Reconnecting with the Homeland: Black Sea Slaves in Mamluk Biographical Dictionaries

Authors

Hannah Barker

Abstract

The Mamluk sultanate of Egypt and Syria was noted for its use of elite slaves, men serving as mamluks in the army and women as concubines in the households of the wealthy and powerful. Studying these male and female slaves together clarifies their kinship networks and the strategies chat they adopted co reconnect with kin after becoming nacally alienated as slaves. In particular, it suggests that elite slaves sought co reconnect with their kin for economic as well as political and personal reasons.

Recommended Citation

Barker, Hannah (2015) "Reconnecting with the Homeland: Black Sea Slaves in Mamluk Biographical Dictionaries," Medieval People: Vol. 30: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/medpros/vol30/iss1/6