Encyclopaedia Judaica
Jews in Egypt 03: Mamluk rule 1260-1517
Heavy discrimination against non-Muslims in the course of the fight against the Crusaders - monopolization of the spice trade - Cherkess-Mamluk dynasty
from: Egypt; In: Encyclopaedia Judaica 1971, vol. 6
presented by Michael Palomino (2008)
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<THE MAMLUKS.
[since 1260: restrictions against Christians and Jews under the Mamluks]
In the middle of the 13th century [[after the fights against Crusaders]] the *Mamluks came to power in Egypt [[in 1260]]. The entire political regime was changed and a decisive change in the condition of the Jews also took place. These rulers were the leaders of the foreign Turkish soldiery of which the army was exclusively composed, and they tried to enhance their position and to curry favor with the Muslim native population by emphasizing their piety and by introducing a series of measures directed against the non-Muslim communities.
The first Mamluks declared total war against the Crusaders. They found it necessary to encourage religious fervor in order to succeed in their efforts. Thus, the Mamluk rule was accompanied by a series of decrees and persecutions against the Christians and Jews, which continued until the Mamluks were deposed by the Ottomans.
The ancient discriminatory laws were brought back into prominence and new ones were also instituted. These activities were primarily directed against the Copts, the most powerful non-Muslim community in the Mamluk kingdom, but even so the Jews suffered considerably. On the other hand, Jewish communal organization in Egypt was not abolished and its autonomy was mostly maintained.
The decrees against non-Muslims were introduced during the first generation of the Mamluk rule. In 1290 Sultan Qalawun issued an order which prohibited the employment of Jews and Christians in government and ministerial departments. This order was reissued during the reign of his son and successor, al-Malik al-Ashraf Khalil (1290-1293).
[1301: new restrictions against Christians and Jews: turban rule - horse riding rule - house building rule - prayer houses closed]
In 1301 there was a large-scale persecution. The Christians were compelled to cover their turbans with a blue cloth, the Jews with a yellow one, and the Samaritans with a red one. The authorities renewed the prohibition of riding horses and also forbade the building of houses higher than those of the Muslims. On this occasion the Jewish and Christian houses of prayer in Cairo were closed down.
[[...]]
[1347: Monopolization of the spice trade by the Mamluks - Jewish part is going down]
At that time the economic situation of the Jews took a turn for the worse; under the Mamluks the system of monopolies was consolidated. Private industry was generally ruined and the commerce of spices, the most important part of Egypt's external trade, was taken over by the monopolized "Karimi" merchant company in which only a few members were Jews.
[[Supplement:
The Mamluks had cut off the merchant route through Little Armenia in 1347, so the spice trade was dominated by a cartel of merchants, the Karimi, who were able to put the price of spices up to about double the previous values. At the same time the Karimi had great political power, being bankers to the Mamluks, and they were appointed as sole buyers of European goods, so that they were able to bring those prices down.
(http://www-geology.ucdavis.edu/~cowen/~GEL115/115CH7.html (2008)]]
[[[...]]
[1354: new persecution of non-Muslims]
In 1354 there was an even graver persecution. The cause for it was against attributed by Arab historians to the haughtiness (col. 494)
of the Christian officials. There were attacks on non-Muslims in the streets of Cairo and the government instituted a severe control over the habits of Muslim converts.
[Structure of the Jewish communities in Egypt]
During this period the Jewish population was led by negidim of Maimonides' family. Maimonides' grandson, R. *David b. Abraham, was nagid from 1238 to 1300. In various documents the negidim are referred to as heads of academies but the exact nature of the academy is in question.
During the second half of the 13th century, the literary activities of Egyptian Jewry continued to flourish, as in the Fatimid and Ayyubid periods. *Tanhum ha-Yerushalmi, the well-known Bible commentator, and his son *Joseph, a competent Hebrew poet, lived in Egypt at this time.
[since the end of 14th century: Cherkess-Mamluk dynasty with much arbitrary violence against non-Muslims]
At the end of the 14th century, a second dynasty of the Mamluks, the Cherkess, came to power. The Mamluk rule then increased in violence and the anti-Jewish and anti-Christian decrees grew in frequency. The oppression and extortions of the sultans were severer than in former times. There often were internal conflicts within this Mamluk faction, and as a result the soldiers, unrestrained, rioted in the streets and attacked their citizens. In order to appease the embittered people, the sultans issued a multitude of decrees against the non-Muslims.
While the first sultan of the Cherkess Mamluks, Barquq (1382-1399), as well as his son and successor Faraj (1399-1412), acted leniently toward the non-Muslims, the third sultan, al-Mu'ayyad Sheikh, oppressed the non-Muslims by various means. The discriminatory decrees were renewed, and there were searches for wine in the non-Muslim quarters.
During the reign of the Cherkess Mamluks the autonomous organization of the communities in Egypt remained unharmed and as previously, they were led as before by the negidim. The last of Maimonides' descendants to act as nagid was R. *David b. Joshua. For reasons that are not known R. David was compelled to leave Egypt in the 1370s. He was replaced by a man named *Amram. At the end of the Mamluk period, Egyptian Jewry was led by the negidim R. Nathan *Sholal and his relative R. Isaac *Sholal, who emigrated to Palestine after the conquest of Egypt by the Ottomans.
[Travel reports of 1481: Numbers of families]
The travelers *Meshullam of Volterra, who arrived in Egypt in 1481, and R. Obadiah of *Bertinoro, who came there seven years later, provided information about the size of the communities in the descriptions of their travels. The numbers which are found in their writings emphasize the decrease in the Jewish population, which was concomitant with the general depopulation and was partly a result of the oppression under Mamluk rule. According to Meshullam there were 650 families, as well as 150 Karaite and 50 Samaritan families, in Cairo, 50 families in Alexandria, 50 in Bilbeis, and 20 in al-Khanqa.
Obadiah mentions 500 families in Cairo, besides 150 Karaite and 50 Samaritan families, 25 families in Alexandria, and 30 in Bilbeis. From this it can be deduced that there was probably a total of 5,000 persons in all the communities visited by the two travelers.
[since 1485 approx.: immigration wave of Spanish Jews]
By then the immigration of Spanish Jewry to the oriental countries had begun. Even before the expulsion, groups of forced converts arrived in Egypt. Immediately after the expulsion, the Jews who had not converted arrived and the Jewish population in Egypt increased. In those centers where an important number of newcomers settled separate communities were established.
The arrival of the Spanish immigrants had a beneficial effect on the cultural life of Egyptian Jewry. Their numbers included scholars of (col. 495)
renown who engaged in educational activities and who were appointed as dayyanim [[judges]]. Among the scholars who arrived in Egypt during the first generation after the Spanish expulsion were R. *Samuel b. Sid, who was a member of the bet din [[court]] of the nagid [[leader, prince]] in 1509, R. Jacob *Berab, who is mentioned in a document of 1513 as a dayyan [[judge]] of this same bet din, and R. Samuel ha-Levi *Hakim, who was a prominent halakhic authority and acted as dayyan at the beginning of the 16th century in Cairo. The negidim [[leaders, princes]] welcomed the Spanish refugees.> (col. 496)
Sources
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Egypt, vol.6, col. 493-494
Encyclopaedia Judaica (1971): Egypt, vol.6, col. 495-496
