Kurt Franz
Private researcher, Islamic Studies, Emeritus
In Central Asia, the Iranian highlands and the Near East, the impact of nomadic groups on the course of history was more felt than in other parts of the world. The Mongol Empire, which extended from Baghdad to the China Sea, is but one... more
In Central Asia, the Iranian highlands and the Near East, the impact of nomadic groups on the course of history was more felt than in other parts of the world. The Mongol Empire, which extended from Baghdad to the China Sea, is but one example of the successful military and political enterprises of nomad conquerors. This nomad power over the long period from the expansion of Islam to European colonial intervention, which includes the rise and fall of several Turko-Mongol empires, is the subject of this anthology.
The research focus is directed primarily to the conditions in which nomad power developed in the context of interrelated nomadic and sedentary ways of life. These interrelationships have been an essential aspect of the Collaborative Research Centre “Difference and Integration” (SFB 586) project from which this volume emerges. As Iran and the adjacent areas have historically been characterized by a complex geo-spatial environment of mobile and sedentary groups and political associations, they are especially suited to enquiry in this context.
Questions are particularly asked as to the circumstances, development patterns and effects of political and military alliances between nomadic and sedentary leaders or groups. Could nomad military power be enlisted in the strategies of sedentary rulers? What objectives did nomad allies pursue in these circumstances and with what, partly unexpected, results?
The volume also investigates the transformations that took place in states that emerged from nomad conquests. What political and military roles did rulers of ‘post-nomadic’ sedentary states assign to the descendants of nomad conquerors? What roles did these groups claim for themselves? And did nomadic traditions linger on in these states?
As well as the history of events and structures, contemporary conceptual approaches to nomad power and the visual representation of nomadic warfare in Persian miniature painting are also examined.
The anthology thus sheds light on an important aspect of the history of Iran and neighbouring countries that has so far not been examined systematically. It will be of interest to specialists in Islamic history, particularly in Iran and Central Asia, and to any historian looking for a transregional perspective on mediaeval and early modern military history.
The research focus is directed primarily to the conditions in which nomad power developed in the context of interrelated nomadic and sedentary ways of life. These interrelationships have been an essential aspect of the Collaborative Research Centre “Difference and Integration” (SFB 586) project from which this volume emerges. As Iran and the adjacent areas have historically been characterized by a complex geo-spatial environment of mobile and sedentary groups and political associations, they are especially suited to enquiry in this context.
Questions are particularly asked as to the circumstances, development patterns and effects of political and military alliances between nomadic and sedentary leaders or groups. Could nomad military power be enlisted in the strategies of sedentary rulers? What objectives did nomad allies pursue in these circumstances and with what, partly unexpected, results?
The volume also investigates the transformations that took place in states that emerged from nomad conquests. What political and military roles did rulers of ‘post-nomadic’ sedentary states assign to the descendants of nomad conquerors? What roles did these groups claim for themselves? And did nomadic traditions linger on in these states?
As well as the history of events and structures, contemporary conceptual approaches to nomad power and the visual representation of nomadic warfare in Persian miniature painting are also examined.
The anthology thus sheds light on an important aspect of the history of Iran and neighbouring countries that has so far not been examined systematically. It will be of interest to specialists in Islamic history, particularly in Iran and Central Asia, and to any historian looking for a transregional perspective on mediaeval and early modern military history.
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The doctoral dissertation of Igal Shwartz, entitled הבדווים במצרים בתקופה הממלוכית (The Bedouin in Egypt during the Mamluk Period; Tel Aviv University, 1987) provides an extensive and thorough study on the interplay of Bedouin groups... more
The doctoral dissertation of Igal Shwartz, entitled הבדווים במצרים בתקופה הממלוכית (The Bedouin in Egypt during the Mamluk Period; Tel Aviv University, 1987) provides an extensive and thorough study on the interplay of Bedouin groups with the Mamluk Empire and Egyptian society. A work of great importance for the historical and source-critical study of tribalism in the Islamic Middle East, it has long attracted attention solely within Israel. Here, the most important portions of the text are made available to a wider public through an authorized German working translation.
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Die Herrschaft von Nomaden über Sesshafte stellt eine Ausnahmeerscheinung in der mittelalterlichen Geschichte des islamischen Orients dar und führt zu einem neuartigen Verhältnis von Staat und Stamm, Stadt und Steppe. Das deutlichste... more
Die Herrschaft von Nomaden über Sesshafte stellt eine Ausnahmeerscheinung in der mittelalterlichen Geschichte des islamischen Orients dar und führt zu einem neuartigen Verhältnis von Staat und Stamm, Stadt und Steppe. Das deutlichste Beispiel dafür ist die Vormachtstellung beduinischer Gruppen im zerfallenden Abbasidenreich. Marksteine ihres Aufstiegs sind die frühismailitischen („qarmatischen“) Aufstände um 900, die Errichtung autonomer Emirate in Hilla, Mossul, Harran, ar-Raqqa und Aleppo seit dem späten 10. Jahrhundert sowie die Allianz von 1024/29, welche die Aufteilung Syriens in drei tribale Herrschaftsbezirke bezweckte und die weiteste Entfaltung des beduinischen Machthorizonts darstellt.
Kurt Franz gibt erstmals Antwort auf die seit langem offene Frage, ob und inwiefern Syrien und Mesopotamien zu jener Zeit einem Prozess der Beduinisierung unterlagen. Er konzentriert sich auf die beduinische Sichtweise und unterscheidet zwei Expansionsformen. So strebten einige Gruppen nach institutioneller Verstetigung durch dynastische Territorialherrschaften, andere wiederum hielten an mobiler Beutewirtschaft im Rahmen eines rudimentären tribalen Regimes fest. Die Beduinenemirate gehen dabei nicht, wie bisher angenommen, auf frühismailitische und bahrainqarmatische Aufstandsimpulse zurück. Vielmehr erwuchsen sie aus der Wiederbelebung der beduinischen Heeresfolge gegenüber sesshaften Lebensformen.
Kritisch setzt sich Franz mit den Kräfteverhältnissen von Nomaden und Sesshaften zwischen 889 und 1029 auseinander und bewertet sie neu. Er zeigt auf, wie sich die Wechselbeziehungen von Nomaden und Sesshaften von einem Randaspekt imperialer Staatlichkeit zum Angelpunkt kleinräumlicher politischer Organisation entwickelte. Aus der herkömmlichen beduinischen Schutzherrschaft (himaya) entstand ein neues Modell indigener Herrschaft, das Steppe, Stadt und Kulturland einschloss. Unter anderen Vorzeichen als der saldjuqischen Eroberung hätte es eine regionale Alternative zur Herrschaft nichtarabischer Militärs und Militärsklaven eröffnen können.
Das lange Jahrhundert des beduinischen Aufstiegs bis zur Errichtung des letzten Emirates bildet den ersten Schwerpunkt dieser auf zwei Bände angelegten Untersuchung.
Kurt Franz gibt erstmals Antwort auf die seit langem offene Frage, ob und inwiefern Syrien und Mesopotamien zu jener Zeit einem Prozess der Beduinisierung unterlagen. Er konzentriert sich auf die beduinische Sichtweise und unterscheidet zwei Expansionsformen. So strebten einige Gruppen nach institutioneller Verstetigung durch dynastische Territorialherrschaften, andere wiederum hielten an mobiler Beutewirtschaft im Rahmen eines rudimentären tribalen Regimes fest. Die Beduinenemirate gehen dabei nicht, wie bisher angenommen, auf frühismailitische und bahrainqarmatische Aufstandsimpulse zurück. Vielmehr erwuchsen sie aus der Wiederbelebung der beduinischen Heeresfolge gegenüber sesshaften Lebensformen.
Kritisch setzt sich Franz mit den Kräfteverhältnissen von Nomaden und Sesshaften zwischen 889 und 1029 auseinander und bewertet sie neu. Er zeigt auf, wie sich die Wechselbeziehungen von Nomaden und Sesshaften von einem Randaspekt imperialer Staatlichkeit zum Angelpunkt kleinräumlicher politischer Organisation entwickelte. Aus der herkömmlichen beduinischen Schutzherrschaft (himaya) entstand ein neues Modell indigener Herrschaft, das Steppe, Stadt und Kulturland einschloss. Unter anderen Vorzeichen als der saldjuqischen Eroberung hätte es eine regionale Alternative zur Herrschaft nichtarabischer Militärs und Militärsklaven eröffnen können.
Das lange Jahrhundert des beduinischen Aufstiegs bis zur Errichtung des letzten Emirates bildet den ersten Schwerpunkt dieser auf zwei Bände angelegten Untersuchung.
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Die arabische Geschichtsschreibung des Mittelalters ist im wesentlichen Kompilation. Anhand eines repräsentativen Korpus der Berichte vom Aufstand der Zang untersucht Kurt Franz das chronikale Kompilationswesen unter seinen drei Aspekten:... more
Die arabische Geschichtsschreibung des Mittelalters ist im wesentlichen Kompilation. Anhand eines repräsentativen Korpus der Berichte vom Aufstand der Zang untersucht Kurt Franz das chronikale Kompilationswesen unter seinen drei Aspekten: Kompilieren (als Vorgang der Stoffauswahl, Anordnung und Textgestaltung), Kompilation (das daraus hervorgehende einzelne Schriftwerk) und Kompilationsprozess (als die Aufeinanderfolge mehrerer Stufen der Überlieferung). Er entwickelt umfassende Kriterien zu deren Beurteilung und schafft mit ihnen die Grundlage dafür, dass die Bedeutung von Autorschaft, Textindividualität und Disziplinarität für die lange vernachlässigte kompilatorische Chronistik erst kenntlich wird. Im Spannungsbogen zwischen historischem Ereigniskern und der intertextuellen Neubestimmung des Überliefernswerten erschließt er der literatur- und geschichtswissenschaftlichen Quellenarbeit ein neues Feld.
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In this paper we argue that historians of the eastern Arab lands (Ar.al-mashriq al-ʿarabī) should turn their attention to the Bedouins for two main reasons. First, the societies in the Arab East cannot be adequately understood without a... more
In this paper we argue that historians of the eastern Arab lands (Ar.al-mashriq al-ʿarabī) should turn their attention to the Bedouins for two main reasons. First, the societies in the Arab East cannot be adequately understood without a full evaluation of their Bedouin component, especially outside urban areas. Second, studying the Bedouins can open new perspectives on important debates in Middle Eastern historiography. The paper further contends that the arid lands of the Arab East still need to be explored as a historical region with its own distinct patterns of regional connectivity and political organisation. Finally, we highlight environmental history and the study of emic categories as promising avenues for future research on this region.
Research Interests: History, Geography, Asian Studies, History of Ideas, Middle East Studies, and 15 moreHistoriography, Politics, Economic Theory, Islamic Studies, Ottoman Empire, Islamic History, Interwar Period History, Middle East, Bedouins, Emic and etic, Connectivity, Historical Studies, Brill, Arid, and Arid Lands
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Medieval Arab historiography is essentially a matter of compilation. Using the representative corpus of reports on the Zang uprising, Franz examines the compilation of chronicles in its three aspects: compiling (as a process of selecting,... more
Medieval Arab historiography is essentially a matter of compilation. Using the representative corpus of reports on the Zang uprising, Franz examines the compilation of chronicles in its three aspects: compiling (as a process of selecting, ordering and textualising material), compilation (the resultant individual text) and the process of compilations (as the succession of various stages in transmission). He develops comprehensive evaluative criteria and with them creates a basis for clear recognition of the significance of authorship, individuality of texts, and disciplinarity for the long neglected compilatory chronicle tradition. His emphasis on the tension between the kernel of the historic event and the intertextual redefinition of the subsequent records opens up a new perspective for the literary and historical investigation of the primary sources.
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Approaches to the Bedouin's importance in the history of the Arab Middle East regularly conflict on whether outside or inside influences are paramount. In particular, have their political structures and activities been a secondary... more
Approaches to the Bedouin's importance in the history of the Arab Middle East regularly conflict on whether outside or inside influences are paramount. In particular, have their political structures and activities been a secondary response to processes that stemmed from the polities of sedentary people, or have primary agency and rationales from within their own milieu been pivotal? For the first time, this issue is to undergo methodical diachronic analysis. Distinguishing major periods of Bedouin political development from antiquity to the present, with an emergent focus on northern Arabia and the Fertile Crescent, a constant set of seven key features is assessed period by period in order to compare historical variations. Period-specific and consolidated results show that periods characterised by intrinsic factors differ clearly from periods marked by extrinsic ones, and that they alternate. Even as the Bedouin engage in interaction with the sedentary people, their own dynamics prove persistent and irreducible in themselves.
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The ʿAnnāzids (Banū ʿAnnāz) were a dynasty of Kurdish amīrs (r. 381/991 to late sixth/twelfth century) that governed shifting areas in the mountain ranges of southern Kurdistan and Luristān and the adjacent lowlands of today’s Iraq. They... more
The ʿAnnāzids (Banū ʿAnnāz) were a dynasty of Kurdish amīrs (r. 381/991 to late sixth/twelfth century) that governed shifting areas in the mountain ranges of southern Kurdistan and Luristān and the adjacent lowlands of today’s Iraq. They formed one of the region’s endogenous post-ʿAbbāsid principalities that thrived thanks to the frailty of Būyid kingship and contested and displaced each other until overturned by the Saljūqs. Although politically and militarily significant, it appears that the ʿAnnāzids neither won the support of local populations nor left behind a significant cultural legacy.
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Die fortschreitende Digitalisierung des Alltags verändert auch unsere Orientierung im Raum und beeinflusst unsere Welterfahrung. Neue Praktiken – angestoßen von Navigationsgeräten und Mobilkommunikation, geokodierten Internetangeboten und... more
Die fortschreitende Digitalisierung des Alltags verändert auch unsere Orientierung im Raum und beeinflusst unsere Welterfahrung. Neue Praktiken – angestoßen von Navigationsgeräten und Mobilkommunikation, geokodierten Internetangeboten und Werbeanzeigen, Gaming und in naher Zukunft wohl auch intelligenten Verkehrsleitsystemen – treten den hergebrachten Kulturtechniken der Orientierung zur Seite. Kommen gedruckte Karten bald außer Gebrauch? Was ändert sich, wenn die räumliche Intelligenz des Menschen durch elektronische Systeme teilweise ersetzt wird? Waren andererseits die Kulturtechniken der Orientierung nicht schon immer wandelbar?
Die Ringvorlesung will die kulturelle Vielfalt von Orientierungsweisen zeigen. An europäischen wie außereuropäischen Beispielen von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart wird untersucht, wie sich der Mensch im Raum bewegt, welche kognitiven Prozesse dem zugrunde liegen und welche gesellschaftlichen und politischen Wirkungen davon ausgehen können. Historische Orientierungskulturen und ihre schriftlichen, bildlichen und ideellen Zeugnisse werden ebenso behandelt wie Kognitionsmuster aus geographischer, medizinischer und medienwissenschaftlicher Sicht.
Die Reihe verbindet drei Themenkreise:
· Historische Orientierungspraktiken, Semantik des Raumes und Kartenkulturen
· Räumliche Kognition als neurologische und psychische Leistung
· Gegenwärtige Digitalisierung der Raumkognition und ihre Folgen
Die Ringvorlesung will die kulturelle Vielfalt von Orientierungsweisen zeigen. An europäischen wie außereuropäischen Beispielen von der Antike bis in die Gegenwart wird untersucht, wie sich der Mensch im Raum bewegt, welche kognitiven Prozesse dem zugrunde liegen und welche gesellschaftlichen und politischen Wirkungen davon ausgehen können. Historische Orientierungskulturen und ihre schriftlichen, bildlichen und ideellen Zeugnisse werden ebenso behandelt wie Kognitionsmuster aus geographischer, medizinischer und medienwissenschaftlicher Sicht.
Die Reihe verbindet drei Themenkreise:
· Historische Orientierungspraktiken, Semantik des Raumes und Kartenkulturen
· Räumliche Kognition als neurologische und psychische Leistung
· Gegenwärtige Digitalisierung der Raumkognition und ihre Folgen
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While mediaeval Islamic societies acknowledged ownership of slaves in bald and precise legal terms, and also actively carried on long-range slave trade, any form of unfreedom other than slavery was ruled out. Man, it was conceived, is in... more
While mediaeval Islamic societies acknowledged ownership of slaves in bald and precise legal terms, and also actively carried on long-range slave trade, any form of unfreedom other than slavery was ruled out. Man, it was conceived, is in principle free and the only lawful violation of this is by enslavement, the admissibility of which was strictly regularized and limited. From the eighth century on, the possibility of servitude or any like condition that would infringe upon man's assumed basic freedom was ignored.
Conversely, this panel undertakes to explore complex phenomena of human status in Islamic history that either were tagged slavery in the sources but intersected with other factors such as consanguinity or the cultural appreciation of different sorts of slave labour (Urban, Moukheiber), or on the other hand remained outside slavery but exhibited dependence and constraint, e.g. the indentured labour of formally free persons or forced immobility (Franz).
The topics discussed in this panel span diverse spheres of society. They include overt cases settled within the social elite-the richly documented harem of 'Abbasid caliphs or well-to-do households as occur in biographical collections-and covert cases that involve lower strata of society and have rather indirect evidence to them. The instances under discussion range from ninth-century 'Abbasid Iraq to fifteenth-century Mamluk Syria and Egypt.
The contributions to this panel likewise make it clear that it is vital to grasp the interplay of slavery and non-slavery conditions if the conceptional blind spots that Islam's binarity of freedom and slavery has imposed on historical study shall be put into perspective. The study of such "grey areas" of slavery has most recently received fresh impulses (Franz 2017; Gordon and Hain, eds, 2017). 1 Interrogating the transitions between slavery and conditions of unfreedom has a potential to connect the study of Islamic history to the mediaevalist study of other parts of the world and facilitate cross-cultural comparison.
Conversely, this panel undertakes to explore complex phenomena of human status in Islamic history that either were tagged slavery in the sources but intersected with other factors such as consanguinity or the cultural appreciation of different sorts of slave labour (Urban, Moukheiber), or on the other hand remained outside slavery but exhibited dependence and constraint, e.g. the indentured labour of formally free persons or forced immobility (Franz).
The topics discussed in this panel span diverse spheres of society. They include overt cases settled within the social elite-the richly documented harem of 'Abbasid caliphs or well-to-do households as occur in biographical collections-and covert cases that involve lower strata of society and have rather indirect evidence to them. The instances under discussion range from ninth-century 'Abbasid Iraq to fifteenth-century Mamluk Syria and Egypt.
The contributions to this panel likewise make it clear that it is vital to grasp the interplay of slavery and non-slavery conditions if the conceptional blind spots that Islam's binarity of freedom and slavery has imposed on historical study shall be put into perspective. The study of such "grey areas" of slavery has most recently received fresh impulses (Franz 2017; Gordon and Hain, eds, 2017). 1 Interrogating the transitions between slavery and conditions of unfreedom has a potential to connect the study of Islamic history to the mediaevalist study of other parts of the world and facilitate cross-cultural comparison.
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Recent years have seen new approaches to the history of geography and cartography, as well as spa-tial thought more broadly, in the Islamicate world. Place and space are now increasingly understood as invented reference systems that are... more
Recent years have seen new approaches to the history of geography and cartography, as well as spa-tial thought more broadly, in the Islamicate world. Place and space are now increasingly understood as invented reference systems that are entangled with political, religious, cultural, and intellectual his-tory. Thus contextualized, geographic knowledge proves to be more dynamic and varied than previ-ously thought, and many more genres of literature can be seen as relevant to its study. These include world and regional geographies, urban topographies, pilgrimage guides, administrative manuals, trav-elogues, religious or astronomical treatises, encyclopedias, legal documents, and belletristic compen-dia, many of which are accompanied by images or maps. At the same time, questions arise about the importance of geographical knowledge to historical actors and the ways in which spatial considera-tions affected state policies, as well as quotidian religious or economic activities undertaken by, for in-stance, political and military leaders, merchants and travellers, or itinerant Sufis and pilgrims. Moreo-ver, opportunities to analyze centuries-old geographic and cartographic sources have been enhanced by new technologies such as electronic data processing, the unprecedented availability of geodata, and the tools of digital cartography. Taken together, it seems that what was previously understood narrowly as the history of geography or cartography is shifting to a more diversely linked spatial histo-ry, with new relevance for the study of Islamicate societies.
The aim of this conference is to explore these developments further, with special emphasis on the fol-lowing four interrelated categories:
1. GENRE: Is genre a useful concept for understanding spatial thought in this period? For in-stance, do works of geography have anything in common with urban topographies or religious treatises? Can we meaningfully speak of the development of an intellectual field with specific methods or standards for criticism? How do images and maps relate to questions of genre? How did literary traditions combine with formal and thematic innovation? What role did geogra-phy play in encyclopedic literature?
2. AUTHORSHIP: Who composed spatially-oriented texts and from which intellectual or profes-sional backgrounds? What motivated them to do so? How can we discern and describe bound-aries or transitions between collectively transmitted knowledge and individual contributions? Was there a direct relationship between the “state” and the composition of such texts? In what times and places did they proliferate? Who designed or drew maps? Is there any indication that authors thought of themselves as a group?
3. THEME: How do we understand space and place through texts? Can we detect thematic pat-terns across genres? How do conceptions and descriptions in the texts respond to each other? What is the relationship between a written text and its accompanying images or maps? What is the relationship between the materiality of a place and its representation in a text? What is the relationship between travel and text? To what degree do thematic patterns correspond with so-cial and political change?
4. RECEPTION: Who was the audience for spatially-oriented texts and images? Where, by whom, and for whom were they copied over the centuries? How were they transformed in their copy-ing? Can we reconstruct reception histories for these texts or detect the uses to which they were put? Did spatially-oriented texts and images matter?
In addition to exchange on historical issues, we hope the conference will be an opportunity to discuss directions for future research. What is the state of our knowledge about the manuscript heritage? Are cataloguing, digitizing, (re-)editing, and translating pressing tasks? Which tools do we lack that are available in neighbouring fields of study? How can the advance of digital humanities be made fruitful? How can we develop the “spatial turn” in medieval Islamicate history?
Since so far the vast majority of research on these topics has stopped with al-Muqaddasi at around the year 1000, we encourage presentations that approach spatial thought from any part of the Islami-cate world within the loose parameters of 1000–1600 CE.
The aim of this conference is to explore these developments further, with special emphasis on the fol-lowing four interrelated categories:
1. GENRE: Is genre a useful concept for understanding spatial thought in this period? For in-stance, do works of geography have anything in common with urban topographies or religious treatises? Can we meaningfully speak of the development of an intellectual field with specific methods or standards for criticism? How do images and maps relate to questions of genre? How did literary traditions combine with formal and thematic innovation? What role did geogra-phy play in encyclopedic literature?
2. AUTHORSHIP: Who composed spatially-oriented texts and from which intellectual or profes-sional backgrounds? What motivated them to do so? How can we discern and describe bound-aries or transitions between collectively transmitted knowledge and individual contributions? Was there a direct relationship between the “state” and the composition of such texts? In what times and places did they proliferate? Who designed or drew maps? Is there any indication that authors thought of themselves as a group?
3. THEME: How do we understand space and place through texts? Can we detect thematic pat-terns across genres? How do conceptions and descriptions in the texts respond to each other? What is the relationship between a written text and its accompanying images or maps? What is the relationship between the materiality of a place and its representation in a text? What is the relationship between travel and text? To what degree do thematic patterns correspond with so-cial and political change?
4. RECEPTION: Who was the audience for spatially-oriented texts and images? Where, by whom, and for whom were they copied over the centuries? How were they transformed in their copy-ing? Can we reconstruct reception histories for these texts or detect the uses to which they were put? Did spatially-oriented texts and images matter?
In addition to exchange on historical issues, we hope the conference will be an opportunity to discuss directions for future research. What is the state of our knowledge about the manuscript heritage? Are cataloguing, digitizing, (re-)editing, and translating pressing tasks? Which tools do we lack that are available in neighbouring fields of study? How can the advance of digital humanities be made fruitful? How can we develop the “spatial turn” in medieval Islamicate history?
Since so far the vast majority of research on these topics has stopped with al-Muqaddasi at around the year 1000, we encourage presentations that approach spatial thought from any part of the Islami-cate world within the loose parameters of 1000–1600 CE.
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When Western historical science finally took the Mamluk Empire and its ruling dass of Turkish military slaves seriously, itwas found excitingthat such an unusual system had proved efficient for over two and a half centuries. lt was... more
When Western historical science finally took the Mamluk Empire and its ruling dass of Turkish military slaves seriously, itwas found excitingthat such an unusual system had proved efficient for over two and a half centuries. lt was positively declared an excep-tional case in the history of mankind, and David Ayalon coined, in the seventies, the phrase of a distinct Mamluk phenomenon. However, recent research has shown thatthe Mamluk Empirestands in a lang continuity of military slavery in the history of the Mid-dle East and that the Mamluk system, though having its peculiarities, was by no means the odd one out in the Muslim realm. The panelwill therefore reassess the Mamluk phe-nomenon from different angles and back·light its alleged singularity.