Henry Thomas Alken Snr. 1785-1851

The Mamaluke warriors were dominant in Egypt and influential in the Middle East for over 700 years. Originally Islamic rulers created this warrior class by collecting non-Muslim slave boys. They then trained them as cavalry soldiers mounted on the finest Arabian horses. They gradually rose in power from the 12th to the 18th centuries as an independent group eventually ruling over Egypt and Syria.  Alken drew this subject after the Mamelukes suffered defeat from the Turks in 1811.