Before 825 AH, 08/04
This al-ʾAshraf [i.e. al-Malik al-ʾAshraf Barsbāy] is the 32nd sultan from the Turkish rulers and their sons in the Egyptian lands, and the 8th from the Circassians and their sons. The origin of this al-Malik al-ʾAshraf was Circassian (jarkasī al-jins). He was imported to the country, and bought by al-ʾamīr Duqmāq al-Muḥammadī al-Ẓāhirī, governor of Malatya. He stayed with him for a period. Then he sent him to al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Barqūq with a number of other mamluks. The reason he was sent away was that al-ʾamīr Tanbak al-Yaḥyāwī, al-ʾamīr al-ʾākhūr al-kabīr, learned that al-ʾamīr Duqmāq bought his brother from one of the merchants. His brother was named Ṭaybars. So al-ʾamīr Tanbak went to al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Barqūq and demanded from him that he send for his brother to be summoned from Duqmāq. So the sultan ordered this. He wrote an order to Duqmāq for him to send the aforementioned Ṭaybars. Before the envoy left for Duqmāq, al-ʾamīr ʿAlī Bāy al-Ẓāhirī, the khāzindār, the source of the incident [with Barqūq], also went to the sultan. He mentioned to him that his sister was also with al-ʾamīr Duqmāq. So the sultan wrote for her to be sent too. The barīdī went from Egypt to Duqmāq for that, and Duqmāq submitted to the order. He wanted to send the aforementioned Ṭaybars. His dawādār said to him “what do you want to do?” He said, “I’ll send the mamlūk my ʾustādh requested.” His dawādār said to him, “it is not possible for you to send him alone. Prepare with him a number of mamlūks and a tremendous gift, and send them together with the one who was requested.” Duqmāq was pleased with that. He prepared around 18 mamlūks, together with Ṭaybars. Among their group was this Barsbāy and Timrāz al-Qurmishī, ʾamīr silāḥ, and other things, like furs, cloth, horses and camels. Then Duqmāq apologized for not sending the slave girl who was pregnant by him. She was al-Sitt ʾArdbāy, ʾumm walad of Duqmāq, and wife of al-ʾamīr Timrāz al-Qurmishī, ʾamīr silāḥ in the regime of al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Jaqmaq, who died in 853. She also died after him during the plague. The barīdī left with the mamlūks and gift from Malatya for Egypt. He arrived there after the death of the aforementioned al-ʾamīr Tanbak al-Yaḥyāwī. Al-ʾamīr Nawrūz al-Ḥāfiẓī had been appointed to replace him as ʾamīr ʾākhūr. Al-Malik al-Ẓāhir accepted the gift. The mamlūks were divided among the barracks. This Barsbāy was put into the ṭabaqat al-Zimāmīya, as ʾinī to al-ʾamīr Jarkas al-Qāsimī al-Muṣāriʿ. Timrāz al-Qurmishī was ʾinī to Yalbughā al-Nāṣirī. Barsbāy continued in the barracks for a short time. The sultan freed him and brought out a horse for him with a large number of royal mamlūks.

The reason for our relating this story is that the late qāḍī al-quḍāt Shihāb al-Dīn b. Ḥajar referred to him as a slave of Duqmāq. The matter is not what he related, being justified in what he related due to his distance from knowledge of the Turkish language and interest in the Turks. He became well-known also al-Duqmāqī, so he assumed that he was freed by Duqmāq. He did not know that his nisba “al-Duqmāqī” was just like the nisba of my late father, “al-Bashbughāwī,” al-Malik al-Muʾayyad Shaykh as “al-Maḥmūdī,” Nawrūz as “al-Ḥāfiẓī, Jakam, governor of Aleppo, as “al-ʿIwaḍī, Damurdāsh as “al-Muḥammadī,” and others.
I came upon this writing during his life in his handwriting. I did not know that the handwriting was his. He had written in different ways. I wrote on the margin of the book. I explained his mistake, assuming that the handwriting was that of Ibn Qāḍī Shuhba. The book circulated until it fell into the hands of qāḍī al-quḍāt Ibn Ḥajar. He saw my handwriting. He recognized it and confessed that he was wrong about that. Our ṣāḥib al-ḥāfiẓ Quṭb al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Khayḍarī was present and he mentioned to me what happened. I rode at once with him. We headed for al-Sayfī Ṭūghān al-Duqmāqī, who was one of the great mamlūks of Duqmāq. I asked him about al-Malik al-ʾAshraf. He answered saying, “he was freed by al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Barqūq. Our ʾustādh sent him to him.” Then he told what I told about the reason for his being sent. Then we returned and I sent also for the rest of the group of the mamluks of Duqmāq because most of them had served my father after the death of Duqmāq, and they all said the same as Ṭūghān al-Duqmāqī. The aforementioned Quṭb al-Dīn left and informed him [Ibn Ḥajar] all of this, and he was extremely equitable and corrected what he had done. Then I conferred with the aforementioned qāḍī al-quḍāt afterwards, and I informed him that Duqmāq sent him at the beginning of his term.

Barsbāy became a sāqī in the regime of al-Malik al-Manṣūr ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. A few of the ʾaʿyān of the regime demanded the possessions of Duqmāq in Egypt. Then Barsbāy rebelled against al-Nāṣir with al-ʾamīr ʾĪnāl Bāy b. Qajmās in Syria. He remained among the ʾaʿyān. All of that was while Duqmāq was alive, after the year 808. When Duqmāq arrived in Egypt he stayed with this Barsbāy. Barsbāy addressed him sometimes as “khawand” and sometimes as “ʾaghā.” Then I informed him [i.e. Ibn Ḥajar] that the son of Duqmāq, al-Nāṣirī Muḥammad, was one of my ʾaṣḥāb, and that his mother was al-Sitt ʾArdabāy, wife of al-ʾamīr Timrāz al-Qurmishī, ʾamīr silāḥ.

I said in any case this error is closer to the truth than the writing of al-Maqrīzī about al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Ṭaṭar, that al-Malik al-Nāṣir Faraj freed him after the year ‘08 in his second sultanate, and also better than what al-Maqrīzī said on the matter of this al-Malik al-ʾAshraf after his death in his history, al-Sulūk, in the events of the year 841. I considered that the silence about the account of what he said was more proper and omission better than what he described, and his use of ugly, disgraceful language which is in fact shameful in its account.
It is finished, and we have departed from the purpose, and so let us return to what we started with, on the account of al-Malik al-ʾAshraf.