Mameluke


From Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition, 1910)

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Mameluke (anglicized through the French, from the Arabic mamluk, a slave), the name given to a series of Egyptian sultans, originating (1250) in the usurpation of supreme power by the bodyguard of Turkish slaves first formed in Egypt under the successors of Saladin. See Egypt: History (Moslem period).