188 chapter four
overlooked.183 as was expected, al-Malik an-Nāṣir responded positively
to the khan’s offer,184 and in 1316/7 sent a delegation to officially request
the princess’ hand.185 once the Sultan had taken the bait, Özbek believed
that he could play him as he wished. With this in mind, he stoked up the
groom’s interest in his niece,186 and delayed the moment of the marriage
until, in his estimation, the decisive moment had come for concerted joint
action against the Ilkhanate.
the decisive moment for a diplomatic charm offensive in cairo came
when military operations against the Ilkhanids began, and the Volga khan
thus hoped to crush persia with the help of his allies from the West.
at the beginning of winter 1318/9, Özbek sent Qutlugh temür with a
force to support the offensive of Yasaul, son of Boraq, captain of the cen-
tral asian Mongols, in invading persian-held Khwarezm, while he himself
invaded the Mugan plain in transcaucasia.187 Mamluk entry into the fray
to complete the encirclement across the euphrates was strategically vital,
an integral part of the campaign which could not be delayed.
forced by circumstances, Özbek had hastily brought an end to the long-
drawn-out negotiations188 and in spring of that year the princess tulun-
bek had left for egypt with an impressive entourage of more than two
thousand. as well as the Sultan’s ambassadors, returning from the Volga
capital to the Nile, and those of the Byzantine emperor, the prestigious
delegation included some of the most highly-regarded figures in the ulus
of Jochi. Segurano Salvaigo was also reported as being in the company.
183 however hardworking, pious and powerful they may have been, the Mamluk sul-
tans suffered from a permanent lack of legitimacy and were never able to shake of the
stigma of their slave origin. thus the offer of marriage from Sarai opened up a perspective
of dynastic ties with the “celestial” chinggisid dynasty, and ameliorated these inferiority
complexes.
184 Ibn Duqmāq/tiesenhausen, Sbornik, I, p. 317; the proposal “pleased the high digni-
taries” in cairo; see also al-Nuwayrī, and al-‛aynī, ibid., pp. 146, 486.
185 al-Nuwayrī/tiesenhausen, Sbornik, I, p. 146.
186 the khan used two methods to inflate value here: in order to make the proposed
marriage appear to be a serious matter of state, he convened a formal assembly of seventy
emirs, who were to debate this unprecedented step in chinggisid family history (ibid.);
the other method was the bride-price, for which the khan demanded a staggering sum
(al-‛aynī/ibid., p. 487).
187 Özbek’s attack broke the most recent treaty of 1314 with Öljeitü (Qāshānī/parvisi-
Berger, p. 145); the anonymous author of the ‘history of Sheikh uwaisʼ/tiesenhausen,
Sbornik, II, p. 100, connects the invasion to Öljeitü’s death in 1316, from which the Volga
khan sought to profit; Ilkhanid troops led by the emir choban, forced the Jochid army of
about 20,000 men to retreat (Ibn Duqmāq/tiesenhausen, Sbornik, I, pp. 319–321, Spuler,
Horde, p. 94, and idem, Mongolen, p. 100).
188 on the wearisome negotiations see Zakirov, Otnosheniya, pp. 77–81.