Structural Crisis in the Circassian Sultanate during the Reign of al-Ashraf Qanisawh al-Ghawri (r. 1501–1516)

Iran and the Caucasus. 2025. Vol. 4-5. No. 29. P. 435–450.

Zelenev E., Iliushina M.

Sultan al-Ashraf Qanisawh al-Ghawri cannot be classified as an outstanding Mamluk ruler, but rather the opposite: his accession to power was a forced measure when all the more worthy claimants to the throne were unable to compete for power, so that the principle of negative selection came into play. The reign of al-Ashraf Qanisawh al-Ghawri was the final stage in the history of the Circassian Sultanate. By analyzing the internal and external policies of al-Ashraf Qanisawh al-Ghawri in the early 16th century, the authors identify the key factors that caused the crisis of power of the Circassian sultans in Egypt and Syria. The Mamluk Sultanate had a system of artificial clans based on pseudo-kin who belonged to one or another community and whose members were brought up from childhood in the household of a master who, in a sense, replaced their father. This unique self-organizing system provided a stable framework for the Mamluk political regime, saving it from inevitable disintegration and contributing to its renewal and even some evolution. The authors pay particular attention to the reasons for the destruction of this clan-corporation structure with its inherent balance of factional interests. The main methods of the paper are the concepts of structural and systemic crises of the state.

Keywords: Syria, Egypt, Mamluks, Islamic history, Circassian Sultanate, al-Ashraf Qanisawh al-Ghawri, structural crises