Eunuchs, caliphs and sultans

Descripción

"The book covers a period from the beginning of Islam, up to the beginning of the sixteenth century, and deals mainly with the eunuchs in the major centres of Islam in the East (Umayyads, 'Abbasids, Seljuks, Zengids, Ayyubids and Mamluks and to some extent, the Fatimids of Egypt). It is not a history of the eunuchs in that wide area but rather is mainly concerned with the power accumulated by the eunuchs, military, socially and even economically (especially as trustees of financial affairs and property) ... In all of these three areas, the dominant element had been slaves (Islamised and often enfranchised) who were imported beyond the lands of Islam. The eunuchs were usually the upbringers of the young Mamluks and quite often their commanders. The Mamluks themselves, in various and changing forms, constituted the mainstay of Islam to the harem, the eunuchs and the Mamluks."