The Representation of the Space of the Parties by Mamluk Chancery Secretaries in Documents and Works Concerning Relations between the Sultanate and Christian Powers

Abstract

Abstract For a long time, scholarship has illustrated the representation of territoriality in diplomatic relations between the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517) and Christian powers with the traditional paradigm “abode of Islam/abode of war.” The historiographical narrative of the diyār (abodes) has recently been reconsidered by scholars who have examined different kinds of sources but have barely investigated chancery documents. When we look at diplomatic sources and works written by secretaries of the Mamluk chancery, references to diyār on religious grounds are practically inexistent. The territories of the sultanate and the Christian powers are often defined by other kinds of categories. This paper examines how “space” and consequently the boundaries between the Mamluks and the Christian states were geographically and symbolically interpreted and described. This approach is aimed at understanding the criteria according to which the sultanate represented and legitimized its relations with non-Muslim powers.