Reassessing the Significance of Archival Material in Mamluk Diplomatic Studies: A Survey of Florentine-Mamluk Relations through the Lens of Chancery Sources (Fifteenth–Sixteenth Centuries)

A set of documents in the State Archives of Florence and the Laurentian Library of Florence related to the exchanges established between that city and the Mamluk Sultanate is (aside from a few chronicles) the sole historical testimony available for outlining the framework of the diplomatic and trade relations maintained by these two powers from the third decade of the fifteenth century until the beginning of the sixteenth. This article describes the essential features of such documentary material in order to highlight its diplomatic significance and to offer an overview of the historical development of these relations. It also shows on what chancery modalities and strategies the dialogue between Florence and the sultanate could be established and how it developed.