The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society by Michael Winter

The gentlemanly salons also illustrate how Ottoman culture was forged collaboratively by Arabophone and Turcophone actors. Through Pfeifer's study of the life and network of the star scholar Badr al-Din al-Ghazzi, we learn how urban elite of former Mamluk Syria and Egypt continued to exert social and political influence, rivaling powerful officials from Istanbul. These social laboratories played a key role in negotiating Syria and Egypt’s integration into the empire. How did these scholars navigate the new political and linguistic environments? As Helen Pfeifer argues in a new book, Empire of Salons: Conquest and Community in Early Modern Ottoman Lands, the answer lies in gentlemanly salons, where elite men displayed their knowledge and status. Suddenly, scores of learned scholars who had been preparing and vying for positions of esteem in either the academy or the bureaucracy found themselves under new authority. In 1517, the Ottomans captured Cairo and with it, the Arabophone lands of the Mamluk Sultanate.

Suddenly, scores of learned scholars who had been preparing and vying for positions of esteem in either the academy or the bureaucracy found themselves under new authority. The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian politics and society / edited by Michael Winter and Amalia Levanoni. | In 1517, the Ottomans captured Cairo and with it, the Arabophone lands of the Mamluk Sultanate.

The Mamluks in Egyptian and Syrian Politics and Society by Michael Winter