IMC 2004: Sessions

Session 218: The Machinery of Government: Soldiers, Scribes, Eunuchs, Tax, and Charity

Sponsor:	Society for the Medieval Mediterranean
Organiser:	Alex Metcalfe, Department of History, Lancaster University
Moderator/Chair:	Alex Metcalfe, Department of History, Lancaster University
Paper 218-a	Use Turrus and Btella Far: 1001 Administrative Nightmares from Norman Sicily (Language: English) Alex Metcalfe, Department of History, Lancaster University Index terms: Administration, Charters and Diplomatics, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Onomastics
Paper 218-b	Soldiers and Scribes: Patronage and Bureaucracy in the Mamluk Empire (Language: English) Adam Sabra, Department of History, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Index terms: Administration, Islamic & Arabic Studies, Military History, Social History
Paper 218-c	Charity in the Sultan's Harem?: What We Might Learn from Mamluk Archival Documents (Language: English) Jo Van Steenbergen, School of History, University of St Andrews Index terms: Administration, Islamic & Arabic Studies, Religious Life, Social History
Abstract	The three papers, given by specialists in their respective fields, deal with various aspects of the Norman Sicilian and Mamluk Egyptian administrations. Two papers will examine elements of Mamluk government, in particular the issues of hierarchy and patronage in the military and at court as well as the roles played by eunuchs and professional scribes. The third paper offers a detailed examination of an unusual tax register of Muslim villeins written in Latin at the end of the 12th century.