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Winner of the J. F. Verbruggen Prize 2025 for Best Book in Medieval Military History
In Mamluk Art of Warfare, Mehdi Berriah sheds light on the mechanisms that structured the conduct and practice of warfare within the Mamluk army. The Mamluks made it one of the most efficient military forces in the medieval Near East in the 7th/13th and 8th/14th centuries, enabling them to repel the triple threat posed by the Mongols, the Franks, and the Armenians to the territories of dār al-Islām. Of servile origin, and coming mainly from the Eurasian steppes and the Caucasus, the Mamluks were recruited above all for warfare. This was their raison d’être, as their politico-religious legitimacy derived almost exclusively from their military exploits. Drawing on a large corpus combining chronicles (Arabic, Latin, Armenian, and Persian), didactic sources, and archaeological evidence, Mehdi Berriah offers the first comprehensive study explaining in detail the military successes of the Bahri Mamluks on different fronts against their three main enemies, as well as their near invincibility on land. This ultimately allowed the sultanate to establish itself as the leading power in the region from the mid-8th/14th century.
In Mamluk Art of Warfare, Mehdi Berriah sheds light on the mechanisms that structured the conduct and practice of warfare within the Mamluk army. The Mamluks made it one of the most efficient military forces in the medieval Near East in the 7th/13th and 8th/14th centuries, enabling them to repel the triple threat posed by the Mongols, the Franks, and the Armenians to the territories of dār al-Islām. Of servile origin, and coming mainly from the Eurasian steppes and the Caucasus, the Mamluks were recruited above all for warfare. This was their raison d’être, as their politico-religious legitimacy derived almost exclusively from their military exploits. Drawing on a large corpus combining chronicles (Arabic, Latin, Armenian, and Persian), didactic sources, and archaeological evidence, Mehdi Berriah offers the first comprehensive study explaining in detail the military successes of the Bahri Mamluks on different fronts against their three main enemies, as well as their near invincibility on land. This ultimately allowed the sultanate to establish itself as the leading power in the region from the mid-8th/14th century.
Price: $266.00
Publisher: Brill
Imprint: Brill
Series: Handbook of Oriental Studies. Section 1 The Near and Middle East
Publication Date:
18 June 2026
ISBN: 9789004733855
Format: Hardcover
Mehdi Berriah is a researcher in Islamic Studies and Islamic history at the French Institute for the Near East (Ifpo). His research explores the political, social, and intellectual history of the medieval Islamic Near East, with a particular emphasis on military history and furūsiyya. His work also addresses medieval and modern Muslim theology and thought, particularly Ibn Taymiyya, Islamic law and uṣūl al-fiqh, the conceptualization, historical development, and uses of jihad, and broader questions of epistemology and paradigms in Islamic studies.