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Mamluk Military Slave System

Type Object Region Egypt Time c. 1250–1517

Institutional system by which the Ayyubid dynasty and Mamluk Sultanate purchased or captured non-Muslim youths, Islamized and trained them, and incor…

Timeline

  1. c. 1250–1290Cairo · CairoMamluks (the owned ones) were purchased and trained as cavalry by the sultan, promoted according to years of service; after Aybak murdered al-Salih Ayyub in 1250, slave-born military elites replaced the Ayyubid family as the ruling core of Egypt and Syria.
  2. c. 1290–1341Cairo Citadel · CairoDuring al-Nasir Muhammad's three reigns, Mamluk ranks (such as the embryonic Bahri and Burji factions) were strengthened, military academies and mosques expanded, and slave-born elites monopolized high military and political offices, bringing the system to maturity.
  3. 1341–1350Egypt and Syria · LevantIn the ten years after al-Nasir Muhammad's death in 1341, sultans changed frequently; Mamluk factions (such as the Qasimiyya and Nasiriyya) vied for the power of investiture; though the military slave system maintained the army's core, central authority weakened, and the Black Death further aggravated social unrest.
  4. c. 1382–1517Cairo · CairoIn 1382 the Burji (Circassian) Mamluks replaced the Bahri line and continued to maintain the regime through the military slave system; until Selim I's conquest of Egypt in 1517, this organization remained the military and administrative backbone of the Mamluk state.

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