一四世紀末-一五世紀初頭カイロの食糧暴動

抄録

In the history of Mamluk Egypt, the period between the late fourteenth and the early fifteenth centuries has been considered to be a critical turning point in terms of the Mamluk ruling system. From a social point of view, it was also an important period when popular movements entered into a new phase with frequent occurrences of food riots in Cairo. The food riot of this period was an explosion of people's dissatisfaction with recurring sharp rises in food prices and shortages of food supply. These were caused by political and economic factors such as speculative grain dealings. The ruling Mamluk elites were troubled with economic crises mainly due to population decline resulting from the repeating prevalences of pestilence from the mid-fourteenth century. Wealthy merchants, in turn, suffered from severe exploitation of the Mamluks. Both the Mamluks and the merchants tended to have recourse to grain dealings for economic gain. The food riot of the Cairene population in this period is characterised by its anonymity, in that the leaders' names are not recorded. In addition, we can observe some regularity in its outlook. The fact that the participants held up the Qur'an in their hands when demonstrating in the streets indicates the role of Islam as a cohesive element among the masses. On one hand, faced with such popular appeals and violence, the Mamluk sultans did not resort to power in order to suppress them, but rather tried to check the expansion of popular movements by soothing the people's frustration with large scale food rationing and charitable donations. On the other hand, the sultans themselves, as well as the high ranking amirs, were the ones who enjoyed the benefits from the raising of grain prices and enforcing them on the people.