The Change of the Power in the Context of Factional Struggle in the Formation Years of the Mamlūk State

Abstract

There are numerous studies in the literature dealing with the formation years of the Mamlūk state. These studies generally focus on the issue of the legitimacy of the state due to the mamlūk origin of the sultans. In order to overcome this problem, the Mamluks emphasized their identity as the guardians of Islam. According to this narrative, being the protector of Islam would legitimise their future independent state. However, this argument largely attributes the formation of the state to successful struggles against external factors such as Crusader-Mongol attacks. This leads to the neglect of many reasons behind the formation of the Mamluk State. While it is accepted that the state derives legitimacy from its struggles against external elements, this study focuses on inter-factional conflicts and reveals that the state has become dynamic due to these struggles. In this respect, the struggle between factions, which had been active since the time of the Ayyubids, must be taken into account in the internal transformation of the Mamlūk power. In addition, although there are narratives such as becoming sultan by killing the sultan, which is among the arguments frequently mentioned in the Mamluks, the determining power of the elite amirs, which is one of the unwritten rules known by everyone in the functioning of the state system, should be taken into account. Because when this is missed, the results of inter-factional struggles will be ignored. In these rules/system, not only the sultan changed, but also a series of changes occurred in the elite amirs in power. The autocracy-oligarchy conflict between the sultan and the elite amirs was ever-present. Whenever one of the amirs who provided the oligarchic power became the sultan, the power struggle between the sultan and the elite amirs would begin. In this case, the sultan would be in a dilemma and would establish a new faction in order to reassert his authority. Therefore, the struggle between factions at the point of the formation of the Mamlūk State was one of the most important factors that ensured the formation of the state and the change of power. As a matter of fact, it is a known fact that Mamlūk factions such as ʿĀdiliyya, Kāmiliyya and Sālihiyya held the state power de facto, if not officially. On the other hand, this work takes a holistic approach to the conditions that led to the statehood of the Sālihiyya-Bahriyya mamlūks in the process. It also discusses how the tensions between the sultan’s mamlūks (al-mamālīk al-sultāniyya) and his khushdāshs affected the change of power. Focusing specifically on the Bahriyya-Muʿizziyya struggle, this work examines how the formation, maintenance, and transition of power took place during the formative years of the Mamlūk state. Finally, the work focuses on the role of background conflicts between the sultan and the senior amirs, power gathering, etc. in the formation and decline of the state through the chronicles of the early Mamlūk period in general and works devoted to the Mamlūk sultanate in particular.