Al-Mas  aq, Vol. 19, No. 1, March 2007 ‘‘Is anyone my guardian . . . ?’’ Maml  uk Under-age Rule and the Later Qal  aw  unids JO VAN STEENBERGEN ABSTRACT Succession to the Maml  uk sultanate is one of those thorny issues that keep bothering historians. Within an environment that did not generally favour heredity of military/political status, a frequent tendency towards dynasticism remains difficult to explain, the Qal  aw  unids (678–784/1279–1382) offering a case in point. This article analyses the age of accession of the later Qal  aw  unids (741–784/1341–1382) and challenges the generally accepted view that they were mostly politically weak minors and mere stopgaps to a failing political system. It argues that there was a dynastic reflex at work, which combined with the specific political circumstances of the mid-fourteenth century and which resulted in the paradox of a very active, but continuously contested Qal  aw  unid sultanate. Keywords: Maml  uk sultanate; Rulership – underage rulers; Egypt – politics; Qal  aw  unid dynasty One Saturday in December 1350, when he was about fourteen years old, al-Malik al-N as _ ir H _ asan (r. 748–752/1347–1351 and 755–762/1354–1361), Maml  uk sultan of Egypt and Syria, is claimed to have acted as follows: He summoned the q  ad _ i s and the ami rs, and when they gathered in the audience hall, he said to them: ‘‘o ami rs, is anyone my guardian (...), or can I take my own decisions?’’ All replied: ‘‘O lord, there is no one who can decide for our master, the sultan, as he is the owner of our lives’’. Then, he said: ‘‘If I would tell you something, would you give heed to it?’’ And they all replied: ‘‘we are to obey the sultan and to execute his orders’’. So [the sultan] turned to his chamberlain, and said: ‘‘take the sword of this one’’, and he pointed at ...[one of his guardians], whose sword was taken and who was removed and put into chains. 1 Correspondence: Jo Van Steenbergen, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, University of Ghent, Sint Pietersplein 6, B-9000, Belgium. E-mail: Jo.VanSteenbergen@UGent.be 1 al-Maqrizi, Kit  ab al-Sul  uk li-Ma6rifat duwal al-mul  uk, eds. M.M. Ziadah & S.A. Ashur, volumes I-IV (Cairo: D ar al-Kutub, 1956–1973), II/3: 822. Similar account in al-S _ afadi, A6 y  an al-6as _ r wa-A6 w  an al-nas _ r, eds. A. Ab  u Zayd, N. Ab  u Umsha, M. Muw6ad & M. Salim Muh _ ammad, volumes I-VI (Beirut- Damascus: D ar al-Fikr, 1998), II: 248. ISSN 0950–3110 print/ISSN 1473–348X online/07/010055-11 ß 2007 Society for the Medieval Mediterranean DOI: 10.1080/09503110601068562