Vassal Mamluk rulers of Egypt and Syria in the service of the Ottomans

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Abstract

The fall of the Mamluk Sultanate under the onslaught of the Ottoman invasion in 1516-1517 turned the entire course of events both in Egypt and throughout the Muslim world. However, the establishment of direct Turkish rule on the territory of the former Mamluk possessions was preceded by a short transitional period of vassalage. The Ottoman Sultan Selim I Yavuz (1512-1520) appointed in Egypt and Syria two devoted to him Mamluk emirs Khair-bek and Janbirdi al-Ghazali, whose actions infl the further strengthening of the power of the Turks in the Middle Eastern provinces. The main purpose of the study is to identify the reasons for such an abrupt change in the policy of the Ottomans in Egypt and Syria. The author examines in detail the period of rule of the vassal Mamluk emirs and tries to determine how their actions infl the decision of the High Porte to appoint their own governors and remove the Mamluks from power. Using the historical and genealogical method, the author begins with a description of the events of the Ottoman-Mamluk war of 1516-1517. During the confl both emirs showed far-sightedness and went over to the side of the Ottomans. Therefore, they earned the special favor of Sultan Selim. However, later, while in power, both Khair-bek and Janbirdi al-Ghazali showed a tendency to arbitrariness, which served as an alarm signal for the Ottomans. Moreover, after the death of Selim, Janbirdi openly opposed the Ottomans. The result of the reign of both commanders, therefore, was an even greater strengthening of the Turks and the further weakening of the Mamluks in the Islamic world.

About the authors

Tamara Alexeevna Ryzhenkova

Saint Petersburg State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: t.ryzhenkova@spbu.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7330-0707

Senior Lecturer, Department of History of the Middle East

Universitetskaya nab. 7-9, St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, 199034

References

  1. Atsamba FM. Sistema administrativnogo upravleniya egipetskoy provintsii Osmanskoy imperii (XVI-XVIII vv.). [The administrative system of the Egyptian province of the Ottoman Empire (XVI-XVIII centuries)]. In: Vostok v novoe vremya. Ekonomika, gosudarstvenniy story. Moscow: Nauka, glavnaya redaktsiya vostochnoy literature; 1991, p. 109–129. (In Russ.).
  2. Kudelin AA. Organizatsiya vlasti v osmanskom Egipte: mehanizm vzaimodeystviya vnutri treugol’nika “mamluki — odjaki — osmanskaya administratsiya” (XVI — seredina XVIII v.) [Organization of power in Ottoman Egypt: the mechanism of interaction within the triangle “Mamluks — Ojaks — Ottoman administration” (XVI — mid-XVIII centuries)]. Vestnik Moskovskogo universiteta. Seriya 13. Vostokovedeniye. 2009(2):21–37. (In Russ.).
  3. Ivanov NA. Osmanskoye zavoevanie arabskih stran (1516–1574). [Ottoman conquest of the Arab countries (1516–1574)]. Moscow: Oriental Literature Publishing house, Russian Academy of Sciences; 2001. (In Russ.).
  4. Al-Zirikli Khair al-Din. Al-’A‘lam. Qamus tarajim li’ashhar al-rijal wa-al-nisa’ min al-‘Arab wa-al-musta‘ribin wa-al-mustashriqin. [Outstanding people: a biographical dictionary of famous Arabs and Arab women, arabists and orientalists]. Vol. 6. Beirut: Dar al-‘Ilm lial-malayin; 2002. (In Arab.).
  5. Ryzhenkova TA. Osmano-mamlukskaya voyna 1516–1517 gg. v opisanii egipetskogo istorika Ibn Zunbulya. [Ottoman-Mamluk War 1516–1517 in the description of the Egyptian historian Ibn Zunbul]. Vestnik SPbGU. Seriya 13. Vostokovedeniye. Afrikanistika. 2021(4): 569–587. (In Russ.).
  6. Conermann S. Ibn Tulun (d. 955/1548): Life and works. Mamluk Studies Review. 2004;VIII(1):115–140. Chicago: The University of Chicago, Middle East Documentation Center (VTDOC).
  7. Brinner WM. Ibn Ṭulun. In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. VIII. Leiden: Brill; 1986, p. 957–958.
  8. Novichev AD. Istoriya Turtsii. [The history of Turkey]. Vol. 1. Leningrad: Leningrad universitet publ.; 1963. (In Russ.).
  9. Shishkov VV. Osmanskaya imperiya: ot zavoevaniya I integratsii periferiy k popitkam modernizatsii. [Ottoman Empire: from the conquest and integration of the peripheries to attempts at modernization]. Socium i vlast’. 2012;6(38): 111–115. (In Russ.).
  10. Al Shalaq ’Ahmad Zakariya. Al-‘arab wa-l-dawla al-‘uthmaniyya min al-hudu‘ ila-lmuwajaha. [Arabs and the Ottoman state: from submission to opposition]. Cairo: Misr al‘arabiyya li-l-nashr wa-l-tawzi‘; 2002. (In Arab.).
  11. Ilyushina MJu. Posledniy mamlukskiy sultan v voyne s osmanami (1516–1517). [The last Mamluk sultan in the war against the Ottomans (1516–1517)]. Vestnik SPbGU. Seriya 13. Vostokovedeniye. Afrikanistika. 2016(1):49–58. (In Russ.).
  12. Winter M. The Ottoman occupation. In: Petry CF, editor. The Cambridge History of Egypt. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 2008, p. 490–516.
  13. Ibn ’Iyas Muhammad ibn ’Ahmad al-Hanafi. Bada’I‘ al-zuhur fi waqa’I‘ al-duhur. [Curiosities of Flowers in the Events of the Centuries]. Vol. 4. Cairo: Al-Hay’a al-misriyya al-‘amma li-l-kitab; 1984. (In Arab.).
  14. Winter M. Egyptian Society under Ottoman Rule: 1517–1798. London and New-York: Taylor & Francis; 2005.
  15. Ibn Zunbul al-Sheykh ’Ahmad al-Rammal. ’Akhirat al-mamalik wa-waqi‘at al-sultan Salim al-‘uthmani ma‘a Qansuh al-Ghuri. [The end of the Mamluk era and the battle of the Ottoman Sultan Selim with Qansuh al-Ghuri] Cairo: Al-Hay’a al-misriyya al’amma li-lkitab; 1998. (Un Arab.).
  16. Fitzgerald TJ. Rituals of Possession, Methods of Control, and the Monopoly of Violence: The Ottoman Conquest of Aleppo in Comparative Perspective. In: Stephan Conermann and Gül Şen, editor. The Mamluk-Ottoman transition: continuity and change in Egypt and Bilād al-Shām in the sixteenth century. Göttingen: V&R Unipress, Bonn University Press im Verlag V&R Unipress GmbH; 2017, p. 249–274.
  17. ’Abu Nahl ‘Uthama Muhammad. Jan Birdi al-Ghazali al-mamluki wa al-dawla al‘uthmaniyya — ru’ya ta’rikhiyya jadida. [Mamluk Jan Birdi al-Ghazali and the Ottoman state — a new historical perspective]. In: Majallat Jami‘at al-najah li-l-’abhath (al-‘ulum al-’insaniyya). Vol. 18. (1). Nablus: Jami‘at al-najah al-wataniyya; 2003, p. 55–86. (In Arab.).
  18. Ayalon D. The End of the Mamluk Sultanate: Why did the Ottomans Spare the Mamlūks of Egypt and Wipe out the Mamluks of Syria? Studia Islamica. 1987(65):125–148.
  19. Sayyid Muhammad Sayyid. Misr fi-l-‘asr al-‘uthmani fi-l-qarn al-sadis ‘ashara. Dirasa watha’iqiyya fi-l-nuzhum al-’idariyya wa-l-qadha’iyya wa-l-maliyya wa-l-‘askariyya. [Egypt in the Ottoman era in the sixteenth century. Documentary study in the administrative, judicial, financial and military systems]. Cairo: Madbuli; 1997. (In Arab.).
  20. ’Ibn Tulun al-Salihi al-Dimashqi. ’I‘lam al-wara bi-man wulliya na’iban min al-’atrak bi-Dimashq al-Sham al-kubra. [Informing people about the Damascus Governors of the Turks]. Cairo: Matba‘at Jami‘at ‘Ain Shams; 1983. (In Arab.).
  21. Barthold VV. Khalif i sultan. [Caliph and Sultan]. In: Bartold V.V. Sochineniya. Vol. VI. Moscow: Nauka; 1966, p. 15–78. (In Russ.).
  22. Mutawalli ’Ahmad Fu’ad. Al-Fath al-‘uthmani li-l-Sham wa-Misr wa-muqaddamatuhu min waqi‘ al-watha’iq wa-l-masadir al-turkiyya wa-l-‘arabiyya al-mu‘athira lahu. [The Ottoman conquest of Syria and Egypt and its introduction from the reality of contemporary Turkish and Arab documents and sources]. Cairo: Al-Zahra’ li-l-’I‘lam al-‘arabi; 1995. (In Arab.).
  23. Ivanov NA. Ob osmanskom sotsial’no-teokraticheskom ideale. [On the Ottoman socialtheocratic ideal] In: Ivanov N.A. Trudi po istorii islamskogo mira. Moscow: “Vostochnaya literatura” RAN; 2008, p. 206–218. (In Russ.).
  24. Zelenev EI. Egipet. Sredniye veka. Novoye vremya. [Egypt. Middle Ages. New time]. Saint Petersburg: Sankt-Peterburg universitet publ.; 1999. (In Russ.).

Copyright (c) 2023 Ryzhenkova T.A.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies