A Mamluk (Turkish: Memlük, also called Kölemen; Arabic: مملوك (singular), مماليك mamālīk (plural), "owned"; also transliterated mamlouk, mamluq, mamluke, mameluk, mameluke, mamaluke or marmeluke) was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks.[1][2] The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior class,[3] was of great political importance and was extraordinarily long-lived, lasting from the 9th to the 19th century AD. Over time, mamluks became a powerful military caste in various Muslim societies. Particularly in Egypt, but also in the Levant, Iraq, and India, mamluks held political and military power. In some cases, they attained the rank of sultan, while in others they held regional power as amirs or beys. Most notably, mamluk factions seized the sultanate for themselves in Egypt and Syria in a period known as the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). The Mamluk Sultanate famously beat back the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut and fought the Crusaders effectively driving them out from the Levant by 1291 and officially in 1302 ending the era of the Crusades.
They were predominantly Turkic tribes of Cumans/Kipchaks [1][2] depending on the period and region in question. While mamluks were purchased, their status was above ordinary slaves, who were not allowed to carry weapons or perform certain tasks. In places such as Egypt from the Ayyubid dynasty to the time of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, mamluks were considered to be “true lords,” with social status above freeborn Muslims.[4]
The story of military in preists Islamic societies begins with the Abbasid caliphs of the 9th century Baghdad. The earliest mamluks were known as ghilman (another term for slaves, broadly synonymous[5]) and were bought by the early Abbasid caliphs. By the middle of the 9th century, these slaves had become the dominant element in the military. Conflict between these ghilman and the population of Baghdad prompted the caliph al-Mu'tasim to move his capital to the city of Samarra, but this did not succeed in calming tensions; the caliph al-Mutawakkil was assassinated by some of these slave-soldiers in 861.[6] The Abbasids bought slave-soldiers mainly from areas near the Caucasus (mainly Circassian and Georgian), and from areas north of the Black Sea (Kipchak and other Turks). Those captured had non-Muslim backgrounds.
The use of mamluk soldiers gave rulers troops who had no link to any established power structure. Local non-mamluk warriors were often more loyal to their tribal sheikhs, their families, or nobles than to the sultan or caliph. If a commander conspired against the ruler, it was often not possible to deal with the conspiracy without causing unrest among the nobility. The mamluk slave-troops were strangers of the lowest possible status who could not conspire against the ruler and who could easily be punished if they caused trouble, making them a great military asset.
After the fragmentation of the Abbasid Empire, military slaves, known as either mamluks or ghilman, became the basis of military power throughout the Islamic world. The Fatimids of Egypt bought Armenian, Turkic and Sudanese slaves, who formed the bulk of their military and often their administration.[7] The powerful vizier Badr al-Jamali, for example, was a mamluk of Armenian origin. In Iran and Iraq, the Buyids used Turkic slaves throughout their empire, such as the rebel al-Basasiri who eventually ushered in Saljuq rule in Baghdad after attempting a failed rebellion. When the later Abbasids regained military control over Iraq, they also relied on military slaves called ghilman.[8]
Under Saladin and the Ayyubids of Egypt, the power of the mamluks increased until they claimed the sultanate in 1250, ruling as the Mamluk Sultanate. Military slavery continued to be employed throughout the Islamic world until the 19th century. The Ottoman Empire's devşirme, or "gathering" of young slaves for the Janissary corps, lasted until the 17th century, while mamluk-based regimes thrived in such Ottoman provinces as Iraq and Egypt into the 19th century.
Under the Mamluk Sultane of Cairo, mamluks were purchased while still young and were raised in the barracks of the Citadel of Cairo. Because of their particular status (no social ties or political affiliations) and their austere military training, they were often trusted. Their training consisted of strict religious and military education to help them become “good Muslim horsemen and fighters.”[4] When their training was completed they were discharged, but still attached to the patron who had purchased them. Mamluks relied on the help of their patron for career advancements and likewise the patron’s reputation and power depended on his recruits. A mamluk was also “bound by a strong esprit de corps to his peers in the same household.”[4]
Mamluks were proud of their origin as slaves and only those who were purchased were eligible to attain the highest positions. The privileges associated with being a mamluk were so desirable that many free Egyptians arranged themselves to be sold in order to gain access to this privileged society. Mamluks spoke Arabic and cultivated their identity by retaining an Egyptian name. However despite humble origins and an exclusive attitude, mamluks were respected by their Arab subjects. They earned admiration and prestige as the “true guardians of Islam by repelling both the Crusaders and the Mongols.”[4] Many people viewed them as a blessing from God to the Muslims.
After mamluks had converted to Islam, many were trained as cavalry soldiers. Mamluks had to follow the dictates of furusiyya, a code that included values such as courage and generosity, and also cavalry tactics, horsemanship, archery and treatment of wounds, etc.
Mamluks lived within their garrisons and mainly spent their time with each other. Their entertainments included sporting events such as archery competitions and presentations of mounted combat skills at least once a week. The intensive and rigorous training of each new recruit helped ensure continuity of mamluk practices.
While they were no longer actually slaves after training, they were still obliged to serve the Sultan. The Sultan kept them as an outsider force, under his direct command, to use in the event of local tribal frictions. The Sultan could also send them as far as the Muslim regions of Iberia.
Sultans had the largest number of mamluks, but lesser amirs could have their own troops as well. Many mamluks rose to high positions throughout the empire, including army command. At first their status remained non-hereditary and sons were strictly prevented from following their fathers. However over time, in places such as Egypt, the mamluk forces became linked to existing power structures and gained significant amounts of influence on those powers.
A similar evolution occurred in the Ottoman Empire with the Janissaries.
Ahmed ibn Tulun was a Turkish Mamluk whose father was sent as a gift to the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma'mun in (200H./815–16 A.D.). Ibn Tulun was sent to Egypt in 868 as regent governor for the Abbasids, but through diplomatic intrigue and military might, he effectively operated his Tulunid dynasty autonomously as the earliest Mamluk ruler in Egypt. The Tulunid dynasty was short-lived, and Egypt was reoccupied by Abbassid forces in the winter of 904–05.
Throughout the next centuries, Egypt was controlled by a variety of rulers, notably the Ikhshidids and Fatimids. Throughout these dynasties, thousands of Mamluk servants and guards continued to be employed, and even took high offices, including governor of Damascus. This increasing level of influence worried the Arab rulers, foreshadowing the eventual rise of a Mamluk sultan.
The origins of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt lie in the Ayyubid Dynasty that Saladin (Salah ad-Din) founded in 1174. With his uncle Shirkuh he conquered Egypt for the Zengid King Nur ad-Din of Damascus in 1169. By 1189, after the capture of Jerusalem, Saladin had consolidated the dynasty's control over the Middle East. After Saladin's death his sons fell to squabbling over the division of the Empire, and each attempted to surround himself with larger expanded mamluk retinues.
By 1200 Saladin's brother Al-Adil succeeded in securing control over the whole empire by defeating and killing or imprisoning his brothers and nephews in turn. With each victory Al-Adil incorporated the defeated mamluk retinue into his own. This process was repeated at Al-Adil's death in 1218, and at his son Al-Kamil's death in 1238. The Ayyubids became increasingly surrounded by the power of the mamluks, acting semi-autonomously as regional Atabegs, and soon involved them in the internal court politics of the kingdom itself.
In 1315 they invaded and conquered a great part of Nubia, but the power remained with a Nubian prince converted from Coptic Orthodox Christianity to Sunni Islam.
In June 1249, the Seventh Crusade under Louis IX of France landed in Egypt and took Damietta. The Egyptian troops retreated at first, spurring the sultan to hang more than 50 commanders as deserters. When the Egyptian sultan As-Salih Ayyub died, the power passed briefly to his son Turanshah and then his favorite wife Shajar Al-Durr (or Shajarat-ul-Dur). She took control with mamluk support and launched a counterattack. Troops of the Bahri commander Baibars defeated Louis's troops. The king delayed his retreat too long and was captured by the Mamluks in March 1250, and agreed to a ransom of 400,000 livres (150,000 of which were never paid).[9] Political pressure for a male leader made Shajar marry the mamluk commander Aybak; he was later killed in his bath, and in the power struggle that ensued vice-regent Qutuz took over. He formally founded the first Mamluk sultanate and the Bahri dynasty.
The first Mamluk dynasty was named Bahri after the name of one of the regiments, the Bahriya or River Island regiment. The name Bahri (بحري meaning "of the sea or river") referred to their center in al-Rodah Island in the Nile. The regiment consisted mainly of Kipchak Turks/Cumans.[10]
When the Mongol Empire's troops of Hulagu Khan sacked Baghdad in 1258 and advanced towards Syria, Mamluk Emir Baibars (Turkish: Baybars)( Circassian:Bipars, a common Circassian name which means the frontier defending warrior) left Damascus for Cairo where he was welcomed by Sultan Qutuz.[11] After taking Damascus, Hulagu demanded that Qutuz surrender Egypt but Qutuz had Hulagu's envoys killed and, with Baibars' help, mobilized his troops. Although Hulagu had to leave for the East when great Khan Möngke died in action against the Southern Song, he left his lieutenant, the Christian Kitbuqa, in charge. Qutuz drew the Mongol army into an ambush near the Orontes River, routed them at the Battle of Ain Jalut and captured and executed Kitbuqa (see Qutuz).
After this great triumph, Qutuz was assassinated by conspiring Mamluks. It was said that Baibars, who seized power, was involved in the assassination. In the following centuries the rule of mamluks was discontinuous, with an average span of seven years.
The Mamluks defeated the Mongols a second time in the Homs in 1260 and began to drive them back east. In the process they consolidated their power over Syria, fortified the area, and formed mail routes and diplomatic connections between the local princes. Baibars's troops attacked Acre in 1263, captured Caesaria in 1265, and took Antioch in 1268.
Mamluks also defeated new Mongol attacks in Syria in 1271, 1281 (2nd Battle of Homs). They were defeated by the Mongols and their Christian allies at the Battle of Wadi al-Khazandar in 1299, but soon after that the Mamluks defeated the Mongols again in 1303/1304 and 1312. Finally, the Mongols and the Mamluks signed a treaty of peace in 1323.
In 1382 the Bukri or Burji dynasty took over, as Barkuk was proclaimed sultan, so ending the Bahri dynasty. Burji (برجي meaning "of the tower") referred to their center in the citadel of Cairo. The dynasty consisted mainly of Circassians (in Turkic Bukri means hunchbacked).
Barkuk became an enemy of Timur, who threatened to invade Syria. The Sultan of the Ottoman Empire Bayezid I then invaded Syria which was regained by the Mamluk sultan Faraj when Timur died in 1405, but continually facing rebellions from local emirs, he was forced to abdicate in 1412. That year, 1421 Egypt was attacked by the Kingdom of Cyprus, but the Egyptians forced the Cypriotes to acknowledge the suzerainty of the Egyptian sultan Barsbay. During Barsbay's reign Egypt's population was greatly reduced from what it had been a few centuries before, with only 1/5 the number of towns.
Al-Ashraf came to power in 1453 and had friendly relations with the Ottoman Empire, who captured Constantinople later that year, causing great rejoicings in Egypt. However, under the reign of Khoshkadam Egypt began the struggle between the Egyptian and the Ottoman sultanates. In 1467 sultan Kait Bey offended the Ottoman sultan Bayezid II, whose brother was poisoned. Bayezid II seized Adana, Tarsus and other places within Egyptian territory, but was eventually defeated. Kait also tried to help the Muslims in Spain by threatening the Christians in Syria, but without effect. He died in 1496, several hundred thousand ducats in debt to the great Venetian trading families.
Vasco da Gama having in 1497 found his way round the Cape of Good Hope pushed his way across the Indian Ocean to the shores of Malabar and Kozhikode, attacking the fleets that carried freight and Muslim pilgrims from India to the Red Sea, and struck terror into the potentates all around. Various engagements took place. Cairo's Mamluk sultan Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri was affronted at the attacks upon the Red Sea, the loss of tolls and traffic, the indignities to which Mecca and its port were subjected, and above all at the fate of one of his ships . He vowed vengeance upon Portugal, first sending monks from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as envoys, he threatened Pope Julius II that if he did not check Manuel I of Portugal in his depredations on the Indian Sea, he would destroy all Christian Holy places.[12]
The Rulers of Gujarat and Yemen also turned for help to the Mamluke Sultan of Egypt. Their chief concern was the fitting-out of a fleet in the Red Sea which could protect their sea routes from Portuguese attack. Jeddah was soon fortified as a harbor of refuge so Arabia and the Red Sea were protected, but the fleets in the Indian Ocean were at the mercy of the enemy.
The last Mamluk sultan Al-Ghawri accordingly fitted out a fleet of 50 vessels. As Mamluks had little expertise in naval warfare, the naval enterprise was carried out with the help of the Ottomans.[13] In 1508 at the Battle of Chaul the Mamluk fleet won over the Portuguese viceroy's son Lourenço de Almeida, but in the following year the Portuguese won the Battle of Diu in which the Port city of Diu was wrested from the Gujarat Sultanate. Some years after, Afonso de Albuquerque attacked Aden, while the Egyptian troops suffered disaster in Yemen. Al-Ghawri fitted out a new fleet to punish the enemy and protect the Indian trade; but before its results were known, Egypt had lost her sovereignty, and the Red Sea with Mecca and all its Arabian interests had passed into the hands of the Ottoman empire.
The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II was engaged in Europe when a new area of hostility with Egypt appeared in 1501. It arose out of the relations with the Safavid dynasty in Persia. Shah Ismail I sent an embassy to the Venetians via Syria inviting them to join his army and recover the territory taken from them by the "Porte" (Ottomans). Mameluk Egyptian sultan Al-Ghawri was charged by Selim with giving the envoys of the Safavid Ismail passage through Syria on their way to Venice and harboring refugees. To appease him, Al-Ghawri placed in confinement the Venetian merchants then in Syria and Egypt, but after a year released them.
After the Battle of Chaldiran on 1514, Selim I attacked the bey of Dulkadirids, as Egypt's vassal had stood aloof, and sent his head to Mamluk Sultan Al-Ghawri. Secure now against Shah Ismail I, in 1516 CE he drew together a great army aiming at conquering Egypt, but to deceive it he represented his object to be the further pursuit of Shah Ismail I. In 1515 began the war which led to the later incorporation of Egypt and its dependencies into the Ottoman Empire, with Mamluk cavalry proving no match for the Ottoman artillery and the janissaries. On August 24, 1515, at the Battle of Merj Dabik Sultan Al-Ghawri was killed. Syria passed into Turkish possession, an event welcomed in many places as it was seen as deliverance from the Mamelukes.
The Mamluke Sultanate survived until 1517, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman sultan Selim I captured Cairo on January 20, the center of power was then transferred to Istanbul. Although not in the same form as under the Sultanate, the Ottoman Empire retained the Mamluks as an Egyptian ruling class and the Mamluks and the Burji family succeeded in regaining much of their influence, but remained vassals of the Ottomans.
In 1768, Sultan Ali Bey Al-Kabir declared independence from the Ottomans. However, the Ottomans crushed the movement and retained their position after his defeat. By this time new slave recruits were introduced from Georgia in the Caucasus.
France's Directory now authorised a campaign in "The Orient" to protect French trade interests and undermine Britain's access to India. To this end, Napoleon Bonaparte was to lead an army to land in Egypt in 1798.
The French defeated a Mamluk army in the Battle of the Pyramids and drove the survivors out to Upper Egypt. The Mamluks relied on their massed cavalry charge tactics, changed only by the addition of muskets, to which the French formed square and held firm. Despite multiple victories and an initially successful expedition into Syria, mounting conflict in Europe and the earlier defeat of the supporting French Fleet by the British Royal Navy at the Battle of the Nile decided the issue. Napoleon and a guard from his Armée d'Orient withdrew in late 1799. On the assassination of Napoleon's successor, General Jean Baptiste Kléber on 14 June 1800, the command of the Army in Egypt fell to Jacques-François Menou. Isolated and out of supplies, Menou surrendered to the British in 1801.
After the departure of French troops in 1801 Mamluks continued their struggle for independence, this time against the Ottoman Empire and Great Britain. In 1803, Mamluk leaders Ibrahim Beg and Usman Beg wrote a letter to the Russian consul-general and asked him to act as a mediator with the Sultan to allow them to negotiate for a cease-fire, and a return to their homeland Georgia. The Russian ambassador in Istanbul categorically refused to mediate because the Russian government was afraid of allowing Mamluks to return to Georgia, where a strong national liberation movement was on the rise which might have been encouraged by a Mamluk return.
In 1805, the population of Cairo rebelled. This was an excellent opportunity for the Mamluks to seize power, but internal tension and betrayal prevented them from exploiting this opportunity. In 1806, the Mamluks defeated the Turkish forces several times, and in June the rival parties concluded a peace treaty by which Muhammad Ali, who had been appointed as governor of Egypt on 26 March 1806, was to be removed and the state authority in Egypt returned to the Mamluks. However, they were again unable to capitalize on the opportunity due to conflicts between the clans; Muhammad Ali kept his authority.
Muhammed Ali knew that eventually he would have to deal with the Mamluks if he ever wanted to control Egypt. They were still the feudal owners of Egypt and their land was still the source of wealth and power. The constant strain on sustaining the military manpower necessary to defend the Mamluks's system from the Europeans and the Mongols would eventually weaken them to the point of collapse.[14]
On March 1, 1811, Muhammad Ali invited all of the leading Mamluks to his palace to celebrate the declaration of war against the Wahhabis in Arabia. Between 600 and 700 Mamluks paraded in Cairo. Near the Al-Azab gates, in a narrow road down from Mukatam Hill, Muhammad Ali's forces ambushed and killed almost all in what came to be known as the Massacre of the Citadel. According to period reports, only one Mamluk, whose name is given variously as Amim (also Amyn), or Heshjukur (a Besleney), survived when he forced his horse to leap from the walls of the citadel, killing it in the fall.[15]
During the following week, hundreds of Mamluks were killed throughout Egypt; in the citadel of Cairo alone more than 1,000 were killed. Throughout Egypt an estimated 3,000 Mamluks and their relatives were killed.
Despite these attempts by Muhammad Ali to defeat the Mamluks in Egypt, a party of them escaped and fled south into what is now Sudan. In 1811, these Mamluks established a state at Dunqulah in the Sennar as a base for their slave trading. In 1820, the sultan of Sennar informed Muhammad Ali that he was unable to comply with a demand to expel the Mamluks. In response, the pasha sent 4,000 troops to invade Sudan, clear it of Mamluks, and reclaim it for Egypt. The pasha's forces received the submission of the kashif, dispersed the Dunqulah Mamluks, conquered Kordofan, and accepted Sennar's surrender from the last Funj sultan, Badi VII.
There were various places in which mamluks gained political or military power as a self-replicating military community.
In 1206, the Mamluk commander of the Muslim forces in the Indian subcontinent, Qutb-ud-din Aybak, proclaimed himself Sultan, becoming in effect the first independent Sultan-e-Hind. This Mamluk dynasty lasted until 1290.
Mamluk corps were first introduced in the part of the Ottoman Empire that is now Iraq by pasha Hasan of Baghdad in 1702. From 1747 to 1831 Iraq was ruled, with short intermissions, by the Mamluk officers of Georgian origin who succeeded in asserting autonomy from the Sublime Porte, suppressed tribal revolts, curbed the power of the Janissaries, restored order, and introduced a program of modernization of the economy and the military. In 1831 the Ottomans managed to overthrow Daud Pasha, the last Mamluk ruler, and imposed direct control over Iraq.[16]
Napoleon formed his own Mamluk corps, the last known Mamluk force, in the early years of the 19th century, and used Mamluks in a number of his campaigns. Even his Imperial Guard had Mamluk soldiers during the Belgian campaign, including one of his personal servants. Napoleon's famous bodyguard Roustam Raza was a Mamluk who had been sold in Egypt.
Throughout the Napoleonic era there was a special Mamluk corps in the French army. In his history of the 13th Chasseurs Colonel Descaves recounts how Napoleon used the Mamluks in Egypt. In the so-called "Instructions" that Bonaparte gave to Kleber after departure, Napoleon wrote that he had already bought from Syrian merchants about 2,000 Mamluks with whom he intended to form a special detachment.
On 14 September 1799 General Kleber established a mounted company of Mamluk auxiliaries and Syrian janissaries from Turks captured at the siege of Acre. General Menou reorganized the company on 7 July 1800, forming 3 companies of 100 men each and renaming it the "Mamluks de la République". In 1801 General Rapp was sent to Marseille to organize a squadron of 250 Mamluks under his command. On 7 January 1802 the previous order was canceled and the squadron reduced to 150 men. The list of effectives on 21 April 1802 reveals 3 officers and 155 other ranks. By decree of 25 December 1803 the Mamluks were organized into a company attached to the Chasseurs-à-Cheval of the Imperial Guard.
Mamluks fought well at the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805, and the regiment was granted a standard and its roster increased to accommodate a standard-bearer and a trumpet. A decree of 15 April 1806 defined the strength of the squadron as 13 officers and 147 privates. A famous painting by Francisco de Goya shows a charge of Mamluks against the Madrilene on 2 May 1808.
Despite the decree of 21 March 1815 that stated that no foreigner could be admitted into the Imperial Guard, Napoleon’s decree of 24 April prescribed amongst other things that the Chasseurs-à-Cheval of the Imperial Guard included a squadron of two companies of Mamluks for the Belgian Campaign. With the First Restoration, the company of the Mamluks of the Old Guard was incorporated in the Corps Royal des Chasseurs de France. The Mamluks of the Young Guard were incorporated into the 7th Chasseurs-à-Cheval.
During their service in Napoleon’s army, the Mamluk squadron wore the following uniform: Before 1804: The only "uniform" part was the green cahouk (hat), white turban, and red saroual (trousers), all to be worn with a loose shirt and a vest. Boots were of yellow, red, or tan soft leather. Weapons consisted of an "Oriental" scimitar, a brace of pistols in a holder decorated with a brass crescent and star, and a dagger.
After 1804: The cahouk became red with a brass crescent and star, and the shirt was closed and had a collar. The main change was the addition of a "regulation" chasseur-style saddle cloth and roll, imperial green in color, piped red, with a red and white fringe. The saddle and harness remained Arabic in style. The undress uniform was as for the Chasseurs-à-Cheval of the Guard, but of a dark blue cloth.
Mameluco is a Portuguese word derived from "mamluk" (also named Mameluco in Spanish), used to identify people of mixed European and Amerindian descent in South America. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Mameluco also referred to organized bands of Portuguese slave-hunters based at São Paulo, known primarily as bandeirantes.
Mammaluccu in the Sicilian dialect is used to mean stupid, idiot or simpleton.
Mameluk was used in Hungary in the last decades of the 19th century as a nickname for Members of Parliament belonging to the governing "Liberal" party. This party governed Hungary for 30 years (1875–1905) and its members in Parliament fulfilled all wishes of party leader and prime minister Kálmán Tisza in order to preserve their parliamentary seats and accompanying privileges.
Officers of the United States Marine Corps carry a ceremonial Mameluke Sword, and Mamluke swords are used by US army in festivals.
In Italian American Vernacular English, the term "mamalook" is often used to refer to someone who does something stupid. It has roughly the same meaning as the Yiddish term "schmuck." However, mamalook is usually used in a joking way, whereas schmuck is more insulting.
The following terms originally come from either Turkish or Ottoman Language (it is developed form of Turkish) that is composed of Turkish, Arabic, and Persian words and grammar structures. The "English" column indicates its written form in English.
| English | Arabic | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Alama Sultaniya | علامة سلطانية | The mark or signature of the Sultan put on his decrees, letters and documents. |
| Al-Nafir al-Am | النفير العام | General emergency declared during war |
| Amir | أمير | Prince |
| Amir Akhur | أمير آخور | supervisor of the royal stable (from Persian آخور meaning stable) |
| Amir Majlis | أمير مجلس | Guard of Sultan's seat and bed |
| Atabek | أتابك | Commander in chief |
| Astadar | أستادار | Chief of the royal servants |
| Barid Jawi | بريد جوى | Airmail (mail sent by carrier-pigeons, amplified by Sultan Baibars) |
| Bayt al-Mal | بيت المال | treasury |
| Cheshmeh | ششمه | A pool of water, or fountain (literally "eye") |
| Dawadar | دوادار | Holder of Sultan's ink bottle (from Persian دواتدار meaning bearer of the ink bottle) |
| Fondok | فندق | Hotel (some famous hotels in Cairo during the Mamluk era were Dar al-Tofah, Fondok Bilal and Fondok al-Salih) |
| Hajib | حاجب | Doorkeeper of sultan's court |
| Iqta | إقطاع | Revenue from land allotment |
| Jamkiya | جامكية | Salary paid to a Mamluk |
| Jashnakir | جاشنكير | Food taster of the sultan (to assure food was not poisoned) |
| Jomdar | جمدار | An official at the department of the Sultan's clothing (from Persian جامهدار meaning keeper of cloths) |
| Kafel al-mamalek al-sharifah al-islamiya al-amir al-amri | كافل الممالك الشريفة الاسلاميةالاميرالأمرى | Title of the Vice-sultan (The guardian of the dignified Islamic kingdoms the commanding prince) |
| Khan | خان | A store that specialized in selling a certain commodity |
| Khaskiya | خاصكية | Courtiers of the sultan and most trusted royal mamluks who functioned as the Sultan's bodyguards/ A privileged group around a prominent Amir (from Arabi/Persian خاصگیان meaning close associates) |
| Khastakhaneh | خاصتاخانة | Hospital (in modern Turkish: Hastane. In modern Crimean Tatar: Hastahane) |
| Khond | خند | Wife of the sultan |
| Khushdashiya | خشداشية | Mamluks belonging to the same Amir or Sultan. |
| Mahkamat al-Mazalim | محكمة المظالم | Court of complaint. A court that heard cases of complaints of people against state officials. This court was headed by the sultan himself. |
| Mamalik Kitabeya | مماليك كتابية | Mamluks still attending training classes and who still live at the Tebaq (campus) |
| Mamalik Sultaneya | مماليك سلطانيه | Mamluks of the sultan;to distinguish from the Mamluks of the Amirs (princes) |
| Modwarat al-Sultan | مدورة السلطان | Sultan's tent which he used during travel. |
| Mohtaseb | محتسب | Controller of markets, public works and local affairs. |
| Morqadar | مرقدار | Works in the Royal Kitchen (from Persian مرغدار meaning one responsible for the fowl) |
| Mushrif | مشرف | Supervisor of the Royal Kitchen |
| Na'ib Al-Sultan | نائب السلطان | Vice-sultan |
| Qa'at al-insha'a | قاعة الإنشاء | Chancery hall |
| Qadi al-Qoda | قاضى القضاة | Chief justice |
| Qalat al-Jabal | قلعة الجبل | Citadel of the Mountain (the abode and court of the sultan in Cairo) |
| Qaranisa | قرانصة | Mamluks who moved to the service of a new Sultan or from the service of an Amir to a sultan. |
| Qussad | قصاد | Secret couriers and agents who kept the sultan informed |
| Ostaz | أستاذ | Benefactor of Mamluks (the Sultan or the Emir) (from Persian استاد) |
| Rank | رنك | An emblem that distinguished the rank and position of a Mamluk (probably from Persian رنگ meaning color) |
| Sanjaqi | سنجاقى | A standard-bearer of the Sultan. |
| Sharabkhana | شرابخانة | Storehouse for drinks, medicines and glass-wares of the sultan. (from Persian شرابخانه meaning wine cellar) |
| Silihdar | سلحدار | Arm-Bearer (from Arabic/Persian سلاحدار meaning arm-bearer) |
| Tabalkhana | طبلخانه | The amir responsible for the Mamluk military band |
| Tashrif | تشريف | Head-covering worn by a Mamluk during the ceremony of inauguration to the position of Amir. |
| Tawashi | طواشى | An Eunuch responsible for serving the wives of the sultan and supervising new Mamluks. |
| Tebaq | طباق | Campus of the Mamluks at the citadel of the mountain |
| Tishtkhana | طشتخانة | Storehouse used for the laundry of the sultan (from Persian طشتخانه meaning tub room) |
| Wali | والى | viceroy |
| Yuq | يوق | A large linen closet used in every mamluk home, which stored pillows and sheets. (Related to the present Crimean Tatar word Yuqa, "to sleep". In modern Turkish: Yüklük.) |
The term Mamluk became known throughout Europe following the Ottoman conquests of Egypt and Palestine in 1516–1517. It was used in derogatory meaning in Geneva just prior to the overthrow of Savoy rule in 1526 by the supporters of Philibert Berthelier to describe the faction in the state council that advocated the continued rule of the Savoy dynasty. As Mamluk means "slaves of the king", the republican faction in Geneva used it to suggest that the supporters of Savoy rule were the enemies of freedom.