Part 1: Early Islam to Pre-Colonial Era. Week 5: The Household Harem: Egypt 18 th C.

Transcription

1 Part 1: Early Islam to Pre-Colonial Era Week 5: The Household Harem: Egypt 18 th C.

2 The Mamluks: Origins - History Abbasid Caliph: First Mamluk Dynasty: Tulunid (Egypt-Syria) c. 950

3 The Mamluks: Origins - History Built up independent army: multi-ethnic included Turkish slaves (Central Asia), Sudanese Slaves, Greek mercenaries Towards end of dynasty, slave soldiers largely in control Abbasids re-established power 905

4 The Mamluks: Origins - History Remain self-aware military elite within Caliph: speak their own Turkish language as well Arabic Continue to replenish numbers with new recruits from the central Asia, the Caucasus. 1250: Mamluk general takes control again in Egypt with assistance of black palace guards (slaves) 1258: Baghdad sacked by Mongols

5 The Mamluks: Origins - History Mamluks under Baybar defeat Mongols as they attempt to take Palestine, Egypt: Has sultan killed, army declares him ruler Rules in name of Abbasids fiction maintained by successors In fact, independent military regime: wealth drawn from Red Sea trade Remains in place until Ottoman defeat by Selim I (1517)

6 The Mamluks: Origins - History Mamluks under the Ottomans: Served Ottoman regime as disciplined, skilled administrators and soldiers Established provincial capitals in Baghdad and Cairo From 1749 de facto rulers of Baghdad Built up autonomous power in Egypt: beyond control of Ottoman appointed governors by 18 th century Retained until 1811 (Egypt); 1839 Baghdad

7 The Mamluks: Origins - History Ottoman Empire c Mamluks in Egypt and Baghdad

8 The Mamluks: Origins - History Readings this week: Hathaway and Fay Draw attention away from Mamluks as purely military society Hathaway argues for role of household in understanding dynasty: questions degree to which it is purely slave Fay explores role harem within household: argues for insights to be gained by looking not only at role of male slaves but female slaves

9 The Mamluks: Origins - History Hathaway: context for study of Mamluk Harem Using soldiers salary registers as source, argues that they were identified in terms of patron who they followed rather than slave status Cannot assume all entourages, households made up of mamluks (slaves) Argues to contrary: Egyptian so-called military households actually followed model of provincial households elsewhere in Ottoman empire

10 The Mamluks: Origins - History Ambitious local figures sought favor with the imperial center by joining the households of imperial functionaries in Cairo; imperial figures in turn injected their clients into the households of local grandees; local grandees even channeled members of their households into elite households in Istanbul. In this respect, the household served as a nexus between center and province.

11 The Mamluks: Origins - History Easy to suggest that resurgence mamluk power 18 th century throwback to (or culmination of) late Mamluk Suntanate (14 th century): military society Argues against this: new practice 1720s of officers promoting their clients to status of Bey (traditionally chieftain, by 18 th c. -- lord ) Foremost was Ibrahim Kahya al-qazdaglh*, kahya of Janissary corps: established family hegemony, de facto control over Egypt from 1748 to 1754 *Qazdughli household in Fay

12 The Mamluks: Origins - History The acquisition of mamluks was for the Qazdaglhs and other ambitious grandees of the 18th century not so much a program of ethnic consolidation or the implementation of a slave ethos as it was a strategy for expeditious household building. Notes presence of former mamluks of Chief Black Eunuch in Istanbul Large numbers of Georgians not because of traditional Mamluk ethnicity but because neighbouring Safavid empire had been defeated and held large numbers of Georgian mamluks now available Ottomans acquired political control Georgia

13 The Mamluks: Origins - History The autonomous governors of Ottoman Baghdad took aggressive advantage of this new supply of manpower to cultivate an entourage of Georgian mamluks -- one is inclined to believe that Egypt was inspired by the Baghdadi example. Hathaway argues it is only in this context that the household begins to lose its mixed characteristic and appear more like Baghdad s mamluk society In reality, Egypts grandee families striving for viable households rather than exclusively mamluk-based: attention needs to be paid to economic base as well as military

14 The Mamluks: Origins - History Most important: the household supplies the context for basic features of elite life -- notably elite marriages and elite residences. Marriages that linked two households or that absorbed otherwise rootless clients were a key strategy of any household head : increased household's membership forged political alliances gave household access to new sources of wealth.

15 The Mamluks: Origins - History It was primarily through marriage that a household head's wives, concubines, and daughters exercised influence and contributed to the household's fortunes : most visible feature was the house or building that served as a place of assembly, political power. High-ranking officers, beys, officials established entourages - including wives, concubines - in palatial residences

16 The Mamluk Household The Mamluks who stayed behind built lavish houses for themselves to mark their status as the source of power in Egypt. This is one such house, Bayt al- Razzaz, now in ruins [Source: ry/ottoman/ottoman.html ]

17 The Mamluk Household Mashrabiyya screens such as this were used to provide privacy to the harem while allowing breezes to circulate, as well as allowing the occupants to see out. [Source: ]

18 The Mamluk Household Life in a Mamluk Harem (Cairo) John Frederick Lewis 19th. c

19 The Mamluk Household Houses of allied grandees clustered in elite neighborhoods: mid-18th century southern shore of pond known as Birkat al- Azbakiyya in western Cairo dominated by houses of the Qazdaglls and their allies By the late 18th century, the houses of the leading Qazdagll grandees had displaced the governor's council, or diwan, in the citadel as loci of political power [Source: ]

20 The Mamluk Houshold Fay s The Harem Unveiled : what makes the Mamluk harem in Egypt different from what we have already come to know? Not Imperial but shares many features Shaped by Islamic laws concerning slavery (especially concubines) Equated with seclusion, issues of private/public All discussed in context of Abbasid and Ottoman case studies

21 The Mamluk Household Fay The Harem Unveiled : argues two key points Mamluk system of household politics reproduced itself through the enslavement and manumission of men and women Mamluk women crucial to the household s construction, reproduction, stability and continuity: how?

22 The Mamluk Houshold Slave Soldier heritage: while Hathaway cautions not to assume typical, unchanging mamluk character Fay asks us to see how it has affected women in household Argument draws attention to two aspects of process: Significance of slave (as distinct from free) women Role of manumission creation of freed slaves

23 The Mamluk Houshold The Freed Slave : for both men and women has unusual significance in mamluk household For men: integral to building mamluk military/administrative system, entourage Adopted as process for constructing household and harem required women Slave women preferred as not only as concubines (as seen elsewhere) but as wives Required that they be manumitted (Islamic law)

24 The Mamluk Houshold The freed woman acquired same legal rights and responsibilities as free women: Marriage (not concubinage) core of Mamluk household freed women inherited: mamluk widows accumulated wealth, acquired some autonomy frequently remarried: marriage alliances/networks underpinned mamluk elite class

25 The Mamluk Houshold freed women controlled property: commonly endowed it as waqf provided women with personal, independent support during their lifetime protected family wealth for heirs permitted public, charitable contributions (as we have seen with Imperial Harems) but as equivalent of Free women, not as haseki or valide sultans

26 The Mamluk Houshold Story of Khadija : reflects essence of process Source used to piece story together: endowment documentation [main source of most of research] Legal name registered: Khadija Qadim bint Abd Allah al- Bayda ma tuqat wa zawjat al-marhum al-amir Ahmad Kathuda Ta ifat Mustahfizan al-qazdughli Embodies geneaology, history of her life

27 The Mamluk Houshold Khadija Qadim bint Abd Allah al-bayda ma tuqat wa zawjat al-marhum al-amir Ahmad Kathuda Ta ifat Mustahfizan al-qazdughli : daughter of the servant of God (rather than father ): slave white (to distinguish from black or African ) Fay pieces together early history: know only that she was 13 or 14 when brought to Cairo from Central Asia (Circassia?), found her way into Ahmad Kathuda s household (directly? As gift from ally?)

28 The Mamluk Houshold Khadija Qadim bint Abd Allah al-bayda ma tuqat wa zawjat al-marhum al-amir Ahmad Kathuda Ta ifat Mustahfizan al-qazdughli : freed slave (manumitted by master) and wife of. (then married to him) marhum (meaning husband was deceased, Khadija was widow) Husband had been mustahfizan high ranking Janissary Of powerful and wealthy Qazdughli family

29 The Mamluk Houshold The waqf: registered in 1780 House near Bab Zuwayla [major gate of city, commercial area, represented wealth of black Africa ]

30 The Mamluk Houshold The waqf: registered in 1780 House near Bab Zuwayla [major gate of city, to south; commercial area, represented wealth of black Africa ] mill (for crushing lentils) shop (in commercial important complex) house in important quarter of city Elephant lake (noted in photo of Monday s lecture) description indicated it was large, valuable Value: sufficient to provide for her for life, for her heirs, for numerous charitable organizations/causes

31 The Mamluk Houshold Khadija epitomized value of female slave in Mamluk household: While serving as concubine, it was as manumitted/freed slave that Khadija became important to the household She had her children as wife not concubine As equivalent of free woman, Islamic law allowed her to inherit, accumulate property AND: exploit it as waqf Centrality of these features of Mamluk harem distinguished it from others

32 The Mamluk Household Last aspect to explore: Patronage ( grandees, allies) and marriages: how system of raising clients to beys, amirs intersected with slavery and emancipation (e.g. life story of Khadija) in society Fay develops intersecting stories of three women: Amina Khatun [freeborn daughter, wife] Shawikar Qadin [slave concubine, manumitted wife] Nafisa al-bayda [slave concubine, manumitted wife]

33 The Mamluk Household Focus of Friday Discussion: By examining these stories and the nature of their intersections, will try to determine more about what made Egypt s 18 th century Mamluk Harems distinctive Equally importantly: we will try to understand even more about why Fay makes the argument that the harem was the core of Mamluk society and explains in ways studies of the military administration cannot how and why Mamluks recovered power and wealth in the 18 th century