Thesis--Wisconsin. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-101).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, August 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis--Hamburg. / Vita. Includes indexes. Includes bibliographical references (p. 352-397).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-259).

Originally presented as the author's thesis (master's)--al-Jāmiʻah al-Urdunīyah, 1985. / At head of cover title: al-Jāmiʻah al-Urdunīyah, Jāmiʻat al-Yarmūk. Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-250).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University, 1987. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 249-259).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Kiel, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 399-413) and indexes.

The Mamluk Sultanate that dominated Egypt and Syria over slightly more than two centuries and a half (647-922/1250-1517), witnessed the development of a prodigious historiographical production. While the historiography of the Turkish Mamluk period (647-792/1250-1382) has been the object of thorough analyses to determine the patterns of interrelations amongst its authors and the respective value of its most important sources, that of the Early Circassian Mamluk period (roughly, the last quarter of the fourteenth/eighth and the first years of the fifteenth/ninth centuries) has not as of yet received proper attention. In this dissertation, this historiographical production has been surveyed and subjected to an analysis, the methodology of which was pioneered by Donald P. Little, one that consists of close word-by-word comparison of individual accounts in the works of Syrian and Egyptian authors who wrote about this period. The focus here was on specifically non-biographical historical material contained in mostly annalistic works. Amongst the results obtained during this research was the ultimate reliance, at different degrees and depths, of all historians on the works of five authors, namely Ibn Duqmaq (d. 809/1407), Ibn al-Furat (d. 807/1405), Ibn Hijji (d. 816/1413), al-Maqrizi (d. 845/1441) and al-'Ayni (d. 855/1451), but especially the first three.

Most modern studies have portrayed the Mamluk period as that in which the Christian population of the Mamluk empire reached its demise. Two reasons are most often given for this situatoon: 1) the effect of the Crusades in arousing anti-Chrtstian sentiment and 2) the Mongol invasions to which several Christian powers gave active assistance. This study which is limited to the contemporary and later Arabic chronicles and which examines the reign of Qala'un as a case study for the Mamluk period, indicates that contrary to this view, no correlation exists between these two historical factors and the treatment of Christians in the Mamluk period during the relgn of Qala'un. In fact, the situation of the indigenous Christians seems to have been relatively stable. Those measures which were instituted were taken against a particular category of Christians, not against the populatlon as a whole. Not only do the Mamluks of this period seem to have distinguished between various Christian parties in their treatment of them, but a variety of opinion concerning Christians seems to have existed among various elements of the Muslim population as well. Furthermore, Mamluk policy at this period toward foreign Christian powers does not seem to have been motivated by purely religious considerations. Thus, our views concerning the Mamluk period must be revised to recognlze that, although the Mamluk period was certalnly a period of decline for Christianity, it should, nevertheless, not be described uniformly as being one of disaster for the Christian community.

Jamal ad din Abu'Abdullah Muhammad b. Salim b. Nasrallih b. Salim b. Wasil was born in Hamah on 2 Shawwal, 604. He was brought up there, and educated at Jerusalem, Damascus and Aleppo. He spent seventeen years in Egypt, (642-659), and was there at the time of St. Louis' Crusade, and of the beginning of the Mamluk dynasty. He resided at the courts of several of the leading Ayyubid princes of the Seventh Century, A.H. (Mu'azzam of Damascus, Nasir Daud of Kerak, Ayyub of Egypt, Muzaffar II of Hamah, and his two successors), and he knew intimately many of their leading courtiers, soldiers and scholars. In the latter part of his life he was for many years chief Qadi of his native city, where he died on the 22 Shawwal, 697.;His great work, the Mufarrij al Kurub, fi Akhbar Bani Ayyub, was written towards the end of his life, and contains the history of the Ayyubids from their first appearance until 659. Ibn Wasil had devoted much of his life to the study of History, and had written at least one and probably more books on the subject already, so that the Mufarrij combines the merits being written by a first-class historian and a close observer of most of the events he relates.;The Seventh Century, A.H. was a great period of scholarship, and especially was this so in Syria. Damascus and Aleppo were at this time replacing Bagdad as centres of learning, under the patronage of the Ayyubid princes. Up to the end the Sixth Century, almost all the leading scholars had studied in Bagdad, but with the founding of Madrasas in large numbers by Nur ad din and Saladin, the Syrian cities (1) became increasingly a gathering place for men of learning. Particularly rich was this period in historians. While Ibn Wasil was growing up, there was a flourishing school of historians at Aleppo, another at Damascus, and in his own town of Hamah there were at least three historians at work. As the century went on, the work of Baha ad din b. Shaddad and Ibn abi Tayy was carried on in Aleppo by Kamal ad din b. al 'Adim and Izz ad din b. Shaddad. In Damascus, the three great historians, Abu Shama, Sibt b.al Jauzi and Ibn Khallikan were all writing their books a few years before Ibn Wasil composed the Mufarrij, and Ibn abi Usaibi'a belongs to the same period. Ibn Wasil is the last of the great historians of the century, and was himself the master of his successor, Abulfida. The Egyptian school of historians does not appear until the beginning of the Mamluk dynasty, and it is to the Syrian historians that we look for our knowledge of the Ayyubid dynasty. Of these Ibn Wasil was in the best position to give first hand information on the later period.;The style of these Seventh century histories is clear and concise, and Ibn Wasil snares this characteristic. The flowery eloquence of the lives of Saladin was looked upon with some contempt, as "a characteristic of the writers of former times, whom, you will observe, have much talk and little meaning, expressing themselves metaphorically. This is not really good style" (1) This is Abu Shama's opinion, and Ibn al Athir says much the same in his Preface to the History of the Atabeks. He has resolved, he says, not to write at length because of "the preference people have in our time for brevity." (2) This last word, (Ikhtisar), indicates the character of much of the work of scholars of this time, including Ibn Wasil. Many books were merely summaries of previous works on a subject, whether history or some other branch of learning, and Ibn Wasil's first historical work was a "Mukhtasar", to be followed by a longer "Tarikh Kabir". Besides this he wrote Mukhtasars of the Kitab al Aghani, of a work on theology by Fakhr ad din ar Razi, and of Ibn al Baitar's book on medicine. Three others of his works were commentaries on previous books, (Chapter X.).