Mamluk Champion on foot

The leaders of the Islamic world surrounded themselves with a bodyguard of mamluks - Turkic ghulams who they had purchased, trained for military life, educated in Islam and then freed. Owing everything to their master, a mamluk's loyalty was as sure as his skill in battle. In 1250 Egypt's mamluk generals overthrew their Ayyubid masters, and came to dominate Syria.