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{{Short description|Slave-soldiers and enslaved mercenaries in the Muslim world}} {{About|the class of slave-soldiers|the medieval kingdom centered in Egypt|Mamluk Sultanate|other uses|Mamluk (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox military unit|unit_name=Mamluks|native_name=مماليك|image=Three Mamelukes with lances on horseback.jpg|image_size=240px|alt=|caption=[[Ottoman army in the 15th–19th centuries|Ottoman]] Mamluk lancers, early 16th century. [[Etching]] by [[Daniel Hopfer]] ({{circa|1526–1536}}), [[British Museum]], London<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1845-0809-1342 |title=Mamalucke (Mamelukes) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021 |website=www.britishmuseum.org |location=London |publisher=[[British Museum]] |access-date=3 March 2021 |archive-date=29 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929062808/https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1845-0809-1342 |url-status=live }}</ref>|dates=830s–1811|country=[[Abbasid Caliphate]]<br /> [[Delhi Sultanate]]<br /> [[Fatimid Caliphate]]<br /> [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid Sultanate]]<br /> [[Mamluk Sultanate]]<br /> [[Ottoman Empire]]|type=[[History of slavery in the Muslim world|Enslaved]] [[mercenaries]],<br /> [[slave-soldier]]s,<br /> [[freed slave]]s}}

'''Mamluk''' or '''Mamaluk''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|m|l|uː|k}}; {{langx|ar|مملوك|mamlūk}} (singular), {{lang|ar|مماليك}}, ''mamālīk'' (plural);<ref name="Ayalon 2012">{{cite encyclopedia|author-last=Ayalon|author-first=David|author-link=David Ayalon|year=2012|orig-date=1991|title=Mamlūk|editor1-last=Bosworth|editor1-first=C. E.|editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth|editor2-last=van Donzel|editor2-first=E. J.|editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel|editor3-last=Heinrichs|editor3-first=W. P.|editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs|editor4-last=Lewis|editor4-first=B.|editor4-link=Bernard Lewis|editor5-last=Pellat|editor5-first=Ch.|editor5-link=Charles Pellat|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam#2nd edition, EI2|Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition]]|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|volume=6|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0657|isbn=978-90-04-08112-3}}</ref> translated as "one who is owned",{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010">{{cite book |last=Levanoni |first=Amalia |year=2010 |chapter=Part II: Egypt and Syria (Eleventh Century Until the Ottoman Conquest) – The Mamlūks in Egypt and Syria: the Turkish Mamlūk sultanate (648–784/1250–1382) and the Circassian Mamlūk sultanate (784–923/1382–1517) |editor-last=Fierro |editor-first=Maribel |title=The New Cambridge History of Islam, Volume 2: The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries |location=[[Cambridge]] and New York City |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=237–284 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521839570.010 |isbn=978-1-139-05615-1 |quote=The Arabic term ''mamlūk'' literally means 'owned' or 'slave', and was used for the [[White people|White]] [[Turkish people|Turkish]] [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slaves]] of [[Turkic mythology|Pagan origins]], purchased from Central Asia and the [[Eurasian steppes]] by [[Islam and politics|Muslim rulers]] to serve as soldiers in their armies. Mamlūk units formed an integral part of Muslim armies from the third/ninth century, and Mamlūk involvement in government became an increasingly familiar occurrence in the [[Middle Ages|medieval]] Middle East. The road to absolute rule lay open before them [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|in Egypt]] when the Mamlūk establishment gained military and political domination during the reign of the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyūbid ruler of Egypt]], al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb (r. 637–47/1240–49).}}</ref><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup">{{cite web |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Warrior kings: A look at the history of the Mamluks |url=https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/overview/warrior-kings-look-history-mamluks |year=2012 |work=The Report – Egypt 2012: The Guide |publisher=Oxford Business Group |pages=332–334 |access-date=1 March 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925104321/https://oxfordbusinessgroup.com/overview/warrior-kings-look-history-mamluks |archive-date=25 September 2020 |quote=The Mamluks, who descended from non-Arab [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slaves]] who were naturalised to serve and fight for ruling Arab dynasties, are revered as some of the greatest warriors the world has ever known. Although the word ''mamluk'' translates as "one who is owned", the Mamluk soldiers proved otherwise, gaining a powerful military standing in [[Muslim world|various Muslim societies]], particularly [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|in Egypt]]. They would also go on to hold political power for several centuries during a period known as the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt]]. [...] Before the Mamluks rose to power, there was a [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|long history of slave soldiers in the Middle East]], with many recruited into Arab armies by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid rulers]] of [[Baghdad]] in the ninth century. The tradition was continued by the dynasties that followed them, including the [[Fatimids]] and [[Ayyubids]] (it was the Fatimids who built the foundations of what is now Islamic [[Cairo]]). For centuries, the rulers of the Arab world recruited men from the lands of the [[Caucasus]] and Central Asia. It is hard to discern the precise ethnic background of the Mamluks, given that they came from a number of ethnically mixed regions, but most are thought to have been [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] (mainly [[Kipchaks|Kipchak]] and [[Cumans|Cuman]]) or [[Peoples of the Caucasus|from the Caucasus]] (predominantly [[Circassians|Circassian]], but also [[Armenians|Armenian]] and [[Georgians|Georgian]]). The Mamluks [[Conscription#Military slavery|were recruited forcibly to reinforce the armies]] of Arab rulers. As outsiders, they had no local loyalties, and would thus fight for whoever owned them, not unlike [[mercenaries]]. Furthermore, the Turks and Circassians had a ferocious reputation as warriors. The slaves were either purchased or abducted as boys, around the age of 13, and brought to the cities, most notably to Cairo and its [[Cairo Citadel|Citadel]]. Here [[Forced conversion#Islam|they would be converted to Islam]] and would be put through a rigorous military training regime that focused particularly on [[horsemanship]]. A code of behaviour not too dissimilar to that of the [[Medieval Europe|European knights]]' [[Code of Chivalry]] was also inculcated and was known as ''[[Furusiyya]]''. As in many military establishments to this day the authorities sought to instil an esprit de corps and a sense of duty among the young men. The Mamluks would have to live separately from the local populations in their garrisons, which included the Citadel and [[Rhoda Island]], also in Cairo.}}</ref>}} meaning "[[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slave]]"){{refn|<ref name="Ayalon 2012"/><ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="Britannica"/>}} were non-[[Arabs|Arab]], ethnically diverse (mostly [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], [[Peoples of the Caucasus|Caucasian]], [[Eastern Europe|Eastern]] and [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern European]]) [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|enslaved]] [[mercenaries]], [[Slave-soldier|slave-soldiers]], and [[Freed slave|freed slaves]] who were assigned high-ranking military and administrative duties, serving the ruling Arab and [[Ottoman dynasty|Ottoman]] dynasties in the [[Muslim world]].{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Freamon 2019">{{cite book |author-last=Freamon |author-first=Bernard K. |year=2019 |chapter=The 'Mamluk/Ghulam Phenomenon' – Slave Sultans, Soldiers, Eunuchs, and Concubines |editor-last=Freamon |editor-first=Bernard K. |title=Possessed by the Right Hand: The Problem of Slavery in Islamic Law and Muslim Cultures |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Studies in Global Slavery |volume=8 |pages=219–244 |doi=10.1163/9789004398795_006 |isbn=978-90-04-36481-3 |s2cid=191690007 |quote=[[Ibn Khaldun]] argued that in the midst of the decadence that became the hallmark of the later [[Abbasid Caliphate]], providence restored the "glory and the unity" of the Islamic faith by sending the Mamluks: "loyal  helpers, who were brought from the House of War to the House of Islam under the rule of slavery, which hides in itself a divine blessing." His expression of the idea that slavery, considered to be a degrading social condition to be avoided at all costs, might  contain "a divine blessing", was the most articulate expression of [[Islamic views on slavery|Muslim thinking on slavery]] since the [[Early history of Islam|early days of Islam]]. Ibn Khaldun's general observation about the paradoxical nature of slavery brings to mind [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel|Hegel]]'s reflections on the subject some five hundred years later. The great philosopher observed that, in many instances, it is the slave who ultimately gains the independent consciousness and power to become the actual master of his or her owner. The Mamluk/Ghulam Phenomenon is a good historical example of this paradox.}}</ref><ref name="Stowasser 1984">{{cite journal |author-last=Stowasser |author-first=Karl |date=1984 |title=Manners and Customs at the Mamluk Court |journal=[[Muqarnas (journal)|Muqarnas]] |volume=2 |issue=The Art of the Mamluks |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |pages=13–20 |doi=10.2307/1523052 |jstor=1523052 |issn=0732-2992 |s2cid=191377149 |quote=The Mamluk slave warriors, with an empire extending from [[Libya]] to the [[Euphrates]], from [[Cilicia]] to the [[Arabian Sea]] and the [[Sudan]], remained for the next two hundred years the most formidable power of the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] and the Indian Ocean – champions of [[Sunni orthodoxy]], guardians of [[Holiest sites in Islam|Islam's holy places]], their capital, Cairo, the seat of the Sunni caliph and a magnet for scholars, artists, and craftsmen uprooted by the [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongol upheaval in the East]] or drawn to it from all parts of the Muslim world by its wealth and prestige. Under their rule, Egypt passed through a period of prosperity and brilliance unparalleled since the days of the [[Ptolemies]]. [...] They ruled as a military [[aristocracy]], aloof and almost totally isolated from the native population, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, and their ranks had to be replenished in each generation through fresh imports of slaves from abroad. Only those who had grown up outside Muslim territory and who entered as slaves in the service either of the [[sultan]] himself or of one of the Mamluk [[emir]]s were eligible for membership and careers within their closed military caste. The offspring of Mamluks were free-born Muslims and hence excluded from the system: they became the ''awlād al-nās'', the "sons of respectable people", who either fulfilled scribal and administrative functions or served as commanders of the non-Mamluk ''ḥalqa'' troops. Some two thousand slaves were imported annually: [[Kipchaks|Qipchaq]], [[Azeris]], [[Uzbeks|Uzbec Turks]], [[Mongols]], [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]], [[Circassians]], [[Georgians]], [[Armenians]], [[Greeks]], [[Bulgars]], [[Albanians]], [[Serbs]], [[Hungarians]].}}</ref><ref name="Poliak 1942">{{cite book |author-last=Poliak |author-first=A. N. |orig-year=1942 |year=2005 |chapter=The Influence of C̱ẖingiz-Ḵẖān's Yāsa upon the General Organization of the Mamlūk State |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVGdl09xAp4C&pg=PA27 |editor-last=Hawting |editor-first=Gerald R. |title=Muslims, Mongols, and Crusaders: An Anthology of Articles  |series=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |volume=10 |issue=4 |location=London & New York |publisher=[[Routledge]] |pages=27–41 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X0009008X |isbn=978-0-7007-1393-6 |jstor=609130 |s2cid=155480831 |access-date=1 March 2021 |archive-date=2 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102092303/https://books.google.com/books?id=YVGdl09xAp4C&pg=PA27#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>}}

The most enduring Mamluk realm was the [[Knight|knightly]] military class in [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|medieval Egypt]], which developed from the ranks of [[Slave-soldier|slave-soldiers]].{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/>}} Originally the Mamluks were [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|slaves]] of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic origins]] from the [[Eurasian Steppe]],{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="Poliak 1942"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Isichei 1997 192">{{cite book |last=Isichei |first=Elizabeth |year=1997 |title=A History of African Societies to 1870 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican00isic |url-access=registration |access-date=8 November 2008 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofafrican00isic/page/192 192]}}</ref>}} but the institution of military slavery spread to include [[Circassians]],{{refn|<ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="Poliak 1942"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name=GPG>{{cite book|last=McGregor|first=Andrew James|title=A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War|year=2006|publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]]|isbn=978-0-275-98601-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo00andr/page/15 15]|quote=By the late fourteenth century, [[Circassians]] from the [[North Caucasus]] region had become the majority in the Mamluk ranks.|url=https://archive.org/details/militaryhistoryo00andr/page/15}}</ref>}} [[Abkhazians]],<ref>А.Ш.Кадырбаев, Сайф-ад-Дин Хайр-Бек – абхазский "король эмиров" Мамлюкского Египта (1517–1522), "Материалы первой международной научной конференции, посвященной 65-летию В.Г.Ардзинба". Сухум: АбИГИ, 2011, pp. 87–95</ref><ref>Thomas Philipp, Ulrich Haarmann (eds), ''The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society''. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 115–116.</ref><ref>Jane Hathaway, ''The Politics of Households in Ottoman Egypt: The Rise of the Qazdaglis''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997, pp. 103–104.</ref> [[Georgians]],{{refn|<ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name=autogenerated1>"Relations of the Georgian Mamluks of Egypt with Their Homeland in the Last Decades of the Eighteenth Century". Daniel Crecelius and Gotcha Djaparidze. ''Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'', Vol. 45, No. 3 (2002), pp. 320–341. {{ISSN|0022-4995}}</ref><ref name="bbs">{{Google books|pCC4ffbOv_YC|page=19|Basra, the failed Gulf state: separatism and nationalism in southern Iraq}} By Reidar Visser</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Hathaway|first=Jane|title=The Military Household in Ottoman Egypt|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|date=February 1995|volume=27|issue=1|pages=39–52|doi=10.1017/s0020743800061572|s2cid=62834455 }}</ref>}} [[Armenians]],{{refn|<ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="Poliak 1942"/><ref name="Walker, Paul E. 2002">Walker, Paul E. ''Exploring an Islamic Empire: Fatimid History and its Sources'' (London, I. B. Tauris, 2002)</ref>}} [[Russians]],<ref name="Poliak 1942" /> and [[Hungarians]],<ref name="Stowasser 1984" /> as well as peoples from the [[Balkans]] such as [[Albanians]],<ref name="Stowasser 1984" /><ref name="István Vásáry 2005" /> [[Greeks]],<ref name="Stowasser 1984" /> and [[South Slavs]]{{refn|<ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="István Vásáry 2005">István Vásáry (2005) Cuman and Tatars, Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref name="T. Pavlidis 2011">T. Pavlidis, ''A Concise History of the Middle East'', Chapter 11: "Turks and Byzantine Decline". 2011</ref>}} (''see'' [[Saqaliba]]). They also recruited from the [[Egyptians]].<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book|author-last=Richards|author-first=Donald S.|year=1998|chapter=Chapter 3: Mamluk amirs and their families and households|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WoPF9T4ZiWsC&pg=PA32|editor1-last=Philipp|editor1-first=Thomas|editor2-last=Haarmann|editor2-first=Ulrich|title=The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society|location=[[Cambridge]] and New York|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|series=Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization|pages=32–54|isbn=978-0-521-03306-0|access-date=4 April 2023|archive-date=4 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404201934/https://books.google.com/books?id=WoPF9T4ZiWsC&pg=PA32|url-status=live}}</ref> The "Mamluk/{{shy}}Ghulam Phe{{shy}}nom{{shy}}enon",<ref name="Freamon 2019" /> as [[David Ayalon]] dubbed the creation of the specific warrior class,<ref>{{cite book|first=David|last=Ayalon|author-link=David Ayalon|title=The Mamlūk military society|year=1979|publisher=Variorum Reprints|isbn=978-0-86078-049-6}}</ref> was of great political importance; for one thing, it endured for nearly 1,000 years, from the 9th century to the early 19th century.

Over time, Mamluks became a powerful military knightly class in various [[Muslim world|Muslim societies]] that were controlled by dynastic Arab rulers.{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/>}} Particularly in [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]],{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/>}} but also in the [[Ottoman Empire]], [[Levant]], [[Iraq|Mesopotamia]], and India, mamluks held political and military power.<ref name="Stowasser 1984" /> In some cases, they attained the rank of [[sultan]], while in others they held regional power as ''[[Emir|emirs]]'' or ''[[Bey|beys]]''.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Most notably, Mamluk factions seized the sultanate centered on [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]], and controlled it as the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]] (1250–1517).{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/>}} The Mamluk Sultanate famously defeated the [[Ilkhanate]] at the [[Battle of Ain Jalut]]. They had earlier fought the western European Christian [[Crusades|Crusaders]] in 1154–1169 and 1213–1221, effectively driving them out of Egypt and the Levant. [[Fall of Ruad|In 1302]] the Mamluk Sultanate formally expelled the last Crusaders from the Levant, ending the era of the Crusades.<ref name="Stowasser 1984" /><ref>{{cite web|last=Asbridge|first=Thomas|title=The Crusades Episode 3|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bqy7r/The_Crusades_Victory_and_Defeat/|publisher=BBC|access-date=5 February 2012|archive-date=3 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120203092957/http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01bqy7r/The_Crusades_Victory_and_Defeat|url-status=live}}</ref>

While Mamluks were purchased as property,{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="Stowasser 1984"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/>}} their status was above ordinary slaves, who were not allowed to carry weapons or perform certain tasks.{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/>}} In places such as Egypt, from the [[Ayyubid dynasty]] to the time of [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt]], mamluks were considered to be "true lords" and "true warriors", with social status above the general population in [[Egypt]] and the [[Levant]].<ref name="Stowasser 1984" /> In a sense, they were like [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|enslaved]] [[mercenaries]].{{refn|<ref name="Levanoni 2010"/><ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup"/><ref name="Britannica"/><ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Behrens-Abouseif, Doris 2008">Behrens-Abouseif, Doris. ''Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of Architecture and Its Culture''. New York: Macmillan, 2008.{{ISBN?}}{{page?|date=September 2024}}</ref>}}

== Overview ==
[[File:Ottoman_Mamluk_horseman_circa_1550.jpg|thumb|[[Mail and plate armour]] with full [[horse armor]] of an [[Ottoman army in the 15th–19th centuries|Ottoman]] Mamluk horseman (circa 1550), [[Musée de l'Armée]], Paris]]
[[File:Dupre-Mameluk.jpg|thumb|A [[Greek Muslims|Muslim Greek]] Mamluk portrayed by [[Louis Dupré (painter)|Louis Dupré]] (oil on canvas, 1825)]]
[[File:A_Mamluk_from_Aleppo.jpg|thumb|A Mamluk nobleman from [[Aleppo]] ([[Ottoman Syria]], 19th century)]]
Daniel Pipes argued that the first indication of the Mamluk military class was rooted in the practice of early [[Muslim|Muslims]] such as [[Zubayr ibn al-Awwam]] and [[Uthman|Uthman ibn Affan]] who, before Islam, owned many slaves and practiced [[Mawla]] (Islamic manumission of slaves).<ref name="Slave Soldiers and Islam The Genesis of a Military System2">{{harvnb|Pipes|1981|first1=Danie|pp=117–121}}</ref> The [[Zubayrids]] army under [[Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr]], son of Zubayr, used these freed slave retainers during the second civil war.<ref name="Slave Soldiers and Islam The Genesis of a Military System2" />

Meanwhile, historians agree that the massive implementation of a slave military class such as the Mamluks appears to have developed in [[Muslim world|Islamic societies]] beginning with the 9th-century [[Abbasid Caliphate]] based in [[Baghdad]], under the Abbasid caliph [[Al-Mu'tasim|al-Muʿtaṣim]].<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|title=Mamluk|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mamluk|date=11 February 2023|publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]]|location=[[Edinburgh]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160121153759/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Noahide-Laws|archive-date=21 January 2016|url-status=live|access-date=4 April 2023|quote='''Mamluk''', also spelled '''Mameluke''', [[slave soldier]], a member of [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|one of the armies of slaves]] established during the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid era]] that later won political control of [[Muslim world|several Muslim states]]. Under the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid sultanate]], Mamluk generals used their power to [[Mamluk Sultanate|establish a dynasty that ruled Egypt and Syria]] from 1250 to 1517. The name is derived from an Arabic word for slave. The use of Mamluks as a major component of Muslim armies became a distinct feature of [[History of Islam|Islamic civilization]] as early as the 9th century CE. The practice was begun in [[Baghdad]] by the ʿAbbasid caliph [[Al-Mu'tasim|al-Muʿtaṣim]] (833–842), and it soon spread throughout the Muslim world.}}</ref> Until the 1990s, it was widely believed that the earliest Mamluks were known as ''[[Ghilman]]'' or ''Ghulam''<ref name="Freamon 2019" /> (another broadly synonymous term for slaves){{#tag:ref|[[David Ayalon]] uses the term "Mamluk" to refer to military slaves in [[Egypt]] and [[Syria]], and "Ghulam" (sing. of "Ghilman") to refer to military slaves elsewhere in the [[Muslim world]]. For further informations, see:
* {{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Sourdel |author-first=Dominique |author-link=Dominique Sourdel |year=2012 |orig-date=1965 |title=G̲h̲ulām |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor4-link=Bernard Lewis |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor5-link=Charles Pellat |editor6-last=Schacht |editor6-first=J. |editor6-link=Joseph Schacht |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam#2nd edition, EI2|Encyclopaedia of Islam]]|edition =2nd |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=2 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0237 |isbn=978-90-04-07026-4}}
{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=Ayalon |author-first=David |author-link=David Ayalon |year=2012 |orig-date=1991 |title=Mamlūk |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor4-link=Bernard Lewis |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor5-link=Charles Pellat |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam#2nd edition, EI2|Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition]] |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |volume=6 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0657 |isbn=978-90-04-08112-3}}|group=Note}} and were bought by the Abbasid caliphs, especially al-Muʿtaṣim (833–842).

By the end of the 9th century, such slave warriors had become the dominant element in the military. Conflict between the Ghilman and the population of Baghdad prompted the caliph al-Muʿtaṣim to move his capital to the city of [[Samarra]], but this did not succeed in calming tensions. The caliph [[al-Mutawakkil]] was assassinated by some of these slave soldiers in 861 (see [[Anarchy at Samarra]]).<ref>D. Sourdel. "Ghulam" in the ''Encyclopedia of Islam''.</ref>

Since the early 21st century, historians have suggested that there was a distinction between the Mamluk system and the (earlier) Ghilman system, in [[Samarra]], which did not have specialized training and was based on pre-existing Central Asian hierarchies. Adult slaves and freemen both served as warriors in the Ghilman system. The Mamluk system developed later, after the return of the caliphate to Baghdad in the 870s. It included the systematic training of young slaves in military and martial skills.<ref>See E. de la Vaissière, ''Samarcande et Samarra'', 2007, and also M. Gordon, ''The Breaking of a Thousand Swords'', 2001.</ref> The Mamluk system is considered to have been a small-scale experiment of [[al-Muwaffaq]], to combine the slaves' efficiency as warriors with improved reliability. This recent interpretation seems to have been accepted.<ref>See for instance the review in ''Der Islam'' 2012 of de la Vaissière's book by Christopher Melchert: 'Still, de la Vaissière's dating of the Mamluk phenomenon herewith becomes the conventional wisdom'</ref>

After the fragmentation of the Abbasid Empire, military slaves, known as either Mamluks or Ghilman, were used throughout the Islamic world as the basis of military power. The [[Fatimid Caliphate]] (909–1171) of Egypt had forcibly taken adolescent male Armenians, [[Turkic peoples|Turks]], Sudanese, and [[Copts]] from their families to be trained as slave soldiers. They formed the bulk of their military, and the rulers selected prized slaves to serve in their administration.<ref name="Walker, Paul E. 2002" /> The powerful vizier [[Badr al-Jamali]], for example, was a Mamluk from [[Armenia]]. In Iran and Iraq, the [[Buyid dynasty]] used [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] slaves throughout their empire. The rebel [[al-Basasiri]] was a Mamluk who eventually ushered in [[Seljuq dynasty|Seljuq dynastic rule]] in Baghdad after attempting a failed rebellion.<!-- If the rebellion failed, how did he usher in Seljuq rule? --> When the later Abbasids regained military control over Iraq, they also relied on the Ghilman as their warriors.<ref>Eric Hanne.  ''Putting the Caliph in His Place''.</ref>

Under [[Saladin]] and the Ayyubids of Egypt, the power of the Mamluks increased and they claimed the sultanate in 1250, ruling as the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk Sultanate]].<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Throughout the Islamic world, rulers continued to use enslaved warriors until the 19th century. The [[Ottoman Empire]]'s [[devşirme]], or "gathering" of young slaves for the [[Janissaries]], lasted until the 17th century. Regimes based on Mamluk power thrived in such Ottoman provinces as the Levant and Egypt until the 19th century.

== Organization ==
[[File:Mameluke-in-Full-Armour.jpg|thumb|An Egyptian Mamluk warrior in full armor and armed with lance, shield, [[Mameluke sword]], [[yatagan]] and pistols.]]
Under the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo, Mamluks were purchased while still young males. They were raised in the barracks of the [[Cairo Citadel|Citadel of Cairo]]. Because of their isolated social status (no social ties or political affiliations) and their austere military training, they were trusted to be loyal to their rulers.<ref name="Behrens-Abouseif, Doris 2008" /> When their training was completed, they were discharged, but remained attached to the patron who had purchased them. Mamluks relied on the help of their patron for career advancement, and likewise the patron's reputation and power depended on his recruits. A Mamluk was "bound by a strong esprit de corps to his peers in the same household".<ref name="Behrens-Abouseif, Doris 2008" />

Mamluks lived within their garrisons and mainly spent their time with each other. Their entertainments included sporting events such as [[archery]] competitions and presentations of [[Horses in warfare|mounted combat]] skills at least once a week. The intensive and rigorous training of each new recruit helped ensure continuity of Mamluk practices.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

Sultans owned the largest number of mamluks, but lesser ''[[Amir|amirs]]'' also owned their own troops. Many Mamluks were appointed or promoted to high positions throughout the empire, including army command.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> At first their status was non-hereditary. Sons of Mamluks were prevented from following their father's role in life. However, over time, in places such as Egypt, the Mamluk forces became linked to existing power structures and gained significant amounts of influence on those powers.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

== Relations with homelands and families ==
In Egypt, studies have shown that mamluks from [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]] retained their [[Georgian language|native language]], were aware of the politics of the [[Caucasus|Caucasus region]], and received frequent visits from their parents or other relatives. In addition, they sent gifts to family members or gave money to build useful structures (a defensive tower, or even a church) in their native villages.<ref>"Relations of the Georgian Mamluks of Egypt with Their Homeland in the Last Decades of the Eighteenth Century." Daniel Crecelius and Gotcha Djaparidze. ''Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient'', Vol. 45, No. 3 (2002), pp. 320–341. {{ISSN|0022-4995}}.</ref>

== Egypt ==
{{Main|Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)}}

=== Early origins in Egypt ===
{{See also|Balkan slave trade}}
[[File:BattleOfHoms1299.JPG|thumb|The [[battle of Wadi al-Khazandar]], 1299. depicting [[Mongol]] archers and Mamluk cavalry; 14th-century illustration from a manuscript of the ''[[La Flor des estoires de la terre d'Orient|History of the Tatars]]''.]]
[[File:View_from_the_citadel.JPG|thumb|[[Mosque-Madrassa of Sultan Hassan]] (left) along with the later [[Al-Rifa'i Mosque]] (right) and two [[Ottoman architecture in Egypt|Ottoman mosques]] (foreground) in [[Cairo]]]]
The practice of [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|recruiting slaves as soldiers in the Muslim world]] and turning them into Mamluks began in [[Baghdad]] during the 9th century CE,<ref name="OxfordBusinessGroup" /> and was started by the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid caliph]] [[Al-Mu'tasim|al-Muʿtaṣim]].<ref name="Britannica" />

From the 900s through the 1200s, [[Egypt in the Middle Ages|medieval Egypt]] was controlled by dynastic foreign rulers, notably the [[Ikhshidid dynasty|Ikhshidids]], [[Fatimid dynasty|Fatimids]], and [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubids]]. Throughout these dynasties, thousands of Mamluk [[Slave-soldier|slave-soldiers]] and guards continued to be used and even took high offices.<ref name="Levanoni 2010" /> This increasing level of influence among the Mamluks worried the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubids]] in particular. Eventually, a Mamluk rose to become [[Sultan of Egypt]].<ref name="Britannica" /><ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref>David Nicole ''The Mamluks 1250–1570''</ref> The Mamluks in medieval Egypt were predominantly of [[Aq Qoyunlu|White Turkic]] and [[Circassians|Circassian]] origins,<ref name="Levanoni 2010" /><ref name="ReferenceA" /> and most of them descended from [[History of slavery in the Muslim world|enslaved]] Christians.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> After they were taken from their families, they became renegades.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Because Egyptian Mamluks were enslaved Christians, [[Islam and politics|Muslim rulers]] and [[Ulama|clerics]] did not believe they were true believers of Islam despite the fact that they were deployed for fighting in wars on behalf of several Islamic kingdoms as slave-soldiers.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

By 1200, [[Saladin]]'s brother [[Al-Adil|al-ʿĀdil]] succeeded in securing control over the whole empire by defeating and killing or imprisoning his brothers and nephews in turn. With each victory, al-ʿĀdil incorporated the defeated Mamluk retinue into his own. This process was repeated at al-ʿĀdil's death in 1218, and at his son [[Al-Kamil|al-Kāmil]]'s death in 1238. The Ayyubids became increasingly surrounded by the Mamluks, who acted semi-autonomously as regional ''[[Atabeg|atabegs]]''. The Mamluks increasingly became involved in the internal [[Court (royal)|court]] politics of the kingdom itself as various factions used them as allies.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

=== French attack and Mamluk takeover ===
{{Main|Bahri Mamluks}}

In June 1249, the [[Seventh Crusade]] under [[Louis IX of France]] landed in Egypt and took [[Damietta]]. After the Egyptian troops retreated at first, the sultan had more than 50 commanders hanged as [[Desertion|deserters]].

When the Egyptian sultan [[as-Salih Ayyub]] died, the power passed briefly to his son [[al-Muazzam Turanshah]] and then his favorite wife [[Shajar al-Durr]], a [[Turkish people|Turk]] according to most historians, while others say she was an [[Armenians|Armenian]]. She took control with Mamluk support and launched a counterattack against the French. Troops of the [[Bahri Mamluks|Bahri]] commander [[Baibars]] defeated Louis's troops. The king delayed his retreat too long and was captured by the Mamluks in March 1250. He agreed to pay a ransom of 400,000 ''livres tournois'' to gain release (150,000 livres were never paid).<ref>[[Thomas F. Madden|Madden, Thomas F.]] ''Crusades: The Illustrated History''. 1st ed. Ann Arbor: [[University of Michigan Press]], 2005. p. 159</ref>

Because of political pressure for a male leader, [[Shajar al-Durr|Shajar]] married the Mamluk commander, [[Aybak]]. He was assassinated in his bath. In the ensuing power struggle, [[Regent|viceregent]] [[Qutuz]], also a Mamluk, took over. He formally founded the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluke Sultanate]] and the [[Bahri Mamluks|Bahri mamluk dynasty]].

The first Mamluk dynasty was named Bahri after the name of one of the regiments, the ''Bahriyyah'' or River Island regiment. Its name referred to their center on [[Rhoda Island]] in the [[Nile]]. The regiment consisted mainly of [[Kipchaks]] and [[Cumans]].{{cn|date=April 2023}}
[[File:Bowl,_Syria,_1350s-1400s,_glass_gilded_and_enameled_-_Freer_Gallery_of_Art_-_DSC05255.JPG|left|thumb|Mamluk-Syrian glassware vessel from the 14th century; in the course of trade, the middle vase shown ended up in [[Yemen]] and then China.]]

=== Relationship with the Mongols ===
When the [[Mongol Empire]]'s troops of [[Hulagu Khan]] sacked [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|Baghdad in 1258]] and advanced towards Syria, the Mamluk emir [[Baibars]] left Damascus for [[Cairo]]. There he was welcomed by Sultan [[Qutuz]].<ref>[[Al-Maqrizi]], p. 509/vol. 1, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997.</ref> After taking Damascus, Hulagu demanded that Qutuz surrender Egypt. Qutuz had Hulagu's envoys killed and, with Baibars' help, mobilized his troops.

When [[Möngke Khan]] died in action against the [[Song dynasty#Southern Song, 1127–1279|Southern Song]], Hulagu pulled the majority of his forces out of Syria to attend the [[kurultai]] (funeral ceremony). He left his lieutenant, the Christian [[Kitbuqa]], in charge with a token force of about 18,000 men as a garrison.<ref>David Chambers, ''The Devil's Horsemen'', Atheneum, 1979. pp. 153–155</ref> The Mamluk army, led by Qutuz, drew the reduced [[Ilkhanate]] army into an ambush near the [[Orontes River]], routed them at the [[Battle of Ain Jalut]] in 1260, and captured and executed Kitbuqa.

After this great triumph, Qutuz was assassinated by conspiring Mamluks. It was widely said that Baibars, who seized power, had been involved in the assassination plot. In the following centuries, the Mamluks ruled discontinuously, with an average span of seven years.

The Mamluks defeated the Ilkhanids a second time in the [[First Battle of Homs]] and began to drive them back east. In the process they consolidated their power over Syria, fortified the area, and formed mail routes and diplomatic connections among the local princes. Baibars' troops attacked [[Acre, Israel#Arab rule and the Crusades|Acre]] in 1263, captured [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]] in 1265, and took [[Antioch]] in 1268.
[[File:Siege_of_Tripoli_Painting_(1289).jpg|thumb|Mamluks attacking at the [[Fall of Tripoli (1289)|Fall of Tripoli]] in 1289]]
Mamluks also defeated new Ilkhanate attacks in Syria in 1271 and 1281 (the [[Second Battle of Homs]]). They were defeated by the Ilkhanids and their Christian allies at the [[Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar]] in 1299. Soon after that the Mamluks defeated the Ilkhanate again in 1303/1304 and 1312. Finally, the Ilkhanids and the Mamluks signed a treaty of peace in 1323.

=== Burji dynasty ===
{{Main|Burji Mamluks}} By the late fourteenth century, the majority of the Mamluk ranks were made up of [[Circassians]] from the [[North Caucasus]] region, whose young males had been frequently captured for slavery.<ref name="GPG" /> In 1382 the [[Burji dynasty]] took over when [[Barquq]] was proclaimed sultan. The name "Burji" referred to their center at the [[citadel]] of [[Cairo]].

Barquq became an enemy of [[Timur]], who threatened to invade Syria. Timur invaded Syria, defeating the Mamluk army, and he sacked Aleppo and captured Damascus. The Ottoman sultan, [[Bayezid I]], then invaded Syria. After Timur's death in 1405, the Mamluk sultan [[an-Nasir Faraj]] regained control of Syria. Frequently facing rebellions by local [[Emir|emirs]], he was forced to abdicate in 1412. In 1421, Egypt was attacked by the [[Kingdom of Cyprus]], but the Egyptians forced the Cypriotes to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Egyptian sultan [[Barsbay]]. During Barsbay's reign, Egypt's population became greatly reduced from what it had been a few centuries before; it had one-fifth the number of towns.<!-- Why? disease, famine, warfare? -->[[Al-Ashraf Sayf-ad-Din Inal|Al-Ashraf]] came to power in 1453. He had friendly relations with the Ottoman Empire, which captured [[Constantinople]] later that year, causing great rejoicings in Muslim Egypt. However, under the reign of [[Sayf ad-Din Khushqadam|Khushqadam]], Egypt began a struggle with the Ottoman sultanate. In 1467, sultan [[Qaitbay]] offended the Ottoman sultan [[Bayezid II]], whose brother was poisoned. Bayezid II seized [[Adana]], [[Tarsus, Mersin|Tarsus]] and other places within Egyptian territory, but was eventually defeated. Qaitbay also tried to help the [[Islam in Spain|Muslims in Spain]], who were suffering after the Catholic [[Reconquista]], by threatening the Christians in Syria, but he had little effect in Spain. He died in 1496, several hundred thousand ducats in debt to the great trading families of the [[Republic of Venice]].

=== Portuguese–Mamluk Wars ===
[[Vasco da Gama]] in 1497 sailed around the [[Cape of Good Hope]] and pushed his way east across the Indian Ocean to the shores of [[Zamorin|Malabar]] and [[Kozhikode]]. There he [[Portuguese-Mamluk naval war|attacked the fleets]] that carried freight and Muslim pilgrims from India to the [[Red Sea]], and struck terror into the potentates all around. Various engagements took place. Cairo's Mamluk sultan [[Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri]] was affronted at the attacks around the Red Sea, the loss of tolls and traffic, the indignities to which [[Mecca]] and its port were subjected, and above all for losing one of his ships. He vowed vengeance upon Portugal, first sending monks from the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]] as envoys, he threatened [[Pope Julius II]] that if he did not check [[Manuel I of Portugal]] in his depredations on the Indian Sea, he would destroy all Christian holy places.<ref>Palmira Johnson Brummett, [https://books.google.com/books?id=bTnK1csz0swC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA113 ''Ottoman Seapower and Levantine Diplomacy in the Age of Discovery''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405223409/https://books.google.com/books?id=bTnK1csz0swC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA113|date=5 April 2023}}, SUNY Press, 1994, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1701-0}}</ref>

The rulers of [[Gujarat]] in India and [[Yemen]] also turned for help to the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt. They wanted a fleet to be armed in the Red Sea that could protect their important trading sea routes from Portuguese attacks. [[Jeddah]] was soon fortified as a harbor of refuge so [[Arabia]] and the Red Sea were protected. But the fleets in the Indian Ocean were still at the mercy of the enemy.

The last Mamluk sultan, Al-Ghawri, fitted out a fleet of 50 vessels. As Mamluks had little expertise in naval warfare, he sought help from the Ottomans to develop this naval enterprise.<ref>Andrew James McGregor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=QZpWx-dgbYcC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA20 ''A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404171644/https://books.google.com/books?id=QZpWx-dgbYcC&dq=Mamluk+pope+portuguese&pg=PA20|date=4 April 2023}}, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006 {{ISBN|978-0-275-98601-8}}</ref> In 1508 at the [[Battle of Chaul (1508)|Battle of Chaul]], the Mamluk fleet defeated the Portuguese viceroy's son [[Lourenço de Almeida]].

But, in the following year, the Portuguese won the [[Battle of Diu (1509)|Battle of Diu]] and wrested the port city of [[Diu, India|Diu]] from the [[Gujarat Sultanate]]. Some years after, [[Afonso de Albuquerque]] attacked [[Siege of Aden|Aden]], and Egyptian troops suffered disaster from the Portuguese in Yemen. Al-Ghawri fitted out a new fleet to punish the enemy and protect the Indian trade. Before it could exert much power, Egypt had lost its sovereignty. The Ottoman Empire took over Egypt and the Red Sea, together with [[Mecca]] and all its Arabian interests.

=== Ottomans and the end of the Mamluk Sultanate ===
The Ottoman Sultan [[Bayezid II]] was engaged in warfare in southern Europe when a new era of hostility with Egypt began in 1501. It arose out of the relations with the [[Safavid dynasty]] in [[Persia]]. Shah [[Ismail I]] sent an embassy to the [[Republic of Venice]] via Syria, inviting Venice to ally with Persia and recover its territory taken by the Ottomans. [[Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri|Mameluk Egyptian sultan Al-Ghawri]] was charged by [[Selim I]] with giving the Persian envoys passage through Syria on their way to Venice and harboring refugees. To appease him, Al-Ghawri placed in confinement the Venetian merchants then in Syria and Egypt, but after a year released them.<ref name="James Waterson, The Mamluks">James Waterson, "The Mamluks"</ref>

After the [[Battle of Chaldiran]] in 1514, Selim attacked the bey of [[Dulkadirids]], as Egypt's vassal had stood aloof, and sent his head to Al-Ghawri. Now secure against Persia, in 1516 he formed a great army for the conquest of Egypt, but gave out that he intended further attacks on Persia.

In 1515, Selim began the war which led to the conquest of Egypt and its dependencies. Mamluk cavalry proved no match for the Ottoman artillery and [[Janissaries|Janissary infantry]]. On 24 August 1516, at the [[Battle of Marj Dabiq]], Sultan Al-Ghawri was killed. Syria passed into Turkish possession, an event welcomed in many places as it was seen as deliverance from the Mameluks.<ref name="James Waterson, The Mamluks" />

The Mamluk Sultanate survived in Egypt until 1517, when Selim captured Cairo on 20 January. Although not in the same form as under the Sultanate, the Ottoman Empire retained the Mamluks as an Egyptian ruling class and the Mamluks and the Burji family succeeded in regaining much of their influence, but as vassals of the Ottomans.<ref name="James Waterson, The Mamluks" /><ref>Thomas Philipp, Ulrich Haarmann (1998). The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society</ref>

=== Independence from the Ottomans ===
{{Main|History of Ottoman Egypt}}
[[File:Carle_Vernet_Mameluck_en_Attaque.jpg|thumb|Charge of the Mamluk [[cavalry]] by [[Carle Vernet]]]]
In 1768, [[Ali Bey Al-Kabir]] declared independence from the Ottomans. However, the Ottomans crushed the movement and retained their position after his defeat. By this time new slave recruits were introduced from Georgia in the Caucasus.

==== Napoleon invades ====
{{Main|French campaign in Egypt and Syria}}
[[File:Myrbach-Charge_of_the_Mamluks.jpg|left|thumb|Charge of the Mamluks during the [[Battle of Austerlitz]] by [[Felician Myrbach]]. An elite body of cavalry whom the French encountered during their [[French Campaign in Egypt and Syria|campaign in Egypt in 1798]], the Mamluks could trace their lineage of service to the Ottomans back to the mid-13th century.]]
In 1798, the ruling [[French Directory|Directory]] of the [[French First Republic|Republic of France]] authorised a campaign in "The Orient" to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain's access to India. To this end, [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] led an [[Armée d'Orient (1798)|Armée d'Orient]] to Egypt.

The French defeated a Mamluk army in the [[Battle of the Pyramids]] and drove the survivors out to [[Upper Egypt]]. The Mamluks relied on massed cavalry charges, changed only by the addition of [[Musket|muskets]]. The French infantry [[Infantry square|formed square]] and held firm. Despite multiple victories and an initially successful expedition into Syria, mounting conflict in Europe and the earlier defeat of the supporting French fleet by the British [[Royal Navy]] at the [[Battle of the Nile]] decided the issue.

On 14 September 1799, General [[Jean-Baptiste Kléber]] established a mounted company of Mamluk auxiliaries and Syrian [[Janissaries]] from Turkish troops captured at the [[Siege of Acre (1799)|siege of Acre]]. [[Jacques-François Menou|Menou]] reorganized the company on 7 July 1800, forming three companies of 100 men each and renaming it the "Mamluks de la République". In 1801 General [[Jean Rapp]] was sent to Marseille to organize a squadron of 250 Mamluks. On 7 January 1802 the previous order was canceled and the squadron reduced to 150 men. The list of effectives on 21 April 1802 reveals three officers and 155 of other rank. By decree of 25 December 1803 the Mamluks were organized into a company attached to the [[Chasseurs|Chasseurs-à-Cheval]] of the [[Imperial Guard (Napoleon I)|Imperial Guard]] (see [[Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard]]).
[[File:El_dos_de_mayo_de_1808_en_Madrid_rdit.jpg|thumb|''[[The Second of May 1808]]'': the charge of the Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard in [[Madrid]], by [[Francisco de Goya]]]]
Napoleon left with his personal guard in late 1799. His successor in Egypt, General [[Jean-Baptiste Kléber]], was assassinated on 14 June 1800. Command of the Army in Egypt fell to [[Jacques-François Menou]]. Isolated and out of supplies, Menou surrendered to the British in 1801.

=== After Napoleon ===
After the departure of French troops in 1801 the Mamluks continued their struggle for independence; this time against the Ottoman Empire. In 1803, Mamluk leaders [[Ibrahim Bey (Mamluk)|Ibrahim Bey]] and [[Osman Bey al-Bardisi]] wrote to the [[Russian Empire|Russian]] consul-general, asking him to mediate with the Sultan to allow them to negotiate for a cease-fire, and a return to their homeland Georgia. The Russian ambassador in [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] refused however to intervene, because of nationalist unrest in Georgia that might have been encouraged by a Mamluk return.<ref name="James Waterson, The Mamluks" />

In 1805, the population of Cairo rebelled. This provided a chance for the Mamluks to seize power, but internal friction prevented them from exploiting this opportunity. In 1806, the Mamluks defeated the Turkish forces in several clashes. in June the rival parties concluded an agreement by which [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]], (appointed as governor of Egypt on 26 March 1806), was to be removed and authority returned to the Mamluks. However, they were again unable to capitalize on this opportunity due to discord between factions. Muhammad Ali retained his authority.<ref name="ReferenceA" />

=== End of power in Egypt ===
[[File:Mamluks,_Horace_Vernet.jpg|thumb|[[Muhammad Ali's seizure of power#Defeat of the Mamluks|Massacre of the Mamelukes]] at the Cairo citadel in 1811.]]
[[File:Massacre_of_the_Mamelukes_at_Cairo.png|thumb|''[[Massacre of the Mamelukes]]'' by [[Horace Vernet]], 1819]]
Muhammad Ali knew that he would have to deal with the Mamluks if he wanted to control Egypt. They were still the feudal owners of Egypt and their land was still the source of wealth and power. However, the economic strain of sustaining the military manpower necessary to defend the Mamluks's system from the Europeans and Turks would eventually weaken them to the point of collapse.<ref>Abu-Lughod, Janet L. ''Before European Hegemony The World System A.D. 1250–1350''. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. 213 pp.</ref>

On 1 March 1811, Muhammad Ali invited all of the leading Mamluks to his palace to celebrate the declaration of war against the Wahhabis in Arabia. Between 600 and 700 Mamluks paraded for this purpose in [[Cairo]]. Muhammad Ali's forces killed almost all of these near the Al-Azab gates in a narrow road down from Mukatam Hill. This ambush came to be known as the [[Muhammad Ali's seizure of power|Massacre of the Citadel]]. According to contemporary reports, only one Mamluk, whose name is given variously as Amim (also Amyn), or Heshjukur (a [[Besleney]]), survived when he forced his horse to leap from the walls of the citadel.<ref>For the use of the name Amim, see Giovanni Finati, ''Narrative of the Life and Adventure of Giovanni Finati native of Ferrara'', 1830; for Heshjukur, Mustafa Mahir, ''Marks of the Caucasian Tribes and Some Stories and Notable Events Related to Their Leaders'', Boulaq, Cairo, 1892</ref>

During the following week an estimated 3,000 Mamluks and their relatives were killed throughout Egypt, by Muhammad's regular troops. In the citadel of Cairo alone more than 1,000 Mamluks died.

Despite Muhammad Ali's destruction of the Mamluks in Egypt, a party of them escaped and fled south into what is now [[Sudan]]. In 1811, these Mamluks established a state at [[Dunqulah]] in the [[Kingdom of Sennar|Sennar]] as a base for their slave trading. In 1820, the sultan of Sennar informed Muhammad Ali that he was unable to comply with a demand to expel the Mamluks. In response, the [[Pasha]] sent 4,000 troops to invade Sudan, clear it of Mamluks, and reclaim it for Egypt. The Pasha's forces received the submission of the Kashif, dispersed the Dunqulah Mamluks, conquered [[Kordofan]], and accepted Sennar's surrender from the last [[Funj]] sultan, [[Badi VII]].

== Impact ==
According to Eric Chaney and Lisa Blades, the reliance on mamluks by Muslim rulers had a profound impact on the Arab world's political development. They argue that, because European rulers had to rely on local elites for military forces, lords and bourgeois acquired the necessary bargaining power to push for representative government. Muslim rulers did not face the same pressures partly because the Mamluks allowed the Sultans to bypass local elites.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Blaydes|first1=Lisa|last2=Chaney|first2=Eric|date=2013|title=The Feudal Revolution and Europe's Rise: Political Divergence of the Christian West and the Muslim World before 1500 CE|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/feudal-revolution-and-europes-rise-political-divergence-of-the-christian-west-and-the-muslim-world-before-1500-ce/EEF59BAF19A7D08BC254DBB35CBFB026|journal=American Political Science Review|language=en|volume=107|issue=1|pages=16–34|doi=10.1017/S0003055412000561|s2cid=33455840|issn=0003-0554|access-date=23 December 2019|archive-date=20 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420063016/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/feudal-revolution-and-europes-rise-political-divergence-of-the-christian-west-and-the-muslim-world-before-1500-ce/EEF59BAF19A7D08BC254DBB35CBFB026|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Other regimes ==
There were various places in which Mamluks gained political or military power as a self-replicating military community. Some examples of this can be seen in the Tripolitania region of Libya, where Mamluk governors instated their various policies under the Ottoman Empire until October 18, 1912, when Italian forces took over the region in the [[Italo-Turkish War]].

=== South Asia ===

==== India ====
{{Main|Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi)}} In 1206, the Mamluk commander of the Muslim forces in the Indian subcontinent, [[Qutb al-Din Aibak]], proclaimed himself Sultan, creating the [[Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi)|Mamluk Sultanate in Delhi]] which lasted until 1290. {{Further|Delhi Sultanate}}

=== West Asia ===

==== Iraq ====
{{Main|Mamluk dynasty of Iraq}} Mamluk corps were first introduced in [[Iraq]] by [[Hassan Pasha (Mamluk)|Hassan Pasha]] of [[Baghdad]] in 1702. From 1747 to 1831 Iraq was ruled, with short intermissions, by Mamluk officers of [[Georgian people|Georgian]] origin<ref name="bbs" /><ref>''The Arab Lands under Ottoman Rule: 1516–1800''. Jane Hathaway, Karl Barbir. Person Education Ltd., 2008, p. 96. {{ISBN|978-0-582-41899-8}}.</ref> who succeeded in asserting autonomy from the [[Sublime Porte]], suppressed tribal revolts, curbed the power of the Janissaries, restored order, and introduced a program of modernization of the economy and the military. In 1831 the Ottomans overthrew [[Dawud Pasha of Baghdad|Dawud Pasha]], the last Mamluk ruler, and imposed direct control over Iraq.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-22897 "Iraq"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071216095521/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-22897|date=16 December 2007}} ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Online. Retrieved 15 October 2007</ref>

== Rulers ==

=== In Egypt ===
{{main|List of Mamluk sultans}}

==== Bahri Dynasty ====

* 1250 [[Shajar al-Durr]] ([[al-Salih Ayyub]]'s Widow de facto ruler of Egypt)
* 1250 [[Aybak]]
* 1257 [[Al-Mansur Ali]]
* 1259 [[Qutuz]]
* 1260 [[Baibars]]
* 1277 [[Al-Said Barakah]]
* 1280 [[Solamish]]
* 1280 [[Qalawun]]
* 1290 [[al-Ashraf Salah-ad-Din Khalil]]
* 1294 [[al-Nasir Muhammad]] ''first reign''
* 1295 [[al-Adil Kitbugha]]
* 1297 [[Lajin]]
* 1299 [[al-Nasir Muhammad]] ''second reign''
* 1309 [[al-Muzaffar Rukn-ad-Din Baybars II al-Jashankir]]
* 1310 [[al-Nasir Muhammad]] ''third reign''
* 1340 [[Saif ad-Din Abu-Bakr]]
* 1341 [[Kujuk]]
* 1342 [[An-Nasir Ahmad, Sultan of Egypt]]
* 1342 [[As-Salih Ismail, Sultan of Egypt]]
* 1345 [[Al-Kamil Sha'ban]]
* 1346 [[Al-Muzaffar Hajji]]
* 1347 [[al-Nasir Badr-ad-Din Abu al-Ma'aly al-Hassan]] ''first reign''
* 1351 [[al-Salih Salah-ad-Din Ibn Muhammad]]
* 1354 [[al-Nasir Badr-ad-Din Abu al-Ma'aly al-Hassan]] ''second reign''
* 1361 [[al-Mansur Salah-ad-Din Mohamed Ibn Hajji]]
* 1363 [[al-Ashraf Zein al-Din Abu al-Ma'ali ibn Shaban]]
* 1376 [[al-Mansur Ala-ad-Din Ali Ibn al-Ashraf Shaban]]
* 1382 [[al-Salih Salah Zein al-Din Hajji II]] ''first reign''

[[File:AMamelukeonhorsebackwithaPitonorfoo.jpg|thumb|A Mamluk on horseback, with a Piéton or foot-soldier mamluk and a [[Bedouin]] soldier, 1804]]

==== Burji Dynasty ====

* 1382 [[Barquq]], ''first reign''
* 1389 [[Hajji II]] ''second reign'' (with honorific title al-Muzaffar or al-Mansur) – Temporary Bahri rule
* 1390 [[Barquq]], ''Second reign'' – Burji rule re-established
* 1399 [[An-Nasir Naseer ad-Din Faraj]]
* 1405 [[Izz ad-Din Abd al-Aziz|Al-Mansoor Azzaddin Abdal Aziz]]
* 1405 [[An-Nasir Naseer ad-Din Faraj]] (second time)
* 1412 [[Al-Musta'in (Cairo)|al-Musta'in]] ([[Abbasid Caliph]], proclaimed as Sultan)
* 1412 [[Shaykh al-Mahmudi|Al-Muayad Sayf ad-Din Shaykh]]
* 1421 [[Al-Muzaffar Ahmad]]
* 1421 [[Sayf ad-Din Tatar|Az-Zahir Saif ad-Din Tatar]]
* 1421 [[An-Nasir ad-Din Muhammad|As-Salih Nasir ad-Din Muhammad]]
* 1422 [[Barsbay]]
* 1438 [[Al-Aziz Jamal ad-Din Yusuf]]
* 1438 [[Jaqmaq]]
* 1453 [[Al-Mansur Fakhr-ad-Din Uthman|Al-Mansoor Fakhr ad-Din Osman]]
* 1453 [[Sayf ad-Din Inal|Al-Ashraf Sayf ad-Din Enal]]
* 1461 [[Al-Mu'ayyad Shihab al-Din Ahmad|Al-Muayad Shihab ad-Din Ahmad]]
* 1461 [[Sayf ad-Din Khushqadam|Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Khushkadam]]
* 1467 [[Sayf ad-Din Bilbay|Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Bilbay]]
* 1468 [[Az-Zahir Temurbougha]]
* 1468 [[Qaitbay]]
* 1496 [[An-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qaitbay|al-Nasir Abu al-Sa'adat Muhammad bin Qait Bay]] ''first reign''
* 1497 {{ill|Qansuh Khumsama'ah|arz|قانصوه خمسمئه}}
* 1497 [[An-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qaitbay|al-Nasir Abu al-Sa'adat Muhammad bin Qait Bay]] ''second reign''
* 1498 [[Abu Sa'id Qansuh|Qansuh Al-Ashrafi]]
* 1500 Al-Bilal Ayub
* 1500 [[Al-Ashraf Janbalat]]
* 1501 [[Tuman bay I]]
* 1501 [[Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri]]
* 1517 [[Tuman bay II]]

=== In India ===
[[File:QutubuddinAibakMausoleum.JPG|thumb|The mausoleum of [[Qutb al-Din Aibak]] in [[Anarkali]], [[Lahore]], Pakistan.]]

* 1206 [[Qutb-ud-din Aybak]], founded [[Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi)|Mamluk Sultanate, Delhi]]
* 1210 [[Aram Shah]]
* 1211 [[Shams ud din Iltutmish]]. Son-in-law of Qutb-ud-din Aybak.
* 1236 [[Rukn ud din Firuz]]. Son of Iltutmish.
* 1236 [[Razia Sultana]]. Daughter of Iltutmish.
* 1240 [[Muiz ud din Bahram]]. Son of Iltutmish.
* 1242 [[Ala ud din Masud]]. Son of Rukn ud din.
* 1246 [[Nasiruddin Mahmud (grandson of Iltutmish)|Nasiruddin Mahmud]]. Grandson of Iltutmish.
* 1266 [[Ghiyas ud din Balban]]. Ex-slave, son-in-law of Iltutmish.
* 1286 [[Muiz ud din Qaiqabad]]. Grandson of Balban and Nasiruddin.
* 1290 [[Kayumars of Delhi|Kayumars]]. Son of Muiz ud din.

=== In Iraq ===

* 1704 [[Hassan Pasha (Mamluk)|Hassan Pasha]]
* 1723 [[Ahmad Pasha of Baghdad|Ahmad Pasha]], son of Hasan
* 1749 [[Sulayman Abu Layla Pasha]], son-in-law of Ahmad
* 1762 [[Omar Pasha of Baghdad|Omar Pasha]], son of Ahmad
* 1780 [[Sulayman Pasha the Great]], son of Omar
* 1802 [[Ali Pasha of Baghdad|Ali Pasha]], son of Omar
* 1807 [[Sulayman Pasha the Little]], son of Sulayman Great
* 1813 [[Said Pasha of Baghdad|Said Pasha]], son of Sulayman Great
* 1816 [[Dawud Pasha of Baghdad|Dawud Pasha]] (1816–1831)

=== In Acre ===

* 1805 [[Sulayman Pasha al-Adil]], ''mamluk'' of [[Jezzar Pasha]]
* 1819 [[Abdullah Pasha ibn Ali]] (1819–1831)

== Office titles and terminology ==
{{unreferenced section|date=October 2013}} The following terms originally come from either [[Turkish language|Turkish]] or [[Ottoman Turkish language]] (the latter composed of Turkish, Arabic, and Persian words and grammar structures).
{| class="wikitable"
!English
!Arabic
!Notes
|-
|''Alama Sultaniya''
|{{lang|ar|علامة سلطانية}}
|The mark or signature of the Sultan put on his decrees, letters and documents.
|-
|''Al-Nafir al-Am''
|{{lang|ar|النفير العام}}
|General emergency declared during war
|-
|''Amir''
|{{lang|ar|أمير}}
|Prince
|-
|''Amir Akhur''
|{{lang|ar|أمير آخور}}
|supervisor of the royal stable (from Persian {{lang|fa|آخور}} meaning stable)
|-
|''Amir Majlis''
|{{lang|ar|أمير مجلس}}
|Guard of Sultan's seat and bed
|-
|''Atabek''
|{{lang|ar|أتابك}}
|Commander in chief (literally "father-lord," originally meaning an appointed step-father for a non-Mamluk minor prince)
|-
|-
|''Astadar''
|{{lang|ar|أستادار}}
|Chief of the royal servants
|-
|''Barid Jawi''
|{{lang|ar|بريد جوى}}
|Airmail (mail sent by carrier-pigeons, amplified by Sultan [[Baibars]])
|-
|''Bayt al-Mal''
|{{lang|ar|بيت المال}}
|treasury
|-
|''Cheshmeh''
|{{lang|ar|ششمه}}
|A pool of water, or fountain (literally "eye"), from Persian {{lang|fa|[[wikt:چشمه|چشمه]]}}
|-
|''[[Dawadar]]''
|{{lang|ar|دوادار}}
|Holder of Sultan's ink bottle (from Persian {{lang|fa|دوات‌دار}} meaning bearer of the ink bottle)
|-
|''Fondok''
|{{lang|ar|فندق}}
|Hotel (some famous hotels in Cairo during the Mamluk era were ''Dar al-Tofah, Fondok Bilal'' and ''Fondok al-Salih'')
|-
|''Hajib''
|{{lang|ar|حاجب}}
|Doorkeeper of sultan's court
|-
|''Iqta''
|{{lang|ar|إقطاع}}
|Revenue from land allotment
|-
|''Jamkiya''
|{{lang|ar|جامكية}}
|Salary paid to a Mamluk
|-
|''Jashnakir''
|{{lang|ar|جاشنكير}}
|Food taster of the sultan (to assure his beer was not poisoned)
|-
|''Jomdar''
|{{lang|ar|جمدار}}
|An official at the department of the Sultan's clothing (from Persian {{lang|fa|جامه‌دار}}, meaning keeper of cloths)
|-
|''Kafel al-mamalek al-sharifah al-islamiya al-amir al-amri''
|{{lang|ar|كافل الممالك الشريفة الاسلامية الأمير الأمرى}}
|Title of the Vice-sultan (Guardian of the Prince of Command [lit. Commander-in-command] of the Dignified Islamic Kingdoms)
|-
|''Khan''
|{{lang|ar|خان}}
|A store that specialized in selling a certain commodity
|-
|''Khaskiya''
|{{lang|ar|خاصكية}}
|Courtiers of the sultan and most trusted royal mamluks who functioned as the Sultan's bodyguards/ A privileged group around a prominent Amir (from Persian {{lang|fa|خاصگیان}}, meaning close associates)
|-
|''Khastakhaneh''
|{{lang|ar|خاصتاخانة}}
|Hospital (from Ottoman Turkish {{lang|ota|[[wikt:خسته‌خانه|خسته‌خانه]]}}, from Persian)
|-
|''Khond''
|{{lang|ar|خند}}
|Wife of the sultan
|-
|''Khushdashiya''
|{{lang|ar|خشداشية}}
|Mamluks belonging to the same Amir or Sultan.
|-
|''Mahkamat al-Mazalim''
|{{lang|ar|محكمة المظالم}}
|Court of complaint. A court that heard cases of complaints of people against state officials. This court was headed by the sultan himself.
|-
|''Mamalik Kitabeya''
|{{lang|ar|مماليك كتابية}}
|Mamluks still attending training classes and who still live at the Tebaq (campus)
|-
|''Mamalik Sultaneya''
|{{lang|ar|مماليك سلطانية}}
|Mamluks of the sultan; to distinguish from the Mamluks of the Amirs (princes)
|-
|''Modwarat al-Sultan''
|{{lang|ar|مدورة السلطان}}
|Sultan's tent which he used during travel.
|-
|''Mohtaseb''
|{{lang|ar|محتسب}}
|Controller of markets, public works and local affairs.
|-
|''Morqadar''
|{{lang|ar|مرقدار}}
|Works in the Royal Kitchen (from Persian {{lang|fa|مرغ‌دار}} meaning one responsible for the fowl)
|-
|''Mushrif''
|{{lang|ar|مشرف}}
|Supervisor of the Royal Kitchen
|-
|''Na'ib Al-Sultan''
|{{lang|ar|نائب السلطان}}
|Vice-sultan
|-
|''Qa'at al-insha'a''
|{{lang|ar|قاعة الإنشاء}}
|Chancery hall
|-
|''Qadi al-Qoda''
|{{lang|ar|قاضى القضاة}}
|Chief justice
|-
|''Qalat al-Jabal''
|{{lang|ar|قلعة الجبل}}
|Citadel of the Mountain (the abode and court of the sultan in Cairo)
|-
|''Qaranisa''
|{{lang|ar|قرانصة}}
|Mamluks who moved to the service of a new Sultan or from the service of an Amir to a sultan.
|-
|''Qussad''
|{{lang|ar|قصاد}}
|Secret couriers and agents who kept the sultan informed
|-
|''Ostaz''
|{{lang|ar|أستاذ}}
|Benefactor of Mamluks (the Sultan or the Emir) (from Persian استاد)
|-
|''Rank''
|{{lang|ar|رنك}}
|An emblem that distinguished the rank and position of a Mamluk (probably from Persian {{lang|fa|[[wikt:رنگ|رنگ]]}} meaning color)
|-
|''Sanjaqi''
|{{lang|ar|سنجاقى}}
|A standard-bearer of the Sultan.
|-
|''Sharabkhana''
|{{lang|ar|شرابخانة}}
|Storehouse for drinks, medicines and glass-wares of the sultan. (from Persian {{lang|fa|شراب‌خانه}} meaning wine cellar)
|-
|''Silihdar''
|{{lang|ar|سلحدار}}
|Arm-Bearer (from Arabic {{lang|ar|سلاح}} + Persian {{lang|fa|دار}}, meaning arm-bearer)
|-
|''Tabalkhana''
|{{lang|ar|طبلخانه}}
|The amir responsible for the Mamluk military band, from Persian {{lang|fa|طبل‌خانه}}
|-
|''Tashrif''
|{{lang|ar|تشريف}}
|Head-covering worn by a Mamluk during the ceremony of inauguration to the position of Amir.
|-
|''Tawashi''
|{{lang|ar|طواشى}}
|A [[Eunuch (court official)|Eunuch]] responsible for serving the wives of the sultan and supervising new Mamluks. Mamluk writers seem not to have consulted the eunuchs themselves about "their origins."<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Marmon|first1=Shaun Elizabeth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHbmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA32|title=Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society|last2=Marmon|first2=Assistant Professor of Religion Shaun|date=1995|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-507101-6|pages=32|language=en|access-date=25 December 2020|archive-date=2 January 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240102092201/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZHbmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA32#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
|''Tebaq''
|{{lang|ar|طباق}}
|Campus of the Mamluks at the citadel of the mountain
|-
|''Tishtkhana''
|{{lang|ar|طشتخانة}}
|Storehouse used for the laundry of the sultan (from Persian {{lang|fa|تشت‌خانه}}, meaning tub room)
|-
|''Wali''
|{{lang|ar|والى}}
|viceroy
|-
|''Yuq''
|{{lang|ar|يوق}}
|A large linen closet used in every mamluk home, which stored pillows and sheets. (Related to the present Crimean Tatar word Yuqa, "to sleep". In modern Turkish: Yüklük.)
|}

== Gallery ==
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Mamluk.jpg|Portrait of a Mamluk, 1779
File:Mourad_bey.jpg|[[Murad Bey]], Circassian Mamluk chieftain and [[cavalry]] commander, 1800
File:Mamluke.jpg|A Mamluk cavalryman, drawing by [[Carle Vernet]], 1810
File:El_dos_de_mayo_de_1808_en_Madrid.jpg|''[[The Second of May 1808|The Second of May 1808: The Charge of the Mamluks]]'' by [[Francisco de Goya]] (1814)
File:Le_Mameluke_Roustam_by_Jacques_Nicolas_Paillot_de_Montabert_1806.jpg|Armenian Mamluk [[Roustam Raza]] was [[Napoleon]]'s personal bodyguard; portrait by [[Jacques-Nicolas Paillot de Montabert]] (1806)
File:62emeMarmaluke.jpg|Soldiers of Napoleon's 62ème régiment de ligne and a Mamluk ([[historical reenactment]])
File:USMC_Marmeluke.JPG|Today's [[U.S. Marine Corps]] officers' [[Mameluke sword]] resembles those used by the Mamluks
</gallery>

== Dynasties founded by Mamluks ==

* [[Tulunids]] (868–905)
* [[Ikhshidids]] (935–969)
* [[Ghaznavids]] (977–1186)
* [[Khwarazmian dynasty]] (1077–1231)
* [[Mamluk dynasty (Delhi)]] (1206–1290)
* [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)]] (1250–1517)
** [[Bahri dynasty]] (1250–1382)
** [[Burji dynasty]] (1382–1517)
* [[Mamluk dynasty (Iraq)]] (1704–1831)

== See also ==

* [[Black Guard]]
* [[Janissary]]
* [[Jerusalem in the Mamluk period]]
* [[Mamluk carpets]]
* [[Mamluk architecture]]
* [[Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard]]
* [[Saqaliba]]
* [[Sultan of Egypt]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==

* {{cite book|author=Abu-Lughod, Janet L.|title=Before European hegemony: the world system A.D. 1250–1350|year=1991|publisher=Oxford University Press US|isbn=978-0-19-506774-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/beforeeuropeanhe00abul_1}}
* Allouche, A. (1994). ''Mamluk Economics: A Study and Translation of Al-Maqrizi's Ighathat.'' Salt Lake City
* {{cite book|last=Amitai|first=Reuven|year=2017|chapter=Post-Crusader Acre in Light of a Mamluk Inscription and a Fatwā Document from Damascus|editor-last=Ben-Assat|editor-first=Yuval|title=Developing Perspectives in Mamluk History: Essays in Honor of Amalia Levanoni|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|series=Islamic History and Civilization|volume=143|pages=333–351|doi=10.1163/9789004345058_017|isbn=978-90-04-34046-6|s2cid=193093583}}
* {{cite book|author=Amitai, Reuven|title=Mongols and Mamluks: the Mamluk-Īlkhānid War, 1260–1281|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dIaFbxD64nUC|access-date=20 June 2011|year=1995|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-46226-6}}{{Dead link|date=October 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}
* Blaydes, Lisa, and Eric Chaney. "The feudal revolution and Europe's rise: Political divergence of the Christian west and the Muslim world before 1500 CE." ''American Political Science Review'' 107.1 (2013): 16–34. [http://pscourses.ucsd.edu/ps200b/Blaydes%20&%20CHaney%20The%20Feudal%20Revolution%20and%20Europe%E2%80%99s%20Rise.pdf online]
* Blaydes, Lisa. "Mamluks, Property Rights, and Economic Development: Lessons from Medieval Egypt." ''Politics & Society'' 47.3 (2019): 395–424  [https://blaydes.people.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj1961/f/land1.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324015121/https://blaydes.people.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj1961/f/land1.pdf|date=24 March 2020}}.
* Borer, Mary Cathcart. ''What Became of the Mamelukes?'' (Pergamon Press, 1969)
* {{cite book|editor=Conermann, Stephan|editor2=Gül Şen|title=The Mamluk-Ottoman Transition. Continuity and Change in Egypt and Bilād al-Shām in the Sixteenth Century|url=http://www.v-r.de/de/the_mamluk_ottoman_transition/t-0/1087084/|year=2017|publisher=Bonn University Press at V&R unipress}}
* Fay, Mary Ann. "Women and waqf: Toward a reconsideration of women's place in the Mamluk household." ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' 29.1 (1997): 33–51.
* {{cite book|last=Franssen|first=Élise|year=2017|chapter=What was there in a Mamluk Amīr's Library? Evidence from a Fifteenth-Century Manuscript|editor-last=Ben-Assat|editor-first=Yuval|title=Developing Perspectives in Mamluk History: Essays in Honor of Amalia Levanoni|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|series=Islamic History and Civilization|volume=143|pages=311–332|doi=10.1163/9789004345058_016|isbn=978-90-04-34046-6|s2cid=67749308}}
* {{cite book|last=Frenkel|first=Yehoshua|year=2017|chapter=Slave Girls and Learned Teachers: Women in Mamluk Sources|editor-last=Ben-Assat|editor-first=Yuval|title=Developing Perspectives in Mamluk History: Essays in Honor of Amalia Levanoni|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|series=Islamic History and Civilization|volume=143|pages=158–176|doi=10.1163/9789004345058_008|isbn=978-90-04-34046-6|s2cid=187674117}}
* [[John Bagot Glubb|Glubb, John]]. ''Soldiers of Fortune: The Story of the Mamlukes'' (Hodder & Stoughton, 1973)
* {{Gordon-The Breaking of a Thousand Swords}}
* Hathaway, Jane. "The military household in Ottoman Egypt." ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' 27.1 (1995): 39–52 [http://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/amcdouga/Hist494_2014/readings/hathaway%20mamluk%20household%2017th%20c.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220927230004/http://www.artsrn.ualberta.ca/amcdouga/Hist494_2014/readings/hathaway%20mamluk%20household%2017th%20c.pdf|date=27 September 2022}}.
* Luz, Nimrod. ''The Mamluk City in the Middle East: History, Culture, and the Urban Landscape'' (Cambridge UP, 2014) [https://www.amazon.com/Mamluk-City-Middle-East-Civilization-ebook/dp/B00GY3MTSI/ excerpt]
* Muslu, Cihan Yuksel. ''The Ottomans and the Mamluks: Imperial Diplomacy and Warfare in the Islamic World'' (2014) [https://www.amazon.com/Ottomans-Mamluks-Imperial-Diplomacy-Warfare/dp/178076149X/ excerpt]
* Oualdi, M'hamed. "Mamluks in Ottoman Tunisia: A Category Connecting State and Social Forces." ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' 48.3 (2016): 473–490.
* {{cite book|author=Philipp, Thomas|author2=Ulrich Haarmann|title=The Mamluks in Egyptian Politics and Society|year=1998|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=1–101}}
* {{cite book|last1=Pipes|first1=Daniel|title=Slave Soldiers and Islam The Genesis of a Military System; al Maqrizi; Mawaiz|date=1981|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-02447-0|page=141|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ByLG-2hZX-MC|access-date=15 October 2021}}
* Piterberg, Gabriel. "The Formation of an Ottoman Egyptian Elite in the 18th Century." ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' 22.3 (1990): 275–289.
* {{cite book|last=Schultz|first=Warren C.|year=2017|chapter=Mamluk Coins, Mamluk Politics and the Limits of the Numismatic Evidence|editor-last=Ben-Assat|editor-first=Yuval|title=Developing Perspectives in Mamluk History: Essays in Honor of Amalia Levanoni|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|series=Islamic History and Civilization|volume=143|pages=243–268|doi=10.1163/9789004345058_013|isbn=978-90-04-34046-6|s2cid=158093884}}
* Van Steenbergen, Jo, Patrick Wing, and Kristof D'hulster. "The Mamlukization of the Mamluk Sultanate? State Formation and the History of Fifteenth Century Egypt and Syria: Part I – Old Problems and New Trends." ''History Compass'' 14.11 (2016): 549–559.
** "The Mamlukization of the Mamluk Sultanate? State Formation and the History of Fifteenth Century Egypt and Syria: Part II{{snd}}Comparative Solutions and a New Research Agenda." ''History Compass'' 14.11 (2016): 560–569.
* Walker, Bethany. ''Jordan in the Late Middle Ages: Transformation of the Mamluk Frontier'' (2011)
* Waterson, James. "The Mamluks" ''History Today'' (March 2006) 56#3 pp 21–27 online.
* Ulrich Haarmann (2004). ''Das Herrschaftssystem der Mamluken'', in: Halm / Haarmann (eds.): ''Geschichte der arabischen Welt''. C.H. Beck, {{ISBN|978-3-406-47486-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Winter|first=Michael|year=2017|chapter=Sultan Selīm's Obsession with Mamluk Egypt according to Evliyā Çelebi's ''Seyāḥatnāme''|editor-last=Ben-Assat|editor-first=Yuval|title=Developing Perspectives in Mamluk History: Essays in Honor of Amalia Levanoni|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|series=Islamic History and Civilization|volume=143|pages=230–242|doi=10.1163/9789004345058_012|isbn=978-90-04-34046-6|s2cid=119090870}}
* E. de la Vaissière (2007). ''Samarcande et Samarra. Elites d'Asie centrale dans l'empire Abbasside'', Peeters, [http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=8356 Peeters-leuven.be] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190816092113/http://www.peeters-leuven.be/boekoverz.asp?nr=8356|date=16 August 2019}} {{in lang|fr}}
* {{cite book|last=Yosef|first=Koby|year=2017|chapter=Usages of Kinship Terminology during the Mamluk Sultanate and the Notion of the 'Mamlūk Family'|editor-last=Ben-Assat|editor-first=Yuval|title=Developing Perspectives in Mamluk History: Essays in Honor of Amalia Levanoni|location=[[Leiden]]|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|series=Islamic History and Civilization|volume=143|pages=16–75|doi=10.1163/9789004345058_003|isbn=978-90-04-34046-6|s2cid=135107016}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Mamluks}} {{NIE Poster|Mamelukes|year=1905}} {{Wiktionary|Mamluk|Mameluke}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20151208072031/http://mamluk.uchicago.edu/ Mamluk Studies Resources] from the Chicago Online Bibliography of Mamluk Studies and the Chicago Online Encyclopedia of Mamluk Studies Review, at the [[University of Chicago]]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bfmlh The Mamluks] at BBC's ''[[In Our Time (BBC Radio 4)|In Our Time]]''
* [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/6807/ Quran Carpet Page; al-Fatihah] from a 14th-century Mamluk Quran at the [[World Digital Library]]

{{Egypt topics}} {{Authority control}}