Includes bibliographical references and index.

Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations-Transliteration -- Introduction -- Chapter One Legitimate Power -- a. The socio-political elite -- b. The Sultanate -- c. The Amirate -- d. Conclusion -- Chapter Two Effective Power -- a. Observations -- b. Patrons and Clients -- c. Kinship -- d. Households and Networks -- e. Networks of Effective Power between 1341 and 1382 -- Chapter Three Struggle for Power -- a. Observations -- b. Motives -- c. Strategies -- d. Order out of Chaos: 1341-1382 146 -- Conclusion -- Appendix 1: The Qalawunid Sultanate, 1279-1382 -- Appendix 2: Effective Power holders between 1341 and 1382 -- Appendix 3: Struggle for Power between 1341 and 1382 -- Bibliography -- Index.

This book offers an analysis of the Syro-Egyptian Mamluk Sultanate's political culture, focusing on the period between 1341 and 1382 CE, when twelve descendants of the regime's most successful sultan al-Nāṣir Muḥammad b. Qalāwūn reigned and the military were more deeply involved in the political process than ever. The book consists of three chapters, each of which discusses one major component of this period's political culture: political institutions, political relationships engendering households and networks, and the dynamics of the period's many socio-political conflicts. This book marks an important breakthrough in Mamluk studies, offering both insights into the history of a long-neglected period and new models of analysis that call for wider application in the field of Mamluk socio-political history.

Description based on print version record.