IFAO

This study focuses on the question of form and protocol that underline “the written connections” between the Mamluks and the Chinggisids of the Golden Horde. Our aim is to establish if the chancellery rules of the Jochids influenced the Mamluks and whether we are entitled to speak of a “cross-influence” between the Turkic, Mongols and Arabic epistolary practices of the time. The address to the khan by the sultans was governed by a strict set of rules. In order to shed light on these structures, the author wishes to make use of a corpus of letters that have until now remained an under exploited source. Although this source comprises of copied letters, it is reliable enough to enable us to recover part of the correspondence between the Muslim rulers. Moreover, it informs us about models and forms used by the chancellery secretaries, when constructing such diplomatic letters. This corpus is made of abstracts from chancellery handbooks written by three kuttāb al-inšā’ of the Mamluk Saltanate: al-Taʿrif fī-l-muṣṭalaḥ al-šarīf by Ibn Faḍl Allāh al-ʿUmarī (d. 749/1349), al-Taṯqif fī-l-taʿrif by Taqī al-dīn Ibn Nāẓir al-Ǧayš (d. 786/1384) and the Ṣubḥ al-aʿšā fī ṣinaʿat al-inšā’ by al-Qalqašandī (d. 821/1418).

Keywords: Chinggisids, Golden Horde, Mongols, khans, Mamluks, Chancellery, Codicologe, Diplomatics, Diplomacy, Letters.