Caught between heredity and merit: the amir Qu un and the legacy of al-Na ir Mu ammad b. Qalawun (d. 1341)

From medieval times until today ideas of heredity through lineage and of merit through slave status have jostled for pre-eminence as explanations for transitions of Mamluk royal authority. This article contributes to this debate through an analysis of events in late 1341 marking the transition from the reign of one of the sultanate's most successful rulers, al-Na ir Mu ammad b. Qalawun, to that of his sons. This is achieved by focusing on the whereabouts of one of al-Na ir Mu ammad's most powerful agents, Qu un al-Saqi al-Na iri, and on how this amir monopolized power in Egypt and Syria in such a way that his accession to the sultanate seemed inevitable. The article then demonstrates how things went wrong for Qu un and how his failed attempt to obtain the sultanate triggered a Qalawunid dynastic succession practice that was to remain dominant for many decades.