ABSTRACT

The period from about 1100 to 1350 in the Middle East was marked by continued interaction between the local Muslim rulers and two groups of non-Muslim invaders: the Frankish crusaders from Western Europe and the Mongols from northeastern Asia. In deflecting the threat those invaders presented, a major role was played by the Mamluk state which arose in Egypt and Syria in 1250. The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies has, from 1917 onwards, published several articles pertaining to the history of this period by leading historians of the region, and this volume reprints some of the most important and interesting of them for the convenience of students and scholars.

chapter |7 pages

Saladin and the Assassins

chapter |6 pages

The Mongol Empire

A Review Article

chapter |5 pages

Saladin and his Admirers

A Biographical Reassessment 1

chapter |5 pages

The Īlkhān Aḥmad's Embassies to Qalāwūn

Two Contemporary Accounts

chapter |5 pages

The Secret History of the Mongols

Some Fresh Revelations

chapter |10 pages

Ghazan, Islam and Mongol Tradition

A View from the Mamluk Sultanate 1

chapter |20 pages

Marco Polo and his ‘Travels' 1