Letter: NLI 577.8/14

Description

Letter from a certain Yūnus, en route from Damascus to Cairo, to the amīr Sinbāy, in Cairo (Ṣalība street). In Arabic script. Dating: Mamluk-era. The letter opens with greetings to Burhān, Qāḍī Shams al-Dīn, al-Ḥājj Badr, the people of the Ṭashtkhāna (طشتخانة, apparently the place where the royal textiles were kept, washed, and prepared), the Mahtār al-Khayl (also a Mamluk title, taken from a Persian word, meaning something like groom/keeper of the horses), al-muʿallim Muḥammad, al-Ḥājj ʿAlī, Muḥammad al-ʿIfrīt, Badr al-Dīn al-Mukārī, and the people (=women?) of the house. The sender's party has been delayed due to weight of consignments it was carrying (qufalā) and not on the account of mules and the 'house,' but they hope to arrive soon. The amir ʿAlī Bey greets the addressee. Burhān is asked to get the house ready, for the women are going to arrive soon. The sender conveyed a memorandum/document (mutālaʿa) with orders for Abū Bakr al-Maghribī but Abū Bakr disobeyed him. Also, no one extended hospitality to him in Damascus, even though he conveyed the muṭālaʿāt for Muḥammad (the addressee's brother-in-law?). "He did not attend to me or even break a loaf of bread in my face." ASE, YU.