Carl F. Petry Boeken

Focusing on the civilian elite in Mamluk Cairo, this study offers a quantitative analysis based on data from two fifteenth-century biographical dictionaries, encompassing 4,631 individuals. It examines the geographic origins of the 'ulama' and maps their residential and professional distribution throughout the city, providing valuable insights into the social and cultural dynamics of the period.

Offering insights into the unique outlook of slave soldiers who created the Mamluk Sultanate, which ruled Egypt, Syria and the Arabian hinterland along the Red Sea from 1250 to 1517, this is an accessible and comprehensive survey of the realm for undergraduate students and general readers interested in pre- modern history.