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The Mamluk Sultanate: A History
The Mamluk Sultanate ruled Egypt, Syria and the Arabian hinterland along the Red Sea. Lasting from the deposition of the Ayyubid dynasty (c. 1250) to the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, this regime of slave-soldiers incorporated many of the political structures and cultural traditions of its Fatimid and Ayyubid predecessors. Yet its system of governance and centralisation of authority represented radical departures from the hierarchies of power that predated it. Providing a rich and comprehensive survey of events from the Sultanate's founding to the Ottoman occupation, this interdisciplinary book explores the Sultanate's identity and heritage after the Mongol conquests, the expedience of conspiratorial politics, and the close symbiosis of the military elite and civil bureaucracy. Carl F. Petry also considers the statecraft, foreign policy, economy and cultural legacy of the Sultanate, and its interaction with polities throughout the central Islamic world and beyond. In doing so, Petry reveals how the Mamluk Sultanate can be regarded as a significant experiment in the history of state-building within the pre-modern Islamic world.
378 pages, Unknown Binding
Published April 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 9, 2022
Read my full review at the link below. But if you are interested in the Mamluks this is probably the best book on them I have yet found.
https://geotrickster.com/2022/10/09/t...
https://geotrickster.com/2022/10/09/t...
June 10, 2023
Best history of the Mamluks i've yet come across.
The book is divided into very specific sections. It's not a popular narrative history, but a relatively heavy academic work.
The first chapter discusses the timeline of the Mamluk Sultanate. It is indeed very superficial, basically just a synopsis of events, but you get extra information about the period in the later chapters.
The rest of the chapters go more into specifics. There is one about the Mamluks as slave soldiers and the organizations of the regime, a chapter on the Mamluk foreign policy, a chapter on the vocational classes in the Sultanate, a chapter on the political economy etc...
In the end it all ties together really well. It's hard to write about an empire that existed for almost 300 years in 280 pages, but the author has done a really good job. It depends on which part interests you the most that you might find some information lacking, but it's a really good general overview.
The book is divided into very specific sections. It's not a popular narrative history, but a relatively heavy academic work.
The first chapter discusses the timeline of the Mamluk Sultanate. It is indeed very superficial, basically just a synopsis of events, but you get extra information about the period in the later chapters.
The rest of the chapters go more into specifics. There is one about the Mamluks as slave soldiers and the organizations of the regime, a chapter on the Mamluk foreign policy, a chapter on the vocational classes in the Sultanate, a chapter on the political economy etc...
In the end it all ties together really well. It's hard to write about an empire that existed for almost 300 years in 280 pages, but the author has done a really good job. It depends on which part interests you the most that you might find some information lacking, but it's a really good general overview.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews