JBO'C's Historical Reference

The Mamluk Sultans of Egypt

The Mamluk Sultans of Egypt

See my Guide to Mamluk Art

JBOC: Mamluk is a term for a purchased person recruited as a warrior caste in Egypt. At a point the Mamluks supplanted the old order and established a new order with themselves in charge. The older group were the Bahri Mamluk who were of Kipchak Turk origin from what is now the south the the Russian Federation. They domintaed Egypt for 140 years until they were supplanted by the Burji Mamluk. Bahri translates as 'of the River' and the Burji as 'of the Fort or tower' but the distinction between the two groups is that the Bahri were of Kipchak origin and the Burji Mamluk were of Circassian origin. Both were primarily Christians purchased to be soldiers. They were both forced to convert to Islam. However the Kipchak who were Altaic Ponto-Caspian Turks were from slightly north of the Circassians. The Kipchak are identifiable today as the Cumen and also as a component part of the Kharchin Mongols.

The Circassians who came from Chechnya, Dagestan and the northern part of Georgia are not Turks at all but rather are from a distinct North Caucasian group. Thus the Bahri and Burji Mamluks appear to most historians as minor variations of a homogeneous group there were very seperate and distinct in language and ethnicity to each other.

The Mamluk Dynastys from The Mohammadan Dynasties Chronological And Genealogical Tables

650—922  29. MAMLUK SULTANS 1252—1517
Mamluk means 'owned,' and was generally applied to a white slave. The Mamluk Sultans of Egypt were Turkish and Circassian slaves, and had their origin in the purchased body-guard of the Ayyubid Sultan -Salih Ayyub. The first of their line was a woman, Queen Shajar-al-durr, widow of -Salih; but a representative of the Ayyubid family (Musa) was accorded the nominal dignity of joint sovereignty for a few years. Then followed a succession of slave kings, divided into two dynasties, the Bahri ('of the River') and the Burji ('of the Fort') who ruled Egypt and Syria down to the beginning of the 16th century. In spite of their short reigns and frequent civil wars and assassinations, they maintained as a rule a well-organized government, and Cairo is still full of proofs of their appreciation of art and their love of building. Their warlike qualities were no less conspicuous in their successful resistance to the Crusaders, and to the Tatar hordes that overran Asia and menaced Egypt in the 13th century.

A.H. A.D.

  • 648—792 A. BAHRI MAMLUKS 1250—1390
  • 648 Shajar-al-durr 1250
  • 648 -Mu'izz 'Izz-al-din Aybak .... 1250
  • 655 -Mansur Nur-al-din 'Ali .... 1257
  • 657 -Muzaffer Sayf-al-din Kutuz . . . 1259
  • 658 -Zahir Rukn-al-din Baybars - Bundukdari. 1260
  • 676 -Sa'id Nasir-al-din Baraka Khan. 1277
  • 678 -'Adil Badr-al-din Salamish . . . 1279
  • 678 -Mansur Sayf-al-din Kalaun . . . 1279
  •  689 -Ashraf Salah-al- din Khalil . . . 1290
  • 693 -Nasir Nasir-al- din Mohammad . . . 1293 Sultan al Nasir Ibn Mohammad Qalaun
  • 694 -'Adil Zayn-al-din Kitbugha . . . 1294
  • 696 -Mansur Husam-al-din Lajin . . . 1296
  • 698 -Nasir Mohammad (again) .... 1298
  • 708 -Muzaffer Rukn-al-din Baybars -Jashankir. 1308
  • 709 -Nasir Mohammad (third time) . . . 1309
  • 741 -Mansur Sayf-al-din Abu-Bakr . . . 1340
  • 742 -Ashraf 'Ala-al-din Kujuk .... 1341
  • 742 -Nasir Shihab-al-din Ahmad . . . 1342
  • 743 -Salih 'Imad-al- din Isma'il .... 1342
  • 746 -Kamil Sayf-al-din Sha'ban . . . 1345
  • 747 -Muzaffer Sayf-al-din Hajji . . . 1346
  • 748 -Nasir Nasir-al-din Hasan.... 1347
  • 752 -Salih Salah-al-din Salih.... 1351
  • 755 -Nasir Hasan (again)...... 1354
  • 762 -Mansur Salah-al-din Mohammad. . 1361
  • 764 -Ashraf Nasir-al-din Sha’ban . . . 1363
  • 778 -Mansur 'Ala-al-din 'Ali .... 1376
  • 783 -Salih Salah-al-din Hajji.... 1381'
  • 784 Barkuk (see Burjis) 1382
  • 791 Hajji again, with title of -Muzaffer. . 1389

—792 —1390 Burji Mamluks (Burji means "of the Fort")

 A.H. A.D.

  • 784-922 B. BURJI MAMLUKS 1382-1517
  • 784 -Zahir Sayf-al-din Barkuk.... 1382
  • [Interrupted by Hajji 791-2.]
  • 801 -Nasir Nasir-al-din Faraj .... 1398
  • 808 -Mansur 'Izz-al-din 'Abd-al-'Aziz . . 1405
  • 809 -Nasir Faraj (again) 1406
  • 815 -'Adil -Musta'in ('Abbasid Caliph) . . 1412
  • 815 -Murayyad Shaykh 1412
  • 824 -Muzaffer Ahmad 1421
  • 824 -Zahir Sayf-al-din Tatar.... 1421
  • 824 -Salih Nasir-al-din Mohammad . . . 1421
  • 825 -Ashraf Sayf-al-din Bars-bey . . . 1422
  • 842 -'Aziz Jamal-al-din Yusuf .... 1438
  • 842 -Zahir Sayf-al-din Jakmak.... 1438
  • 857 -Mansur Fakhr-al-din 'Othman . . . 1453
  • 857 -Ashraf Sayf-al-din Inal .... 1453
  • 865 -Murayyad Shihab-al-din Ahmad . . . 1460
  • 865 -Zahir Sayf-al-din Khushkadam . . . 1461
  • 872 -Zahir Sayf-al-din Bilbey.... 1467
  • 872 -Zahir Timurbugha 1468
  • 873 -Ashraf Sayf-al-din Kait-Bey . . . 1468
  • 901 -Nasir Mohammad . . . . 1495
  • 904 -Zahir Kansuh 1498
  • 905 -Ashraf Janbalat 1499 (JBOC: Mamluk Sultan Ashraf Qait Bey )
  • 906 -Ashraf Kansuh -Ghuri.... 1500 (JBOC: Kansu El-Ghuri Died at the Battle of Marj Dabik)
  • 922 -Ashraf Tuman-Bey 1516 Sultan Qansuh al-Ghuri
  • —1517 [Ottoman Sultans.}

As there are seldom more than two kings of a family in the above list a genealogical table is unnecessary.

The Mohammadan Dynasties Chronological And Genealogical Tables With Historical Introductions By Stanley Lane-Poole Westminster Archibald Constable And Company Publishers To The India Office 14 Parliament Street MDCCCXCIV

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