That Most Precious Merchandise. Hannah Barker

Although there were free soldiers in the Mamluk army (ḥalqa), they were never promoted beyond a certain level. Civilian bureaucrats held important administrative offices, but their career paths were distinct from those for mamluks. If free people wished to join the Mamluk ruling class, they had to become slaves first. One who did so was the amir Qawṣūn.¹³² He had come from the Golden Horde to Cairo as a merchant selling leather goods, but Sultan al-Nāṣir Muḥammad saw him in the citadel and persuaded him to sell himself into slavery. The sultan sent 8,000 dirhams to Qawṣūn’s brother, and Qawṣūn went to the barracks and began training.

      The enslavement of mamluks shaped their youth and had consequences for the rest of their lives.¹³³ As slaves, mamluks were not allowed to move freely. They stayed in the citadel barracks and needed permission from their eunuch guardians to go down into the city. They possessed no money, privileges, or military equipment of their own; everything was supplied by their master and could be taken away by him. They themselves could be sold, given away, or confiscated at any time. They also could not marry without their master’s permission.

      The legal effects of slavery did not end with manumission. The jurist al-Suyūṭī, for example, said that an amir could never designate his property as a charitable endowment (waqf) like many elite civilians did because of his status as a former slave: “we say that [the waqf] reverts to the treasury because its endowers are slaves of the treasury and the permanence of their manumission is subject to consideration.”¹³⁴ The shaykh Ibn ‘Abd al-Salām refused to swear loyalty to Sultan Baybars until a witness could be found to testify that Baybars had been legally purchased and manumitted.¹³⁵ Any question about the legitimacy of a mamluk’s sale or manumission had to be rectified at once lest it undermine his authority, as in the case of the general Asandamur explained in Chapter 1.¹³⁶

      According to Mamluk racial stereotypes, only Turks (in the generic sense of nomadic, Turkic-speaking people from cold northern climates) were suitable for military training because of their vigorous physical strength and animal aggression.¹³⁷ In the late Mamluk period, an exception was made for a new corps of African soldiers who used firearms, apparently because the mamluk cavalry considered firearms beneath them.¹³⁸ Racial categories were also used to assign mamluks to barracks in the Cairo citadel. Al-Burjiyya was for Circassians and Alans, while al-Dhahabiyya and al-Zumurrudiyya were for Kipchaks and Khitai.¹³⁹ Slave-buying manuals elaborated on the supposed characteristics of specific Turkish races. Kipchaks were said to be moderate in temperament, strong, and powerful, with beautiful, proportionate bodies but grim faces.¹⁴⁰ Those from Khurasān thrived best in Egypt. Kipchak children were said to be clean, healthy, skillful, and beautiful. Kipchak men were said to be good soldiers but merciless, potentially treacherous, and coarse of heart because they ate too much horse meat. They were said not to be skilled in politics, judgment, the crafts, or the sciences.

      Circassians were characterized as physically powerful, brave, always ready to strike the first blow, and having a strong sense of group solidarity (ʿasabiyya).¹⁴¹ Yet they were also said to be lacking in wisdom, work ethic, and patience for hardship and long-term warfare. Untrained Circassians were said to be proud and unruly, with no grasp of religion. Yet those trained in knightly skills (furusiyya) from a young age were excellent warriors and commanders, while those offered religious education were proficient Muslims and capable of becoming religious scholars (ʿulamāʾ). In other words, the worst Circassians were utterly useless, but the best Circassians—those enslaved and trained as mamluks—were suitable for leadership.¹⁴²

      Since Galenic theory linked inner qualities of character, outer qualities of complexion, and the characteristic humoral balance of an individual, the inconsistency of the Circassian character stereotype was reflected in a range of possible Circassian complexions. According to al-ʿAyntābī’s slave-buying manual, a pale (ashqar) Circassian had “no equal in shamelessness, debauchery, evil morals, and lying.”¹⁴³ A Circassian who was both slender and pale was likely to be active, quick to move and speak, and governed by his passions. A black (sawād) Circassian was rash and cowardly to the point that his bad qualities were likely to outweigh his good ones. He might also be greedy and unkind. On the other hand, a Circassian who was white imbued with red (al-abyaḍ al-musharrib bi-ḥumra) should be intelligent and opinionated. A brown color (asmar) shading into black (sawād) and yellow (ṣufra) indicated bravery, responsibility, and boldness. Brownish red (samra ḥumra