Imperial Power and Maritime Trade
Mecca and Cairo in the Later Middle Ages
by John L. Meloy
Hardback (Out of print)
(December 2010)
ISBN: 9780970819956
Price: $59.95
On back order
Using sources composed by late medieval Meccan scholars alongside the
Mamluk material, this study presents the history of late
medieval Mecca and the Sharifs who ruled the city by examining their
relations with local and global forces: their alliances with local
groups in the Hijaz, their relations with the imperial center of Mamluk
Cairo, and their reliance on the maritime trade of the Indian Ocean.
When scholars of Middle Eastern and Islamic history consider Mecca or its region, the Hijaz, they tend to focus on either the first century of Islam, when the city and region became briefly the center of an incipient empire, or the twentieth, when the city was the center of the Arab Revolt. More than a thousand years of history in between are relatively unknown. The pre-modern imperial cities of Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo quickly superseded Mecca as centers of politics and long-distance trade, leaving Islams premier holy city with its singular role as the destination of the great pilgrimage. Of course, the religious significance of Mecca attracted the attention of neighboring rulers, such as the Mamluk sultans of Cairo, who claimed sovereignty over the city to enhance their reputations as paramount Muslim rulers in the later medieval period. Since these claims were written into the Mamluk historical record, the principal means of viewing late medieval Mecca, the standard conception of the citys history has been skewed by its role as the ritual center of Islam and dominated by its relationship with Cairo. Yet when one considers that Mecca and its port of Jedda lay midway between the vital trading networks of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, one finds cause to question the received view of the Holy City. Using sources composed by late medieval Meccan scholars alongside the more well-known Mamluk material, this study presents the history of late medieval Mecca and the Sharifs who ruled the city by examining their relations with local and global forces: their alliances with local groups in the Hijaz, their relations with the imperial center of Mamluk Cairo, and their reliance on the maritime trade of the Indian Ocean.
John L. Meloy is an Associate Professor in the Department of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut.
- By (author) John L. Meloy
Other Titles in this Series
The Criminal Underworld in a Medieval Islamic Society
Narratives from Cairo and Damascus under the Mamluks
Volume 9
Commemorating the Nation
Collective Memory, Public Commemoration, and National Identity in Twentieth-century Egypt
Volume 2
Similar Books
«Solazoxa festa, stradolze e stracomplia»
Festschrift für Raymund Wilhelm zum 65. Geburtstag mit Beiträgen zu Diskurstraditionen und mittelalterlicher Philologie
Volume 249
A Collaborative Tapestry in Honour of Shirley Ann Brown / Une fresque brodée en l’honneur de Shirley Ann Brown
The Bayeux Tapestry Seen by her Colleagues and Friends / La Tapisserie de Bayeux vue par ses collègues et amis
Behind the Scenes of Medieval Roofs
An Overview of the Roofing Systems of Italian Churches
Volume 90
Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes – Journal of Medieval and Humanistic Studies
Volume 51
Cities through Time
Glimpses into Urbanity and Community in Mediaeval to Modern West Asia and Egypt
Volume 1
Cuneiform Artefacts from Archaeological Contexts: New Research on Ancient Iraq
Proceedings of a Conference Held at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, July 4–5, 2024
Volume 2
From the Frontiers of the Empire to the Borders of the Nations
Borderland Security and Safety in the (post-)Ottoman Spaces (1700–1939)
Global Gulf
Geo-Economic, Geo-Political, and Geo-Technological Transformation in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar
Innovation and Medieval Communities
The Circulation of Ideas and Practices in and out of the Town (1200-1500)
Volume 63
Islamic Rituals Beyond the Mosque
Historical Evolution of Prayer and Devotion in Physical Space and Cyberspace
Ismail Hakki Bursevi’s translation of and commentary on Fusus al-Hikam By Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi
Volumes 1-4
John Dunstaple Reading Boethius
John Dunstaple’s Annotations to Boethius’s “De institutione musica” in the Manuscript Oxford, Corpus Christi College Library, MS 118
Medieval Debates on Foreknowledge: Future Contingents, Prophecy, and Divination
Acts of the XXVII Annual Colloquium of the SIEPM, Trento 12-15 September 2023
Volume 31
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
Monastic Manuscripts from the Eastern Mediterranean (Sinai, Jerusalem, Antioch)
Production, Use, and Contexts
Nicholas of Lyra’s Commentaries on the Gospels of Matthew and Luke
Franciscan Exegesis in a Time of Crisis
