ABSTRACT
The Circassian Mamluk sultans, sometimes known from Kalavun's original recruitment of Circassians as the Burjiyya (see above, p. 139), formed a succession of23 rulers from Barkuk's usurpation in 784/1382 to the Ottoman conquest in 922/1516-17. Barkuk's own sons and his military household provided the first series of his successors, who reigned from 801/1399 to 865/1461, and amongst whom the most important were al-Mu'ayyad Shaykh (815-24/1412-21) and al-Ashraf Barsbay (825-41/1422-38). The next series ofsultans, in effect a second generation, sprang from the Mamluk households ofBarkuk's first successors, and among them the most notable was al-Ashraf Kayitbay, who reigned from 872/1468 to 901/1496. All Kayitbay's successors came from his family or household, including aI-Ashraf Kansawh al-Ghawri (906-22/1501-16), who died in the battle of Marj Dabiq against Selim the Grim.
