The number of mamluks or horsemen that each amir could own or have in his employ was fixed, theoretically depending on his rank. He paid them from two-thirds of the income of his iqta or fief, receiving only one-third himself, though probably this arrangement was less than strictly adhered to. On his death or dismissal, the amir’s mamluks entered the sultan’s service as sayfiya (see above) or the service of other amirs — sometimes both — or, very occasionally, they were attached to the halqa. In addition, if the amir should be transferred to another province his mamluks could not be transferred with him. However, it should be noted that even as late as the first half of the 15th century, many of the amirs’ horsemen were free, non-mamluk troops (often members of the halqa), but thereafter they became exclusively mamluks.
The lowest rank of amir nominally to be found was that of the amir khamsah or ‘amir of 5’, commander of 5 horsemen. These were very few in number and were mostly the sons of deceased amirs. (Even more
Rare was the amir arba’a or ‘amir of 4’.) Next came the amir ’ashara or ‘amir of 10’; until the first half of the 15th century this rank also included amirs with 20 or even more mamluks, but thereafter the latter were graded as umara Hshrin (‘amirs of 20’). Then came the rank amir tablkhanah or amir arba’in, the former meaning ‘amir with drums’, this title deriving from the fact that amirs of this grade and upwards were entitled to have a band, which accompanied their troops in wartime. Az-Zahiri reports that by his day (the mid-15th century) this comprised only 2 drums and 2 flutes, but earlier it had been considerably bigger, with more drums and also trumpets.12 The ‘amir with drums’ could have 40 mamluks (hence his other title of ‘amir of 40’), and occasionally owned up to 70 or 80. The highest rank of all was that of the amir mi’a muqaddam a//or ‘amir of 100 and commander of 1,000’, who could have 100 mamluks or horsemen of his own and command 1,000 members of the halqa on campaign. However, the number of mamluks he owned frequently reached 110-120, and in some instances considerably greater numbers — for example, one amir of the late Bahri period had 1,500, or perhaps even 3,000, including 4 amirs of 100, while the atabak al-asakir (‘commander-in-chief) often had 500-1,000. Other Bahri sources record amirs with anything from 200 to 800 mamluks in their employ, but in the Circassian period 2-400 was deemed exceptional, and only one amir — an atabak al-asakir — had as many as 1,000. Regardless of their numbers, however, the troops of each amir constituted a unit called a tulb, comparable to the constabulary of feudal Europe in that it thereby varied in size from amir to amir (we read of tulbs of 60, 150 and 300 men, for instance). When larger musters of troops took place decimal organisation appears to have been imposed — Arnold von Harff tells us that 4,000 Mamluks marching on Damascus in 1498 were organised into 4 divisions. Interestingly Ibn lyas, writing at the very end of the Mamluk era, says that at that time the Royal Mamluks were only organised into units and sub-units when they actually set out on campaign, and this is probably true of the Mamluks in general.
From the beginning of this era there were 24 amirs of 100 in Egypt, reduced to 18-20 by the early-15th century, further reduced to 11 by 1424 but again reaching 24 by 1502, and 26-27 in the sultanate’s last few years. The sultan’s highest-ranking military officers were drawn from among these amirs, comprising the atabak al-asakir (comparable to the European office of Constable); the amir silah (grand master of the armour, responsible for the Royal Mamluks’ armoury); the hajib al-hujjab (grand chamberlain, responsible for justice among the mamluks, with at first 2 and later 4 assistants); the ra’s nawbat an-nuwab (chief of the corps of Mamluks, responsible with 3 assistants for the Royal Mamluks and their conduct); the khazindar kabir (grand treasurer); and the amir akhur (grand master of the stable). Additional officers, drawn from the ranks of the amirs of 40, included the ustadar (grand major domo, the paymaster and, to a certain extent, quarter-master for the Royal Mamluks); the amir jandar (responsible for the zardkhana, i. e., the arsenal and prison); the naqib al-jaysh (chief of military police); and the naqib al-mamalik (responsible for the policing of the Royal Mamluks).
World History
