The Enigma of the Baḥrīyah and the Political Legacy of Sultan al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb (1240–49)

I have discussed the transition from the Ayyubids to the Mamluks elsewhere. In this article I offer a more thorough reading of volume six of Ibn Wāṣil's (1208–98) history of the Ayyubids with thirteenth- and fourteenth-century historiography at the fore of the discussion. Ibn Wāṣil's chronicle is a huge text, with many autobiographical references. Although his focus is on political history and military campaigns, battles are not described and other relevant military details are seldom mentioned. I will also use Makīn ibn al-ʿAmīd's (1205–73) text and the annotated French translation. Additionally, I will refer to Ibn Khallikān's (1211–82) text to argue that, in political terms, the period between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries constituted an unbroken continuum.