Editing Abbasid Caliphate (section)

==== Abbasid caliphs in Cairo (1261–1517) ====
{{Main |Mamluk Sultanate}}
Prior to the Mongol invasion, the later Ayyubid sultans of Egypt had built up an army recruited from slaves, the [[Mamluks]]. During a political and military crisis in 1250, the Mamluks seized power and established what is now known as the Mamluk Sultanate.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|pp=258–259, 270}} Following the devastation of Baghdad in 1258 and in an effort to secure political legitimacy for the new regime in Egypt, the Mamluk ruler [[Baybars]] invited a surviving member of the Abbasid family to establish himself in Cairo in 1260–1261. The new caliph was [[al-Mustansir II]], a brother of the former caliph al-Mustansir.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Bosworth |first=Clifford Edmund |author-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=maQxEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 |title=The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=1996 |isbn=9780748696482 |location= |pages=6–10 |language=en |chapter=The 'Abbasid Caliphs}}</ref>{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=270}} In 1262, he disappeared while leading a small army in an attempt to recapture Baghdad from the Mongols. Baybars subsequently replaced him with [[al-Hakim I]], another Abbasid family member who had just been proclaimed in [[Aleppo]].<ref name=":5" />{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=271}} 

Thereafter, the Abbasid caliphs in Cairo continued to exist as a strictly ceremonial but nonetheless important institution within the Mamluk Sultanate, conferring significant prestige on the Mamluks.<ref name=":5" />{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=272}} It continued to be relevant even to other Muslim rulers until the 14th century; for example, the [[Delhi Sultanate|sultans of Delhi]], the [[Muzaffarids (Iran)|Muzaffarid]] sultan [[Mubariz al-Din Muhammad|Muhammad]], the [[Jalayirid Sultanate|Jalayirid]] sultan [[Ahmad Jalayir|Ahmad]], and the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] sultan [[Bayezid I]] all sought diplomas of investiture from the caliph or declared nominal allegiance to him.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=|pp=273–275}} Caliph [[Al-Musta'in (Mamluk Sultanate)|al-Musta'in]] even managed to reign as sultan in Cairo for a brief six months in 1412.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=275}}

During the 15th century, however, the institution of the caliph declined in significance.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=275}} The last Abbasid caliph in Cairo was [[al-Mutawakkil III]], who was in place when the Ottoman sultan Selim II [[Battle of Marj Dabiq|defeated the Mamluks]] in 1516 and [[Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517)|conquered Egypt]] in 1517, ending the Mamluk Sultanate. Selim II met with al-Mutawakkil III in Aleppo in 1516, prior to marching into Egypt, and the caliph was then sent to the Ottoman capital of [[Constantinople]] (present-day [[Istanbul]]), ending the Abbasid caliphate definitively.<ref name=":5" />{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=|pp=275–276}} The idea of a "caliphate" subsequently became an ambiguous concept that was occasionally revisited by later Muslim rulers and intellectuals for political or religious reasons.{{Sfn|El-Hibri|2021|p=276}} The Ottoman sultans, who were thenceforth the most powerful Muslim rulers in western Asia and the Mediterranean, did not use the title of "caliph" at all before the mid-16th century and only did so vaguely and inconsistently afterwards.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book |last=Karateke |first=Hakan |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JoZSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |title=Legitimizing the Order: The Ottoman Rhetoric of State Power |publisher=Brill |year=2005 |isbn=978-90-474-0764-5 |editor-last=Hakan |editor-first=Maurus |pages=25–26 |language=en |chapter=Legitimizing the Ottoman Sultanate: A Framework for Historical Analysis |editor-last2=Reinkowski |editor-first2=Maurus}}</ref> The claim that al-Mutawakkil III "transferred" the office of the caliph to the Ottoman sultan during their meeting in Aleppo is a legend that was elaborated in the 19th century and is not corroborated by contemporary accounts.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />