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Education and Training Under the Mamlüks

Sevak Joseph Manjikian

Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University Montreal, Quebec February, 1998.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research

in partial Wiment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts.

O Sevak Joseph Manjilcian, 1998

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

..- ....................................................................................... Abstract 111

Résumé.. .................................................................................... Av

Notes on Transliteration.. ................................................................. .v

............... Acho w ledgment S. .. ...................................................... ,, .vi

Introduction.. ................................................................................ 1

- .............................................................. Chap t er 1. Mamluk Training.. 1 5

Chapter II. Religious

Chapter III. Training

Education under the Mamlïiks.. ................................. 47

- ............................................. of the Awlad al-N&.. 77

............................................................................... Conclusion,. *.-9 1

ABSTRACT

Author: Sevak Joseph Manjikian

Tit le: Education and Training under the MamlUks

Department: hstitute of Islarnic Studies

Degree: Master of Arts

This work analyzes the methods the Mamlük Sultanate (1250-1517) used to train

and educate its rniütary and religious elite. Three separate classes of people are

examined: the MamlÜks, the religious elite ( 'ul'Z') and finally the children of the

Mamlüks (awM a h & ) . It is demonstrated that in order for the Marnliik Sultanate to

function properly, both milit ary and reiigious scholarship were needed. During the

Mamlük period these methods of training and education were not applied in a uniform

manner.

iii

&SUMÉ

Auteur: Sevak Joseph Manjikiau

Titre: L'éducation et l'entraînement durant la penode du sultanat mamlük

Département : L'Institut des études islamiques, Université McGill

Diplôme : Maîtrise

----------------------------------------------------------------________________________________________------

Cette thèse analysera les méthodes utilisées par le sultanat mamlük (1 250-15 17) afm

d'entraîner et d'éduquer son armée et ses fonctionnaires religieux (*ulamZ). Trois

différents groupes d'individus seront étudiés: ce sont les mamlüks, l'élite réligieuse, et les

enfants des m a d ü k s (clda2 al-nas). Cette thése cherchera a démontrer qu'il était

nécessaire d'encourager le développment de l'éducation religieuse et de l'entraînement

militaire afin d'assurer le bon fonctionment du sultanat mamlUk. Durant la période

mardi&, ces méthodes d'entraînement et d'éducatioii ne furent pas appliquées de manière

uniforme.

NOTES ON TRANSLITERATION

Arabic words in common use in the Engiish language are not itaiicized. Proper Arabic names are not italicized and titles of articles and monographs appear in their original f o m The transliteration system of this work is as follows.

Initial: unexpressed 5 Medial and Final: '

Vowels, diphthongs. Short: A: ' 1: , U: t

Long: A: 1 1: ü: 2

AlifMaqUra A (-r Diphthongs: AY: 3 ' AW: 1 ' 5 -

Long with tasbdid IYYA: +, timarbüta: 2 A

A number of people and organizations have assisted me in completing this work-

Professor Donald P. Little supervised this project and ofiered suggestions and cnticisms

which were very helpful. 1 am greatly appreciative of his support, patience and

encouragement and remain grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him.

Steve Millier and Wayne St.Thomas both provided me with valuable support at the

Islamic Studies Library. Dawn Richard and AM Yaxley have been especidly

encouraging and helpfiil with administrative matters. Roxanne Marcotte assisted me in

translating m y abstract. The Institute of Islamic Studies provided me with fellowships

which partially funded m y academic endeavors, the Indonesia-Canada Islamic Higher

Education Project and the Islamic Studies Library, especially Salwa Ferahian, fùrther

assisted me through employment.

On a personal note, 1 would Iike to thank a number of individuals who indirectly

supported my studies- Rees Kassen, Gregg Logan, Loai Louis, Roslyn Macey, Cheeco

and the late Emilo remain unfailing fiiends; in person and in spirit. Al1 my colleagues

at the Institute of Islamic Studies, whose list includes the entire student body and

library staff, have helped create a dynamic atmosphere in which to leam. Margo Plant

has brightened my life immeasurably and has been a steady source for my spiritual

fulfilment. Finally 1 would like to thank my father Hagop, brother Naraig, sister Lalai,

and especially my mother Dirouhie who has been an inspiring educator and wonderful

parent. 1 am truly blessed to have such a loving family. You have al1 provided me with

everything 1 could ever want while only asking for my happiness in retum. To you 1 Say

EDUCATION AND TRAINING UNDER THE MAMLÜKS

INTRODUCTION

Military training and religious education within the Mamlük Sultanate (1 260- 15 17) were

valued assets which served the niling miütary elite on a number of levels. The Sultanate

flourished during a precarious period o f history. Mongol invasions fiom Asia and Crusader armies

fiom Europe threatened Md& borders while Mamlük fact ionalism pressured the intemal

stability fiom within. Faced with these imposing threats a capable military force with a training

infiastructure was required of the Sultanate. Force alone, however, would not ensure Mamlük

stability. Intemal cohesion needed to be maintained through an already existing Islamic

fiamework which dominated the social landscape of the empire. In order to foster social order,

religious elites were needed to staff educational institutions as well as cany out judicial hc t ions .

Finally, education fûrther served the miütary eüte by preparing t heir offspring ( a w m al-aG) with

either religious or military skills. These skills allowed the children of the MarnlÜks to participate

within eIite circles which would have othenvise been denied them due to the non-hereditary

structure of Mamlük society-

A great deal of scholarship has recently appeared that has discussed, in various detail and

form, the military and religious education within MamIÜk society. This work will attempt to

piece together the diverse array of scholarship and provide some synt hesis to MamlÜk educational

str~ictures which emerged throughout the history o f the empire. What will surface fiom this study

is that Mamlük society had a definite need for the promotion of military and religious education.

However, throughout the history of the empire, no rigid systems developed during their tenure.

In theory, Mam1Ü.k~ were white military slaves, imported while still children fiom Central Asia

and the auc cas us.' These boys were purchased for the purpose of statFng the various military

structures which dotted the Middle Eastern landscape during the medieval period. h i e s

consisting of slave soldiers were immortalized in Middle Eastern myths and legends following

their various exploits on the field of battle. One of the most impressive and successfül examples

of the military slave system was the Mamlik Sultanate rvhich controlled Egyptian and Syrian

temtories during the 13th-15th centuries?

The regime, which came into being following the assassination of the Ayyübid prince TGrh

Shàh in 1250, was a peculiar Islamic empire.' Its uniqueness stemmed fiom the fact that it was

govemed by emancipated military slaves. This marked a profond change in the govemorship of

Egypt and Syria. The Ayylbid empire was ruled by members of the Kurdish Ayyiïbid family

(descendants of SaI@ al-Din, d- 1 193), whereas the Mamlüks were former Turkish or Circassian

slaves who had no royal lineage on wvhich to base their rule. These former slaves perpetuated the

system of their govemance by purchasing slaves whom they trained in the art of war and

subsequent ly placed wit hin the regime's military structures. As t hese slaves were manumitted,

These two geographic regions represent the areas where a majority of the MamlÜks originated during the Mamlük Sultanate. They were not, however, the sole source for military slaves. There also existed Armenian, Persian, Mongol, and Kurdish slaves who made up part of the Mamlük -Y -

* A great deal of attention has been focused on the Mamlüb of Egypt and Syria by modem scholarship because of the vast amomts of original source material which is available. Information in the form of officia1 correspondence, biographies and historical texts have provided modem scholarship with k t -hand accounts of this medieval Middle Eastem society.

The Delhi Sultanate of India (1206-1526) is another example of an Islamic empire whose

a origins stem f?om slave soldiery.

they were able to compete for the various high-ranking positions within the MamlÜk system. The

MamlÜk Sultanate did not operate on traditional dynastic cycles. Rather it was a non-hereditary

system which saw the most powerfûl d p r o m o t e d (often through election) to the Sultanate

following the death (or assassination) of the previous sovereignO4

This work will focus on the training and education of Mamluk elites who participated in

miiitary and religious affairs- The h t cbapier will discuss the miiitary training system wvhich

evolved under the eady Sultans. Obviously for the military regime to survive, well-structured

training programs were required. Borrowing fiom their Ayyübid predecessors as well as initiating

new military standards, the early Mamlük Sultans, Baybars (1260-1277) and QalZwÜn (1279-

1290), implemented highly discipüned training regimes. The systems of training they introduced

were not, however, followed by subsequent Sultans. What will emerge £iom the analysis of

military training is that different Sultans, while recopizing the importance of training, could not

maint ain the high standards of the founders.

The second chapter wili analyze the system of higher religious education which flourished

during Mamlùk rule. M d U k s needed to hamess the existing Islamic social order which

flourished in Syria and Egypt if they were to thrive. Moreover in order to provide legitimacy for

t heir rule, Islamic symbols (which included educat ional structures), needed t O be maint ained.

What transpired was an influx of religious endowments which produced a flowering of educational

4 Although the system was non-hereditary, one family did manage to hold a monopoly over the S ult anate during the Balp? p e n d Under the QalZwÜnids (1 279- 13 82) a quasi-dynast ic system

institutions. The construction of buildings such as moques, kb5qiZ1.s and maahsas helped

conserve Cairo's status as an inteilectual center o f learning duri-ng the Mamlük regime. These

reasons alone were not the only motivations for Mamluk sponsonhip of educational institutions.

Issues ranging fkom religious piety to financial seciirity also influenced the Mamlük endowment of

religious institutions of higher leaming. This chapter will demonstrate that a need for

maint aining scholarly institut ions was present t hroughout the history of the regime. However,

this need did not translate into uniform educationd structures; rather the locations at which one

acquired an education were varied.

The third chapter will discuss the education and training of the awla(l Z Z A I ~ ~ S (sons of

Mamlüks). This cbapter will demonstrate that due to the non-hereditary nature of Mamlük

a society, a need ernerged for the training and education of Marnlük progeny. As was in the case of

milit ary training and religious education, uniform systems which prepared the awW &-DG did

not exist; rather, different MamlÜks employed different strategies for the education and training of

their sons.

Ultimately, this study will attempt to demonstrate that education and training played a vital

role within Mamlük society. In order to prepare miütary and civilian elites with the skills needed

to assume their respect ive functions, education and training were required. However, the pat hs

that were taken to provide for these skills were not dependent on fonnalized structures. Rather

diverse methods flourished during the MadÜk period. What follows is an analysis of these

structures and institutions.

BlBLIOGRAPHIC REVIEW

The study of the M d Ü k Sultanate is a relatively healthy branch of Middle Eastern

scholarship. Partly due to the availability of numerous primary sources, the social landscape along

with the history of the Sultanate is slowly k i n g pieced together. In ternis of the military training,

one can refer to a great many books and articles concerning the Mamlüks and retneve the

following information: Mamlüks mostly came to Egypt as non-Muslims, undenvent military and

religious education and were thus qualined to enter the military elite which ruled Egypt and Syria

For the purposes of this paper however, a more detailed analysis is required in order gain a

broader underst anding on the nature of milit ary training during the Mamlük period.

Ayalon's works L'eschvage du ~ m e l o d , "Notes on the Fwikiyya Exercises and Games in

the Mamlük ~ul tanate '~ , ''The MamlÜk Novice: on his Youthfilness and on bis Original

~eli~ion"' , and "Studies on the Structure of the MamlUk ArmyN8 furnish insightful information

conceming the manner in which slave boys were enslaved, transported and purchased by MamlÜk

Sultans and â111U5. Rabie's article "The Training of a Mamluk F&S"~ provides a more focused

David Ayaion, L 'escjavage du Mamelouk; in Orieotal Noter md Srrrdies, Vo 1. 1 (Jerusalem: Israel Oriental Society, 195 1).

Ayalon, "Notes on the Furüiijya Exercises and Games in the Mamlük Sultanate", in Scnpta Hierosofyrmyrmtaaa, Vol. 9 (1961), pp. 3 1-62.

7 Ayalon, "The M d Ü k Novice: On his Youthfulness and on his Original Religion", in Revue des études isiwquer, Vol. 54 (1986), pp. 1-8.

Ayalon, "Studies on the Structure of the Mamlük Anny", in Bui'etin of the Scbwlof Orieotaf aodAficau Studies, Vol. L 5 (1953), pp. 203-228, and Vol. 16 (1954), pp. 448-476.

Hassanein Rabie, "The Training of the Mamlùk Firis", in War, TechoIogy and Sociey in the Middle Ewî, ed. V.J. Parry and M.E. Yapp (London: Oxford University Press, 1975), pp.

5

analysis of rnilitary instruction employed by the early Mamlük Sultans. 0ztopçu's translation of

Mmyafu' l-~hrnàr/O along with Scanlon's A Mw&m Maouai of ~d~ provides insight on

met hods of training which were detailed in these two respect ive training manuals. Shatzmiller's

article "The Crusades and Islamic Warfare- a ~e -~va iua t ion" '~ describes why more military

manuals were produced during the MamlÜk period thm any previous period of Islamic history.

Mamlük training made ample use of eunuchs who stmed the military barracks in which young

slaves received their formation Ayalon's articles "The Eunuchs in the Mami& ~ o c i e t ~ " ' ~ and

"On the Eunuchs in 1slam"14 both cover this phenornenon. Moreover, Mannon's work Emuchs

and SacredBomdarfes in IsZaauc socjet'/) in addition to Patteaon's Slavey and social &ad6

provides further data conceming the eunuch's role in facilitating military training- Levanoni has

recently formulated a new theory describing the deciine of military training, which appears in her

10 Kurtulus ~ztopçu, Muoytu'l-Ghuzaf (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989).

" George Scanlon, A Mus1im Maoual of War (Cairo: Amencan University at Cairo Press, 196 1).

'' Maya S hatzmiller, "The Crusades and Islamic Warfare-a Re-Evaluat ion", in Der Islam, Vol. 69 (1992), pp. 247-288.

'' Ayalon, "The Eunuchs in the Mamlük Sultanate", in Studes in Memoq of Gaston Wiet, ed. Myriam Rosen-Ayalon (Jenisalem: Hebrew University Press, 1977), pp. 267-295.

l4 Ayalon, "On the Eunuchs in Islam", in Jemalem Stcrdies in Arabie andlslam ,Vol. 1 (1 979), pp. 67-124.

l 5 Shaun Marmon, Emuchs and SacredBomdares in Islatru'c Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995)-

l6 Orlando Pat terson, SIavey md Socialdeath (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1 982). 6

book A Toniog Point in Md& ~ j s t o ~ . ' ~ Ayalon's book Gimpowder aod FUeams in tbe

Mamlu'k ~u~tanate'~ discusses the Mamlük inabiiity to relinquish traditional calvary training in

favour of new mi lit ary technology.

Flemming's article "Literary Activities in the Mamlük Halls and ~ a r r a c k s " ' ~ bas

demonstrated that young M d i i k s received some instruction in Arabic writing and grammar.

Eclanannls article "The Madi&-Kipchak ~ i t e r a t u r e " ~ ~ provides a review of different Turkish

dialects spoken by MamiÜks while also fumishing examples of literary works produced by the

military class. Haarmaun's articles "Ideology and History, Identity and Alterity: The Arab

Image of the Turk fiom the Abbasids to Modem Egypt "2 ' , and "Arabic in Speech, Turkish in

~ i n e a ~ e " ~ ' explain t hat despite the rare instances where Mamlüks part icipated in scho lady

act ivit ies, t heir efforts were often ignored or down-played by the 'uI'3'.

' ' Amali a Levanoni, A Tumiag Point in MamIUk History: The TairdReigo of ai-Neir Mubarnmaciibn QaIiwÜh (1310-1341) (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1995).

* Ayalon, Guopo wder and ficeanas in the MdEkGngdom A Cbalenge to a MeaYaeval Society (London: Frank Cass, 1978).

l9 Barbara Flemming, "Literary Activities in Mamlük Halls and Barracks", in Studies in Mëmory of Gaston Wiet, ed. Myriam Rosen-Ayalon (Jerusalem: Hebrew University Press, 1977), pp. 249-260.

'O Jiinos Eckmaon, "The Mamliik-Kipchak Lit erat ure", in Central Asiatic /orna/, Vol. 7 ( l962), pp. 304-3 19.

2' Ulrich Haannaun, "Ideology and History, Identity and Alterity: The Arab Image of the Turk fiom the Abbasids to Modern Egypt", in littemationalJouroaIofMiddle Easî Srudies, Vol. 20 (1 988), pp. 175-196.

22 Haarmann, "Arabic in Speech, Turkish in Lineage: Mamlüks and their Sons in the Intellectual Life of Fourteenth-Century Egypt and Syria", in JoulllalofSem'ric Studies, Vol. 33 (1988), pp.

7

One of the most recent works covering education dun'ng the Mamluk period is Berkey's n e

Trmsm'ssion of Koowledge in Medieval C'ai61 in which the author outlines the world of

learning in Mamluk society. Chamberlain's KBowledge and Social fracrice in Medevaf

D ~ ~ c w (1190-1250~ complements Berkeyls analysis by demonst rat ing how the urban

reiigious elite maintained theh status within Mamlük society. These two st udies also explain tbat

higher religious education was not based on systematic structures, but rather focused on persona1

relationships struck between a student and hidher teacher, Rosenthal's translation of Ibn

KhaldÜn's ~u~ad ' rnabzs~rov ides kt-hand descriptions of educational patterns of medieval

society, while Leonor Fernandes' article "Mamluk poütics and ~ d u c a t i o o " ~ ~ attempts to answer

why the Mamlüks were so eager to fund institutions of higher learning.

Sart ain's book /alal al-dn dS~yu7fi "chronicles the Life of a prominent scholar while also

describing the nature of education during the later Mamlük period. Meanwhile Brimer's article

Jonathan Berkey, The TraosmSsion of Koo wledge in Medeval Caire: A Social Wistory of M'c Educarioa (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1 992).

24 Michael Chamberlain, Koowledge mdSocialPraclce in MedevalDamascus, ffPO-i3YO (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).

25 Ibn Khaldun, The Muqad'rnah :m lafroducfion ro Histom Vol. 3, tram. Franz Rosenthal (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969).

*' Léonor Fernandes, "Mamlük Politics and Educatioo: The Evidence fiom Two Fourteenth Cent ury Waqfiyya", in Andes lsIamoIogiques, Vol. 23 ( 1 9 87), pp. 87-98.

27 Elizabeth S art ah, Jalàl d-&n aI-Suyu>? Vol. 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975).

8

a "The BanÜ ri''^* analyzes the history of one prominent family which produced a number of

scholars during the MamLÜk period. Pedersen's The Arabie BOUA?~ bbrigs to Light the importance

and limitations of written material in Muslim society. And Petry's Toe ChX' Eüre ofMeuYevaf

C'&do analyzes the occupational pattems of the 'dam2 and sufi classes of Cairo.

Educational structures such as the madrasa, mosque, and W;taqaO have been discussed in a

variety of works; CresweU's The M m h ArchZecture O ~ E ~ - J ' ~ offers excellent descriptions of

major religious structures and their architectural themes. Fernandes' book, Tbe Evohtion of a

S i f i hstitutioo in M d & E m t : the KhiG~~ad~, traces the history of this particular institut ion,

while her article "Three S Ü f i Foundations in a 15th Century ~a~fi'a''" provides specific

information pert aining to the layout and occupational pattems of three institutions built by

Sultan al-Ashraf BarsbZy.

William M. Brimer, "The Banc S e r i : A Study in the Transmission of a Scholarly Tradition", in habita, VoI. 7 (L960), pp. 167-195.

29 Johannes Pedersen, m e Arabic Book trans. Geoffrey French. (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984).

'O C arl Pet ry, The Civilan EIie of Cairo in the Later Middk Ages (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 198 1).

K.A.C. Creswell, The Musfior Architecture ofEmpt, Vol. 2 (New York: Hacker Art Books, 1978).

3 2 Femandes, The Evolution of a Sa hsfitution in Mamlük Egypî.: The KùGqa (Berlin: Klaus Schwartz Verlag, 1988).

" Fernandes, "Three S Ü f i Foundations in a lsth Century WaqIi'da", in AonaleslsZamologiques, Vol. 17 (1981), pp. 141-156.

9

Some areas of MamlÜk society are relatively poorly studied in modem sources; this is certainly

the case of the children of Marnluks (awiidal-mi$). Haarmann's articles: "The Sons of MamiUks

as Fief-Holders in Late Medieval and "Arabic in Speech, Turkish in ~ i n e a ~ e " " shed üght

on a subject which has oden eluded many modem historians. Meanwhile, Ayalonls article

"Studies ou the Structure of the Mamllk ~ r m ~ " ' ~ elucidates on the awlaa al-naSrparticipation in

the Halqa.

A number of other works have also commented on Mamlük education and training. Although

they do not specifically focus on the two themes, they do provide some valuable supportiag

informat ion. Thorau's The Lim of ~33798' provides an excellent review of the nile of Baybars al-

BunduqdZ. S tephen Humphreys' article "The Emergence of the MarnlÜk ~ r m ~ " ~ ~ covers the

initial military reforms of Baybars, while Invin's TheMId'e Eart in the ~ i d d ' e ~ ~ e d ~ and Holt's

3 4 Haamiann, "The Sons of Mamiüks as Fief-holders in Late Medieval Egypt", in Land 7éoure aod Social Trmsfomation in the Middle EN, ed. Tarif Kh alidi (Beimt : American University in Beirut, 1984), pp. 141-168.

35~aarmann, "Arabic in Speech"

36~yalon, "Studies on the Structure"

" Pet er Thorau, The Lion of E m t : Sultan Baybam Iand r k Near Easî in the Toirteenth Century, trans. P.M. Holt (London, New York: Longman, 1992).

3 8 Stephen Humphreys, "The Emergence of the Mamlük Army", in Studia Islamic, Vol. 45 (1 977), pp. 67-99, and Vol. 46 (1 977) pp. 147-1 82.

RO bert Invin, The Middle Easr in the Middle Ages: The EN& M a d a SuIfmat e 1250-1382

a (London: Croom Helm, 1986).

The Age of the ma des^ offers analyses of the Barw and Circassian periods of Mamlük history.

Lapidus' work Musbm Cites io the Later Middle Ages 4' is a rare example of a text which

attempts to shed some Light on social history during the M d u k period. And Invin's article

"Factions in Medieval ~ ~ ~ ~ t " ~ ~ elucidates a major historical theme which flourished throughout

Mamlük history. Petry's two related texts Tw'u'&t of ~ j e s t y " and Protecîon or Praeto~ms

explain the final years of the Mamlük Sultanate and its inability to adapt to changing military

technolog.

Modem scholars have produced various commentaries on the religious life of the Mamlük

Sultanate. Little's "Religion Under the ~amlùks"" describes the significance religion had for the

milit ary elite. His article "The Nature of B f i q & &bats, and ZZwïys under the ~ a r n l ~ k s ' ' ~ ~

offers a brief review of exist ing scholarship on these saquasi-ducat ional institut ions, while also

40 Peter Holt , The Age of the CNsads: The Near East fiom the EZeventh Ceotmy to 151 7 (London: Longman, 1986).

" Ira Lapidus, Muslim Cities in the Later Middle Ages (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1984).

'' Irwin, "Factions in Medieval Egypt", in Journalof t6eRoyalhiaric Society(1986), pp. 228- 246.

43 Petry, Twili&bt ofMajesfy: The Reigos ofMamlÜk Suftans a l - A s h f QiflbZy and Q&s& ai- Ghawfio E m t (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993).

Pet ry, Protectors or Praeton'aus? The Lasf MamIUk Sultans and Egypt's W k n g as a Great Po wer (Albany: S t ate University of New York Press, L 994).

" Donald P. Little, "Religion under the Mamliks" , in The Musfim Worf4 Vol. 73 (1983), pp. 165-151.

46 Little, "The Nature of Kb514&4 Ribiijs, and Z h y m under the Mamlüks", in I s f m c Studies Prareoted to Charles1 Ad's, ed. Wael H d a q and Donald P. Little (Leiden: E.J. Brïll,

11

introducing the idea that some kbaiirq2.s were also built specifically for women. Shoshan's

Popu(ar Culture in Medieval E m t demonstrates the importance Sufism had for the non-Mamlük

local population. Annemarie Schimmel's article "Some Glimpses of the Reiigious Life in Egypt

during the Later Mamlük Period" also provides some insight into the importance of Sufism in

Egypt and Syria.

Mamlük scholan have an abundance of pnmary sources at their disposal. The wealth of these

sources, which include historical, bibüographic, philosophical, religious, and legal documents,

have provided M d Ü k scholarship the luxury of critically analyzing and comparing one text

against another. Little's An Iolroduction to Ma&& ~ i s o n ~ ~ a ~ h ~ ~ ' is a study of different

prirnary sources which discuss the reign of al-Nqir MNammad. His articles; "An Analysis of the

a Relationship Between Four MamlÜk Chronicles for 7 3 7 - 7 4 ~ " ~ ~ and "Al-Safadi as Biographer of

his ~ o n t e m ~ o r a r i e s " ~ ~ offer fùrther historiographical analysis. Fernandes1 article "No tes on a

New Source for the Study of Religious Architecture duriag the Mamlük Period: The

~ a ~ f i y y a l ~ ~ ~ a n d Hamann's "MafnlÜk Endowment Deeds as a Source for the History of

1991), pp. 91-106.

47 Little, An lotmduc~io~ to M d Ü k Histonbgrapby: An Analysis ofArabic Ano&stic and BiopaphicaI Sources lor the R e i p of an-Malik &-Nasir M&mmad ibn Qala'w (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH, 1970).

48 Little, "An Analysis of the Relationship between Four Mamlük Chronicles for 737-45", in JournalofSmnilic Studies, Vol. 19 (1974), pp. 252-268.

49 Little, "Al-Safadi as Biographer of his Contemporaries", in Essays on IsImé Civifization Preseoted to Niy& Berkes, ed. Donald P. Little (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1 976), pp. 1 90-2 1 1.

50 Fernandes, "Notes on a New Source for the Study of Religious Architecture During the Mamlük Period: the Waqfiyya" in &Abbath, Vol. 33 (1985), pp. 3-12.

12

Education in Late Medieval ~ ~ y p t " ~ ' explain that despite some shortcomings, waqf documents

provide the modern scholar with exccUent insights into medieval society in general and education

in particular.

Despite the healthy state of M d Ü k studies, a number of histonographical problems

complicate the field- Modern scholarship is mostly based on the accounts of prominent scholars

who produced their work during the Mamiük period. They include the works of Taqi 1-din @unad

al-Maqizl (d. 1442) and Abu al-Maisin Jamàl a l 4 n YÜsuf ibn Taghn Birdi (d. 1469- 1470). Both

authors undertook their historical reviews almost one hundred-years after the events which they

discuss. Within their work, scholars offer a great deal of praise and adoration for the early Sultans

of the B. penod while maintaining a critical view of their own rulers. Meanwhile, historians

who lived during the actual penods they discuss were oAen court empioyees and overstated their

patron's achievernents. These historians include Muhii al-din ibn 'abd al-Zahir (d-1292) and N-ir

al-âin Sh5fic ibn 'AK (d. 1330) who produced their texts during the early Balpi period.

These inconsistencies aside, a wealth of information exists concerning MamlUk society. So

far, however no general work describing MadÛk education exists, only studies of specific aspects.

From these sources this paper will attempt to piece together a general understanding of military

training and religious educat ion. Ultimately the study will conclude that educat ion and training

in MamlÜk society did not follow ngid patterns. Rather, religious and military pedagogy proved

5 1 Hamann, "Mamlük Endowment Deeds as a Source for the History of Education in Late Medieval Egypt", in al-Abbath, Vol. 28 (1 98O), pp. 3 1-47.

0 to be a muIt i-dimensional c o m p e n t of society.

The M d & Suitanate (LW)-1517) was a ÇOCiety m which a miiitary class, coosistuig of f m slaves, came

to dominaie the political and economic landsape of Syria and Egypt. The Md& ability to govern Society

came h m th& military streagth. The xniiitaty was a standing proEsional army ~vhich, accordhg to Ayakm's

aSSerti~n,consistedofthreedistmctc;tegones,theRoyal~~the&'~d&ad~the~a~

The Royal M d & were those slave soidiezs who weze pmhased, trained d mauumitted by the Sultan

k g their time spent ipidergoing military training strong boads (h&hiJsa) wap fbrged behveai the

Sultan and his M d & and betwem fèbw M d Ü . ïhe strength derived bm these byaities enabled the

Sultan to maintain his position ofpoweb. From these tiioops the Sulian would choose a group of elite mernbers

to male up his personal entourage (kiia.~jya)? These particuiar Royal Marririils wexe also affiorded gwt

privileges, most notably the ability to mmmanci a snall retinue of personal M d ü k s wbo were financed by

iqti's (iand tenures) which the Suitan dispased These m5-s wae classifieci according to riPnk mto three ievels

in which each rank =oained its title h m tbe number of Mdüks an mir was pennitted to purchase and train

They hcluded the rads of d of ten, forty, and one h d m i 3 The M d u k s bekmghg to the &

(mamZkaFma6') constituîed an irqartaut part of the M d u k anny. Ayaion explains that theçe troops "did

a al on, "Studies on the Structure", p. 204.

3~UZllPhreys, 'The Emagaice of the Md& Amy", pp. 167-176. Ilspite the existence a system of military ranking, in practice the ranking xheme was fluid and o f h did not M o n accordmg to the mocephial

not have access to the h-rate mihacy schoI>Is in f i c h the Poyal Marnïiuks;] grew ip ami studied.'"'

Regardles of the5 ümited niiotary shwgtb, these MadÛks also s h d with th& patron a bond or

hisf&.hÉ3/a which ofien challenged the Sultan's position atop MamEuk society during periods of

f~ionalimrS T k iasî *or p u p within the M d Ü k standing amiy was the Haiqa This regiment will be

c o d in greater detail in the final chpta, but some preliniinary d ;ne necas;a~~ Orne an elite corps of

mps during the AyyÜbid paiod (1 169-1250), the xeginmt had become a depsitory for soldiers who w w mt

of slave origin dmbg the MadÜk era lhrs the Halqa was made ip ofdifkmt pups which ïnciuded addi

Egyptians, awfdd-naCami Mongol sokiias who pericuîicallydefécted to Egypt.

The importance of niüitay training camiot be ovestatd In order to provide hirroeIfwith a capable a d loyal

retinue of Royal Madu2cs, the reigning Sultau was rqiiired to tram nedy amving slave boys mto militay units

capable of hûrahg the numerom tbRats facing the empire. Ayalon places a greai deai of importance on the

Royal M d k ; he maint& that "[slo long as the Maduk kingdom was w&y and powaful, and so h g as

its rnmy was well-train& and ruled with an hm band, the fmhg of fèilowship or hud&@ya consttuted a

positive fxtor.'" In aider to prepm sucb a mit, military training ne& to fobw mematic methodî.

Tbroughoib this work the t a m s)lste~~~&cwiil repmmt a method of niiütary education which incorporateci a

n h of stages towrads advancefnetlt. Sirh me;ms wae p d by the eady M d & Suitans, Baybars al-

Bunduqdali (1 26@ 1277) and QahvÜu al-Alfi (1 279-1 BO).

4 ~ y ~ "Studies on the Stnctms'', p. 460.

5 Hq-, M a r m è h W o q y : a F ~ ~ @ u i & (Pnnœton: Princeton University 1991), p. 145.

6~yalon, "Studies on the Stmtue*', p. 21 1.

T h e e a d y M a m l Ü k S u l t a s ~ a d Q ~ ) fkedthmemq>osingthieaistotharniie. TheseincIided

extemal W s in the form of the invading Mongol audcnsada artnies and intanal fmioaaüsn in the fomi of

competing Senior mik7 A nunber ofme;au~s w w taken to combat thae threats. Tteaiies were Sgned with

the Mongols, and M d u k &wexe provided with maîerial weaith in the fimi of i@a's m order to maintai.

Ioyalty. These strategies aside, the Suitaurs ability to maintain his power and prorect his tenitory was ubimately

s e c d h u g h his Royal Md& whose sir;cpss was largely depeadeat upon the training they ieceived.

Writhg d u h g the xign of Sultan & N i Faraj (1405-14L2) 'Umar ibn i bx idk & A ~ al-- (wbo served

the Sultanate as a q@al-'aÛClt((amiy jidge)) expIained the importance of trammg and byaity. In bis maiual of

It is rieqirired of oneoftheamrywhoseekstogo out to mezt the eaemy and engage him m baîtle thai he be brave, dauutless, trained in the art of war, famibar with its aft%s, gzeatly patient with [Iieind distant [hm home], and with the hardships of maching [capable ofl withstanding d i q p s without anxiety or atmoyaace or slacking or negiigence; being, m addition to this, strangly attache! to the pason he is m g , counselhg him, painstaking m assisting him, ~~ his Me to one's own &, attending to that which he needs by wayofsavice, giving him bis due services, obeying

7~hesewaebynomermstheooly~experidbythe~d~. T h e y w e r e a l s o ~ b y B e d o l n n ûiks who periodicdy tiule;irened pi@m cafavans which wue b o d for Mecca throughout the empire's history. See Petry, T d 9 t of Mg- pp. 154-155. They also faced a f k t m d society m Syria which consisteci of Iso?i'ilis against dmrn Baybm laioched a jfia S ~ P InMi, I l i e M I e E z c r m &Mi A m pp. 4849. Momver the Md& were aIso thtie;aenedon emmmic hnts h m various Euopan cornmercial powexs diiriog the lata part ofthe fifteenth centucy. See Ayaion, "Sorne Remarks on the Economic Decline of the MdukSultanatel', m JerudmSt'esal ArabicazxiIsZm Vol 16 (1993), p. 1 10.

8 ~ c d o n points out that the aithor of this statanent was wt a militiqr ma^; ratha he was a qmsentative of the people of the pen (aal&bti@. Moreover he desa i the manuai as a "work of the second fanK that "reek of t he Liaroy and the court, rather than of the camp and baîtleîieki" See Scanlon, A Mm& Mm& of We p. 27.

himt~theext~ofhis~aodhiscapabi l i ty?

Thus well train& and higbly byal troqis w w essential m defleçtoig the variots pcmmes a Sultan or

f d This chapterwill au@ hbdÜk trainiag by first a<amining the "classicai MamIÜk system" which was

f ~ e r e d during the reigns of Bqbars and Qalaxin Uada thge two Suitans, niilitw training was tariai out

by systematic methods; its thomUgtmar tefleded the extemal dangers which threatened the badw of the

M d & Suitanate. The second section wiii examine the fahering traioùig noms which SLPfaced inida the

Sultan & N i M- (13 1@1341). Undec his nile, tmining standards féll as b n i was introduced as a

means of acqirmng ioyalty- Fin@ the third Secfion will discuss the Royai MadÜks' loss of fighting grit and

th& eventuai defèat at the hands of the 0ttom;mr This loss was pactly a symptom of the falering müitary

preparedness that had beconie endwic during the 14-15' centuy. This chapter wiU conclude thai altéough

rnethods of systemafic training wexe vital elemwts of nmessfiil nile in the M d u k Suitanate, they wae not

&ays appiied in a rigorom f&ou

M d u k trainjng was foçused on thAp important go& that wexe atmmiy valuable to the Sultauate. Fim it

educated the newly acqiiued skve boys iu the values of Islam. Second, military training pvided for a shong

amiy. Thmi, the rigorois trammg pmgmms, which the slave boys were put tbrough, pmmoted mng feelings of

ioyaity. These loyalties wae direded at fèilow M a d ~ and their mastem ( & . . An itnpimportant e h t of

this t h g system was the slave boys' seclUnon and separation h m the x& of Egyptian society. By içolathg

them, their m e r s wexc able to ''enrphask their elite, &en status'' which ümited the possibiiity that the tmops

wouid ashilate wvith the generai s~ciety.'~ The result of their çeparation manifestai itself m the Md&

h m horsemambip to müitw trainmg. Ibn ~aghn ~ i i (61469-70)" sates that:

His definition suggests that -a ddls ate the caivcalvaiy ski& a Maduk was quired to master in orda to

cary out his diities. The temi alço has becs defined as the actual methods of training Md& underwent m

dl that the horseman had to master* by systemafic training in orda to becorne an accomplished bght."'4'

"When Ibn Ta@ Bi16 expresd these thougi~ts, theFe existed a sharp distinction between the quality of training which was sponsored by Baybars d Qalaxùi and the meihods oftraioing which wexe iitüiæd by the majority of the Cimwïan Sultans. T k scbolar shoidd be awae that maty of l'lm T@6 B*s criticai comments concemiag the cmtenpomy situation which existe. during his day w w oftai peppaed with nostaigic myths of the past which may or may mt bave existed during the eariier paiod ofMdÜk de. See Ayalon, "Some mmrks on the Economic DecIine ofthe Md Sultauate', p. L 10.

')QUO ted fiom Ayalon's "Notes on the FurSiyya Exercises and Games in the Mamlük Sultanate", p. 34.

CLASSICAL 'IRAINING UNDER BAYBARS AND QALÂW

Sultan B@m, having secmuci his position &op the Madük niiütay, foibwing the vidory at 'Ayn Jiiiik

(1260), recogniircyi the need for onier and stability- Towards this end, the rrew Sultan took variols pmtical

mearines towards insuring his succes He estabüshed the "&&w CaIiph'' Wb0 pmvided the regirne with the

necessary Islamic legitimq needed to d e over M m h tedories-'' In orda to maintain Egypt's stmtegic

supaionty over the Fra& and Mongok, Baybars began an unptrecedeoted program of militay mnslnw:tion.

This mcluded the erectim of defaiwe fortific;Qions at the haba of Rmettq rebuiMnig the fbrt at Aiexandna

and repairing the B e headquacters on Raw* Islad abng with a host of otber pubiic worlû pmject~'~ These

consolidative measines wouid not abae guatantee complete c m t d over his empire. In addition to these steps,

Baybm c e c o ~ the need fbr a strong army!' Therefoxe included arnmgst hk numerors pmjects was the

construction of a new d t q scbool (tabapa)!* It was w i t h thk school that the M d & would acquüe their

religious awarenas and militaty training whiie devebping loyahies towards their master d tèbw mmrades in

16The ~lliisofls for the sudden mæiae in the constmtion dmosques, 1 1 - canais d d y k s w e ~ muiti- faceted Stimulatmg the awomy, and promotmg Islam wae seai as wcesaiy pmjects tor estabWg his legitirnacy as an Islamic niler. !k Thora4 ï Z e fim of E m , pp. 101-102 Rabbat ~ehes the claim that Baybm rebuih the barracks on Raw# IsIand, He maintains that although niitiaUy pl;mned, the comtnrtion was scrapped becaise separate barracks could have produced a fiction which would have thatened his ruie. See Nasser O. Rabbat, 22ie Citdiof CaoP: a N é w h t ~ ~ b n o f M d & W t e r : t m (New York U. Briil, 1999, p. 102.

The eariy Maduk army wss vay adive miriog the Butial yeam of the Suhate. Holt maintains that

"[t]hroughout Barybas1s reign, Syria remaineci his -pal pmccipadion'" Maduk aemsis m Swa

came in the fom of t.hë~5nïd duongols. Armenians and Fra& ~vim ccmtinued to operate w i t h the bordas of

syria2' The Mongol siege at the fbrtress of a1-S.h (1264) on the Eiiphrata w s the firsi major cunflict witbin

M d ü k borden the Mongols pmcipated m fobwing the Baîtie of 'Ayn ~~. In Jmuaty of 1265, Baybars

lefi Cairo to make his way to ai-%a m order to assist the fm However, he remained m Palestme upon hearing

of the news that the Mongois had bam defeated in th& attempt to take the fbrtnssE With the bulk of the

Md& rimiy in the vichity of Cnsada fortifications, Baybas hnned on the Frank m April of 1265 in orda to

fhther redwe their power in the regionU His exploits in Palestiw witeesred a triumph for the Md axmy as

the Crusader cities of Casaxa, Haifk and i d w a e captured and In August of 1266 M d &

Annies had entend Cîlicia and captured a number of cities buî f5ibd m conquering the Armenia capitd at

sis?' In 1274, howeva, Baybas wouldonce again enter Cliciatbis tirne capturing Sis in ~ a ~ c h of l275?

Sultan QalawLi would alço Ere a g m t deal of opposition h m the Mongois who contind to threaien the

bordas of Syria Boistemi by Armenian troops, the Mongols engaged the M d u k ;amy in Oaober of 128 L at

m. The M d u k s w w able to defa this army and once again tenporaniy halt Mongol ambitions m

'OHOI~, loe Age oftbe C& p. 9 1.

syria2' With the ttneat of an imtdiate Mongol couota-attack inilikeiy, Qalawlli directed his militaiy

t o w h the remainmg Franiâsh States (who wae able to maintain some taritocy k m behmd the walk of a

number of their foflificatiom). In April of 1285, the Suitan &fèated the Hospitailers who were staticmed a the

fo~ûess of al-Maqab. Later m Apil of 1289, QalawLi aîtaflced the Genoese at the port city of Tripoli. When

Qm died in 1290, the only CRsader forti-fication Rmammg ÜI the Levant was the f m of Acre which

feil to ~ a E i w ü d s son al-AshrafKhaüi in 1 2 9 ~ 2 ~

During its infancy, the M d u k Enipire was on a constant wac footing against its nei&bois. In oxder for the

MdÜks to be successful in their campaiges, a weii traineû militay was r e q d t 9 This Baybats aod

QaEiwün placed a great deaiofemphash on müitaiy training, d g that it was systematic, rigomus and strict-

Greaî care was takm obtaining yomg M d i ad h u g h i y training than m the art of war which inclujed

horsemanship, archery and laice games Yomg M ~ ü l c s spent a numba of years within the wails of the

banach and were grantedm féw pivüeges Durhg this h, the &tibWa(joyomg Md*) undezwent a

number of stages of formation before receiving theh manumision a d sukxpnt miütacy itarygnments. niese

systematic training nomis were later Mewed as the "ûxiitional MamIkÜk way" by succeediag Suitans and

historians?O Arnitai-Reiss, wmmmting on Baybd generai amtrialcoon to M d & hïsîory, points out thaî he

"laid much of the grourd work for the next 250 y- of Md The same can be said of his

3 1 Rewen Amitai-Rek, 'The M d & OfIicer Clas M g the Reign of Sultan Baybm", m Wa ;nd Socieîyh t6cEktem M d t m 7-19 CiPatukq ed Y-v Lev (Leiden: EJ. Bd, 1997), p. 267.

contriiution towads training pattems yomg Mamlih uderwent. Although not *liai with the same degee

of severity throughout its entire histay, MamiÜuk trammg p~grais foibwed the prgicipla established by

Baybm. More malyang the adual training wahm the wak of the t@iq the age and and mauier mvhich the

shve boys anived in Egypt should be d i s c d This win be foibwed by a briefdescriptim ofthe banacks staff.

Baybars empioyed Turkïsh slave boys fiwi Centrai Asia as his p- souce fbr the Royal M d &

regUnent he recniited followmg his d o n to the utt ta na te-^^ Tbese boys, who wae entering the age of

the age of puberty was the ideal one fa the formation of a d u k On the one haid he was dciently yomgto be shaped anci muided, militdy and otherwise, açcniiing to the bats of his l i ~ v fiiith and of his patron. On the 0 t h ~ ~ hand, he was ndliciently oId to absorb in the steppe or the mountainous nigged areathe basic warlüoegualities which couid be acquid m the speciai conditions of his cormtxy~fori*~~

Ibn KMcliîn (1332-1406) coll~bentmg on the geoaal importance ofslave soldias m WC annies explaios that

they "embrace kiam with the detemination of tnir believers whik retainhg k i r nornadic Wtus, which aze

mdefüed by vile natiae, uTunixed with I d plearines, unmaued by the habits ofcivilizatio~~..!~~ Another

reavn why slaves were ised as recruits centmi mmd the master;/mawG(client) relatiaaSbjpP Taken h m their

-

3 2 Faced with a great need for ûained troops, Baybam also â~~~mnodated Mongol troops (wadjya)* abng with some Kiadish Ayyùbid troaps withm his amiy. See Humptuleys, 'The Emergence ofthe Maduk Army'', pp. 155-161.

3 4 Ayalon, 'The M d & Novice", pp. 34.

The means by which the slaves wae transportai nwi the M a n Steppe to Egypt d i f f d âccording to the

acisting ppolitical situation. In nwe cases, slaves w w traasported via sea mutes throirgh the Bosphons and

~ardane~ les -~~ Siaves were also transported over land mues thugh the Anatoiiai paiiosuk At varying times

these routes wae threatened by Otto~-Ïlkh&d, Amienian, Byzantine mi Cnsada states In orda fa the

ManiTuki to secure a d e and dependable slave trade, wars were waged and treaties wexe mgotiated. The priœ

ofslave boys varied dependsig on the availability7 quaüty of the stock and general eamomic chute ofthe t h

For instance, when Baybars was pmhased, the soma place his priœ at 40 &ais3' This figue is raiher paltry

considering Baybars became m e of the stmngest Suitans of the M d u k empire. Nearty two hmW

later, a lesser known slave by the name offashbak ai-Mrshidd cost his mater, Suhini Mu'ayyad Shaykh (1412-

1421), 2,000 Thus, thae wae no set @ces for the slave boys; rather market trends swh as availabiïty

and Maiion detemiined their costs.

Having been reçently purchased and Ming thernseives m foreign siaoda the young siaves belmging

36~yaion "Aspects of the M d u k Phenomenoa: A-ids, Kuds and Turks", h Dr Wkq VOL 54 ( l m pp. 207-209.

3 7 Ayaion, L &Zav+pz & M d & p. 7.

381bid

to Bqbm and Qahvün wae placed m biinaclû d g to their dg ïhe iayatties febw MamI-LI

fostered amongst themsehtes bioed on their ahmc onongins pkyed a sigoincant d e thughout M d u k hisioqr.

hawmg h m the strength oftheïr- kkgro1oi4S, the difkmt ethic grow o h f d plitical

faions during periods of intemal m e d o Hoit maintains that the 'Woty of the M d k sulimate is

domhated by the sûuggie of factions orighaing m lhis way? At the faba;a young M d * woukî be

provided with th& religious and m i h y Central to the operation of the t . s w e r e the emuchs

(mqxM/un) who sîaffd the banacks and weze chargPd wah maintainiag the discipline of the kulra;biyya

David Ayalon co~nments that '%thoit the emuchs the &ary schools, wvhich formed the comemtone of the

M d u k miiitary atistocracy9 codd hady f.iaidim p ~ ! d 3 The head emwh ( m q m b h &&i%$ya)

was appointed by the SuItan d managed the opemîion of the barracks His role mcluded the superMsion ofthe

0 t h eunuchs (muqathm d$w who wae, m hm, dekpted to performvacious mies wvithin the wak of the

banracks ïhese figures included those Who exceIied m specific fields ofreligion and warfae and who insûucted

the M ~ Ü I s in* respective disciplines"

" Rabie? 'The Training of a Me Faris"9 p. 153. The segregation of slaves accordhg to their race fipther promoted the concept of W- Ethnic simiIarities such as bebg able to speak the simiIar dialeds in the barracks fostered loyaities amongst the boys-

4 %or further information on this phenornenon see Invin's "Factions in Medieval Egypt" in foumal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1 986), pp. 228-246.

42~inther training m formation ridmg took place at the Vanom hippodromes ( m a y h ) wvhich su~~ouaded the CitadeL These hippobome~ also hosted tbe variom fhz&ijp ganes. See Rabie, 'The Training of a MdÜk Fi%'', pp. 157-158.

43~yaIoo, 'The Emuchs m the BhmiÜk Socieîy", p. 268.

The Io@ behmd employing mucbs with8i the biwcks centreci on tbe pinciples ofbyaity ad protection

Eunuchç e x p e r i d a paradDrcical rieIatiomhip with the population of the Citadel Ha*g been castrai4

eunuchs wae s e m by m;my as "firPalût became of th& peculiardistincti~eness~ Ridiculed fa beïng "dirty" and

"s~eaiy'~ they were f d and odmked m most ofthe societies that itilized their 'Ibis social d t y

la i them to becorne depeodent on th& paûons, Rsuitmg m a beightened sense of loyahy. It was this intense

fideiity thaî drew the M d & elite to the use of emuchs. Momver, their inability to have families suited the

non-haedtay nnatue ofMamI-'Üicsoci~- With m meais of qmduCmg therriseives, 'thexe thaem danger that

the eunuch would set up a dynasty of his own, which would come mto d c t with his patron or with his

patron's ciynast~.'~~ In e f b , jiiu as the slave boys w w coveted for k i r byaity, so too wae the eunuchs prized

for their degiance m a mas te imf i auaugementt4' F i , because of the pavasive hofZlOSBCUalitY and

paedophilia within the rads of the Md* eunuchs aaed as baukxs between the older and youiga manbas

Achd training of the Royal Md& fhst began with religiois insüwtion Amdhg to BqbStISr

biographer, Ibn SSbaddad (121b1285), the Sultan "arrangexi a teâcher for each group of MadÜks wbo would

46~yaIon, "On the Eunwhs in hiam", p. 71.

4 7 ~ h e master/nzaw~relatiooship was the cornestone fa suapss within the M d & empixe. It arsrned that a slave or eunuch would remain depadent on a masfa a d hence not act m a mamer which could be mtapreted as threatening. By becoming the cIient of a patron, tbe fi-Hma: was awarded pmtedin by the latter.

4 8 ~ y a l ~ n , "On the Eunwhs m Idam", p. 72. For inf011loafion conambg M d u k hoMOSexuality w Stephen O. Muuay and Win Rome, &mie HO- C m hW= f0UJ:fitemtm ~~ York New York University Pras, 1997), pp. 161-173.

in a systematic method When the h&ijya f h t entaed the bairacks they were imtnrted in the Arabic

ianguage and writing A n u m k of manusa@& *en by the yomg M a d C provide scholm with e v i h

to ~ggest that they spait some of th& e d y education ieamix~g ~rabic?' Momver, basic concepts of the

passage in which d-M@ h a Qtaüed the m. In his book entitied Etab al-Mawâ'~ wa-f-I'tii6Dl'riIr

instnrtion diùing the a d y B e paiod was mteme and tookpke evety day. N - M e desnib the proces

And when the =hait presented to the Suhm a M d * he enteredhim m agroq of his race, and handed him over to a euuuch for the puqme of leamhg to m e . Füst they begm to teach him wtiat was necessary for him m the Quran. And eadi group had its teacher who appeared each day and instnicted m the undastanding of the Book of ûod, ad the practïce of witing and niles of &d'a and the attendaice of prayer and spuituai ded3

S o ~ ~ a r a ~lemrning, "Literary Activities m the Md Halk aud Barnrks", p. 259.

" Rabie, 'The Trainhg of a M d u k Faris'', p. 154.

Their belief in Islam, bowever sincap, was a b important nOrn the standpomt ofaoqimiag legamisy to nile

ovs Islarnic taiitoy. h guadiaus of Islam, the MamI-f were reqiired to aclmowiedge the importance of

Islam and demnishate k i r ~~ to defd the Faith. These feelings of byalty towinds Wan wae

'Ulm-'duting the M d i k period o h regaded the MamiÜks as mae wauiofs devoid of cultiire- Mamy

support to, the reiigio~awiemic system.'" This view, which regarded the Mdulcs as maeiy rnnpas of

islamic tenitory has rscently corne d e r ~ ~ m e cnticism Haarmam has demm$mted that aithough the ' t i ihzi '

did not ahvays respect the M m as Musüns, some of the warriors developed a devotion to [siamic leamhg

These mdividuals mcluded Saujar al-D~adw (d129P1300) who is reported to have made the v a j six ümes

were exceptional MdÜks who demoostratd a pficiency m the reiigiuus However for the most part,

the 'ulhmiG'attempted to bar M d & participation in the field of reiigious lean~in~?* This, however, did not

deta the M d & h m taking part in a nunba of tpügious activities. MamGks are mmii7pA for endowïng

5 5 Haammm, "Arabic in Speech", p. 83.

%id., pp. 97-98.

58~aimnann points out th& ''[fJor the 'd-'tee maintenance of this final M e r ( i r -mg the M d & out of acadRnic a d legai institutions) had becorne an issue of SlPMvai, &a the M d Y i had abrogated for themsekes so many other responsibiiïties that bai $miaiy bgn their own" see Haarmami, '%kology aud

numerois institutions of di@ois m g , w g ad maintain@ the "&adow Caiipb", and m&&&ng a

numberofjii&agaiost the MmgoIs, Cnsada$ A-= and =as9

The uitimaîe goal of digious trsiining was to p v i & MamiÜÜ with an raideistanding o f Islam which

firmished them with a link to the SDCiety they nilebw Little ~cp l - that iftk M d u k was to "adapt to his

MamIÜk respollstWty did not lie in the shdy ad transnission of~ligious biowkdge. Ratba thar pr"ary role

was the protection of Syrîan and Egyptian tetrifory h m extemal thmts wbile at the saar= time boistehg the

powr of the Sultanate against wouki be im~pers h m w i t h the rades of the M d & military stnictiaie- This

t ask r e q d a corps ofloyal ad weii trained Royal Md&.

Miiïtary trainmg durhg the e d y Ba& @od began when the yomg MamI'Üks reached th& rnibteair

Accordhg to al-Ma& once the krdtaif 'keached adubod, they started to teach h i . ~ v k y such as

archery,[andl throwing the ~pesr...'*~ Aga@ modem schoiats rely an the famous passage in al-MaqZi's

S9These religious strategis am also be mtapreed as politid moves. Niimerous M d ü k s endowed scbooIs based on hanciai and poütical motives- The establishment of the ''shadow Caiiph'' has been prtrayed as a means of aquing Isiamic legitimacyegitimacy And the campaigus against the MongoIs, Cmade~~, Amwians and SE'a can be viewed is geqolitical stniggles &ch had more to do with cornmerce and maintdg the slave tmde then p r o t h g k M c tenitories h m acn-Mmlim threais For gifotmation on these alternative views see; Berkeyy me T m o a o f k o o w a pp. 130142 (establichrrient of rhools). Little, "Religion Loda the Md&", p. 172 (economic COllSidaatio~ls).

6 0 ~ l t h o ~ the MdÜks did adogt Islamic +@les, they did mt -ate tbemse1ves h m their ethnic herïtage. For instance a Turkish dialect was the hgrra -of the ManiTiiks witfh th& b a r d a

6'~ittle, "Religion under the MaaiTukr", p. 168.

arts,providevaluabie i n a g h t o n t h e s m r t u a o f t b e ~ e x ~ w h k h i a d u d e t h e i s e o f w ~ a d

h~rsemanship.~~ Moreovery they cova umie basic meihods of medicine a d veterin;ny çciewe!' Shatmdh

points out that these manuak of war became m m ad mwe coimn~n fobwing the n5gn of the Sultan

b. AyyÜb (1240-1249). She maintains that two -OIS M d the rise in militaty üteratue; fht was the

existence ofa standing amy, whik the çeEood cataiyst was the "evoliaion ofa sophisticatedaainiog s y s t e n ~ ' * ~

Perhaps the most indepth descriptions of the fùiifSya gams gianes d e r i d h m Ibn Taghn Bndi who

provided detailed aca>ints of the vaiols ad ex& wbich made up tbe fi.ùassapogram dinmg the

Circaman perid6' His expertk m this field stems h m his b a c k p d as a mmber of the awkf aldis

Little insists that although he was rewwned for bis hisiorid worlq Nwkz az- dMid%A&r KGI@%@

%y birth and association he belmged more to the &-le of the swoid] thRi to the a&ia&dm

[people of the Theref011:~ when malyzing bis -mts of müitaiy training, the scholar mist take ïnto

accomt his achralparticipatiminthe ikkiyya ganxs6'

6 3 ~ h e peisonal biographies of various M d & also give dues as to the strwhne of militaiy training See Levanoni, TrnniogPohc p. 17.

67~yalos "Notes on the f i Exacises", p. 32.

69~yalon provides sonie infOrmatim mnccig Rm Ta@ B S s militaiy training. Amrding to Ayakm he was taught by çome of the -est mastem suEh as Aiim AqbiighZ & T i See Ayaba, 'Notes an the FutGiyp Exaci&', pp. 32-33.

0 Becaise the MamlT.uk waaiors w a primai@ cahmy nien, greae care was taken to impatt to them proper

conducted m Turkish diaIects7' Dukg their k t lemos, mstnrtion was pvided on the poper methods of

mounting and dimiountmg ho= This was facilitated t h ~ ~ u g h the ise ofciay IflOdeIs More moving on to live

horses. HaWig mastaed basic mounting tdmiques their muc&i0 (teachers) taught them riding styies such

ofriding in battle f a i o n Once some pficiency m hoxxmm&p was acquired, yomg M d & were thai

provided with weapoos training? In a nruqWa manual Mttm in the Md&-Kipchak language aititkd

Mmyatu'I-oj6dmpied m 1446, the author urges the pipa to popaty master ridïng skik Acmrding to the

tum [his] attention to mattas related to hoISemaLlShip. And dtmtzmci the art o f h o ~ p well, untii you have masfered this, (sinœ) hoisemen de& th& enemies m this way. The good sîdent is he dm considen these mattas thomugldy, and he searches into those tbings that 1 have d e s c n i to you (before). Andheshouid be patient in (cauying) them (out) mtil he kams them tùlly and theystaym his mind (permanentiy). He who has begm to leam our science and h d s it difficuh and canna grasp it at fht shouki notget d e p d sincein the lxgiming all scienœs ace M c & . This rience m particular is more difEcuh than all (the other) sciaceq (because) s c r ~ n a n ~ s c i a ~ ~ s a i d w & s r n e ~ m i t . ' ~

One manner in which the M d 7 paieded tbeir riding techniques was Wugh their participation in pob

70~lermning "Literaty m i s m the Mamlük Halls and Bairacks", p. 25 1.

7 I Rabie, 'TheT~gofaMadukFaris",pp. 154-155.

matches and other hippdxom (may&) gms. Heu at variow bppakms througimit C h , these games

attracted nÿmy spedatos Mm=, ,due to the grPa mtaest m the tounanmts diring Baybsis' reign,

imitations needed to be sent to leadmg f and &ovemols m order to accoarmodate aii those who wïsbed to

The hippodrome games consthteci an important component ofMamiÜk müitay training. A y h pomts out

that "[n]o mtemive cavahy training is pogiie fm any length ofthe in dbpidated Under

Baybm and QaliwÜn, a greater number of hippocfromes wae COaSfrUCfed than duhg the C-an paMd

(1 382-1 5 17). Baybars ÇOLISftllCfed two hippodmmes, May& aL= (1267) ad May& al4abaq (12677'

These hippodromes wae ibiliæd mtil the reign of &N@ Mdpmad, Wb0 mnvezted the May& alqabaq

into a gardai (bz~tib)'~ and desrroyed the May& a E m becairse the Bow of the Ni had threatened the

foundaîions of the hipp~dmme?~ Within the hippodrom thef13seh.e Mami-rüks mastemi the fioa points of

ridhg which included such things as forniatm maneuva d mouated weapon training

The abiüty of the M d & to c o m d such implesive vidories ova the Mongols and Cnsadas stems

h m their skilis m combining holsanaosbip a d a t r c h e ~ y ? ~ A g m t d d oftime w;s iequired to teach young

7 3 ~ y a l ~ n , 'Notes on the futikjya ~erc isa" , p. 54.

74~bid, p. 37. Also Ayalon, G u p ~ w d r d F - p. 52-

"These two hippodromes xeplaœd the May& al+i&bili (1243) which had served the Ayyubd regime. The flow of the Nie had changed and weathed weatheeday the AyyTad hippodroti.ie. See Ayalon, GugiowUCr ad F u , p.53. Also Rabbat, 22k Cit&I ofC&, pp. 104-105.

M d & the basic skiiis ofpcpa a~hezy- ûnce again, d a g the eady B e pericxi, a systematic appm~h was

empIoyedmordertomStülpropatectmi~ Archerymasterswouki~insusttheirpipikonthepopagrips

and then gradually move to actual target praCtice- HaMig Eeamt these skills, the stident was then given tr-g

on how to shoot an am>w while mounted on a mwiag hase. Latham explains that these games wexe ised "a a

means of devebing the slaU ad agiiity ofh01~6.rnhas.~~

Another weapon d by the Mdukwmiorwas the lance. Lance games (bioUi) enabled youog MadÜks

to acqiiire proper meibods of employing the laice m battle!' TheSe ski& also took time to be iop , reqiiiring

patience and a great deal of @ce. Having gained some backgcoud in iidmg, iance mastets wouid sbwly

mtroduce the kz#&@ya to methods of empbying the b in baîtle. Once the plimlliay lesYms w w

completed, games wae mhoduced as a means ofpafectbg the MamHiKs skiiis. ûne of these games was b@Zk

Thisgame~~nsistedofsevaiwoodaitagas~edmtopofoaeandha,placedai thepeakofthisshuftinewas

a rnetai ring. MdÜks aîtempted to M the metal ring with th& lances thüe riding their horses! During the

reigns of Baybars and QahvÜn, robes ofhowr wae granted to those Maduk, who wae able to hit the t;agets

SUCCeSSfZilIY. The importance placed on these war ~ZUIKS c h a r a c t e the status @en to training by these two

ealy Sultans PresumabIy, ritualking txaining exercises mto culturai events sggests that excellence m miiitaiy

skiils were marks ofionor m the early B e period. For instance9 lance exercises were incoprated in a religious

procession known as the m&zdwhich traveledthriough Cairn sigualing the begimiuig of the HaB seasotl-

VOL 32 (1%9), p. 257.

79~bid, p. 260.

%abie, 'The Training of a M d & Faris''? pp. 156157.

l lbid, p. 1 56.

33

ALNAS~IR THEBEGINNING OF THE D- IN -G

Ayabn ciaims th& fobwing the Rign of aLN@ MMuoannnad, the trammg piogr;nis utiiized by the two

mly Sultans wae mt implemented82 L e v d modifies this thais by maintainhg that it was in fkt dmbgal-

N;isn-M@mmmafs last reign that the traimng pmpms of the M d & took a drastic tiim. For various rieasons

during and d e r al-Nasir's E@, the Suitaoaie choose wt to apply the stria ad systemaîic maéods of training

rather they were xepW wïth btibeq as a meais ofsecuthg ioyahy- The d ofthis pemesnie metbod of

establishing loyalty pmved disastrous fm the Md& Suhanate. As Sultans becaaie accustomxi to pviding

payments in order to foster bydty, sûingent metbods oftrainhg (previomly d to secure fide*y) began to

waver.

Anaiyzing the extemal and intemal thmats during the d e of al-N@ M$ammad can help expIain why

training àgan to fana during bis reign. As d i s c d h v e , the initiai y- of the M d k Suitanaie wae

marked by a q i d sucasion of campaigus thughout Syxia When al-N&ir a s s d the

Suttanate for the third tirm m 13 10, Syria was soli@ controiled by the Mduksuks Holt comments that for "the

fmt time since the mception of the M d & Sulîaaaie sixty years More, thae was no danger k m an ademal

ene~ny.~' Unlike the tvwo d a Sultans, Baybas and QaGwÜn, al-N@ Mdgmmd did not s p e d a great deal

oftïme m Syiia on campaiga Raha he was able to place mmrh of Syria under the govemoship of Tmkiz al-

~uiânii. Holt linlcs this security with the fdtering standards of rnilitay training. He explains that, "[wlith the

82~yalon 'Notes on the FwS&ya I . x e r ç i s e s l I , pp. 44-45 Also Aydon, G ~ w & ; a > d F ~ pp. 52-59. Rabie, 'TheTrainingofaMdukFaRsl', p.154 adp.163.

passing of the extaoal threat m Syria sud Egypt, even the traditional hammg carne to be negkxted. The cavahy

exercisesencorrragedbytheearlysuhans ~ t b e h i ~ f 1 3 e s t b q r b u i l t , f e ~ i n t o ~ . ' ~ ~

Intemal factors also c a d a l - N e Maamnrd to re;mess the importance of strict and systematic müitaiy

training In her book A TIltIll;tfgPoaf h i M d u k h W q &k IhidReigo ofaFN;3M-M@amm;dh Qfiviàr

13IIFI.341, Levanoni e x p b that the factionalisni that mnfionted a l - N i M.iniimaj, when he took mml

ofthe Sukanate in 1310, caiised hmi to implement dramaoc chaoges to the arisiiog trammg suctus. At that

tirne, a number of senior anlis chshed with each othR in order to detanmie who wvould b m e the atabeg

(regent) and d e ova the ~ultan.*~ Havaig been ousted d exilai twice as a renih ofearlier leadaship dûpures,

al-Neir was determmed to maintain his position as Sultan when he a s s u d control ofthe throne in 13 10. His

greatest fear was that intemal opposition, in the f m ofhis Iate fatheis MadÜks, would continue to threatm his

de. In order to counter this threat, a l - N i puged tbe nnütiqh rmks of the a d s and M d & that had

served imda his fatha enabhg him to estabüsh a hi- cenaalized ainOcfacYe7 Next, he augmentai his o m

retinue of Royal Mamlüks by undertaking a maaive reCnetment drive. UsQ a methcd unheard of during his

fathets reign, al-Ni M@mmad piirchased the loyaities ofhis M d ü k s with payrnents of' Ylattay aud gold"

rather then fast-g the müitary deconan &ch had piwioisly been established through intaise Craining 88

&Ma@ states that "[tw r n d u k and his master ae rnutudly saîided in this Ipamissive] way, mormver,

~ ~ i m p o r t i o ~ ~ ~ v ~ d ~ w n i l e a l s o ~ u g i o ~ t b e w k s o f r m ~ ~ ~ d ~ a a d & ~ , a l - N e

was faced with a shortage of quaHed ~xxsomd to staff& xnilïta~.~?' He attenipted to conpeasaie fbr this

shortage by rapicily promoting his own MamIh- into hi& ranks without training tbem thomughly. For

instance, one of his senior a& Qa\.Ii5 was promoted to his bfiy mnk "oniy five y- &er his auival m

~ ~ ~ p t . ' ' ~ Meamvhile, thoçe who ww: educated m the t a k p uncienvent a tmhiug regkm which was

markedly dBmt than the M d u k s ofthe pmious generatim Duing the reigns of Baybm and Qalawlm, the

M d & who lived m the tabaqmedie granted vay féw prîvileges mtii they graduated d wae assignai psts

wvithin the In an effoit to çam loydty h m his trmps a l - N e paid his MdÜks vast s m s of

mooey which wae descxii by one historian as "beyond ail limitsfe4 Md& sources ate nUed with incidents

descnbing al-Nq2s pembive paynients to his troops. A1-M- explains that "cm the day of th& mival he

90The Mamlükhistorian ai-ShujTi (61355) states that 'Tt was corrrm~nplace and typicai of Sultan al-Malik& Neifs poiicy that if a mamluk or axnb âchieved g m t x s , he would nd himseIfof him and appoint a yomger man in his piace in order to pmtect hm his cuaning d iawül" See Levanoni, Th&gPoh< p. 3 1.

92The promotion of Q;n* to t- &(co=der of cme thorsand) underlines this pomt. This M d & came to Egypt m his 18th year sehg leather goods. The Sulian, taking a f w to the yorng man, purchased him and promoted him without emolling hm m the b-ddtiond training pogcam Qaw$k explains humelfthat "I was bought by the d a n d becme one of those closest to bùn; he made me amir, awarded me commanda of one thousand and gave nr: the h d ofhis daughter, whÏle othen went h m the tradas directly to the militasr schooIs." Ibici, p. 35.

~ o ~ ~ ~ M ~ ~ ~ ~ g , ~ l d e n ~ h a s e s ; m d ~ ~ t s , t o ~ n p e s s t h e m ' ~ ~ Hegosm

to claim thaî

did not pesave his fàthefs custom of actvaDcing the d~thro~dtbestagesof~œsothahp(tbeMatnluk) would gain expa i re thrr,u$l training. . . alxi gradua@ iwPase his pay nwi three dinais a imath to ten dmars, d later transfea him to a service post,butriesoived to fill their (the m d u k s ) agds in me feli s w o q with hi& wagesg6

Coupled with the payments the M e Ieceived wirp the lax disciph that d e d within the waik of the

banacks. In 133 L 'Anbar alsakidi, the eimrh m charge of discipline at ~~~ M-s biaracks, was

- . dimuaed because he muld wt cmtrol the behavior ofthe ~ d ü k s ? ' Ckxdy the qt&m&ic method of

training employai by @ois Su۔ims had given way to a systern of op- and COINPfion. In ai effort to

quickly establish a group of Loyal troopS &Ni M&ammd pvided matenal weahh and r e d d the amount

of minhg M d u k s IBOeived. Moceova, he was able to do this without wgiymg a great deal about &enai

threats due to the security which now aristed in Syria a d the Levant?* 'Ihese unorthodox & of d t a r y

promotion and the poor training that typified the nile of al-Ne wodd set the stage for the £bhue deche m

M d & m i l i t q standards.

97 Ibid, p. 60.

98~uring al-Nasir's nile, a truce was established with the Mongols following a treaty which was drafted in 1323.

miütay çhuchires of the suhanate-w POO* hained, rwfiscipliaed and depadent oa material plenty, it was ooLy

a niidter oftune befne Rsped fmaiihaity Duhg the IPige ofBayban tmd QahÜu, discipline wss

the comerstone for maintainhg Madûk b~aity!~ Withoiit cfiscipiine in the ra&, fbr aiiihaity in al-

N ~ i f s amy began to amble. k L e v a i c m h g s to Iight a number of examples whee trocp opaiS.

demonstrated agaimt the S u l t a ~ Accustomed to receiviog tbea pay cm a regular bas& fiîleai hiodred Royal

MamI-Üks O- protestecl agamst ir O n h 23, 1321 when th& salaries wae deliiyedIo' The omz

solid respect h r aidéonty which had characteri7Prl the d y Bal$ @od gave way to Md& openty

protestmg and danimding to meet the Suftan face to k- The effea ofthis decline in militany h c u m w a s that

MadG now possesd a degree of political powa which muid be mmipulaîed by senior In one

instance a note was discovered on the Sultan's bed waning him of an irrsamnatim plot phmed by two of his

senior am2 Ai-Ne ~ieâcted to this by inpisoning the two a& Tashtamur Hummq A- and

Qlblübughâ al-Faldin. The t-8-a mcited by senior azGq demadd that the two jaüed men be set

fk. Faced with little choice, al-~i@mmplied with his ~ d ü k s ' demand~.'~~ Cleariy militaty discipline couid

not be maintamed under such conditions. The bliming ofhierarchies bnween junior and senior mwbas of the

military Society woukl have drasac e f f i forfûture Suïtlms fbIlowSig &N@s d ~ i g p .

The deche m müaary standards Cod not, however, signal the immediate end of the &k&ya games. Rather

- -

99~hese hwps also included Md& who were puchasui as aduhs. ui ~empting to recxuit a loyal amy, ai- N e placed ad& manbas ofhis Entiily into the Mamlüü amy. Momver, he also incorporaid a number of awradal-Gsmto the ranks ofthe amiy- k Levanoni, TdgPooml) p. 36.

DECLINE INMIllTARY TRAINING -

Ahhough çome of the lata Ba@ Suha~l~ attempted to ~&esfablish traditional Ma& trainmg methais,

these effoas mostly fàiied and the pepcsske training xegimes mtinued- hiring his f%y-nine days spent as

M d u k Suhan, Abü Bakr (1341) realized that the d y way he could maintab mtml over the Sultanate was to

reeîablish a strong military. He attefll~fed to do this throiigh the reintniduction of the m g methods d imi

by his grandfather, QalawTil One ccmtempagy historiai pointed oit that AbÜ Bakr 'Was detainiied not to

change the des laid dom by bis geaodfatha d-Maqk [Qalawun], and m a t e the changes made by his

'03This nqgests that aithough &Ni@ initiated the trend which negativeiy influenced the qualify of M d & m i l i t q training, he did not do so conscioisly.

' O J ~ hppcbme çwed the Suitai as a nmational estate rather then a training g r o d for his tioops k a n o n i points out th& the coqlac had a Ah&& phs, a d a niniba of pslxes. The lavish celebratiom wiiich took place there wae an emnomic strain on the Sulimate fijllowing his kath m 1341. By 13% the p d c e of altending the hippodronx was stopped and the h ï p p h m itseIfwas eventuaüy di';miaitled and as bloch wae sold for 100 &ik Sx Levanoni, TLmjngPoritt, p. 160.

MdÜks of a l - N i weiie, however, quite fickle m k i r suppott fOr th& new master and his regiment. Two

months aller QaysÜn had purchaçed their slgpat t b~~ugh 'hiany piomisest', the fi.nmer Royal Md* rose

against himlo6 Besides AbÜ Bakr, aher Sultans peiiodidy attempted to mive the lEk&ya games. Suitan

al-Ashraf Sha'bk (1363-1367) a h i d of being blatned fbr the decloie of the rnilitaty games. aîtempted to R-

institrae an emphasis on the tuisjs9 ~ ' 0 7 Sha'k himseifexplained that 'l do this lest the arts (a

branches) of the h%i@a die d d g my tieign ad in my However, his attempis at miving müitary

training were not sustained fobwing his tenue as S&aa

Ibn Taghn Birdi c b that when the ht Cixwssïan Sultau, B a tookover the b e in 1382, he "wouki

graduate one class of MdÜlcs ody der a h g period of W, d der aiother long period, would graduate

another. This was the proceduce adopted by the ht rderdtlOg Rior to Baq&'s ieign, the time Md& spent

at the tabaqaswas relativeiy short in coqanSon to the tmie spent mder Bay€xus ad Q a h h (who wae the

"fht rulexs" to whom 1bn ~ a g h i i BM was RGW~~).' 'O Alîi~~ugh Ban& aQpted a -gent trainmg program

which inchded a longer training per i4 his actions did not Lead to a byal anû m m cohesive military force. In

1388 one of his anio$ Yalbughi a l a l N e woited against hîm and tanporaily oirsted the Suliaa Upon his

10S~bid, p. 79.

r O 6 h id., p. 83.

' 0 7 ~ y a l ~ n , G w w & a t d F m p. 55.

' 081bid, p. 55

10g~anoni , TmhgPohtp. 9a Alço Ayabn, LisclwgeduMamebwlrp. 18.

~ h n n to the Sultmate, B m began m g his M m m ai atteqt to secm th& byalty. Thip bowever

produœd mixed n m k One of his MamTÜks NawruE .ia- ate~~l~fed to 1a11 the Suitan- lbu vajar al-

(rollPfLhr 1260-1290) and the maiigual Ciricassian Sultan (1382) the time spent iaidergoing miiitaty barnmg was

shortened and the quaiity ofMamIukÜk troops fé4 a maMy which Banllq was also maHe to rwedy.

effects on the Sultanaie. Yomg MatliTüks, aaistomed to having tbRrneeds mt, anticipated mataial weaith.

When these paymaits were denied they would often protest. Thdore, through d t y in the effort to

Sultans at the e~cpaise of systematic militiny training pmgrarns! ' ' Ibn Tagbii Bir& paints a negative pidue of

Asaliite to that time and its people! How excellent were their &eds, how becoming waie the ways m which they ccmsidaed the edwaticmof their young and the honor which they extendai to theg. e-. Because of this they d e d the lswi ami the people yieided to them They won the hairts of their subjects and gamed higboffiœ. But ourtixnes ate the Sürtopposite of ttieirs, colll~~l~~lders ari: bacbard [m their ignorance] and the e~il-nimded..~ l2

' 'O~evanoni, T&gPoh< p. 95, and p. 97.

" ' ~ h e qgent Yalbugha al-'U& (who maintained his psitim h m 1360-1366) attempted to &a the pamisBve trends by leintroducEig stnu müitq training as a meais of estaboshing byal troops. His efforts wae met by protests hm the Sulîan's &or and jmim MdUks who assassinated Yalbughi hd, p. 89.

Although graduai, thap am be no do& th& the d e c h m Marnliik miîïtary standards came abou dUmg ak

N@s reign d~ to bis mtroduction o f h i s a means of establishg byahy.' I 3 This Eiad would coatinue

for much of the remainmg years of the Md& Sultinate. Schoiars have pointed towads a number of dues

which o c c ~ diaing the Chassian pericui cdhmhg this negaive treod They inchde appmkhg the

condition and number ofhippodromes in the Sulianate and maiphg the date ofthe m&miIprooeSn~tl~ '14

H o m , Moefoie staniining these isnis, a briefhistorical reviRN. ofthe initiai yeam of the Ciassian period is

necessary m order to evahiate the thcats whkh the Maduk Suitanate faxd.

At the outset ofthe Circasaan peaiod, the MadÜk müitary was put on edge when the Mongols, beaded by

Thur Leng, mvaded Syria and captured Damascus in November of 1400. TÏmir's control of Syria was shuit

Lived as his anny fkli to the facg of the amzghg Ottoman EnpriR at the battk of Ankara in July of l m 1 I5

Syria once again p d to Maduk haods but not withouî a nimiba of obstafles. The mvasim of Tiur Leng

had laid waste to much of the Maduk adniinistrative shuctiaes m Syria With ndimeotaiy fbmdations of

central mû01 mnaïning m the @on inmPdiateLy fbIlowing the Mongol witbdrawai, Swa was abie to host a

number of dissaasfied M d & who qiposed the ruie of Sultan Famj (1405-1412). For instance m

1405 three M d u k s based m Syxia; Yashbeg al-sha'bkii, Jaqmaq, and MW-&, aîtacked the Citadel of Cab

13~yalon maintains that the d e c k in Md& discipline was " d e s t e d a the beginning of the Circassian period" and that haches m military decorum dinmg the Bal@ period were me~e iy "sporadic destations". See Ayalon, 'The Circassians in the Md& Kingdom'', in Jomd of Chimtal rnid Aoi'ixu Stdes; VOL 69 (1 949, p. 146.

114~yalon, 'Notes on the Fdm Exacises'', pp. 4445, and Gmpwk d F m pp. 52-54. Also Rabie, 'The Training of a M d & Faris'', pp. 162-163.

but were uuabie to ov&w the pmg sultat'I6 Foüowing k i r f k k i attanpt to isnme the Sulianate,

laqmq prociaimed hïmsetf Suliai of Aleppo ad riedneded tax revenues des&ind for the Citadel t o w d

himsei£ Althorlgti Jarlmaq was W in a battle in Mes0pdamia, a l - K i Faraj eivaded Syria five tmia

between 1406 and 1412 m order to quen the ambitiom of o k aooS who threatened MatnEuk atitbority m

Syria This factonaami wouid amtmue duing the initial yeas of the C Ï a n period ( m e 1399-1461) as

a number of individuais vied for the Sukanate. During th paiod, one Sultan stood out and bridy ied the

M d & to victoxy agagrst a d d powas in Cyprus, Palestine, and the coast of the Red Sea Under the

tuielage of AshrafBarsbay (1422-1438) the M d & took a ternpnaPy mite h m their intemal faaioonalism

and concentratexi on mgaming efFective oonhol of the region. Holt daaibes the p b d of Barsbay's Sultanate

as the "Indian summer of the Md& ~uhanate!'~" Howeva, this brief interlude wouid soon gïve way to

Hoh maintains that a great deal of the MamIuk- mSghtïng was a result ofthe g e n d l z k of discipline within

M d & rrmks. He points out tbat "[a]s the insuboldination of the Mamluks h c m d , tbar quality rn soIdiexs

trained, strict@ disciplined, rad slowly priomoted in accordance with his merit and expezieme. By the mid-

ninth/fitIeenth centiny this was m bger the me."' ' hiing the Circauian period the p t i œ of ûaining in

hippodromes wmt mto decline. David Ayalon mssis th& the poor state of the Cimsian hippbmes

"inevitably undennined the v q foudation of military traithg ad mnsequeatiy sapped the Mamliik an@

stxengt~'~ l 9 î%s tmd beg i whai B a took over the Suhmate ad i~ugiirabed the Citr=assian period m

1382. Became of the tense rielatinships which had enxaged betw8en hunse i fd bis ManiTE he abolished the

state of the hippodromes, M e s such as the polo and mhay tomaments were also ciirtailed The

importance once placed on these events was mw ~ielegated to idkpmt occwenœs dukg the Cirassian

p e r d u With the M d Ü k hipp- in a state of d e c h and ceremonid gams not being o h e d

conçistently, military training would cuntinue to fder.

Anothu piece ofwidence which dmmstmtes the dwindling militaty skiils of the Md& can be n i f d

h m analyzhg the state of the ~ p r o c e s s i 0 ~ 1 ~ . Thh rieligiols proasion which axmomced the mival of the

Haj season invohed horsmen axmed with lances who escorted a c o v d Litter throughout the stxeds of Cab.

led by a commander of a thoisamd xefened to as a mu'alum a l d a Forty days prior to the start of the

festival this detachment wouid train twϜ a day. The priocession was sispended a nirmba of eima d d g the

120~bicL, p. 53 and p. 55.

I2'The consûuctîon of a l - û h d s hippodmme coincides with threats facing tbe Mamiük Enpire h m their northem rivals the Ottomans.

122 Ayaion, 'Notes on the F ' E x e r c i s e s " , pp 54-55

~u~amiai~dmietothelacko~w60waecappbleo~~1;nasmthe'91mipiate~.'~

For instance, in 1444 Sultan Jaqoiaq (14381453) sispaded the m&d becaise he mukl mt nnd q&ed

Md&- Moreover, the soutces maintain tha tbe behavia that M d i h had demonsbated drPing the

religious procession o h degemmted iato d h p d b i aEts wtuch pvided Jarpnaq f u t h a m to aboiîsh the

celebrati~a'~~ In 1453 Sultan in (1453-61) rwived the paade but "encomtemi pst diflicdty in Gnding a

suitable cornmanciex" to lead the pnx;ession. And m 1467 the m;bmüpmcesion was ~a~;eled by Suhan

Khushqadam (1461-1467) ad was not m e w d during Qi&dji$s lsgn (1468-1496)t" The siispensioa of the

m@miI p d m s q p t s thai drPring the C i i m pend a lack of adequaîe training m laice s k i k had

becorne the nom h g with a gaiaal ladcof discipîine a~130flgst the M d Ü k

Clearly the systematic Md& trainmg pognims which W~IE developed under B a y h ~ d Q m had

been dtaedgreatiy. Y. In p h , loyahywas secuFedtbroughpqtmeots dotherpamisnvemeaor T h e d

of these meames created a MamIukÜk ~IIQY whkh was insubordmate on a LI& ofoccas i~ *by maPamig

the o~~ of Monalicni which griliped mufh of the empire's history. This tmd b q p dduiog the rRge of

al-N* M@ammad and would contmue mtil the finai MadÜk Sultan a l M . FFeacnig a defeat at the haads

of the Ottoman amiy, led by Suitan Selim 1 (1512-1 QO), al- re in t rodd system;bi~ trainmg progranis

while also building a new hippomome. hmicaily the xejuvenatiion ofthe hikijp skiils wae ako one of the

causes for the M d & defèat to the Ottomans. WMe the Mdulcs hastened to W v e the state of their

12* Accordhg to the 16h cenw historian Ibn Zmbd, the Otto- me of fire;ans mabled them to defeat the M d & wny at Marj Dabiq. See Ayabn, Gi~growksodFaGama; pp.8697. However acc0Iidmg to auother histonm, the M d u k amy was able to caphre a numbcxofOttooilm siandards which led S e h to caIl for a tnice diamg the baît le- This however did not taiœ place; a key defection by a K ; h d s senior &openeci up the Mamiük army fbr defèat. See Peûy, Adectm crAaadq pP 3C. Also Petry, Twibgt ofMigis& pp. 225-226.

CHAPTER II. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION UNDER THE MAMLÜKS

The previous chapter demonstrated the need for a reliable cadre of Royal MamlGks in deflecting

the numerous extemal and internai threats the Sultanate faced. Extensive military training

programs were employed as the primary means of establishing a dependable and loyal military

force during the initial years of the Mamiiik Sult anate. However, no matter how well trained the

MamlÜk military was, it aiooe could not assure the survivai of the MamlÜk system. The MamlÜks

needed to portray themselves as protectors of Islam in order to rule effectively. Moreover, in

order to lay claim, as the Mamlliks did, to the pardianship of Islam, they ako needed the support

(or cornpliance) of the society they commanded. In an effort to gain legitimacy over the

population they govemed, the MamlÜks penetrated Islamic structures which flourished beneath

the walls of the Citadel. ' Religious education was one such arena which the Mamlüks adopted

and fostered Their endowments of institutions of higher leaming maintained Cairo's position as a

major cultural centre in the Middle East following the Mongol invasions which wreaked havoc on

centres of leaming such as Baghdad and ~ b u r a ~ d By establishing schools and a parailel system

of academic patronage, the military elite exhibited an Islamic appearance which would help

promote their legitimacy to rule. Essentially the "regime did not govem fiom without, but

Some of the means of eüciting religious sanction fiom the population were the Mamlük maintenance of the Abbasid Caliph, ensuring safe passage to the Holy Sites, declaring holy wars ÿioàds) against Crusaders and Mongols and establishing a number of charities.

2 Cairo's role as a major cultural centre was bolstered as icholars and artisans escaping the Mongol invasions entered the city in order to continue their work. See Creswell, The Muslim ArcOitecture o f E m t , Vol. 2, p. 166.

4 7

merged polit ical control with economic and social r01es."~

The importance of education in Islam cannot be overstated- Numerous scholars have

chronicled the importance assigned by Muslim societies to education as one of the most important

steering forces within Islamicate cu l t~ re .~ The ManalÛk Sultanate was no exception; it actively

utilized religious education as an element of its rule. Although the Sultanate did not mimic

entirely what preceded their rule, it is undeniable that individual Mamliks were keenly alvare of

the gains to be achieved through the endowment of educat ional institutions. These institut ions

suppüed a religious and learned elite ('d'ami') that hctioned within various roles which

maintained societal cohesion. Based on the occupational patterns estabiished by Popper, modem

scholars have been able to conclude tbat the 'di2113a' wumed positions on legal, scholarly-

educat ional, and religious career hs.'

M a t follows is an analysis of the institutions that were endowed by the Mamluks which

trained the 'uIamiT' and classes who participated in the religious iïfe of Mamlük society.

Two notions will siirface nom this study. First, education during the M d i i k Sultanate

encornpassed a diverse array of institutions such as the madrasa, Hiàüq&, and masque! These

4 Marshall Hodgson, Tbe Venture of I s I , Vo1.2 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1 974), p. 438.

6 Other educational institutions flourished during the Mamlük period. They included the rib& 48

institutions resembled one another on a number of organisational structural and pedagogical

levels. The parallel services and similar curriculum suggest that religious education under the

Mamlüks was a fonnalized af'fair based on systematized structures. This, however, was not the

case; rather religious education was essentiaily informal and was mostly focused on the

relat ionships between t eacher and st udent ? S6ayks (professors/teachers) provided lessons at

diverse locations ranging fiorn the institutions of higher leaming such as the macirasa, kbibqab

and mosque, down to mundane locations such as homes. shops, gardens and other public and

private spaces. In one famous episode Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) lectured fiom the window of bis

Alexandrian prison cell.8 Ult imately institutions did not gant st udents &ikas (teaching

certificates); rather shaykbs bore the responsibility of awarding degrees. If education was

conducted on such informal lines and dependent on persona1 contacts, what led to the

establishment of so many organized institutions of higher leaming?

The second issue this chapter will raise is why Mamlüks funded so many educational

institutions. What will become apparent is that their endowment of religious institutions had

both pious and political overtones. The Mamlüks needed to demonstrate to the non-Mamllik

population their interest in reügious matten. This recognition was crucial for establishing

legitimacy to comrnand Islamic temtories. Meanwhile, reügious institutions served as a form of

financial security for one's family in a military society which provided few officia1 means of

zawiya and di? al-baditb.

7 Berkey , Traasmsssion of &O wledge, p. 50.

paçsing along wealth fiom one generation to the next. Before exploring these two related themes

however, an understanding of education in an Islamicate context is necessary.

ISLAMIC EDUCATION

One of the nurnerous Arabic words for lmowledge is 'ilm and the transmission of Imowledge

has stood as one of the most significant social forces within Islam. Every Muslim, past and

present, employs the life of the Prophet Mfammad as a role-model. Within the realm of the

learned elite, one medium used to transmit Mdpmmad's message has traditionally been

education. Coupled with the word of God in the form of the Quraa, Islam derives a great deal of

its orthodox inspiration fiom the traditions (haqFths) that fuither chronicled the life of the

~ ro~he t . ' ' Another form of knowledge in the Islamic world is one which is based on mystical

issues. Practiced by those who either consciously define themselves as sdEsor those who do not

label themselves as such, ma'n'fa (understanding of God or "the üght of gnosis") provides its

adherents wit b a persona1 knowiedge of the ~ i v i n e . ~ '

Education within Islam, first and foremost, was a means of "pass[ing] on the cultural heritage

nom one generation to the next."I2 In this manner, the transmission of orthodox howledge, has

- - - -- - -

kyr i l Glassé, The Concise Encyciopeedia ofIs1àm (New York: HarperCollins, l989), p. 176. or further information see Franz Rosenthal, The Tn'wnpb of fiowledge:the Concept of

Koo cvledge in Medie val Islam (Leiden: E. J. BnU, 1 970).

'O~azlur Rahman, Islam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), p. 18 1.

12~odgson, Veotlrre ofIs1i~m. Vol. 2, p. 438.

traditionally taken on a nonnative approach which provided "guideiines by which men and wornen

should üve." l3 These legalistic regdations est ablished social and moral order throughout the

Islamic world which were expressed in the sbaZ'a (Islamic law). In order to be succesfûl in

ruling MwIim temtories, political leaders had to acknowledge the important combination of

religion and law.I4 Meanwhile, Islamic society has also possessed a hunger for a more

spintualistic approach towards the Divine. ui meeting these demands, esotenc knowledge or

ma 'n'fa was utilized by people as a means ofgaining a more persona1 relationship with Gd.

Orthodox medieval Islamic education was marked by a striking conservatism which was most

pronounced with the importance given to memorization and rote learning as pedagogical tooIs.

At an early age, elite Muslim children, earmarked for scholarly careers, were taught passages fiom

the Quran and various &m%%s which they committed to memory. A person who was able to

memorize the Quran in its entirety was hown as hZz and was praised for hidher remarkable

proficiency. This reliance on rote leaming and memorization did not corne to an end when

children left the kuftibs (Quran schools). Rather, this instructional strategy was also employed

throughout Islarnic institutions which speciaüzed in higher religious education.

As Muslim amies acquired vast tracts of temtory during the conquests, foreign customs and

ideas began to permeate the new faith. Thus, the dependence on rote learniog was motivated, in

14 George Makdisi, nie Rise of CoUeges: hstituti~ns of Lemhg in Isam aod the West (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 198 l), p.8.

51

part, by the rapid spread of Islam. By promoting memorization, Islamic knowledge focused itself

on the past (most notably on the Quran and the barns) in an effort to maîntain the faith's

orthodoxy against encroaching philosophies and customs. In this manner, older scholars were

valued for their traditional views as the faith attempted to thwart the "wealth of new impressions

and different views of the w~rld ." '~ Maintaining a tradition of an unbroken islfàif (chain of

aut honty) to the Prophet and his Cornpanions was the p ~ c i p a l means of p r e s e ~ n g the Prophet ic

legacy of ~@acnmad- '~ Thus "rote leaming was appropriate to a conservative society, in which

the best to be hoped for was to limit the inevitable decüne in the next generation.""

In this fashion, howledge was acquired fiom various scholars who lectured throughout the

Islamic world. Similar, in some ways, to the masterhawZZ system which characterized the

relationship between a M d & and his patron, scholars also conducted themselves in a

hierarchical manner. Fazlur Rahman comments that this method was "rather passive and

receptive than creative and positive".'8 Students seeking higher education would often attend

lectures given by prominent scholars who taught various subjects. These lectures could take place

in a myriad of locations such as organized centres of learning and informa1 places.19 Althougb

'5~osenthal, n e Tn'umpb of G o wledge, p. 93.

I6~akdisi, The Rise of CoUegear; p. 140.

17 Hodgson, The Vent zme ofIsIam, Vol. 2, p. 442.

"~ahrnan, Islam, p. 191.

lgs art ain, /alal al-di al-SuyÜTfi, Vol. 1, pp. 120- 12 1.

52

the system appeared very rigid and steeped in coaservatism, there existed a striking fluidity and

accessibility within the transmission of knowledge. Islamic education was not reserved for one

particular class of people; rather education flowed through a number of social classes?0 Al-

GhazàIi's (1058-1 11 1) nse fiom a humble background underiines this notion. This scholar grew

to great prominence and fame for the controversial work he produced during his iifetime; yet his

background was one of limited financial means.

Despite its emphasis on understanding the Divine, mystical leaming shared some

characteristics with orthodoxy. As was the case with orthodox scholarship, esotenc Learning was

greatly dependent on shayhkc who provided students with knowledge, or ma'17'fq conceming

their particular subject. Similar to orthodox teachers, süfi sbayks serve as the b a i s of one's

education, not the institution at which the lessons were provided However, the si3 teacher is

quite distinct fiom the orthodox sbayh. Idris Shah points out that the su6 master is a "guide

philosopher and Eend" who c'endeavors to make available to the leamer the materials which wiU

develop his cons ci ou mes^.".^' Within this esotenc realm, students focus on group exercises

(&@) and the recitation of mystical texts (dbiki) as a part of their leaming process.

During the medieval penod, prominent students and professors @oth orthodox and sufi)

20~osenthal, The T~umpb ofKoowZdge, p. 335.

" 1dries Shah, The SZSs (London: The Octagon Press, 1977), p. 350-35 1.

53

a seldom remained in one l ~ c a l i t ~ . ~ Rather they were very mobile and oAen traveled great

distances in search of otber weii known scholars (not institutions of higher leaming). Throughout

Islamic history, different cities emerged as important centres of leaming as they attracted the

brightest and best mincis of the time. 0th associated with strong political regimes, cities as

diverse as Damascus, Cairo, Baghdad, Cordoba., Bukhara, and D e E al1 drew scholars fkom

various corners of the Islamic world. As the Marduk dynasty emerged as one of the strongest

Islamic forces in the eastern Mediterranean during the medieval period. Cairo was able to remain

a celebrated centre of leaming while other cities to the east suffered under the initial Mongol

invasions. 23

EDUCATION IN MAMLÜK CARO

Cairo, during Mamlük nile, was a popular destination for scholars and students alike. For

instance the prominent Maghnbi scholar, Ibn KhaldÜn (1 332-1406). Lived in Cairo while sewing

the SuIt anate as a qa<%(judge) before he died. The large academic population and the institutions

which housed them have prompted one modem observer to describe Cairo as a "city of sch~ols."~'

The local and foreign schoIars who staffed the centres of learning in Cairo operated within a

number of rducational institutions. Within orthodox religious centres of leaming (such as the

madrasa and mosque), scholars concentrated their studies on Islamic jurisprudence. As Sufism

*under the FZfimids Cairo was also a centre for Islamic Ieaming and culture. Al-Azhar stands out as the most noticeable illustration of the cultural heritage of Cairo under the Fifimids.

grew to become an accepted religious movemnt, Wik@s also began to offer classes in

jurisprudence along with their emphasis on mystical leaming. The MamlGk Sultanate recognized

ail four schools of law with lessons in Shifi'3, Hanafi, Malila and HanbaIi fi@ available to

students in MamlÜk Cairo. However, the focus on fiqh did not preclude other fields of learning.

Within the institutions of higher education, lessons in tds2 (Quranic exegesis), baciitb, and

grammar were also taught "but only as ancillaries to the study of law."= Scholarship howvn as

the "foreign sciences" such as philosophy, theology, medicine and mathematics were mostIy

studied outside the institutions of higher religious leaming within informal study circles or

apprenticeships.26 However, inside the walls of the various religious institutions, jurisprudence

rernained the ''jjewel of the c ro~n ."~ ' The multipücity of subjects available to the student at

various institut ions demonstrates the non-structured nature of education in Marnlùk society.

Ult imately no official curriculum existed which guided the educational pat tems of t hose who

opted to pursue the path of the s c h o l d 8

The study of fiqh was not ümited to organized institutions. Informal gatherings of scholars

also operated throughout the region. Students often gathered around leamed shayhs in &.lqas

26~harles Michael Stanton, Hi&et Leming in 1 s . : 771e CZ'sical Penod, AB. 700-1300 (Maryland: Rowmand and Littlefield, l99O), p.53.

*' Sariain, JdZI al-&n M u y C t - Vol. 1, pp. 1 19-1 24.

(study circles) and received lectures for a nominal fie?' Berkey claims that "the attention

demanded by the prevalence of endowed institutions of leaming in medieval Syria and Egypt has

perhaps obscured the degree to which the Islamic teaching system remained informal and

unaffected by its institutional fiamework down to the end of the Middle e es."^' The informal

nature of Islamic education was in part motivated by the importance placed on one's teacher as

opposed to where one acquired hidher education.

Al-Sakhiwi (d.1497). the MamlliL histonan who wrote the biographical dictionary al- Bw'

al-Lami6 li A61 ai-Qm al-TaFi: describes the lives of leamed scholars who operated during the

latter penod of Mamllik history. His descriptions give detailed information concerning the posts

and stipends held by the various soayks chronicled. However, within some of the reports,

scholars are cited for their excellence in teachuig, but institutions at which they taught were not

rnentioned. Shihiib al-din -ad b. 'isi al-Sanhifi al-Azhd al-MiüE (d.1423), a teacher of

Quranic studies and mentor to a number of renowned scholars, serves as a case in point. The Qarv'

does not mention where he taught or that he received any stipends. Yet he is described as

"diligent in teaching fiom dawn to dusk'"" This suggests that his Lessons were conducted on an

informal basis. However, despite this fact, he was able to inspire a number of his students to

2 9 ~ erke y, Traasm'ssion o f f i o wledge, p. 8 6.

a great ness."

The manner in which students were taught underlines the principle of personal identification.

S'aykbsi, who had studied under earlier scholars, lectured and dictated (often fiom memory) to

students who would gather in &dqas. As mentioned above, importance was placed on

memorization and rote learning- Although Islamic schoiarship made ample use of manuscnpts,

the pedagogicd system itseif was focused on oral transmission frDm teacher to pupiL33

Legitimacy was denved fiom attending a sbaykb's study circle, not fiom reading texts. The early

14th century thinker Ibn JarniCa states that instruction should not be sought from those "who have

studied the hidden meaning of ~ a g e s Therefore, simila. in some ways to the Mamlllk

trainingsystemwhichpromotedl~yalty to apatron, astudent was bomd to his teacher? Berkey

claims, "an education was judged not on loci but on pe~onae!d6

3S~akdis i points out that this relationship between student and teacher resembles that of the Prophet and his companions. "The companions of the Prophet were his constant fellows. They would carry on his teachings after him, and disseminate them. They were the fiat 'dami?, the first leamed men of Islam. They were his spiritual heirs, as were those who would corne after them, and so on, down through the centuries, each generation deriving its authority ultimately f?om the Prophet, through the transmission of the generations preceding it." See Makdisi, Rise of Colleges, p. 1 29.

3 6 Berkey, Trmsmsssioo o f m o wkdge, p. 23.

Chamberlain has examined educational practices in Damascus during the early Mamlük era

(1 250-1 359). His analysis supports the claim that religious learning was not exclusively

iastitutionalized within the walls of educational centres- Chamberlain insists that the maakasas

(and by extension other educationai institutions) of Damascus were not only sources of education;

rather they were also sources of income and status for members of the civilian elite. The stipends

provided at educat ional institutions were the goals of the educated elite. He explains that "[tlo

the a yâa [civiüan eiite] ma&âsas were important social institutions, with many purposes t hat had

nothing to do with ed~ca t i on . "~~ Berkey sums up this notion of the iirnited importance medieval

scholars placed on institutions of higher learning when he states "an education was judged not on

loci but on pemonae!'38

Understanding the role of education in Mamiük society requires an aclaiowledgment that

strucrures resembiing "states" or other corporate bodies did not fl~iirish.'~ Rather, powerful

households govemed temitory under the auspices of the Mamlük Sultan. The am% who headed

each household foliowed persona1 agendas which were oeen devoid of central control fiom the

Cit adel of Cairo. One important aspect of their governorship of areas such as Damascus, Tripoli,

Aleppo and Jemalem was their sponsorship of educational institutions. These endowments

provided them with "a means of supporting the civilian eütes upon whom they depended as a

"~hamberlain, ffio wledge a d SocialPractice, p. 9 1.

' * ~ e r k e ~ , Trmsmssion of kliro wledge, p. 23.

3gIbid., p. 176.

a channel of influence into the ci@, as agents of social control and legitimization, and as reiigious

~ ~ e c i a ü s t s . " ~ ~ These institutions held mm@s (stipendiary posts)4' that further provided lucrative

payments and social status to scholars who quaüfied for t h e a To the civiüan elite, attaining

social st atus and honour meant acquinng a rna~~ib!~ Therefore education not only took the form

of piety, but it also became a vehicle for upward mobility.

The positions which the 'dmZ' could BU were numerous in scope. Scholars mostly found

employment in three sectors of society: legal, religious-scholarly, and educatioaal. Wi t hin the

legal miüeu, members of the 'dama' were employed as slzayykos (teachea of jurisprudence),

mo$taribs (market inspectors), shabids (notaries), and the various levels of qT&s (judges) within

the Sultanate. Concerning the scholarly world, the 'dami' assumed positions such as mu7ds

(repet it ors), m u d d (professors), and al-kutubs (iibrarians). Finaily, the most natural

career path which the 'ulami' found employment in was the religious sector. Within this realrn

t hey operated as i r n h @rayer leaders), kbar3bs (preachers), muqzi 'k (Quran readers), mu 'taqah

(revered persons), and sd7.s (mystics)?3 According to Petry, these 'd'i'constituted a leamed

4 1 Li Guo questions Chamberlain's usage of the word mansa& rather then the more commonly w d term mansib. See Guo " MamiÜk Historiographie Studies: a State of the Art", in Mafala Sfucües Revl'ew, Vol. 1 (1 997), p. 25, note 46.

4 3 ~ o r a detailed description of each of these professions, please see Petry's Civifi' E& pp- 200-274.

class whose career paths were different but whose education was similaru Within the

institutions of higher learning (both informal and formal) which 'd'a' attended, their studies

rnostly focused on Bqh.

INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN MAMLÜK SOCIETY

Despite the evidence which suggests that education was mostly based on informa1 structures,

organized institutions of higher leaming flourished within Md& çociety Three important

examples are the madraas, MaOq&s and mosqws which were to be found throughout the various

cities of the MamlÜk empire. Although making an effort to demonstrate the informal nature of

Islamic education in Damascus, Chamberlain maint ains that institut ional centres such as the

madrasa "were important religious institutions, in that the learned ofien resided in them, prayed in

them, interacted with one another in the- and taught students in them."45 To gain a full

understanding of education during the M d & period, a familiarity with the major institutions of

higher learning is required. In each instance an interesting phenornenon occurs throughout the

history of the Mamluk Sultanate. During the early period of the Sultanate, these institutions

mostly operated within a relatively nmow mandate, either offering courses in fi@, facilitating

existential learning or acting as places of worship. However, over time, these independent

institutions merged into multi-functional complexes such as the mosque-madraa or the mosque-

kuanq&-

- - - -

?bid., p. 3 12-

45 Chamberlain, Kitowledge and SoczàZPracficq p. 85.

60

a The ma&.a was a school which centred on jiaispndence as its core subject matter. An

important feat ure of the madasa was the availability of h d s to sponsor students and teachers?

First developed at NishipÜr, early madrasas focused on the educational needs of its members and

the community at large.47 Under the auspices of the Seijuk vizier Ni@n al-MuUE, the madrasa

became the champion of S u d education in an effort to deflect heresyP8 The first significant

M d & niadrasa which appeared diiring the early B@ pend was the Zahiriyya founded by the

Sultan al-Zahir Baybars in 1263. This institution resembled the Siiliwyya, the most noteworthy

AyyUbid madrasa, which was located on the Bayn a l - ~ ~ a ~ n . ~ ~ The school was one of the k t

post-Ayyübid madras= established by the new regime and would later evolve into one of the most

prominent centres of Shsfi? and Hanafi jurisprudence in cairo.'' Apart fkom lessons in

jurisprudence, the madrara also offered courses in baciih, and qira'it (Quranic reading)." Upon

completion of a course, students were granted #iE7as by their teachers which attested to their

ability to teach the materid. During B a y b d rule, he promoted all four schools of law into

47 Hisharn Nashabe, Musu" EducationalIastitutions (Beirut: Librarie du Liban, 1989), p.8-

4 8 ~ o r a complete description of the madrasa see Makakdisi's The Rise of Coffeges.

4 9 ~ h i s street was the location of many of Cairo's prominent educational institutions which were built during the AyyÜbid and M d Ü k periods. They include the K-dliyya (1229), Zâhiriyya (1 t63) , MansÛrïyya (1 Z85), al-M%stin (hospit al) &Mans= (1 284). NaSiriyya (1 3W), and Barqüqiyya (1385). (The Barqüqiyya was the only institution founded on the street during the Circassian period.) See Petry, Civilan Eltte, pp. 330-333.

relative positions of prominence. This move also affected the architecture of the madnrsa

Baybars endowed. The Zâhiriyya utilized the cruciform, four-Twii~ design which would later be

reproduced in many of the maahsas built by later MamlÜk Sultans and am%?2 This

architectural feature incorporated an enclose& or exposed, courtyard surrounded by four recessed

Iwiios (halls) where each of the foin schools of law was taught." A number of the Mamlük

madrasas which were built following the Zahiriyya, encompassed some of its architectural and

pedagogical themes while at the same time expandiug their mandates to include other services.

When al-N-ir Meammad re-assumed the MamiÜk throne in 1299, he set out to complete the

maahsa which had originally been endowed by the exiled Sultan, al-'Adil ~ i t bughi." Completed

in 1 3 O4 the Nqiriyya madrasa provided classes in al1 four madboabs (schools of law). Alt hough

the four madh6abs had been granted officia1 sanction under B aybars, the Nwiriyya, apart nom the

ZZhMyya, was one of the few schools which offered courses in all four s c h o o ~ s . ~ ~ The

52~ose Pereira, Islamc SacredAn:hittactzue(New Delhi: Books and Books, 1994), pp. 76-78. By the end of the Circassian period, the cruciform style had been transfomed fkom four distinct areas which could each contain a separate &dqa to a mere styüstic motif See Amy Whittier NewhaU, n e Patronage of the Mindi4 Sultan Qa 'it B& 87Z-M/ 1468-1496 PhD. Dissertation (Harvard University, 1987), p. 130.

54 Creswell, Muslm Architecture ofEgypt, Vo1.2, p. 238.

5S~bid., pp. 128-129. Many scholars have assumed that the four schools of Law were taught within the four M s w h i c h characterized the architectural style of the madiasa. This view is not however completely accrnate. Although following the architectural layout of the four Tw& structure, it should be not automatically assumed that ali four schools of law were taught if this

62

architectural layout of the school was based on the four-lw& cruciforni style where each madbbab

occupied its own distinct IW~O? The ma&sa a h housed a minaret, suggesting that the faithful

were called to worship at the macikasa However, although some fom of worship took place at the

macirasa, it was not the primary focus of the schooi's activities; rather it mostly served as an

educat ional centre?7 This pattem of combining educat ion and worship would continue

throughout the remainder of the M d Ü k ~ultanate? The madras~mosque complex of Sultan

Hasan (1356-1363) best illustrates this point of merging educational and spintual institutions.

Utilizing a cruciform plan, the structure's qibla-Iwin (hall facing Mecca) served as a jarni'

(congregational mosque) where the khytba was read on ~ r i d a ~ s ? ~ Moreover, space was reserved

for the teaching of al1 four schools of law? A mausoleum for the Sultan's farnily also graced the

institution where s3s ofien worshipped It was at the various mausoleurns, located in the

Mamliik madasas, where SZS infused t heir esoteric pract ices with the more oahodox customs of

the 'ulmi'. Thus over the course of MamlÜk history, the m a h a evolved from an institution

style was present. Other examples of a school which taught the four different rites were the ma&sa of Sultan Hasan (1356-63) and the Ashrafiyya ma&asa estabüshed by Sultan al-Malik al- Ashraf' BarsbZy in 1424.

56~reswell, Musfim Architecture o f E m t , p. 23 9.

"~obert Hillenbrand, Isfmc Arcbitectm: Fom, Fmction ami Meanhg (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 19941, p. 197.

60~i~lenbrand, IrsI'c Arcbitectmc, p. 196. Each school of Law also housed small masjik (mosques) which were used on a daily basis to support worship. See Berkey, Tmsmssioioo of fiowfedge, p. 67.

which mostly focused on the teaching of fiq. into an institution at which prayer and esoteric

activity took place.

The madraa did not, however, command a monopoly over the realrn of education during the

Mamlük Sult anate. Other institutions ais0 fostered howledge. The kba0qa;b offered many of the

services found at the matkasa The most noticeable difference between the two institutions was

that during the early Ba@ penod, the kijàoq& catered mostly to the esoteric needs of the

c~mmunity.~' By the thirteenth century Sufism was no longer perceived to be the pariah

rnovement that it had once been s e e d 2 Over the course of Islamic history, Sufism gained public

and officia1 recognition (th& in part to the writings of al-Ghazali). Sufism offered adherents

an alternative to the sbazf'a minded 'ul'2 who preached a conservative and highly legalistic

faith. Various sifi orders (t idqqas) eemerged throughout the Islamic world and catered to specific

local customs. In Mamlrik Cairo, for instance, the influence of Sufism was so great that some

reports daim 10,000 nzzmZ& (followers) had joined 0rders.6~ Whether or not this nurnber is

an exaggeration, there was no denying that Sufism played a prominent role in MamlÜk society.

The military class viewed the sages as bearen of "good fortune" when they dwelled in

6 ' ~ o a z S hoshan, Popular Cdf w e in Medeval Caire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 18.

62~ahman, Islam , pp. 1 50-1 5 1.

nearby communit ie~.~ Moreover, Mamlüks of Turkic origin regarded Sufism as an indirect link

to their native past. OAen originating fiom Central Asia, many of the foreign @% whom

Mamlüks sponsored spoke a similar dialect and shared many customs with their patrons. These

similarities between the military and esoteric castes influenced the Mamluks to support ~ U n r 6 ~ AS

Sufism gained momentum and approval fiom the Mamlüks, kbibqabs naturally became important

spirit uai, educat ional and poütical institutions." However, this accept ance did not open every

career opportmity to the ~5%. For instance, they were not well represented in the bureaucratie

fields. This limitation aside, Fernandes lists a oumber of occupations in which su6s did find

employment. The most prevalent form of employment they participated in was in the fieid of

religion." There, they occupied such positions as im&, Quran readers, kitibs (scribes),

mrrwaqqits (those who scheduled prayers) and various kli~dim (assistants).08 AS S ufism became

more accepted within Cairo's society. individual FI% were also trahed in 6qh Their exposure to

legal education ailowed them to assume a niunber of positions which the orthodox 'uf'Z'

traditionally held. These included jobs within the religious-scholarly and legal professions

rnentioned earlier. Moreover. Mamlliks often appointed foreign güfis to important religious

positions because of the loyalty they would demonstrate towards their sponsors. Fernandes

remarks that the link SSS had with society "gave the ruling class indirect control of the

population by lessening the risk of social uprisings instigated by the religious c ~ a s s . " ~ ~

Similar to the fiinding of ma&asas, lhibqaàs were financed through waqfs estabüshed by

wealthy members of the MamlÜk c o m m ~ i t ~ ? ~ The endowments for kbaOq&s were however

limited in number during the early Ba&i period. At the outset of the Mamluk Sultanate, orthodox

'uIamZ' did not give fidl sanction to gxs nor to their esotenc teaching methods. Offering an

alternative and more popuüst social and moral order, Sufism chaenged the political and religious

-9 71 clout of the orthodox ' h a . Although Sufism was popular amongst the MamlÜk class, the

militarydidnotpursueambitiousattemptstoend~w~&~~s?~ Forinstance,duringmuchof

the Ayylibid and early M a n d a period (roughly 1 169- 1 286), only t hree kliiurqabs t hrived in Cairo;

one of which was the kbaOqab of Sa'id al- Su'adà' (founded by Sal* al-Din in 1174).~' This

limited nurnber demonstrates the important role the orthodox 'dama' piayed in the Mamliik

Sultanate. Although the MamIiiks were able to daim the guardianship of Islam, the 'uI'Z'

continued to define what constituted orthodoxy." For instance, they were able to have SES

dismissed fiom their posts for relatively petty reasons. In one instance a chief judge (qâ& al-

q.3) dismissed a pX shayko fiom his position when the latter failed to stand and acknowledge

the judge's presence.7s With political and moral clout on their side, the 'dama' were able to

h t r a t e the ruling class's desire to mdow Sufism diniag the Ayyûbid and early Bal$ period.

However, faced with the continued Mamllk favoritism towards mystics, orthodox officials

were unable to curb the growing influence Sufism had on society. Once the Mongol and Crusader

threats were weli in check and the need to prornote religious orthodoxy abated, the opposition the

' u I m 2 harbored was ~hal lenged-~~ As more and more k-biinqiiZ~s were endowed, the ant agonisms

against the SZS nurtured by the 'd'a' were placated within a system of academic patronage

fostered by the Mami* hierarchy. Members of the 'dàwi: once staunch opponents of Sufism,

were now appointed to teaching posts within sùoinstitutions?' Moreover, a number of orthodox

scholan such as Ibn Taymiyya and al-Suyliri maintained some af£iliations with s 5 schools

further legitimizing ~ u f i s r i 1 ~ ~ By the fourteenth century, acquiruig teaching positions within

kbaLIqà&s becarne very ~orn~etitive.'~ This occurred in part because "Sultans and grand amrk

78~artain, JdiIal-6in al- S u y ï i ~ Vol. 1, p. 34.

79~harnberlain argues that the acquisition of teaching positions and academic stipends existed within an atmosphere of 6fna [struggle]. Acquiring honor and prestige during the MamlÜk period for civilians fiequently meant pursuing an academic career. With limited academic seats avai Iable, compet it ion was commonplace amongst the a 'yaa. Chamberlain, ffio wledge aod Social

67

lavished substantial sums to endow the kbkq&S' which in tum drew prominent members of the

civilian dite to compete for teaching positions>o As orthodoxy fbsed with the esoteric virtues of

Sufism "the kbairqih was ailowed an especiaiiy fertile perïod of devel~~ment."~' Thus the

kbiibqabs of the Mamlük p e n d would combine ma 'nfwïth the orthodox learning or 'iun.

As S ufîsm gained accept ance within the orthodox community, MarnlÜks act ively supported

sCEs and sponsored a large number of foreign-bom mystics to study and teach at the convents

they end~wed.~* Similar to the merging of educational and spiritual services found at madras,

kbZqi2z.s also evolved into multi-funct ional institut ions. However, t his phenornenon did not

occur during the early MamlÜk perïod. For instance, when al-û Mdpmmad endowed his

kbiiiq5h at Siryiqüs in 1324, he distinguished it fkom his Neiriyya madasa by iïrnïting the

teaching of fiqh to the latter. However, this separation between orthodox Sqb and Sufîsm soon

broke down. Fernandes points out that by the late fourteenth and early fifieenth century, kba0qib.s

"incorporated some of the functions of madrasas and j ; ~ i ' ~ > ' . * ~ A former Mamluk of abNasir

Mdpmmad by the name of Mughul!iiy al-Jarna founded a k&aOq& in l329? This institution's

- - - -- - -

Pracfice, pp. 93-100.

80~etry, Civilian Elile, p- 1 39.

~emandes, Evolution of a ~ h s t i t u r i o o , p. 10 1.

82~bid., p. 102.

83Lbid., p. 33.

%id, p. 34.

waqf provides ample evidence t hat the wiqif (founder) set aside fimds for the study of Hanafi &qh

and .adth in addition to its mystical fiinctions.

SrTG education was facilitated with the aid of a sbaykb who guided students in mystical

prayers and repetitive chants which enabled one to reach an understanding of God. Traditionally

individuais who wanted to devote themselves to si76 üfestyles would offen find sanctuary

within &àbqabs, ib&t. or z%wiyac Through the endowment established by the kb&q&'s

founder, a student was provided with basic necessities which could indude lodging, food, and a

cash stipend.s5 According to the scholar Shams al-din Muhammad b. a m a d al-Minh5ji al-AsyÜli

(b. 141 O), students studying at szX institutions had a number of duties which constituted their

activities during the course of the day. Guided by sbaykos, students would read passages fkom the

Quran which were then followed by recitations of sa texts. These ritual forms of worship were

also augmented by individual study and meditation."

Education was not Iimited to the madraa and ktiàaqazI complex in Mamlük ~ o c i e t ~ . ~ '

Mosques (masjids and jiuni's ) also took part in facilitating 'r'h? The mosque complex

85 Berkey, Transmission of Ktro wledge, p. 56.

86~ittle, "The Nature of Kb;5oqaOs, Ri-, and Z h j m Under the MamlUks", pp. 98-99.

87~umphreys, "The Expressive intent of the Mamlük Architecture of Cairo: a Preliminary Essay", in Studia IsIamrc4 Vol. 35 (1972), pp. 82-83.

" ~ n institution at which prayer is performed is commonly refened to as a masjid A mas~idat which the kfiutba is read fiom is caiied ajàoyt

represented the pre-eminent religious structure in Islamicat e society and it h as tradit ionaily

facilitated religious instruction as part of its role in catering to the spiritual needs of the Muslim

commmity. Berkey notes that "Mor centuries before the advent of the macirasa, mosques were

the only public venue for higher Islamic ed~cation."~~ However, during the early Bal$ period the

lines of distinction between the mosque and madra. were relatively sharp. For instance, during

Baybars' reign, the Sultan endowed two distinct institutions: one which provided spaces for

worship and another which offered Iessom in 6qb. The Mosque of Sultan Baybars, which opened

in 1269, was utilized primarily as a place of w o r ~ h i ~ ? ~ Meanwhile, Baybars' 25hiriyya madraa

focused primarily on IZqh However, as was the case with the madraa and kbâhqàiil, the narrow

mandates of the mosque soon took on a number of diverse functions.

Berkey maintains that mosques began to "resemble madrasas in that - through the

munificence of the original builder or that of a later benefactor - they offered formal endowed

courses in the Islamic reügious science^."^' For instance, the congregational mosque of Ibn TÜlÜn,

restored by Sultan LàJin (1 297- 1 îW), was provided wit h a nurnber of professorships. Meanwhile,

as Sufism became an acceptable form of religious expression, mosques took on a number of

characteristics which were once the domain of the kbiizqab. The mosque of al-Jkhanlar (1306)

and al-Malik (1 3 19) both represent the mosque-BaO@ motif where "'the notion of the mosqw

" ~ e r k e ~ , Trausm'sssioo ofKoowledge. p. 54.

go~reswell, Muslm Arcbitectro~ ofEmt , Vol. 2, p. 155.

' ~ e r k e ~ , Traom'ssioioo o f f i o wledge, p.54.

70

as an independent building or at any rate as an independent space was di~carded"?~ The koiü~q&

madiasa endowed by al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh fhther provides an example of the merging of distinct

religious institut ions into single multi-functional structures. His complex, completed after his

death, incorporated areas for studying 6q6 along with spaces reserved for prayer and wonhip

while also housing a number of S ~ S who participated in the daily aEairs of the institution."

Moreover, the complex was also a ja' as the kougba was read on ~ r i d a ~ s . ~ ~

After analyzïng the digerent institutions of higher religious education in MamfÜk society an

underlying theme emerges. Over the course of the Mamluik Sultanate, educational institutions

began to merge and coalesce into centralized multi-faceted institutions?' The movement fkom

the focused one-dimensional institution towards that of the multi-functional educational complex

deserves some explanation. Unforttmately the sources do not provide specific answen for this

question; therefore some speculation is in order to understand why educational institutions

coalesced into the intricate complexes which dotted the Mamluk landscape. There is no doubt

that the economic fortunes of the Mamlüks were wavering during the fifteenth centutf16 As

agricultural production fell so too did tax revenues and the necessary capital needed to fund

- - - - - -

92~ogan Kurban, Milrüm Religious Architecture, Vol. 2 (Lieden: E. J. Brill, 1 98S), p. 5.

93~ernandes, Evoluton of a Sa hstitutim, p. 4 1.

94bid.

"~ereira, IsIamrc SacredAn:bitectllte, pp. 65-74.

96~etIy, Protectom or Praeto~aus? p. 1 02.

71

institut ions of higher religious education?' The merging process was also brought about by the

accept ance of S ufism and the interactions between orthodox 'UlamS' and mystics. FinaUy

edocation within the Islamic tradition was an act of piety. Berkey comments that "[sltudy, iike

prayer, was an activity that could only be undertaken effectiveiy in a state of ritual purity." 98

Therefore it is quite natural for schools to combine an element of worship in order to facilitate a

state of purity.

MAMLÜK PATRONAGE OF INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING

Despite the thnving reiigious architecture which housed many scholars and students during

the Mamlük period, on the whole, education remaiaed focused on teachedpupil relationships. If

education during the MamlÜk period was informal and based mostly on personal relationships, one

is naturaiiy inclined to ask why were so many institutions of higher learning founded by the

MamlUks.

The establishment or founding of an institution was normally based on or govemed by the rule

of waqf(re1igious endowment). A waqf was a pnvate endowment which reflected the individual

motives of a person and not that of the state. Theoreticdy, the waqf was established as a pious

97 Annemarie Schimrnel, "Some Glimpses of the Religious Life in Egypt during the Later Mamlük Period", in Isl'c Sfudr'es, Vol. 4 (1 96S), p. 337. This reference deals most ly with sui institutions,

9 8 ~ erke y, Traosmissin of Kio wledge, p. 55.

act by a wealthy wagif who set aside hmds for an institution of hidher c h ~ o s i n ~ ? ~ These

donations could support programs as diverse as fountains, bazaars, gardens, charities, and of

course, educational institution^.'^ The inspiration for establishing an endowment was focused on

obtaining qmbi (closeness to God) and the benefits the wagf would provide its patron in the

afterlife.lo1 Although MamlÜk training focused on military skills, their initial religious

indoctrination grounded their beliefs in Islam. This k i n g the case, a nurnber of Mamlüks who

endowed religious institutions of learning did so as acts of piety. Assuming the Sultanate near the

end of the MamlÜk empire, ai-Ashraf QiytbZy was regarded as a pious individual. One chrmicle

maint ains that,

"His lifestyle was correct. He never drank wine, nor indeed any inebriating substance. He was learned in religious science, widely read He even authored pious litanies that arerecited in mosques to this day. He had faith in mystics, honored scholars, respected rights of the people- achowledging the status each mented. 99102

Wit h such a religiously grounded characterizat ion, one can speculate t hat Qiytbiiy's motivations

for endowing his mosques, madrasas and kbaOq&s were partly influenced by his piety.103

" ~ i t h i n the text of the waqf document, a founder provided information pertaining to the operation of an institution. For instance, data regarding the number of s t a f f employed at an institution and their respective salaries would often be included in a waqf document. See Fernandes, EvoZution of a SXhs tif ution, p. 90.

IW1bid., pp. 3-4.

' 02~he excerpt is taken fiom Ibn Iyiis's Ta 'n& M$T al-MasMÜi biBada'i6 al-Zublii fi WaqâT al-Dubb pp. 325-326. Translation is provided by Petry in Twiügt ofMa/esty, p. 1 5.

103~bid., p. 56 and p. 80.

- Alongside piety existed a host of l e s altniistic motives for the founding of religious

institutions. George Makdisi provides a nimiber of these ulterior motives. They include a

founder's attempt "to escape taxation, to thwart the excesses of a son's prodigality, or to gain

control of the popular masses by having their religious leaders in one's pay."lM These political,

social and financial considerations were taken into accomt by the M d ü k s who employed them

to greater or lesser degrees. The Mamliik Mankiitimrir, the oa'ib d~aLfma (viceroy) who semed

under Sultan LiJln, alienated a numôer of leading amk through his econornic poiicies. 'O5 Al-

Maqfiii explains that the viceroy caught wind of plans to assassinate him which were being

circulated by a number of disenchanted MamiÜks. In an effort to safeguard bis fortune,

Manklitimur endowed a madiasa which was completed two months before he was assassinated.lo6

Mankütimur, well aware of the law of the waqt avoided the confiscation of his fortune by

endowing a religious institution which his family continuexi to administer in exchange for stipends

paid by the endowment. Ultimately, the waqfima was a legdy binding document under the

s6an'a This being the case, the waqfoffered a relatively high degree of securïty for those who

endowed educational institutions. Attempting to divert its b d s fiom the original mandate was

considered to be an infigement of Islamic law. Supported by the s M ' a , many Marnliiks

'OsLJnder Sultan Lajin, Mankùtimur undertook a rawk (redistribution) of the existing iq.ti?s which were in the hands of a number of powerfûl a m k This move angered some of the 6 whose incomes were curt ailed through the redistribut ion. Berkey, Trms13ussion of Xoo wledge, p. 138.

utilized the law of the waqf as a means of eadowing educational institutions such as the moque,

madrasa and haitqi2i.

The Mamluk Sultans and amirs had "few if any attributes of sacred kingship. 11 107 Born

outside the realm of Islam, these foreigners needed a means to insert themeIves into the social

fabric of the community they d e d in order to gain legitimacy nom the local civilian elite. The

religious elite had grown accustomeci to the fiequefltly chmging han& that govemcd them. They

perhaps saw this constant shifting of power as Divine WiiL "Thou givest the Kingdom to whom

Thou will, and seizest the Kingdom fiom whom Thou will." (3:25)'08 What was required of the

military elite was the maintenance of the moral and religious values to which the greater

community adhered.lo9 In the case of Egypt and Syria, Islam defined the moral order, and thus the

MarnlÜks needed to place themselves within its beüef system. One historian has cornmented that

"through the establishment of institutions devoted to its transmission, the MamlÜks were able to

Link their names to the most vaiued asset of the society over which they ruled"l'O Therefore as

Marnlliks assumed prominent positions within Egypt ian and S yrian society, t hey endowed

religious institutions as political gestures which placed tdem at the heart of the social system

107~hamberlain, Koo wladge and Soci'i?ractice, p. 49.

108~uran (3:25). Interpreted by Arthur A. Arberry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, l982), p. 48.

1 O9 Roy Mottahedeh, Loydty aad Le&@ io ao Early IsI'c Society (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980), p. 188.

which defined the nomis of society."' The fect that most institutions bore their fouaders' aames

further stresses this point. Identification with Islam was the goal many Marnlüks had in mind

when they endowed religioious institutions. Ultimately this identification fostered their legitimacy.

Chamberlain maint ains that " m]y fimding ma&ase powerful households could insert t hemselves

into the culturai, political, and social life of the city, and tum existing practices to their own

benefit ." ' l2 Thus, what evolved was a symbiotic relationship between the MarnlÜks, 'uIaarZ' and

srin classes. These groups depended on one another for mutual benefits and together they played

an important role in shaping the educational landscape of the M d * Sultauate.

' ' 'nid., p. 134.

112 Chamberlain, koowledge mdSoci'Pracicce, p. 52.

7 6

CHAPTER III, EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF THE A W ~ &NB

The final group of eütes that wiii be anaiyzed in this work are the children of the Mamiüks

(awlid al-naS) who participated in both military and religious arenas. Unfortunately, in contrast

to the two previous chapters, very few sources explain how the awlad al-naj; were educated and

trained. Modem scholars are therefore Ieft to speculate as to the nature of their education and the

influence it had developiag their potential This limitation aside, no study of eiite M d G k

education and training would be complete without discussing the awlad al-nik

The awl'd aI-naS were members of the aristocracy in as much as they were bom into tbeir

elite positions. This being said, they were theoretically barred fiom entering the ranks of the

regular MamlÜk army in which their fathers served as full members. Mamlük military society

was marked by a non-hereditary nature which excluded Mamlük offpring fiom inhenting any

miütary and political power held by their fathers. This limitation not-withstanding, a large

number of a WH &-ni& were able to participate in military Through a unit known as the

Halqa, the awlid al-ni5 were pemütted to join the auxiliary units of the army. Outsîde ümited

rnilitary careers in which they were pennitted to serve, the awl'd al-naS played an important role

in the realm of religion and scholarship. A number of MamlÜk offspring entered the ranks of the

urban elite as scholars and religious figures.' In order to function in both these military and

1 Lapidus, M'Lim Cifie, p. 69. The awl'd al-naS &O finictioned within the various governrnent bureaucracies throughout the empire. These officials were required to undergo some form of training in order to prepare them for their positions. A detailed discussion on the education of the administrative class exceeds the scope of this paper. For idonnation conceniing this subject see Bernadette Martel-

scholarly spheres, the awfid required some fomi of education and training. However, not

ali aivl'd al-naS followed identical methods of leaming; different educational paths were purswd

by different individuals. Within the limits of the available materia this chapter will attempt to

shed some light on the training and education of the awl"dai-nik

Despite the fact that the awl'd al-n& were active in the higher echelons of M d & society,

their participation in the scholarly and military elite was not without drawbacks. Because they

were sit uat ed between two distinct cultures, milit ary and scholarly, t heir careers were O fien

h t r a t e d . H a m a n n illustrates that "neither of the societies between which they stood nomaily

ailowed them to become full rnernbersW2 The non-hereditary nature of military Life ensured that

when a member of the awliùi da& seized politicai power, senior amùs who had not profited fiom

the new administration would often respond with hostility. For instance, when al-Ashraf KahEl

assumed the Sultanate following Qal~vvtin's death, his reign was disputed by a number of high-

ranking a n h who were successfûl in assassinating the new sultan? Meanwhile, the 'ulmi:

reacting to what they perceived to be a Turkish seizure of Islamic temtory, "punished the awlad

al-oaF for al1 the humiliations they suffered"? For instance they did this by not recording in

- - - - - --

Thoumian Les civils et /'admimstration daas i'état militaire mamlu'k (Damacus: Institute fiançais de Damas, 199 1).

'UIrich Haarmm, "Sons of Mamluks as Fief-holders in Late Medieval Egypt", p. 144.

' ~ h e point of contention which sparked the anger of the senior -ks was KhaGlls continuation of Qalâ\vÜn's policy of acquiring Circassian slaves as new recruits for the MamlÜk army. Fearhg a loss of power and statu a number of Tinkish dmfonned a faction which opposed Khalil. See Holt, The Age of rhe Crusades, pp. 105- 106.

4 Haarmann, "Sons of Mamlüks", p. 144.

biographical dictionaries those MamIÜk o@ring who wote favorably of the M d & class.

These limitations aside, a number of awladal-~aS were able to inherit political standing fiom

their fathers. The most obvious transfer of family status which occurred during the MamlÜk

Empire was under the Qalà\wnids (1279-1382). This miniature dynasty was able to create a

system of hereditary succession. Other instances exist in which the sons of Mamlüks were able to

achieve status othenvise denied to their particdar class. Levanoni points out that during the

reigns of Baybars and QalSwÜn, the rules of exclusion were occasionally broken as a total of

eleven a?un were sons of ~ a m l ü k s . ' The reign of Sultan Hasan (1354-1 361) offers another

example of awfid al-II& participating in elite levels of the politicaVmilit ary society. In an effort

to reduce the power of existing MamIÜk amUs, Sultan Hasan promoted ten awlaa al-naS to the

rank of -7 of a hundred6 Furthemore, he chose not to advance existing Mamlüks to lofty

positions within his govemment, opting instead to favor the awlad al-naj; in an attempt to win

loyalty. The rules and customs which excluded non-slaves fiom elite positions within the military

were relatively flexible and were not adhered to by the letter.' Therefore, before analyzing the

education and training of the a wfZd dn&, it is paramount to understand that their roles within

the Mamlük Sultanate were fluïd. This flexibility marked the awlid al-a& Although they were

t heoret ically barred fiom certain positions, political circumst onces arose which pennitted t heir

'~evanoni, T . g Point, p. 42.

6~yalon, "Studies on the Structures", p. 457.

7 Ayalon, L'esclavage, p. 24.

79

inclusion,

During the reigns of Baybars and QalawUn, admittance into the elite leveis of the Mamlük

military society was reserved for non-Muslim slave boys who were trained and educated in the

systemat ic methods discussed eariier. Born Muslims, the awZid al-n& camed attributes which

excluded their entry into the reguiar MamiÜk army. David Ayalon states that to become a fûli-

tledged Mamliik, a non-Muslim slave origin was crucial! The aw13 d-DG were bom within

Islamic territories and were by buth Muslims c-g Arab names as opposed to the Turkish

names of their fathers? Moreover, as Muslims, they did not qualify for slave status due to

Quranic regulations forbidding the enslavement of feilow Muslims and members of the & m a

(Jews or ~hristians). '~ Theu inabiiity to join the Mamlük corps did not hinder their participation

in the military. A special unit h o w n as the Halqa accepted fieebom Musiims, such as the awlad

al-oa, into its ranks. As soldiers within this unit, they received some training in the arts of

w arfare.

The Halqa was a military unit whose histoiy dates back to the reign of S a l a al-Din (d.1193).

Its position as the Sultan's bodyguard within the Ayyübid army established its eiite status." At

the outset of the Mamluk empire, the regiment was able to hold on to its high status. This was

8 Ibid., p. 24.

%Iaarmann, "Arabic in Speech", p. 109.

1 Qernard Lewis, Race and Sla vey in the M/dd/e East, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1 WO), p.7

11 Ayalon, "Studies on the Structure", pp. 448-449. 80

partly due to the influx of fuliy trained soldiers, in the fonn of the wafidiwa (Mongol deserters

and Syrian immigrants), who helped maintain the military prowess of the unit.12 These adult

soldiers were aiready fuily trained and capable calvary troops. However, the elite status which the

Halqa enjoyed did not prevail throughout the coune of Mamllik history. Following al-NGir

M~ammad 's rawk al-n@inT(land redistribution) in 13 15, the iqtas which financed much of the

Ijalqa's activities were centralized and redistnbuted to the Royal ~ a r n l l i k s . ' ~ h addition to this

setback, the steady flow of wfidrjya troops, which had augmented the Hdqa with qualified

calvary, dwindled following al-Neîr MuOammad's rule.14 As their numbers declined so too did

the military power and subsequent status of the Halqa. This suggests that there existed no

intemal training mechanism which would have strengthened the Halqa's military strength fiom

within; or if one was in existence it was not effective. Moreover, during the Circassian period,

members of the Halqa were pennitted to sell their remaining iqfa's to common citizens who did

not have any military b a ~ k ~ o i m < t ' ~ During the course of Mamlük history, it became an accepted

n o m for members of the Halqa to avoid military s e ~ c e by paying a pre-detennined amount to

the Sultanate. These factors combined and resulted in a steady decline in the Halqa's status and

military prowess.16 The Ijalqa's decline in military skill did not go unnoticed. In 1388, during a

alon, on, "The Wafidiyya in the Mamluk Kingdom", in Isfamic Cultm, 1 95 1 ), p.98-99.

13~yalon, "Studies on the Structure", pp.542453.

11 Ayalon, "The Wâfidiyya in the MamlÛk Kingdom", p. 93.

15 AyaIon, "S tudies on the Structure", p.453.

16 Hurnphreys provides an alternative theory as to why the Halqa declined in standing. He points to Baybars' break with the AyyÜbid Sultanate as the cause for the secondary status of the regiment- Fearing a resurgence fiom the remaining AyyÜbid principalities in Syria, Baybars centralized the strength of his

81

period of successional unrest in the empire, an amù- by the name of MintZsh is reported to have

commented that the Haiqa was "weak and mfit.."" This critical assessment of the Halqa was

perhaps formulated foliowing the occasional arches, tests which its members were required to

undergo. '

As Baybars delegated fieebom troops away nom his i ~ e r circle and his Royal MamIÜks, two

interrelated diffierences began to emerge between the slave soldiers and the awïiid aAtxik who

entered the Halqa. According to Humphreys, most of the members of the Halqa were recruited as

adultd9 This being the case, the members of the W q a were not provided with the same intense

training as their counterparts in the regular MamlÜk army. Trained and educated in the fabagas,

the Mamlüks shared a camaraderie (kausbdaShiwa) and fighting quality which was far superior to

a that of the ~ a l ~ a ' s . ~ ' Moreover, adults, includiog the awlaa al-&, who entered the Halqa were

not trained and educated in the same manner as the Royal MamlÜks who had theoretically begun

t heir training as children. Without the intensity and concentrated milit ary training fostered within

the walis of the barracks while relatively young, it cm be presumed that Egyptian-boni Halqa

arrny by employing slaves. "By relegating the great majority of fiee-born soldiers to a secondary unit, he ensured the political and military domination of the mantluk;" He further points out that "this social change of course confîrmed an ethnic one: the Kinds [the ethnic origin of the AyyÜbids] would henceforth have no opportunity to reclaim a major position in the army...." See Humphreys, "The Emergence of the Mamluk Amy", pp. 163- 164.

alon, on, "S tudies on the Structure", p. 454.

'g~aannann, "Sons of MamlÜks", p. 142.

19 Humphreys, "Emergence of the MamlÜk Amy", p. 163.

'O~~alon, "Stuâies on the Structure", p. 456.

82

0 troops were inferior to MamlÜk soldiers of slave origin who were fully trained.

Prior to their entry into the Halqa, the awlad al-naS were educated in the homes of their fat hers

by local teachers or at pnmary schools which were ofien "annexed to the various institutions of

Il 21 higher learning .... . Beginning with grammar lessons in the Arabic language, the early

educat ion which the a wZa al-naj; received resembled the early education eiite non-MamlÜk

children were provided When children turned seven or eight, they began to concentrate on the

Quran by cornmitting it to memory." What differentiated a nutuber of awZ'd al-& nom

ordinary Egyptian children was their access to the Turkish diaiects spoken by the MamlÜks who

originated fiom the regions of the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains. Children who were

bom to parents of Turkish extraction were more likely to have some knowledge of t hese languages

than children who were raised in Arab homes?

PARTICIPATION IN THE MILITARY

When the awla<i al-tlk entered the age of majority, they were provided with "pay, foodstuffs,

rneat, and fodder"." Later on they were granted iqta's and military posts within the ~ a l ~ a . 2 '

The iqti's provided the awiZd al-naS access to wealth and status othenvise denied to them due to

. . ..

"~aarmann, "Arabic in Speech" ,p. 105. and Berkey, T r ~ m r s s i o ~ ofKnowledge, p. 28.

" ~ e r k e ~ , Transm'ssion offf io wledge, p. 28.

'f~aarmann, "Arabic in Speech", p. 92.

"~yalon, "Studies on the Structure", p.456. Also Levanoni, Tumihg Poht, p43.

lev al on, "Studies on the Structure", p.456.

the non-hereditary nature of society- Lapidus comments that the Halqa "was created expressly for

the purpose of finding a sociaiiy and financialiy suitable employment for the sons of former

officer~."'~ However, the size and wealth of i i s the awiiid al-ni% received were generally

inferior to those that were granted to the Royal ~amluks?' Under Baybars and Qal2wÜn (except

for the eleven awIid &ni% who were granted amirates) the awiid al-ttk were awarded modest

ranks within the ~ a l ~ a . ~ '

As mentioned above, the awlidal-naSwere not confined to the Wqa. Benefiting fiom a Loose

application of MamlÜk n o m , many served in the regular M d & army. Foliowing Qaliwùn's

death in 1290, the MamlÜk Suitanate feu into disarray as hi&-ranking anKim competed for the

Sultanate. For the next twenty years. the &, employing a principle of dynastic succession,

utilized various sons of QalEwÜn as figureheads in order to gain legitimacy.2g Ako during this

period, thirty-nine awiZd al-naS entered the ranks of the regular M d Ü k army and were granted

ami rate^.)^ When al-Nqir Mdynmad resssumed the Mamlük throne in 1310, he continued the

practice of ailowing awiZd al-nàk entry into the Mamlük army. Levanoni has collated the narnes

of ninety-three amZn fiom the various sources she consulted who served in a l -mir M.ammadls

'6~apidus, Muslim Ciies, p. 1 16. Perhaps his language is too extreme, as demonstrated earlier, the Halqa was already a functioning milit ary mit prior to the emergence of t he MamlÜk Suit anate.

"~evanoni, Tmj.lg Point, p.43.

Mamluk regiments?' She explains that the "appointment and advancement paths of the sons of

marnluks during the nile of al-Nâir Mdgmmad were offen identical to those used for his Sultani

Mamluks -among the sons of mamluks and the Royal Mamluks aiïke one may find soldiers

whose promotion was totaiiy divorced fiom objective military riter ria.''^^ For instance,

Muhammad ibn Baktamur al-Hqami, a son of a high ranking ami> was granted the post of armi

of ten at the tender age of thirteen." The practice of aiiowing sons of Marnluks entry into the

Marnllik army continued durhg much of the QalâwÜnid dynasty. It s zenit h was perhaps reached

during Sultan vasan's nile diaing which he promoted the awf'd al-US over those soldiers who

were of slave origin. Levanoni was able to uncover a total of two himdred and fi@-seven a&

who were awla< d-n& fkom 134 1 until the end of the Qaliwûnid period.34

PARTIClPATION IN THE WORLD OF LEARMNG

The awlaUi a/-nâs bridged the gap between the native society and the military elites through

their participation in the field of religion. Haarmann points out that during the 14th century,

nearly half of the awlad ai-ni% "combined their acadernic career ... wit h an -y post."3S However,

owing to the nature of the non-hereditaxy military system, and the faltering status of the Ijalqa,

rnany members of the aw%d al-ni& opted out of the militmy and sought exclusively scholarly

3'~bid.

32 Ibid., p. 47.

3 3 ~ i d .

34 Ibid., p.49.

3 S ~ a ~ a n n , "Arabic in Speech , p. 108.

careed6 In this realm, their educationd backgrounds were similar to the pedagogical patterns of

other Muslirn scholars who came fiom the Nile Valley.

As demonstrated above, the aw1.d al-naS were provided with basic education at home or in the

elementary schools which were attached to large religious institutions. Upon completion of their

element ary studies, they had the opportunity to attend lessons within institutions of higher

learning. Similar to the nature of learning detailed in the previous chapter, the awZid &-ni&'

education focused on 8 . h which was tought by learned siiaykbs dong with subjects outside the

field of law. These professors were either attached to formal institutions of higher leaming or

lectured in informal spaces. Members of the awliîd al-ni% could also participate in the "foreign

sciences" in much the same way as their Egyptian counterparts. For instance along with his

studies in &&th the famous biographer of M d & descent Sa@ al-din KhaEl ibn Aybak ai-

Safadi (d. 1363) also probed mathematics, literature and grammar?' Fînally, awW al-a& had

ample access to suGinstruction as the esotenc interpretation of the Faith gained acceptance fiom

the orthodox ' u ~ ~ ~ ' .

Similar to students of n o n - M d & descent, the awlàa alalni% sought personal ties with their

professors as means of gaining access to the learned elite. Their education was not charactenzed

by the institutions they attended, but rather focused on the professors under whom they studied.

36~yalon, "Studies on the Structure", p.458.

''~ittle, "Al-Safidi as Biographer of his Contemporaries", pp. 206-207.

86

As in the case of other scholars, the awi'idd-naSsought these personal contacts with leaxned men

in order to collect f l k ï w whîch would attest to their contact with the sbaykbs. Although no

officia1 curriculum existed, the awZâd al-nk followed an educational path which was similar to

pedagogical methods pursued by other scholars. For instance the curriculum for those who

sought reiigious education was based on informal lessons of slian'4 6qo and other well

established texts which the student attempted to memorize. Within this structure, conservatism

remained the key to leaniing; in order to become a member of the Cu/amZ' the awla(l &-ni% could

not deviate fiom the accepted s m a .

The previous chapter utilized Car1 Petxy's research as a guide in descnbing the career paths of

the Wàznà'. However, this source provides very little information concerning the careers of the

awZZd alalnaS. This i s t a t i o n aside, other secondary sources provide some insights conceming the

occupations of the awlad &-na5 foliowing their education. Haarmann points out that the awlaaal-

ois were able to achieve a "total submersion in the local religious and scholarly Iïfe."'* He points

out that a number of Mamluk children were employed at the various dawaivn (bureaus) of the

Madük court. The awlad a l -G were also weil represented in the religious sciences as jurists,

qZi$Zs, theologians, @k, and badito scho~ars?~ Moreover, a number of M d & offspnng became

experts in grammar, poetry, mathematics and ~ a l l i ~ r a ~ h ~ . ~

38 Hamann, "Arabic in Speech", p. 108.

39 Ibid., pp. 106-109. Also Lapidus, Mm&m Cities9 p. 1 17.

4 Qaarmann, "Arabic in Speech", pp. 106109.

87

The waqf administrator (n* &waqO was a special position members of the awlad al-naS

could occupy. As demonstrated in the previous chapter, Mamlliks ofken endowed an institution of

higher learning for the purposes of securing one's personal finances within his family's structure?

Often the controllership of an endowment would rest with the founder unt il his death- When the

founder died, the position of n w r would fa11 to the "most rightly guided" (al-arsbad) male

descendent. This post wodd assure that some income would be made available to the founder's

family. Moreover, in an effort to maintain the wealth of the endowment for the benefit of the

Marnllik's family's financial security, a founder would often designate high-ranking bureaucrats

and amZn to help oversee the waqf Berkey maintains that this arrangement was struck within the

institution's deeds in order to "discourage tampering with or confiscation of its endo~ments. ' '~~

The responsibilities of the o&akal-waqf focused on a number of administrative duties conceming

the endowment. For instance, matters dealing with an institution's finances were the

responsibility of the n-. Another important role which the controuer carried out was selecting

and appointing scholars within the endowment." Ultimately in a society which was non-

hereditary, offering male decedents the opportunity to assume positions as o&k enabled

Mamlüks to pass on wealth and statiis? Thus, in order to perform their designated duties some

forrn of education was therefore required.

4 I Berkey, Trmsm'ssion of Ki10 wfedge, p. 1 3 6.

43 Pet ry, Ciw'lim Hite, p. 2 13.

44 Berkey, Transm'ssion of Kio wfedge, p- 142. 88

Along with their roles as religious fimctionaries, numerous representatives fiom the awiZd al-

a& made important contributions in the realm of histoncal scholarship. For instance, information

conceming the fùn%j3/a games are greatly enhanced by ibn Ta@ BUdi's descriptions. This

historian was provided with rnilitary training at a young age and was thus able to comment on the

state of the military with some degree of knowledge. Moreover, Ibn DawZdz provided positive

descriptions of the Mongols which has enabled modem scholars to assume that many Mamlüks of

Mongol origin shared sympathies with their ethnic k i n - M d within his thirty-volume work, al-

W 3 bi-al- Wafyit, the biographer al-Safadi chronicled the iives of scholars beginning "nom the

time of Muhammad to the author's own day.1'46 With the help of these and other scholars, MamlUk

history and biographical information was recorded and preserved for later generations to analyze.

Haarmann comments that these scholars of MamiÜk descent possessed the "latitude of

eccentncity and independence of mind which the awiid al-nkcould enjoy if only they were ready

to use it."47 Fortunately, despite some pressure exerted by the orthodox 'uIamZ: children of

Mamlüks actively participated in the scholarly world of Mamlùk society.

Attempting to shed some light on the miütary and religious education of MamlÜk offspring

remains problematic. With the iimited information available, the history of the awGd %ni% is

4S~aamiaan, "Anibic in Speech" , p. 1 1 1.

'6~ittle, "AL-Safadi as Biographer of his Contemporarïa", p. 195.

47 Haamann, "Arabic in Speech", p. 1 12.

89

a somewhat difficult to piece together. Wbat can be gathered fiorn the available information is that

the aivf'd d -nk requîred some form of educat ion in order to secure p s i t ions wit hin the miii t ary

or scholarly eiite. Moreover, the educat ion and training t hey part icipated in, paralleled t heiï fluid

roles within society. There were no specific educational paths one followed; rather the awlaii al-

o& could either join the Halqa, enter the Marnlük military (if permitted), pursue higher education

or in some cases, pursue both a higher education and a miüt ary career. Within the structure of the

Ijalqa, their training was different fiom the military training which their M d & fathers endured.

Meanwhile, apart fiom the Turkish which was spoken in many MamlÜk homes, educational

patterns which the awl;td al-II& followed were relatively similar to that of the Local population.

Finally, these findings are somewhat general in their conclusions. It must be made clear that there

were thousands of awl 'dal-Swho pursued some fonn of education in order to gain status in the

military or the scholarly worlds. Scholars would be remiss if they were to assume that the awfZd

ai-oik followed a uni form system of educat ion.

CONCLUSION

The preceding chapters have described the nature of eüte education and training which

operated dirring the Mamliik Sultanate. Having discussed both milit ary training and higher

religious education, a number of underlying themes have emerged throughout this study. First,

these two realms of leaming were marked by fiuid characteristics. Rigid pedagogical systems did

not flomish; rather, different methods of instruction provided various paths to access elite

positions withio Mamiük society. Mamlük Sultans did not dways adhere to the systematized

military training programs established by Baybars and QalâwÛn. Fiirthermore, religious education

was not uniformly applied; rather a student was able to seek howledge in various locations. The

second theme this work has discussed was that the fluid methods of training and education were

essential components of society. Without the military training which hamessed the fighting skills

of slave soldiers, Islamic society would have surely been threatened in the Levant and Egypt

following the Crusader and Mongol invasions. Meandile, in order to maintain the existing

Islamic social order t hroughout M d & t emtory, higher religious educat ion was necessary for

training religious functionaries. Finally in an effort to pass along wealth and status, education

served the children of the M a m l h as a means of entering either the milit ary or scholarly elite.

The inconsistent application of military training was a result of a two interconnected factors.

Levanoni has dernonstrated that during the rule of al-N@ir Muhammad, the systematized training

programs which were implemented by Baybars and Qalâwim were not followed. Rather military

training turned towards permissive and lax methods. Moreover, kutta-bijya were provided with

privileges unheard of during the rule of the two early Sultans. The effect of the diminished

training programs resulted in insubordinate Madliks and aniiis who were fke to wield some

political clout. As loyalty became a commodity no longer guaranteed, factionalism placed a

nurnber of destabilizing pressures on the Sultanate. Senior amùs who most ly acted in unison

with the Sultan fiequently rebelled against their leader foUowing al-Neir Muipmmad's reign.

Within this fiamework, the Sultan was not "a figure above the struggle for power. Rather, he is

fiankly recognized as a member of the rnilitary eiite, a man constantly engaged in a deadly

struggIe with other members of this elite..-" '

The second factor which promoted the inconstant application of miiitary training was the

tapering off of extemal threats nom Mongols and Crusaders. Although the Mongols did

periodically threaten Syrian temtory after the Battle of 'Ayn JZdÜt (1260), the constant war

footing which Baybars and Qalâ* sustained was abandoned during the rule of al-N-ir

M~ammad. Moreover, folIowing al-Ashraf Khaiil's victoxy over the 1 s t remaining Crusader

fortress of Acre in 1291, Syria was relatively fiee of extemal European foes which would have

necessitated a strong military responses on the part of the MamlÜks. Thus as the need for weil

trained troops abated, Mamllik training was not always systematicaily applied following the early

B w per-ïod.

Meanwhile, throughout the history of the M d & Sult anate, higher religious educat ion

flourished both within institutions of leaming and outside. The endowment of large numbers of

religious institutions by individual M a m l h did not create a homogeneous educational system;

rather, reiigious education continued to function on a personal basis. &aias were not granted by

the institut ions; rat her shayMs bore the responsibility of awarding degrees. Thus, institutions

mostly served as convenient spaces in which teaching was conducted along with worship and süfi

act ivity. However, due to the personal nature of education, leaming flourished beyond the walls

of the nurnerous centres in such informal spaces as gardens, homes, and markets. Thus education

maintained traditional Islamic characteristics which were not based on rigid systems of pedagogy.

Although this method of leaming flourished throughout the Mamlük empire, individual

Mamliiks endowed institutions for the purpose of fostering reügious knowledge. Their reasons for

fimding t hese centres of educat ion were mult i-faceted and included pious, financial and polit ical

considerations. Despite the efforts of the native 'ulama''to diminish the cultural contributions of

the Mamlüks, many members of the military eüte held deep reügious convictions which inspired

them to endow their institutions. However, numerous Mamlüks, in an attempt to pass on family

wealth and status, converted their fortunes into religious institutions which were relatively safe

f?om confiscation. Finally, Mamluks needed to demonstrate to the Muslim population that they

were sincere Islamic leaders who were willing to protect the Faith. Thus, the endowment of

institutions of higher leaming proved to be convenient expressions of religious interest. Although

they altered the physical landscape of cities such as Cairo and Damascus, the MarnlUks did not

influence the pedagogical nature of education. It remained based on the persona1 ties a student

stmck with hisher teacher, or put simply, education remained Islamic.

Religious education and military training provided routes for acquiring elite status. In a

society which was marked by non-hereditary principles, Mamlüks utilized education as a means of

fumishing their offkpring with eüte status. The awZgd al-tl& could either follow military, or

reiigious careers. In both instances, some education and training was required. However, the

application of the education and training the awfid al-oik received was not uniform. Some

Mamlük offspring chose strictly military or religious careen, and followed the appropriate

training which prepared them for their specific possitions. Meanwhile, others chose a

combination of both military and religious He, thereby acquinng training in both fields. Thus

similar to their positions within MamlÜk society, the pedagogical patterns of the awlaa d-aE

were also flexible.

Both forms of education, military and religious, were essential components of Marnlük

society. There can be no doubt that the Islamic society of Syria and Egypt was protected by the

MamlÜk army against Crusader and Mongol forces. Despite the fiequent insurrections caused by

factional strife, the Mamlük Sultanate was able to controi a vast empire during a volatile penod of

Middle Eastern history. Their ability to secure the borders of Egypt and Syria was the result of

their military capabilities. Meanwhile, the military oligarchy could not rule civil society without

the numerous religious fùnctionaries which provided social cohesion in a society ruled by

outsiders. Finally in a bid to ensure that their chilâren inhented wealth and status, MamlÜks

ensured that t heir offspring were educated in order to assume elite positions.

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