xx Introduction
Weknow
manyfactsaboutmilitaryslavesbutalmost
nothing
about
military slavery. Although military slaves
appeared
in
nearlyeverypremodern
Muslim
dynastybetween
Spain
and
Bengal,
the
system
that
prepared
and
employed
themisknown
to
existinonlyafewcases.Thiscuriousstateof
knowledge
re-
flectsinformationinthe
contemporary
sources;
thoughhighly
awareofthe
military
slavesasindividuals,thewritersseemnot
tonoticethat
a
system
made
militaryslaveryoperate.
Inthesub-
stantialand
varied
corpus
of
premodern
Islamicateliterature,
onlyahandfulof
writers--most
notably
Ni.zm
al-Mulk
andIbn
KhaldfinlS--recognized
this
system
anddescribedit.Theblind-
nessof
contemporaries
tothe
military
slave
system
constitutes
the foremost
difficulty
confronting
amodern historian who
wishesto
studyit;
but
although
nothing
canremedy
gaps
inthe
sources,extensive
reading
andcareful
hypothesis
can
bring
this
elusiveinstitutionbacktolife.
19
Despite
the
unawarenessof
contemporaries,
a
system
toac-
quire,
train,and
employmilitary
slavesdid
exist;
painstaking
re-
constructionsfromscatteredevidencehaveestablishedthis
sys-
temin
several
dynasties,
most
notably
forseveralinthe7th/13th
or
latercenturies.TheMamlukandOttoman
organizations
are
by
farthe
bestknown,
2
butwealsohavesomeideaofthe
sys-
temsinotherareasofIslamdom.
Howeverdifferent
in
detail
oneisfromtheother,a
comparativereading
showsthat
they
all
sharedthese
crucialfeatures:
systematicacquisition,organized
training,
and
employment
of
slavesas
professional
soldiers.
Informationon
militaryslaverybeforethe
7th/13th
century
is
meager;David
Ayalon,
theforemostscholarof
militaryslavery,
18.
Ni.zm
al-Mulk,Siysatnmeh121-23/102-4;
qbar
5:371-72.Both
are
translatedin
Appendix2.
19.onthe
significance
ofthisblindness,
seep.69.
20.Onthe
Mamluks,
seetheworks
by
D.
Ayalon,spreadovermany
years
and
in
manyjournals.
Severalarticleshave been
recentlyreprinted
inStudiesin
the
Maml(tks
of
Egypt(1250-1517)(London, 1977).OntheOttomans,see:I.H.
Uzunarili,OsmanliDevleti
TekiltindanKapukulu
Ocaklari
[The
slave
corpsin
the
organization
oftheOttoman
state];B.Miller,ThePalaceSchool
of
Muhammad
the
Conqueror(Cambridge,
Mass.,
1941);
andB.
Papoulia,Ursprung
undWesender
"Knabenlese"inosmanischenReich.