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Paper abstract:

The Mongols exerted complex and at times contradictory pressures not only on their own subject peoples, but also on neighbors to their empires who steadfastly refused to be subjugated. Among these were the Mamluk sultans of Egypt and Syria (1250-1517), who were simultaneously enemies to the Ilkhanids and allies to the Golden Horde. To further complicate matters, the Mamluk Sultanate was one place to which Mongol refugees fled when politics between the rival Chinggisid Khans became dangerous. Since such refugees were welcomed at the Mamluk court, and since refugee women often married at the highest level of Mamluk political society—i.e., to sultans and high-level commanders—the Mamluk military elite became a place that was officially opposed to Chinggisid domination, yet contained significant numbers of Mongols within it, especially women and their families. The most famous example of these contradictions appears in the Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad (third r. 1310-41), whose mother was a Besüt Mongol refugee from Ilkhanid Anatolia, and some of whose relatives continued to live in the Ilkhanate and correspond with her son. Meanwhile one of al-Nasir Muhammad’s wives was a Chinggisid princess from the Golden Horde, yet not only was she not the senior wife, but he despised and eventually divorced her, leading to a diplomatic incident with her relative, Özbek Khan (r. 1313-41). This paper will use al-Nasir Muhammad’s example to investigate the connections and contradictions between, on the one hand, the Mamluk military elite, and on the other, the Mongols—whether Chinggisids, non-Chinggisids, refugees, or royals—to demonstrate the complex and multiple ways that medieval persons could be positioned in the societies of their day.