Barquq and the Burji Mamluk Takeover
By the late 14th century the Bahri Mamluk dynasty, of largely Turkic (Kipchak) origin, had been weakened by plague-driven losses and chronic factional strife. The Circassian emir Barquq, commander of the citadel garrison, deposed the last Bahri child-sultan in 1382 and took the throne himself, founding the Burji ('tower') line named for the citadel barracks where its mamluks were quartered. The dynastic transition introduced a new ruling ethnicity that had to build legitimacy from scratch, and the Burji period was marked by short, contested reigns in which emirs made and unmade sultans through coalition and betrayal. Succession became a matter of factional strength rather than hereditary or institutional principle. This structural instability defined the sultanate as it faced Tamerlane's invasion and the long fiscal contraction following the Black Death.
- Year: 1382 CE
- Category: Political
