates the geographical flexibility of his principle of featuring any good Muslim rulers who contributed to the welfare of the inhabitants of the holy city.
On the other hand, in his introductory chapter on the Muslim rulers, al-Fāsī started to focus on the Mamluk sultans toward the end of the chapter starting from the late 810s/1410s, most likely reflecting their increasing influence in Mecca. In particular, he concluded this chapter with praise of the military and religious achievements of his contemporary Mamluk sultan, al-Ashraf Barsbāy, and his bureaucrat, Zayn al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Bāsiṭ (d. 808/1406).
Adopting these two approaches, al-Fāsī succeeded in a difficult task: showing more appreciation for those who contributed more such as the Rasulid sultans, while not offending, and even praising, his contemporary ruler of Cairo. Al-Fāsī acknowledged the political supremacy of his contemporary Mamluk sultan, and he applied a geographically wider lens in dealing with Mamluk-Rasulid competition over the means of legitimation, expressing appreciation for any ruler who improved the welfare of the Meccan inhabitants. Al-Fāsī successfully combined and repurposed the two different discursive strategies employed by Syro-Egyptian and Yemeni historians to show a Meccan point of view. This paper thus sheds light on strategies for mediating several claims of legitimacy in a contact zone.
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Mujīr al-Dīn al-ʿUlaymī (d. 928 A.H./1522 C.E.) is unanimously considered as the most important chronicler of medieval Islamic Jerusalem. During his lifetime, Mujīr al-Dīn served as qāḍī al-quḍā (chief judge) of late Mamlūk Jerusalem, where he also embarked upon a stellar scholarly career. He composed diverse works on universal history, tafsīr, ḥadīth, and Ḥanbalī ṭabaqāt (biographical dictionaries). Yet Mujīr al-Dīn’s magnum opus remains al-Uns al-jalīl bi-taʾrīkh al-Quds wa-al-Khalīl (The Sublime Companion to the History of Jerusalem and Hebron).
A faḍāʾil-cum-chronicle on Jerusalem, al-Uns al-jalīl is the authoritative literary source on the history of Bayt al-Maqdis. Used extensively by modern scholars, it serves as a rich reservoir of reports on Jerusalem, a detailed literary “archive” on the history, topography, architecture, and human geography of the city, especially during the Mamlūk period. Furthermore, al-Uns al-jalīl contains prosopographical entries on eminent Muslims who visited, resided, taught, and passed away in Jerusalem, including Companions, caliphs, sultans, ʿulamāʾ, and Sufis. Importantly, al-Uns al-jalīl is replete with autobiographical reports that enable the reconstruction of Mujīr al-Dīn’s life.
However, despite the impact of Mujīr al-Dīn’s career and writings, so far scholarship on Mujīr al-Dīn remains scarce. Currently, there are only a few short studies that have investigated some aspects of Mujīr al-Dīn’s writings, along with cursory historiographical analyses of his chronicle. Similarly, a survey of the reception of al-Uns al-jalīl in modern scholarship remains a desideratum. Most significantly, however, there exists no comprehensive study that investigates Mujīr al-Dīn’s life, career, and overall writings.
This paper will thus serve as a preliminary contribution towards fulfilling the current lacunae in scholarship on Mujīr al-Dīn. The paper will, first, introduce the complete corpus of Mujīr al-Dīn’s writings. Second, it will survey the reception, editing, and translation of al-Uns al-jalīl in modern scholarship. Third, using al-Uns al-jalīl, the study will reconstruct a biography of Mujīr al-Dīn. It will begin with Mujīr al-Dīn’s father, a leading Ḥanbalī judge of Jerusalem and an influential figure in the early life of Mujīr al-Dīn. It will then examine Mujīr al-Dīn’s early education and his many renowned teachers, before tracing his travels. The investigation will conclude with Mujīr al-Dīn’s rise to chief judge and his influential role in the politics, society, and history of late Mamlūk Jerusalem. Overall, the analysis will reveal how Mujīr al-Dīn interweaved his life and career as qāḍī al-quḍā into his chronicles of Mamlūk Jerusalem, thus transforming himself into an author as actor.
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While the reign of the penultimate Mamluk ruler Qāniṣawh al-Ghawrī (r. 1501-1516) is relatively well documented in Mamluk and Ottoman historiographical literature and has received ample scholarly attention, the early biography of this influential figure in Mamluk history is largely unknown. Building primarily on unpublished sources that describe the sultan’s birth and childhood in Circassia, his transport to Egypt, his education as a mamlūk and his early military career, this paper examines by means of a case study why and how authors of Mamluk biographical works engaged in discussions of the childhood and early youth of rulers. The paper argues that biographical writings on this topic fulfilled central functions in contemporary political culture, integrated the biographies of rulers into broader and at times decidedly religious frameworks of reference, and expressed notions of what constituted good governance and political failures in the Mamluk context. Moreover, the paper shows that the study of sections on the early lives in the biographies of Mamluk rulers can provide new insights into how biographers worked, where they got their source material from, and in what ways they engaged with other forms of textual production.
