The Ayyubid Sultanate was established in Egypt by Saladin (Ṣalāḥ-al-dīn), a member of the Kurdish Ayyubid family who had risen to prominence in Syria in the service of a local ruling dynasty, the Zangids.
[1]
In 1168-69 CE, the Zangid prince Nur al-Din placed Saladin’s uncle, Shirkuh, in command of a military expedition to Egypt (at that time under Fatimid rule) to take control of the country and expel the invading Frankish Crusaders.
[2]
[3]
Saladin accompanied him and was appointed vizier of Egypt by the Fatimid caliph when Shirkuh died in 1169.
[1]
Saladin, however, did not have the local dynasty’s interests at heart. He immediately set about undermining its power and the Ismaili (Shi’a) Islam professed by its elite in favour of a new Sunni order, in theory loyal to the Abbasid caliph in Baghdad.
[4]
We begin our Ayyubid Sultanate polity in 1171, when the last Fatimid caliph, Al-Adid, died and Saladin progressed from vizier to sultan in Egypt.
[5]
He nevertheless suppressed his ambitions until his old Zangid overlord Nur al-Din died in 1174, after which he launched a successful campaign of military expansion into the Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, as well as a brief ’holy war’ on the Crusader states along the Levantine coast.
[6]
[7]
A succession crisis followed Saladin’s death in 1193, and a devastating famine in 1200 reduced parts of the population to cannibalism.
[8]
However, Saladin’s brother, al-’Adil, declared himself sultan in 1200 and managed to impose some degree of internal stability on the empire,
[9]
which was split into the kingdoms of Egypt, Damascus, Aleppo and Mosul.
[10]
The reign of al-’Adil’s son, al-Kamil, from 1218 to 1238 CE, was also a relatively stable and prosperous period in Egypt,
[11]
although he faced opposition from Ayyubid princes in Syria and Palestine.
[12]
As-Salih Ayyub, the sultan who came to power in 1240 CE,
[13]
attempted to enhance his power at the expense of other Ayyubid princely lines by purchasing many more Turkish Mamluks (high-ranking slave soldiers) than his predecessors.
[14]
They served him as a military and governmental elite.
[7]
[14]
The Mamluks’ increasingly powerful position proved to be the downfall of the Ayyubid Sultanate when, after Salih-Ayyub’s death in 1249, one faction (the Bahriyya Mamluks) assassinated his son Turanshah and seized the throne.
[15]
The Ayyubid dynasty hung onto power in Syria until 1260, when the Mamluks defeated the invading Mongols at ’Ayn Jalut and gained popular recognition of their right to rule as ’saviours of Islam’.
[16]
However, we end our Ayyubid period with the assassination of Turanshah, the last Ayyubid sultan of Egypt.
Population and political organization
The Ayyubids made use of the pre-existing Fatimid bureaucratic system to administer Egypt,
[17]
and ruled via a Turkish and Kurdish ’military aristocracy’, including some slave (Mamluk) regiments.
[10]
[18]
This was funded by the distribution of iqta’s ‒ rights to tax revenue from estates of land ‒ in exchange for military and administrative services.
[19]
Saladin and his successors also promoted Sunni Islam in the empire by sponsoring law schools (madrasas) to serve as centres for the teaching of Sunni law.
[19]
The Ayyubid Sultanate was never particularly centralized: it has been described as a ’family confederation’, meaning that male members of the ruling dynasty were given principalities across the realm and allowed to govern them with substantial political autonomy.
[7]
Kinship ties determined relationships between different princes, so that, for example, two brothers ruling different regions would have less authority over each other than a father would over his son.
[7]
However, the sultan of Egypt was usually successful in asserting his suzerainty over the other kingdoms.
[19]
It is difficult to find substantiated estimates for the population of the entire Ayyubid Sultanate, but there were about 2.4 million people in Egypt under Saladin.
[20]
[1]: (Humphreys 1987) R. S. Humphreys. 1987. ’Ayyubids’, Encyclopӕdia Iranica III/2, pp. 164-67; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ayyubids (accessed 24 February 2017).
[2]: (Lev 2010, 218) Yaacov Lev. 2010. ’The Fatimid Caliphate (358‒567 / 969‒1171) and the Ayyūbids in Egypt (567‒648 / 1171‒1250)’, in The New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 2. The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries, edited by Maribel Fierro, 201-36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[3]: (Lapidus 2002, 290) Ira M. Lapidus. 2002. A History of Islamic Societies, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[4]: (Lev 2010, 210-11) Yaacov Lev. 2010. ’The Fatimid Caliphate (358‒567 / 969‒1171) and the Ayyūbids in Egypt (567‒648 / 1171‒1250)’, in The New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 2. The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries, edited by Maribel Fierro, 201-36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[5]: (Lev 2010, 210) Yaacov Lev. 2010. ’The Fatimid Caliphate (358‒567 / 969‒1171) and the Ayyūbids in Egypt (567‒648 / 1171‒1250)’, in The New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 2. The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries, edited by Maribel Fierro, 201-36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[6]: (Lyons and Jackson 1982, 201) Malcolm Cameron Lyons and D. E. P. Jackson. 1982. Saladin: The Politics of the Holy War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[7]: (Humphreys 1987) R. S. Humphreys. 1987. ’Ayyubids’, Encyclopӕdia Iranica III/2, pp. 164-67; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ayyubids (accessed 25 February 2017).
[8]: (Lev 2010, 226) Yaacov Lev. 2010. ’The Fatimid Caliphate (358‒567 / 969‒1171) and the Ayyūbids in Egypt (567‒648 / 1171‒1250)’, in The New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 2. The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries, edited by Maribel Fierro, 201-36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[9]: (Humphreys 1977, 125-26) R. Stephen Humphreys. 1977. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193‒1260. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
[10]: (Lapidus 2002, 291) Ira M. Lapidus. 2002. A History of Islamic Societies, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[11]: (Werthmuller 2010, 48) Kurt J. Werthmuller. 2010. Coptic Identity and Ayyubid Politics in Egypt, 1218‒1250. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press.
[12]: (Hamblin 2005, 753) William J. Hamblin. 2005. ’Egypt: Ayyubid Dynasty, 1169-1250’, in Encyclopedia of African History, volume 1: A-G, edited by Kevin Shillington, 752-54. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn.
[13]: (Keenan 1999, 287) James G. Keenan. 1999. ’Fayyum Agriculture at the End of the Ayyubid Era: Nabulsi’s Survey’. Proceedings of the British Academy 96: 287-99.
[14]: (Levanoni 1990, 124) Amalia Levanoni. 1990. ’The Mamluks’ Ascent to Power in Egypt’. Studia Islamica 72: 121-44.
[15]: (Levanoni 1990, 137) Amalia Levanoni. 1990. ’The Mamluks’ Ascent to Power in Egypt’. Studia Islamica 72: 121-44.
[16]: (Northrup 1998, 248) Linda S. Northrup. 1998. ’The Baḥrī Mamlūk Sultanate, 1250‒1390’, in The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. 1: Islamic Egypt, 640‒1517, edited by Carl F. Petry, 242-89. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[17]: (Lapidus 2012, 246) I. M. Lapidus. 2012. Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[18]: (Lev 2010, 210, 213) Yaacov Lev. 2010. ’The Fatimid Caliphate (358‒567 / 969‒1171) and the Ayyūbids in Egypt (567‒648 / 1171‒1250)’, in The New Cambridge History of Islam, vol. 2. The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries, edited by Maribel Fierro, 201-36. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[19]: (Lapidus 2002, 291, 877) Ira M. Lapidus. 2002. A History of Islamic Societies, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[20]: (Dols 1977, 149) M. W. Dols. 1977. The Black Death in the Middle East. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
| eg_ayyubid_sultanate nominal allegiance to iq_abbasid_cal_2 | 1191 CE 1250 CE |
| Islam |
| Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate I |
| 11,000,000 km2 |
| continuity |
| Succeeding: Rasulid Dynasty (ye_rasulid_dyn) [secession] | |
| Succeeding: Egypt - Mamluk Sultanate I (eg_mamluk_sultanate_1) [continuity] | |
| Preceding: Abbasid Caliphate I (iq_abbasid_cal_1) [continuity] |
| unitary state | |
| loose | |
| unitary state |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| absent |
| present |
| inferred present |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| present |
| unknown |
| inferred present |
| present |
| present |
| inferred absent |
| absent |
| present |
| inferred present |
| absent |
| Year Range | Ayyubid Sultanate (eg_ayyubid_sultanate) was in: |
|---|---|
| (1171 CE 1175 CE) | Upper Egypt |
| (1175 CE 1228 CE) | Upper Egypt Yemeni Coastal Plain |
| (1228 CE 1259 CE) | Upper Egypt |
Saladin’s Empire ... could not be machine read. apostrophe removed. "sultanate of Egypt" [1] - not necessarily original name. Original name unknown?
[1]: (Lapidus 2012, 246)
Saladin’s Empire ... could not be machine read. apostrophe removed. "sultanate of Egypt" [1] - not necessarily original name. Original name unknown?
[1]: (Lapidus 2012, 246)
km squared.
During the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries CE, the region—along with the eastern portion of southern Arabia—was ruled by the Rasūlid Dynasty. Prior to this date, Yemen had formed part of the Ayyūbid Sultanate, centered in Egypt. When the last Ayyūbid ruler of Yemen, al-Mas‘ūd Yūsuf, was summoned to govern Syria in the early thirteenth century, de facto control passed to his trusted second-in-command, the Rasūlid Nūr al-Dīn ‘Umar. [1] This can be categorized as a secession from a larger power. On Rasulid origins: "Obliging historians and genealogists concocted for the Rasulids a descent from the royal house of the pre-Islamic Ghassanids and, ultimately, from Qahtan, progenitor of the South Arabs. But it is more probable that they came from the Menjik clan of the Oghuz Turks, who had participated in the Turkish invasions of the Middle East under the Saljuqs, and that the original Rasul had been employed as an envoy [ras l] by the ’Abbasid caliphs." [2]
[1]: (Stookey 1978, 106–07) Robert W. Stookey. 1978. Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/GIDWD7R3.
[2]: (Bosworth 2014) Clifford Edmund Bosworth. 2014. The New Islamic Dynasties. Edinburgh University Press. Edinburgh.
unknown/ nominal/ loose/ confederated state /unitary state
After the death of Saladin, his sons contested control over the sultanate, but Saladin’s brother al-Adil eventually established himself as Sultan in 1200. In the 1230s, the Ayyubid rulers of Syria attempted to assert their independence from Egypt and remained divided until the Sultan as-Salih Ayyub restored Ayyubid unity by taking over most of Syria, except Aleppo, by 1247.
unknown/ nominal/ loose/ confederated state /unitary state
After the death of Saladin, his sons contested control over the sultanate, but Saladin’s brother al-Adil eventually established himself as Sultan in 1200. In the 1230s, the Ayyubid rulers of Syria attempted to assert their independence from Egypt and remained divided until the Sultan as-Salih Ayyub restored Ayyubid unity by taking over most of Syria, except Aleppo, by 1247.
unknown/ nominal/ loose/ confederated state /unitary state
After the death of Saladin, his sons contested control over the sultanate, but Saladin’s brother al-Adil eventually established himself as Sultan in 1200. In the 1230s, the Ayyubid rulers of Syria attempted to assert their independence from Egypt and remained divided until the Sultan as-Salih Ayyub restored Ayyubid unity by taking over most of Syria, except Aleppo, by 1247.
{Arabic; Kurdish; Persian} "The Ayyubids ruled a predominantly Arabic-speaking region, and many of their princes became very proficient in Arabic letters and in the religious sciences. However, we see many signs of a continuing connection with their homeland and with Iranian culture generally. Thus, it is clear that al-Malek al-ʿĀdel and his son al-Malek al-Moʿaẓẓam ʿĪsā (d. 624/1227) still spoke Kurdish or even New Persian." [1]
People. Cairo. [150,000-200,000]: 1175 CE; 200,000: 1199 CE; [180,000-220,000]: 1250 CE
[1]
EWA: Raymond 2001 can be added as ref. The range for 1175 CE should be 150,000-200,000. More accurate would be to replace the year 1200 CE by 1199 CE. And the value for 1250 CE should be around 200,000.
Damascus 90,000 1200-1250 CE.
[1]
[1]: (Chase-Dunn Spreadsheet))
People. 1200 CE. Egypt: 2.5-3. Palestine and Jordan: 0.5. Syria and Lebanon: 1.5. Yemen: 1.5. Hijaz (my estimate from "The Interior"): 1.
[1]
Population of Egypt 2.4 million under Saladin.
[2]
Egypt: 2.4 million at the time of Saladin.
[3]
[1]: (McEverdy and Jones 1978)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 120)
[3]: (Dols 1977, 149)
EWA:
1. Cairo 150K,
2. Alexandria 35-70k or Damascus 18-50k,3. Nomal/Provincial Capitals like Fayum City 10-20k,4. Villages 1-2k,5. Hamlets 0.1-0.2 (inferred)
Ref: Shatzmiller. for low estimates. Russell for the high estimates.
Al-Azhar and local mosques.
Shafi’i school of religious law. The return of Egypt’s rulers to Sunni orthodoxy constituted an event of considerable importance. The Ismailis, despite their long rule, had failed to impart their faith to the mass of the Egyptian population. Saladin and his successors addressed the task of making Egypt once more a center of orthodox belief (Raymond, 2000, p. 80).
EWA: Religious: Sultan, Imams [this is the shorter chain of command]
Alternative religious 4: Sultan, Chief Sufi Priest, Sheikh, minor sufi religious specialists [this is the longer chain of command and therefore the one we code]
1. Sultan
2. Chief Sufi priest3. Sheikh4. Minor Sufi religious specialist (local priest?)
Judiciary religious 5: Sultan, Supreme supreme judge, supreme judge, judge, clerks [we decided not to include this]
Hierarchical structure is largely irrelevant to Sunni Islam with its four Madhhabs.Estimated 3000 clergy in Saladin’s Empire, 600 in Damascus.
[1]
[1]: (Humphreys 1977, 24)
"The Ayyubid ranking system was quite a simple three tier system of amirs, amir kabirs and amir al isfahsalar. Above these field ranks were five or so specialist senior posts from garrison commander to army chief."
[1]
EWA:
1. Sultan
2. Army Commander/Amir3. Amir al-Alf (commands 1000 men)4. Amir al-Mia (commands 100 men) or Amir tablahana (commands 40-80 men)5. Amir al-Ishrim (commands 20 men)6. Amir al-Ashara (commands 10 men)7. Amir al-Hamsa (commands 5 men)8. Individual soldier
Janib unit infantry leader
Tulb unit infantry leader
Jarida unit infantry leader
Professional haqa with an elite of slave-recruited Mamluks. Another cavalry unit called the qaraghulam. Infantry organized within the Rajjala. Military unit called a janib. The tulb was a smaller unit. A jarida was a small unit. A sariya was used in ambushes.
[2]
Saladin’s reformed army of 1183 CE had 111 amirs and 8640 regular cavalry. One amir for 78 troops, the basic army unit.
[3]
[1]: (Nicolle 1986, 20-21) Nicolle, D. 1986. Saladin and the Saracens. Osprey Publishing Ltd. Oxford.
[2]: (Nicolle 1996,135-181)
[3]: (Humphreys 1977, 23)
1. Sultan of Egypt
The Sultan of Egypt had suzerainty over the other three kingdoms, and his writ was usually obeyed.
[1]
Did not establish a "central financial administration."
[2]
Political elite probably numbered 50 aristocrats, out of a pool of about 350 candidates. The entire elite of all ranks numbered about 20,000.
[3]
After Saladin’s Empire, the polity was broken up into separate Kingdoms: Egypt, Damascus, Aleppo and Mosul, under hereditary rulers of the Ayyubid dynasty. The Sultan of Egypt was usually the most powerful, and an integrating force. He ruled Egypt via an existing bureaucracy and Syria by distribution of iqta’s to military officers.
[4]
_Central government line_
Saladin inherited a professional bureaucracy from the Fatimids.
[5]
2. Government ministries"Imad al-Din actually described his own working relationship with Saladin: ’If he needed to draw up an official letter or divulge some confidential plan, he would sit me down and dictate the main outlines. Then I would leave and spend the night composing the letters. Early next day I would go and present them to him. If he decided to add or change something in the content he would bring my attention to the paragraph and tell me which passages. I would stay until I had put it all in order. When he had approved them in their final form, he would sign them and say "Let us send them off without delay."
3.
4.
5. police?
_Provincial line_
[1]
2. Egypt (governor: Muhafas)3. Nahi (District)4. Village level
2. Kingdom of DamascusProvincial administrators (governor: Muhafas) (called Amirs for Syria)3. ruled Syria by distribution of Iqta’s to military officers
[4]
4. Village level
2. Kingdom of AleppoProvincial administrators (governor: Muhafas) (called Amirs for Syria)3. ruled Syria by distribution of Iqta’s to military officers
[4]
4. Village level
2. Kingdom of MosulProvincial administrators (governor: Muhafas) (called Amirs for Syria)3. ... ? ...4. Village level
EWA: also had "5. inferred: helpers of the village chiefs." Not included due to database wide methodological question.
[1]: (Lapidus 2012, 246)
[2]: (Humphreys 1977, 18)
[3]: (Humphreys 1977, 24-25)
[4]: (Lapidus 2002, 291)
[5]: (Nicolle 2011) Nicolle, D. 2011. Saladin. Osprey Publishing.
Troops paid with cash salaries included "Kurds, mamluks and free Turkish regulars", who received the best pay, "Arabs of the Kinanah federation .. the asaqilah and other former Fatimid troops received half this; naval troops, probably one quarter; and the remaining Arab auxiliaries, one eighth."
[1]
"To understand the Mamluk army one must first understand the fragmented Ayyubid armies from which it emerged. ... The ‘askar of an Ayyubid ruler, however, consisted of professional, full-time ‘askaris. The most highly regarded of them were by this time largely of mamluk origin, though their numbers could still be remarkably small."
[2]
"Those Muslim archers and javelin-throwers who opened the battle of Arsuf in 1191 may have included trained professional infranty."
[3]
[1]: (Nicolle 1986, 20) Nicolle, D. 1986. Saladin and the Saracens. Osprey Publishing Ltd. Oxford.
[2]: (Nicolle 2014) Nicolle, D. 2014 Mamluk Askar 1250-1517. Osprey Publishing Ltd.
[3]: (Nicolle 1986, 19) Nicolle, D. 1986. Saladin and the Saracens. Osprey Publishing Ltd. Oxford.
Middle rank officers, Iqta holders.
"Others were rewarded with an iqta or government fief. ... Some iqtas were also put aside to maintain the fleet and its personnel. The Ayyubid ranking system was quite a simple three tier system of amirs, amir kabirs and amir al isfahsalar. Above these field ranks were five or so specialist senior posts from garrison commander to army chief."
[1]
[1]: (Nicolle 1986, 20-21) Nicolle, D. 1986. Saladin and the Saracens. Osprey Publishing Ltd. Oxford.
’The dīwāns were relatively small. They do not appear to have been housed in large or permanently designated buildings; indeed the sources rarely mention government buildings.’ [1] However, though bureaucratic officials perhaps lacked permanent, specialized buildings dedicated to their activities, other types of government building were probably present, such as structures associated with the mint: Ehrenkreutz argues that ’the Egyptian mint of Cairo [in the Ayyubid period] must have been a well organized, permanent establishment, and not an improvised workshop’. [2]
[1]: (Chamberlain 1998, 234) Chamberlain, Michael. 1998. “The Crusader Era and the Ayyūbid Dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517, edited by Carl F. Petry, 211-41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XQVWZ4VA.
[2]: (Ehrenkreutz 1953, 443) Ehrenkreutz, Andrew S. 1953. “Extracts from the Technical Manual on the Ayyūbid Mint in Cairo.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 15 (3):423-47. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/RE98NUHD.
[1]: (Chamberlain 1998, 234-35) Chamberlain, Michael. 1998. “The Crusader Era and the Ayyūbid Dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517, edited by Carl F. Petry, 211-41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XQVWZ4VA.
[1]: (Chamberlain 1998, 234-35) Chamberlain, Michael. 1998. “The Crusader Era and the Ayyūbid Dynasty.” In The Cambridge History of Egypt, Vol. 1: Islamic Egypt, 640-1517, edited by Carl F. Petry, 211-41. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Seshat URL: https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/itemKey/XQVWZ4VA.
specialist judges and courts might suggest a role for professional lawyers. a literate class of religious scholars already existed who could have fulfilled this role as specialist lawyer.
Irrigation improved under al-Kamil. [1] A multitude of public works were carried out under the supervision of Saladin’s eunuch Qaraqush, including a canal in Upper Egypt which is known Bahr Yusif, after Saladin’s second name, even though it had originally been dug by the Pharaohs and had silted up. [2] По приказанию Салах ад-Дина всего было сооружено 40 с половиной плотин и один канал. [3]
[1]: (Oliver 1977, 35)
[2]: (Marsot 1985, 22)
[3]: (Семенова 1966, 87)
Well of Joseph (Bir Yusuf) was a public work. 90 meters deep. "It was divided into two parts, with the water raised by waterwheels to a cistern midway up the shaft then brought to the surface by another set of wheels. The oxen that turned the wheels stayed in the well all their lives. One entered by a stairway consisting of 300 steps, whence the name Well of the Spiral. An aqueduct was also built to carry water to the Citadel." [1] According to Ibn Jubayr: "Inside the khan is running water which flows through underground conduits to a fountain in the middle." [2]
[1]: (Raymond 2000, 89-90)
[2]: (Nicolle 2011) Nicolle, D. 2011. Saladin. Osprey Publishing.
port facilities built for Karimi merchants; one of the main ports was Alexandria [1] Saladin’s wall had encompassed the al-Maqs area, which was inhabited mostly by Copts and functioned as an outer port for Cairo [2] Fustat was a port, though facilities were very primitive. [3]
[1]: (Petry 1998, 230)
[2]: (Raymond 2001, 97)
[3]: (Raymond 2000, 99)
did the Egyptian bureaucracy carry out maintenance on existing canals within Egypt?
Communications with al-Maqs were improved by the building of roads in 1177 and the Muski Bridge over the Khalij prior to 1188 CE. [1] A bridge was built between the Rawdah Island and Fustat around 1240 CE. [2] "Saladin put a great deal of investment into roads, bridges and fortified khans." [3]
[1]: (Raymond 2001, 97)
[2]: (Raymond 2001, 101)
[3]: (Nicolle 2011) Nicolle, D. 2011. Saladin. Osprey Publishing.
In poetry, new strophic forms muwashshah and and zaja (from Spain). List of poets: Ibn Sana al-Mulk (1150-1211 CE) who was also a judge; court poet Baha al-Din Zuhayr (1186-1258 CE); Arab mystic Umar b. al-Farid (1182-1235 CE); al-Busiri (1211-1295 CE) author of "Mantle Ode."
[1]
[1]: (Oliver 1977, 38)
dinar. [1] Gold and silver coins used by wholesale and distance merchants and amirs who had their own iqta. [2] . Copper coin system was introduced in Aleppo 1175-6 CE. [3] Merger of currency zones occurred after 1187 CE. [4]
[1]: (Raymond 2000)
[2]: (Heidemann 2009, 276 [5])
"In pre-modern times, two distinct currencies always existed side by side, serving distinct needs within different social classes - high-value money, usually gold or pure silver coins, and the petty coinage, usually debased silver, billon, or copper coins. Geographically well-defined borders of currency zones hardly existed. If they did exist then it was for economic and fiscal reasons." [1]
was a postal station network maintained through the Fatimid period for the Ayyubids to inherit? did the Ayyubids develop their own network?
References exist for Crusaders building palisades. "The ships moored in the cove of al-Markab, and their crews showered missiles on the Ayyubid army, which was only able to continue its northward march with the protection of a veritable palisade erected along the sea-shore, as described by Imad al-Din al-Isfahani... ." [1]
[1]: (Gibb 579, 1954) Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen Gibb. 1954. The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Volume 6. BRILL. Leiden. Note: not sure if that is one name or two separate names.
Due to lack of trees in Egypt possibly the earth rampart would be a likely defensive fortification for a smaller town.
Were petraries at the Siege of Jerusalem 1187 CE tension or gravity powered? First known use of the counter-weight trebuchet was in 1165 CE by the Byzantines at the siege of Zevgminon. [1] Need to confirm with an expert source whether a scholar named Mardi bin Ali al-Tarsusi created an "instruction manual" on the counter-weight trebuchet for Saladin (Ayyubid Sultanate) in 1187 CE. It’s logical copies would soon be made of this effective new technology.
[1]: (Turnball 2002) Turnball, S. 2002. Siege Weapons of the Far East (1): AD 612-1300. Osprey Publishing.
"A major development came around 1230 when knowledge of saltpetre reached the Middle East from Central Asia. A primitive form of gunpowder was soon in use, combining ten parts saltpetre, two of charcoal and one and a half of sulphur. ... Whether or not this primitive gunpowder was used as early as 1300 to propel a projectile, or (more probably) to spray a form of grapeshot from a fixed position, remains a hotly debated question." [1]
[1]: (Nicolle 1986, 40) Nicolle, D. 1986. Saladin and the Saracens. Osprey Publishing Ltd. Oxford.
Present in Mamluk Egypt e.g. Cairo (mentioned in the context of riding so pack use must be inferred) where foreign travellers were "particularly impressed by the omnipresence of donkeys. ... Abu Sa’id is quoted as remarking that he had never before seen so many donkeys in any city he had visited." [1]
[1]: (Shehada 2013, 19) Housni Alkhateeb Shehada. 2013. Mamluks and Animals. Veterinary Medicine in Medieval Islam. BRILL. Leiden.
Salah al-Din devoted substantial resources to rebuilding the Egyptian Mediterranean fleet [1] Shipbuilding in Fustat. "In 1181, when there was fear that the Nile might dry up, four light boats for carrying troops to Yemen were being built in Fustat’s shipyards." [2] 60 fighting galleys and 20 transport vessels by 1179 CE. [3]
[1]: (Chamberlain 2008, 217)
[2]: (Raymond 2000, 99)
[3]: (Nicolle 2011) Nicolle, D. 2011. Saladin. Osprey Publishing.
Inferred from necessity of Nile river travel.