Dawla: New Histories of the Medieval Middle East The MMS-II Team

In this episode, Dr Mustafa Banister takes over hosting duties and is joined by Kenneth Goudie to discuss his historian, Burhān al-Dīn al-Biqāʿī (d. 1480).

Burhān al-Dīn al-Biqāʿī(809/1406–885/1480) was a fifteenth-century Qurʾān exegete and historian active in Cairo. Originally from the village of Khirbat Rūḥā in the Anti-Lebanon mountains, he moved at a young age to Damascus before settling in Cairo, where he became a student of Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852/1449). Through the patronage of Ibn Ḥajar, al-Biqāʿī was appointed the personal tutor of Sultan Jaqmaq and the resident Qurʾān exegete at the Ẓāhir Mosque; he later became a confidante of Sultan Īnāl, and was closely associated with his court. He is best known to modern scholarship for his embroilment in three controversies, which were respectively on the use of the Bible in Qurʾān exegesis, the poetry of Ibn al-Fāriḍ, and the theodicy of al-Ghazālī: these three controversies defined the downward trajectory of his later career from 868/1464 until his death in 885/1480.

In this episode Kenneth Goudie is joined by Dr Rihab Ben Othmen to talk about the historian she is studying, Ibn Taghribirdi (d. 1470). Ibn Taghribirdi was a fifteenth-century historian, whose father had been a member of the military elite. Raised within notable scholarly families, he received a thorough grounding in the religious and literary disciplines; at the same time, he gained mastery of the military arts. A prolific historian and writer, his original and quite detailed accounts of the elite, of courtly life and of political struggles make him an outstanding source for the fifteenth century.

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In this episode Kenneth Goudie is joined by Dr Mustafa Banister to talk about the historian he is studying, Ibn ʿArabshah (d. 1450).

Ibn ʿArabshah was variously a litterateur, religious scholar, chancery scribe, and historian. Although he donned these many caps later in life, the young Ibn ‘Arabshāh would never be the same again after his hometown of Damascus was sacked and he was taken prisoner by Tamerlane in 1400. He devoted the next twenty-two years of his life to learning Islamic sciences and seeking out masters in the courts and capitals of pre-modern Muslim West Asia, before returning in 1422 to the lands under the control of the Cairo sultanate, ultimately settling in Damascus and trying to re-establish himself in existing social structures.

He benefitted from a patronage relationship with the scholar ‘Alā’ al-Dīn al-Bukhārī who relocated to Damascus in 1429. After al-Bukhārī’s death in 1438, Ibn ‘Arabshāh focused on creating several works of literature and historiography that helped enhance his reputation. Frequent trips between Cairo and Damascus brought him into the orbit of other well-connected fifteenth century scholars among the civilian elite including Ibn Ḥajar, al-Maqrīzī, Ibn Taghrībirdī, and al-Sakhāwī.

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In this, our second episode, Kenneth Goudie and Jo Van Steenbergen continue their conversation about why we should talk about the "Cairo Sultanate" instead of the "Mamluk Sultanate", focusing especially on where this radical revisionism came from.

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In this, our first episode, Kenneth Goudie introduces the podcast and explains why the term "Mamluk Sultanate", which refers to the political formation which dominated Egypt and Syria between 1250 and 1517, is not very helpful. To do so, he is joined by Professor Jo Van Steenbergen, who is at the forefront of revising how we understand this period.

As explained in the podcast, the plan is not to provide a narrative history. For those who would like a little more context, we recommend the BBC's In Our Time episode on the Mamluks(https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bfmlh).

If you'd prefer to read a more detailed explanation of all of the ideas, look no further than these articles, which were co-authored by Jo Van Steenbergen:

Van Steenbergen, Jo, Patrick Wing, and Kristof D’hulster. “The Mamlukization of the Mamluk Sultanate? State Formation and the History of Fifteenth Century Egypt and Syria: Part I - Old Problems and New Trends.” History Compass 14, no. 11 (November 2016): 549–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12357.

Van Steenbergen, Jo, Patrick Wing, and Kristof D’hulster. “The Mamlukization of the Mamluk Sultanate? State Formation and the History of Fifteenth Century Egypt and Syria: Part II - Comparative Solutions and a New Research Agenda.” History Compass 14, no. 11 (November 2016): 560–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/hic3.12358.

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All music by Yadayn, from the track "Adem" https://yadayn.bandcamp.com/