Al-Malik Az-Zahir Sayf ad-Din Barquq ( Circassian: Бэркъукъу аз-Захьир Сэфудин; ar, الملك الظاهر سيف الدين برقوق; ruled 1382–1389 and 1390–1399; born in Circassia) was the first

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

of the Circassian Mamluk

Burji dynasty The Burji or Circassian Mamluk ( ar, المماليك الشركس) dynasty of Circassian origin, ruled Egypt from 1382 until 1517, during the Mamluk Sultanate. The Circassian community in Cairo especially flourished during this time. Political p ...

of Egypt. The name Barquq is of Circassian origin and is his birth name.

Early life

Barquq was of Circassian origin, and was acquired as a slave, presumably after a battle, and sold to a bathhouse in Crimea. According to one narration, while trying to escape and secretly go to Constantinople, he was attacked by Bulgarian bandits and sold to Egypt, while according to another narration he was directly brought from Crimea to Egypt. In Egypt, he became a mamluk in the household of

Yalbugha al-Umari Sayf ad-Din Yalbugha ibn Abdullah al-Umari an-Nasiri al-Khassaki, better known as Yalbugha al-Umari or Yalbugha al-Khassaki, was a senior Mamluk emir during the Bahri period. Originally a ''mamluk'' of Sultan an-Nasir Hasan (r. 1347–1351, 1354� ...

in approximately 1363–64 (or 764 on the Islamic calendar). During the reign of Sultan al-Mansur Ali, when Barquq held considerable influence in the Mamluk state, he brought his father to Egypt in March 1381. His father, originally a Christian, converted to Islam, adopted the name Anas and became the first father of a first-generation mamluk to be mentioned by the Mamluk era sources because of his Muslim faith; the fathers of first generation mamluks were typically non-Muslims. Anas was promoted to the rank of emir of one hundred (the highest Mamluk military rank) and was known for his piety, kindness and charitable acts. He died ten months after his arrival to Egypt.

Rise to power

Since 1341, the Mamluk empire had been ruled by the descendants of al-Nasir Muhammad. However, none of them were strong enough to exert effective control. Many of the rulers were minors at the time of their accession, and would act as puppets for one or another competing Mamluk faction. This happened in 1377, when the sultan al-Ashraf Sha'ban, who had ruled in his own stead since 1366, was overthrown and killed. The rebelling Mamluks replaced him on the throne with his seven-year-old son. When that puppet sultan died, he was replaced by the younger brother. Barquq was a member of the faction behind the throne, serving in various powerful capacities in the court of the boy sultans. He consolidated his power until in November 1382 he was able to depose sultan

al-Salih Hajji Al-Salih Hajji (Epithet: Al-Salih Salah Zein al-Din Hajji II), also Haji II, was a Mamluk ruler, and the last ruler of the Bahri dynasty in 1382. He briefly ruled again in 1389, during the advent of the Burji dynasty. He fell hostage to Barquq ...

and claim the sultanate for himself. He took the reign name al-Zahir, perhaps in imitation of the sultan

al-Zahir Baybars Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari ( ar, الملك الظاهر ركن الدين بيبرس البندقداري, ''al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn Baybars al-Bunduqdārī'') (1223/1228 – 1 July 1277), of Turkic peoples, T ...

.Holt, 2014, p
128
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First reign (1382–1389)

Mamluk Barquq copper fals Damascus 1382 1389

Barquq placed many of his own family in positions of power to the detriment of fellow Mamluks, attempting to solidify his position. He sponsored the construction of the Madrasa-Khanqa of Sultan Barquq in the center of Cairo. Completed in 1386, it was a pious foundation designed to serve as both a

khanqah A khanqah ( fa, خانقاه) or khangah ( fa, خانگاه; also transliterated as ''khankah'', ''khaneqa'', ''khanegah'' or ''khaneqah''; also Arabized ''hanegah'', ''hanikah'', ''hanekah'', ''khankan''), also known as a ribat (), is a buildin ...

and a madrasa. It is one of the three dominant Islamic monuments clustered on the street Bayn al-Qasrayn in Fatimid Cairo. Although often called the Mausoleum of Barquq, only his daughter is buried there. Barquq ended the public holiday in Egypt celebrating the Coptic New Year

Nayrouz Nayrouz or Neyrouz (Arabic Nārūz < Persian Nawruz) is a feast when

martyr

s and

.Margoliouth, 1907, pp
171
��172 The central

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...

of the famous Cairo

souk A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, such as in the W ...

Khan El-Khalili was founded in the first year of his first reign, though it was founded by his emir, Djaharks el-Khalili.

Revolt

Early on, the

Zahiri Revolt The Zahiri Revolt was a conspiracy leading to a failed coup d'état against the government of the 14th-century Mamluk Sultanate, having been characterized as both a political struggle and a theological conflict. While the initial support for the ...

threatened to overthrow Barquq, though the conspiracy was discovered before any agitators could mobilize. The year 1389 saw the revolt of two Mamluk governors from the northern end of the empire, Mintash, governor of Malatya, and Yalbogha al-Nasiri, governor of

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

(not to be confused with

Yalbogha al-`Umari Sayf ad-Din Yalbugha ibn Abdullah al-Umari an-Nasiri al-Khassaki, better known as Yalbugha al-Umari or Yalbugha al-Khassaki, was a senior Mamluk emir during the Bahri period. Originally a ''mamluk'' of Sultan an-Nasir Hasan (r. 1347–1351, 1354� ...

). After securing Syria they marched toward Cairo. Barquq attempted to escape, but was captured and sent to al-Karak. Meanwhile, the two governors restored Hajji to the throne, who now took the reign name al-Mansur. Fighting developed among the Mamluk factions in Cairo, and Barquq's supporters overcame the rebels. Barquq returned to Cairo in February 1390.

Second reign (1390–1399)

During Barquq's second reign he succeeded in replacing almost all governors and senior officials with members of his own household. Barquq became an enemy of the Mongol warlord Timur after Timur's invasion of Baghdad in 1393, and his intention to invade Syria. Hence, he joined an alliance with the Ottoman Empire after 1393.''The Mamluks'', Ivan Hrbek, The Cambridge history of Africa: From c. 1600 to c. 1790, Vol. III, Ed. Roland Oliver, (Cambridge University Press, 2001), 54. Barquq died in June 1399 (

Shawwal Shawwal ( ar, شَوَّال, ') is the tenth month of the lunar based Islamic calendar. ''Shawwāl'' stems from the verb ''shāla'' () which means to 'lift or carry', generally to take or move things from one place to another, Fasting during S ...

801H in the Islamic Calendar) and was succeeded by his son

Nasir-ad-Din Faraj Al-Nasir Faraj or Nasir-ad-Din Faraj ( Circassian: Фэрадж ан-Насир) (Urdu; Arabic; Persian: ; r. 1399–1412 CE) also Faraj ibn Barquq was born in 1386 and succeeded his father Sayf-ad-Din Barquq as the second Sultan of the Burji dy ...

. He was buried in a mausoleum built by Faraj in Cairo's Northern Cemetery.

Family

Barquq's first wife was the daughter of Amir Tashtimur. They married on 17 April 1380, before his accession to the throne. In 1384, he married Khawand Fatima, the daughter of Amir Manjak al-Yusufi. On 12 February 1386, he married Sitti Hajar, the daughter of Amir Menglibogha as-Shamsi and Khwand Fatima, daughter of Sultan Al-Ashraf Sha'ban. With her, he had a daughter, Khawand Bairam. She died on 2 April 1430. In 1391, he married the daughter of Amir Ali bin Esendemir, the ''naib'' of Syria, and the same year he married the daughter of Ash-Shahabi Ahmad bin at-Tuluni. Another wife was

Tandu Khatun Tandu Khatun () or ''Tindu Khatun'' () was a Jalayirid princess and regent of the Jalairid Sultanate in Iraq in 1411–1419. Background Her parentage is uncertain. According to Abd al-Razzaq Samarqandi, she was the daughter of Shaikh Awais Jal ...

, the daughter of Shaykh Uways Jalayir, ruler of the Jalayirid Sultanate. They married on 11 February 1394. One of Barquq's concubines was Khawand Shirin. She was a Greek, and gave birth to Barquq's eldest son, An-Nasir Faraj. She died in 1399–1400, and was buried in the madrasa of Barquq at Bayn al-Qasrayn. Another concubine was Qunnuq-Bey. She was a Turkish, and gave birth to Barquq's second son,

Izz ad-Din Abd al-Aziz Izz ad-Din Abd al-Aziz ( ar, المنصور عز الدين عبد العزيز بن برقوق; d. 20 September 1406) was the younger brother of An-Nasir Faraj and the son of Barquq. He was briefly a Mamluk sultan of Egypt Egypt ( ar, مص ...

. She died in 1432. One of Barquq's wives was Khawand Baraka. She was a free born Syrian, and gave birth to Barquq's third son, Ibrahim. Another concubine was Sul, a songstress. One of his daughters, Khawand Sara, born of a concubine, married Nawruz al-Hafizi, the ''amir kabir'' on 1 September 1401, and later Muqbil ar-Rumi. She died in 1409–10 on the road to Damascus. Another daughter, Khawand Bairam married Amir Inal Bay ibn Qijmas on 15 September 1401, then Baighut, and then Asanbugha Zarkadash. She died of plague in 1416. Another daughter, Khawand Zaynab, born of a Greek concubine, married Sultan

Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh Al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh ( Circassian: Шеихъ ал-МуIэед) ( ar, المؤيد سيف الدين أبو النصر شيخ المحمودي; 1369 – 13 January 1421) was a Mamluk sultan of Egypt from 6 November 1412 to 13 January 1421. Fami ...

. She died in 1423.

Legacy

Sultan Barquq's reign was also marked by trade with other contemporaneous polities. Excavations in the late 1800s and early 1900s in modern-day northwestern Somalia unearthed, among other things, coins identified as having been derived from Barquq. All of the pieces had been struck in either Cairo or

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. Most of these finds are associated with the medieval Sultanate of Adal.Bernard Samuel Myers, ed., ''Encyclopedia of World Art'', Volume 13, (McGraw-Hill: 1959), p.xcii. They were sent to the British Museum in London for preservation shortly after their discovery.Royal Geographical Society (Great Britain), ''The Geographical Journal'', Volume 87, (Royal Geographical Society: 1936), p.301.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * Al-Maqrizi, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997. **Idem in English: Bohn, Henry G., The Road to Knowledge of the Return of Kings, Chronicles of the Crusades, AMS Press, 1969. * * (pp
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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barquq Egyptian nobility 1399 deaths Circassian Mamluks Burji sultans Year of birth unknown 14th-century Mamluk sultans Regents of Egypt