Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
Two important contemporary authors provide primary sources for the history of Qalāwūn's reign. The first of these, Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʽAbd al-Ẓahir, had been the head of Baybars's chancery, and continued to hold office, possibly until his death in 692/1293. He was, however, overtaken during his lifetime by his son, Fatḥ al-Dīn, whom Qalāwūn appointed to the new post of confidential secretary (kātib al-sirr). Muḥyī al-Dīn was the author of Baybars's official biography, a Rawḍ al-zāhirfisirat al-Malik al-Ẓāhir – indeed one might say that he ghosted the memoirs recounted to him by the sultan. In due course he also produced the official biography of Qalāwūn, Tashrlf al-ayyām wa 'l-'uṣūr fi sīrat al-Malik al-Manṣūr, of which unfortunately only the latter part, beginning with the year 680/1281–82, is now extant. A great deal of the value of this work lies in the state papers it transmits. These include the texts of truces with the Templars, Acre, Lesser Armenia, and the Lady Margaret of Tyre, as well as treaties (also formally truces in Islamic international law) with Aragon and Genoa.
1 Muḥī al-Dīn b. 'Abd al-£ahir, al-Rawd al-ahirfi sirat al-Malik al-Ẓāhir (ed. 'Abd al-'Azīz al-Khuwayṭir), al-Riyāḍ 1396/1976; hereafter Rawḍ. See Holt, P. M., “Three biographies of al-Ẓāhir Baybars” in Morgan, D. O. (ed.), Medieval historical writing in the Christian and Islamic worlds, London 1982, pp. 19–29Google Scholar.
2 Idem, Tashrīf al-ayyām wa 'l-'uṣūr fī sīrat al-Malik al-Manṣūr (ed. Murad Kamil), Cairo 1961; hereafter Tashrīf.
3 Shāft' b. 'Alī al-'Asqalānī, al-Faḍl al-ma'thūr min sirat al-sulṭan al-Malik al-Manṣūr, Bodleian MS Marsh 424. See Holt, P. M., “A chancery clerk in medieval Egypt”, EHR, CI, 400, 1986, pp. 671–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
4 Idem, Ḥusn al-manāqib al-sirriyya al-muntaza'a min al-sira al-Ẓāhiriyya (ed. 'Abd al-'Azīz al-Khuwayṭir), al-Riyāḍ 1396/1976. See Holt, P. M., “Some observations on Shāfi' b. 'Alī's biography of Baybars”, JSS, 29/1, 1984, pp. 123–30Google Scholar.
5 Baybars al-Manṣūri, Zubdat al-rīkrafi ta 'rikh al-Hijra, reproduced by M. Mustafa Ziada in Appendix 6 to al-Maqrīzī, al-Sulūk, I/iii, Cairo 1970, pp. 975–7; hereafter Sulūk. Ibn al-Furāt, Ta'rikh, reproduced by Murad Kamil in Tashrīf, Introduction pp. 82–3, and text pp. 210–11.
6 Al-Qalqashandī, , Ṣubḥ al-a'shā(hereafter Ṣubḥ), XIV, pp. 51–63Google Scholar.
7 As in note 5 Baybars al-Manṣūrī, pp. 974–5.
8 As note 5.
9 SirRunciman, Steven in “The Crusader States 1243–1291”, Setton, K. M. (gen. ed.), A history of the Crusades, II, Madison, 1969, p. 585Google Scholar, conflates the negotiations over Latakia with those over 'Arqā. Ibn 'Abd al-Ẓāhir, Rawḍ, pp. 446–7, indicates that these were separate negotiations, and that the payment of an indemnity was connected with 'Arqā, not Latakia. Footnote 66 reference to al-Maqrīzī, AI-Khiṭaṭ should read I, ii 619.
10 Tashrīf, pp. 20–22.
11 As note 6. Abridged text in Tashrif, pp. 34–43; abridged text by Ibn al-Furāt reproduced by Ziada, App. 8, Sulūk, pp. 985–97. See Holt, P. M., “Qalāwūn's treaty with Acre in 1283”, EHR, XCI, 361, 1976, pp. 802–12CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
12 Ṣubḥ, XIII, pp. 311–4. The oaths are also given by Ibn al-Furāt, as in note 11.
13 Tashrīf, pp. 93–102.
14 Ṣubḥ, XIV, pp. 17–9.
15 See Holt, P. M., “Baybars's truce with the Lady of Beirut in 667/1279” in Edbury, P. W. (ed.), Crusade and settlement, Cardiff 1985, pp. 242–5Google Scholar; hereafter Edbury.
16 Tashrīf, pp. 103–10.
17 See Richard, Jean, “Un partage de seigneurie entre Francs et Mamelouks”, Syria, pp. 30, 72–82Google Scholar.
18 Taghrībirdí, Ibn, al-Nujum al-zahira, VII, pp. 320–1Google Scholar. See Irwin, Robert, “The Mamlūk conquest of the county of Tripoli” in Edbury, pp. 246–9Google Scholar.
19 Runciman, as in note 9 at p. 592.
20 See Holt, P. M., The memoirs of a Syrian prince, Wiesbaden 1983, pp. 14–15Google Scholar.
21 See further Riley-Smith, Jonathan, The feudal nobility and the Kingdom of Jerusalem 1174–1277, London 1973Google Scholar, Index, sub rays.
22 al-Dawādārī, Ibn, Kanz al-durar wa-jāmi' al-ghurar, VIII (ed. Haarmann, Ulrich), Cairo 1391/1971, p. 301.Google Scholar