Mamluks and Ottomans: Studies in Honour of Michael Winter

Mamluk and Ottoman Studies, dedicated to Michael Winter, aims to stress elements of variety and continuity in the history of the near east between the thirteenth and the eighteenth century. The articles in this book look at the area from Istanbul down through Syria and Palestine to Arabia, the Yemen and the Sudan. The articles demonstrate the great wealth of the materials available, in a wide variety of languages, from archival documents to manuscripts and art works, as well as inscriptions and buildings, police records and divorce documentation. The topics covered are equally varied: Sufism The festival of Nabi Musa, Religious institutions and their administration, The politics of architecture Royal biography Social and military organization Doctors and charity A Great Fire (a century before London's) Pilgrimage guides Peripheral regions (Sudan and Yemen) Land tenure Medieval divorce Confidence tricksters The seventeen contributorsfrom nearly a dozen institutions show how much can be done and how much remains to be done in this field, making this book is essential reading for those with research interests in Ottoman studies, Islam and Near Eastern history.