Muḥammad al-Nāṣirī, called Ibn Manglī, was a Mamlūk military writer who served as an officer of the guard under Sultan al-Ashraf Shaʿbān (). He wrote some 15 military works and a book on hunting in Arabic.
Life.
Ibn Manglī's date and place of birth are unknown. François Viré deduces, partially on the basis of his arabised name, that he was born in Cairo between 1300 and 1306. Ibn Manglī records that his father fought in the , the land of Özbeg Khan. This has led some authors to conclude that his father was born in Central Asia. The name "Ibn Manglī" is of Turkic origin, perhaps derived from "Möngli", and it has been supposed that his father was a Kipchak. It has also been argued, on the basis of his treatment of Turks in his writings, that it is unlikely he was a Turk.
Ibn Manglī's father was a member of the Baḥriyya corps during one of the three reigns of Sultan al-Nāṣir Nāṣir al-Dīn Muḥammad (1293–1341). The name "al-Nāṣirī" refers to this affiliation. According to Nikolaj Serikoff, Ibn Manglī's grandfather was also a high-ranking military officer. Given his background, Ibn Manglī belonged to the Mamlūk class of (sons of rank).
Ibn Manglī served in the Baḥriyya, attaining the rank of . Under al-Ashraf Shaʿbān (), he served as (officer of the ) in Alexandria. He never married. The date of his death is unknown, although some sources place it in 784 AH (1382–1383 AD).
Works.
Treatise on hunting.
Ibn Manglī's only non-military work is a treatise on hunting, ("the sociable contact of the élite people with the wild beast of the open desert"), completed in 1371–1372 (773 AH). It is known from a single manuscript, now Arabe 2832 in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, and from an edition with French translation by published at Paris in 1880 under the title . Pharaon's edition is based on an unidentified but very defective manuscript. In 1984, François Viré put out a new French translation made directly from Arabe 2832.
 began as an abridgement of the , an encyclopaedia of falconry written by al-Asadī in 1240. To this Ibn Manglī added information from al-Damīrī, al-Jāḥiẓ, Ibn Qutayba, Ibn Waḥshiyya, Ibn Zuhr and al-Rāzī, and information drawn from his own experience as a hunter. His language is . Besides information about hunting practices, includes information about prey animals, horses, riding and weaponry.
Military treatises.
Ibn Manglī wrote about 15 works on military matters, including tactics and organization. Most of these survive only as citations in the works of others. One that survives complete is the ("royal arrangements: regulations in the art of war"), a treatise on the art of war for commanders written between 1367 and 1377. It survives in seven manuscripts. It stands out for its coverage of (chivalry), horsemanship, weaponry and drill. It is highly critical of the contemporary Mamlūk army, which Ibn Manglī considered had declined in discipline and training. In the debate on the decline of Mamlūk military prowess, Mehdi Berriah considers strong evidence in favour of an early decline.
Ibn Manglī was , including writing an entire book on the subject, . In another work, , there is a chapter devoted to naval warfare. This chapter is based on the chapter of the of Emperor Leo the Wise. Both this chapter and the include translated excerpts from the , which Ibn Manglī calls . There is some debate over whether Ibn Manglī knew Greek and translated the text himself or whether he had access to an existing Arabic translation or an Arabic epitome. In the , Ibn Manglī says there was one physician per warship, while in the he says that each ship should have two physicians. All the excerpts from the have been translated into English.
The , a translated Byzantine military manual, has been attributed to Ibn Manglī. Nonetheless, the manual has been updated with specifically Mamlūk material. It refers to naphtha and the production of incendiary devices in dedicated workshops (), one of which was located in Tyre.