Sitt al-Mulk: juggling troops, traps and throne at the Fāṭimid Court

Cortese, Delia ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5507-9332 (2012) Sitt al-Mulk: juggling troops, traps and throne at the Fāṭimid Court. In: Guerre et Paix dans le Proche-Orient Médiéval, 15-18 Dec 2011, Cairo, Egypt. . [Conference or Workshop Item]

Abstract

In this paper I will contextually analyse the multiple levels of engagement that occurred between the princess Sitt al-Mulk and the army with a view to raise questions regarding the nature of authority that might have enabled Sitt al-Mulk to establish herself as a credible female leader in a men’s world, ‘a patron of men’. In attempting to answer these questions I will examine Sitt al-Mulk’s influence over members of the military apparatus in light of the reciprocal adherence to formal and informal rules of loyalty and obligation that prevailed in pre-modern Islamic courts, determined by the need to shape dynastic politics to mutual advantage.

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