Role Of The Naib As-Saltana In Succession To The Throne In The Bahri Mamluks Period

The Mamluks ruled Egypt and Syria for nearly two centuries between 1250 and 1517. The state structure of Mamluks was based on the military principles. The period of Bahri Mamluks, when the administrative structure was created, the period of successfull struggle with the Mongols and Crusaders, is the limit of this study. The one of the objectives of this study is to present the role of the naibs as-saltana who were only second to the Sultan himself, in a period in which there is no clear line of succession. In the period of Bahri Mamluks, the naibs as-saltana played a considerable role in the succession of twenty four sultans in their way to the throne. In addition, the change of the role of the naibs as-saltana in the succession is taken into consideration for the hundred thirty two years that we examined closely. This study has two parts. In the first part, we see that the naibs as-saltana as the most important figure in the succession to the throne. We try to examine the reasons of their power in effecting the succession. In addition, we will study the naibs as-saltana who made their way to the throne and how they achieved this. In the second chapter, the naibs as-saltana were not so effective as used to be in the past. Even in time, they lost all their power of effecting the succession to the throne. In this period their lack of power caused the other amirs take more active roles in the succession. In this chapter, we try to underline the reasons behind this loss of power of the naibs as-saltana. In this study we try to examine the change of role of the naibs as-saltana in the succession to the throne, in the light of primary sources, in the chronological order.

Keywords

Bahrî Mamluks, Naib as-Saltana, Succession to the Throne