"Fight in the way of Allah with those who fight against you, but do not overstep the boundaries of what is permitted."
The second surah of the Quran "Al-Bakara" (ayah 190)
Warriors of Eurasia. The publication of articles from the cycle "Knights and Chivalry of Three Ages" aroused great interest among those site visitors who are interested in the topic of military affairs, armor and weapons of bygone eras. Many expressed their wishes to expand its chronological framework, which is understandable. However, no matter how much one wants, it is far from always and not on all topics that one can find quite interesting information, and, which is also very important, illustrations. Finding the latter sometimes takes many times longer than writing the material itself. In addition, not all photographs of Internet resources can be used. But it also happens that there is a desire of readers to deepen the topic and … there is everything to fulfill this wish. So, for example, in the past material about the warriors of North Africa, Egyptian Mamluks were mentioned, but it was said about them in the primary source, the monograph by D. Nicolas, was insultingly little. But later he "reformed" and wrote an excellent study on them. True, within certain limits, going beyond the chronological framework of this topic. Well, no one bothers us to take and expand them so much as to describe them in detail, as well as consider weapons, armor and all their other equipment, by the way, very similar to knightly.
The same "armed slaves"
Let's start with who the Mamluks are (and also the Mamelukes, which means "owned" in Arabic). This is a military-feudal class of medieval Egypt, which initially consisted of young slave men of Turkic and Caucasian origin, among whom were Circassians, Abkhazians, and Georgians. They got to Egypt in a rather interesting way: they were … kidnapped from their homeland, where many people traded, and then sold. It happened that parents who had many children, but were poor, themselves sold the "surplus" of boys, because they knew that the future of their children in this case would be assured. The boys brought to Egypt were converted to Islam, taught the Arabic language and the art of war in closed boarding camps. At the same time, they were taken care of in every possible way, and compared to the "street children" they lived in excellent conditions. Trained young warriors were “released into the light” and at the same time their social status changed: the former slave was declared a free Muslim. Then they took an oath of allegiance to their bey or emir and had to fulfill it! And that's it! Even the children of Mamluks did not become Mamluks, since they were already being educated at home! And, by the way, that's why new Mamluks had to be constantly bought and constantly cooked. And precisely because they were so devoted to their "fathers-commanders" that they saw what courage and loyalty turned out to be.
The predecessors of the Mamluks were the gulyams in the Arab Caliphate, where the ruling elite very quickly realized how to profitably use people without a clan, without a tribe, and not burdened by any national prejudices and clan interests. As a matter of fact, both the ghouls and the Mamluks always had only one interest in the first place: if you fight well, you have everything. It was very difficult even to betray their masters to the same Mamluks, because they did not know any other life except their own, and it is clear that they did not trust any of the strangers. And what could they offer them? More gold, horses and women? They already had enough of all this, besides, any act contrary to military honor was a shame for them. That is how they were brought up, therefore they fought bravely, and were fearless and incorruptible. That is, in fact, they were “knights without fear and reproach,” only Muslim ones. What could have attracted them and, of course, attracted them, was power. After all, no one wants to die for the interests of others.
Therefore, as soon as the Mamluks in Egypt felt themselves as a single estate, in 1250 they overthrew the Ayyubid dynasty and seized power in the country. One of the rebellious emirs - the commanders of large detachments of the Mamluks, Aibek, then proclaimed himself sultan. The new elite was replenished in the same way as before. Apparently, this method seemed optimal to the new Mamluk nobility: children were bought in the Golden Horde, and then they were made warriors. There are two known "dynasties" of Mamluk sultans who ruled Egypt: Bahrit * (1250-1382) and Burjits ** (1382-1517).
Elite of the medieval eastern army
What kind of warriors they were, at least this example speaks: in 1260 it was the Mamluks, led by Sultan Beibars, who defeated the army of Mongol conquerors at Ain Jalut, and recaptured all of Syria, including its capital Damascus.
A year later, all the Islamic shrines of Arabia fell under their rule: the cities of Mecca and Medina.
In 1375, the Mamluks defeated the Armenian Cilician kingdom of the Rubenids, and so thoroughly that it no longer rose, and in 1419 they subdued the emirate of the Karamanids. True, after 100 years, the Turks of Sultan Selim I, using firearms, which the Mamluks themselves underestimated, managed to defeat them at Marj Dabik and took Egypt into their own hands. But on the other hand, they were smart enough not to deprive the Mamluks of their privileged status, although now they had to obey the Turkish Pasha.
In 1798, Napoleon in the famous battle at the pyramids, well, the one where he also said: "Donkeys and scientists in the middle", managed to defeat the Mamluk cavalry. But he also suggested that the Mamluks go to his service. Many of them agreed to this, swore an oath of allegiance to him, and … became his personal bodyguards, whom he unconditionally trusted.
In 1806, the Mamluks once again rebelled against Turkish rule, but were defeated by the Turkish army. The story of the Mamluks ended tragically. In 1811, on March 1, the Egyptian Pasha, Muhammad Ali, invited 600 of the most noble Mamluk beys to his gala dinner and ordered his guards to kill them all. After that, the Mamluks began to be killed throughout Egypt. It is believed that about 4 thousand people were killed in total, but some of them still managed to escape to Sudan. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that it was the Mamluks who were the elite of the medieval eastern army. In terms of their fighting qualities, they were practically in no way inferior to their Christian opponents from overseas Europe, and in some ways they even surpassed them!
References:
1. Smirnov, V. E., Nedvetsky, A. G. Mamluks - fearless warriors and scouts of Egypt // Living history of the East: Collection. M., 1998. P.249–257.
2. Nicolle, D. Mamluk 'Askary' 1250-1517. UK. Oxford: Osprey Publishing (Warrior # 173), 2014.
3. Nicolle, D. The Mamluks 1250-1517 UK. L.: Osprey Publishing (Men-at-arms No. 259), 1993.
