Kurdish Axe-bearers in the Mamluk period

According to Al-Umari, a Mamluk historian from the 14th century, the axe-bearers that surrounded ibn Qalawun were Kurds. During public occasions, the Bahri dynasty's axe-bearers would march in front of sultans. Until the end of the Mamluk sultanate, the overwhelming number of the axe-bearers was composed of Kurds as far as we know. They also had Circassians and Turco-mongols during the Burji dynasty. The axe-bearers most likely served the same purpose as the Varangian guard of Byzantium and were displayed during public occasions: 

The following are the outward signs of sovereignty in this realm. When the Sultan formally enters any city he pays a visit to, or on the Feast Day, or on the days when he processes to the Hippodrome to play polo, he rides with the housing, which has gold brocade on yellow satin and is draped over the horse's back from below his ears to his rump. Before him ride two of the corps of pages (al-ūshāqiya), mounted on two gray stallions with housings similar to the one the Sultan rides with, just as though they are ready for him to ride. The pages wear yellow surcoats, made of silk with decorative bands of gold brocade, and on their heads they have brocaded skull-caps. The saddle covering is borne before him, which is made of leather embroidered with gold, and is carried before him by a groom on foot in the centre of the procession. A rider precedes the Sultan playing on a hautboy, not with the intention of giving pleasure by its music, but rather to strike whoever hears it with awe. Behind him come the reserve mounts (janā'ib), while over his head are the royal banners, yellow and embroidered in gold with his name and titles.

On the two feast days and when entering the city, in addition to the above, the parasol is raised over his head. Known as the jitr, this is of brocaded yellow satin, and on the top it has a cupola and bird of silver overlaid with gold. On those occasions one of the senior emirs of a hundred carries it, riding on horseback beside the Sultan. All the office holders and the arms-bearers come behind and to either side of him, and before him walk the Axe-bearers, a contingent of Kurds who hold iqtā's and the rank of emir, bearing their naked axes in their hands.