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A Romance Hero Breaks His Links
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 February 2024
This wasn't merely a man, it was the sultan Al-Malik, Al-Zâhir Rukn al-Dunia wal- Dîn Abü l-Fath Baybars whose swords were the keys to kingdoms, whose standards were like hills and the spears that rose above them were like fires whose duty it was to command men.
Between 1260 and 1277, the second half of the seventh century Hegira (the thirteenth century by the Christian calendar), the Bahri Mamluk empire, founded in 1256, was governed by the sultan Baybars, the fourth sovereign of his dynasty The Bahri's were former slaves from the borders of the Black Sea. They were succeeded in 1382 by the Circassian Mamluks, who were in turn supplanted in 1517 by the Ottomans. The empire comprised a vast territory including Egypt and the eastern part of present day Libya; the Near-East up to the Euphrates; rule over Nubia, Sudan and the north of Ethiopia; and sovereignty over the holy places of orthodox Islam: Mecca and Medina. The empire was threatened, from the east by the Mongols, who made inroads into Iraq and Syria on several occasions (although Egypt remained beyond their reach), and from the north by the Seljoukids of Asia Minor (Rûm). The interior, where the Crusaders held several strongholds was plagued by dissidents, notably the Isma'ilis, a movement derived from shi'ism.
1. Les trois vies du sultan Baïbars, Imprimerie nationale, “Collection orientale,” Texts chosen and arranged by J. SUBLET (ed.), Paris, 1992, p.124.
2. Ibn ‘Abd al-Zâhir, was born and died in Cairo (1223-1293), was the private secretary of Baybars the sultan. In his work al-Rawd al Zâhir, he found moral justification for each of his master's actions. In Les trois vies du sultan Baïbars, the section that refers to his rise to power is translated from this text. Ibn Shaddâd (1217-1285), a syrian born in Aleppo who died in Cairo, entrusted with the negotiation of an agreement with the Mongols that failed, took refuge in Baybars' court in Cairo where he became secretary of the chancel lary and composed a biography of the sultan. Ibn Wâsil was a syrian histo rian, the author of a history of the Ayyubid dynasty entitled Mufarrij al-kurûb. He served Baybars as ambassador to the king of Sicily Manfred in 1261.
3. Al-Maqrizi was the author of several chronicles and biographical catalogues as well as a description of Cairo and of Egypt. See Jean-Claude GARCIN's article, “Al-Maqrîzi, un historien encyclopédique du monmde afro-oriental,”in Les Africains, a collection of works under the direction of Charles-André JULIEN, Paris (ed. J.A.) 1977, p.197-233; the translation of his History of the mamluk sultans, by Etienne QUATREMERE, Paris, 1837, (partial translation revised in the second part of Les trois vies …). Maqrîzi was largely inspired by the previously cited biographies to replace Baybars' character in the dispute over the mamluk dynasty.
4. BOHAS G. and GUILLAUME J.-P., Le Roman de Baïbars, translation of the syr ian version from Aleppo according to the manuscript discovered by Chafîq Imâm. Of the novel's 60 volumes, nine appeared: Les enfances de Baïbars, Les bas-fonds du Caire, La chevauchée des Fils d'Ismael, La trahison des émirs, Meurtre au hammam, Rempart des pucelles, La revanche du Maître des Ruses, Echec au Roi de Rome, Le procès du moine maudit, Paris, Sinbad-Actes Sud 1985-1998 : selec tions in SUBLET, Les trois vies, op.cit.
5. Ibn al-Dawâdârî, Kanz al-durar IX, p.71 quoted in J. SUBLET, Le voile du nom. Essai sur le nom propre arabe, Paris 1991; arabic trans. by Selim M. BARAKAT, Hisn al-ism. Qirâ'ât fi al-asmâ' al-'arabiyya, Damas, French Institute of Arabic Studies (I.F.E.A.D.), to be published in December 1998.
6. Ibid.
7. Les trois vies, p.131.
8. Ibid., p.43-44
9. In particular, see J. SAUVAGET, La poste aux chevaux dans l'empire memlouk, Paris, Adrien-Maisonneuve 1941. The three illustrations on p. 126, repre senting heraldic marks engraved on the front of post office relays, are from this book.
10. Ibid. p. 111.
11. Ibid. p. 143.
12. Ibid. p. 142.
13. Ibid. p. 157.
14. Ibid. p. 118-119.
15. Ibid. p. 42.
16. Ibid. p. 28.
17. Ibid, p. 28.
18. Ibid, p. 25.
19. Ibid, p. 29.
20. Ibid, p. 30.
21. Ibid, p. 30.
22. Ibid, p. 24.
23. Fleur des truands, p.142.
