Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is a manual for chancery clerks, or official scribes, providing them with the various composition formulae required for their work, covering numerous topics on the principles, needs, skills and necessary knowledge for proper composition. The task of writing was considered by al-Qalqashandi to be of two main types: composition of texts and accounting. It demonstrates intricate structure of the bureaucracy in Egypt and Syria, not only during the Mamluk sultanate but from the start of Islamic rule in Egypt. It outlines the three basic necessities for kingly rule: orders to subordinates, collection of wealth and disbursement of funds. Al-Qalqashandi gives quite an exhaustive history of Egypt, starting from the Great Flood of Noah and continuing to the different Ancient Egyptian dynastic periods, with the names of each ruler and the different dynasties that ruled Egypt.