Koby yosef | Bar-Ilan University (original) (raw)

Papers by Koby yosef

Mamluk Descendants: In Search for the Awlād al-Nās, ed. Anna Kollatz (Bonn: Bonn University Press), 2022

Another unclear issue is the relationship between the term awlā dal-nā s and the ḣ alqa. Haarmann... more Another unclear issue is the relationship between the term awlā dal-nā s and the ḣ alqa. Haarmann noted that "we do not even know, for the time being, whether the term awlā da l-nā s wasc ustomaryf or the sons and grandsons of Mamluks at large, or whether it wasl imited to those who were enlisted in the ḣ alqa". 9 Indeed, David Ayalon, who tendedtorefer to the awlā dal-nā s as aunit, or aspecial unit within the ḣ alqa,suggested that in the late Mamluk period the term ḣ alqa fell into disuse and wasreplaced by the term awlā dal-nā s that became extremely common. 10 In addition, Ayalon noted that "at that period the awlā dalnā s are even called Royal Mamluks" (and once even khā s˙s˙akiyya), and suggested that "[i]t is possible, therefore, that the term mamā l ī ks ulṫ ā n ī ya duringt hat period occasionally took on awider meaning, as aresultofthe incorporation of additional units to the Royal Mamluks into the dī w ā na l-mufrad". 11 Poliak suggestedthat the phenomenon should be connected with the purchase of iqṫ ā ʿ s of mamā l ī ksulṫ ā niyya by awlā dal-nā s. Haarmann noted that "[h]ow this merger or coalescence of terms and institutions actuallyc ame about, we do not know yet",a nd that "[f]uture researchw ill havet ot ry to clarifyt his historicalp rocess". 12 This paper will offer adetailed survey of the term awlā dal-nā s throughout the Mamlukperiod and examine the identity of those designated by thisterm. The survey reveals that during the Turkish period (648-784/1250-1382) the term was only rarely used, and not in the above-mentioned specific meaning of "mamlū k s ' descendants",suggesting that in that period mamlū k s ' descendants still did not develop as olid group identity and mamlū k sw ere not considered an exclusive ruling elite (al-nā s). In fact,itwould seem that only during the reign of al-Ż ā hir Jaqmaq (842-857/1438-1453), or shortly before that time, the term became common and received also as pecificm eaning.I tw as at about the samet ime when in Egypt mamlū k s ' descendants, as ac lass, on the one hand were hardly and Their Sons in the Intellectual Life of Fourteenth-Century Egypt and Syria", Journal of Semitic Studies 33/1 (1988), 104 ("We do not know when exactly in the fourteenth century the phrase awlā dal-nā s began to be used to denote descendants of amirs"). 9I dem, "The Sons of Mamluks",147. 10 Ayalon, "Studies II",456-7("the name ajnā dal-ḣ alqa as such virtually ceases to exist separately"); and see Haarmann, "Joseph'sLaw",65("towards the end of the Mamluk history, the term ḣ alqa… seems to havevanished altogether and wasreplaced pars pro toto by awlā dalnā s "); and see David Ayalon, "The System of Payment in MamlūkMilitary Society", Journal of the Economicand Social History of the Orient 1/1 (1957), 45 ("Eventually the term ḣ alqa fell into disuse, and one could find under the name of awlā dal-nā s ,side by side with the sons of mamluks, Cairo merchants, artisans and all sorts of nouveau-riche elements").

Mamluk Descendants: In Search for the Awlād al-Nās, ed. Anna Kollatz (Bonn: Bonn University Press) , 2022

scendantsc ould only fill low-rankingp ositions in them ilitarya nd politics,a nd except for "qui... more scendantsc ould only fill low-rankingp ositions in them ilitarya nd politics,a nd except for "quiteasmallnumberofexceptions, attained no higher rank than that of Amī rofT en andAmī rofF orty" (itw ould seem,but it is notentirelyclear,that Ayalon thought that mamlū k s ' descendantsnormally became amirsinthe ḣ alqa). Nevertheless,some mamlū k s ' descendantsreached thehighest rank of amir of one hundred, especially in Syria, andt oamuchl esser extent in Egypt, wherei na n exceptional manner duringt he second reigno ft he Qalā w ū nida l-Nā s˙ir Ḣ asan (755-762/1354-1361) mamlū k s ' descendantse njoyed ap rivilegedp osition. The "privileged position of the awlā da l-nā s underS ultan Ḣ asan was, however, exceptionaland contrasted sharplywiththeir status underother rulers". 6 Ayalon,itshouldberemembered, used mainly Circassian-periodsources that were at hisdisposal, whichmustreflect better thesituation in that period (784-923/ 1382-1517). Subsequentstudies have offeredamore nuancedand differentiated view of them ilitary/politicala nd economic status of the mamlū k s ' descendants andf ocused on correcting Ayalon'sv iewr egardingt he status of mamlū k s ' descendantsduringthe Tu rkishperiodofthe Sultanate(648-784/1250-1382). Afirst significanta nd groundbreaking corrective waso ffered by Ulrich Haarmann in 1984.B ased on informationf romI bn al-Jī ʿ ā n ' s(d. 885/1480) Kitā ba l-Tuḣ fa al-Saniyyabi-Asmā ʾ al-Bilā dal-Miṡ riyya andIbn Duqmā q ' s(d. 809/1407) al-Intiṡ ā r li-Wā siṫatʿIqdal-Amṡ ā r on thelegalstatusoflandunits (milk/waqf/rizqa/iqṫā ʿ), its taxyield (ʿibra)expressed in dī n ā rjayshī (henceforth, DJ), 7 andonthe land holders foundi ne xcerptsoft he register (jarī da iqṫā ʿ iyya)oft he army office (dī w ā naljaysh)ofE gypt in threedifferent dates(circa777/1376, 8 circa800/1397, 9 andcirca

Egypt and Syria under Mamluk Rule: Political, Social and Cultural Aspects, ed. Amalia Levanoni (Leiden: E.J. Brill), 2021

in Jo Van Steenbergen and Maya Termonia (eds.), New Readings in Arabic Historiography from Late Medieval Egypt and Syria (Leiden, Boston: Brill), 2021

Introduction: Trends of "Literarization" ("adabization") in Mamluk Historiography* Speaking of a ... more Introduction: Trends of "Literarization" ("adabization") in Mamluk Historiography* Speaking of a "literarization" of history writing during the Mamluk period, Ulrich Haarmann referred mainly to the increasing use of elements drawn from the literature of adab and folk romance (Volksroman), such as anecdotes or story-like reports, dialogues with direct speech, colloquial language, digressions, popular motifs, occult materials, and other adab-like elements (such as mirabilia-marvels or exotic stories [ʿajāʾib wa-gharāʾib]) in the historical narrative (ḥawādith) in chronicles written mostly by Egyptian chroniclers related to the military institution (Ibn al-Dawādārī [d. after 736/1335] being the most notable example) but to a lesser degree also found in the chronicle of the Syrian religious scholar al-Jazarī (d. 739/1338). This process was underlied by a desire to entertain the readers and "popularize" historical writing.1 The more popular elements, and especially those drawn from the Volksroman, may be seen as elements of adab "in its 'lower' form,"2 thus the process of "literarization" described by Haarmann may be seen as a process of "adabization." After Haarmann, much attention has been given to Egyptian historians related to the military institution considered to have written "highly literarized" (or * I would like to thank my friend and colleague Almog Kasher for reading a draft of this paper and making some very useful comments on issues related to Arabic grammar. 1 For a convenient summary of Haarmann's ideas, see Haarmann, Review of Weltgeschichte 134-5; Auflösung 55-7; Guo, Mamluk 33-6; Hirschler, Studying 168; Rabbat, Perception 164-5; Mauder, Gelehrte 23-5; Irwin, Ibn Zunbul 6; Parry, Review 148; Little, al-Ṣafadī 194. For a detailed discussion, see Haarmann, Quellenstudien 119-83 (esp. 159-83). On the process of the "popularization" of reading practices, see Hirschler, Written. 2 Guo, Mamluk 39.

Mamluk Studies Review 22, 2019

in Reuven Amitai and Stephan Conermann (ed.), The Mamluk Sultanate from the Perspective of Regional and World History: Economic, Social and Cultural Development in an Era of Increasing International Interaction and Competition (Bonn: Bonn University Press), 2019

in Yuval Ben-Bassat (ed.), Developing Perspectives in Mamluk History: Essays in Honor of Amalia Levanoni (Leiden: Brill, 2017), 2017

in: Urbain Vermeulen, Kristof D'hulster, and Jo Van Steenbergen (ed.), Egypt and Syria in the Fāṭimid, Ayyūbid and Mamlūk Eras VIII: Proceedings of the 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd International Colloquium Organized at the University of Ghent in May 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 (2016), pp. 557-579, 2016

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 42 (2015), pp. 73-127

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 40 (2013), pp. 335-362

Al-Qantara 34/1 (2013), pp. 7-34

Although D. S. Richards maintained that "Mamluks entered no charmed circle, no special caste" and... more Although D. S. Richards maintained that "Mamluks entered no charmed circle, no special caste" and that it is "absurd to think that any mamluk, merely by virtue of that legal status, had a real expectation of power, wealth and influence", 3 and Robert Irwin argued that most mamluks cannot be regarded an elite, 4 generally, scholars of the Mamluk Sultanate are still of the above-mentioned opinion. For example, Linda Northrup maintains that "having been a slave was a condition for eligibility to the highest ranks of military society", and that even after manumission "the recruit, now free, retained his mamluk and, therefore, elite status". 5 In a similar manner, Reuven Amitai holds that "even after official manumission at around the age of twenty or younger, at the ceremony known as kharj, where the trainees received a certificate of release, the soldiers still proudly regarded themselves as mamluks, jealously guarding their status…", or that "officially free Mamluks still overtly referred to themselves as mamalik, proud of their special slave origins". 6 It will be argued below that these assertions are based on a misconception of the term mamluk as used in Mamluk sources. Servile status was not considered a source of pride; on the contrary, it seems to have been considered degrading and manumitted slaves with aspirations made great efforts to repress the servile phase of their life.

Mamlūk Studies Review 16 (2012), pp. 55-69

The age of the Mamluk Sultanate is regarded as the period in which the "mamluk principles," as de... more The age of the Mamluk Sultanate is regarded as the period in which the "mamluk principles," as defined by David Ayalon, were most clearly expressed. These were: the mamluk's loyalty to his master, solidarity among mamluks serving the same master (khushdāshīyah), and the concept of "one generation nobility" (i.e., that sultans and amirs did not bequeath status, privileges, or property to their sons). 1 The prevalent view regarding the Mamluk Sultanate is that dynastic and hereditary tendencies were weak throughout its reign. 2 It is similarly believed that, under the Sultanate, blood ties, marital bonds, and ethnic solidarity were of marginal importance in comparison with the pseudo-familial ties between the master and the mamluk, and between mamluks of the same household. 3 Furthermore, it has been argued that in this era the right to rule and hold key positions in the Sultanate was reserved exclusively for mamluks. According to this argument, the ruling elite's main characteristic was its mamluk descent; all mamluks were of elite status; and mamluks were proud of their slave origin even after manumission. 4 In my dissertation, I have examined a variety of social ties of sultans and amirs in the period of the Mamluk Sultanate. I argue that, throughout the period, blood ties, marital ties, and ethnic solidarity were of greater importance than what is commonly thought in scholarly research. Notwithstanding this, significant changes are evident in the patterns of social ties upon the transition from the Turkish to the Circassian ruling class . Only under the latter do we see the waning of the biological family, the decline of agnate lines, the enhanced

Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 39 (2012), pp. 387-411

Zmanim 124 (2013), pp. 30-43 (in Hebrew)

מראה, מראה שעל הקיר מגפה יש להכיר, בעריכת גליה ינושבסקי, 2020

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