Abbasid shadow caliphate

The Abbasid shadow caliphate was the line of Abbasid caliphs maintained in Cairo by the Mamluk Sultanate from 1261 to 1517, after the Mongol destruction of Baghdad. These caliphs held religious prestige and lent legitimacy to Mamluk sultans but had no real political power. It ended with the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, and it represents the final, largely symbolic phase of the Abbasid Caliphate.