Anonymous treatise on horsemanship and the arts of the lance

Name: Anonymous treatise on horsemanship and the arts of the lance
Author: an anonymous master of the royal barracks for his fellow teachers of trainee mamluks

Title	Anonymous treatise on horsemanship and the arts of the lance
Author	an anonymous master of the royal barracks for his fellow teachers of trainee mamluks
Publication Date:	17th century-18th century (CE, Gregorian)
Type	Book
Language	Arabic
Digital	Yes
Manuscript	Yes
Pages Count	1
Physical Dimensions	248 x 177 mm
Library:	Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID	Or 9015
Record ID	vdc_100099021814.0x000001
Library Location	British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date	17th century-18th century (CE, Gregorian)
Notes	Unique copy, defective at beginning and end, of a treatise on instruction in horsemanship, written by an anonymous master of the royal barracks for his fellow teachers of trainee mamluks, around the late fourteenth century. The text contains numerous sections ( bāb s) on horse-riding, burjās exercises, the training of kings and nobles, warfare skills, combat and war between Muslims and non-Muslims, and on the famous Arab and Turkish furūsīyah teachers. The main focus is on the arts of the lance: handling the lance, solo combat manoeuvres ( bunūd , بنود) including the seventy-two described by Najm al-Dīn al-Aḥdab (نجم الدين الأحدب, d. ca 1295), five further solo bunūd and twenty-one 'dispatches' (تساريح); simulated combat fencing between two horsemen ( al-manāsib al-ḥarbīyah , المناصب الحربية); and simulated combat exercises between teams ( al-mawādīn , الموادين). A section at the end of the volume explains and describes the group combat exercises (باب شرح الموادين وذكرها وأساميها) and other types of military manoeuvres, with diagrams added possibly in another hand (ff. 80v-84v). Begins (f. 1r, lines 1-4): ... ووعد المجاهدين في سبيله بالمقام الأعلى في الجنان ومتعهم في القصور بلقائف الحور والولدان وذلك قوله تعالى والذين جاهدوا فينا لنهدينهم سبلنا وإن الله لمع المحسنين… Ends (f. 84v, lines 7-9): ترتيب ثمانية صفوف وكل صف في وسطه مقدمين ويكونوا فارسين عارفين ولهم خصم قدامهم فإذا حمل الخصم عليهم فيخرج كل صف يطوف يمينًا وشمالًا ويترتبوا وراء خصمهم كما كانوا في الأول
Erişim Koşulları	Unrestricted
Edinme Kaynağı	Purchased from Isaac Benjamin Shlomo Ezekiel Yahuda (bookdealer at Cairo and brother of Abraham Shalom Yahuda, d. 1951), 8 October 1921
Seçilmiş kaynakça	Study: Al-Sarraf, Shihab, 'Mamluk Furūsīyah Literature and Its Antecedents', Mamluk Studies Review , 8 (Chicago: Middle East Documentation Center, The University of Chicago, 2004), pp. 141-200 (see p. 199)

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Anonymous treatise on horsemanship and the arts of the lance

Author an anonymous master of the royal barracks for his fellow teachers of trainee mamluks

Publication Date 17th century-18th century (CE, Gregorian)

Type Book

Language Arabic

Digital Yes

Manuscript Yes

Pages Count 1

Physical Dimensions 248 x 177 mm

Library Qatar Digital Library

Library Asset ID Or 9015

Record ID vdc_100099021814.0x000001

Library Location British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Date 17th century-18th century (CE, Gregorian)

Notes Unique copy, defective at beginning and end, of a treatise on instruction in horsemanship, written by an anonymous master of the royal barracks for his fellow teachers of trainee mamluks, around the late fourteenth century. The text contains numerous sections ( bāb s) on horse-riding, burjās exercises, the training of kings and nobles, warfare skills, combat and war between Muslims and non-Muslims, and on the famous Arab and Turkish furūsīyah teachers. The main focus is on the arts of the lance: handling the lance, solo combat manoeuvres ( bunūd , بنود) including the seventy-two described by Najm al-Dīn al-Aḥdab (نجم الدين الأحدب, d. ca 1295), five further solo bunūd and twenty-one 'dispatches' (تساريح); simulated combat fencing between two horsemen ( al-manāsib al-ḥarbīyah , المناصب الحربية); and simulated combat exercises between teams ( al-mawādīn , الموادين). A section at the end of the volume explains and describes the group combat exercises (باب شرح الموادين وذكرها وأساميها) and other types of military manoeuvres, with diagrams added possibly in another hand (ff. 80v-84v). Begins (f. 1r, lines 1-4): ... ووعد المجاهدين في سبيله بالمقام الأعلى في الجنان ومتعهم في القصور بلقائف الحور والولدان وذلك قوله تعالى والذين جاهدوا فينا لنهدينهم سبلنا وإن الله لمع المحسنين… Ends (f. 84v, lines 7-9): ترتيب ثمانية صفوف وكل صف في وسطه مقدمين ويكونوا فارسين عارفين ولهم خصم قدامهم فإذا حمل الخصم عليهم فيخرج كل صف يطوف يمينًا وشمالًا ويترتبوا وراء خصمهم كما كانوا في الأول

Erişim Koşulları Unrestricted

Edinme Kaynağı Purchased from Isaac Benjamin Shlomo Ezekiel Yahuda (bookdealer at Cairo and brother of Abraham Shalom Yahuda, d. 1951), 8 October 1921

Seçilmiş kaynakça Study: Al-Sarraf, Shihab, 'Mamluk Furūsīyah Literature and Its Antecedents', Mamluk Studies Review , 8 (Chicago: Middle East Documentation Center, The University of Chicago, 2004), pp. 141-200 (see p. 199)