Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo, 1261-1517 - Out of the Shadows

Explores and analyses the Abbasid Caliphate as it was re-imagined in late medieval Cairo

This book presents a thorough investigation of a forgotten dynasty: the Cairene descendants of the Abbasid family. It uncovers the public and private lives of the eighteen 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, it addresses the function of the caliph and his office amidst the breakdown and recreation of each new socio-political order of the sultanate.

The uniquely Cairene context of the idea and institution of the caliphate is examined, including the ways in which it was socially and textually performed in the late medieval sultanate of Cairo.

Key Features
¿ Provides the first and only complete historical treatment of the Abbasid dynasty in late medieval Cairo
¿ 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¿ Includes multiple passages of previously unpublished material in translation including biographical literature, investiture documents and epigraphical evidence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 is a post-doctoral researcher at Ghent University, Belgium

Sommario

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 Cited
Index

Info autore

Mustafa Banister is a post-doctoral researcher in Arabic Historiography at Ghent University, Belgium. He obtained a Ph.D. in Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations from the University of Toronto in 2015 and then spent several years as a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Bonn and Ghent University. Banister has published articles in the Mamluk Studies Review and a chapter in Knowledge and Education in Classical Islam edited by Sebastian Günther (Brill, 2020). His current research focuses on the historiographical writing of the Syro-Egyptian litterateur A¿mad ibn 'Arabshah (d. 1450).

Dettagli sul prodotto

• Autori: Mustafa Banister, Banister Mustafa
• Editore: Edinburgh University Press
• Lingue: Inglese
• Formato: Copertina rigida
• Pubblicazione: 31.12.2020
• EAN: 9781474453363
• ISBN: 978-1-4744-5336-3
• Pagine: 416
• Serie: Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture; Edinburgh Studies in Classical
• Categorie: Saggistica > Storia > Altro; Scienze umane, arte, musica > Religione / teologia > Altre religioni