The Mamluk Period (Mamluk Sultanate), in Egypt and the Levant, covers a period from about 1250 to 1517. While there is extensive literature on this period’s architecture and decorative arts, far less is known about Mamluk-era clothing. Some information can be found in chronicler accounts such as those of al-Maqrizi, Ibn Taghribirdi, and others, but without much detail, particularly concerning women who never appeared in public without a full veil (in urban areas particularly). More challenging is the fact that very few visual references remain of the Mamluk era compared to other periods of Egyptian history. The illustrations of Maqamat al-Hariri, although Iraqi in origin, are consistent with descriptions of Egyptian dress of the time and offer us many clues. European travellers, such as Arnold von Harff, a German pilgrim who visited Egypt at the end of the 15th century, also give us further glimpses into how Egyptians dressed.

A few examples of garments and textiles from this period can be found in various museum collections, including the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo and the British Museum in London. In general, however, textiles and garments that have survived from this period are scarce. Most of these are of costly material, with even fewer complete extant examples of ‘daily life’ garments. Nevertheless, it is still possible to gain some impression of the range of clothes worn by men, women, and children based on these examples together with contemporaneous written and visual descriptions.

The main garments worn during the Mamluk period include items such as the sirwal (trousers), qamis (chemise), thob (gown), headwear, footwear, and accessories such as shawls and scarves, as well as outdoor clothing (coats and cloaks). These garments can be divided into those worn by both men and women (with some variations in size, cut, and choice of cloth) and those which are gender specific (notably headwear, large body wraps, and face coverings).

Garments for both men and women

Sirwal – During the Mamluk period, most people (but not all) wore under-trousers of some kind. The two main forms appear to be those that reached to the knee and are associated with farmers and poor people, and the full-length forms that went to the ankles and were worn by merchants, scholars, and officials.

Qamis – An undergarment worn by both men and women, the qamis or chemise was was simply a long, relatively narrow gown with sleeves. It was often made of a length of fabric folded in half at the shoulders with a rounded neck opening with a short slit down the front. The sleeves could be either short or long.

Thob – Another garment worn indoors and common to men, women, and children was the thob or gown, a possible descendent of the ancient tunic or chiton and ancestor of the modern galabiyya. Variations are known to have existed, both in the way these garments were constructed and their length, but these differences are relatively minor. The basic construction of a thob is simple. There is normally a narrow central rectangle twice the length of the person. It was folded in half, and a hole was cut for the head and neck. Two narrow side panels were then sewn to either side. Attached to these were the sleeves and underarm gussets, which gave the arms greater freedom of movement. The sleeves were normally long, and sometimes these garments were made of different pieces of material, indicating how valuable cloth was.

Male-specific garments

The specifically male garments worn by most men during the Mamluk Period include a `araqqa (skull cap; from the Arabic word `araq or ‘to sweat’) and a `imama (turban). In addition, when outside or in the winter months, a qiba’a (coat) was often worn.

Caps and turbans – There are many different types of caps, including plain, embroidered, quilted, patchwork, as well as knitted and felt forms. These were one of the most decorative and indeed basic elements of a man’s wardrobe. To be seen in public without a cap was regarded as improper. Turbans were also commonly worn by men (and very occasionally by women). The wearing of turbans was of considerable importance, even to the extent of one man spending two dinars on his robes, while ‘wasting’ four dinars on a turban.

During the Mamluk period, caps normally took the form of a close‑fitting head covering made of linen or cotton, which was used to absorb sweat and to protect the more expensive turban from being stained. In a manuscript copy of Maqamat al-Hariri (1334), currently in the National Bibliothek, Vienna, there is a miniature depicting Abu Zayd Abu Zayd (an elderly beggar who travels throughout the medieval Islamic Middle East) giving a lecture. Several of the boys are wearing caps. One, for instance, is made up of at least six triangles of alternating plain and patterned cloth (plus headband). Other boys are wearing oval forms made out of one type of cloth.

In addition to linen and cotton caps, some men wore felt ones. An example of such a garment was found at Quseir al-Qadim. It was made out of a single piece of felt and is probably an example of a so-called qalansuwa, which was worn by men of middle and lower ranks during the Mamluk period. It has a slightly lighter area running all the way around it. This probably represents the area where a length of cloth or a more elaborate turban was originally wrapped around it (the cloth having protected this area of the cap from dirt and dust, hence the lighter colour).

Conical caps with turbans are also known to have been worn throughout the Mamluk world, and there are numerous examples in Arabic book illustrations from the period. For instance, in another of the  Maqamat manuscripts, this one at the British Museum Library, a man is depicted wearing a pointed cap bound with a large turban.

Female-specific garments

Women’s wardrobes included a basic range of garments consisting of sirwal, qamis, thob—sometimes belted—and a hair veil and scarf of some sort (such as the bukhnuq), which was often kept in place with a `isaba (headband). When outdoors or in public places, an izar (outer wrap), a face veil, and a khuff (boots—as opposed to sandals) were worn. Women had access to a wide range of fabric types, and the wealthier a woman was, the more extensive and varied her wardrobe and the richer the fabrics.

Hair veils – Many women wore a head and hair veil made from a dark blue muslin‑like material—usually wool—with bands of brocade patterns in undyed, red or light blue cotton. Examples of this type of cloth have been found at excavations as far apart as Fustat in the north, Quseir al-Qadim on the Red Sea Coast, and the Lower Nubian site of Qasr Ibrim on Lake Nasser. It would seem likely that such cloths were tightly wrapped around the head and the hair. Another type of hair veil worn at this time was made using a non-weaving textile technique called sprang, which had been popular in Egypt since the Graeco-Roman period.

Illustrations from the period depict Mamluk women with their hair either dressed so that it fell smoothly around the face and shoulders, or in long braids and with some form of covering, usually a scarf of some kind. A popular style of women’s head covering was the bukhnuq, which was a scarf wrapped around the head and then kept in place with a `isaba. There is a relevant illustration in a version of the Maqamat, which depicts two women by a grave. The women appear to be wearing black headscarves tightly wound around their head and pulled well down over their foreheads.

Face veils – This was a separate garment that covered part or all of the face and did not form part of the outer wrap or hair veil. A number of complete and near complete face veils, as well as some fragments, have been excavated in the medieval levels of Quseir al-Qadim and Qasr Ibrim. One complete example from Quseir al-Qadim is of the classic, burqa type with a forehead band and a separate veil that is attached to the band at the temples and the nose.

Another, nearly complete veil from Quseir al-Qadim is made out of a coarse piece of blue and white checked cloth. It is larger than the veil described above and was cut from one piece of cloth rather than assembled from two halves. The eye slits were simply cut into the material and the nose bridge was bound with thread. It is a classic niqab style of face veil.

Another niqab-style face veil has been found at the Nubian site of Qasr Ibrim. This one, however, was made of red silk and may have been much shorter. There are also traces of leather thongs, perhaps for carrying amulets, coins or beads.

Both the burqa and niqab-style veils noted above can be seen in various sources from the period. For example, in the 13th-century manuscript of the Da`wat al-Atibba by Ibn Butlan, a woman is shown wearing a white izar (outer warp), short black gown, black boots, and a close-fitting white face veil. A horizontal, dark-coloured band is shown just below the eyes, with a similar dark band practically hidden by the hair above the eyes. This band has been pulled into a V-shape at the nose by a thin cord, which fastens the two pieces of the veil together.

Izar – A number of large fragments of cloth with a blue and white checked pattern were recorded among the textiles from medieval sites such as Quseir al‑Qadim and Qasr Ibrim. At first glance, these fragments had remarkably few seams or evidence of use. Many of these pieces were probably originally from a type of outer wrap or izar, a large rectangle that was draped over the head and shoulders and worn by Mamluk-period women when outdoors.

The appearance of the cloth fragments found at these two sites is remarkably similar to those illustrated in Edward Lane's famous work Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, written in 1836. This ‘modern’ izar (by then known as a milaya) was in blue and white with a main design of checks and a border pattern of stripes. It is likely that the garments depicted by Lane are the direct descendants of those garments worn by women during the Mamluk period.

Another type of material that may have been used for the izar, is block printed cloth from India, examples of which were found from Fustat to Qasr Ibrim and Quseir al-Qadim. There are a number of contemporary Mamluk illustrations that depict women wearing izar with large-scale patterns in blue and white or red and white, for example. There is also written evidence that suggests some women in Egypt wore wraps made out of Indian cotton or textiles decorated in the Indian manner. For example, 19th-century historian Reinhart Dozy quotes Italian traveller Mantegazza, who in 1600 wrote that the women of Cairo, ‘... cover themselves entirely with a wrapper of very fine cotton, a fabric which the people call bafta and which is brought from India; they are covered entirely, from the head to the feet’.

All this indicates that the daily clothing of many people in Mamluk Egypt was colourful and varied. Because of the high cost of purchasing cloth for garments, the longevity of each piece was an important element, and many of the garments found at Fustat, Quseir al-Qadim, and Qasr Ibrim had been mended and re‑mended until they could no longer be worn or used!

This article was first published in print in RAWI's ISSUE 11, 2021