^{page 502 note 1} Acknowledgement is made to the members of the Department of Near Eastern Languages of Yale University, who by the award of the Kohut Fellowship enabled the author to undertake a study of the economic background of the Near East in the period of the Crusades. The present paper is a by-product of this research.

^{page 502 note 2} Hofmeier, K. W. cf.,– Beiträge zur arabischen Papyrusforschung, I: Das System arabischer Steuerverrechnung im 9. Jahrhundert n.Chr.’, Der Islam, 4,1913, pp. 100 and 101Google Scholar; Grohmann, A., ‘ Texte zur Wirtschaftsgeschichte Ägyptens in arabiscẖer Zeit’, Archiv. Or., 7, 1935, p. 443.Google Scholar

^{page 502 note 3} The contribution of Decourdemanch, J. A., ‘Du rapport légal de valeur entre l'or, l'argent aet le cuivre chez les peuples anciens et les arabes ’, Revue d'Ethnographie et de Sociologie, Paris, 1911Google Scholar, deals merely with the metrological aspect of the reform of ‘Abd al-Malik.

^{page 502 note 4} Some seventy years ago the famous French scholar H. Sauvaire emphasized this problem in the following words: ‘ & il serait à souhaiter, pour le progrès de la numismatique orientale, que les grands cabinets de médailles de Londres, Paris, Saint-Pétersbourg, etc., sacrifiassent quelques-uns de leurs doubles pour les faire analyser et en détermīner le titre. Ce serait un grand service rendu à la science’. (‘ Matériaux pour servir à. l'histoire de la numismatique et de la métrologie musulmanes’, JA, 19, 1882, p. 111.Google Scholar) Alas, the appeal of H. Sauvaire has remained unanswered up to the present.

^{page 502 note 5} Strauss, E. cf., ‘ Prix et salaires à l'Űpoque Mamlouke’, Rev. des Ét. Islamiques, 1949, p. 52Google Scholar; Ayalon, D., L'esclavage du mamelouk, Jerusalem, 1951, p. 42; Sauvaire, loc. cit., p. 129.Google Scholar

^{page 502 note 6} cf. Becker, C. H., Islamstudien, Leipzig, 1924, 1, 157Google Scholar; Bjorkman, W., Beiträge zur Geschichte der StaaUkanzlei im islamischen Ăgypten, Hamburg, 1928, p. 31.Google Scholar

^{page 502 note 7} Balog, P. cf., ‘ Quelques dinars du début de l'ère Mamelouke Bahrite’, Bull, de l'lnst. d'Égypte, 32, 1951, p. 251.Google Scholar

^{page 503 note 1} Down to the reign of sultan al-Ashraf Sha'bān (A.H. 764–778/A.D. 1363–76), when new attempts were made to restore the weight standard, al-Qalqashandī, cf., Ṣubḥ al-a'shā, Cairo, 1914, 3. p. 440.Google Scholar

^{page 503 note 2} The examination of about 100 dinars struck in Islamic Egypt shows that the standard of the gold issues was maintained well above 22 carats. Temporary debasements should be regarded as an exception to the rule. My thanks are due to Dr. J. Walker, Keeper of the Department of Coins and Medals in the British Museum, and to Dr. G. C. Miles, Curator in the Museum of the American Numismatic Society, for granting me permission to carry out the examination in question.

^{page 503 note 3} For the etymology of this term see Dozy, R., Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes, Leyden, 1881, 2, p. 710.Google Scholar For further references see H. Sauvaire, loc. cit., pp. 61–4.

^{page 503 note 4} Ehrenkreutz, A. S., ‘ The Technical Manual on the Ayyübid Mint in Cairo ’, BSOAS, 15, 1953, pp. 438–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar Notice the misleading information given by al-Qalqashandi (op. cit.). In one place he says that the alloy of the nuqra dirhams consisted of 70 per cent silver and 30 per cent copper (iii, 443). In another place, he says that the nuqra silver (al-fiḍḍat an-nuqra) was struck of 70 per cent copper and only 30 per cent silver (iii, 466). In the latter case al-Qalqashandi refers to the authority of Ibn Mammātī, who did not discuss at all the standard of fineness of the nuqra dirhams but that of the miṣrī (or waraq) dirhams. (Mammāti, Ibn cf., Kitāb qawānīn ad-dawāwīn, Cairo, 1943, p. 333.Google Scholar)

^{page 503 note 5} Similar exchange rate (13 1/6) is met in the papyri dating from the 3rd century A.H./9th century A.I., cf. Grohmann, loc. cit., p. 443. In A.H. 469/A.D. 1077 the ratio also stood at 13: 1, Cahen, C. cf., La Syrie du Nord a l'époque des Croisades …, Paris, 1940, p. 470.Google Scholar For the exchange under the Ayyūbids, see Sauvaire, loc. cit., p. 122. It is, however, uncertain what kind of weight units was involved in the exchange figures.

^{page 503 note 6} For the etymology of that term see de Sacy, A. I. S., Traité des monnoies musulmanes, traduit de Iéarabe de Makrizi, Paris, 1797, p. 44Google Scholar, note. For its spelling, see Ziyada, 's edition of Maqrīzī''s Kitāb as-sulūk li ma'rifat duwal al-mulūk, Cairo, 1936, 1, 506Google Scholar, note 6. The waraq dirhams were already in circulation in Fāṭimid Egypt, Muyassar, Ibn cf., Annales d'Égypte (Les Khalifs Fātīmides), ed. Massé, H., Cairo, 1919, p. 107.Google Scholar For the alloy of the waraq dirhams, see Ehrenkreutz, loc. cit., pp. 440–2.

^{page 503 note 7} cf. Ibn Ba'ra, Kashf al-asrār al-'ilmiya bi dār aḍ-ḍarb al-miṣriya, MS., (Fihris Oar al-Kutub al-'Arabiyah, A.H. 1308, V., 390), fo. 4 v.

^{page 503 note 8} From an-Nāṣir, the honorific name of Saladin.

^{page 504 note 1} al-Maqrīzī, cf., Shudhür al-'uqud, ed. Mayer, L. A., Alexandria 1933, p. 12.Google Scholar In another work, however, the same author reports that the new dirhams of Saladin were to be struck of pure silver (cf. Kitab as-suluk., ed. cit., I, i, 99).

^{page 504 note 2} cf. al-Maqrīzī, Shudhūr. loc. cit.

^{page 504 note 3} Published in Blochet, E. (transl.), Histoin d'Égypte de Makrizi, Paris, 1908.Google Scholar

^{page 504 note 4} ibid., p. 427, note. This is also reported by al-Maqrīzī, himself in Sulūk, 1, 1, 508.Google Scholar

^{page 504 note 5} cf. Blochet, op. cit., p. 362, note.

^{page 504 note 6} Balog, P. cf., ‘ Études numismatiques’, Bull, de Vlnst. d'tgypte, 32, 1951, p. 30.Google Scholar

^{page 504 note 7} cf. Chronicle of the Patriarchs of Alexandria, p. 427, note.

^{page 504 note 8} This is also corroborated by a remark of H. Lavoix, who classified the metal of a few specimens of the reformed dirhams of al-Kāmil, as being of‘ argent du bas titre ’, (cf.Catalogue des monnaies musulmanes de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, 1887–1894, 3, 245.Google Scholar)

^{page 505 note 1} See p. 504, note 4.

^{page 505 note 2} cf. Sauvaire, loc. cit., p. 129.

^{page 505 note 3} See p. 502, note 5.

^{page 505 note 4} See above, p. 503.

^{page 505 note 5} From adh-Ehahir, the honorific name of Baybars.

^{page 505 note 6} cf. Al-Maqrīzī, Shudhūr, pp. 12/13.

^{page 505 note 7} cf. al-Qalqashandī, op. cit,, iii, 467.

^{page 505 note 8} cf. Sauvaire, loc. cit., p. 106.

^{page 505 note 9} See p. 504.

^{page 505 note 10} The dirhams of that exchange value are not called by any specific name in the sources.

^{page 505 note 11} The dirhams of such exchange value are not specified by name in the sources.

^{page 505 note 12} See p. 504, note 8.

^{page 506 note 1} Oriental texts bearing on the subject of Islamic mints come not only from various areas, ranging from North Africa to India, but also from different periods. Thus the treatise of Haj Lassen (?) gives an account of the 14th-century Moroccan mint. A French translation of this treatise, by M. Viala, has been published in the work by Brethes, J. D., Contribution á l'histoire du Maroc par les recherches numismatiques, Casablanca, 1939.Google Scholar As this translation is not accompanied by any critical notes, or by the Arabic text itself, it must be treated with reserve. The treatise of ibn Ba'ra (Kashfal-asrar al-'ilmiya bi dār aญ-ญarb al-miṣriya, MS., Fihris dūr al-kutūb al-'arabiya, A.H. 1308, v, p. 390), which deals exhaustively with the Ayyūbid mint of Cairo, was written in the first quarter of the 13th century A.D. For a detailed analysis of its contents, together with extracts describing minting operations, see Ehrenkreutz, A. S., ‘ Extracts from the Technical Manual on the Ayyūbid Mint in Cairo’, BSOAS, 15, 1953, pp. 423–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar There are also two published Oriental books on administration, containing chapters entirely devoted to the problems of mints. Those in Ain i Akbari by Abvl Fazl Allami (tr. Blochmann, H., Calcutta,1873, vol. 1Google Scholar) deal with the 16th-century mint of Moghul India. Those in Tadhlcirāt al-mulūk,a manual of Safavid administration (c. 1137/1725), tr. Minorsky, V., London, 1943Google Scholar, examine the 18th-century mint of Ṣafāvid Persia. In addition to these major sources, scattered fragmentary information can be found in the works of various Oriental chroniclers, moralists, or authors dealing with administrative problems, such as Ibn Sa'Id, al-Ghazzālī, Ibn Mammāṭī, al-Qalqashandī, an-Nābulusī, or al-Maqrīzī, to which frequent reference is made in the present paper. Al-Maqrīzī's Treatise on Coins (Shudhūr al-'uqūd, ed. Mayer, L. A., Alexandria, 1933Google Scholar; French transl.by de Sacy, A. I. S., Traité des monnoies musulmanes, traduit de l'arabe de Makrizi, Paris, 1797Google Scholar), although essentially dedicated to Islamic coins, provides a good deal of useful information on the subject of mints. The task of collecting and systematizing these various scattered texts was attempted by Sauvaire, H. (‘ Matériaux pour servir à l'histoire de la numismatique et la métrologie musulmane ’, JA, 1897–1887)Google Scholar and by Anastase-Marie, Père (An-nuqud al-'arabiyah wa Him an-nummiyat ou Monnaies Arabes et Numismatique d'après les meieurs auteurs de langue arabe, Cairo, 1939)Google Scholar.

^{page 506 note 2} cf. for instance Mazerolle, F., L'hütel des monnaies, les batiments — le musée — lés ateliers, Paris, 1907Google Scholar; Cabrol, U., Histoire de l'atelier monétaire royal de Villefranche-de-Bouergue, Villefranche-de-Rouergue, 1913Google Scholar; or more recently, Craig, J., The Mint, a History of the London Mint from A.D. 287 to 1948, Cambridge, 1953Google Scholar; Lopez, R. S., ‘ An Aristocracy of Money in the Early Middle Ages’, Speculum, 28, 1953, pp. 1–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

^{page 506 note 3} For the importance of the studies on this subject, Sauvaget, J. cf., Introduction à l'histoire de l'orient musulman, Paris, 1946, p. 51.Google Scholar

^{page 507 note 1} Miles, G. C., Fātimid coins in the Collections of the University Museum Philadelphia, and the American Numismatic Society, New York, 1951, p. 50.Google Scholar

^{page 507 note 2} ibid.

^{page 507 note 3} ibid.

^{page 507 note 4} For all these dates see Miles, loc. cit. Although Ascalon was captured by the Crusaders in A.D. 1153 only, the last available coin from that mint dates from A.D. 1116.

^{page 507 note 5} The composition of this graph is based on the examination of the specific gravity of the following dinars:—

^{page 508 note 1} cf. Ibn Ba‘ra, op. cit., fo. 2 v.

^{page 508 note 2} al-Maqrizī, cf, Kitāb al-mawā‘iz wa-l-i‘tibār, Cairo, A.D. 1853, 1, 445Google Scholar; de Sacy (transl.), Extrait de la description historique. et topographique de l’Egypte par Makrizi, in Traité des monnoies musulmanes, pp. 76–77. For further references see Wiet, G., ‘ Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum ’, MIFA0, 52, pp. 183–184.Google Scholar

^{page 508 note 3} cf. Miles, op. cit., p. 50; also al-Qalqashandī, , Ṣubḥ al-a‘sẖā, Cairo, 1913, 3, 369.Google Scholar For the importance of Qūş see Fischel, W. J., Über die Gruppe der Karimi-Kaufleute, Rome, 1937, p. 74.Google Scholar

^{page 508 note 4} Last available coin dates from A.D. 1125, cf. Miles, op. cit., p. 51.

^{page 508 note 5} Mammati, Ibn cf, Kitāb qawānīn ad-dawāwīn, Cairo, 1943, p. 331.Google Scholar

^{page 508 note 6} cf. Histoire des patriarchs d'Alexandria in Blochet, E. (transl.), Histoire d'Egypte de Makrizi, Paris, 1908, p. 362, note 1.Google Scholar While one temporary minting centre was established in the citadel of Cairo, another one was set up in the old suburb of Misr, a fact confirmed by the existence of coins from that mint and corresponding date, cf. S. Lane-Poole, op. cit., iv, 104.

^{page 509 note 1} The ‘ Market of the produce-gatherers ’ ?

^{page 509 note 2} cf. G. Wiet, loc. cit.

^{page 509 note 3} cf. Ibn Ba‘ra, op. cit., fo. 1 v.

^{page 509 note 4} cf. al-Maqrīzī, Sẖudẖūr, pp. 11 and 12.

^{page 509 note 5} cf. Histoire des patriarches in Blochet, op. cit., p. 362, note 1.

^{page 509 note 6} cf. Ibn Mammātī, op. cit., pp. 332 and 333.

^{page 509 note 7} cf. Ibn Ba’ra, op. cit., fo. 4 v.

^{page 509 note 8} ibid., fo. 8 v.

^{page 509 note 9} An-Nabulusī, cf, Luma‘ al-qawānīn al-muḍiya fi dawāwīn ad-diyār al-miṣriya, MS., Landsberg 39 (Yale University Coll.), fo. 33 vGoogle Scholar; also, Cahen, C., ‘ Quelques aspects de l'administration égyptienne médiévale vus par un de ses fonctionnaires’, Bull. Fac. des Lettres de Strasbourg, 26, 1948, p. 113.Google Scholar

^{page 510 note 1} Sultan Baybars cut the rent from 250,000 dirhams (silver coins) to 200,000 dirhams, cf. Ibn ‘Abd-aẓ-Ẓāhir, Sīrat al-Malik aẓ-Ẓāḥir Baybars, MS., BM, Add. 23,331, fo. 20; also, al- Maqrīzī, , Kitāb as-sulūk, ed. Ziyāda, , Cairo, 1934–42, 1. 508.Google Scholar

^{page 510 note 2} cf. An-Nābulusī, loc. cit.; C. Cahen, loc. cit.

^{page 510 note 3} Some Egyptian rulers took a personal interest in the working of their mints. Ahmad ibn Ṭūlūn (A.D. 868–883), the founder of the first semi-independent Muslim dynasty of Egypt, is said to have improved the standard of fineness of his gold coinage (ad-Dāya, Ibn cf., Sīrat Aḥmad ibn Ṭūlūn in Fragmente aus dem Muġrib des Ibn Sa'īd, ed. Vollers, K., Berlin, 1894, pp. 33 and 34Google Scholar; al-Balawi, , Sirat Ahmad ibn Ṭūlūn, ed. ‘Alī, Muhammad Kurd, Damascus, A.H. 1358, p. 196Google Scholar; al-Maqrīzī, , Shudhūr, p. 10Google Scholar; de Sacy, , Traité, pp. 38––40Google Scholar). The founder of the Ikhshīdid dynasty, Muḥammad ibn Tugẖj (A.D. 935–946), personally fixed the standard of fineness of his coinage (Sa'īd, Ibn cf., Kitāb al-mughrib, p. 31Google Scholar; Kāshif, Ismāīil, Miṣr fi ‘aṣr al-Ikhshīdivīn. Cairo, 1950, p. 191Google Scholar). The Fāṭimid caliph al-Ḥākim (A.D. 996‱1021) undertook a large scale reform of the monetary issues (al-Maqrīzī, cf., Shudhūr, pp. 11–12Google Scholar). Another Fāṭimid caliph al-Āmir (A.D. 1101–1130) ordered an investigation of the operations of his mint and set up a new standard of fineness for his dinars (cf. Ibn Ba'ra, op. cit., fo. 2 v). Among the Ayyūbids, Saladin was responsible for the transfer of the Cairo mint to a new place (see, above, p. 509); he also undertook some measures aiming at the improvement of the standard of his coinage (al-Maqrāzā, cf., Shudhūr. p. 12Google Scholar; idem, Kitāb as-sulūk, 1, 99). The interest of al-Kāmīl (A.D. 1218–1238) in the operations of the Cairo mint, had the effect of producing dinars of a standard which was superior to the standard of the issues of other contemporary states (cf. Ibn Ba'ra, op. cit., fo. 2 v). The standard of 12 Cairo dinars of al-Kāmil, which I had the opportunity to examine in the British Museum, ranged from 22‱77 carats (No. 403, vol. iv, p. 110 of S. Lane-Poole's Catalogue) to 23‱72 carats (No. 383, ibid., iv, 106). In the Mamlūk period, mints were farmed out, but decisīons concerning monetary issues continued to be made by the sultan (al-Maqrīzī, cf., Shudhūr. p. 12Google Scholar).

^{page 510 note 4} cf. idem, Kitāb al-mawā'iẓ, i, 404. Similar duties were fulfilled in the first half of the 11th century A.D. by a qāḍī in Baghdād, Mez, A. cf., Renaissance des Islams, Heidelberg, 1922, p. 213Google Scholar; Bergsträsser, G. (review), ‘ The governors and judges of Egypt …’, ZDMG, 68, 1914, p. 407Google Scholar; Levy, R., An Introduction to the Sociology of Islam, London, 1931–33, 2, 236.Google Scholar

^{page 511 note 1} Al-Kindi, cf, Kitāb al-wulāh wa kitāb al-quḍāh, ed. Guest, R., London, 1912, pp. 562, 575, 589, 597Google Scholar; al-Qalqasẖandi, op. cit., x, 384, 385, 388, 466.

^{page 511 note 2} cf. Ibn Mammāti, op. cit., p. 332; Demombynes, M. Gaudefroy, La Syrie, Paris, 1923, p. 77Google Scholar; al-Maqrīzī, , Kitāxb al-mawā‘iẓ, i, 110.Google Scholar

^{page 511 note 3} cf. ibid., i, 450; de Sacy, (transl.), Extrait de la description de l'Egypte, p. 80.Google Scholar

^{page 511 note 4} Al-Maqrīzī, cf, Kitāb al-mawā‘iẓ, 1, 450.Google Scholar Ibn Ḵẖaldūn also mentions the curtailment of the initially exclusive authority of the judicial authorities, de Slane, M. cf(transl.), Les prolégomènes d'Ibn Khaldoun, Paris, 1863–1868, 1, 460.Google Scholar

^{page 511 note 5} For a description of the office of musẖārif under the Fāṭimids, see R. Levy, op. cit., ii, 244.

^{page 511 note 6} ibid., ii, 235.

^{page 511 note 7} Al-Maqrīzī, cf, Kitāb al-mawā‘iẓ, 1, 450.Google Scholar

^{page 511 note 8} cf. Ibn Mammāti, op. cit., p. 333.

^{page 511 note 9} cf. An-Nābulusī, op. cit., fo. 19 r; Cahen, op. cit., pp. 102 and 103.

^{page 511 note 10} cf. Ibn Ba‘ra, op. cit., fo. 8 v.

^{page 511 note 11} ibid., fo. 9 r. The officers in question were al-'udūl, for their status and functions, see Dozy, R., Supplément mix dictionnaires arabes, Leyden, 1881, 2, 103.Google Scholar

^{page 511 note 12} cf. Ibn Mammātī, op. cit., p. 332.

^{page 512 note 1} cf. An-Nābulusī, op. cit., fo. 24 v; Cahen, op. cit., p. 105.

^{page 512 note 2} cf. An-Nābulusī, op. cit., fo. 33 v; Cahen, op. cit., p. 113.

^{page 512 note 3} cf. Ibn Ba‘ra, op. cit., fo. 1 v.

^{page 512 note 4} cf. An-Nābulusī, op. cit., fo. 33 v; Cahen, op. cit., p. 113. For the use of terms mutawalli and ṣāḥib in medieval Egyptian administration, see Gaudefroy Demombynes, op. cit., p. lxxii, note 1.

^{page 512 note 5} See p. 511.

^{page 512 note 6} cf. Ibn Ba‘ra, op. cit., fo. 8 v.

^{page 512 note 7} This custom was practised in early Islam, Baladhurī, cf., Futūḥ al-buldān, Cairo, 1932, p. 454.Google Scholar

^{page 512 note 8} cf. Ibn Ba‘ra, op. cit., fo. 8 v.

^{page 512 note 9} cf. ibid., fo. 8 v/9 v.

^{page 512 note 10} cf. ibid., fo. 9 v.

^{page 512 note 11} cf. ibid., fo. 4 v; 7 v; 8 r; 9 r; 9 v; also, an-Nābulusī, op. cit., fo. 24 r; Cahen, op. cit., p. 114.

^{page 512 note 12} cf. Ibn Ba‘ra, op. cit., fo. 9 v.

^{page 513 note 1} cf. Ibn Mammātī, op. cit., p. 332. The revenue from the mint of the very active commercial centre of Aleppo, amounted to 100,000 dirhams during the domination of Saladin over that city (A.D. 1183–1193); E. Blochet, cf., ‘ L’histoire d’Alep de Kamal-ad-Din’, Revue de l’Orient Latin, 6, 1898, p. 38Google Scholar. Applying the exchange rate of 1 Egyptian dinar against 9 Syrian dirhams, as reported by Abū Shāma (Cahen, C. cf., La Syrie du nord à l’époque des Croisades, Paris, 1940, p. 470, note 16Google Scholar), the revenue of the Aleppo mint would equal 11.111 Egyptian dinars.

^{page 513 note 2} cf. Ibn Mammātī, loc. cit.

^{page 513 note 3} cf. Ibn Ba‘ra, op. cit., fo. 4 v.

^{page 513 note 4} cf. An-Nābulusī, op. cit., fo. 33 v.

^{page 513 note 5} cf. ibid., loc. cit.

^{page 513 note 6} This is implied in the financial settlement between sultan Baybars and the farmers of the mint (see above, p. 510). The conversion of the sum of dirhams into dinars is based on the exchange rate 1 dinar against 13 1/3 dirhams, which was valid during the period of the Ayyūbids (cf. H. Sauvaire, loc. cit.).

^{page 513 note 7} cf. Minost, E., ‘ Au sujet du traité des monnaies musulmanes de Makrizi’, Bull. de l’Inst. d’Egypte, 19, 1936/1937, p. 58.Google Scholar

^{page 513 note 8} Ibn Mammātī, op. cit., p. 332, refutes the criticism concerning the raising of this levy by the state, which was expressed by public opinion.

^{page 513 note 9} cf. Ibn Ba‘ra, op. cit., fo. 4 v; Ibn Mammātī, op. cit., p. 333.

^{page 514 note 1} ibid., loc. cit.

^{page 514 note 1} cf. supra.

^{page 514 note 1} cf. Ehrenkreutz, loc. cit., p. 443 ff.

^{page 514 note 1} Al-Maqrīzī, cf., Kitāb al-mawā‘iẓ, 1, 110Google Scholar; an-Nābulusī, op. cit., fo. 33 v.

^{page 514 note 1} Even al-Maqrīzī admits it, when he says that the reduced revenue from the mint resulted from the scarcity of wealth (cf. Kitāb al-mawā‘iẓ, loc. cit.).

^{page 514 note 1} Heyd, W. cf., Histoire du Commerce du Levant, Leipzig, 1923, 1, 393 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 514 note 1} Gennep, A. R. van cf., ‘ Le ducat vénitien en Egypte; son influence sur le monnayage de l’or dans ce pays au commencement du xv-e siècle ’, RN, 1897.Google Scholar