[ANSTHRLD] Mamluk soldiers?

[Peer2]

Started after the Crusades and into the Ottoman expansion, the Mamluks were
usually Christian converts, taken from their families when they were between
4-7 years old and fostered by trainers in and around the royal court. They
were some of the Sultan's/Caliph's most fanatical warriors, both to their
ruler and to Islam. Typically, they would be recruited from areas the Turks
had been having trouble with or were about to campaign against. Though some
families willingly handed their children over to prevent their persecution
and/or because of the really high standard of living the Mamluks enjoyed,
rivaled only by the nobles themselves.

PBS did a really outstanding thing on them a few months ago. Otherwise, I'd
be completely ignorant. >:]

-- Cedric Einarsson
-- (Insert Favorite Expletive Here)


----- Original Message -----
From: Timothy A. McDaniel <tmcd at jump.net>

> > The Arabic word mamluk meant a soldier recruited as a young slave
>
> "Recruited" and "slave" being somewhat antithetical ...
> They were specifically non-Muslim boys, converted during
> their training.  They were in origin specifically non-
> hereditary, I believe.  As in other slave applications,
> Circassians were especially favored.
>
> Daniel "Marching through Georgia" de Lincolia