Ottoman-Mamluk relations: Diplomacy and perceptions

This dissertation analyses the relationship between the Ottoman and the Mamluk powers from the mid-fourteenth century to 1512, or from the inception of Ottoman-Mamluk diplomatic relations through the rule of Bayezid II. During this period, the relationship between these two powers underwent a transformation. In reconstructing this transformation, previous scholars have chosen to focus on moments of conflict and war. However, the two regions in which the Ottoman and Mamluk powers ruled were connected by a wide range of political, diplomatic, social, cultural, and commercial networks that were established long before the emergence of the two powers. Such networks were a part of Ottoman-Mamluk relations, as was the hostility, which became prevalent in the interactions between the Ottoman and the Mamluk rulers after the 1450s. By studying these networks and by placing particular emphasis on diplomatic ones, this dissertation reevaluates the interactions between the two powers.; While narrating the relationship between the Ottomans and the Mamluks, the dissertation also examines diplomatic incidents that took place between the two courts. Primary sources that report about the contacts between the two powers put a particular emphasis on those diplomatic incidents. This emphasis not only reveals the significant role of diplomacy in the communication between rulers, but also offers critical insight into the minds of sovereigns. Through meticulously crafted letters and carefully chosen envoys and gifts, rulers exchanged their political visions and mutual perceptions. By studying such diplomatic culture and the symbols embedded in it, this dissertation attempts to illuminate both the changing mutual perceptions of these two societies and the diplomatic conventions that were practiced in the larger Medieval Islamic world.