PRELUDE TO ASCENDANCY

  BARQUQ, WHO MADE HIS FELLOW-CIRCASSIANS THE RULING CAST IN THE MAMLUK KINGDOM, BROUGHT ABOUT ONE OF, IF NOT THE GREATEST RACIAL TRANSFORMATIONS EVER WITNESSED IN THAT STATE SINCE ITS FOUNDATION. THIS TRANSFORMATION LED TO FAR-REACHING CHANGES IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE. WHAT WERE ITS CAUSES? WERE THEY TO BE FOUND IN EGYPT ITSELF, OR OUTSIDE IT, IN THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN OF THE MAMLUKS?

  ALTHOUGH THE MAMLUK SOURCES DEAL AT LENGTH WITH THE DIFFERENT MAMLUK RACES AND FURNISH EXTENSIVE ACCOUNTS CONCERNING THEIR COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN AND THE MONGOL KHANS, THEY DEVOTE BUT LITTLE ATTENTION TO THE SITUATION IN THOSE COUNTRIES. THEY DESCRIBE IN DETAIL THE PROCESS OF CHANGE IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE MAMLUK ARMY AT THE END OF THE 14^th CENTURY; BUT THEY GIVE THE IMPRESSION THAT IT WAS DUE SOLELY TO FACTORS EXISTING WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE MAMLUK KINGDOM, AND NOT TO AN OUTSIDE AGENCY.

  A. N. POLIAK, BASING HIMSELF ON RUSSIAN SOURCES, CONSIDERS THAT THE DECLINE OF THE GOLDEN HORDE DURING THE LATTER HALF OF THE 14^th CENTURY, AND THE INTERNAL WARS THAT BROKE UP THERE, WERE THE MAIN CAUSES OF THE TRANSFER OF THE MAMLUKS' PURCHASING-CENTRE TO THE CAUCASUS. ONE ARABIC SOURCE (TIMUR LANG'S BIOGRAPHER, IBN 'ARABSHAH) DESCRIBES HOW THE KIPCHAK, THE HOMELAND OF THE GOLDEN HORDE, WHICH WAS A FLOURISHING TERRITORY ENJOYING SECURITY AND PROVIDING AMPLE ROOM AND GRAZING GROUNDS FOR A VERY VARIED NOMAD POPULATION, WAS TURNED INTO A WILDERNESS AND ITS POPULATION GREATLY REDUCED IN NUMBER AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THE WARS BETWEEN TUQTAMISH AND AYDAKU AND THE CAMPAIGN OF TIMUR LANG. AT ANY RATE, EVEN IF THE SUPREMACY OF THE CIRCASSIAN RACE WAS DUE IN THE FIRST PLACE TO THE WILL OF THE RULERS OF THE MAMLUK KINGDOM, THE DECLINE OF THE KIPCHAK POPULATION CONTRIBUTED APPRECIABLY TO THE PRESERVATION OF THAT ASCENDANCY DOWN TO THE VERY END OF MAMLUK RULE. IT CAN ALSO BE ASSUMED THAT THE DIMINUTION OF THE SIZE OF KIPCHAK POPULATION WAS DUE IN SMALL MEASURE TO THE CONTINUOUS STREAM OF EMIGRATION OF MALE CHILDREN ON A SCALE SUFFICIENT TO MAINTAIN AN ARMY OF A MIGHTY POWER. MOREOVER, IN THE WAKE OF THE BOYS FOLLOWED A CONSIDERABLE OUTPOUR OF FEMALE SLAVES BELONGING TO THE SAME RACES.

  THE CIRCASSIANS WERE NOT NEWCOMERS TO THE MAMLUK KINGDOM WHEN THEY ASSUMED POWER AT THE END OF THE 14^th CENTURY. THERE IS AN INTERMITTENT MENTION OF THEM IN THE BAHRI PERIOD AS BEING ONE OF THE MORE PROMINENT RACIAL GROUPS. WHAT IS MORE IMPORTANT, THEY ARE DESCRIBED AS A GROWING FORCE OF WHICH THE TURK - THE MEMBERS OF THE DOMINANT RACE AT THE TIME - WERE AFRAID. NO SUCH STATEMENT IS MADE WITH REGARD TO ANY OTHER MAMLUK RACE. THE FACT THAT THE CIRCASSIANS FINALLY OUSTED THE TURK AND GAINED SUPREMACY SHOWS THAT THERE WAS GOOD REASON FOR THE FEARS THAT HAD BEEN FELT, AND THAT THE CIRCASSIANS' DESIRE FOR POWER HAD EXISTED LONG BEFORE ITS SUCCESSFUL REALIZATION.

  MENTION IS MADE OF THE CIRCASSIANS AS EARLY AS THE END OF THE AYYUBID PERIOD, WHEN MEMBERS OF THAT RACE ARE RECORDED AS BEING AMONG THE SLAVES PURCHASED BY AL-SALIH AYYUB, FOUNDER OF THE BAHRIYA. THIS FACT, WHICH APPEARS IN IBN KHALDUN, IS NOT, HOWEVER, MENTIONED BY ANY OTHER HISTORIAN. BY THE TIME OF THE FOUNDING OF THE BURJIYA THE CIRCASSIANS HAD BECOME A VERY PROMINENT ELEMENT IN THIS NEW CORPS, WHICH OCCUPIED A POSITION SIMILAR TO THAT FORMERLY ENJOYED BY THE BAHRIYA. ONE OF THE BURJI CIRCASSIANS, BAYBARS AL-JASHNAKIR, EVEN GAINED THE SULTANATE.

  FROM A NUMBER OF CASUAL REMARKS IN CONTEMPORARY SOURCES, IT CAN BE SEEN THAT THE CIRCASSIANS WERE ALREADY A THORN IN THE SIDE OF THE RULING RACE. AL-HAJJ BAHADUR IS REPORTED AS STIRRING UP INCITEMENT AGAINST AQUSH AL-AFRAM, SAYING TO THOSE WHO SIDED WITH HIM: 'THESE CIRCASSIANS! WHEN THEY BECOME STRONGER, THEY WILL TAKE OUR SOULS. LET US DO THE THING BEFORE IT IS DONE TO US.' WHEN AL-MUZAFFAR BAYBARS CAME TO THE THRONE, AL-AFRAM WAS PLEASED. BUT AL-HAJJ BAHADUR AND OTHER LEADING AMIRS WERE DISGRUNTLED AND SAID: 'WHEN THE CIRCASSIANS GROW POWERFUL, THEY WILL DESTROY THE MUSLIMS AND THE LAND'. THE HOSTILE ATTITUDE OF THE RULING TURK IS ALSO ILLUSTRATED BY THE FOLLOWING. WHEN AL-AFRAM, THE GOVERNOR OF DAMASCUS, READ THE LETTER INFORMING HIM OF THE APPOINTMENT OF BAYBARS AS SULTAN, HE ALMOST WENT MAD WITH JOY, AS HE HAD BEEN HIS KHUSHDASH AND WAS ALSO A CIRCASSIAN, BOTH BEING REGARDED AT THE TIME AS ALIEN TO THE ATRAK. THERE ARE SEVERAL OTHER ALLUSIONS TO THIS FEEELING OF STRANGENESS.

  THE GRADUAL DECLINE OF THE BAHRIYA IS MARKED BY SILENCE CONCERNING THE CIRCASSIANS. SUDDENLY, HOWEVER, THE FOLLOWING STORY APPEARS: ' RAMADAN, 748 A. H. (DURING THE SULTANATE OF HASAN). THEN THE AMIRS DECIDED TO REDUCE THE ROYAL AND OTHER EXPENSES. LISTS WERE DRAWN UP OF THE STATE EXPENDITURE, AND THE AMIRS BEGAN TO SELL THOSE OF THE ROYAL MAMLUKS WHO WERE CIRCASSIANS. IT WAS SULTAN HAJJI WHO SHOWED THEM FAVOUR, AT THE INSTANCE OF GHURLU. HE BOUGHT THEM FROM ALL QUARTERS AND WANTED TO GIVE THEM PRECEDENCE OVER THE ATRAK, UNTIL THEY BECAME VERY PROMINENT AMIONG THE AMIRS WITH THEIR LARGE TURBANS AND INFLUENTIAL POSITIONS. THEY MADE THEMSELVES UNUSUALLY LARGE CAPS. ALL THE CIRCASSIANS WERE SEIZED AND EXILED IN A DEGRADING MANNER, AND PEOPLE SAID: " THESE BE THE ONES WITH THE HUNGRY SOULS WHO STIR UP MUCH DISCORD." '

  THE PURGE DOES NOT, HOWEVER, SEEM TO HAVE BEEN VERY THOROUGH, FOR BY SHAWWAL OF THE SAME YEAR WE HEAR OF AN EXCHANGE OF CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE CIRCASSIAN MAMLUKS AND AMIR HUSAYN,SON OF AL-NASIR MUHAMMAD B. QALAUN, OFFERING TO MAKE HIM SULTAN. FORTY OF THE CONSPIRATORS WERE CAUGHT AND SENT SEPARATELY ON SWIFT CAMELS TO SYRIA. LATER, ANOTHER GROUP WAS CAUGHT. THESE RECEIVED A SOUND DRUBBING OPPOSITE THE IWAN, AFTER WHICH THEY WERE HANDCUFFED AND THROWN INTO PRISON. FROM THEN ON, AS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE, THE ONLY PERSONS ALLOWED TO ENTER THE SULTAN'S PALACE WERE AMIRS OF THE SUPREME COUNCIL. IN OTHER WORDS, THIS WAS AN ATTEMP ON THE PART OF THE CIRCASSIANS TO EFFECT A COUP D' ETAT SOME 35 TO 40 YEARS BEFORE BARQUQ'S ASSUMPTION OF POWER.

  BARQUQ WAS THE SULTAN WHO EFFECTED THE GREATEST AND MOST FAR-REACHING RACIAL TRANSFORMATION IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE MAMLUK KINGDOM. HE WAS ABLE TO OUST THE TURK AND REPLACE THEM WITH HIS FELLOW-CIRCASSIANS. THIS CHANGE WAS BROUGHT ABOUT WITHOUT ANY MAJOR UPHEAVAL. ONLY DURING THE INITIAL PERIOD FOLLOWING THE RISE OF THE CIRCASSIANS ARE THERE SIGNS OF RACIAL WARFARE AGAIST THEM. THEIR SANGUINARY WAR AGAINST THE SULTAN FARAJ DID NOT HAVE A RACIAL BASIS: IT WAS DIRECTED AGAINST FARAJ PERSONALLY, AS THEY OBJECTED TO THE APPOINTMENT OF ONE OF THE AWLAD AL-NAS (NON-MAMLUK)AS A RULER OVER THEM. THEIR SUCCESS WAS SO DECISIVE THAT THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD OF THEIR ASCENDANCY THE SON OF A CIRCASSIAN SULTAN DID NOT OCCUPY THE THRONE FOR MORE THAN A VERY BRIEF PERIOD, USUALLY A MATTER OF MONTHS.
 

THE RISE OF THE CIRCASSIANS

  BARQUQ WAS CALLED AL-QA'IM BI-DAWLAT AL-JARAKISA (HEAD OF THE COUNTRY OF THE CIRCASSIANS). HE BOUGHT MAMLUKS ON AN EXTENSIVE SCALE, AND PREFERRED THE CIRCASSIANS TO OTHER RACES. THE COMPLETE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIRCASSIAN DOMINATION WAS FAIRLY RAPID. AS EARLY A WRITER AS QALQASHANDI, WHO COMPLETED HIS BOOK IN 1412, STATES: ' IN OUR TIME MOST OF THE AMIRS AND ARMY HAVE BECOME CIRCASSIANS . . . THE TURK MAMLUKS OF EGYPT HAVE BECOME SO FEW IN NUMBER THAT ALL THAT IS LEFT OF THEM ARE A FEW SURVIVORS AND THEIR CHILDREN.'

  THE PROCESS OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIRCASSIAN POWER EXHIBITS A NUMBER OF FLUCTUATIONS AND RETROGRESSIONS, THE FIRST OF WHICH TOOK PLACE AFTER BARQUQ'S DOWNFALL AND REMOVAL FROM THE THRONE IN 791 A. H. THE CIRCASSIANS SUFFERED A HEAVY CHECK TO THEIR AMBITIONS. HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE RAPID RE-ASSUMPTION OF POWER BY BARQUQ, COMPLETE CIRCASSIAN DOMINATION MIGHT HAVE BEEN CONSIDERABLY DELAYED.

  ALTHOUGH THE WARS OF 791 A. H. ARE DESCRIBED FULLY IN MAMLUK SOURCES, ONE FACTOR IS ALMOST COMPLETELY SLURRED OVER, NAMELY, THAT THE WAR PROCLAIMED BY MINTASH AND YALBUGHA WAS NOT ONLY AIMED AGAINST BARQUQ HIMSELF, BUT ALSO AGAINST HIS CIRCASSIANS. ALTHE WAR DID NOT HAVE THE EXTERMINATION OF THE CIRCASSIANS AS ITS OBJECT, IT WAS AT TIMES WAGED WITH GREAT DETERMINATION AND VINDICTIVENESS.

  AFTER THE DEFEAT OF BARQUQ'S ARMY IN HIS FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH HIS OPPONENTS IN SYRIA, YALBUGHA'S MEN, ON COMING ACROSS ANY CIRCASSIAN MAMLUK, STRIPPED HIM OF HIS CLOTHES, TOOK HIS WEAPONS AND ACCOUTREMENTS, AND CAST HIM INTO PRISON. AT THE SAME TIME ANY OF BARQUQ'S TURKISH MAMLUKS WHO FELL INTO THEIR HANDS THEY RELEASED, AFTER DESPOILING THEM OF ALL THEIR BELONGINGS. THE DESPOILATION AND INCARCERATION OF BARQUQ'S MAMLUKS CONTINUED AFTER THE FIGHTING WAS OVER.

  THE ANTI-CIRCASSIAN POLICY, WHICH MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE WAR AGAINST BARQUQ, WAS POSTPONED FOR A WHILE FROM THE MOMENT THE FIGHT BROKE OUT BETWEEN MINTASH AND YALBUGHA TO SECURE THE SULTANATE. IT THEN BECAME OF VITAL IMPORTANCE FOR EACH TO ATTRACT AS MANY SUPPORTERS AS POSSIBLE. THE CIRCASSIANS SIDED WITH MINTASH. HOWEVER, AS SOON AS HE EMERGED VICTORIOUS, MINTASH REVERTED TO HIS ORIGINAL POLICY TOWARDS THE CIRCASSIANS, FOR THERE WERE SIGNS THAT BARQUQ WAS PREPARING TO STAGE A COMEBACK. HE STARTED ON A CAMPAIGN OF PERSECUTION THAT ONLY ENDED WHEN HE WAS DETHRONED BY BARQUQ.

  ON HIS RETURN TO POWER, BARQUQ RESUMED THE PURCHASE OF CIRCASSIANS ON AN INCREASED SCALE, BUT REGRETTED HIS ACTION TOWARDS THE END OF HIS LIFE, WHEN, IN 800 A. H., AN ATTEMP WAS MADE TO ASSASSINATE HIM LED BY 'ALI BAY. FROM THAT POINT ON RELATIONS BETWEEN THE SULTAN AND HIS CIRCASSIAN MAMLUKS WERE IMPAIRED.

  BARQUQ WAS UNABLE TO ACCOMPLISH HIS CONTEMPLATED ALTERATION OF THE RACIAL COMPOSITION OF HIS MAMLUKS, AS HE DIED SOON AFTER THE ATTEMPT ON HIS LIFE. DURING THE REIGN OF HIS SON FARAJ, WHO SUCCEEDED HIM, THE CIRCASSIANS WENT THROUGH A VERY DIFFICULT CRISIS IN WHICH MANY OF THEM LOST THEIR LIVES. THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN FARAJ AND HIS FATHER'S CIRCASSIAN MAMLUKS WAS THEIR DESIRE TO REPLACE HIM BY ONE OF THEIR OWN NUMBER. ALTHOUGH HE WAS CIRCASSIAN BY DESCENT, HE WAS NOT A MAMLUK. FARAJ MASSACRED LARGE NUMBERS OF CIRCASSIAN MAMLUKS. EVENTUALLY, FARAJ HIMSELF WAS KILLED WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE LEADING CIRCASSIAN AMIRS, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF AL-MU'AYYAD SHAYKH.

  THE ACCESSION OF AL-MU'AYYAD SHAYKH PRODUCED AN UNEXPECTED RESULT; FOR HE FAVOURED THE TURK UNTIL THE MAJORITY OF HIS AMIRS WERE OF THAT RACE. HE FOLLOWED IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF HIS PREDECESSORS IN HIS CHOICE OF SOLDIERS. EFFICIENCY AND COURAGE WERE THE CRITERIA ADOPTED, AND RACIAL ORIGIN HAD NO BEARING WHATSOEVER. THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF HIS REIGN, THERE WERE NO INDICATIONS OF RACIAL CONFLICTS OR TENSIONS AMONG THE MAMLUKS.

  FOLLOWING THE CONVULSIONS DURING FARAJ'S REIGN AND THE PREFERENCES EVINCED BY AL-MU'AYYAD SHAYKH FOR THE TURK, THE CIRCASSIANS REGAINEDTHEIR SUPREMACY, WHICH THEY MAINTAINED UNQUESTIONED AND WITHOUT ANY SERIOUS CHALLENGE, TILL THE END OF THE MAMLUK PERIOD IN 1517 AD.

  DOMINATION BY A SINGLE RACE AND RACIAL SOLIDARITY ARE FAR MORE PRONOUNCED IN THE CIRCASSIAN THAN THE BAHRI PERIOD. AL-JINS, MEANING 'THE RACE', DENOTES THE CIRCASSIAN RACE. SIMILARLY, AL-QAWM, 'THE PEOPLE', IS APPLIED ONLY TO THE CIRCASSIANS. AL-TA'IFA, 'THE SECT, COMMUNITY', PERHAPS ALSO REFERS TO THE CIRCASSIANS.
 
 

RELATIONS OF THE CIRCASSIAN MAMLUKS WITH THE CAUCASUS

  ONE OF THE MOST CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES OF THE CIRCASSIAN PERIOD IS THE PRACTICE OF THE SULTANS AND AMIRS OF BRINGING OVER THEIR RELATIVES FROM THEIR COUNTRY OF ORIGIN (CIRCASSIA) IN NUMBERS UNPRECEDENTED IN THE EARLIER PERIOD. ALTHOUGH THERE IS NO LACK OF EVIDENCE THAT THIS PRACTICE WAS ALSO FOLLOWED IN THE BAHRI PERIOD, IT WAS ON AN INCOMPARABLY SMALLER SCALE. THE IMMIGRATION OF RELATIVES REACHED PARTICULARLY LARGE PROPORTIONS FROM THE MIDDLE OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY ONWARDS. THE SOURCES BEARING ON THE PERIOD IN QUESTION CONTAIN NUMEROUS REFERENCES TO RELATIVES BEING BROUGHT OVER, SOMETIMES SINGLY, BUT USUALLY IN GROUPS.

  THE IMMIGRANTS INCLUDED A VERY LARGE PROPORTION OF ADULTS WHO COULD NOT BE GIVEN AN EFFECTIVE MILITARY TRAINING. MANY OF THEM WERE APPOINTED TO HIGH OFFICES WITHOUT BEING SLAVES AND WITHOUT UNDERGOING TRAINING IN THE MILITARY SCHOOLS.