Through and beyond the veil of rhetoric: the significance of Mamluk diplomatic language in relations with Christian states
The project aims to define and study the theoretical and practical strategies by which the Mamluk sultanate (Egypt and Syria, 1250-1517) represented, legitimized, and conducted diplomatic relations with the European powers. The research is based on the analysis of the sources concerning the diplomatic language in all its different forms, both verbal (chancery documents, oral communication) and non-verbal (ceremonial, exchange of gifts, etc.). My work will focus on what the diplomatic language reveals about the principles underlying the interreligious relations between a medieval Muslim power (the Mamluks) and the Christian states. Such an analysis is strictly related to the studies that in the last decade have reinterpreted concepts such as "jihād" or "dār al-Islām"/"dār al-ḥarb", often simplistically used by historiography and the mass media to describe the interaction between Muslims and non-Muslims in different times and contexts. Against such a generalizing approach, my project will address a specific case: the Mamluk-European relations. The study of the foundations of the dialogue will be based on the analysis of the diplomatic sources (documents, instructions to the emissaries, ambassadors’ final reports, etc.). The findings of this study will then be compared with the content of the Mamluk juridical texts concerning the relations with non Muslims, in order to identify the analogies and the differences between the theory of the jurists and the principles actually determining the exchanges.