The Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo, 1261-1517
Out of the Shadows
- Presents different types of source material – jurisprudential, historiographical and documentary – which speak about topics in turn, resulting in a highly nuanced image of the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo
- Includes multiple passages of previously unpublished material in translation including biographical literature, investiture documents and epigraphical evidence
- Explores a variety of textual dimensions of the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo based on narrative, prescriptive and documentary sources
Mustafa Banister presents a thorough investigation of a forgotten dynasty: the Cairene descendants of the Abbasid family. He uncovers the public and private lives of the 18 men invested as caliphs during the period of ‘Mamluk’ rule in Egypt and Syria (1250–1517) and reveals a nuanced understanding of the Abbasid Caliphate according to elite members of Syro-Egyptian society. In doing so, he addresses the function of the caliph and his office amidst the breakdown and recreation of each new socio-political order of the sultanate.
List of Figures, Maps and Genealogical Tables
Introduction
Part I: A History of the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo
1. The Origins and Establishment of the Abbasid Caliphs in Cairo (659–701/1261–1302)
2. The Qalawunids and the Caliphate (701–63/1301–63)
3. Flirtations with Power and Political Intrigue (763–815/1362–1412)
4. Containing and Maintaining the Caliphate (815–903/1412–1497)
5. The Last Abbasids of Cairo (903–22/1497–1517)
Part II: Legal, Historiographical, and Chancery Dimensions of the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo
6. Normative Perspectives on the Caliphate of Cairo: Jurisprudential, Advice, and Courtly Literature
7. The Cairo Caliphate in Medieval Arabic Historiographical Literature
8. Caliphal Investiture Documents and the Ideality of a Cairo Caliphate
9. Beyond the Throne of the Caliphate: Analyzing Caliphal Documents
Conclusion
10. Re-constructing a Nuanced Caliphate
Works CitedIndex
The book is the most detailed and comprehensive historical study of the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo to date.
Mustafa Banister’s masterful study captures the tensions between an institution of lofty stature in the medieval Islamic world with the reality of its minimal influence in the political hierarchy of the Mamluk Sultanate in Cairo that gave it a new lease on life. Banister’s monograph is the definitive treatment of a critical topic that, to date, has been discussed tangentially.
The book is the most detailed and comprehensive historical study of the Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo to date.
