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A Mongol in the Cairo Mint?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2022

JUDITH KOLBAS
JUDITH KOLBAS*
Affiliation:
Miami University
*
jgkolbas@gmail.com
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Abstract

The name Ilqāy appears on small monetary weights for 1251 and 1252 in Cairo at the beginning of Mamlūk rule. This person was a high official in the treasury, responsible for regulating monetary transactions. However, the name is not Arabic but Mongolian—and at this point, the Mamlūks and Mongols were contesting the Middle East. This article traces the meaning of the unique name and its appearance in Mongol history. It then discusses the hypothetical way in which Ilqāy developed Mongol coinage in his early career. The violent purges of the Mongol civil war may have forced him to escape and enter Egypt's financial system. This biography is hypothetical since there is no literary evidence for mint activity and personnel at this time. Nevertheless, the unusual name and timing create a mystery that invites special consideration.

Keywords

Mamlūkmonetary developmentsMongol refugeesIlqāy
Type
Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 32 , Special Issue 4: Studies in Honour of Barbara Brend , October 2022 , pp. 1030 - 1040
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Asiatic Society

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References

1 Amitai-Preiss, Reuven, Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhānid War, 1260–1281, Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization (Cambridge, 1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar relates the constant tensions. Even after this war, however, there were other clashes until, finally in January 1313, the Mongols stopped trying to invade Syria. See Boyle, J. A., ‘Dynastic and political history of the Il-Khāns’, in The Cambridge History of Iran. Vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods, (ed.) Boyle, J. A. (Cambridge, 1968), pp. 303–421CrossRefGoogle Scholar, p. 403.

2 Judith Kolbas, Mamluk Glass Monetary Weights, Royal Numismatic Society (London, forthcoming). Hereafter cited as ‘Kolbas catalogue’.

3 There are two in the British Museum in London, two in the American Numismatic Society in New York City, one in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, UK, one in the Bibliothèque Nationale of Strasbourg, one in the Gayer Anderson Museum in Cairo, one in the Lowie Museum in Berkeley, California, and two in a former private collection in Cairo.

4 American Numismatic Society no. 1965.144.1, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.21.1.

5 British Museum no. OA 5408, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.11.1.

6 British Museum no. OA 5049, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.31.1; Fitzwilliam Museum no. 1242.04, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.31.2; American Numismatic Society no. 0000.999.33752, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.31.3; Strasbourg Bibliothèque, no number, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.31.4; Gayer Anderson Museum, no number, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.32.1; Awad private collection, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.32.2; Awad private collection, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.32.3; Lowie Museum 5.1489, Kolbas catalogue no. 14.32.4.

7 Schultz, Warren C., ‘Medieval coins and monies of account: the case of large flan Mamluk dinars’, Al-ʿUsur al-Wusta, the Bulletin of Middle East Medievalists 12 (2000), pp. 29–33Google Scholar, p. 29.

8 Schultz, Warren C., ‘Mamluk monetary history. A review essay’, Mamluk Studies Review III (1999), pp. 183–205Google Scholar.

9 Morton, Alexander H., A Catalogue of Early Islamic Glass Stamps in the British Museum (London, 1985), p. 9Google Scholar. Also see Bates, Michael L., ‘The function of Fāṭimid and Ayyūbid glass weights’, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient XXIV (1981), pp. 63–92Google Scholar.

10 The last person to issue coin weights was ʿAlī al-Shuwaykh: Kolbas catalogue no. 40.31.1.

11 The suggestion is derived from an analysis of Paul Balog, The Coinage of the Ayyūbids, Special Publication No. 12, Royal Numismatic Society (London, 1980), pp. 157–158 as developed in Kolbas catalogue, ‘General commentary’.

12 Brown, Helen M., ‘The medieval mint of Cairo: some aspects of mint organization and administration’, in Late Medieval Mints: Organization, Administration and Techniques, (eds) Mayhew, N. J. and Spuford, P., B.A.R. International Series 389 (Oxford, 1988), pp. 30–39Google Scholar, p. 32.

13 Kolbas catalogue, ‘General commentary’.

14 Kolbas catalogue no. 2, Abū Bakr.

15 Kolbas catalogue no. 3.60, ʿUmar ʿAbd Allāh.

16 Kolbas catalogue no. 3.50, ʿUmar ʿAbd Allāh.

17 Kolbas catalogue no. 8.21, Farūkh.

18 Kolbas catalogue no. 16, ʿAlī al-Dāʿī.

19 Kolbas catalogue no. 11, Ḥusayn al-Mahdī and catalogue no. 15, ʿAlī al-Mahdī.

20 The name Ilqāy ʿAlī does not appear in the following extensive biographical dictionaries: al-Safadī's al-Aʿyān, Ibn Taghribirdī's al-Manhal al-Ṣafī, ibn Ḥajar's Durar al-Kāmina fī Aʿyāni al-Mā’ti Thāmina, al-Maqrīzī's Durar al-ʿUqwud al-Firikat or al-Dhahabī's Ta'rīkh al-Islām. I appreciate the kind advice of Doris Behrens-Abouseif on this matter.

21 Ghabin, Ahmad, Ḥisba, Arts and Crafts in Islam (Wiesbaden, 2009)Google Scholar lists many muḥtasibs with dates, none of whom matches the names on glass weights.

22 Muḥammad b. al-ʿAwdhī belonged to a family that dominated the office for 40 years in the seventh/thirteenth century, which consisted of the elder al-ʿAwdhī (fl. 639–640/1241–1242), Kolbas catalogue no. 5; Qilāj al-ʿAwdhī (fl. 645–649/1247–1251), Kolbas catalogue no. 9; Muḥammad b. al-ʿAwdhī (fl. 646–661/1248–1263), Kolbas catalogue no.10; ʿAlī al-ʿAwdhī (no date), Kolbas catalogue no. 17; and Abū Bakr al-ʿAwdhī (fl. 679/1280), Kolbas catalogue no. 19.

23 For example, ʿAbd al-Malik worked from 756–786/1355–1384, Kolbas catalogue no. 34. Also, Yaʿqūb had a 20-year long career from 750–770/1349–1368, Kolbas catalogue no. 33. The short names are the only information about them, although they had full inscriptions of dates and sometimes location.

24 Gerhard Doerfer, Türkische und Mongolische Elemente im Newpersischen, Band 2 (Wiesbaden, 1965) entry 658, pp. 209–210. He gives a pronunciation of ulghi or ulqi, spelled إبلقي. Historical sources, however, do not suggest that the initial sound at this period was u or yu. The name should not be confused with إبلخاي/Ilghāy, meaning a common red bush in later Uzbek Turkish, nor should it be confused with ilig or iliq, ‘king’, which was one of the ranks of titles used by the Qarākhānids of Transoxiana (382–609/992–1212).

25 Mongolian has many terms for horses depicting colour or special characteristics. In this case, the modern pronunciation of Hülāgü is Khuleg. There are four standard definitions, all of which stress heroism and trust. See https://mongoltoli.mn/search.php?ug_id=117438&opt=1&word=%D0%A5%D2%AE%D0%9B%D0%AD%D0%93# (accessed 16 May 2022). A current children's song relates that the national hero of Mongolia, Sukh Baatar, had a khuleg moir, which is reinforced by the equestrian statue in the main square of Ulaan Baatar, the capital.

26 Other examples of colour combined with animals are the opening words in Francis Woodman Cleaves (trans. and ed.), The Secret History of the Mongols (London, 1982), p. 1: ‘There was a bluish wolf which was born having [his] destiny from Heaven above’. Later, in the eighth/fourteenth century, there were the Aq and Qarā Qoyunlū/the White and Black Sheep Confederations (752 –914/1351–1508). Aside from wolves and sheep, horse herds were particularly prominent with regard to colours, especially with the earlier Pechenegs of the Volga area. ‘The names of the 8 tribal groupings consist of two parts, the name proper, usually a horse-colour, and, with some possible exceptions, the titles of their rulers’ and the colours of the horses included not only blue but also grey, black, dark brown, piebald, bark-colour, and even ‘brilliant, shining’: Golden, Peter B., An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State-Formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East (Wiesbaden, 1992), p. 266Google Scholar.

27 Boyle, ‘Dynastic and political history’, p. 343.

28 Only Boyle, ‘Dynastic and political history’, p. 352, seems to have noticed the difference between the two Ilgei generals, who are sometimes confused. Köke-Ilge was a Uriyangqat and Ilgei was a Jalayr.

29 Wing, Patrick, The Jalayrids: Dynastic State Formation in the Mongol Middle East (London, 2016), pp. 50–51Google Scholar, provides an extensive account of Ilgei's importance in the early years of the Il-Khānate. The general was one of the most senior commanders and was entrusted with critical decisions like informing Abāqā of the death of his father, Hülāgü.

30 Wing, The Jalayrids, p. 41.

31 The tribal name of Jalayr was attached to the personal name of many high officials, such as Buqa Jalayr in the Il-Khānate (d. 688/1289) and Mūngkā Noyan Jalayr in the Chaghadaid realm. On the other hand, the eponymous progenitor of the Jalayrs is lost in history.

32 Wing, The Jalayrids, pp. 41–43.

33 Buell, Paul D. and Kolbas, Judith, ‘The ethos of state and society in the early Mongol empire: Chinggis Khan to Güyük’, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society 26 (2016)CrossRefGoogle Scholar: The Mongols and Post-Mongol Asia. Studies in Honour of David O. Morgan, pp. 43–64, p. 60.

34 A complete description and photograph appear in Buell and Kolbas, ‘The ethos of state and society’, pp. 60–61. It was originally announced by Hedemann, Stefan, Kelzenberg, Hendrik, Erdenbat, Ulanbayar and Pohl, Ernst, ‘The first documentary evidence for Qara Qorum for the year 635/1237–8’, Zeitschrift für Archälogie Aussereuropeäischaer Kiltiren I (2005), pp. 93–102Google Scholar.

35 Buell and Kolbas, ‘The ethos of state and society’, pp. 62–63, with appreciation to V. Nastich for reference to the Otrar hoard.

36 Dashdondog, Bayarsaikhan, The Mongols and the Armenians (1220–1335) (Leiden, 2011), p. 65Google Scholar.

37 Vingil Ciolcîltan, The Mongols and the Black Sea Trade in the Thirteenth and Fourteen Centuries, (trans.) Samuel Willocks (Leiden, 2012).

38 Kolbas, Judith, The Mongols in Iran: Chingiz Khan to Uljaytu, 1220 to 1309 (London, 2006), pp. 135–138Google Scholar.

39 Ibid., pp. 141–142.

40 Wing, The Jalayrids, p. 42.

41 Kolbas, Mongols, p. 182. For Cilician Armenia's original capitulation in 641/1243 that allowed substantial independence as a vassal, see Dashdondog, The Mongols, pp. 65–66.

42 Later, a reverse trip was recorded when Francesco Pegolotti wrote his merchant's manual in around 1340 of the trade route through Anatolia from the port of Ayas in Cilician Armenia and other cities though Sivas to Tabriz. His Florentine company was challenging the early and dominant supremacy of the Genoese. Paviot, Jacques, ‘Les Marchands Italiens dans l-Iran Mongol’, in L-Iran Face à la Dominion Mongole (Teheran, 1997), pp. 71–86Google Scholar, p. 72. Also, Nicola Di Cosmo, ‘Mongols and merchants on the Black Sea frontier (13th–14th c.): convergences and conflicts’, in Mongols, Turks, and Others: Eurasian Nomads and the Sedentary World, (eds) Reuven Amitai and Michal Biran (Leiden, 2005), pp. 391–424, concentrating on the Golden Horde and the latter century.

43 Landa, Ishayahu, ‘Oirats in the Ilkhanate and the Mamluk sultanate in the thirteenth to the early fifteenth centuries: two cases of assimilation into the Muslim environment’, Mamluk Studies Review 19 (2016), pp. 149–191Google Scholar, p. 159, but he does not give any more detail, saying that ‘there had been a continuous stream of Mongol refugees from the Ilkhanate to Syria and Egypt since the 1240s’ as ‘part of a broader wāfidīyah phenomenon’.

44 Koby Yosef, ‘Cross-boundary hatred: (changing) attitudes towards Mongol and “Christian” mamlūks in the Mamluk sultanate’, in The Mamluk Sultanate from the Perspective of Regional and World History (Bonn, 2019), pp. 149–214, pp. 152–153, where Yosef notes from original sources that Baybars ‘tried to forge a Chingizid genealogy and established marital ties with… families of senior Mongol immigrants’. ‘Qalāwūn also married daughters of Mongol immigrants’, one of whom ‘is sometimes said to have been a descendent of Genghis Khan’. ‘Almost all the sultans until the days of al-Nāṣir Muḥammad ibn Qalāwūn (d. 1341) married Mongol women, and sons of al-Ẓāhir Baybars and al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn who became sultans were half Mongol and were probably exposed to Mongol influences in the Mamluk court and the sultan's household.’

45 Amitai, Reuven, ‘Mamluks of Mongol origin and their role in early Mamluk political life’, Mamluk Studies Review 12 (2008), pp. 119–137Google Scholar, shows the importance of the military role played by Mongol immigrants.

46 Golden, Peter B., An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples: Ethnogenesis and State-Formation in Medieval and Early Modern Eurasia and the Middle East (Wiesbaden, 1992), p. 349Google Scholar.