Burji Mamluks

State of the Circassians
دولة الجراكسة (Arabic)
*Dawlat al-Jarākisa*
State of the Circassians دولة الجراكسة (Arabic); Dawlat al-Jarākisa
1382–1517
	Flags according to the Catalan Atlas of c. 1375
	Attributed arms of the Mamluk Sultan; (by Mecia de Viladestes map, 1413)
Status	Sultanate under the Abbasid Caliphate
Capital	Cairo
Spoken languages	Arabic; Circassian Turkic
Religion	Sunni Islam
History
• Established	1382
• Disestablished	1517
Preceded by	Succeeded by
	Bahri Mamluks
Ottoman Empire

The Burji Mamluks (Arabic: المماليك البرجية, romanized: al-Mamalik al-Burjiya) or Circassian Mamluks (Arabic: المماليك الشركس, romanized: al-Mamalik al-Sharkas), sometimes referred to as the Burji dynasty,^[3]^[4] were the rulers of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1382 until 1517. As with the preceding Bahri Mamluks, the members of the Burji Mamluk ruling class were purchased as slaves (mamluks) and manumitted, with the most powerful among them taking the role of sultan in Cairo. During this period, the ruling Mamluks were generally of Circassian origin, drawn from the Christian population of the northern Caucasus.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] The name Burji, meaning 'of the tower', refers to the traditional residence of these Mamluks in the barracks of the Citadel of Cairo.^[5]^[9]^[10]

Although sultans typically designated their sons to succeed them after death, the latter rarely lasted more than a few years before being usurped by one of the powerful Mamluk commanders, usually from among the Mamluks purchased by previous sultans.^[5] Political power-plays often became important in designating a new sultan.^[11]

During this period, the Mamluks fought Timur and conquered Cyprus. Over the course of the 15th century, the sultanate was weakened by infighting and economic decline brought about by multiple factors. Although militarily powerful, they were eventually unable to compete with the more modern army of the Ottoman Empire, leading to their eventual conquest in 1517 by the Ottomans.^[11]

History

Establishment and early challenges

The funerary complex of Sultan Barquq in Cairo, completed in 1386^[12]

From 1250, Egypt had been ruled by the first Mamluk dynasty, the mostly Cuman-Kipchak Turkic Bahri dynasty.^[6] In 1377 a revolt broke out in Syria which spread to Egypt, and the government was taken over by the Circassians Barakah and Barquq; Barquq was proclaimed sultan in 1382, ending the Bahri dynasty. He was expelled in 1389 but recaptured Cairo in 1390. Early on, the Zahiri Revolt threatened to overthrow Barquq though the conspiracy was discovered before agitators could mobilize. Permanently in power, he founded the Burji dynasty.

Faced with a common enemy, Timur, Barquq joined with Bayezid I and Toktamish in a combined resistance and executed Timur's peace envoys^[when?].^[13] In the following months Timur was engaged in Georgia and unable to respond to Barquq's actions, while Barquq had died by 1399.^[13] In 1401, Timur invaded Syria and sacked Aleppo^[14] and Damascus. Syria was regained by Barquq's son, sultan Nasir-ad-Din Faraj, after Timur died in 1405, but Faraj continually faced rebellions from the emirs there and he was forced to abdicate in 1412.

After Faraj, the Abbasid caliph al-Musta'in was permitted to rule the sultanate in Cairo for several months, but the role of sultan was soon taken by another Mamluk, Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh.^[15]

Apogee and decline

Mamluk Sultan Qaytbay ("Mag Caitbeivs Cairi Svltan") by Florentine painter Cristofano dell'Altissimo (16th century), Galleria degli Uffizi

Under the reign of Sultan Barsbay, the Mamluk Sultanate grew to its widest territorial extent. In 1426, he invaded the Kingdom of Cyprus and forced its kings to become Mamluk vassals. However, Barsbay also introduced a number of economic policies that were damaging in the long term, such as a state monopoly on the spice trade.^[16] During Barsbay's reign Egypt's population was greatly reduced from what it had been a few centuries before, with only one fifth of the number of towns.^{[citation needed]} He frequently raided Asia Minor, but died in 1438.

During the reign of Sayf ad-Din Jaqmaq an attempt to conquer Rhodes in 1444 from the Knights of St. John was repelled.

Sayf ad-Din Inal came to power in 1453 and had friendly relations with the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II, who captured Constantinople later that year, causing great celebration in Egypt. The relationship between the Ottomans and the Mamluks became more adversarial after this time. Both states constantly vied for control of the spice trade, and the Ottomans aspired to eventually take control of the Holy Cities of Islam.^[17] Under the reign of Khusqadam, of Greek origin,^[18] tensions increased. Both Khusqadam and Mehmed II supported different candidates to the principality of Karaman.^{[citation needed]}

The Citadel of Qaitbay in Alexandria, completed in 1479^[19]

After the death of Mehmed II in 1481, Sultan Qaitbay offended the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II by harboring his rebellious brother, Cem. Bayezid II later seized Adana, Tarsus and other places within Mamluk territory, but was unable to defeat the Mamluks during a prolonged war that ended in 1491.^[20] Qaitbay also tried to help the Muslims in Spain by threatening the Christians in Syria, but without effect.^{[citation needed]} He died in 1496, leaving several hundred thousand ducats in debts to the great Venetian trading families.^{[citation needed]}

Following another several years of political instability and succession disputes, the last major Mamluk sultan was Qansuh al-Ghuri, who came to power in 1501. While he attempted some reforms, including the introduction of the first military regiment with gunpowder weapons, he was unable to fully integrate them into the Mamluk army and he could not fix the country's economic problems.^[21]

Conquest by the Ottomans

By 1516, the Ottomans were free from other concerns — Sultan Selim I had just vanquished the Safavid Persians at the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514^[22] —and turned their full might against the Mamluks, who still ruled in Syria and Egypt, to complete the Ottoman conquest of the Middle East.^[22] Al-Ghuri led his army to confront Selim I's invasion of Syria in 1516, but he died in the Battle of Marj Dabiq and the Mamluk army was routed.^[21]

In 1517, the Ottomans completed their conquest with the capture of Cairo on January 22.^[21] The centre of power transferred from Cairo to Constantinople. However, the mamluks continued to exist as a political and military class in Ottoman Egypt. While the governors were appointed by the Ottoman sultan, the mamluks vied for influence within the country and held many high political positions. They were finally destroyed and exterminated by Muhammad Ali Pasha during his rise to power in Egypt in the early 19th century.^[23]

List of Burji Sultans

Titular Name(s)	Personal Name	Reign
Al-Zahir الظاہر	Sayf-ad-Din Barquq سیف الدین برقوق	1382–1389 first reign
Sultan As-Saleh Al-Muzaffar Al-Mansur سلطان الصالح المظفر المنصور	Salah-ad-Din Hajji II صلاح الدین حاجی ثانی	1389
Al-Zahir الظاہر	Sayf-ad-Din Barquq سیف الدین برقوق	1390–1399 second reign
Al-Nasir الناصر	Nasir-ad-Din Faraj ناصر الدین فرج	1399–1405 first reign
Al-Mansur المنصور	Izz ad-Din Abd al-Aziz عز الدین عبدالعزیز	1405
Al-Nasir الناصر	Nasir-ad-Din Faraj ناصر الدین فرج	1405–1412 second reign
Al-Adil العادل	Al-Musta'in Billah المستعین باللہ	1412
Al-Mu'ayyad المؤید	Shaykh al-Mahmudi شيخ المحمودى	1412–1421
Al-Muzaffar المظفر	Ahmad أحمد	1421
Al-Zahir الظاہر	Sayf ad-Din Tatar سیف الدین تتر	1421
As-Saleh الصالح	An-Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ناصر الدین محمد	1421–1422
Al-Ashraf الأشرف	Sayf-ad-Din Barsbay سیف الدین برسبای	1422–1437
Al-Aziz العزیز	Jamal-ad-Din Yusuf جمال الدین یوسف	1437–1438
Al-Zahir الظاہر	Sayf ad-Din Jaqmaq سیف الدین جقمق	1438–1453
Al-Mansur المنصور	Fakhr-ad-Din Uthman فخرالدین عثمان	1453
Al-Ashraf الأشرف	Sayf-ad-Din Inal سیف الدین إینال	1453–1461
Al-Mu'ayyad المؤید	Shihab-ad-Din Ahmad شھاب الدین أحمد	1461
Al-Zahir الظاہر	Sayf ad-Din Khushqadam سیف الدین خوش قدم	1461–1467
Al-Zahir الظاہر	Sayf ad-Din Bilbay سیف الدین بلبأی	1467
Al-Zahir الظاہر	Taimur Bugha تیمور بغا	1467–1468
Al-Ashraf الأشرف	Sayf-ad-Din Qait Bay سیف الدین قایتبای	1468–1496
Al-Nasir الناصر	Muhammad bin Qait Bay الناصر محمد بن قایتبای	1496–1497 first reign
Al-Zahir الظاہر	Qansuh Khumsama'ah [arz] قانصوه خمسمائة	1497
Al-Nasir الناصر	Muhammad bin Qait Bay الناصر محمد بن قایتبای	1497–1498 second reign
Al-Zahir الظاہر	Qansuh Al-Ashrafi قانصوہ الأشرفی	1498–1500
Al-Ashraf الأشرف	Al-Ashraf Janbalat جنبلاط	1500–1501
Al-Adil العادل	Sayf-ad-Din Tuman Bay I سیف الدین طومان بای	1501
Al-Ashraf الأشرف	Qansuh Al-Ghawri قانصوہ الغوری	1501–1516
Al-Ashraf الأشرف	Tuman Bay II طومان بای	1516–1517
Burji dynasty of the Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo) falls to Ottoman Empire under Sultan Selim I in 1517 C.E.

Orange shaded row signifies brief interruption in the rule of Burji dynasty by Bahri dynasty.
- Silver shaded row signifies interruption in the rule of Burji dynasty by Abbasid dynasty.

References

^ Fischel 1967, p. 72.
^ Yosef, Koby (2013). "The Term Mamlūk and Slave Status during the Mamluk Sultanate". Al-Qanṭara. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. 34 (1): 7–34. doi:10.3989/alqantara.2013.001.
^ Shoup, John A. (2017). The Nile: An Encyclopedia of Geography, History, and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-4408-4041-8.
^ Flood, Finbarr Barry; Necipoğlu, Gülru (2017). A Companion to Islamic Art and Architecture. Wiley Blackwell. p. 579. ISBN 978-1-119-06857-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c Bosworth, C. E. (1996). "The Mamluks". New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 76–80. ISBN 978-1-4744-6462-8.
^ ^a ^b McGregor, Andrew James (2006). A Military History of Modern Egypt: From the Ottoman Conquest to the Ramadan War. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 15. ISBN 9780275986018. By the late fourteenth century Circassians from the north Caucasus region had become the majority in the Mamluk ranks.
^ Isichei, Elizabeth (1997). A History of African Societies to 1870. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-45599-2.
^ Heng, Geraldine (2018). The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-42278-9.
^ Petry, Carl F. (2014). The Civilian Elite of Cairo in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-1-4008-5641-1.
^ AlSayyad, Nezar (2013). Cairo: Histories of a City. Harvard University Press. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-674-07245-9.
^ ^a ^b Petry, Carl F. (2022). The Mamluk Sultanate: A History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 23–52. ISBN 9781108471046.
^ Behrens-Abouseif, Doris (2007). Cairo of the Mamluks: A History of Architecture and its Culture. The American University in Cairo Press. p. 225. ISBN 9789774160776.
^ ^a ^b The Mamluk Sultans: 1291–1517, Mustafa M. Ziada, A History of the Crusades: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Vol. III, ed. Kenneth Setton, (University of Wisconsin Press, 1975), 490.
^ Aleppo:the Ottoman Empire's caravan city, Bruce Masters, The Ottoman City Between East and West: Aleppo, Izmir, and Istanbul, ed. Edhem Eldem, Daniel Goffman, Bruce Master, (Cambridge University Press, 1999), 20.
^ Petry, Carl F. (2022). The Mamluk Sultanate: A History. Cambridge University Press. p. 30. ISBN 9781108471046.
^ Petry, Carl F. (2022). The Mamluk Sultanate: A History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 35–39. ISBN 9781108471046.
^ Ottoman seapower and Levantine diplomacy in the age of discovery by Palmira Johnson Brummett p.52ff
^ Kenneth Meyer Setton (1969). A History of the Crusades: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, edited by .... Univ of Wisconsin Press. p. 502.
^ Behrens-Abouseif, Doris (2006). "The Islamic History of the Lighthouse of Alexandria". Muqarnas. 23 (1): 1–14. doi:10.1163/22118993-95000093.
^ Petry, Carl F. (2022). The Mamluk Sultanate: A History. Cambridge University Press. p. 45. ISBN 9781108471046.
^ ^a ^b ^c Petry, Carl F. (2022). The Mamluk Sultanate: A History. Cambridge University Press. pp. 47–52. ISBN 9781108471046.
^ ^a ^b The Ottoman Empire: A Short History by Saraiya Faroqhi p.60ff
^ Clot, André (1996). L'Égypte des Mamelouks: L'empire des esclaves, 1250–1517. Perrin.

— Royal house — Burji dynasty
Preceded by Bahri dynasty	Ruling house of Egypt 1382 – 1517	Succeeded by Ottoman dynasty