Mamluk Cairo, a Crossroads for Embassies

Frédéric Bauden, Ph.D. (1996), is Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Liège. His research focuses on Mamluk historiography, diplomatics, and codicology. He is the editor of the bookseries Bibliotheca Maqriziana (Leiden: Brill). He is completing a book on al-Maqrīzī’s collection of opuscules.Malika Dekkiche, Ph.D. (2011), is Assistant Professor of Medieval Middle Eastern and Mediterranean History at the University of Antwerp. Her research focuses on premodern Islamic diplomacy, state formation, religious patronage and more generally on the history of the Mamluk sultanate, Timurid and Turkmen dynasties.

"In addition to the focus on diplomacy, this volume offers a wealth of material on society, religion, and politics and on the range of government officials, soldiers, scholars, and merchants during the Mamluk era. These contributions provide an important resource for anyone interested in the broad historical reach of the Mamluks." - Daniel Varisco in Journal of the American Oriental Society 141.1 (2021).

• PrefaceAbbreviationsCharts, Figures, and TablesNotes on Contributors1 Mamluk Diplomatics: the Present State of ResearchFrédéric Bauden2 Mamluk Diplomacy: the Present State of ResearchMalika DekkichePart 1 Diplomatic Conventions3 Diplomatics, or Another Way to See the WorldMalika Dekkiche4 Strong Letters at the Mamluk CourtLucian Reinfandt5 Embassies and Ambassadors in Mamluk CairoYehoshua FrenkelPart 2 The Mongols and Their Successors6 Careers in Diplomacy among Mamluks and Mongols, 658–741/1260–1341Anne F. Broadbridge7 The Golden Horde and the Mamluks: the Birth of a Diplomatic Set-Up (660–5/1261–7)Marie Favereau8 Mamluk-Ilkhanid Diplomatic Contacts: Negotiations or Posturing?Reuven Amitai9 Baghdad between Cairo and Tabriz: Emissaries to the Mamluks as Expressions of Local Political Ambitions and Ideologies during the Seventh/Thirteenth and Eighth/Fourteenth CenturiesHend Gilli-Elewy10 Between Iraq and a Hard Place: Sulṭān Aḥmad Jalāyir’s Time as a Refugee in the Mamluk SultanatePatrick WingPart 3 The Timurids, the Turkmens, and the Ottomans11 Niẓām al-Dīn Shāmī’s Description of the Syrian Campaign of TīmūrMichele Bernardini12 Diplomatic Entanglements between Tabriz, Cairo, and Herat: a Reconstructed Qara Qoyunlu Letter Datable to 818/1415Frédéric Bauden13 Fixed Rules to a Changing Game? Sultan Meḥmed II’s Realignment of Ottoman-Mamluk Diplomatic ConventionsKristof D’hulsterPart 4 The Western Islamic Lands14 Diplomatic Correspondence between Nasrid Granada and Mamluk Cairo: the Last Hope for al-AndalusBárbara Boloix-Gallardo15 Entre Ifrīqiya hafside et Égypte mamelouke: Des relations anciennes, continues et consolidéesMounira Chapoutot-Remadi16 Tracking Down the Hafsid Diplomatic Missions All the Way to the Turco-Mamluk Borders (892–6/1487–91)Lotfi Ben MiledPart 5 Arabia, India, and Africa17 Diplomatic Networks of Rasulid Yemen in Egypt (Seventh/Thirteenth to Early Ninth/Fifteenth Centuries)Éric Vallet18 “Aggression in the Best of Lands”: Mecca in Egyptian-Indian Diplomacy in the Ninth/Fifteenth CenturyJohn L. Meloy19 Some Remarks on the Diplomatic Relations between Cairo, Delhi/Dawlatābād, and Aḥmadābād during the Eighth/Fourteenth and Ninth/Fifteenth CenturiesStephan Conermann and Anna Kollatz20 The Ḥaṭī and the Sultan: Letters and Embassies from Abyssinia to the Mamluk CourtJulien Loiseau21 “Peace Be upon Those Who Follow the Right Way”: Diplomatic Practices between Mamluk Cairo and the Borno Sultanate at the End of the Eighth/Fourteenth CenturyRémi DewièrePart 6 The Latin West22 The European Embassies to the Court of the Mamluk Sultans in CairoPierre Moukarzel23 In the Name of the Minorities: Lisbon’s Muslims as Emissaries from the King of Portugal to the Sultan of EgyptMaria Filomena Lopes de Barros24 Envoys between Lusignan Cyprus and Mamluk Egypt, 838–78/1435–73: the Accounts of Pero Tafur, George Boustronios and Ibn Taghrī BirdīNicholas Coureas25 Negotiating the Last Mamluk-Venetian Commercial Decree (922–3/1516–7): Commercial Liability from the Sixth/Twelfth to the Early Tenth/Sixteenth CenturyGladys Frantz-Murphy26 Three Mamluk Letters Concerning the Florentine Trade in Egypt and Syria: a New InterpretationAlessandro RizzoPart 7 Material Culture27 Écritoires: objets fonctionnels et symboliques indissociables des cérémonies officielles à l’ époque mameloukeLudvik Kalus28 Precious Objects for Eminent Guests: the Use of Chinese Ceramics in Mamluk Cairo: the Fustat Ceramic Collection from The Royal Museums of Art and History (Brussels)Valentina VezzoliIndexes