Manfred of Hohenstaufen 469state was to exist for more than two centuries. In 1291
the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Khalil (r. 1290–93) won
back ACREand the last of the coastal towns held by the
crusaders. However, neglect of economic institutions, the
epidemics of the 14th century and changes in the trade
routes to the east undermined Mamluk political and eco-
nomic power. The Mamluks were later defeated by the
OTTOMANS, losing Syria in 1516, then Egypt and the rest
of their empire by 1517.
Further reading:Reuven Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and
Mamluks: The Mamluk–Ilkhanid War, 1260–1281(Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995); David
Ayalon, The Mamluk Military Society(London: Variorum,
1979); Shai Har-El, ed., Struggle for Domination in the
Middle East: The Ottoman–Mamluk War, 1485–91(Leiden:
E. J. Brill, 1995); David Ayalon, “Mamluk” and “Mam-
luks,” Encyclopedia of Islam, 6.314–321, 6.321–331;
Robert Irwin, The Middle East in the Middle Ages: The
Early Mamluk Sultanate, 1250–1382(Carbondale: South-
ern Illinois University Press, 1986); Carl F. Petry, ed., The
Cambridge History of Egypt. Vol. 1, Islamic Egypt,
640–1517 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1998); Daniel Pipes, Slave Soldiers and Islam: The Genesis
of a Military System(New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1981).
al-Mamun, Abu l-Abbas Abd Allah bin Harun al
Rasd(786–833)seventh Abbasid caliph
Al-Mamun was the son of the caliph HARUN AL-RASHID.
In 813 he headed a conspiracy against his brother, al-
Amin (r. 809–813); took BAGHDAD; and was proclaimed
caliph. He attempted to rule by reconciling different
Muslim factions. His ideas of rationalist faith were
opposed by the factions. That motivated him to support
an academy of Baghdad. It became one of world’s most
important centers of any kind of learning. He invited
the important philosophers and scientists from all over
the Muslim world and hired them to translate Greek
and Indian works. He established this center for schol-
arship at the House of Knowledge or Wisdom (Bayt
al-Hikmah), which was a library, an academy, and a
center for the acquisition, translation, and study of
ancient Greek manuscripts about science and philoso-
phy. The works of Galen, Hippocrates, Euclid, Ptolemy,
Archimedes, PLATO, and ARISTOTLE were studied. He
died suddenly in 833.
Further reading:Paul M. Cobb, White Banners: Con-
tention in Abbasid Syria, 750–880(Albany: State Univer-
sity of New York Press, 2001); Elton L. Daniel, The
Political and Social History of Khurasan under Abbasid
Rule, 747–820(Minneapolis: Bibliotheca Islamica, 1979);
Hugh Kennedy, The Early Abbasid Caliphate: A Political
History(London: Croom Helm, 1981); Jacob Lassner, The
Shaping of Abbasid Rule(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton Uni-
versity Press, 1980); George Sawa, Music Performance
Practice in the Early Abbasid Era 132–320 AH/750–932 AD
(Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1989).Mandeville, John(d. ca. 1372), and Mandeville’s
Travelsauthor
Mandeville’s precise identity has remained unclear. In
one well-attested tradition he wrote his book at Liège
and died there in 1372. An epitaph on a tomb, visible
until 1798 in a church near there, related that he, the
presumed occupant, had traveled the whole world. This
has been disproved by 19th- and 20th-century scholar-
ship. In his book about his travels he claimed to be an
adventurous knight born at Saint Albans in ENGLAND,
who traveled to the Middle East before retiring and
doing good works in Liège. References in his book sug-
gest that he was a layman, had an extensive education,
was able to read LATIN, and had access to a good library.
Mandeville’s Travels was widely read from its first
appearance. It was probably written in French about 1360.
More than 300 manuscripts in 10 languages survived. It
was one of the first books to be printed, in German, and
other languages. The book presented an itinerary to the
Holy Land, from England to CONSTANTINOPLEand then via
the Mediterranean islands to JERUSALEM. The author
described Christian sites in PALESTINEand took an interest
in ISLAMand MUHAMMAD. He told of his visits to lands,
countries, and islands beyond ABYSSINIA, India, China, a
Mongol domain, and the islands in the Indian Ocean that
were filled with fabulous and monstrous peoples and ani-
mals. He mentioned the realm of PRESTER JOHN.He
affirmed the roundness of the Earth and the possibility of
circumnavigating it and finding inhabited countries every-
where. His tolerance to non-Christians and JEWSvaried
according to the translations. For example the Latin ver-
sion, likely for a learned and clerical audience, was very
intolerant and blatantly anti-Jewish. He supposedly quit
traveling in 1356/57 because of gout and died about 1372.
See alsoANTIPODES.
Further reading:John Mandeville, Mandeville’s Trav-
els,ed. M. C. Seymour (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967);
J. W. Bennett, The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville(New
York: Modern Language Association of America, 1954);
Iain Macleod Higgins, Writing East: The “Travels of Sir
John Mandeville”(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylva-
nia Press, 1997); Giles Milton, The Riddle and the Knight:
In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World’s Greatest Trav-
eller(New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2001); M. C.
Seymour, Sir John Mandeville(Aldershot: Ashgate, 1993).Manfred of Hohenstaufen (1232–1266)illegitimate
son of Frederick II, king of Sicily
Manfred was the natural son of the emperor FREDERICKII
of HOHENSTAUFEN and Bianca Lancia. He may have
studied at PARISand BOLOGNA. He was legitimized by his
father, who intended him to rule the kingdom of Arles in