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 Invasion o Eavot in A,P, 1249 (A,H, 647 
 
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THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
THE 
 
 INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 IN AD. !249 (A.H. 647) 
 
 BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE 
 
 (ST. LOUIS) 
 
 AND 
 
 A HISTORY OF 
 THE CONTEMPORARY SULTANS OF EGYPT 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. E. J. DAVIS, M.A. 
 
 CHAPLAIN OF ST. MAEK'S CHURCH, ALEXANDRIA 
 
 LONDON 
 
 Sampson Low, Marston and Company 
 
 LIMITED 
 
r\ > 
 
 \^<\^^il 
 
PREFACE 
 
 -^o*- 
 
 TliE history of Muhammedan monarchies in Egypt 
 and Syria presents little that is attractive to the 
 ordinary European student. The events recorded 
 belong to a political, social, and religious state utterly 
 foreign to European experience ; the materials at 
 command are insufficient, and the subject itself is 
 so vast that it is almost impossible to treat of it in 
 a satisfactory manner. 
 
 Great revolutions caused chiefly by personal 
 ambition ; obstinate and cruel wars in which no 
 principle seems involved ; annals full of long names 
 which convey no idea of personality ; the ruling 
 oligarchies everything, the people nothing ; — such, 
 for the most part, are the characteristics of Muham- 
 medan Oriental history. 
 
 Very much of that which is recorded possesses no 
 interest for us, and much that would be most 
 interesting to us is not even referred to by the 
 Arab historians. 
 
 Some few characters in Oriental history stand 
 prominently forth from the wearisome lists of names ; 
 but they interest us not so much on their own 
 
VI PREFACE 
 
 account as because they have some connection with 
 celebrated personages in European history, as, for 
 instance, Salah-ed-Din with our King Richard I. 
 (Coeur de Lion). 
 
 In the following pages I have endeavoured to 
 describe one of the most remarkable episodes in 
 Egyptian history, viz. the invasion of Egypt in 1249 
 by Louis IX. of France. I have added to it an 
 account of the Sovereigns of Egypt, who were 
 contemporary with that event. 
 
 The authorities for the facts related are " Makrizi's 
 History of the Mamluk Sultans of Egypt" (Quatre- 
 mere's notes on this work are full of learned 
 information) ; the *' Memoirs of the Sieur de Join- 
 ville " ; extracts from the Arab historians Abou-l'- 
 Mahasen, Abu-1-feda, and Ishaki ; Stanley Lane- 
 Poole's "The Art of the Saracens in Egypt''; the 
 works of Silvestre de Sagy. I have also to thank 
 Mr. Henry Cassels Kay for the kind help he has 
 afforded me. 
 
 EDWIN JOHN DAVIS, M.A., 
 
 Chaplain oj St. Alar/c's Chnrch^ 
 AUxandria. 
 
 July, 1S97. 
 
1' 1 
 
THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 IN A.D. 1249 (A.H. 647) 
 
 BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE (ST. LOUIS). 
 
 -»o*- 
 
 Between the years a.D. 1096 and 1250, six great 
 expeditions, besides others of less importance, were 
 directed against the Muhammedans of Egypt and 
 Syria by the Western Europeans. One of them, 
 however, was diverted from its proper object, to an 
 attack upon the Christian empire of Byzantium, and 
 therefore cannot be properly reckoned among the 
 Crusades. Each of these expeditions had its heroes. 
 The names of Godfrey de Bouillon, Tancred, Ray- 
 mond, and Bohemond adorn the First Crusade ; Con- 
 rad of Germany and Louis VII. of France were the 
 unfortunate leaders of the second. The third was 
 directed by great warriors and statesmen — Frederic 
 Barbarossa, the Suabian Emperor of Western Rome, 
 Philip Augustus of France, and Richard Coeur de 
 Lion of England. But the result of an immense 
 expenditure * of life and treasure was insignificant. 
 
 * Boha-ed-din, the historian of the life of Sultan Salah-ed-Din, quot- 
 ing the estimate of the Crusaders themselves, states that at the siege of 
 Acre alone, more than 100,000 Crusaders were slain, and a far greater 
 number perished by disease or shipwreck. It seems incredible ! 
 
 B 
 
2 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 Frederic Barbarossa was accidentally drowned, in 
 1 190, in the little Cilician river Calycadnus (Selef or 
 Gieuk Sou), and though the great German army had 
 been victorious in every encounter with the Muslims, 
 it had gradually melted away in its passage across 
 Asia Minor. The kings of France and England 
 quarrelled, Philip Augustus abandoned the Crusade, 
 and Richard quitted Syria after deeds of arms and 
 personal prowess that have been celebrated in romance 
 and poetry. 
 
 Thus the Crusade had practically failed, and all 
 that was gained by it was a short and precarious 
 truce. The Fourth Crusade, proclaimed in 1202, 
 had its origin in the energy and fervid zeal of 
 Innocent III., one of the greatest of Roman pontiffs. 
 Its original destination was Egypt, and there were 
 good reasons for selecting that country as the object 
 of attack. The Muslims of Egypt had been weakened 
 by civil war between the sons of Salah-ed-Din, the 
 great rival of Richard Cceur de Lion, and for six 
 successive years there had been a partial failure of 
 the Nile inundation, so that famine and pestilence 
 had wasted the strength and wealth of Egypt. 
 
 The Muhammedans had no navy in that age, and 
 it was assumed that the Christian invaders, once in 
 possession of Egypt, would be able to defend it 
 against attacks by land, whilst its natural wealth and 
 resources would meet the cost of the great armaments 
 that Europe was ready to provide for the expedition. 
 But the selfishness and treachery of the Venetians 
 ruined these fair prospects, and the utmost efforts of 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 3 
 
 the indignant pontiff — even his excommunication of 
 the Crusaders — failed to overcome the greed and 
 duplicity of the crusading leaders. The expedition 
 degenerated into a piratical attack on the Byzantine 
 empire ; Constantinople, which for eight centuries 
 had been the bulwark of Christendom against 
 Northern and Eastern barbarism, was, in 1204, 
 captured, pillaged, and in great part burnt; and 
 although the Latin dynasty of Byzantine emperors 
 was expelled before the end of the century, yet the 
 Roman empire of the East had been permanently 
 weakened ; and the conquest of Greece, Asia Minor, 
 and the Balkan provinces by the Ottoman Turks was 
 in great measure due to the effects of this Fourth 
 Crusade. 
 
 In 12 1 8 Egypt was invaded by two hundred 
 thousand Franks, who landed near Damietta at the 
 eastern mouth of the Nile. Damietta was obstinately 
 defended ; and although plague and famine afflicted 
 the garrison, it was only after a siege of ten months 
 that the invaders carried the place by storm, and, 
 with the inhuman cruelty that seems to have always 
 marked the warfare of Crusaders, put to the sword 
 every living person they found in it. But this was 
 the term of their success. ' Hemmed in by the Nile 
 inundation and the Muslim forces, and decimated 
 by sickness, they were forced to evacuate Egypt ; 
 and the sole result of all the misery and bloodshed 
 of this campaign was a few concessions for the 
 Christian pilgrims, and restitution of a supposed 
 relic of the true Cross. 
 
4 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 In 1228 Frederic II. of Germany landed in Syria 
 with a force less numerous, but better disciplined 
 and equipped than previous armaments. Although 
 excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX., harassed 
 and opposed by the clergy and military orders of 
 Palestine — even his life treacherously attempted — 
 he yet succeeded in gaining greater concessions for 
 the Christians of the Holy Land than any previous 
 Crusader. Partly owing to the discord and conse- 
 quent weakness of the Muhammedans, and partly 
 from their personal esteem for himself, he obtained 
 from the Sultan Melek el Kamil the restitution of 
 Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, Tyre, and Sidon, 
 and established with him a kind of pact or concordat, 
 under which Muslim and Christian might enjoy in 
 the Holy City equal civil and religious freedom ; and 
 all this was obtained by means of policy and con- 
 ciliation — and without fighting. This accomplished 
 sovereign was highly respected by the Muhamme- 
 dans ; he had many Muslim subjects in Sicily and 
 Apulia, and was reputed to be himself half Muslim ; 
 but he owed this evil reputation to his liberality of 
 mind and freedom from bigotry, and yet more to the 
 deadly enmity of the popes. The Roman see was 
 bitterly hostile to the Suabian emperors, and this 
 fact casts deserved suspicion on many of the graver 
 charges preferred against Frederic II. Yet the 
 reproach of apostasy clung to his dynasty, and when 
 Mainfroy, his natural son, who was regent for Con- 
 radin, the young king of Sicily and Naples, was 
 attacked in 1266 by Charles of Anjou, brother of 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 5 
 
 St. Louis, one of the charges brought against him to 
 justify the aggression was, that he had established 
 colonies of "pagans," i.e. Muslims, in Sicily and 
 Apulia ; that he favoured them, and had himself 
 become an unbeliever, and was therefore excom- 
 municated and under the Papal ban. 
 
 The Sixth Crusade was under the command of 
 Louis IX. of France, the saintly king who was the 
 admiration and delight of his own and subsequent ages. 
 Few great expeditions have ended so disastrously as 
 this. A mighty army perished, the king and two of 
 his brothers were made prisoners of war, a third 
 brother was slain ; many thousands of the nobles and 
 soldiers of France were enslaved, an even greater 
 number forced to apostatise ; the few who were 
 spared owed life and liberty to the heavy ransom 
 paid by the king ; even that condition was only 
 granted by the victors owing to circumstances without 
 precedent in Muhammedan history. Such is the 
 dramatic picture which the Sixth Crusade presents. 
 
 We have excellent authorities for the history of 
 this expedition. First, the Chronicle of the Sieur de 
 Joinville, the friend and comrade-in-arms of the 
 king, one of the most truthful of mediaeval histories. 
 His account is confirmed by Makrizi, Abu' T feda, 
 Jemal-ed-Din, and other Arab annalists. 
 
 It is only within a recent period that Arab his- 
 tories of the Crusades have become accessible to the 
 European world. They cast a very different light 
 on those bloody and destructive wars, from that in 
 which we have hitherto been accustomed to regard 
 
6 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 them. When we study the Arab histories of the 
 Crusades, the charm and glamour of chivalry give 
 place to the actual ferocity and cruelty of the European 
 invaders ; the devotion and pious fervour attributed 
 to the Crusaders by some modern European writers, 
 resolve themselves into bigoted superstition and 
 barbarous ignorance. Europe has heard somewhat 
 on the Muslim side of the question, only since the 
 Arab chronicles and histories of the Crusades have 
 been translated. 
 
 And yet these fearful wars arose in great measure 
 from motives which originally were noble and pure, 
 and but for them the Crescent would probably 
 have become supreme in a large part of Southern 
 Europe. 
 
 Several attempts had been made upon Egypt before 
 the invasion of 1249. The conquest of that country, 
 could it have been effected, would certainly have 
 inflicted for the time a serious blow on Muslim power ; 
 but Egypt could not have been permanently held. 
 It is a fertile plain, that can be easily invaded, pre- 
 senting no strong natural frontier ; it contains no 
 mountain ranges, which in so many lands have been 
 the cradle of liberty, and enabled nations to repel 
 invasion. The native Christians of the country, 
 neither numerous nor warlike, could afford little help 
 even had they been friendly, which would not have 
 been the case, for the Coptic Christians of Egypt 
 have always been Monophysites, heretical, in the 
 judgment of Rome, and as such they would have 
 been hated and despised by Latin Christians. No 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. / 
 
 help, and but little sympathy, could be reasonably 
 expected of them. 
 
 In the thirteenth century no European nation 
 was capable of the sustained efforts which would 
 have been needed permanently to hold this strong- 
 hold of Islam, nor could Northern and Western 
 Europeans have settled in the country as colonists. 
 
 It is a matter of history that the Mamluk foreigners 
 usually had no families ; their number was kept up 
 only by continual purchase in the slave markets of 
 the Levant, and of Central Asia. Even in these days 
 of improved communications, and higher medical and 
 hygienic science, permanent colonization of Egypt by 
 Europeans appears to be impossible. The only race 
 that thrives and multiplies in that country without 
 requiring change of climate is the indigenous popu- 
 lation, that has remained unaltered since the days of 
 the Pharaohs. 
 
 Land in Egypt may pass for a while into the 
 possession of foreigners, but the constant tendency 
 is for it to fall back into the hands of the native 
 Egyptians, and no European race can cultivate the 
 land of Nile and thrive upon it. 
 
 In the year 1249 France was still a great feudal 
 monarchy. The king was simply primus inter 
 pareSy and several of his vassals were richer and 
 more pov/erful than he. The condition of its people 
 was more prosperous than that of most of the neigh- 
 bouring nations. Its nobles were enterprising and 
 warlike, true children of the Roman see, and in 
 several Crusades had displayed their devotion, and 
 
8 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 their valour against the " pagans " — for thus they 
 styled them — who possessed the Holy Land, and 
 harassed devout pilgrims to the holy places. 
 
 The character of the young king, Louis IX., may 
 be gathered from the Chronicle of the Sieur de 
 Joinville ; and it is a very attractive and lovable 
 character which is therein pourtrayed — pious, pure, 
 truthful, brave, self-denying, temperate, courteous, 
 considerate, and liberal ; the very soul of honour, 
 incapable of any baseness; never breaking his 
 pledged word, not even to the hated " pagans ; " 
 quick-tempered and passionate, but of a kindly and 
 generous nature. We may allow somewhat to the 
 partiality of a friend and admirer, but after all 
 deduction made, no contemporary monarch, indeed 
 few men, at any time have approached his virtues. 
 His very faults, for he was bigoted and intolerant, 
 were no faults to that age. They simply marked 
 him, in the opinion of his generation, as a man 
 sincerely religious, and a dutiful son of the Church. 
 
 Strange to say, Joinville gives very few indications 
 as to his personal appearance. In his account of the 
 first battle before Mansura, he writes, '* I saw the 
 king arrive with his attendants, and with a terrible 
 noise of trumpets, clarions, and horns. He halted on 
 an eminence with his men-at-arms, and I assure you 
 I never saw so handsome a man under arms. He 
 was taller than any of his troop by the shoulders, and 
 his helmet, which was gilded, was handsomely placed 
 on his head. . . . You may believe me when I say that 
 the good king performed that day the most gallant 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 9 
 
 deeds that ever I saw in any battle. It was said that 
 had it not been for his personal exertions the whole 
 army would have been destroyed ; but I believe that 
 the great courage he naturally possessed was that 
 day doubled by the power of God ; for he forced him- 
 self in wherever he saw his men in any distress, and 
 gave such blows with battle-axe and sword it was 
 wonderful to behold." Then he relates how the king 
 "exerted himself with such bravery in fighting six 
 Turks," who were trying to drag him away, " that he 
 alone freed himself from them." 
 
 In the second battle, when the battalion of the 
 Count d'Anjou was defeated, "and news was brought 
 to the king of his brother's danger, nothing could 
 check his ardour ; nor would he wait for any one, 
 but setting spurs to his horse, galloped, lance in 
 hand, to where his brother was in the midst of the 
 battle, and gave most deadly blows to the Turks — 
 hastening alway to the spot where he saw the 
 greatest crowd. He suffered many hard blows, and 
 the Saracens covered his horse's tail and rump with 
 Greek fire, . . . but he rescued his brother the Count 
 d'Anjou, and drove the Turks before him without the 
 lines." 
 
 Here, again, somewhat may be allowed for Join- 
 ville's partiality ; but it is evident that the king 
 behaved most valiantly. 
 
 On the other hand, Joinville's account of the king's 
 moral character and disposition is very minute. " He 
 loved truth so much that even to the Saracens and 
 infidels, though they were his enemies, he would never 
 
10 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 lie, nor break his word in anything he had promised 
 
 them, — as shall be noticed hereafter With regard to 
 
 his food he was extremely temperate, for I never in my 
 whole life heard him express a wish for any delicacies 
 in eating or drinking, like to many rich men ; but he 
 sat and took patiently whatever was set before him. 
 ... In his conversation he was remarkably chaste, for 
 I never heard him at any time utter an indecent word, 
 nor make use of the devil's name, which, however, is 
 now very commonly uttered by every one, but which 
 I firmly believe is highly displeasing to God. . . . 
 I have been constantly with him for twenty-two 
 years, but never in my life, for all the passions I have 
 seen him in, did I hear him swear, or blaspheme God, 
 His holy Mother, or any of the saints. When he 
 wished to affirm a thing, he said, ' Truly it is so,' or^ 
 ' In truth it is not so.' . . . 
 
 " It was very clear that on no earthly consideration 
 would he deny his God ; for when the sultans and 
 admirals of Egypt, wanted to make that the condition 
 should he break the treaty, he would never consent ; 
 and when he was told that this was the last proposal 
 of the Turks, he replied that he would rather die than 
 commit such a crime. . . . 
 
 " The holy king and good man took infinite pains 
 to make me firmly believe the Christian laws which 
 God has given us. He said, * We should so punctually 
 believe every article of the faith that for anything 
 that may be done against us personally, we ought 
 not to act nor say aught that is contrary to them/ 
 He said that faith in God was of such a nature that 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. II 
 
 we ought to believe in it implicitly, and so perfectly 
 as not to depend on hearsay. He then asked me if 
 I knew the name of my father ? I answered that his 
 name was Simon. ' And how do you know that ? ^ 
 said he. I replied I was certain of it, and believed 
 it firmly, because my mother had told it me several 
 times. 'Then,' added he, *you ought perfectly to 
 believe the articles of the faith which the Apostles 
 of our Lord have testified to you, as you have heard 
 the " Credo " chaunted every Sunday.' . . . 
 
 " The king St. Louis was the man in the world who 
 laboured most to maintain peace and concord among 
 hia subjects, more especially between the princes and 
 barons of his realm. . . . His council sometimes 
 reproved him for the great pains he took to make up 
 quarrels of foreigners, for that he acted wrongly 
 in preventing them from making war on each other ; 
 as peace would in , consequence be more securely 
 maintained.'* The king told them they did not 
 advise what was right ; his reasons were admirable, 
 but hardly such as would commend themselves to 
 modern politicians ! 
 
 "The king's mode of living was such that every 
 day he heard prayers chaunted — and a Mass of 
 requiem, and the service of the day. ... It was his 
 custom to repose himself daily on his bed after dinner, 
 when he repeated privately with one of his chaplains, 
 prayers for the dead, and every evening he heard 
 * Complines ' (a service late in the evening)." 
 
 Besides these, there are many similar anecdotes 
 concerning King Louis. He had assumed the cross 
 
12 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 during a very dangerous illness ; and his three 
 brothers, the Counts of Artois, Poitiers, and Anjou, 
 with a great number of the French nobles, followed 
 their sovereign's example. 
 Joinville gives the following account of this event: — 
 " The good king was taken grievously ill at Paris, 
 and so bad was his state, that, as I have heard, one of 
 the ladies who nursed him, thinking all was over, 
 would have covered his face with a cloth ; but the 
 other lady on the opposite side of the bed would not 
 suffer his face to be covered, declaring continually 
 that he was alive. During the conversation of these 
 ladies, our Lord worked upon him, and restored to 
 him his speech. He desired them to bring him a 
 crucifix, which was done. And when the good lady, 
 his mother (Queen Blanche of Castile), heard that he 
 had recovered his speech, she was in the utmost 
 possible joy. But when she came and saw that he 
 had put on the cross, she was panic-stricken, and 
 seemed as if she would rather have seen him 
 dead." 
 
 This occurred after Easter of the year 1248. 
 Joinville gives no account either of the Council of 
 Lyons, at which the Crusade was proclaimed, or of 
 the preparations made in France for the expedition ; 
 he merely states that the king sailed from Marseille 
 on August 25, 1248. An immense fleet of transports 
 was required, and a strong force of war-galleys for its 
 protection ; but whether these vessels were hired 
 from Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, or were fitted out from 
 the ports of Southern France, is not stated. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 1 3 
 
 The political and social condition of Egypt differed 
 but little in the thirteenth century from that which 
 existed during the earlier portion of Mehemet Ali's 
 rule (1815-1825). The large majority of its people 
 were agriculturists {fellahhin) — not slaves — although 
 adscripti glebce, i.e, " villeins " of the sultan, or of 
 the Mamluk emirs. They did not hold their land in 
 fee-simple — such a tenure as fee-simple has been un- 
 known in Egypt until of late years ; they were, as 
 they have ever been — unwarlike cultivators, well 
 described by the old French phrase, "gens taillable et 
 corvdeable a plaisir/' i.e. people to be taxed and sub- 
 jected to forced labour at the will of their master. 
 
 Ever since the Persian Cambyses conquered Egypt, 
 a foreign dynasty had ruled it, and foreign troops had 
 formed its garrison. From about A.D. 969 to 1171 it 
 was ruled by a dynasty of heretical Alides (followers 
 of AH), who also claimed the Khalifate, and were 
 acknowledged as "Khalifehs" by Egypt, Northern 
 Africa, and by Sicily, until the island was wrested 
 from them by the Normans. The first khalifeh of 
 this dynasty was a native of North-west Africa — El 
 Mu'ezz-li-Din-Allah. The reigns of these monarchs 
 were unusually long, peaceful internally, and pros- 
 perous. The armed force of their empire consisted 
 of Mughrabis (i.e. Moors), people of North-west Africa, 
 Abyssinians, and Soudanis. No native Egyptians 
 bore arms until the time of Mehemet Ali. 
 
 Cairo became a magnificent city under their rule, 
 but towards the end of the dynasty had lost much of 
 its splendour, and great part of it had been deserted. 
 
14 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 Indeed, the population and wealth of the country had 
 notably diminished, owing to the severe losses in- 
 flicted on the Muslims by the First Crusade ; but 
 especially to the awful famine and pestilence caused 
 by failure of the Nile inundation in the reign of the 
 Khalifeh El Mustansser b'lllah (" He who implores 
 the help of God ") (a.d. 1030-1090). 
 
 Notwithstanding these losses, William of Tyre, on 
 the testimony of an eye-witness — Hugues of Cesarsea, 
 one of the envoys to the court of the Khalifeh El 
 Aided — describes (Gulielm Tyr, lib. xix., cap. xviii.) 
 the state and magnificence displayed at the court 
 of El Aided, the last Fatimite Khalifeh of Egypt, 
 about the year A.D. 11 60. But El Aided possessed 
 no real authority. All power was in the hands of the 
 "wezlr" Salah-ed-Din (Saladin), founder of the 
 Ayoubi dynasty in Egypt, by whose authority Egypt 
 was restored to orthodox Islamism, and submitted to 
 the orthodox Abbaside Khalifeh of Baghdad. The 
 last Fatimite Khalifeh ended his days peacefully by 
 a natural death ; but he was virtually a prisoner in 
 his palace at Cairo, from which he did not go forth ; 
 and, though treated with a show of respect, was not 
 even aware that, by order of Salih-ed-Din, the Khut- 
 bah (prayer for the reigning sovereign, or supreme 
 spiritual head) was no longer uttered in his name, 
 but in the name of the Khalifeh of Baghdad. Salah- 
 ed-Din became "wezlr" — virtually "sovereign'* — of 
 Egypt in 1 168. His noble and chivalrous character 
 is attested even by his enemies, and few monarchs 
 have ever had to contend with greater odds ; for the 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 1 5 
 
 Third Crusade was, beyond comparison, the most for- 
 midable of all attacks upon the Muslims. But the 
 combined might of France, Germany, and England 
 failed to overcome him, and he died victorious — or 
 at least, unconquered — after a glorious reign of 
 twenty-four years. It was his grandson, the Sultan 
 Nejm-ed-Din Saleh, who ruled Egypt at the time of 
 the invasion of St. Louis. 
 
 With the change of dynasty the garrison also of 
 Egypt had changed. Kurds, Syrians, and Arabs 
 had taken the place of Mughrabis and Abyssinians. 
 But the reigning sultan had introduced a dangerous 
 novelty, which afterwards caused the ruin of his 
 dynasty. From distrust of the Arab element in his 
 subjects, he had raised a corps of purchased slaves 
 about eight hundred strong.* This was the first 
 Mamluk corps enrolled, but afterwards it was 
 gradually increased to many thousands. It was the 
 special body-guard of the sultan, and was called his 
 ** Halka," or " Haleka," a word which means literally 
 a " ripg " or girdle." In a secondary sense it was 
 applied to the wide circle of beaters employed by 
 Oriental princes to enclose the game throughout a 
 large district, and thus drive it towards the royal 
 sportsmen. Here its meaning is " the prince's body- 
 guard." 
 
 They were picked men, expert in the use of lance, 
 
 * In 1243 Nejm-ed-Din was besieging Nablous, then held by the 
 Franks. A sally from the town routed all his army except the Bahri 
 Maml^ks. They alone resisted the enemy's charge, and gave time for 
 the sultan to escape. 
 
l6 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 bow, and sabre, magnificent horsemen, and devoted 
 to their master, with whom were bound up all their 
 prospects of advancement. They received high pay, 
 were splendidly equipped, armed and mounted ; and 
 were, in fact, the only regular army then existing, 
 except perhaps the Waring guard of the Byzantine 
 emperors. From the position of their barracks at 
 Cairo, on the Island of Rhoda, in the Nile (Bahr-el- 
 Nil), they were known as the " Mamluk Bahri.'* 
 Another of their titles was " Saldhi," from the name 
 of their master Nejm-ed-Din Saleh. The terminal i 
 indicates the master who had bought them and 
 brought them up, e.g. Mo'ezzi, one belonging to 
 Melek Mo'ezz ; Daheri, a slave of El Melek ed 
 Daher, etc., etc. They were mostly of Turkish 
 nationality, and had been bought when children in 
 the slave markets of Central Asia ; for the dreadful 
 invasions of the Mongols had filled with slaves all 
 the marts of Muhammedan Asia. Their name 
 "Mamluk" is the passive participle of the Arabic 
 verb malaka, *' to possess," thus ** Mulk," an estate 
 in real property, etc. They were brought up and 
 educated with a special view to war, and as they 
 came to years of maturity were generally, although 
 not invariably, manumitted by their owners.* 
 
 The estimates given by the Arab historians as to 
 the number of this renowned soldiery do not agree. 
 
 * There is one point about this most strange institution, which it will 
 be enough to indicate without entering into particulars. But I think 
 it concerns the Mamlilks of a later age, rather than those of the twelfth 
 and thirteenth centuries. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 1/ 
 
 It appears that they reached their greatest strength, 
 about 24,000 men, under Muhammed Kelaoun II., 
 but one half of them was cantoned in the various 
 towns of Egypt. About 12,000 — or, according to 
 others, 7000 — were kept in Cairo. But this was a 
 corps ddite, ready for active service at the shortest 
 notice. 
 
 It does not appear that they wore one uniform 
 dress, but each alaiy or regiment, bore the " blazon,'* 
 or, to use an European term, the " armorial bear- 
 ings/' of its commander, called his " renk," — 
 literally ** colour." It was usually of a geometrical 
 pattern ; but sometimes it was a flower, or even an 
 animal, as, e.g.y that of Sultan Beybars was a lion, and 
 may be seen represented on the coinage of that 
 monarch. The blazon of the Kelaouns was a " duck," 
 their name being the Kapjak Turkish word for a 
 *' duck," but they had also a " renk " of geometrical 
 pattern, and of divers colours, which became a 
 favourite device, and some of the Egyptians bore it 
 tattooed upon their person. 
 
 Specimens of the Mamluk arms and armour still 
 exist. The heavy European plate armour would 
 have been too hot and cumbersome for the climate, 
 nor could the finer bred Arab horses have carried it. 
 The body armour was of chain-mail, with portions 
 in plate, as, e.g.y the arm-pieces and the upper portion 
 of the breast. Their conical helmets were of proof, 
 of beautiful workmanship, often gilded, or inlaid with 
 gold. Curtains of chain-mail hanging from it, de- 
 fended the neck and face. 
 
 c 
 
1 8 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 The Egyptian cavalier trusted to his activity, and 
 skill in the use of his arms, more than to the direct 
 shock of a charge ; and his weapons were of finer 
 temper and workmanship than those carried by the 
 Europeans of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, 
 for the armourers of Damascus and Cairo were the 
 best in the world. The cross-bow was a favourite 
 weapon with them, and several of their sultans dis- 
 played extreme skill in the use of it. The Turks 
 were accustomed to the bow from childhood, but it 
 was far inferior to that formidable long-bow which 
 rendered the English archers so redoubtable. 
 
 Nejm-ed-Din Saleh, the grandson of Saladin, had 
 become sultan through the deposition of his brother 
 Melek-el-Adel, who was dethroned for his extrava- 
 gance and debaucheries. He had banished all who 
 might have ventured to reproach him for his dissi- 
 pated life, and had replaced them with more com- 
 plaisant ministers, and he lavished the treasure of 
 the State on his own pleasures, and on the troops ; 
 for he was convinced that he should have nothing to 
 fear if he could but secure the favour and good will 
 of his army. 
 
 But at last all orders of the State, weary of his 
 tyranny and evil life, rose against him. He was 
 deposed and imprisoned, and his brother was pro- 
 claimed Sultan of Egypt and Syria on May 3, 1240. 
 On his accession he found in the treasury only one 
 solitary piece of gold, and about one thousand 
 " dirhems " (drachms) of silver. 
 
 Thereupon he assembled the grandees of the State 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 19 
 
 — those in particular who during his brother's reign 
 had shared in the administration of the finances — and 
 asked them what had been their reason for deposing 
 Melek-el-Adel. They replied "because he was a 
 madman." Then he turned to the " Ulema," the 
 " learned in the law of Islam " {Sharlak), and asked 
 them " if a madman could dispose of the public 
 revenue." On their reply that it was contrary to 
 the law, he ordered all who had received sums of 
 money from his brother, to refund them to the 
 treasury, or they should pay for their disobedience 
 with their heads. By this means he recovered 
 758,000 pieces of gold, and 2,300,000 drachms of 
 silver — equivalent to nearly ;2S'5 30,000. 
 
 Nejm-ed-Din is described as brave and enterprising, 
 careless of pleasure, a serious man, absorbed in the 
 affairs of government. He would be informed of 
 everything, and none of his ministers dared to act 
 without his orders. But his really sterling qualities 
 were tarnished by his cruelty and intolerable pride. 
 He was reserved and taciturn, thinking it beneath 
 the majesty of a sultan to converse with his subjects. 
 His ministers and courtiers, and even his domestics, 
 trembled before him, for he was stern, and visited 
 with extreme severity the least fault or the slightest 
 cause of suspicion. Every affair of weight was 
 discussed by means of written memorials from his 
 ministers, to which he replied in like manner, often 
 in his own handwriting. 
 
 The dominions of the Ayoubi dynasty comprised 
 Syria and Mesopotamia, together with Egypt, but 
 
20 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 the princes of the two former countries were in con- 
 tinual revolt, and at the beginning of his reign Nejm- 
 ed-Din was forced to make in person an expedition 
 against the Emir of Damascus.* 
 
 He left as Regent of Egypt during his absence a 
 woman destined to play a great part in contemporary 
 Egyptian history — his favourite Sultana Sajarat-ad- 
 Durr, or Schejer-ed-Durr ('* The Tree of Pearls *'), a 
 Turkish slave, whom he had bought, and raised 
 afterwards to the rank of " Khavendah " (Sultana of 
 Egypt), and to whom he was passionately attached. 
 
 Such a regency would have been impossible under 
 ordinary circumstances, but this lady was a born 
 ruler, brave, able, prudent, and sagacious — said to 
 have been also extremely beautiful. The Bahri 
 Mamluks were devoted to their founder and his 
 family, for all they possessed arose from the bounty 
 of Nejm-ed-Din ; moreover, between themselves and 
 the sultana, there existed a bond which to modern 
 ideas seems strange. All who had been slaves of 
 the same master recognized in that fact a kind of 
 fraternity, which obliged them to reciprocal friendship 
 and devotion. The sultana had rbached the highest 
 rank possible in Egypt, but they still regarded herf 
 as their ''' khoshdasha'' ("comrade"), entitled to all 
 the support and protection they could afford. 
 
 * The events of this war were most romantic, but they are outside 
 our subject. 
 
 t The Arab historians often make mention of appeals addressed to 
 the sultans by former comrades, which in general were well received j 
 for the sultans never forgot that they had themselves belonged to the 
 Maml^k Corps ; and there were several of their high officials whom 
 they addressed as " brother.'' 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 21 
 
 After several victories over the revolted emir and 
 his allies, the Franks of Palestine, the sultan entered 
 Damascus. It was there he received the earliest 
 news of the Crusade that had been proclaimed at the 
 Council of Lyons in 1248, and of the French expedi- 
 tion that was preparing to sail for Egypt. Makrizi 
 declares that information of the great preparations 
 made by the King of France against Egypt was sent 
 to the Sultan by Frederic II., Emperor of Germany 
 and King of Sicily. The messenger was disguised 
 as a merchant, and found the sultan lying sick at 
 Damascus, for just at that critical time his health 
 gave way. He was suffering from lung disease, com- 
 plicated by a painful ulcer in his leg. The supposed 
 cause of this ulcer was as follows : — '* The Sultan of 
 Hamault (Hamah) had bribed a servant of Nejm-ed- 
 Din to place poison upon the mat on which his 
 master usually took his siesta. The sultan, in his 
 sleep, rubbed off a little of the skin of his thigh 
 against the poisoned mat. The venom speedily took 
 effect through this sore, and his whole body became 
 so much affected that he lost for a while the use of 
 that side in which the ulcer was. When the venom 
 reached his head, he remained two days without 
 eating or drinking." This account is evidently un- 
 trustworthy. 
 
 But however severe his sufferings, the sultan 
 decided upon returning to Egypt at once, that he 
 might place his kingdom in a state of defence 
 against the impending danger. He was unable to 
 mount on horseback ; but travelling in a litter as fast 
 
22 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 as he could bear the journey, he reached Ashmoum, 
 near Mansura, in April, 1249. 
 
 Thirty-one years before this time a crusading 
 army had landed at Damietta, and, after a long 
 and terrible siege, had taken the town by storm 
 and pitilessly massacred every person they found 
 in it. But the brave defence of Damietta had 
 completely foiled the invaders. Nejm-ed-Din had 
 reason to believe that this would be the first point 
 to be attacked on this occasion ; he proceeded 
 therefore to strengthen the defences of the town, 
 and to place in it a vast supply of provisions, 
 arms, and warlike stores, with a strong and, as 
 he thought, a trustworthy garrison. A covering 
 army, under the command of Fakr-ed-Din,*' Emir of 
 the Bahri Mamluks, was sent down the Nile to 
 Damietta to oppose any descent on the coast ; and 
 the sultan himself took up a strong position in front 
 of Mansura, and summoned to his standard the 
 whole armed force of Egypt. Such were the prepara- 
 tions made to resist the invasion. 
 
 The French Armada sailed from Marseilles during 
 the autumn of 1248, but in many divisions, for it 
 was extremely large, numbering over 1800 vessels 
 — many, of course, small. It had been arranged 
 that the army should assemble at Cyprus, which was 
 then under the rule of the Lusignan dynasty — Latin 
 Christian — and therefore friendly. Whether the long 
 
 * He is said to have received the honour of knighthood from 
 Frederic II. of Germany, in 1229, as the great Sultan Sal^h-ed-Din 
 from Humphrey de Thoron, some fifty years earlier. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 23 
 
 halt that actually took place was or was not con- 
 templated, we do not know, nor are we informed 
 why the expedition was directed to Cyprus at all. 
 But, in any case, it was a fatal resolution. 
 
 Sanuto, a Venetian writer of the time, who has left 
 an account in Latin of this Crusade, disapproves of 
 the stoppage at Cyprus en route for Egypt. Had 
 the Crusaders landed in Egypt without delay — in the 
 autumn — they would have found a healthy season, 
 a falling Nile, the harvests of the country gathered 
 in and at their disposal. Above all, the Egyptians 
 would have had no time to arm and concentrate their 
 forces. Thus the Crusaders might perhaps have 
 succeeded, and a serious blow would have been 
 inflicted on Muslim power in the Levant. 
 
 It is evident that the Franks underestimated 
 the difficulties of the expedition, nor did they 
 anticipate the strenuous resistance that was opposed 
 to them by enemies as brave as themselves, more 
 skilful in the art of war, and possessing an armament 
 far superior to their own. 
 
 We have little or no information as to what took 
 place in Cyprus, but from the few scattered observa- 
 tions of Joinville we learn that the king was eager 
 to proceed to Egypt, but was delayed by the non- 
 arrival of a large part of the forces ; there seems also 
 to have been much dissension amongst the leaders. 
 The king was not an absolute monarch, able to 
 impose his commands on his Vassals ; perhaps, also, 
 financial difficulties arose, and although vast stores of 
 provisions had been gathered beforehand, they were 
 
24 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 exhausted through the long halt, and the army was 
 forced to wait for fresh supplies, some of which were 
 furnished by the Venetians — of course, only on pay- 
 ment, for the Venetians were men of business, and 
 only became Crusaders when it would promote their 
 own interests. "Siamo Veneziani, poi Christiani,'* 
 was their principle of action. 
 
 Frederic II., the excommunicated emperor, was 
 more generous, and sent ample supplies as a gift ; 
 for which the king and barons of France returned 
 him thanks in a long Latin letter, still extant. 
 
 Cyprus itself could furnish little. It was probably 
 the same arid waste at that age which it continued 
 to be for many centuries afterwards. 
 
 An army of fourscore thousand men, and thousands 
 of horses, possesses a huge appetite, and of the tall 
 hillocks of grain which Joinville saw, covered on the 
 outside by a vast growth of stalks and leaves, but 
 perfectly sound and serviceable a little below the 
 surface, nothing was left. The endless rows of 
 barrels of wine, which the king's forethought had 
 also stored up, were exhausted. The army could not 
 move until its commissariat had been re-organized. 
 
 But the long delay, whatever may have been its 
 cause, was most detrimental to the expedition. At 
 length, on Whit Sunday, June i, 1249, the Armada 
 sailed from Limasol, and on June 4 reached the 
 eastern mouth of the Nile. 
 
 Only about a third of the force was with the king ; 
 the rest had been driven far to the north-east by a 
 violent gale of wind, and did not rejoin him till long 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 25 
 
 after. The king's council advised him to wait for 
 it before disembarking ; but he refused to do this, 
 declaring that hesitation would encourage the enemy, 
 and that there was no port near to which he might 
 retire and await in safety the arrival of the dispersed 
 vessels. Apparently no one thought of Alexandria^ 
 which might have been reached — and with a favourable 
 wind in twenty-four hours ! 
 
 There was a body of the enemy on the shore. 
 " Handsome men to behold ; their commander, who 
 was in gilded armour, seemed like the sun himself 
 when the sun shone upon him, and the noise of their 
 horns and 7iacaires (kettledrums) was frightful to 
 hear, and sounded very strange to the French." 
 
 The landing in the shallow water near the shore 
 presented no difficulty ; some resistance was offered 
 by the enemy, but they were repulsed after losing 
 two of their emirs. It must have been a magnificent 
 spectacle, to behold the thousands of knights in their 
 polished iron casques, and heavy-mailed hauberks, 
 each with his shield hung round his neck and bearing 
 the straight double-edged sword, and long, pennoned 
 lance ; the huge war-horses, the strong battalions of 
 cross-bow men, and the immense force of infantry. 
 The king landed in the same manner as his knights, 
 having leaped into the sea, which was as deep as his 
 shoulders. The Royal Standard, the " Oriflamme," was 
 borne before him, and the army was now on the west 
 side of the Damietta branch of the Nile ; but this 
 was an error of judgment, for Damietta was on the 
 eastern side of the river ; and had it not been for 
 
26 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 the strange negligence of the enemy, the invaders 
 would have been obliged to re-embark. They could 
 not have crossed such a river as the Nile in the face 
 of the Egyptian army. 
 
 The emir, Fakr-ed-Din, unable to make a stand 
 against the invaders, either from the inferiority in 
 number or the insubordination of his troops, hastily 
 retreated across a bridge of boats that had been 
 moored in the Nile a little below Damietta, and fell 
 back towards Mansura; but by some oversight the 
 bridge was not removed, and it was at once occupied 
 by the French. 
 
 And now the panic extended even to Damietta 
 itself, and the garrison and inhabitants, in dread of 
 a like fate to that which had befallen the place in 
 1 218, fled from it in wild confusion, thus abandoning 
 a strong fortress, amply supplied with every means 
 for sustaining a siege — arms, armour, war-engines, and 
 provisions. Following the retreating army of Fakr- 
 ed-Din, they made their way to Mansura. 
 
 When the news of the capture of Damietta reached 
 Cairo, the consternation was general. The people 
 reflected that this success would increase the ardour 
 and hopes of the Franks, for they had seen an army 
 of Muslims fly before them, and were now in posses- 
 sion of an immense quantity of arms and provisions 
 and an abundance of ammunition, such as stone balls, 
 quarrels, darts, and arrows. The sickness of the 
 sultan, who was disabled in this critical position of 
 affairs, overwhelmed the Egyptians with despair. All 
 feared that the kingdom would now be conquered by 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 27 
 
 the Christians. But Nejm-ed-Din, although rapidly 
 sinking in body, was undaunted as ever in soul ; and 
 furious at the desertion of the Damietta garrison, 
 he ordered fifty of its principal officers to be 
 strangled. 
 
 In vain did they allege in their defence the retreat 
 of Fakr-ed-Din. The sultan told them that they 
 deserved death for having quitted Damietta without 
 his order. He had taken the precaution of obtaining 
 from the Kadi* of Egypt, ^.fetwa (judicial sentence) 
 that men who deserted their post deserved death. 
 Then he turned savagely upon Fakr-ed-Din ; but the 
 Mamluks protected him, for the emir had told them 
 that the sultan could not last many days, and that 
 if he became troublesome they could do as they 
 pleased with him. 
 
 Jemal - ed - Din writes : " The Sultan's malady 
 grew continually worse, and his strength constantly 
 diminished. Day and night his physicians attended 
 him, but could give him no relief Still he was not 
 discouraged, but always displayed the same strength 
 of character. The ulcer from which he was suffering 
 having healed up, he thought himself out of danger, 
 and wrote to the Emir Hoss^m-ed-Din, that he 
 *was convalescent, and all he needed now was to 
 mount on horseback and join in a game of polo.' " 
 
 A few days more and the end came. He had 
 issued a proclamation that all who had any money 
 
 * As yet there was only one kadi for all Egypt ; at a later period one 
 was appointed for each of the orthodox schools of Islamic theology, 
 viz. the Hanbali, Shafei, Maleki, and Hanafi. 
 
28 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 claims upon him should present them at the treasury, 
 and if found just, they would be paid. This was one 
 of the last duties of a pious Muslim. On November 
 22, 1249, the sultan died, nearly six months after 
 the landing of the crusading army ! 
 
 Again, no adequate reason is given for this long 
 delay of the French at Damietta. They had found 
 the fortress entirely deserted and with its stores and 
 magazines intact — an astounding piece of good 
 fortune to all present appearance, — but in the end 
 it proved indirectly the cause of their ruin, for it 
 enabled them to enter upon their fatal, advance into 
 the interior far away from their base, thus leaving 
 their communications open to the attack of a vigilant 
 and enterprising enemy ; and the Egyptians had 
 now become emboldened by this long delay. We 
 read of continual raids upon the French camp. The 
 sultan, after the custom of the Turks until recent 
 times, had offered a reward of a gold byzant 
 (about I2f.) for every head of a slain enemy; and 
 there were continual alarms and night attacks, 
 sentries cut off and stragglers surprised and killed. 
 Then the discipline of the French had become lax. 
 Damietta was a scene of dissipation and debauchery. 
 The most scandalous excesses prevailed, to the 
 intense disgust of the pious king; but he seems to , 
 have lacked power to prevent or to restrain them. 
 Even provisions had begun to fall short, owing to the 
 unfair treatment of the merchants and vendors who 
 resorted to the camp ; and by a succession of violent 
 storms, twelve score vessels, great and small, were / / 
 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 29 
 
 wrecked off the coast near Damietta, fortunately 
 before the arrival of the Count de Poitiers and the 
 remainder of the army. The wrecks caused great 
 loss of life and destruction of stores. 
 
 On the arrival of the Count de Poitiers the king 
 assembled a council of his barons to decide which 
 route the army should take, whether to Alexandria 
 or to Babylon (Cairo). Count Peter of Brittany and 
 some other barons advised that the king should go 
 to Alexandria, on account of its good harbour, and 
 because the army could be better provisioned there. 
 But the Count d'Artois disapproved of this plan, 
 and said he would not march to Alexandria until 
 he had been at Babylon,* which was the seat of 
 government in Egypt He added that " whoever 
 wished to kill a snake must begin with the head." 
 The king assented and gave up the former plan, 
 which would certainly have been the safer. 
 
 According to the Muslim law of inheritance, the 
 eldest male of a reigning family is the heir to the 
 throne. Under the peculiar position of affairs that 
 sometimes prevailed in Egypt, this rule had not 
 always been observed ; but on the present occasion 
 there was no room for hesitation. Nejm-ed-Din had 
 left two sons : one, yet a child, by his favourite 
 Sultana Schejer-ed-Durr ; but the danger which 
 menaced the State could be met only by a man 
 
 * This term "Babylon" refers to the old fortress at Masr Atikah 
 (old Cairo), which was called in Coptic *' Babilonia-nte-Chemi," 
 '* Babylon in Egypt." It had been built by one of the later Pharaohs, 
 and was intended to receive the Babylonian mercenary troops who 
 were in the Egyptian service. 
 
30 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 accustomed to rule and with some experience of 
 warfare. The child was therefore set aside. 
 
 The elder son of the sultan, named Turan Shah, 
 was at the time his father's viceroy {na!ib) in Meso- 
 potamia, and despatches were sent off urging him to 
 come to Egypt with all speed, and to assume the 
 sultanate. Joinville writes of him as being "twenty- 
 five years old, well-informed, prudent, and already 
 full of malice.*' Probably there was good ground 
 for this last sentence, for it is supposed that the 
 sultan had purposely removed his elder son from 
 Cairo, and sent him to govern a distant province, 
 because of his haughty and impracticable temper. 
 
 And now the brave sultana came to the front 
 It was resolved to keep the sultan's death a profound 
 secret. Excepting a few palace slaves, only the 
 Emir Fakr-ed-Din Yussuf and the eunuch Jellal- 
 ed-Din Mohsin were in her confidence. The sultan's 
 body was placed in a small galley, and the sultana 
 with her young son and a few trusty Mamluks con- 
 veyed it up the Nile to the fortress on the Island of 
 Rhoda, where the barracks of the Mamliiks were. 
 Then she hastily returned to the army. Everything 
 seemed to go on as usual. Fakr-ed-Din was named 
 "Atabek"* (commander of the forces). Everyday 
 the Governor of Cairo received despatches from the 
 
 * This title is a compound of two Persian words, "father and 
 prince" — i.e. the regent — the guardian of the prince. Several 
 dynasties retained this title long after they had supplanted their wards 
 and become absolute monarchs. Thus the celebrated Nour-ed-Din 
 Ayoub was styled " Atabek '* of Syria, but was really master of Syria 
 and Mesopotamia, and over-lord of Egypt. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 3 1 
 
 camp. They were dictated by Schejer-ed-Durr, and 
 the epigraph on them of the late sultan, which was 
 never omitted, and was necessary to render them 
 valid, was counterfeited by a clever penman, the 
 eunuch Souheyl.* 
 
 All orders were given in Nejm-ed-Din's name, as 
 if he had been still alive ; his table was served as 
 usual, but "he was too ill (so it was given out) to 
 receive any one in audience." The truth may have 
 been suspected, but no one dared to make any obser- 
 vations, and apparently there was no insubordination. 
 
 Messenger after messenger was despatched to 
 Turan Shah urging his presence ; in the mean time 
 the sultana governed the realm, and found in herself 
 resources for every emergency. 
 
 But after a few weeks, rumours of the sultan's death 
 began to prevail. Then at length, on November 25, 
 the crusading army left Damietta and began its march 
 up the eastern bank of the Damietta branch. After 
 many halts it arrived at the great canal of Ashmoum, 
 a little to the north of Mansura. There it had the 
 Nile on the right, the canal and the enemy in front — 
 and for the first time in this campaign met with an 
 effectual stoppage. 
 
 This Ashmoum is not to be confounded with a 
 town of the same name in the Gharbieh province, at 
 
 '^ The sultans of Egypt invariably certified state documents, 
 despatches, etc., by adding to them their postscript {alamdt). This 
 was usually a short sentence in their own handwriting ; e.g. the alamdt 
 of Mansour Kelaoun I. was Allah emit, " God is my hope." The 
 number of documents perused and signed in this way by a reigning 
 sultan must have been very large. 
 
32 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 the south-west of the Delta. It still exists, but only 
 as an insignificant village. The canal, however, is 
 better known as the Bahr-es-Sogheyer ('*the Little 
 Nile," or ** Little River ") ; and it is not properly a 
 canal, but the old Tanitic branch of the Nile. 
 
 Joinville's " Rexi " is no doubt derived from the 
 name of a town upon it still called " Darakseh," but 
 now a poor village. Probably the Canal of Rexi was 
 much larger in 1249 than it is at the present day, 
 when a vast system of irrigation has diverted much 
 water from the main stream and its branches. But 
 at the season of " high Nile " all the canals of im- 
 portance become deep and rapidly flowing rivers ; 
 and although the Nile was falling when the French 
 army began its advance, the inundation probably 
 still covered much of the country, and the only 
 reliable communication would be by the river banks 
 and their earthen causeways. 
 
 The course of the Bahr-es-Sogheyer has changed 
 considerably since 1249. The spot at which it now 
 issues from the Nile stream is quite close to Mansura; 
 but then, it must have been considerably further to 
 the north, perhaps by four or five miles at least. 
 The intervening space was occupied by the Egyptian 
 camp, and here was the site of the two great battles 
 on Shrove Tuesday and the following Friday, as 
 described by Joinville. 
 
 This old pHse d'eau to the north of Mansura was 
 the exit from the Nile of Joinville's *' Canal de Rexi." 
 It was marked by massive revetements of brick 
 masonry, evidently of extremely ancient construction, 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 33 
 
 but these were entirely cleared away when the rail- 
 way bridge was built about five years ago. 
 
 The prise cCeau to the south of Mansura was con- 
 structed during the reign of Mehemet Ali. This still 
 exists, but the chief supply of water for the Bahr- 
 es-Sogheyer now comes from the Mansurieh CanaL 
 This last forms a continuation of the Riya Tewfikiyeh, 
 which issues from the Nile at a point above the 
 Barrage, and flows northwards past Benha. There is 
 now, therefore, a direct waterway from Lake Men- 
 zaleh to Cairo, which, but for the temporary bridges 
 on the Mansurieh Canal, would be navigable at all 
 times. Were these removed or heightened there 
 would be an easy inland water communication between 
 Cairo and Port Said. 
 
 Mansura still occupies its original site, but it has 
 extended considerably towards the east, and less so 
 towards the north and south. 
 
 With regard to the site of the two battles, Mr. A. 
 Dale, one of the oldest residents in that town, informs 
 me that about twenty-five years ago he was riding 
 over the country to the east and north-east of Man- 
 sura, and near what is now the village of Gedidieh 
 ('* The New Village ") he came upon a very large 
 number of human bones and skulls scattered over a 
 wide area of ground. The natives told him that it 
 "was the site of a great battle with the ' Nusara/ that 
 had been fought long ago." A number of the skulls 
 were taken and examined by Dr. Paterson — now 
 surgeon to her Majesty's embassy at Constantinople 
 — and he gave his opinion that they were skulls of 
 
 D 
 
34 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 Europeans, not of natives. The place had the 
 appearance of a vast cemetery — but there was no 
 large village within a long distance. In all prob- 
 ability these were the remains of soldiers killed in 
 these two battles, and buried on the spot. Mr. Dale 
 rode over the same ground a few months ago, and 
 found all this land under cultivation. 
 
 The first care of the invaders was to secure their 
 camp with ditches, earthworks, and palisades ; then 
 they mounted their catapults and mangonels, and 
 began to cast volleys of stones on the enemy across 
 the canal in order to drive them from their position. 
 One attack in force was made by the Turks on the 
 left of the king's army ; but it was repulsed — and 
 almost daily there were severe skirmishes on land 
 and on the river, with much loss of life on both sides. 
 But the Franks found the enemy equal, or even 
 superior, to themselves in this kind of warfare ; there- 
 fore, in order that they might come to close quarters, 
 they began to make a causeway across the deep 
 channel of the Bahr-es-Sogheyer. It was a difficult 
 work, owing to the showers of missiles which the 
 Egyptians cast from their catapults and mangonels. 
 *'They had sixteen machines, which did wonders." 
 And the king, to protect his working parties, ordered 
 eighteen machines to be made and set up on his side 
 and to cover his workmen, caused to be constructed 
 two wooden galleries — called, in the military language 
 of that age, "cats," each defended by two beffrois 
 (towers of wood), manned by archers and cross- 
 bowmen. These chat-chateils were finished the week 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 35 
 
 before Christmas in 1249, and then the work of con- 
 structing the causeway was set about in earnest. But 
 they found the Egyptians better engineers than them- 
 selves, " As fast as the causeway advanced the enemy 
 destroyed it ; " they dug on their side of the canal 
 wide and deep pits in the earth, " and as the water 
 recoiled from our causeway, it filled these pits, and 
 the rapid current tore away the banks, so that in one 
 or two days the work of several weeks was ruined.'* 
 If here " river " be read instead of " canal," this 
 account becomes more easy to understand. 
 
 And now a far more effective engine of war was to 
 be employed. The French appear to have known 
 nothing of the Greek fire, that fearful compound 
 which had saved the Byzantine empire on several 
 critical occasions. Its ingredients and the method of 
 using it were kept profoundly secret for some four 
 centuries by the Byzantine Government, as a most 
 important State defence ; only on rare occasions was 
 some of this ammunition lent to trusted allies. But 
 before the time of the Sixth Crusade the secret had 
 been discovered by the Muslim powers. It was 
 invented in the reign of Constantine Pogonatus (A.D. 
 668-685), by Callinicus, an architect and engineer of 
 Hierapolis, in Syria. In this reign Constantinople, 
 which had been besieged, or rather blockaded, by the 
 Saracens for six years (!), was saved by this terrible 
 weapon of war. Again, in the famous reign of Leo 
 the Isaurian (A.D. 718-741), the most formidable 
 invasion of the Saracens — who then, and for two 
 centuries afterwards, were at the height of their power 
 
36 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 — was repelled, and Constantinople, after a siege of 
 three years, was saved, principally by means of the 
 Greek fire. 
 
 The same weapon repulsed the naval invasions of 
 the heathen Russians under Igor in A.D. 941, and of 
 Yaroslav in A.D. 1043. The reign of Alexius Com- 
 nenus (a.D. 1081-1118) witnessed the First Crusade, 
 and the emperor's daughter, Anna Comnena, in her 
 history of her father's reign (the " Alexiad "), gives an 
 account of the Greek fire and its effects ; she even 
 discloses some of its ingredients. It is supposed to 
 have been a compound of liquid naphtha, petroleum, 
 and sulphur, consolidated by some kind of inflam- 
 mable gum. 
 
 The fire ships {dromones) that were armed with 
 it carried at the prow long copper tubes (siphones). 
 It is supposed that the cartridges of it were inflamed 
 by means of burning matches placed at the mouth of 
 the siphon. The propeller was probably a steel bow 
 at the breech of the tube. It was cast from mangonels 
 in large masses rolled in tow around javelins, or 
 quarrells, and ignited by some contrivance at the 
 moment of projection. It was enclosed in earthen- 
 ware bombs of various sizes, and propelled from 
 cross-bows. When the bomb was smashed by impact, 
 the inextinguishable fire spread abroad. The Muslim 
 soldiers also used it at close quarters by means of 
 smaller copper tubes, through which they forced it 
 among their enemies. The Turks employed this 
 ammunition to consume the French "cat-castles," 
 and Joinville thus describes it : " One night the Turks 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 3/ 
 
 brought forward an engine called by them la per- 
 riire " (probably a compound word derived from the 
 Greek pyr, " fire "), *' a terrible engine to do mischief 
 — and placed it opposite the cat-castles which Sir 
 Walter Curel and I were guarding by night. From 
 this engine they flung such quantities of Greek fire 
 that it was the most horrible sight ever witnessed." , . . 
 " This Greek fire was in appearance like a great tun, 
 and its tail was of the length of a long spear. The 
 noise which it made was like to thunder, and it seemed 
 a great dragon of fire flying through the air, giving so 
 great light with its flame that we saw in our camp as 
 clearly as in broad day. Thrice this night did they 
 throw the fire from la perri^re, and four times from 
 cross-bows." Then he describes how these " Turkish 
 traitors" — as he calls them — advanced their la /^r- 
 riere in the daytime, and brought together all their 
 machines to throw Greek fire on our dams over the 
 river — thus preventing our workmen from showing 
 themselves — and ** our two * cat-castles * were in a 
 moment destroyed and burnt." The epithets which 
 Joinville bestows on the Turks who used the Greek 
 fire are very comical — ** Villainous Turks," " Turkish 
 traitors," " a villain of a Turk," etc. — as if they were 
 taking an unfair advantage by using this unknightly 
 missile. 
 
 The country was without wood, so that a supply 
 of timber had to be brought from the vessels off 
 Damietta. At the king's request, the owners sent 
 all they could spare, and a fresh set of " cat-castles " 
 was constructed ; but, under cover of volleys of 
 
38 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 stones from their mangonels, the Turks advanced 
 their la perrih^e directly opposite the castles, and 
 again succeeded in burning them. The crusaders 
 were now brought to a standstill. All their efforts 
 to cross the canal and come to close quarters with 
 the enemy had failed ; a council of war was therefore 
 called to decide what should be done. Their " intel- 
 ligence department " seems to have been deplorably 
 bad. They appear to have literally known nothing 
 of the district in which they were carrying on war. 
 Probably the enemy's superiority was already so 
 assured, that reconnoitring parties had been cut off, 
 or it may be that no attempt had been made - to 
 explore the country. The crusaders knew how to 
 fight, but their knowledge of war, as carried on 
 scientifically, was evidently very scanty. 
 
 At the council, Sir Humbert de Beaujeu, the con- 
 stable of France, told the king that a Bedawi had 
 offered, for a reward of five hundred gold byzants,* 
 to show him a safe ford on the canal, but he insisted 
 that the money should be paid in advance. The 
 offer was accepted, and on Shrove Tuesday, February 
 5, 1250, the king and his three brothers, with a 
 large force of cavalry, crossed at the ford, and fell 
 suddenly upon the Muslim camp. Fakr-ed-Din was 
 in the bath, but at once rushed out, mounted his 
 horse without waiting for his armour, and strove to 
 rally the flying Muslims by charging with his slaves 
 
 * The "byzant" was equivalent to about \2s. of our money. The 
 commerce of Constantinople and its coinage extended over all the 
 countries round the eastern part of the Mediterranean. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 39 
 
 into the ranks of the advancing enemy ; but he fell, 
 pierced with wounds. When the tidings of Fakr-ed- 
 Din's death became known in Mansura a number of 
 the Mamluks and their officers disbanded and rushed 
 to his house that they might pillage it. His coffers 
 were broken open, the money they contained stolen ; 
 his furniture, carpets, horses, arms, and everything 
 of value plundered, and then the house itself was 
 set on fire. 
 
 One of the gates of Mansura had been forced by 
 the enemy, and the flying Muslims were driven in 
 dismay and confusion through the town and beyond 
 it. But the impetuous and disordered cavalry of the 
 Count d'Artois was suddenly charged by the corps 
 of Bahri Mamluks, who had stood firm outside the 
 town, and in a moment victory was snatched from 
 their grasp. They were utterly routed, chased back 
 through the town, overwhelmed with missiles from 
 the roofs and windows as they pushed through the 
 narrow and tortuous streets, and were only saved 
 from complete destruction by the advance of the 
 French infantry. Fourteen hundred knights and 
 many nobles, amongst them the Count d'Artois, were 
 slain. Both armies had displayed great valour ; on 
 the side of the Muslims, the Emir of the Bahri 
 Mamluks, Beybars, had headed the charge on the 
 French cavalry, and had greatly distinguished him- 
 self. About ten years later he became sultan, and 
 his reign of seventeen years was very glorious and 
 prosperous.* 
 
 * Rukn-ed-Din Beybars el Bundukdari, so-called from his being the 
 
40 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 On the side of the Crusaders the king and his 
 brothers had freely exposed their lives, as if they had 
 been common soldiers — indeed, Joinville states that, 
 had it not been for the personal exertions of the 
 king, the whole army would probably have been 
 destroyed. He describes the fight thus : " In this 
 battle were performed on both sides the most gallant 
 deeds that were ever done in this expedition. For 
 none made use of bow, cross-bow, or other artillery ; 
 but the conflict consisted of blows given by battle- 
 axe, mace, sword, and spear all mixed together. 
 Amongst the slain was found the body of the Count 
 
 state official who bore the sultan's cross-bow [bujtduk), was one of the 
 most able and successful of the Mamluk sovereigns. He reigned from 
 1260 to 1277. He was a native of Turkistan, and was captured when 
 a child during the fearful invasion of Tchinghiz Khan. Brought to 
 Hamah by the slave merchant who purchased him, he was offered to 
 Melek-el-Mansour, Prince of Hamah, but rejected. He was sold at 
 Damascus for 800 dirhems (about £2P)i but returned to the seller, on 
 account of a spot on one eye (cataract ?), which however did not 
 apparently destroy the sight. He was tall, had blue eyes, a brown 
 complexion, and a very strong voice. His personal valour and daring 
 were wonderful. After changing masters several times, he was bought 
 by Nejm-ed-Din, and gradually rose to high command. As sultan, he 
 was greatly feared by the emirs ; but though a stern master, and 
 dreaded alike in war and peace, he had many excellent qualities as ruler 
 of Egypt. Except on occasions, he seem to have treated his Jewish 
 and Christian subjects fairly well. His activity was prodigious ; he never 
 seemed to rest. He was constantly either at war or inspecting personally 
 his dominions, and would make journeys incognito ^ going and returning 
 with incredible speed. Seif-ed-Din, his " master of the ceremonies," in 
 his poetic eulogy of Beybars, writes that he passed ' ' one day in Egypt, 
 one in the Hedjaz, one day in Syria, and one at Aleppo." He was 
 skilled in the use of all kinds of arms, especially of the bow, and was 
 an adept at polo, to which he used to give some time every week. The 
 word bundiiky which is one of the names for the Arbalete (otherwise 
 Ziyar), is still applied in the vulgar Egyptian Arabic to a *' gun." 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 4I 
 
 d'Artois, magnificently dressed, as became a prince ; 
 and the infidel chief took the count's armour and 
 surcoat, and in order to encourage the Turks and 
 Saracens, had it hoisted before them, telling them it 
 was the coat and armour of the king, their enemy, 
 who had been slain." 
 
 When the French had surprised the Egyptian 
 camp, a carrier pigeon, having a note under its wing, 
 had been let loose to convey to Cairo the news of 
 the misfortune. There was general consternation ; 
 but a few hours later a second pigeon arrived, bring- 
 ing news of the victory, and this restored tranquillity 
 to the capital.* 
 
 On the next day (Ash Wednesday) the new 
 Atabek, Fares-ed-Din Aktai, who had been chosen to 
 succeed Fakr-ed-Din, called a council of war, and it 
 was decided to make at once a great effort to destroy 
 the crusading army. The French had been warned 
 by their spies that an attack was about to be made 
 upon them, " for they had many Muslims in their 
 pay to bring them information," and they had been 
 drawn up in seven great battalions extending across 
 the site of the captured Muslim camp from the Bahr- 
 
 * A well-organized system of communication was kept up by means 
 of carrier pigeons, the central point of which was in the citadel of 
 Cairo. The cost of it was very heavy, but it was so effective that in 
 an extremely short time a message could be sent from Assiut in Upper 
 Egypt to the eastern frontier of the empire on the Euphrates, When 
 the sultan was in Cairo all the despatches that arrived were detached 
 from under the pigeon's wing by the sultan's hand alone. A special 
 kind of paper was employed for the despatches. Besides this service 
 of carrier pigeons, relays of horsemen were stationed throughout the 
 empire for conveying orders and to bring intelligence. 
 
42 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 es-Sogheyer, to the Nile in the direction of Man- 
 sura. The position was dangerous in the extreme ! 
 They had in their rear and on both flanks deep, 
 rapid, and unfordable rivers. Their only communi- 
 cation with their own camp on the north of the Bahr 
 Sogheyer was by one wooden bridge. Their lefc 
 flank was partially protected by the battalion of cross- 
 bowmen, under Sir Henry de Cone, drawn up on the 
 opposite side of the Bahr-es-Sogheyer ; but, owing 
 probably to the superior force of the enemy, their 
 right flank was almost surrounded by masses of 
 Turkish troops. Had the enemy succeeded in break- 
 ing through the centre, the French would almost 
 certainly have been utterly destroyed. Joinville 
 thus describes the plan of attack made by Aktai, 
 who seems to have been a skilful strategist — 
 
 *' On the Friday morning (the first Friday in Lent) 
 by sunrise, 4000 knights, well armed and mounted, 
 were drawn up in battalions opposite our army, which 
 lay on the banks of the river. When the pagan 
 chief had thus drawn up his 4000 knights in front of 
 us, he brought another large body of Saracens on 
 foot, and in such numbers that they surrounded all 
 the other side of our army " (out-flanked it ?), ''After 
 this he drew up at a short distance other bodies, to 
 succour and aid each of the two former, as occasion 
 might arise. The chief of the Saracens, having now 
 completed the arrangement of his army, advanced on 
 horseback — alone — to view and make his observa- 
 tions on the manner in which the king's army was 
 formed, and where he saw ours was strongest or 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 45 
 
 weakest, he strengthened or diminished his own. All 
 these operations of the infidel chief occupied him 
 till about mid-day. This done, he ordered the 
 nacaires and drums to be loudly sounded, accord- 
 ing to the manner of the Turks — which is certainly 
 very surprising to those who have not been accus- 
 tomed to hear them — and then both horse and foot 
 began to be in motion on all sides. 
 
 " The enemy advanced in a chequered manner 
 like to a game of chess." (He probably means that 
 their cavalry was formed en echelon.) " Their infantry 
 ran towards our men, and burnt them with Greek fire, 
 which they cast from instruments made for that pur- 
 pose" {i.e. blow-pipes {zerakdt) or some variety of 
 cross-bow). "Their cavalry charged with such rapidity 
 and ardour, that the battalion of the Count d'Anjou 
 was defeated ; he himself was on foot among his 
 knights very uncomfortably situated." He was, 
 however, saved by the king, his brother, who drove 
 back the enemy. But out of the seven battalions two 
 were destroyed; the others held their ground, although 
 with severe loss. One of the battalions that were 
 destroyed was commanded by Friar William de 
 Sonnac, Master of the Templars ; he had under him 
 the remnant of his men-at-arms who had survived 
 the severe battle on Shrove Tuesday. As this was 
 but a weak battalion, he had made a sort of rampart 
 along his front, of the engines that had been taken 
 from the enemy, and the Templars had added to 
 them many planks of fir-wood ; but this was of no 
 avail. The Saracens burnt them with their Greek 
 
44 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 fire, and seeing there were but few to oppose them, 
 vigorously attacked the Templars, and defeated them 
 in a short time. " In the rear of the Templars there 
 was about an acre of ground, so covered with bolts, 
 javelins, arrows, and missiles, that the earth could 
 scarcely be seen beneath them," such showers of them 
 had been discharged against the Templars by the 
 enemy. The commander of this battalion had lost 
 an eye in the preceding battle of Shrove Tuesday ; in 
 this he lost the other eye, and was at last slain." The 
 battalion of the Count de Poitiers was composed of 
 infantry ; the count alone was mounted. The Turks 
 defeated and well-nigh destroyed this battalion, and 
 took the count prisoner ; but he was rescued and 
 the enemy repulsed. 
 
 The battalion next to the Count de Poitiers was 
 commanded by Sir Josserant de Brangon. This was 
 the weakest of all, and consisted of dismounted men, 
 only De Brangon and his son being mounted. The 
 Turks broke through this battalion in all parts, and 
 would have utterly destroyed it had not Sir H. de 
 Cone saved it by heavy volleys from his cross-bow- 
 men from the other side of the Bahr-es-Sogheyer. But 
 De Brangon himself was slain, and out of the twenty 
 knights he had with him, twelve were killed, and a 
 great number of his men-at-arms. 
 
 The Muslim attack had partially failed, but the 
 position of the French army had now become very 
 critical. Further advance was impossible — to remain 
 where they were was destruction ; and their inactivity 
 under the circumstances is quite inexplicable ! It was 
 
1 
 
 -"^ fe3 
 
 C Ka.'*r>xv»t 
 
 w 
 
 r^ 
 
 riin A^ c >^ CAf^f 
 
 4/ 
 
 AT 
 
 Z 
 T 
 
 3^^"^« 
 
 tr «> t- 
 
 
 /l2>.T<.so%iivaK 
 
 ^ 
 
 <■- A /V a L 
 
 j\ $» noo A/ 
 
 /"r) BAHfi •iOtfWfVfl* 
 
 Battalion of Count d'Anjou 
 
 (broken and defeated). 
 „ Sir Guy d'Ibelin. 
 
 ,, Sir W. de Sonnac 
 
 (destroyed). 
 
 4. Battalion of Sir Guy de Malvoisin. 
 
 5. ,, Earl of Flanders. 
 
 6. ,, Count de Poitiers 
 
 (destroyed). 
 
 7. Battalion of Sir J. de Brancon 
 
 (broken and defeat 
 
 8. ,, Sir H. de Cone 
 
 (Kmg's Arbaletrit 
 
 9. King's Reserve (behind the line 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 45 
 
 of a piece with the waste of time in Cyprus and the 
 fatal delay at Damietta. Every day their condition 
 became worse ; for now a deadly sickness had broken 
 out in their camp. The dead had been thrown into 
 the Nile and the canal, as the readiest way to dis- 
 pose of them. But after a few days they began to 
 rise to the surface, and Joinville gives a ghastly 
 description of the appearance of the river and canal ; 
 they were literally covered with the floating bodies of 
 those slain in " these two marvellously sharp and 
 severe battles." 
 
 A small wooden bridge had been hastily thrown 
 over the canal by the Crusaders, but its arches were 
 very low, and soon they were literally choked with 
 the dead bodies that the current was continually 
 bringing into the canal. The king employed at high 
 pay a number of men to draw out of the water and 
 to bury the bodies of the Christians ; the Muslim 
 dead were thrust under the arches to be borne away 
 by the stream. It must have been a gruesome service I 
 
 Soon fever and dysentery prevailed, and a little 
 later, as provisions became scarce, scurvy of a most 
 fatal type appeared, so that the army had a very 
 great number of sick. The Arab chroniclers mention 
 that even the horses died ; still no attempt at retreat 
 seems to have been made ! 
 
 On the nineteenth day after the battle (February 24) 
 Turan Shah arrived at Mansura. He was at once 
 acknowledged as sultan. Schejer-ed-Durr resigned 
 her authority into his hands, and the death of Nejm- 
 ed-Din was announced. 
 
46 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 The new sultan at once carried out a plan to 
 starve the French army, and force the king to sur- 
 render at discretion. Hitherto communication between 
 Damietta and the French camp had been uninter- 
 rupted. Turan Shah ordered that some of the Turkish 
 war galleys should be carried overland and launched 
 on the canal of Mahalla, whence they could enter the 
 Nile further down, and so cut the communications 
 of the invaders with their fleet. These galleys were 
 probably carried from the Nile at Samanoud, overland 
 to the great canal now called the Bahr Shebin, which 
 issues from the canal of Mahalla a little to the south 
 of the town of that name. In 1249 this latter canal 
 communicated with the Nile a long distance down 
 stream by means of a side canal, which debouched 
 into the main stream. 
 
 Here the Turkish galleys lay in ambush watching 
 for the French provision convoys on the river. At 
 the present day there are several circuitous com- 
 munications below Mahalla, between this canal of 
 Shebin and the Damietta branch of the Nile. In a 
 short time the Turks captured two convoys, contain- 
 ing more than eighty provision ships ; the crews of 
 the captured vessels were killed. At once severe 
 scarcity, and soon even famine, prevailed in the 
 French camp. The simplicity of Joinville is almost 
 pathetic in his account of this. ''These villainous 
 Turks had drawn their galleys overland, and launched 
 them again below our army, so that those who had 
 gone to Damietta for provisions never returned, to the 
 great astonishment of us all ! We could not imagine 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 47 
 
 the reason for this, until one of the galle3'-s of the Earl 
 of Flanders, which had forced a passage, informed us 
 how the sultan had launched his vessels below us, by- 
 drawing them overland, so that the Turks watched 
 all galleys coming from Damietta, and had already- 
 captured fourscore of ours, and killed their crews." 
 
 No doubt the king and such of his knights as were 
 in health and unwounded, might have escaped ; but 
 he was of a soul too noble to forsake his people 
 under such a calamity. Negotiations for a truce were 
 opened with the new sultan, but the demands of the 
 Crusaders were preposterous under the circumstances. 
 They offered to surrender Damietta and to quit Egypt, 
 on condition that Jerusalem and certain other towns 
 in Palestine should be ceded to them ; but their 
 proposals were rejected. 
 
 It was evident now that the crusading host was in 
 dire peril of utter destruction. Yet another inexplic- 
 able delay seems to have taken place. At last the 
 king decided upon a retreat ; no other course was 
 possible. Orders, therefore, were given that all the 
 troops on the south of the Bahr-es-Sogheyer should 
 be first withdrawn. Whilst this was being done they 
 were vigorously attacked by the Turks, but the stores 
 and baggage were first carried over — then the king 
 and his division crossed, and the rest of the army 
 after him. The rearguard was so hard pressed by 
 the enemy, that it would have been cut off had not 
 the Count d'Anjou and a picked force of knights 
 saved it. Negotiations were reopened with the sultan, 
 but he was well aware of the straits to which the 
 
4^ THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 French army was reduced, and demanded now what 
 security they would offer for the surrender of Damietta. 
 It was proposed that he should detain one of the 
 king's brothers as prisoner ; but the Turks refused 
 to accept any other hostage than the king himself. 
 To this demand Sir Geoffrey de Sergines, the king's 
 envoy, replied that the Turks should never have the 
 king's person, and that he would rather they should 
 all be slain than it should be said they had given 
 their king in pawn. 
 
 So matters remained for a very short time longer. 
 But the famine grew ever more severe, and the 
 ravages of disease became so awful in the army, 
 that the king perceived he could no longer remain 
 where he was without perishing — himself as well as 
 his army. He refused to live on board his galley, 
 and he endured the same privations and horrors as 
 his people, for he said he had rather die than abandon 
 them. Accordingly he gave final orders that the 
 sick should be carried on board the galleys to be 
 conveyed to Damietta. But no account seems to 
 have been taken of the Turkish galleys, now in pos- 
 session of the Nile below the French camp, which 
 would infallibly cut off and capture every one of the 
 retreating galleys. 
 
 Never was army in a more desperate position ! 
 Food had almost entirely failed ; they were encum- 
 bered with a great multitude of sick ; their horses 
 had nearly all died ; the finest part of the troops 
 were slain or disabled. They were unable to 
 advance, even had they the spirit to do so, in face 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 49 
 
 of an enemy flushed with victory and inflamed with 
 religious hatred ; negotiations had failed ; nothing 
 remained but a retreat full of extreme danger, unless 
 they decided to surrender at discretion. The king 
 himself was ill of dysentery, and so weak that he 
 was unable to mount his war-horse, and was obliged 
 to ride a small easy-paced charger. Even his orders 
 were not executed, and the fatal fault was committed 
 of leaving undestroyed the bridge over the Bahr-es- 
 Sogheyer, thus affording a ready passage to enemies 
 alert and active, who now felt confident of success, 
 and would push their advantage to the uttermost. 
 It was another instance of the astonishing negligence, 
 and the ignorance of the first rudiments of the art 
 of war, which marked this campaign on the part of 
 the Crusaders ! The only line of retreat was along 
 the high earthen causeway by which the Nile was 
 bordered ; for the fields and open country were cut 
 up by canals and watercourses, and were full of 
 scattered parties of the enemy. The retreat began 
 " on the eve of the octave of Easter," i,e, on the night 
 of April 5, 1250. The Arab historians relate that 
 the French left tents, baggage, and all the " materiel " 
 of the army ; that the spoil was immense, but did 
 not delay the pursuit in the least. The Turkish 
 army pressed on all night, and at daybreak came 
 up with the fugitives. The rear-guard, under Sir 
 Walter de Chatillon, no doubt did what was possible 
 to cover the retreat, but all was in vain ! Perhaps 
 few of us have had personal experience of the horrors 
 of a retreat before a victorious enemy, even though 
 
 E 
 
50 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 it might have been a civilized one ; but most persons 
 have read of such retreats. 
 
 We can imagine, then, the dreadful position of 
 this unfortunate army — men sinking from fatigue or 
 wounds, and at once put to the sword ; the desperate 
 rallies in vain attempts to stem the tide of disaster ; 
 the awful sights and sounds ; the cries and groans ; 
 the crush of horsemen, foot soldiers, and camp fol- 
 lowers, desperately struggling onwards, in confusion 
 inextricable ! 
 
 The pursuit, we are told, was continued as far as 
 Farescour, two-thirds of the way to Damietta, till 
 even the enemy became weary of slaughter ! The 
 Arab chroniclers declare that some thirty thousand 
 of the Crusaders perished — no doubt a great exaggera- 
 tion — but if the loss amounted to even half that 
 number it is a terrible total ! An immense number 
 of prisoners was captured. The survivors had before 
 them the hard choice between abjuring their religion 
 and either death or slavery. 
 
 Joinville heard from the king himself an account 
 of his capture as follows : " The king had quitted his 
 own battalion and men-at-arms, and with Sir Geoffrey 
 de Sergines had joined the battalion of Sir Walter 
 de Chatillon, who commanded the rear division. He 
 was mounted on a small charger, and of all his men- 
 at-arms there was with him only the good knight 
 Sir Geoffrey de Sergines, who attended him as far 
 as the town of Kasel, where the king was taken 
 prisoner. But I heard say, that before the Turks 
 could take him, Sir Geoffrey de Sergines defended him 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 5I 
 
 as a faithful servant defends the cup of his master 
 from flies ; for every time the enemy approached he 
 guarded the king by vigorous blows with the edge 
 and point of his sword, and it seemed as if his 
 courage and strength had been doubled." By great 
 exertions he brought the king as far as the town of 
 Kasel ; * but it was not possible to go further, for 
 it seemed every moment as if the king would die. 
 Accordingly they dismounted at a place called Miniet 
 Abu Abdallah, some miles to the north of Mansura 
 (the place is still marked on the map as Bedallah). 
 Here they were surrounded by the enemy, and 
 resistance being hopeless, the whole party surrendered 
 on a promise that their lives should be spared. They 
 were about five hundred in number, most of them 
 knights and noblemen. Immediately the king was 
 placed on board a galley and carried to Mansura, 
 where he was confined in the house of Ibrahim ibn 
 Lokman, secretary to the sultan. He was chained, 
 and placed in the custody of the Eunuch Sahil (or 
 Saleh), who was ordered to treat him in other respects 
 with the consideration due to his exalted rank. 
 
 This house is still shown, or rather its remains. 
 The room in which Louis IX. was confined is on 
 the ground floor, abutting on the great mosque El- 
 Muaffi, near the middle of the town. It is small, 
 only about four meters square, built of baked bricks, 
 unplastered, and communicates with the street by 
 a single door. More than a quarter of a century ago 
 I visited Mansura, and made inquiries for the place. 
 
 * I cannot identify this place with any town marked on the map. 
 
52 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 But at that time no one of the residents, whether 
 native or foreign, could give me information concern- 
 ing it. No one of those to whom I applied seemed 
 even to have heard of S. Louis. Certainly in the 
 East tradition has deservedly great weight ; but can 
 it be that this house has been " discovered," in response 
 to the inquiries made for it ? Its genuineness, or the 
 reverse, do not, however, invalidate the facts. 
 
 The victory which Turan Shah had gained was 
 so brilliant that he was eager to make it known to 
 all his subjects. He wrote with his own hand a letter 
 in the following terms, to the Emir Jemal-ed-Din 
 Yaghmour, Governor of Damascus. " Thanks be to 
 the All-Powerful, who has changed our grief* into 
 joy ! It is to Him alone we owe the victory. The 
 favours which he has condescended to shower upon 
 us are innumerable, but this last is the most precious ! 
 You will announce to the people of Damascus, or 
 rather to all Muslims, that God has enabled us to 
 gain a complete victory over the Christians at the 
 moment they had conspired our ruin. We opened 
 our treasury, and distributed money and arms to 
 our faithful soldiers. We had called to our succour 
 the Arab tribes, and a numberless multitude of 
 soldiers had ranged themselves under our standards. 
 In the night, between the second and third day of 
 the year, our enemies abandoned their camp, with 
 all their baggage, and marched towards Damietta. 
 In spite of the darkness we pursued them, and thirty 
 thousand of them were left dead on the field, not 
 including those who flung themselves into the Nile. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 55 
 
 We have besides slain our very numerous prisoners,, 
 and thrown their bodies into the river. Their king 
 had retreated to Minieh. He had implored our 
 clemency, and we have granted him his life, and paid 
 him all the honours due to his rank. We have 
 regained Damietta." The sultan sent with this letter 
 the king's cap, which had fallen in his flight. It was 
 of scarlet, lined with fine fur. The Governor of 
 Damascus, when he read to the public the sultan's 
 letter, put the king's cap on his own head, and in 
 reply sent to the sultan the following couplet : — 
 
 (( 
 
 God without doubt destines for you the conquest of the universe, 
 Who can disbelieve it, when your slaves already clothe themselves 
 with the spoils which you take from kings ? " 
 
 Another poet wrote — 
 
 ** The cap of the Frenchman was whiter than paper, 
 Our sabres have dyed it with the blood of the enemy, and have 
 changed its colour." 
 
 Another poet, Jemal-ed-Din ben Matroub, com- 
 posed the following verses on the departure of the 
 King of France : — 
 
 "Bear to the King of France, when you shall see him, these words, 
 traced by a partisan of truth. 
 
 ** The death of the servants of the Messiah has been the reward 
 given to you by God. 
 
 *' You have landed in Egypt thinking to take possession of it. You 
 have imagined that it was only peopled by cowards ; you who are a 
 drum filled with wind. 
 
 **You thought that the moment for destroying the Muslims was 
 arrived, and this false idea smoothed in your mind every difficulty. 
 
 *' By your excellent conduct you have abandoned your soldiers on 
 the plains of Egypt, and the tomb has gaped under their feet. 
 
(C 
 
 54 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 "What now remains of the seventy thousand who accompanied you? 
 Dead, wounded, and prisoners ! 
 
 " May God inspire you often with similar designs ! They will cause 
 the ruin of all Christians, and Egypt will no longer have anything to 
 ■dread from their rage. 
 
 "Without doubt your priests announced victories to you! Their 
 predictions were false. 
 
 Refer yourselves to a more enlightened oracle. 
 Should the desire of revenge urge you to return to Egypt, be 
 assured the house of Lokman still remains — the chain is ready, and 
 the eunuch awake ! " 
 
 Saad-ed-Din, a contemporary writer, states that 
 if the King of France had pleased he might have 
 escaped, but that this prince never abandoned his 
 troops, nor ceased from animating them to the 
 combat. 
 
 On the whole, the sultan treated his illustrious 
 prisoner decently ; for there was a majesty and noble- 
 ness about him, amidst all his humiliation, that 
 inspired respect. But if some mercy was shown to 
 the king and nobles from whom good ransoms might 
 be expected, it did not extend to the other unfor- 
 tunate prisoners. 
 
 Makrizi writes : " The number of slaves was so 
 great that it was embarrassing, and the sultan gave 
 orders to Sayf-ed-Din Yussuf to put them to death* 
 Every night this minister of his master's cruel ven- 
 geance brought from three hundred to four hundred 
 of the prisoners from their places of confinement, 
 and after he had caused them to be beheaded, their 
 bodies were thrown into the Nile. The sultan had 
 at first spared the artisans and handicraftsmen, in- 
 tending to make use of their services ; but afterwards 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 55 
 
 he yielded to the instances of the artisans of Cairo, 
 and made no distinction between them and the 
 other prisoners." 
 
 Joinville writes : " A number of knights and other 
 men were confined in a large court surrounded with 
 walls of mud. The guards of this prison led them 
 out one at a time, and asked each if he would become 
 a renegado. Those that answered in the affirmative 
 were put aside, but those that refused were at once 
 beheaded." 
 
 This happened near the tent in which were the 
 barons of France. The names of these latter were 
 written down by a secretary ; then " a rich Saracen " 
 (probably he means "richly dressed") "led us into 
 another tent, where we had miserable cheer." The 
 courtyard in which the prisoners of meaner rank had 
 been confined was no doubt the large enclosure with 
 walls of sun-dried brick which is attached to every 
 " esbeh " or " farm " in Lower Egypt. Very many 
 prisoners did apostatise. I have read, and also heard 
 it stated by persons who had long resided in the 
 neighbourhood of Mansura, that in the district around 
 that town the population yet shows marked indica- 
 tions of a large admixture of European blood, owing, 
 it is supposed, to the settlement there of these men. 
 The treatment of the prisoners seems to modern 
 ideas very dreadful ! The wars of the Middle 
 Ages were usually merciless, and the wars of religion 
 were especially ruthless. Yet probably much the 
 same fate would have befallen the Muslims had 
 the Crusaders prevailed ; and we know that the 
 
S6 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 Albigenses and other European heretics, against 
 whom Crusades were preached, suffered the greatest 
 cruelties. Many years after this time this very Count 
 d'Anjou, the brother of St. Louis, behaved in the 
 most inhuman manner to his enemies and the enemies 
 of the Roman See in Italy, Sicily, and Provence. 
 But he was of a very different nature from his sainted 
 brother. 
 
 Yet amidst the general savagery instances of pity 
 and mercy were displayed. Joinville himself had 
 gone on board his galley, and tried to make his way 
 down the river. Towards daybreak, in the midst of 
 a violent gale of wind from the south,* they reached 
 the mouth of the Mehalla Canal, where the sultan's 
 galleys lay blocking the river. There the galley ran 
 on a mud-bank. Four of the large Turkish galleys, 
 having fully a thousand men on board, approached, 
 and one of them anchored athwart the stranded 
 galley. Joinville was saved by a Saracen, a subject 
 of the Emperor Frederic II. — probably a Sicilian 
 Muslim — who swam to Joinville's galley and urged 
 him to leap into the river, while the captors were 
 busy with the crew, as being the only way to save 
 his life. A rope was thrown to him from the enemy's 
 vessel ; this was tied to him, and in the confusion 
 he managed to leap overboard. He was too weak 
 to swim, but was helped by the kind-hearted Saracen, 
 and was thus drawn up into the Turkish galley. 
 
 * No doubt a violent " khamsin," as it is called in Egypt, which 
 sometimes blows with great violence during the spring and early 
 summer. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 5/ 
 
 Again, on shore, the same Saracen saved him. " The 
 knife," he says, " was at my throat, but this man 
 flung his arms about me, crying out, ^The king's 
 cousin ! the king's cousin ! ' " 
 
 When brought before the Saracen officers on shore, 
 they treated him with kindness, and for the moment 
 his life was safe ; but he witnessed the slaughter of 
 all who were sick or weak, and when he represented 
 to them — we must suppose through the friendly 
 Saracen — that Salcih-ed-Din would never have 
 allowed such deeds, he was coolly told that "they 
 were destroying men who were of no use, for 
 they were too sick to do any service." His 
 relationship to the Emperor Frederic II. stood him 
 here in good stead ; for the Muslims of Egypt 
 and Syria had a deep respect and regard for 
 Frederic II. 
 
 In the mean time negotiations were being carried 
 on both with the king and separately with the chief 
 nobles of the army. But it was beyond the king's 
 power to comply with the demands of the sultan ; 
 for he insisted upon the surrender of some of the 
 fortresses in the Holy Land, or of those belonging 
 to the Templars or the Knights of Rhodes. Threats 
 were used that the king should be put to the torture ; 
 but he was unmoved, and told them that as he was 
 their prisoner, they might do with him what they' 
 pleased. Finally it was agreed that Damietta and 
 its contents should be given up, and that the queen 
 — who was there — should pay a ransom of a million 
 of gold bezants — equal then to 500,000 gold livres 
 
58 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 (about ^575,000).* The King of France proudly 
 declared that he would pay this sum for the ransom 
 of his people, but that the ransom for himself should 
 be the city of Damietta and its contents ; for that 
 he was of a rank so exalted that his ransom could 
 not be estimated at a money value. We can imagine 
 the polite but cynical smiles: of the victors at this ! 
 Still they admired the valour and high spirit of the 
 king, as the following anecdote proves. "When the 
 sultan heard the good disposition of the king, he 
 
 * I owe to Mr. H. C. Kay the following remarks on the value of 
 the "dinar " and " dirhem " : — 
 
 "The quantity of the precious metals contained in the earlier Arab 
 ■coins has varied so much at different times that it has been found 
 almost impossible to arrive at any positive conclusions. The first Arab 
 coinage is attributed by the early Arab historians to the Ommayad 
 Khalifeh Abd-el-Melik ben Merwan — a.h. 65-86 = a.d. 684-705. 
 Before that time it is said that the Muhammedans depended for their 
 coinage upon the Byzantine mints ; but Abd-el-Melik ordered the 
 coinage of dinars and dirhems in the proportionate weight of seven 
 dinars to ten dirhems. Large numbers of the early dinars are in 
 existence. Their weight is about 65 grains, and the gold is of extreme 
 purity. The value of the dinar would therefore be about lis. to 
 IIS. 6d. of modern English money. There were 20 dirhems to the 
 dinar. The relative value, therefore^ of silver and gold was about 
 14 to I. This is interesting at the present day, when so much is said 
 and written about bimetallism. The dinar was practically of the same 
 weight and value as the byzant. In later times, and especially when 
 the empire of the Khalifehs was split up into separate states, which, to 
 all intents and purposes, were independent of each other, w^e find great 
 discrepancies in the coinage. The question has not been thoroughly 
 studied, and perhaps no materials exist for arriving at a clear con- 
 clusion. Down to the end of the Fatimite dynasty, Abd-el-Melik's 
 dinars seem to have been well maintained in point of weight and 
 value. As a rule, when a sum in dinars is mentioned without a 
 qualifying adjective or some other circumstance, it is fairly safe to 
 understand, that coin of the original weight and value of Abd-el-Melik 
 is meant ; but even this is subject to many exceptions. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 59 
 
 said, 'By my faith, this Frenchman is generous and 
 liberal, since he does not condescend to bargain 
 about so large a sum of money, but has at once 
 complied with the first demand ! Go and tell him, 
 from me, that I make him a present of 200,000 
 pieces, so that he will have to pay only 800,000.' " 
 Thus, in admiration of his prisoner's magnanimity, 
 the sultan reduced the ransom — unsolicited — by one- 
 fifth. Then the king and the prisoners of note were 
 conveyed to Farescour en route for Damietta. All 
 seemed arranged ; but from what afterwards trans- 
 pired, and from the admissions later on of the emirs? 
 the sultan had no intention of liberating his prisoners, 
 but had resolved that, after Damietta had been 
 surrendered, he would behead them all without 
 distinction — the king as well as the others ! 
 
 But their lives were saved by a sudden and sur- 
 prising revolution. It came to pass in the following 
 manner. Turan Shah had inherited the stern and 
 haughty temper of his father, Nejm-ed-Din ; and his 
 gloomy suspicious character had, even thus early, 
 estranged the Egyptian nobles. He had brought 
 with him from Huns-Keifah,* a number of young 
 favourites, and these speedily excited the jealousy of 
 the emirs, many of whom Turan Shah had dis- 
 missed from their offices and dignities, in order to 
 make room for these strangers. Instead of grati- 
 tude, he showed only suspicion and distrust towards 
 the men who had just repelled a most formidable 
 
 * This is now an inconsiderable place between Mardin and Diar- 
 bekir — at that time a town of importance. 
 
6o THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 invasion, and whose loyalty towards himself had been 
 proved by their proclamation of him as sultan while 
 he was yet absent at a distance of several weeks* 
 journey. 
 
 He had promised the governorship of Alexandria 
 to Aktai the Atabek, but had not kept his promise, 
 and had thus made a formidable enemy. His young 
 favourites excited his rancour against the sultana 
 and the emirs, by repeating to him that he was but 
 in name sultan, all real power was in their hands, and 
 at that rate he had better have remained in Meso- 
 potamia. They urged him to come to terms with 
 the King of France, who would give up Damietta, 
 and quit Egypt. Then he could be independent of 
 the emirs, and could dispense with their services. 
 Besides this breach with the chiefs of the army, grave 
 dissensions arose between him and Schejer-ed-Durr. 
 Although she had served him most loyally, and 
 although he owed to her his own throne and the 
 salvation of Egypt from foreign enemies, he began to 
 harass her by demanding an account of the moneys 
 of the State, of the sums left in the treasury by 
 Nejm-ed-Din, and of the private treasure of the late 
 sultan. 
 
 The sultana indignantly declared that the money 
 had been expended for the public service, in the 
 sacred war against the infidels. Then, alarmed for 
 her liberty and life, she complained to the Bahri 
 emirs who were devoted to her, and moreover in 
 dread of him on their own account ; for Turan 
 Shah, besides the other repulsive features in his 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 6l 
 
 character, was addicted to drink and debauchery, 
 and they were not ignorant that in his cups, and 
 among his boon companions, he would utter the 
 most imprudent threats against them — that at the 
 evening meal, for instance, he would cut off with his 
 sabre the tops of the tapers, crying out at each 
 stroke, " Thus will I serve such and such an one ! " 
 naming the principal officers of the army. They 
 resolved, therefore, to make away with him before 
 the surrender of Damietta — for they perceived that 
 this would place themselves in his power. At Farescour 
 on the Nile, eighteen to twenty miles above Damietta, 
 he had caused a handsome pavilion to be constructed, 
 with an enclosure, a bathing-place, and towers of 
 wood, one higher than the rest and close to the river. 
 Those who have resided in Egypt will no doubt 
 remember the skilful manner in which, on occasion 
 of marriages or public festivities, large spaces of 
 ground are covered in by means of scaffolding and 
 linen tent-cloths, variegated and ornamental. Filled 
 with coloured lights, and lined with oriental carpets, 
 these erections form a spacious and pleasant shelter 
 in the mild and usually rainless climate of Egypt. 
 The pavilion of Turan Shah must have been some- 
 what of the same nature as these.* On May ist, 
 
 * Whenever the sultan went on a campaign, an elaborate provision 
 of tents was carried with him. There was a large vestibule or salk 
 d'entree^ called the dehliz. In this the sultan held his audiences, sat 
 to receive ambassadors, envoys, guests, etc. Behind this was the 
 shtikhat, a very large round tent used for special audiences, assemblies 
 of the emirs, etc. Last came a similar tent called the ladjouk, and 
 in this was a portable wooden chamber, for a sleeping-place. Each 
 
62 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 after breakfasting with some of his officers, Turaii 
 Shah had retired to his pavilion to rest, when one of 
 the emirs — said to have been Beybars, the com- 
 mander of the Bahris — suddenly entered and with 
 his sabre struck a blow at the sultan's head. Turan 
 Shah parried the blow with his arm, but his hand was 
 cut through between the fingers. Then he fainted. 
 The assailant, when he saw the sultan's blood, was 
 terrified at his own deed, and fled from the pavilion, 
 flinging down the sabre, or dropping it in his haste 
 to escape. Soon the alarm was given, and a crowd 
 of officers and attendants rushed in. When they 
 asked the sultan who had wounded him, he replied 
 that it was " one of the Bahris." They said, *' Pro- 
 bably it was an Ismaeli." " No ! " he replied, *' I 
 am sure it was a Bahri." This sealed his fate. The 
 Mamlilks then saw that it was either his life or 
 their own ! 
 
 Turan Shah was removed to the tower, and his 
 wound was dressed ; but soon a number of the 
 Mamluks, with Aktai at their head, surrounded the 
 tower and called on him to come down. In vain he 
 tried to move them to pity, by offering to perform 
 his promise of giving to Aktai the governorship of 
 
 tent was surrounded by a fence, called the halkah. Sentries and 
 patrols guarded the encampment, and in the dehliz the eunuch servants 
 {nakib) slept. 
 
 Makrizi, in his "Life of the Sultan Beybars," mentions a *' tent- 
 mosque " made of pieces of canvas cut into suitable shape {mufazzeldt)^ 
 with a prayer-niche (jnihrah\ and a lattice-screen {maksura) arranged 
 for it. This was intended as the sultan's private chapel, to be set up 
 on the right side of his tent during his campaigns. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 63 
 
 Alexandria, and by declaring his willingness to 
 abdicate, and entreating them to let him return to 
 Huns Keifa. Fear for themselves hardened their 
 hearts; and, as he would not give himself up, they 
 sent for some Greek fire, and threw it upon the 
 tower. Then the sultan ran out towards the Nile, 
 perhaps hoping to swim to one of his galleys ; but he 
 was overtaken and killed in the water, close to the 
 galley in which Joinville was, who himself saw the 
 whole affair. 
 
 Although the entire army knew what was going 
 on, no movement in his favour took place. During 
 his short stay among them he had managed to make 
 himself generally hated. Amongst the soldiery only 
 one attempt was made to save him. Hossam-ed- 
 Din, emir of the Kei'meri Mamluks, interceded for 
 him ; but the Bahris drew their swords, and cried out 
 fhat the sultan was dead. The deputy (na'ib) of 
 the Khalifeh of Bagdad was in the camp, and he also 
 interposed in the sultan's favour ; but he was arrested 
 and threatened with death if he interfered. One 
 Arab chronicler states that the Mamluks threatened 
 to withdraw Egypt from the spiritual authority of 
 the Khalifeh, if the deputy interfered — meaning by 
 this that they would carry over the Egyptian people 
 to the heretical sect of the Alides ; and this was not 
 altogether an empty threat, for before the accession 
 of Salah-ed-Din in 1171 (A.H. 564), the Egyptians had 
 been for several centuries, sectaries of Ali, and their 
 rulers were Fatimite Khalifehs of the Ommayad line. 
 The dead body of the sultan was left unburied on 
 
•64 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 the river-bank for two days, then it was interred by- 
 some " derveeshes." With Turan Shah ended the 
 Ayoubi dynasty. 
 
 Thenceforward the history of Egypt presents, with 
 rare exceptions, a series of sultans who ruled over a 
 military oligarchy — turbulent, treacherous, and cruel. 
 A large proportion of them met with a violent death 
 at the hands of their own Mamluks, or of the dis- 
 affected nobles. Only three maintained themselves 
 on the throne to the end of their natural life. To 
 retain an elevation so slippery as the throne of 
 Egypt, exceptional qualities were needed ! 
 
 Immediately after the sultan's death, one of his 
 murderers came to the king, having his hands still 
 stained with the sultan's blood, and asked, *'What 
 wilt thou give me, who have slain thine enemy, who, 
 had he lived, would have slain thee? " But the king 
 made no answer whatever to this demand. 
 
 The galley on which were Joinville and many 
 other of the French nobles, was boarded by a number 
 of these desperate men, who came with their swords 
 drawn, and battle-axes hung on their necks.* When 
 they came on board, Joinville asked Sir Baldwin 
 d'Ebelin, "who understood Saracenic" (i.e. Arabic), 
 what they were saying. He replied that they were 
 come " to cut off our heads," Shortly after I saw a 
 large body of our men on board "confessing them- 
 selves" to a monk of La Trinite, who had accom- 
 panied the Count of Flanders. "With regard to 
 
 * These were the short but heavy steel axes or maces, a common arm 
 of the Oriental cavalry at that age. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 65 
 
 myself, I no longer thought of any sin or evil I had 
 done, but that I was about to receive my death. In 
 consequence, I fell on my knees ; Sir Guy d'Ebelin, 
 Constable of Cyprus, knelt beside me and confessed 
 himself to me, and I gave him such absolution as 
 God was pleased to grant me the power of bestowing. 
 But of all the things he said to me, when I rose up- 1 
 could not remember one of them." 
 
 The Mamluks seemed resolved to slay all the 
 prisoners, for they confined them in the hold of the 
 galley, and laid them (as JoinviJle describes it) 
 " heads and heels together." All night the prisoners 
 remained in this uncomfortable position. " I had my 
 feet (he says) right on the face of Count Peter of 
 Brittany, and his feet were beside my face." How- 
 ever, on the morrow they were released, and told 
 they might renew the treaty made with the late 
 sultan. Yet easier terms, even, were accepted. It 
 was arranged that before the king should be permitted 
 to leave Egypt, the queen, who was still at Damietta, 
 should pay down 400,000 gold dinars — amounting to 
 about ;^2 30,000 — the remainder of the ransom to be 
 sent from Acre ; and as security, the Egyptians would 
 retain all the sick that were in Damietta, with the 
 stores and arms in the place belonging to the king. 
 
 Joinville tells a strange story to the effect that the 
 emirs in their council had proposed to offer the 
 sultanate of Egypt to King Louis ; and that the offer 
 was not made simply because of their conviction 
 that he would never consent to abjure his religion ; 
 and that, if he was made their sultan, he would either 
 
 F 
 
66 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 force them to become Christians, or would put them 
 to death. There may possibly have been some 
 such rumour, but it was certain that they never would 
 have chosen any but a Muhammedan for their 
 sovereign. Joinville writes, "The king one day 
 asked me if I was of opinion that if the kingdom of 
 Babylon (Cairo) had been offered him, he ought to 
 have taken it.'* I answered that, had he accepted it, 
 he would have done a foob'sh thing, seeing they had 
 murdered their lord. Notwithstanding this, the king 
 told me he should scarcely have refused it.'' 
 
 Joinville does not say w/ie7i the king asked him 
 this question. It may have been long after the 
 supposed offer had been bruited abroad, or when the 
 king's judgment of the circumstances had been im- 
 paired by time and forgetfulness. Probably, after all, 
 the story arose simply from some passing admiration 
 of the king's character, extorted by his noble 
 demeanour under his misfortunes ; and by the com- 
 parison tacitly made between the French king — 
 though in their estimation an infidel — and the un- 
 grateful, suspicious, cruel and dissolute sultan whom 
 they had lately put to death. 
 
 All now seemed to be arranged ; but even yet the 
 danger was not over. Each party had to take an 
 oath for the due performance of the stipulated con- 
 ditions ; and a certain " Maitre Nicolle of Acre," 
 who '* knew their manners well," assured the king 
 that the " Saracen knights '' could not possibly take 
 a more binding oath than that which they proffered. 
 But when the king heard the terms of the oath 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 6/ 
 
 expected from himself, which had been drawn up by- 
 certain renegade Christians, he objected to a part of 
 it. This was, ''that if the king broke his word, he 
 should be reputed perjured, as a Christian who had 
 denied God, his baptism, and his faith ; and in despite 
 of God would spit on His Cross and trample it under 
 foot." When the king heard this read, he utterly- 
 refused to take it. Maitre Nicolle was sent for, and 
 told the king that the emirs were very angry, and he 
 felt certain they would behead him and all his people, 
 unless he took the oath as prescribed. Still the king 
 refused. There happened to be in the king's company 
 the Patriarch of Jerusalem, a man of about eighty 
 years of age. He had come under a safe conduct 
 from Turan Shah to intercede with the Saracens for 
 the king ; but according to the evil custom of that age, 
 the safe conduct became void should the prince who 
 granted it die, and the patriarch was now a prisoner. 
 One of the emirs declared that it was the patriarch's 
 advice that prevented the king from taking the oath, 
 and proposed to behead him in the king's presence. 
 The others would not permit this, but they tied the 
 patriarch to a post, and bound his hands behind his 
 back so tightly, that the blood issued from them, and 
 so great was the pain that he entreated the king, 
 '* Ah, sire, sire, swear boldly, for I take the whole sin 
 of it on my own soul, since it is by this means alone 
 you may have the power to fulfil your promise." 
 Joinville significantly adds, " I know not whether the 
 oath was taken at last ; " but however that may be, the 
 *' admirals " at length held themselves satisfied with 
 
68 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 the oaths of the king and his lords then present. 
 Sir Geoffrey de Sergines was sent down to Damietta 
 to surrender the town to the Turks, and as the sur- 
 render took place, the king and all the other prisoners 
 were to be released. 
 
 The conditions agreed upon by oath were that the 
 king before he left the Nile should pay 200,000 livres 
 — the other 200,000 he should pay in Acre. The 
 security for the latter was to be the sick in Damietta, 
 all the armour, stores, war engines, and salted meats * 
 in the place. These were to be given up to the king 
 when he should have paid the balance of his ransom. 
 But when the Egyptians entered the place they 
 utterly disregarded these conditions. They slew all 
 the sick, they began to drink the wine they found, 
 '* so that the greater part of them were drunk ; *' 
 finally they smashed up the war engines, stores, and 
 ^' materiel " of all kinds, made a vast heap of it, and 
 set it on fire. "It was not extinct for three days." 
 
 The emirs being now in possession of Damietta, 
 began again to deliberate whether it would not be 
 advisable to kill the king and the other prisoners. 
 One of the emirs urged, "Let us kill them all, and 
 we shall have no fear for the next forty years ; for 
 their children are young, and we have possession of 
 Damietta." Some of them agreed with this ; others 
 opposed it as disloyal and iniquitous. Then the first 
 speaker produced his Kuran and quoted from it. He 
 said they had indeed been to blame for killing their 
 
 * The Muslims never eat of these "salted meats." Probably they 
 .consisted in great part of salted pork. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 69 
 
 sultan, ** for that was contrary to the law of 
 Muhammed, who had commanded them to guard 
 their sovereign as the apple of their eye ; " then he 
 showed them the commandment written in the book 
 which he held in his hand. '* But," added he, '^ listen, 
 my lords, to another commandment," and turning 
 over the leaves of the book he read to them the 
 commandment of Muhammed that for the security of 
 the faith the law permitted the killing of an enemy 
 (ie. I presume, although a promise had been given to 
 spare him). Then turning his speech to his former 
 purpose, he continued, " Now, consider the sin we have 
 committed in killing our sultan against the positive 
 command of our Prophet ; and the great evil we 
 shall again do if we suffer this king to depart and do 
 not put him to death in spite of the assurances of 
 safety he may have had from us, for he is a deadly- 
 enemy to our law and our religion." 
 
 The difference of opinions amongst the emirs was 
 not settled till sunset, but at last the influence of the 
 sultana and the chief persons in the army prevailed 
 upon them not to commit this great cruelty and breach 
 of faith. But Jemal-ed-Din states that it was the 
 attraction of the large ransom, rather than generosity 
 or any sense of shame, that restrained them. The king, 
 escorted by an immense number of armed Saracens, 
 was brought down to Damietta, probably to the river 
 bank below the town, and was finally extricated from 
 the hands of his enemies in a very strange way. 
 
 There happened to be a Genoese galley anchored 
 near the bank opposite the spot where the king 
 
yo THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 passed. Only one man appeared on board, but the 
 moment he saw the king he whistled, and at once 
 some four score cross-bow men, well equipped, with 
 bows bent and arrows fixed, sprang upon the deck 
 from below. The Saracens no sooner saw them than, 
 panic stricken, they rushed off in all directions, 
 leaving the king almost alone. Hastily a plank was 
 put on shore, and the king, his brother, Charles of 
 Anjou, Sergines, JoinviUe himself, and some others, 
 were taken on board. 
 
 The king was now in comparative safety. But his 
 brother, the Count de Poitiers, was still in the hands of 
 the enemy, and he was most anxious to pay the 
 ransom, and recover the captive. 
 
 The money was sent by the queen, who had left 
 Damietta before the town was given up — and the 
 payment of it took up two whole days. The money 
 was paid by weight, each weighing was to the amount 
 of 10,000 gold pieces (about ;£^S7So). Towards the 
 evening of the second day, the king's servants found 
 that they were still 30,000 gold pieces short of the 
 full amount. Joinville advised the king to borrow 
 this sum from the commander of the Knights 
 Templars ; but Father Stephen d'Outricourt, the 
 Master of the Templars, objected, blaming Joinville 
 for making such a suggestion, and threatening that if 
 the king took the money from them by force, they 
 would make themselves amends from the property 
 which the king had in Acre. Joinville, indignant at 
 this menace, asked permission of the king to go on 
 board the Templars' galleys and to take the sum. 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. /I 
 
 He found a locked coffer on board one of them, and 
 as they would not open it he proceeded to break it 
 open with a wedge. Thereupon the key was given 
 up. Joinville took out the sum needed, and brought 
 it away, to the great joy of the king. Then the 
 ransom was paid, and the Count de Poitiers 
 released. 
 
 One more incident marked the king's high and 
 even scrupulous sense of honour. 
 
 Sir Philip de Montfort, one of the king's pay- 
 masters, told him that the Saracens had miscounted 
 one scale weight, and that the error amounted to 
 10,000 gold pieces. At this the king was very angry, 
 and commanded Sir Philip, on the faith he owed him 
 as his liege man, to pay these 10,000 pieces, should 
 they in fact not have been paid, for that he would not 
 leave the river till the last penny of the 200,000 gold 
 pieces had been paid. Then, his oath fulfilled, he 
 sailed in his own galley for Acre on May 7, 1250. 
 
 During the negotiations Hossam-ed-Din had asked 
 the King of France what was the number of his army 
 when he landed at Damietta. The king replied that 
 he had 9500 knights, and 130,000 infantry, including 
 servants and workmen. This number is probably 
 excessive ; either St. Louis over-estimated his force, 
 or the Orientals may have exaggerated the number 
 in order to increase the eclat of their great victory. 
 
 But of all the great crusading host, comparatively 
 few returned to their native land, for we are also told 
 that the prisoners set at liberty amounted to only 
 12,100 men and 10 women; and even of these some 
 
72 THE INVASION OF EGYPT 
 
 had been long in captivity. We must conclude, 
 therefore, that a large number apostatised, and settled 
 in Egypt. 
 
 Such was the sad end of this famous expedition. 
 The crusading spirit was dying out, and doubtless 
 this immense disaster contributed greatly to such an 
 issue. 
 
 For a short time longer the little Latin kingdom in 
 the Holy Land was preserved — chiefly through the 
 effects of the dreadful Tartar invasions of Syria 
 and Egypt, which greatly weakened the Muslim 
 monarchies. But when the valiant Mamluk slaves 
 had once more saved their adopted country, the ruin 
 of the Latins was inevitable ; and forty-one years 
 after the invasion of St. Louis, the Sultan of Egypt, 
 El Ashraf Khalyl — whose beautiful tomb-mosque 
 still exists at Cairo — captured Acre by storm, on 
 May 1 8, 1291, and destroyed the last remnant of 
 Latin authority in the Holy Land. For a time, the 
 long 600-years conflict between the Crescent and the 
 Cross v/as thus brought to an end. But it was soon 
 revived in a form yet more fearful, when the Ottoman 
 arms began to menace Europe. 
 
 The long stay at Acre of Louis IX. after his release 
 from captivity, although full of interesting incidents, 
 yet presents no such tragic episodes as are found in 
 his Egyptian campaign ; and his second crusade — the 
 expedition against Tunis, in which he died — does not 
 come within the scope of this book. Joinville, though 
 earnestly pressed by the king, declined to join his 
 army on that occasion, alleging in excuse the great 
 
BY LOUIS IX. OF FRANCE. 73 
 
 oppression that his vassals had suffered from the 
 officers of the King of France during his absence on 
 the Egyptian crusade, and that he clearly saw they 
 would be utterly ruined should he join another 
 crusade. He mentions also the great detriment which 
 the king's absence from his realm caused ; the 
 perversion of justice, the general lawlessness and 
 insecurity that prevailed, which were indeed remedied 
 by the king's personal presence and care, but " the 
 moment he left France, things began to decline." 
 " Many said that those who advised the crusade to 
 Tunis had been guilty of a great sin," for that so long 
 as the king remained in France everything went on 
 well, and all lived peaceably and in security ; but the 
 moment he left it, the old evils again appeared. 
 
 It is evident that Joinville disapproved of the second 
 adventure, though he does not expressly say so. 
 
 The old warrior cherished the memory of his royal 
 master with a most tender affection, and in his 
 chronicle he lingers in loving recollection over the 
 king's noble and amiable character. His vision of St. 
 Louis in his private chapel at Joinville is a touching 
 instance of this. But the colder and juster judgment 
 of a modern age will doubtless pronounce that the 
 true duties of St. Louis lay at home amongst his 
 subjects ; and that success in Egypt, had it even been 
 obtained, would have been dearly bought at the cost 
 of that national disorganization which invariably 
 resulted, when a mediaeval king quitted his realm, or 
 postponed the duties of his position, to aims which he 
 might consider higher and more sacred. 
 
74 COIN OF SAJARAT-AD-DURR. 
 
 There were great rejoicings in Cairo and through- 
 out Egypt for this splendid victory of the Muslim 
 arms ; and when the troops returned to the capital, 
 the sultana loaded the officers with gifts, and showed 
 them the utmost courtesy and attention, — even the 
 meanest soldiers received rich gratuities. The Emir 
 Aybek was appointed to the command of the army 
 in place of Fares-ed-Din Aktai, who had been Atabek 
 during the war, and this naturally caused a deadly 
 enmity between the two men. But everything was 
 done in the sultana's name. She was proclaimed 
 Queen of Egypt, prayers were offered up for her 
 in the mosques, even money was struck in her 
 name; and she enjoyed all the attributes of 
 sovereignty. 
 
 There is in the British Museum a very interesting 
 gold piece struck during her short reign. It was 
 coined in the mint of Cairo, and bears the date of the 
 Hijra A.H. 648 (A.D. 1250-51). It has on the obverse 
 the title of the reigning Khalifeh, Musta^sim. This 
 was the last Abbaside Khalifeh of Baghdad, and he 
 was cruelly put to death by the Tartar, Holagou 
 Khan, the grandson of Tchinghiz, who captured 
 Baghdad in 1258. 
 
 The reverse of the coin is remarkable. It has this 
 inscription : " The Musta'simiyah the Salehiyah, 
 Queen of the Muslims, Mother of the Victorious 
 King— Khalyl." 
 
 The sultana probably assumed the former title to 
 signify her devotion to the reigning Khalifeh — and 
 the latter from the name of her late husband. Khalyl 
 
QUEEN OF EGYPT. 75 
 
 was the young son of Sajarat-ad-Durr and Nejm-ed- 
 Din Saleh. 
 
 For although the Khalifehs possessed now but a 
 feeble remnant of their former authority, they still 
 exercised a shadowy, undefined spiritual authority 
 over the Muhammedan world, and it was expedient 
 to conciliate the successor of the Prophet. 
 
 The coin referred to bears the following inscrip- 
 tions : — 
 
 Obv. area: "El Musta*sim b'lllah, Abou Ahmed Abdallah, Emir 
 el Muminln." Translation : " He who takes refuge with God, 
 Ahmed Abdallah, Commander of the Faithful (or) Prince of the 
 Believers." 
 
 Obv. circle : " B*issm Illah er rahman er rahym, duriba haza el 
 dinar, b*il Kahirah, senneh thaman w'arbaain wa sette mi*ah. Trans- 
 lation : " In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful, this 
 gold piece was struck at Cairo in the year six hundred and forty and 
 eight" (A.H. 648). 
 
 Rev. area: "El Musta'simtyah el Salehiyah, Melikat el Muslimin, 
 walidat el Melek el Mansour Khalyl." Translation : " The Musta'si- 
 miyah, the Salehlyah, Queen of the Muslims, mother of the Victorious 
 King, Khalyl." 
 
 Below : " Emir," above " el Muslimtn." 
 
 Rev. circle: "La Illah ill' Allah, arsalahu b'il huda wa din il hakk 
 li yuzhirahu 'ala'd'dini kullihi." Translation: "There is no God but 
 Allah. HE hath sent him {i.e. the Khalifeh) with true guidance and 
 the religion of truth, that it may be manifest over all religions." 
 
 The following words are sometimes added, but they 
 do not appear on this coin. 
 
 " Wa lau kariha el mushrikun" (Kuran ix. 33). 
 " Even though the Polytheists be averse thereto.'' 
 
 This verse frequently appears in the old Muham- 
 medan coinage, and is found on coins struck as early 
 as the first century from the Hijrah. 
 
^6 ABDICATION OF THE QUEEN. 
 
 But her deference was of no avail. The Khalifeh, 
 when officially informed of her accession, was indig- 
 nant that a woman had been placed on the throne of 
 Egypt, and wrote to the Mamluks that if there had 
 been no man amongst them fit to become their 
 sultan, he himself would have provided them with a 
 suitable person. '* Know ye not," he wrote, " that our 
 revered Prophet hath said, ' Woe betide a nation that 
 is governed by a woman ? ' " 
 
 Against an opposition so uncompromising it was 
 not possible to struggle, and Schejer-ed-Durr, " after 
 a reign of three months," abdicated in favour of the 
 Emir Aybek. She was content to enjoy the reality 
 of power, careless about the mere appearance 
 of it. 
 
 Izz-ed-Din Aybek was a Turkoman slave, who rose 
 gradually to the rank of emir amongst the Bahris, 
 became " djaschenkir " ("taster") to sultan Nejm-ed- 
 Din — then "Atabek" ("commander-in-chief"), and 
 finally was chosen unanimously by the emirs as their 
 sultan. He had a high reputation for valour, 
 generosity, religious zeal, and consummate prudence ; 
 but his reign showed him to be of a tyrannical 
 and bloodthirsty disposition. He devised exactions, 
 and committed many acts of injustice ; and shed 
 much innocent blood, simply in order to make him- 
 self feared by his subjects. He was elected sultan, 
 and proclaimed under the title of El Moezz Aybek. 
 Then followed his marriage with Schejer-ed-Durr ; 
 but the sultana, although dethroned, was still the 
 virtual ruler of Egypt. She must have been a 
 
INVASION OF THE MONGOLS. TJ 
 
 woman of uncommon ability and resolution, to have 
 maintained her authority over a soldiery so lawless 
 and truculent as the Mamluks. She managed the 
 foreign affairs of Egypt successfully, and the Arab 
 historians do not withhold their admiration of the 
 courage and ability which she displayed in repelling 
 the invasions and confounding the intrigues of the 
 Syrian Muhammedans, who were now allied with the 
 Franks of Palestine against Egypt. 
 
 But the outlook for the new sultan was very 
 gloomy. A fearful invasion of Tartar savages was 
 imminent. Tchinghiz Khan, between the years A.D. 
 1 206-1 227, had conquered and devastated all Northern 
 China. His Chinese engineers had enabled him to 
 reduce the great fortified cities of Central Asia. His 
 innumerable cavalry had overrun all the Muham- 
 medan kingdoms between the Kirghiz steppes and 
 the frontier of Syria, and during the sixty-eight years 
 of his own reign and the reigns of his first four suc- 
 cessors, the people of almost all Eastern Asia and of 
 a great part of Europe had been subdued, and in 
 wide regions well-nigh exterminated ; and now, like 
 a consuming lava-stream, the Mongol hosts, under 
 Holagou (or Holaou), the grandson of Tchinghiz, 
 were advancing upon Syria. In 1258 Baghdad was 
 destroyed by them, and the last Abbaside Khalifeh, 
 Mustassem b* Allah, perished under the clubs of these 
 ferocious savages. 
 
 Wherever the Mongol hordes passed, civilization 
 perished ! They seemed to have no object but purpose- 
 less carnage and arson. Baghdad and, a little later, 
 
78 INVASION OF THE MONGOLS. 
 
 Mosul, Aleppo and Damascus * were taken by storm 
 and their inhabitants slaughtered. Nothing was left of 
 these cities but ruins and heaps of ashes. Only the 
 brave Turkish slaves, who formed the sultan's stand- 
 ing army, saved Cairo from a like fate. By their 
 
 * At the capture of Baghdad a great part of the inhabitants were 
 slain. The survivors escaped in all directions, having lost everything 
 they possessed. After forty days of pillage, slaughter, and every kind 
 of abomination, the savages withdrew, leaving the city a complete 
 ruin. 
 
 In 1259 Mosul surrendered without resistance to a Tartar army ; but 
 suddenly the Mongols burst into the town. No quarter was given. 
 All the males above the age of childhood were slaughtered ; the women 
 and children were reduced to slavery. After nine days of the most 
 horrible atrocities, they left the town a desert mass of ruins. 
 
 In 1260 the Tartars laid siege to Aleppo. The governor refused to 
 surrender, and after seven days' continual assaults the city was carried 
 by storm. For five days the carnage lasted. The survivors, mostly 
 women and children, were reduced to slavery. The citadel held out, 
 but it also was stormed, and together with all the walls of the city 
 was razed to the ground. The very gardens round the town were laid 
 waste, and the once-flourishing city was left a desert covered with ruins. 
 The people of Homs, Hamah, and Damascus, in dread of a like fate, 
 escaped in all directions. So great was the consternation that " one 
 would have thought the day of resurrection had arrived." When Damas- 
 cus surrendered to Gazan Khan, a little later, he laid a heavy fine on the 
 city, and apportioned it amongst the various trade guilds, corporations, 
 and notables of the place. Thus the girdle-makers were assessed at 
 130,000 dirhems (^^5200), the lance-makers, 100,000 dirhems ; copper- 
 workers, 60,000 dirhems. The notables of the city were assessed at 
 400,000 dirhems (^16,000). The money was paid, but that did not 
 save the place ; a general pillage and massacre ensued. The number 
 of people slain in Damascus and the district around it, who were prin- 
 cipally artisans and labourers, was estimated at 100,000 ! This is no 
 doubt an exaggeration, but it implies an immense number. Famine 
 and pestilence followed, and Damascus was ruined for two generations. 
 We may pardon much in the Turkish Mamldks, in consideration 
 of their having saved Egypt from such monsters as these Scythian 
 savages. 
 
TWO SULTANS ELECTED. 79 
 
 great personal valour and superior discipline small 
 numbers of them defeated and destroyed much more 
 numerous bodies of the enemy. But Egypt itself 
 was not assailed until the reign of Koutouz, the suc- 
 cessor of El Moezz. 
 
 Besides this approaching danger, there were 
 rumours of another invasion by the Franks, so that 
 in order to prevent a Frank army from gaining a 
 fresh footing on the coast of Egypt, it was resolved 
 to demolish Damietta, and rebuild it on a site 
 considerably higher up the Nile. But the most 
 pressing care was the invasion by the Muhammedans 
 of Syria, in alliance with the Franks of Palestine. 
 The Sultan of Damascus, Melek Nasir Salah-ed-Din, 
 was the grandson of Saladin. He had inherited from 
 his father the principality of Aleppo ; he had seized 
 the fortress of Horns, and, profiting by the invasion 
 of Louis IX., which prevented the Sultan of Egypt 
 from intervening, he had gained possession of Da- 
 mascus in A.D. 1250; and he hoped that if he could 
 become master of all Syria, the empire of Egypt also 
 might be acquired. The Egyptian emirs, in order 
 to avert or to diminish the danger from this source, 
 resolved unanimously in council to raise to the throne 
 as partner of El Moezz Aybek, a child only six years 
 of age, Melek-el-Ashraf Muzafiir, a prince of the 
 Ayoubi family. ** We are obliged to associate with 
 El Moezz a member of the royal family, in order 
 that the sultan's authority may be acknowledged, 
 and that all the princes of the royal family may 
 willingly obey him." All orders were issued and 
 
80 EL MOEZZ AND THE ATABEK. 
 
 state documents stamped in the joint names of 
 El Moezz and El Ashraf; but naturally the child 
 had only an empty title. A campaign against the 
 Syrians followed, in which both the sultan and 
 Aktai took part ; and, after the strangest vicissitudes 
 of defeat and victory, the Egyptians repelled the 
 invaders. 
 
 The Bahris returned from the Syrian campaign in 
 all the pride and insolence of victory, and, presuming 
 on the services they had rendered the State, they 
 began to commit every kind of disorder. They 
 plundered and killed at their will, they carried off the 
 women — in short, "even the Franks, had they been 
 masters of the country, could not have done worse.'* 
 " The vulture " had indeed been " introduced into 
 the eagle's nest," as the poet wrote when he re- 
 proached Nejm-ed-Din Saleh for enrolling the force 
 of Turkish Mamluks ! 
 
 In vain the sultan endeavoured to repress their 
 outrages ; he removed them from their barracks on 
 the island of Rhoda, he deposed the child who had 
 been forced upon him as his partner on the throne. 
 In revenge, they began to plot against his life, and 
 Aktai their chief gradually usurped all authority. 
 He had married a daughter of the prince of Hamah, 
 and, on her arrival at Cairo with great pomp and 
 magnificence, he had demanded of El Moezz per- 
 mission to live with his bride in the citadel of Cairo. 
 This, in the estimation of the Egyptians, amounted 
 to covert rebellion; and the sultan was so deeply 
 angered at the request that from that time forward 
 
THE DISAFFECTED TROOPS. 8 1 
 
 he began to seek a plausible excuse for putting 
 Aktai to death. He had no authority, nor even any 
 influence, over the Bahris. They despised his orders ; 
 if he granted a favour to any one not belonging to 
 their ranks, he was prevented from fulfilling his 
 promise ; but if one of the Bahris was to be the 
 recipient, the man never failed to exact threefold 
 more than had been promised. 
 
 Aktai was gradually sapping the loyalty of the 
 troops. Their place of meeting was the house of 
 Aktai. No business could be transacted without 
 him ; no despatches opened — none sent — without his 
 approval ; the princes of Syria and Mesopotamia 
 corresponded with him. In short, he now began 
 to aspire openly to the sultanate. He never ap- 
 peared in public without a strong escort of armed 
 men, prepared to execute any orders he might give, 
 whose insolence and lack of discipline surpassed all 
 bounds. They seized by force any valuable property 
 that pleased them ; they took the wives and children 
 of the citizens ; they even burst into the public baths 
 and carried off the women, and no one dared resist 
 them. It was the rule of anarchy and lawless violence ! 
 
 At last the sultan resolved to free himself from 
 this dangerous rival. Aktai was invited to a con- 
 ference in the citadel on pretence of some public 
 business, and, without suspicion, he obeyed the 
 summons. He had passed the gate of the citadel, 
 and was entering the " Hall of Columns " * — probably 
 
 * This magnificent hall was demolished only in 1830; but it had 
 long been in a state of ruin, although the columns were erect. 
 
 G 
 
S2 ASSASSINATION OF AKTAI. 
 
 the great Hall of Audience, built by Sultan Salah- 
 ^d-Din. Here his attendants were stopped, the doors 
 were secured, and Aktai, attacked by three men 
 whom the sultan had concealed in the audience hall, 
 perished under their sabres.* 
 
 When the news of his arrest became known, his 
 partisans, to the number of seven hundred, presented 
 themselves at the citadel. They were persuaded that 
 Aktai was simply under arrest, and that they would 
 •easily obtain his release from El Moezz. But his 
 head was thrown to them from the walls, and, in 
 consternation, they fled from the city, after setting 
 fire to a part of it in order to cover their flight. 
 The sultan arrested many of their comrades who 
 had remained in Cairo ; some he put to death, 
 others he imprisoned. Their property was forfeited, 
 their wives and children seized, and the confiscation 
 of Aktai^s property produced a vast sum. Death 
 was threatened to any one who should aid or conceal 
 any of the chief Bahris. Then, for the first time, 
 
 * It seems a strange feature in the Turkish character of those days 
 that they so readily confided in oaths and promises which they must 
 have known to be unreliable. Whether it be their fatalism or a kind 
 of fascination exercised upon them, they all seem to fall into the same 
 snare. Thus Aktai was inveigled into the citadel under the trans- 
 parent pretext of a conference by a man whom he had injured, and to 
 whom he was dangerous, and there murdered by command of Aybek. 
 Then Aybek in his turn was inveigled into the same place by solemn 
 oaths and promises, and murdered by command of Schejer-ed-Durr. 
 Then the Mamluks, in 1811, were cut off with exactly similar treachery 
 by command of Mehemet Ali Pasha. Facts repeat themselves in 
 Egyptian history, and the only palliation for such deeds is that the 
 sufferers were simply anticipated in their designs by men more resolute 
 -and more cunning than themselves. 
 
FLIGHT OF HIS ADHERENTS. 83 
 
 El Moezz became master in his own realm. Some 
 of the fugitives took refuge with the Sultan of 
 Damascus, others in Karak, others lived by brigand- 
 age in Palestine, harrying the lands of Frank and 
 Moslem impartially ; about one hundred and fifty 
 presented themselves to the Sultan " of Roum " — not 
 the Byzantine emperor, but the Seljuk Sultan of 
 Koniah, Ala-ed-Din. Few inquiries were made then 
 about a man's antecedents, provided he carried a 
 sharp sabre and knew how to wield it. But every- 
 where the fugitives were followed by letters of 
 warning and denunciation from El Moezz. Thus 
 he wrote to the Sultan of Roum that the Bahris were 
 men infamous and contemptible, who were never 
 faithful to their oaths, nor obedient to any master. 
 " If they take an oath, they will break it ; if you show 
 them any confidence, they will respond by perfidy. 
 Be on your guard against them ! I fear lest they 
 should do you some evil turn ; for verily they are 
 men full of lies, cunning, and artifices." 
 
 The Sultan of Roum was troubled not a little 
 on the receipt of this letter. He sent for the 
 refugees and asked them what subject of complaint 
 they had against their master. One of them stepped 
 forward and asked, " Our lord ! Who, in your opinion, 
 is our master ? " The sultan replied, " It is the 
 Sovereign of Egypt, Melik-el-Moezz.'* The emir 
 replied, '' May God protect the life of our lord the 
 sultan ! " " If Melik-el-Moezz writes that he is our 
 master, he is in error. He was simply our comrade. 
 It is we who have conferred authority upon him — 
 
84 DISCORD BETWEEN THE SULTANA 
 
 although there were amongst us men of more experi- 
 ence, of higher rank, better versed in arms, more 
 worthy of empire — and, as a recompense, he has 
 imprisoned, slaughtered, or drowned many of us ! 
 To escape from his fury we have fled to various 
 countries, and as for ourselves who are here present, 
 we have come to seek a refuge with your highness.'* 
 The sultan was pleased with the reply, and took 
 them into his service (A.D. 1254). 
 
 The Bahris who remained in Egypt, deprived of 
 their chiefs, were in no position to injure El Moezz, 
 though they might be troublesome ; but his ruin was 
 to come from a member of his own family. 
 
 For three years more the sultana, Schejer-ed-Durr, 
 maintained her power. Up to that time she alone 
 had governed Egypt with absolute authority, not 
 allowing her husband any share in the management 
 of affairs ; but at length El Moezz, tired of being 
 sultan in name only, and of obeying the caprices of 
 a jealous and imperious woman, determined to shake 
 off the yoke. She used to remind him incessantly 
 and with reproaches, that it was she who had raised 
 him to the throne, and she forced him, in her jealousy,, 
 to divorce his first wife, the mother of his son Nour- 
 ed-Din ; nor would she suffer him to speak with or 
 even to see her and his son. 
 
 A bitter hatred had now arisen between the pair^ 
 and superstitious fear sharpened it ; for the sultan's 
 court astrologer had foretold to him that he would 
 perish through the conspiracy of a woman. No 
 doubt the man had fashioned his prediction to suit 
 
AND SULTAN EL MOEZZ. 85 
 
 the sultan's fears ; and the sultana was evidently 
 the most likely source of danger ; so that El Moezz, 
 dreading some attempt upon his life, withdrew from 
 the citadel and took up his residence in another 
 quarter of Cairo. Then, alleging as a reason the 
 childless condition of the sultana, he sent to ask in 
 marriage the daughter of the Prince of Hamah. 
 Probably the negotiations in this case came to 
 nothing, for he was finally betrothed to the daughter 
 of the Prince of Mosul. 
 
 When the news of this came to the knowledge of 
 the sultana,]she sent a trusty emissary to Melek 
 Naser Yussuf, Prince of Hamah, to inform him that 
 she had resolved to rid herself of El Moezz, that she 
 was minded to marry Melek Naser, and would raise 
 him to the throne of Egypt ; but Naser, suspecting 
 some perfidy, made no reply to her overtures. 
 
 By some means, however, the negotiation trans- 
 spired, and Bedr-ed-Din Loulou, the prospective 
 father-in-law of El Moezz, wrote to him, warning 
 him to be on his guard against Schejer-ed-Durr, for 
 that she had some secret understanding with the 
 Prince of Hamah. Thereupon the sultan determined 
 to remove her from the citadel, place her in confine- 
 ment, and perhaps even put her to death. And 
 in order to prevent any possible opposition to his 
 marriage, he arrested a large number of the Bahri 
 Mamluks still left in Cairo ; for they were always 
 zealous partisans of the sultana, and devoted to her 
 interests. 
 
 The prisoners were sent to the citadel. As a 
 
S6 PLOT AGAINST THE SULTAN. 
 
 party of them entered the great court they chanced 
 to pass near a latticed balcony, which was the 
 favourite resort of the sultana ; and one of them, 
 convinced that she was there, came under the balcony, 
 and with a profound reverence * addressed her in 
 the Turkish language. " It is the Mamluk Idekin 
 who is speaking. In the name of Allah, oh ! our 
 lady (Ey Khavendahf), we know not what is our 
 fault, or what the cause of our arrest, except it be 
 that when El Moezz Aybek asked in marriage the 
 princess of Mosul, we disapproved of it for your sake ; 
 for we owe everything to your munificence, and the 
 favour of your consort Nejm-ed-Din. On this account 
 El Moezz hates us and treats us as you see." Schejer- 
 ed-Durr waved a handkerchief through the lattice of 
 her balcony to show that she had heard his words. 
 
 When Idekin and his companions were shut up 
 in their prison he said to them, ''If El Moezz has 
 shut us up in prison, we are preparing death for him." 
 
 The sultana saw that only instant action could save 
 her. She sent for Safi-ed-Din Marzouk, the sultan's 
 treasurer, asked his advice, and promised him the 
 post of vezir if he would assist her ; but he tried 
 earnestly to dissuade her. Perhaps she did not tell 
 him all her mind, otherwise he would have warned 
 the sultan. 
 
 Failing his consent and help, she sent for one of 
 
 * The usual kkzdmek, *' salute," from inferiors, i.e. by reaching the 
 hand to the ground, then touching the forehead, lips, and breast. 
 
 t The usual title of a sultana of Egypt was "khondah," or 
 " khavendah." 
 
ROAD TO THE CITADEL OF CAIRO. 8/ 
 
 the Mamluks of the eunuch Mohsin Salehi, and after 
 making him magnificent promises, proposed that he 
 should carry out her purpose. 
 
 It was a conflict of wile and treachery between 
 the husband and wife, but the woman was victorious I 
 Dissembling her intention, she sent a kind message 
 to El Moezz, begging for an interview, and he, over- 
 persuaded by the solemn oaths and promises made 
 on her behalf by her messenger, consented. 
 
 The sultan had been playing polo with some of 
 his suite, and towards sunset he rode up to the citadel. 
 We can picture to ourselves the doomed man, with 
 his small escort — for was he not about to visit 
 friends I — entering the sunken road which winds 
 upwards between precipitous rocks from the Rume- 
 liyeh to the citadel — that fatal road which 554 years 
 later was to witness the hideous slaughter of a later 
 race of Mamluks by command of Mehemet Ali 
 Pasha. The great city below was in repose, for after 
 the evening prayers in the mosques, every good 
 Muslim had retired to his home. 
 
 Until within a comparatively recent period the 
 entrance from the Rumeliyeh was by the Bab-el- 
 Azab, of which the ponderous iron-plated folding- 
 doors were supported not by hinges, but by thick 
 bands of iron round strong oaken door-posts, which 
 turned in granite sockets both above and below. 
 Some of the older European residents of Cairo may 
 remember the gateway as it was and had been for 
 many centuries ; but all has now been altered. By 
 this gate the sultan and his suite entered. The heavy 
 
88 MURDER OF THE SULTAN 
 
 doors were closed upon him, and he was trapped. 
 It was the same manoeuvre which was contrived after- 
 wards on the famous day of March i, 1811. 
 
 It was late in the evening when El Moezz arrived 
 at the plateau of the citadel. He entered the palace 
 and went at once to the bath. There the four assas- 
 sins fell upon him. 
 
 Some of the Arab annalists add a perhaps super- 
 fluous horror to the deed, for they relate that Schejer- 
 ed-Durr was within hearing, and that, moved for a 
 moment by his cries and appeals to her, she bade 
 the murderers spare him ; but Mohsin Djaudjeri, 
 their leader, roughly told her that it was " too late ; " 
 that if they spared him now **he would not spare 
 either herself or them." They slew him in a horrible 
 manner. Then she sent a summons as if from the 
 sultan to Safi-ed-Din Marzouk, the sultan's agent, 
 to come at once to the citadel. On his entering the 
 palace he found the sultana seated, and the dead 
 body of her husband before her. She told him what 
 had happened, and profound horror seized him when 
 he heard the recital. When she asked his advice, 
 he replied that he '* knew not what to say ; that she 
 had incurred a fearful peril from which nothing could 
 save her." 
 
 Attempts were made to gain over one or other 
 of the emirs, but in vain. At last the finger of the 
 dead sultan, still wearing the signet ring, was sent 
 to Izz-ed-Din Halebi with a message from the 
 sultana : " Arise, and take possession of the sultanate.*' 
 But he did not venture to run the risk. 
 
EL MOEZZ AYBEK. 89 
 
 When morning broke, the news of the sultan's 
 death reached the city, and at once trouble and con- 
 fusion became general. The authority of Oriental 
 monarchs is for the most part personal only, and no 
 one could be sure what turn events would take. 
 A messenger had come down from the citadel to 
 summon the mourning women — the professional 
 mourners, El Nuwaya — for that " El Moezz had died 
 suddenly during the night ; " but the report was not 
 believed. A great crowd of citizens and soldiers had 
 hurried up towards the citadel, and blocked every 
 issue from it ; amongst them was the Emir Alem-ed- 
 Din Sandjar Gatmi, the most powerful of the Bahri 
 officers then in Cairo. They forced their way into 
 the palace, arrested the slaves and the women servants, 
 and, by putting them to the torture, extracted a 
 confession. 
 
 One more incident marked the high indomitable 
 spirit of the sultana. When she saw that all was 
 lost, before she was herself arrested, she caused a 
 vast quantity of pearls and jewellery, which she 
 possessed, to be pounded to dust in a mortar, that 
 they might not pass into the hands of her enemies. 
 The slaves of El Moezz would have killed her at 
 once ; but the Bahris, in order to save her from their 
 violence, imprisoned her in one of the towers of the 
 citadel. 
 
 Even yet she might possibly have escaped death, 
 for her services to the State had been exemplary, and 
 the Bahris hated El Moezz, and some of them were 
 without doubt accessory to his murder; but she had 
 
90 DEATH OF SAJARAT-AD-DURR. 
 
 incurred the hatred of a woman whom she had 
 wronged too deeply for forgiveness. The young son 
 of El Moezz was elected sultan, although he was 
 only fifteen years of age, and his mother, whom El 
 Moezz had been forced to divorce at the imperious 
 command of Schejer-ed-Durr, hastened to the citadel. 
 Before the sultan's mother every one bowed the 
 head. She caused the unhappy woman to be brought 
 into her presence, reviled and struck her, then gave 
 her up to the female slaves who had accompanied 
 her, and they beat her so severely with bath clogs 
 that next day she died. She had ruled Egypt amidst 
 immense difficulties ably and successfully, for seven 
 years, and is the only example of a female sovereign 
 amongst the Muslims of the West ; for although 
 several of the Osmanli sultanas have exercised great 
 social and political power, it has never been indepen- 
 dently. 
 
 Three of the latter have played a great part in 
 Turkish history — Khourrem, the favourite wife of 
 Sultan Suliman the Great, who had been a Russian 
 slave ; she had complete influence over him even to 
 the end of her life, and by her sinister promptings 
 he was induced to order the execution of his eldest 
 son, the heir to the throne, of whom Khourrem was 
 jealous. She retained her influence with Sultan 
 Suliman, after the attractions of youth and beauty 
 had passed away, by the power of her intellect and 
 her political wisdom. 
 
 Another example is Sultana Safiyeh, the wife of 
 Murad III. As the favourite (" khasseki ") and mother 
 
SOME FAMOUS OSMANLI SULTANAS. 9 1 
 
 of the heir apparent ("walideh"), she governed the 
 Ottoman empire for a period of twenty-eight years 
 (A.D. 1575-1603), i.e. twenty years as wife of the sultan, 
 eight years as guardian of her young son, his suc- 
 cessor, Muhammed III. She was a Venetian slave, 
 and daughter of a noble family in Venice, 
 
 But perhaps the Sultana Kiesem comes nearest to 
 the Egyptian queen. She was a Greek slave, and 
 became the favourite — indeed it would almost seem 
 the only — wife of Sultan Ahmed I. (a.D. 1603-1617). 
 On the death of Ahmed I. she was appointed guardian 
 of his successor, her young son Murad IV., and for five 
 years exercised complete influence over him till 1623. 
 This was the Nero of Ottoman history, and his reign 
 was the most fearful in the blood-stained annals of 
 the Osmanli sovereigns. Almost incredible are the 
 records handed down of his ferocious and inhuman 
 cruelty ; but the filial affection so general towards 
 a mother in the Osmanli character, although it did 
 not preserve the sultana's political power, yet sufficed 
 to maintain Murad's trust and affection for her to the 
 end of his life. On his death in 1637, her second son, 
 Ibrahim, was drawn out of the prison — in which, 
 according to the Ottoman practise, he had been con- 
 fined — and placed upon the throne. The sultana was 
 a second time appointed guardian of the monarch. 
 But though she ruled through him for many years, 
 viz. to 1648, at last his extravagances and de- 
 baucheries brought about his deposition, and he 
 was put to death. The queen-mother tried hard to 
 save her son, and proposed that he should still be 
 
92 SULTANA KIESEM — HER CHARACTER AND DEATH. 
 
 allowed to reign under the strict control of the ulema 
 and vezirs. But the usual Ottoman reasons of State 
 precluded such an arrangement, and after the murder 
 of Ibrahim, her grandson Muhammed IV., a child of 
 nine or ten years of age, was placed upon the throne. 
 Once more Kiesem was called to rule in the name 
 of the young sovereign. It is a surprising instance 
 of trust in a female ruler by an Oriental people. But 
 intrigues arose against her in the course of years, and 
 her power gradually waned. The young and beau- 
 tiful Russian — wife of Muhammed IV. — the Sultana 
 Walideh "Tarchan," supplanted Kiesem in the sul- 
 tan's affections. At a full durbar in 1659, the grand 
 vezir, Kiesem*s enemy, was dismissed by the sultan 
 at her instigation, and the queen-mother, the regent, 
 standing at the sultan's right hand, proudly declared, 
 " I have served the State faithfully ; my reward has 
 been hatred ; sometimes even my life has been sought. 
 I have lived in seven reigns, and I have governed 
 long enough." It was the last effort ! A short time 
 afterwards, a false charge of conspiracy to poison her 
 grandson was raised against her, and she was strangled 
 by the hideous crew of slaves and intriguers, that 
 seem invariably to abound in the court of every 
 Osmanli sovereign. 
 
 But able and patriotic as was the Osmanli sultana, 
 she had no opportunity for playing the grand part 
 which the Egyptian queen played. Like her, she 
 "ruled" indeed, but unlike her, she did not "reign," 
 nor did she ever attain to the "khutbah" and the 
 "'sikkd," the privilege, i.e.y of being named in the 
 
TOMB OF SAJARAT-AD-DURR. 93. 
 
 public prayers and on the coinage of the realm, which 
 are the Oriental tokens of Imperial sway. Her death 
 was to the full as tragic as that of Schejer-ed-Durr ; 
 but so far as appears, it was, unlike hers, quite 
 undeserved.* 
 
 Thus then, as I have described, died this famous 
 queen of Egypt. Her end resembled the end of 
 Jezebel ; her dead body, half naked, was thrown from 
 the walls of the citadel into the ditch of the fortress^, 
 there it remained for some days unburied. At last 
 it was carried in a pannier to the tomb mosque f 
 
 * Though it does not belong to my subject, it may be interesting ta 
 notice in what way historians and contemporary authorities write con- 
 cerning Sultana Kiesem — 
 
 "In the harem the Sultana *Walideh' and the Sultana *Khasseki,' 
 both Greeks, were supreme ; but the latter had less influence with 
 Murad IV. than the sultana mother, a lady of a high and politic spirit,, 
 full of magnificence and generosity. The remarkable influence which 
 she had already exercised during the reign of her husband, Ahmed I., 
 by her beauty, her intelligence, and her nobleness of soul, and in her 
 quality of mother of his children, was maintained during the earlier 
 years of the reign of Murad IV., her son," etc., etc. — J. Hammer, 
 " Hist, of the Ottoman Empire." 
 
 The " bailli " of Venice (equivalent to Venetian chargi d'' affaires at 
 the Ottoman court) writes thus concerning her — 
 
 "La regina raadre, Greca di nazione, di bellissimo aspetto, e di 
 gentilissima liniatura, di natura benigna, e molto amica di dispositione,. 
 e solazzo, virtuosa, saggia prudente, splendida e liberale che divantaggia 
 non si puo ; spend endo quanti denari possede, fa di moltissime opere 
 pie, indifferentamente ad agni uno ; havendo, a miei tempi in particolare 
 fatta liberare tutti gli prigioni, due volte," etc., etc. — Relat. Venez. 
 " Archivie Regie." 
 
 t Mr. Henry Cassells Kay discovered some years ago, at Cairo, the 
 tomb of Sajarat-ad-Durr ; he describes it as "a domed building of 
 the model usual in tomb mosques of that age. A member of the 
 Abbasides had subsequently been buried in it j but an inscription in 
 
94 PUNISHMENT OF AYBEK'S MURDERERS. 
 
 which she had prepared for herself near the Mesched- 
 Nefisi, and there interred without ceremony. 
 
 The murderers, except one who escaped, and all 
 suspected of complicity in the sultan's death, were 
 executed in a fearful way which was in common use 
 at that age, and until recent times was still practised 
 in Persia. Mohsin Djaudjeri was hanged at the 
 gate of the fortress, and forty palace eunuchs were 
 cut in twain at the waist by sabre cuts, then gibbeted 
 along the road from the citadel to the Zuweyleh 
 Gate. 
 
 Very possibly most of these unfortunates knew 
 nothing of the crime until its committal, and had 
 they known, could not have prevented it ; but some 
 one must be punished, and a strict inquiry might 
 have compromised too many influential personages. 
 Nothing is mentioned concerning the fate of any 
 female accomplices. 
 
 These three reigns, the history of which has been 
 sketched in the preceding pages, are a fair sample of 
 Mamluk rule. Three alone of the Bahri sultans 
 appear to have possessed the requisite temper and 
 ability for governing Egypt under the conditions that 
 prevailed in that country from 1250 to 1382. Out 
 of the twenty-four sultans of that dynasty three only 
 died a natural death being still in possession of the 
 throne ; seven were murdered, nine deposed, four 
 abdicated, one (Beybars) was poisoned accidentally, 
 
 honour of the queen ran round the frieze at the base of the dome. 
 This inscription had been * restored ' by some person who was far from 
 being a * savant,' and it had been greatly spoiled." 
 
THE BAHRI AND BORJI DYNASTIES. 95 
 
 though some accounts attribute his death to fever 
 and dysentery. 
 
 Matters were considerably improved under the 
 Circassian Mamliik dynasty — the Borgis.* Their 
 annals present less of treason and cruelty, but similar 
 turbulence and anarchy. This was inevitable under 
 a government so strangely constituted, and it may be 
 that the improvement which marked their rule was 
 caused by the menacing progress of the Ottoman 
 power, which in the end overthrew the Mamluk domi- 
 nation, but left Egypt in reality still under their sway. 
 
 Of the twenty-two Borji sultans, six died a natural 
 death, still in possession of the throne, three were mur- 
 dered, eight were deposed, three abdicated, one was 
 killed in battle, and the last Mamluk sultan, Touman 
 Bey, was cruelly hanged at the Zuweyleh Gate by 
 order of the Ottoman conqueror, Selim II. Several 
 of them were excellent rulers, who were beloved by 
 their subjects, and reigned long and prosperously. 
 
 The strangest thing in the history of these Turkish 
 and Circassian sovereigns is the wonderful love of 
 art and the refined taste which they displayed. And 
 this appeared not in a few isolated individuals, but 
 in all whose life or whose reign was long enough for 
 them to leave memorials of themselves. The same 
 man who could order his nearest friends, his oldest 
 and most faithful servants, to be put to death on 
 a mere shadow of suspicion or on account of some 
 slight offence, would design and execute a mosque or 
 
 * So called because the first Circassian Mamluk corps was quartered 
 in the towers (borj) of the citadel of Cairo. 
 
g6 THEIR LOVE OF ART. 
 
 a palace ; would delight in the society of learned men^ 
 poets, and artists ; might even himself merit the title 
 of "artist;'' would fearlessly expose his own life in war, 
 ruthlessly destroy his enemies, whether combatants 
 or non-combatants, and then on his return to Cairo 
 indulge in the most luxurious refinements of peace. 
 
 Stanley Lane-Poole, in his book " The Art of the 
 Saracens in Egypt," gives a very graphic account 
 of the stately magnificence displayed by these mon- 
 archs, the splendour of their court, their retinue, 
 dress, arms, furniture, dwellings. Some idea of it 
 may be formed from an inspection of the beautiful 
 objects — alas, only too few! — which are still pre- 
 served at Cairo in the Arab Museum at the mosque 
 of Sultan Tulun. Such objects must have been 
 common until the decadence began after the Osmanli 
 conquest. Many specimens of their architecture still 
 remain, but long years of neglect have wrought havoc 
 on the fine mosques and palaces which five centuries 
 ago rendered Cairo one of the most beautiful cities 
 in the world. The revenues of the "waktif" (pious 
 foundations) for the support and repair of such public 
 buildings have been wasted, misapplied, or in great 
 part confiscated. It is only within the few years past 
 that any considerable portion of what is left has been 
 applied for the purposes intended by the original 
 donors.* 
 
 * H.H. the present khedive, Abbas, acting on the advice of 
 the British Legal Adviser, has veiy liberally and graciously given his 
 assent to this, and ordered a proper audit and a right application of 
 the *'wakuf" revenues. 
 
PRESENT DECADENCE OF ART. 9/ 
 
 Modern so-called " improvements " in the form of 
 new streets, which have been carried through some o f 
 the finest quarters of the old city, have destroyed 
 buildings, sacred and profane, that were unique, and 
 which, with a small expenditure for repairs, might 
 still have lasted for centuries to come. Plain ugly 
 stone walls covered with plaster have succeeded the 
 beautiful Saracenic carving on the old houses : 
 oblong modern windows have displaced the graceful 
 " meshrebiyehs." The doors are no longer, as of old, 
 marvels of carving, or inlaid work of ivory and ebony. 
 There are no more masterpieces of iron or brass work. 
 In the bazaars of Cairo nothing is to be obtained 
 except coarse and tasteless modern work, such as the 
 workman of the thirteenth century would have been 
 ashamed to produce. The brilliant '* Persian " tiles 
 (really " Cairene "), with which the walls of public 
 buildings and private houses were once richly en- 
 crusted, have been torn from their places, and sold to 
 a dozen generations of tourists. The artistic glass 
 work of the Fatimite period has utterly perished ; 
 that of the Mamluk period is represented by a few 
 but precious specimens, consisting of lamps, drinking- 
 vessels, glass bowls, and caraffes, preserved in the 
 Arab museum at the mosque of Tulun, and in various 
 European museums. In some of the mosques mosaic 
 work, similar to that of S. Mark's Church in Venice, 
 may still be found,* but it is scarce. And the same 
 
 * As {e.^.) in the lovely little Jamaa el Berdani (or " Maridani"?) 
 the Berdani mosque — a perfect gem of art full of mosaics of porphyry, 
 diorite, giallo and verde antico — and all kinds of precious marbles ; 
 
 H 
 
98 MAGNIFICENCE OF EGYPTIAN RULERS. 
 
 may be said of the characteristic stained glass windows 
 with which the public buildings of the capital were 
 once adorned. Of textile fabrics some specimens of 
 a date as early as the tenth and eleventh centuries 
 are preserved in the museums of Europe, and many 
 specimens of a later date ; for one of the recognized 
 duties of a sultan was the lavish distribution of robes 
 of honour ("khilaa"), exactly adapted in value and 
 richness to the rank of the recipient ; and their num- 
 ber must have been immense (see Appendix D). 
 Makrizi describes the cortige at the ceremony of 
 Beybar's investiture by the Abbaside Khalifeh, 
 whom the politic sultan had established in Cairo, and 
 whom he treated with unbounded respect and gene- 
 rosity. The historian mentions that the sultan, after 
 the time of his investiture, was always dressed in 
 black. He wore a black mantle with wide sleeves 
 and without a collar ; this was the Abbaside costume. 
 On this occasion he wore a violet-coloured robe, and 
 a black turban interwoven with threads of gold, a 
 collar of gold, probably gold lace, and a gold chain ; 
 a number of fine sabres were brought to him, from 
 which he selected one and fastened it over his right 
 
 .full of exquisite wood carving and inlay work and adornment of colour. 
 It is probably 700 years old, and such a building could not be con- 
 structed nowadays. It lies on the right side of the road to the citadel, 
 a little way back from the main Street. 
 
 See also in S. Lane-Poole's "Art of the Saracens in Egypt," p. 81, 
 the description given of the house occupied by the French Ambassador 
 •of Louis XII. to Sultan El Ghuri (about 1505). *' It contained six or 
 seven beautiful halls paved with marble, porphyry, serpentine, and 
 other rare stones inlaid with wonderful art. The walls were of similar 
 .mosaic. The doors inlaid with ebony and other "singularities." Yet 
 the workmanship exceeded the materials." 
 
THE INVESTITURE OF BEYBARS. 99 
 
 shoulder. He was mounted on a milk-white horse, 
 which wore on his neck the "rekabah" — a scarf of 
 black or yellow silk embossed with figures in gold, 
 and with gold housings of the same colour. The 
 kadis and other dignitaries who formed a part of the 
 procession had donned the " khilaa," and bore other 
 presents suitable to the occasion, which Beybars had 
 bestowed. The chief secretary of the chancellery, 
 Ibn Lokman,* clad in a robe of deep yellow silk, 
 read out the diploma of investiture granted to the 
 sultan by the Khalifeh, in which were conceded to 
 him not only the countries already subject to 
 Islamism, but all the conquests Beybars might make 
 from the infidels. Even the Jews and Christians 
 formed part of the procession, and carried — the former 
 the Pentateuch — the latter the gospels. The body- 
 guard (** halkah ") surrounded the prince. They 
 were mounted on blood horses, and dressed in silk 
 robes, which in variety and brilliancy of colour re- 
 sembled '* a tulip bed.'' The houses were adorned 
 with Oriental carpets, and the streets in many places 
 were covered with silken tapestries — yellow or red — 
 which had been laid down by the leading emirs, and 
 over these the cortege of the sultan passed. They 
 were then divided among the attendants. On some 
 occasions the whole line of route from the Bab-en-Nasr 
 
 * It was in the house of this man at Mansoura, that Louis IX. had 
 been confined. He filled the office of chief secretary during the reigns 
 of Nejm-ed-Din, El Moezz, Koutouz, Beybars, and Mansour Kelaoun. 
 The last sovereign recompensed his long services by giving him the 
 office of " Wazlr." 
 
100 DRESS OF BEYBARS. 
 
 to the gate of the citadel was covered with them. 
 Several instances of this are cited. 
 
 The simplicity of the prince's attire was in strong 
 contrast with the brilliant-coloured robes, the em- 
 broidery, the muslin turbans striped with gold, the 
 shawl girdles, the gold chains and splendid arms 
 which his retinue wore.* The sword which Beybars 
 habitually used had belonged to the second Khalifeh 
 Omar ben Khattab. He wore it "in the Arab style," 
 that is, hanging on the left side from a belt which 
 passed over the right shoulder. Over the sultan's 
 head was borne the " djitr " (regal parasol) of brilliant- 
 coloured silk. Only members of the reigning family, 
 or the very highest officials, had the honour of bearing 
 it. Behind the sultan were carried banners of silk inter- 
 woven with gold, and surmounted by a tuft of hair ; 
 the commoner banners ("sandjak") were of yellow 
 silk. The occasion for all this display was exceptional, 
 but Beybars throughout his reign was accustomed to 
 make formal processions of like nature, especially 
 when he rode out to take part in a game of polo, or 
 to practise archery on horseback, at which he was an 
 
 * Some of the sword blades of that age, or perhaps of an age much 
 earlier, are still in existence. They are of exquisite workmanship, 
 damascened and inlaid with gold, and present those peculiar wavy 
 lines in the metal which mark the choicest specimens of this arm. In 
 most cases the handle has been renewed, but the blade shows the date 
 of its fabrication by the year of the Hijra. For temper and keenness of 
 edge these weapons cannot be surpassed. They were used not so 
 much for striking a direct blow as for delivering a slashing cut ; and the 
 consummate horsemanship of the Mamluks enabled them to use their 
 sabres with terrible effect. 
 
DANGER OF ASSASSINATION. lOI 
 
 expert, surpassing all his Mamluks, although he drew 
 the bow with his left hand, and wore the armour 
 which he usually wore in war-time. 
 
 But amid all this magnificence there was ever lurk- 
 ing the spirit of murder, and even Beybars, who was 
 without fear, and had extirpated the " Assassins " 
 (Ismaelians) of the Lebanon, was obliged to wear 
 under his dress when travelling, or in state processions 
 and ceremonies, a dagger-proof coat of mail("zerdiya"). 
 For at any moment an attempt might be made upon 
 his life by one of those desperate men to whom 
 the name " fedawi " was applied ; literally, " one 
 who sacrifices," i.e. " his own life," and is careless of 
 death, provided he can slay the man whose life he 
 is attempting. 
 
 We learn from a curious anecdote given by Makrizi, 
 concerning one of these coats of mail which became 
 the property of several sultans in succession, that 
 the price of one of the best specimens amounted to 
 4000 dirhems (;^i6o).* 
 
 The luxury and refinement of these men in their 
 private life corresponded with what we are told of 
 their public life, but all was for the very small 
 minority ; the great bulk of the Egyptian people 
 toiled and obeyed. Those who ruled and enjoyed 
 were a handful of foreigners, adventurers from every 
 people in the Muslim world, purchased or emanci- 
 pated slaves, the officials of the sultan's court and 
 
 * The Arab writers call a coat of ringed mail a "Davidian cuirass," 
 the tradition being that this kind of defensive armour was an invention 
 of David, king of Israel. 
 
I02 GREAT FIEFS OF THE EMIRS. 
 
 government, the armed force and its officers, — 
 altogether a class comparatively limited. 
 
 But they were masters of the country, and com- 
 manded all its resources, and hence could afford a 
 luxurious and splendid style of living, such as 
 certainly no other city in the world at that age dis- 
 played, except, perhaps, Venice. All the court 
 officials, the Mamluk emirs, the sultan's favourites 
 (" khasseki "), his personal attendants, even many 
 private soldiers of the '* halkah " possessed appanages 
 in land, either in Egypt or in Syria, the gift of the 
 sultan ; and Makrizi states that before the reign of 
 Sultan Ladjin (A.D. 1299) no fief was worth less than 
 10,000 dirhems per annum = (;^ 400) ; but he must 
 refer to the fiefs of the emirs alone. 
 
 The yearly revenue from one of the largest of these 
 "ikta" (appanages) amounted to 100,000 ardebs of 
 grain — equal to 600,000 bushels, besides horses, 
 cattle, money payments, sugar, honey, and a great 
 variety of other products. This appanage was held by 
 Mangu Timur, the favourite of Sultan Ladjin. He 
 was also the sultan's viceroy (*^ Naib-es-Saltanah "), 
 thus holding the highest of^ce in the realm, and his 
 wealth must have been immense. The end of this 
 personage illustrates the strange vicissitudes of 
 fortune amongst the MamlClk nobles. After the 
 assassination of Ladjin he was confined in Kelaoun's 
 dreadful underground dungeon in the citadel of 
 Cairo ; but after a few hours he was drawn up from 
 it, and put to death by those who had slain his 
 master. 
 
HOW THEIR ESTATES WERE MANAGED. I05 
 
 The land was cultivated for its proprietor by the 
 " fellahhin *' resident on it, who were of the genuine 
 old Pharaonic race, and few of whom were ever 
 allowed to possess any authority or dignity in the 
 country beyond that of Sheikh-el-Beled — or " elder 
 of the village." It was to this official that the 
 government looked for its taxes, and the proprietor 
 for his revenue — and he possessed a power practically 
 unlimited over his fellow-villagers. Each cultivator 
 had his little plat of ground, but not in fee-simple, 
 for all the land of Egypt was in theory the property 
 of the government, that is, the sultan. But usually 
 the land descended to the next heir according to the 
 Islamic law — subject, of course, to the payment of 
 the dime (tithe) or such other charges as the govern- 
 ment chose to impose, and always with the obligation 
 of the corv6e.* 
 
 Each labourer had his daily rations when working 
 for the government or for his feudal lord, but no 
 money payment was made to him. 
 
 The more powerful and wealthier emirs granted 
 appanages out of their immense estates to their own 
 Mamluks who were ever ready to fight in their 
 master's cause, and thus the elements of trouble and 
 civil strife were always at hand. The government of 
 Egypt was, in short, a graduated tyranny, and the 
 
 * The latter burden was removed not many years since, and all 
 public work is now done by contract, for which the labourers are 
 paid. I believe that in case of danger from inundation, the power 
 of enforcing corvee labour is still retained. But this is endured 
 willingly, as being for the general benefit, and, indeed, on emergencies 
 — indispensable. 
 
I04 AN fiMEUTE IN CAIRO. 
 
 sultan could hold his own only by means of 
 unlimited largesses and favours to his own special 
 followers, or by playing off one noble against another. 
 If he lacked the severity needful to keep his slaves in 
 awe of him, or failed to satisfy their expectations, 
 he was deposed or assassinated, or a combination of 
 nobles would be formed against him, and the issue 
 decided by the sword, unless he chose to abdicate. 
 In cases of revolt or mutiny very severe punishment 
 was inflicted. In 1295, during the reign of Kelaoun 
 II., then quite a child, a large number of men, slaves 
 of the preceding sultan, El Ashraf, who had been 
 assassinated, seized the horses in one of the great 
 governmental stables, sallied forth in arms, and began 
 to pillage and burn one of the best quarters in Cairo. 
 They could not, however, induce any other body of 
 Mamluks to join them. The emirs assembled their 
 forces and attacked them. ; about 300 were taken 
 prisoners, and imrriediate retribution followed without 
 any ceremony of trial. Some were beheaded, a great 
 number drowned, others were blinded, others had 
 feet and hands cut off, very few were spared. Such 
 savage wild beasts could be kept down only by a 
 stern and merciless ruler, and the child sultan was 
 deposed. Four years afterwards he was restored 
 to the sultanate, but after a reign of ten years he 
 abdicated, and retired to Kerak in Palestine. Again 
 he was recalled, and for the third time was placed on 
 the throne of Egypt ! He lived to be one of the best 
 and most successful of the Turkish sultans, and died 
 in peace after a reign of 44 years, in A.D. 1340. 
 
SEVERE GOVERNMENT OF THE SULTANS. 105 
 
 Kerak was usually given to a deposed or abdicated 
 sultan against whom no special enmity existed, nor 
 desire to treat with severity. 
 
 The sultan possessed in theory absolute power over 
 the life, liberty, and property of all his subjects — 
 tempered, it is true, by the constant dread of 
 assassination, and resting on the possession of strong 
 battalions. 
 
 Repeated instances of its exercise are recorded 
 by the Egyptian historians. If the sultan suspected 
 or feared or disliked any one, he could by a word 
 cause him to be put to death, or cruelly tortured. 
 We read of nobles imprisoned for many years, 
 strangled, or beheaded. 
 
 We read of enormous confiscations, not only of real 
 property, but of personal property and coin, to the 
 extent of many hundred thousands of " dinars " (gold 
 pieces) ; so that men who one day were rich and 
 powerful, next day were reduced to destitution. 
 
 As an instance of extreme severity in the punish- 
 ment of a small offence, may be cited the execution 
 of the chief eunuch by command of Beybars. He 
 had been high in the sultan's favour, but having been 
 convicted of drinking wine, i.e. of being intoxicated, 
 he was strangled and gibbeted. 
 
 Yet with all their absolute power these rulers 
 never forgot their origin nor were ashamed of it, 
 and when writing to another sovereign or to some 
 personage for whom they had a high consideration, 
 they never failed to add the title '' El Mamluk " to 
 their signature. Thus Beybars, writing to the Prince 
 
I06 DUNGEON IN THE CITADEL. 
 
 of Yemen, after addressing him as " August and 
 Royal Highness the Sultan," wrote with his own 
 hand under his signature *' El Mamluk." The first 
 Kelaoun writing to a former comrade, the emir 
 " Sonkor-Ashkar," to inform him of his accession 
 to the throne, in speaking of himself uses the third 
 person, "The Mamluk writes in order to make 
 known,'' etc., and again, '* The Mamluk appeared 
 in public with the attributes of royal dignity," etc. 
 
 There were many prisons, but the most frightful 
 dungeon of all was in the citadel. It was a large 
 underground vault, with which the only communica- 
 tion was by a shaft or well. Prisoners were let down 
 into it by a rope and basket. It was constructed 
 A.H. 68 1, A.D. 1282, in the reign of El Melek Mansour 
 Kelaoun I., as a special prison for the emirs ; and 
 was constantly employed for that purpose till 1326, 
 when it was destroyed by order of El Melek Nasir 
 Muhammed, son of Kelaoun. 
 
 The inspector of fortresses and the sultan's cup- 
 bearer Bektimur were examining this dungeon. 
 There chanced to be in the company a man on whom 
 Bektimur was in the habit of playing practical jokes, 
 and he ordered his people to let down this man into 
 the dungeon. Next day the man was drawn up, and 
 his account of the horrors which prisoners in that 
 dreadful place endured, the darkness, the stench, the 
 stifling air, the swarms of bats, so affected BektimCir, 
 that he brought the matter to the notice of the sultan, 
 who ordered all prisoners to be removed from the 
 dungeon and the place itself to be filled in. 
 
CRUELTY OF PUNISHMENTS. 10/ 
 
 The capital punishments inflicted upon commoner 
 people were especially terrible — such as crucifixion, 
 cutting in' two through the waist with a sabre,* 
 nailing upon a plank, and in this condition parading 
 the culprit through the city on camel-back. There 
 is no mention of impalement. For theft, the punish- 
 ment of a second offence was amputation of the hand ; 
 for a third offence, death. And there seems to have 
 been no fixed rule as to the degree of punishments ; 
 for it depended in a great measure on the caprice of 
 the magistrate. 
 
 In ordinary times the police of Cairo was very 
 strict. The different quarters of the town were shut 
 off from each other by massive iron-plated gates^ 
 some few of which still exist, though they are unused 
 now. At night, or in the case of an " emeute," or a 
 fight between the retainers of rival nobles, these gates 
 were closed. After dark, every one who went forth 
 from his house was obliged to carry a lantern, or be 
 preceded by a servant bearing one ; and any one 
 caught infringing this rule, unless he could give a 
 satisfactory account of himself, was liable to the 
 severest punishment. 
 
 Over each quarter of the city was placed an officer 
 with the title of *' wali," or '' mutawelH," to whom the 
 police inspectors were obliged to make reports of 
 every matter that occurred in their districts. A 
 
 * The accounts given by the Arab historians of this punishment are 
 too horrible to be transcribed. Vide also in Quatremere, vol. i. p. 73,, 
 " Les Sultans Mamlouks de Makrizi ; " Frescobaldi, " Viaggio in Egitto 
 and Terra Santa" (14th century), and Baumgarten, " Peregrinatio- 
 in Egyptum," etc. 
 
I08 ORDER DEPENDED ON SULTAN'S CHARACTER. 
 
 detailed summary was regularly submitted to the 
 sultan. The " wali " possessed a considerable latitude 
 of action, without regard to strict legal forms, and 
 could inflict punishments — sometimes even death, 
 in flagrant cases. It was his duty to patrol those 
 portions of the city which were supposed to contain 
 valuable property. He could not pass a night out- 
 side of Cairo without written permission. He was 
 inspector of prisons, and had the charge of closing 
 and opening the gates of Cairo, as well internal as 
 external. But in this, as in all other matters of 
 police and justice, very much depended on the 
 character of the sultan. If he was strict and ener- 
 getic, things went well ; if the contrary, all kinds 
 of disorder became rife. It was one great defect of 
 Oriental polity that all depended on the initiative 
 and personal character of the ruler. Again and 
 again, under the reign of a feeble sovereign, or in 
 times of great public danger — e.g, during the invasion 
 of the Tartar Houlagou — the sultan's own personal 
 retinue would commit frightful outrages. At Da- 
 mascus, in the reign of Kutouz (1260), the sultan's 
 pages, backed by the rabble of the city, attacked the 
 Christians, pillaged their houses, and strangled thirty 
 of their number, and this apparently with impunity. 
 
 The Arab historians give but little information on 
 a subject that would be of great interest, viz. the 
 population and revenue of Egypt in that age. To 
 take a census of the population was not possible ; 
 and although, no doubt, under an able sovereign, a 
 strict account was kept of income and expenditure, 
 
TAXATION OF EGYPT. IO9 
 
 this was not for the public eye. At the commence- 
 ment of the reign of Beybars we are told that the 
 Egyptian people feared a renewal of the tyranny and 
 exactions of the Bahri Mamluks. The preceding 
 Sultan Kutouz, when about to march against the 
 Tartars, had introduced many vexatious innovations. 
 A new cadastre of the land was ordered. Probably 
 there had been many abuses, and the danger to the 
 state forced the sultan to raise money by all 
 possible means. He had also exacted from every * 
 inhabitant of Egypt a piece of gold (dinar) as poll- 
 tax. The Turkish strangers domiciled in Egypt 
 were, however, assessed at only one-third of that 
 sum. 
 
 But Beybars, who was of a generous temper, and 
 wished to win the favour of his subjects at the 
 opening of his reign, suppressed all these new taxes. 
 They were estimated to produce 600,000 dinars — 
 equal to ;^3 50,000 — and the remission of so large a 
 sum at once, implies a very flourishing revenue, 
 perhaps of at least ten times that amount, or even 
 more, annually. 
 
 It is evident that Egypt, during the thirteenth and 
 fourteenth centuries, was richer, and possessed more 
 resources, than any of the contemporary European 
 monarchies. The fertile soil, the mild climate, the 
 industrious population of the country, were sources 
 of wealth incomparably more prolific than could be 
 found in any other country at that time. In an 
 ordinary year the product of the Nile land was far 
 
 * This, of course, must be taken with a reservation. 
 
no PROSPEROUS CONDITION OF PEOPLE. 
 
 more than sufficient to meet the needs of the popu- 
 lation. A large portion of it, therefore, was left over 
 for export, even after the public granaries had been 
 filled ; for, under a good ruler, this precaution against 
 possible scarcity or famine seems to have been 
 commonly taken. A fixed quantity of grain for 
 each district was regularly stored ; of this, one-half 
 belonged to the district, the other half was at the 
 disposal of the sultan, and the average yearly amount 
 was 160,000 ardebs. The sultan's share was em- 
 ployed for the support of the town populations in 
 time of scarcity. 
 
 We may reasonably conclude that the misery and 
 destitution so widespread and so lamentable in the 
 great cities of modern Europe, were unknown in 
 mediaeval Egypt, except on those occasions when a 
 deficient inundation of the great river occurred. We 
 are told that in 1264 there was a great rise in the 
 price of bread-stuffs. No reason for it is assigned ; 
 but it was almost certainly caused by an insufficient 
 rise of the Nile, and consequent scarcity. The price 
 of an ardeb of wheat (i.e, six bushels) rose to 100 
 dirhems (i.e. about £^ per ardeb = 135*. 4</. per 
 bushel). The sultan, in hope of benefiting the 
 public, fixed a maximum price on wheat, with the 
 usual result, viz. that sales almost ceased, and food 
 was well-nigh unattainable. The price of an ardeb 
 of wheat rose in Cairo to 105 dirhems ; the same 
 quantity of barley cost 70 dirhems. In Alexandria 
 the ardeb of wheat rose to the enormous^price of 320 
 dirhems {i,e. about £\2 per ardeb = £2 per bushel). 
 
A FAMINE RELIEVED. Ill 
 
 This, of course, implied famine. Alexandria is not 
 situated on the Nile land, but is surrounded by 
 deserts, probably at that age nearly unproductive, 
 and there were no facilities for transport. 
 
 The population of Cairo was reduced to extreme 
 misery, and the open country was filled with famine- 
 stricken people, seeking to sustain life by eating the 
 leaves of vegetables and digging for roots. The 
 sultan was enlightened enough to perceive the ill 
 effects of his law of maximum price. It was there- 
 fore repealed, and the public granaries of Cairo 
 opened. Proclamation was made that the inspectors 
 of the public granaries would sell at a suitable price 
 500 ardebs a day (3000 bushels) ; but no more than 
 two waibehs (about two bushels) were to be sold to 
 any one person. The utterly destitute portion of 
 the population of Cairo was then assembled in the 
 Roumeliyeh. A relief committee was formed, and 
 -every measure properly taken to ascertain the names 
 and circumstances of applicants for relief. The 
 sultan expressed his regret that he had not corn 
 enough to supply them all, but took upon himself 
 the support of several thousands of their number. 
 He allotted to each of his officials, down to the very 
 soldiers of his army, a number of poor, greater or 
 less, proportioned to the ability of each. 
 
 The wealthy merchants and the rich of all classes 
 -each engaged to maintain for three months his quota 
 of destitute people. The vizir took charge of a 
 great number of blind ; the Atabek a number of 
 Turcoman poor. Every person who had the means 
 
112 A FAMINE RELIEVED. 
 
 undertook his share. Public ovens were established. 
 One of the greatest was set up in the mosque of 
 Tulun, which seems to have been then, as it is now, 
 deserted and dismantled, having been founded so 
 early as A.D. 870. 
 
 All these arrangements could not be carried out 
 in one day, and the sultan said, "We have assembled 
 to-day this crowd of unfortunate people, and half the 
 day has gone. Therefore let half a dirhem be given 
 to each, that he may procure a morsel of bread for 
 to-day, and to-morrow we will put into execution the 
 measures we have arranged for their relief" 
 
 A considerable sum was distributed in this way. 
 Then the sultan addressed Sarem-ed-Din Masudi, 
 the " wali " of Cairo : " Take charge of a hundred 
 poor, and feed them for the love of the Almighty." 
 The emir replied that he had already done what the 
 sultan asked, and had undertaken to support a 
 hundred poor in perpetuity. " Good,*' replied the 
 prince ; ** you have done this of your own accord. 
 Now adopt this other hundred for my sake ! " 
 Masudi promised it. 
 
 Soon the distribution of alms and the opening of 
 the public granaries began, and the price of grain 
 gradually diminished, till it fell to twenty dirhems per 
 ardeb, i,e. about 2s. Sd. per bushel (see Appendix E). 
 
 The country people (fellahhin), fully occupied with 
 the irrigation and cultivation of their land and the 
 care of their cattle, are scarcely even referred to by 
 the Arab annalists. Naturally they have left no 
 monuments behind them. Their place in the social 
 
EGYPTIAN ART IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY. II 3 
 
 scale was fixed, and very few of them seem ever to 
 have risen above it. 
 
 The town population of Cairo was fully employed 
 in supplying the requirements of a luxurious court, 
 and of an aristocracy lavish and generous in its 
 expenditure. Almost every considerable city in the 
 realm had its special industry. At Alexandria and 
 Mansura, and in the capital, glass-making flourished. 
 From the earliest times of Egyptian history this art 
 had been handed down from generation to generation. 
 But the finest period of glass-making was from 1200 
 to 1400 ; that is, if we assume that the few specimens 
 of beautiful lamps belonging to that period which 
 still exist, were of Egyptian origin, and not imported 
 from Venice. This, however, in the absence of 
 records, is not easy to determine. But the stained 
 glass used in the windows of mosques and private 
 houses, was certainly of home manufacture. The 
 brasswork of Cairo was carried to a very high degree 
 of perfection. Brass inlaid with silver, filigree work, 
 silver plate, gold and silver ornaments, and jewellery, 
 which, at the present day, have either ceased to be 
 made, or are made in an inferior style, were then 
 produced in the highest artistic taste. 
 
 After the dilapidations and demolitions of ages, 
 there still remains a large quantity of beautiful wood- 
 work — carved, inlaid, panelled, or in " meshrebiyeh " 
 work. Of late years this last art has been applied to 
 the making of domestic furniture, and is one of the 
 most flourishing handicrafts in Cairo. 
 
 The ceilings of mosques and private houses were 
 
 I 
 
114 THE ARTISANS OF EGYPT. 
 
 of wood, painted or gilt — and beautiful examples of 
 it still remain. 
 
 Mosaic work of marble plaques and cubes — often 
 of the hardest and most precious marbles, intermixed 
 with glass, mother-of-pearl, pottery, and enamel — 
 was much used for the interior walls of mosques, for 
 tombs, prayer-niches {mihrab)^ pulpits, sometimes for 
 the flooring and dados of palaces and private houses. 
 
 It is not known if the beautiful encaustic tiles for 
 mural decoration — once plentiful in Cairo and in the 
 larger towns of the Delta, but now become scarce — 
 were manufactured in Egypt or were imported. 
 Even if the manufacture of them was originally a 
 foreign art, it is improbable that a race of artisans, 
 such as the Cairenes of the Middle Ages, would have 
 long remained content with the foreign article, and 
 not have produced tiles of native workmanship. 
 
 These tiles have been imitated in modern times ; 
 but even the most skilful modern potters have not 
 been quite successful in their reproduction of them. 
 There is always something in the modern imitation 
 which, to an experienced eye, betrays its origin. 
 
 Any one who will visit the Imperial Institute, 
 South Kensington, can examine an extremely beau- 
 tiful collection of Persian, Syrian, and Cairene 
 encaustic tiles. In Rhodes there were manufactories 
 of them, but they were not equal in quality to those 
 above referred to. The Persian were the best, for 
 the Persians were the " artists " par excellence of the 
 Oriental world. 
 
 We read of artists and workmen — Persian, Meso- 
 
MANUFACTURES IN THIRTEENTH CENTURY. II5 
 
 potamian, Syrian, and Greek — brought to Cairo by 
 various sultans for the execution of special work. 
 Besides these, probably many foreign handicraftsmen 
 settled in Egypt, for under the Turkish sultans it at 
 least offered a home secure from foreign invasion. 
 There might be civil strife, but it was confined to the 
 ruling aristocracy and their retainers ; and the victor, 
 whoever he might be, would be a patron of the 
 arts, and would delight in beautiful and artistic 
 surroundings. 
 
 The textile fabrics of Egypt in the Middle Ages 
 were numerous and varied, for silk and muslin were 
 universally used by the wealthier classes. The silk 
 employed was mostly imported, Egyptian silk being 
 of inferior quality. The great seats of silk manu- 
 facture were Cairo and Mansura. In the latter town, 
 and in Damietta, a certain amount of silk weaving is 
 still carried on. Damietta was once renowned for 
 its fine cambric, and still produces a coarser kind 
 of muslin ; but the famous woollen manufacture of 
 Upper and Eastern Egypt has long ceased. 
 
 Flax and cotton are products of the country, 
 though in modern times flax is not grown exten- 
 sively. But European imported manufactures of 
 both these materials have almost entirely superseded 
 native work, so that hand-weaving is gradually dying 
 out. But in several towns of Upper Egypt, especially 
 Minieh, strong cotton cloths of bright and artistic 
 colour are still produced for home consumption. 
 
 Egypt is no longer a manufacturing country ; it 
 depends almost exclusively on its agriculture. But 
 
Il6 WEAVING IN SILK AND WOOL. 
 
 under the Turkish and Circassian sovereigns there 
 was a wide and steady demand for native manufac- 
 tures, both for home use and for export ; and almost 
 everything for personal use and adornment was exe- 
 cuted with a taste which proved how fully the 
 ruling classes appreciated and encouraged good 
 workmanship. 
 
 The Arab writers of the thirteenth century often 
 mention a woven fabric which they call tar as ^ e.g. 
 dar-el-TaraZy " a manufactory of Taraz." This was a 
 Persian town on the frontier of Turkistan, which gave 
 its name to a special fabric made of the finest and 
 softest wool, and semi-transparent. The manufacture 
 of it was introduced into Egypt, and the chief site of 
 it was Tannis. 
 
 We are told that in Tannis were " eighty manu- 
 factories in which were woven the stuffs for the 
 sultan's dress." 
 
 Amongst other products of this place was the veil 
 for the Kaaba of Mecca ; at present the veil is a 
 large Persian carpet of fine quality, specially woven ; 
 and a new one is sent every year. The Arab writers 
 mention " the marvellous products of Sous ; " this 
 was a town of Irak, and its '* manufactories belonged 
 to the sultan." Toster was another town of Irak, 
 with " manufactories belonging to the sultan." 
 
 The art of weaving fine linen, silk, and woollen 
 fabrics had never ceased in Egypt from the days of 
 the Pharaohs, but in the twelfth and thirteenth cen- 
 turies it seems to have made a great advance ; espe- 
 cially the art of making cloth- of-gold, and fabrics 
 
RESOURCES OF EGYPT IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 11/ 
 
 embroidered with gold {kasab), introduced from Irak, 
 reached a high degree of perfection. Such fabrics 
 were in great demand, and the price of articles of 
 dress made from them — as mentioned by the Arab 
 writers — seems excessively high. 
 
 The only pottery now manufactured in Egypt is 
 the porous earthenware of Kenneh and its neighbour- 
 hood, used for water-coolers {gMlihs), filtering- vases, 
 and domestic service ; and at Assiut is made a glazed 
 earthenware, black and red, but only for small objects, 
 which, though artistic in form, are brittle, and rather 
 curious than useful. This is all that is left to repre- 
 sent Egyptian ceramic art. 
 
 Egypt, therefore, had many sources of wealth in 
 addition to her agriculture, and this circumstance will 
 account for the general well-being of the town popu- 
 lation, and for the splendid and costly style of living 
 which prevailed amongst the military aristocracy that 
 ruled the country. But besides these home manufac- 
 tures, there was a very considerable foreign trade, by 
 which Cairo especially benefited, for its position 
 rendered it the centre of exchange between Europe 
 and the remoter East. The productions of India, the 
 Red Sea lands, and Central Africa, must of necessity 
 pass through Egypt ; and considerable communities 
 of foreign traders lived in the ports of Damietta and 
 Alexandria. It was for their protection that the 
 sultans of Egypt conceded the so-called " Capitula- 
 tions." These may be described as letters of privi- 
 leges, or royal diplomas, containing promises secured 
 by oath. The Muslim authorities, by whom they 
 
llS THE "CAPITULATIONS." 
 
 were granted, did not look upon them in the light of 
 treaties, which imply, and indeed state, reciprocal 
 obligations. They regarded them as gratuitous con- 
 cessions made by themselves to people with whom 
 their religion bound them to be constantly at war, 
 and by virtue of which these latter were tolerated in 
 Islamic lands. But whatever might have been the 
 original object and scope of these concessions, they 
 became virtual treaties ; and upon them was founded, 
 later on, a system of international law between East 
 and West. After the first frenzy of religious bigotry 
 had in some measure declined, commercial relations 
 rapidly sprung up between Muslim and Christian. 
 And as the Muslims of the earlier times of Islam 
 were never, or but in a small degree, maritime people, 
 it followed that maritime commerce was almost ex- 
 clusively in the hands of Europeans. Many Muslim 
 powers, it is true, founded and maintained a war 
 navy ; few, or none, turned their attention to a mer- 
 cantile marine. 
 
 The Italian republics were the first traders with the 
 Muslims of the Levant, and it was to them that the 
 earliest capitulations were granted, the first known 
 example being those granted by the Sultan of 
 Valentia to the republic of Pisa in 1150. The com- 
 plete text exists of the capitulations granted to the 
 same people in 1 173 by Sultan Salah-ed-Din, who at 
 that time ruled from Barca on the west to the 
 Euphrates on the east. But it is probable that 
 similar concessions had been granted long before by 
 the Ommayad khalifehs of Egypt, although no record 
 
DEGENERATION OF EGYPT. II9 
 
 of them exists ; for the early history of Venice shows 
 that the trade between that republic and Egypt was 
 extensive ; and it could not have been carried on 
 without protective concessions from the Muslim rulers. 
 
 The first recorded capitulations granted to the 
 Venetians were those of Melek-el-Adel, Sultan of 
 Egypt in 1238. 
 
 Thenceforward the other nations of Europe were 
 admitted by degrees to the like privileges, and the 
 treaties as they exist now, were gradually established 
 with the successive sovereigns of Egypt. 
 
 But the discovery of America, and the diversion of 
 the Indian trade which followed the passage round 
 the Cape of Good Hope, inflicted a severe blow on 
 Egyptian commerce. The conquest of Egypt in 15 17 
 by the Osmanli Sultan Selim I. completed its ruin. 
 From that time a period of decay and degradation 
 commenced, and Egypt sank continually lower in 
 prosperity and wealth and art, until after 181 1. The 
 advent to power of Mehemet Ali Pasha, opened, 
 indeed, a new era of material progress. But it is not 
 easy to revive Art amongst a people who have lost 
 it ; it is a flower far more difficult of cultivation than 
 wealth. The brilliant Mamluk art, which filled the 
 land with magnificent monuments, has disappeared 
 for ever ; nothing is left of its creations but remains, 
 poor and dilapidated, as we see them in the present 
 day. And never again, as respects art, will the land 
 of the Nile be placed in the favourable conditions 
 which prevailed under its Turkish and Circassian 
 rulers, who, with all their faults, were far more en- 
 lightened than their Osmanli successors. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
 -•o«- 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 FALL OF THE FATIMI KHALI FATE OF EGYPT. 
 
 The founder of this dynasty, Obeyad-AUah, the Mahdi^ 
 claimed to be the descendant of Fatma, daughter of the 
 Prophet Muhammed, and of AH her husband, and demanded 
 recognition as Khalifeh, in other words, as the only lawful 
 successor and representative of the prophet, and as spiritual 
 and temporal sovereign of Islam. 
 
 Obeyad-Allah in about a.d. 908 became master of the 
 province now known as the Principality of Tunis. The 
 Fatimite power rapidly spread along the northern coast of 
 Africa, and included the islands of Sicily and Malta. 
 Obeyad-Allah's great-grandson, Al Muizz, the fourth Fatimite 
 Khalifeh, conquered Egypt in a.d. 968, and removed the 
 seat of government to a fortress built for his reception near 
 the old Arab city of Fustat. The fortress was named 
 Al-Kahirah and became the nucleus of the city of Cairo, 
 whilst the more ancient city of Fustat gradually sank into 
 the condition of a suburb, until it was destroyed by fire 
 in a.d. 1 168, to save it from being captured by the Crusaders. 
 
122 APPENDIX. 
 
 Its scanty remains are known at the present day as Old Misr, 
 •or less correctly Old Cairo. 
 
 Under the vigorous government of the early Fatimites, 
 the empire they had founded rapidly extended, and ere long 
 it rivalled the khalifate of Baghdad, to the existence of 
 which it became a source of serious danger. But, as has 
 been so frequently seen in the East, the degenerate and 
 feeble descendants of Al Muizz proved themselves in- 
 capable of dealing with the burdens that weighed so lightly 
 upon their masterful ancestors. Egypt became the prey 
 of chronic dissensions and civil war, and was devastated by 
 famine and pestilence. Uncontrolled political power fell 
 into the hands of successive wazirs upon whom the helpless 
 khalifs bestowed the title of malik, or king, themselves 
 content with the mere shadow of power, with outward marks 
 of veneration, and with the splendour and luxury that 
 surrounded them in their magnificent palace at Cairo, 
 which, however, was in reality little other than a prison. 
 The conditions that prevailed during the latter years of the 
 Fatimite dynasty, as they may be gathered from the Arab 
 historians, are strikingly illustrated in the account given by 
 William of Tyre, of an incident that occurred in the course 
 ■of negotiations between the Crusaders and the rulers of 
 Egypt in the reign of the last Khalifeh al Adid. The 
 palace therein described occupied a wide extent of ground 
 in the city of Cairo, a small portion of which is the site 
 •of the modern " mahkemah," or Kadi's Court. 
 
 N{ir-ad-din Mahmdd, Sultan of Aleppo, found a pretext 
 for an invasion of Egypt in the strife between rival pre- 
 tenders to the wazirial throne. The Syrian army was 
 placed under the command of a Kurdish chief, ShirMh^ 
 and the latter was accompanied by a nephew who, under 
 the name of Saladin (Salah ad-din Yusuf), was destined to 
 .acquire celebrity throughout the Western world. 
 
APPENDIX. 123 
 
 Egypt became the scene of a series of struggles between 
 the troops of Niir-ad-din, the rival pretenders to the office 
 of wazir, and the Crusaders. Shirkuh eventually triumphed 
 over his opponents, Muslim and Christian. He was raised 
 by the reigning khalifeh to the office of wazir, and at his 
 death, in a.d. 1169, he was succeeded by Saladin, who in 
 his turn was formally recognized as wazir under the title 
 of Malik an Nasir (the Succouring King), which he retained 
 throughout his career. About two and a half years after 
 his accession, Saladin proclaimed the deposition of the 
 Fatimite khalifeh, and after an interval of upwards of 
 two hundred years the khutbah was again recited in Egypt 
 in the name of the Abbasside khalifehs of Baghdad. Al 
 Adid's death, at the age of twenty-one, and after a reign 
 of twelve years, occurred at the same time, and it is 
 doubtful whether he ever knew that his dynasty had come 
 to an end. 
 
 When Saladin was appointed "wazir," he became the 
 real ^' Sultan " of Egypt. When he abolished the spiritual 
 supremacy of the Fatimites and restored that of the 
 Abbassides, it was a religious rather than a political act ; 
 not a revolution in the sense we attach to the word nowa- 
 days. It would not be so regarded by the Egyptians 
 and other Muslim nations. It had, no doubt, important 
 political consequences ; but these would at the time have 
 been hardly understood. In short, it was a reformation 
 rather than a revolution. 
 
1 24 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX B. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE COURT OF THE LAST FATIMITE 
 
 KHALIFEH. 
 
 " Collection des Mdmoires reUtifs k Thistoire de France."^ 
 Par M. Guizot. (Paris, 1824.) 
 
 Four vols. (xvi.-xix.) *' Histoire des Croisades," par 
 Guillaume de Tyr. 
 
 Vol. xviii. Livre xix^ (p. 158). 
 
 Page 154. (a.d. 1 166.) Report spread abroad that 
 "Syracon" (Shirkiih) was preparing to return to Egypt,, 
 supported by the influence of the Khalifeh of Baghdad. 
 
 The army of King Almaric crossed the desert and passed 
 through Palestine and Cairo (p. 187) "011 Ton voit le trone 
 sublime du Royaume d'Egypte, entourd de magnifiques 
 Edifices " — and encamped on the bank of the river, having. 
 on their left "la noble et belle mdtropole vulgairement 
 appel^e Babylonie et en langue Arabe Macer^ 
 
 (Page 191.) A new treaty was concluded between the 
 " Soudan " (ix, the Wezir Shawar) and the Latin king, who 
 entered into an engagement not to leave Egypt until 
 " Syracon " and his army were expelled from the country. 
 On the other hand, an increase of tribute was agreed upon, 
 a sum of 200,000 pieces of gold (dinars?) to be paid at 
 once, cash down. (Page 192) "Le Seigneur Roi donna sa 
 main droite en tdmoinage de son consentiment, k ceux qui 
 
APPENDIX. 125 
 
 lui furent envoyds de la part du Calife." (The statement 
 that they were sent by the khahfeh is no doubt a myth.) 
 " En meme temps il chargea Hugues de Cesarie . . . de 
 se rendre auprbs du Calife pour regevoir aussi de sa main 
 la confirmation des conventions, jugeant qu'il ne suffisait 
 pas que le Soudan se fuit engag^ envers lui. . . . 
 
 "Hugues de Cesarie et Geffroi, frhre de Foucher et 
 Chevalier du Temple . . . se rendirent au palais appeld 
 Cascer (Kasr) dans la langue du pays, pr6c6d6s d'une 
 nombreuse troupe d'appariteurs qui marchaient en avant 
 avec beaucoup de fracas, et arm^s de glaives. On les 
 conduisit h travers des passages dtroits ou I'on ne voyait 
 point le jour, et a chaque porte ils rencontraient des 
 compagnies d'Ethiopiens armes, qui ofFraient leurs saluta- 
 tions ^mpressdes au Soudan aussitot qu'il se presentait. 
 Apr^s avoir ainsi franchi le premier et le second * porte 
 de garde,' ils furent introduits dans un local plus vaste ou 
 le soleil pdndtrait (p. 193) et qui se trouvait h decouvert. 
 II y avait pour se promener des galeries en colonnes de 
 marbre, lambriss^es en or et incrustdes d'ouvrages qui 
 s'avangaient en saillies. Les pav6s dtaient di diverses 
 mati^res, et tout le pourtour de ces galeries dtaient 
 vraiment digne de la puissance royale. L'dldgance des 
 matdriiux et des ouvrages retenait involuntairement le 
 regards de tous ceux qui y passaient et I'oeuil avide, attir^ 
 par la nouveant^ d'un tel spectacle, avait peine k s'en 
 detacher, et ne pouvait se rassasier de cette vue. On y 
 trouvait encore des bassins en marbre remplis de Teau la 
 plus limpide ; on entendait les gazouillements varies d'une 
 multitude infinie d'oiseaux inconnus dans notre monde, 
 dont les formes et les couleurs dtranges dtai^nt dgalement 
 nouvelles, qui presentaient un aspect extraordinaire, du 
 moins aux regards des notres, et qui avait chacun selon 
 son espdce, des aliments divers et appropri^s k leur goftts. 
 
126 APPENDIX. 
 
 De Ik s'avangant encore plus loin sous la conduite du chef 
 des eunuques, ils trouvbrent d'autres batiments plus dlegans 
 encore que les prdcddens, autant que ceux-ci leur avait 
 paru superieurs k ceux qu Ton pouvait voir ordinairement 
 en tout autre lieu. Ils rencontrbrent Ik une dtonnante 
 varidt^ de quadrupbdes tels que la main folatre des peintres 
 peut se plaire h, la representer, que la podsie pourrait la 
 decrire dans ses licences m^nsong^res, ou que I'imagi- 
 nation d'un homme endormi pourrait I'inventer dans ses 
 reves nocturnes, telle enfin qu'on la trouve r^element dans 
 les pays de TOrient et du Midi, tandis que I'Occident n'a 
 jamais rien vu de pareil, ou n'en a meme entendu parler 
 que bien rarement. . . . Apr^s avoir passd par beaucoup 
 de corridors et de chemins tortueux, ou les hommes les plus 
 occup^s eussent pu s'arreter longtemps k contempler tout 
 ce qui s'y rencontrait, ils arriv^rent enfin dans le palais 
 meme, ou Ton trouvait des corps plus nombreux d'hommes 
 armds, et des satellites formant des troupes plus consider- 
 ables, dont la belle tenue et la multiplicity proclamaient 
 dej£ la gloire incomparable du seigneur de ces lieux, de 
 meme que tous les objets qu'on voyait annongaient son 
 opulence et ses richesses extraordinaires. Lorsqu'ils furent 
 entrds dans Tintdrieur du palais, le Soudan presenta selan 
 I'usage, les temoignages de son respect k son seigneur — il 
 se prosterna deux fois successivdment devant lui, et lui 
 offrit, en suppliant, un culte qui n'etait du k nul autre, et 
 qui semblait une mani^re d'adoration, puis s'dtant prosternd 
 une troisibme fois, il deposa enfin le glaive * qu'il portait 
 suspendu au con. Aussitot on tira avec une dtonnante 
 rapidity, des rideaux tissus en or et ornds d'une infinie 
 varietd de pierres precieuses, et qui suspendus au milieu 
 de I'appartement, dtaient rdferm^s sur le trone; le calife 
 
 * This was a matter of etiquette; none were permitted to enter armed 
 into the sovereign's presence. 
 
APPENDIX. 127 
 
 apparut alors exposant sa face h, tous les regards, assis sur 
 un trone dord, couvert de vetements plus magnifiques que 
 ceux des rois et entour^ d'un petit nombre de domestiques 
 et d'eunuques familiers. Alors s'avangant avec le plus 
 grand respect le Soudan baisa humblement les pihds du 
 souverain assis sur son trone, exposa les motifs de la venue- 
 des deputes, rapporta la teneur des traitds qu'il avait 
 conclus, dit que le (p. 195) royaume se trouvait dans la 
 necessity la plus pressante, que les ennemis les plus cruels< 
 avaient penetrd jusqu'an coeur de I'etat et finit par declarer 
 en peu de mots ce qu'on exigeait du Calife, et ce que le 
 seigneur Roi ^tait dispos^ h faire pour lui. Le Calife 
 rdpondit avec beaucoup de bontd, et de I'air le plus calme 
 et le plus enjoue, qu'il dtait tout pret k accomplir et k 
 interpreter de la maniere la plus gracieuse toutes les stipu- 
 lations convenues en faveur de son tr^s cheri le seigneur 
 Roi dans le traitd consent! de part et d'autre. 
 
 " Nos deputes ayant demand^ que le Calife confirmat ces 
 paroles de sa propre main de meme que le Roi Tavait 
 fait, les confidents intimes et les ofificiers de la chambre 
 du Calife qui entouraient sa personne et qui exercaient toute 
 Tautorit^ dans ses conseils parurent d'abord n'entendre cette 
 proposition qu' avec horreur, comme une chose inoiiie dans 
 tous les sibcles; cependant apr^s une longue deliberation 
 et h la suite des instances reiter^es du Soudan, le Calife 
 tendit la main, avec beaucoup de repugnance et la presenta 
 couverte d'un voile; alors, et h, la grande surprise des- 
 Egyptiens qui ne pouvaient assez s'dtonner qu'on osa parler 
 si librement au Prince Souverain, Hugues de Cesarie dit au 
 Calife: * Seigneur, la foi n'a point de ddtours, il faut que 
 tout soit k nu dans les engagements par lesquels les princes 
 se lient les uns avec les autres: il faut d^couvrir avec 
 sincerite, rapprocher et ddlier tout ce qui fait Tobjet d'une 
 convention quelconque, qui s'appuie sur la bonne foi 
 reciproque des parties contractantes. C'est pourquoi ou 
 
128 APPENDIX. 
 
 vous presenterez votre main nue, ou je suis r^duit k croire 
 qu'il y a de votre part (p. 196), quelqu' arri^re pensde et 
 moins de sincerity que je ne voudrais.' Enfin forc^ bien 
 malgre lui et comme s'il eut derog^ h, sa dignitd, souriant 
 cependant, ce que les Egyptiens ne virent qu' avec humeur, 
 le Calife mit sa main nue dans la main de Hugues de 
 Cesarie, et tandis que celui qi lui dictait la formule de son 
 serment, il s'engagea, en pronongant aprbs lui presque les 
 memes syllabes, h, observer les conventions selon leur 
 teneur, de bo7ine foi et sans fraude ni mauvaise i?itefitio7iJ^ 
 
 (Then follows a brief but very fairly correct account of 
 the Fatimites, their origin, etc.) 
 
 The "Soudan" is the Wazir Shawar, "Le Roi" is Amaury, 
 King of Jerusalem. 
 
 ''The Khalifeh," El Aadid, was only twenty-one years of 
 age at the time when this interview took place. 
 
APPENDIX. 129 
 
 APPENDIX C. 
 
 THE GAME OF POLO. 
 
 This noble but dangerous game was in much favour with 
 the Mamluk sultans of Egypt ; special days were appointed 
 for playing it, when it assumed the form of a grand state 
 function, and the monarchs usually rode out to the polo 
 ground near the Nile at Cairo in magnificent array, and 
 accompanied by the entire court.* To be invited to join 
 the sultan in a game of polo was one of the greatest marks 
 of favour that could be shown to an Egyptian or foreign 
 nobleman, and it was only granted to those of highest rank. 
 
 Very handsome presents were bestowed by the sultans on 
 these occasions, such as horses, robes of honour, gold 
 collars, or girdles, and this was an effective method of 
 securing the good will of the emirs. 
 
 Melek-en-Nasir Muhammed Kelaoun (a.d. 12 96-1340) 
 expended vast sums of money in this way, and in entertain- 
 ing the officers of his court once in each year for several 
 days together, and this was independently of his weekly 
 levies at the Meydkn-el-Naseri, i.e, the polo ground 
 which he had caused to be laid out between Cairo and 
 Fostat. 
 
 * The '*djukendar " or *' tchukendar " was one of the State officials ; 
 it was his duty to carry the sultan's mallet, and attend him while 
 playing. 
 
 K 
 
I30 APPENDIX. 
 
 The custom was kept up till 1396, when it ceased and was 
 not renewed. 
 
 The game of polo came originally from Persia, where 
 it existed at a very early period under the Sassanide 
 dynasty ; the name by which it was called was " tchugan " 
 or "tchukan." It was introduced into the Byzantine 
 court some time during the fourth century, and was called 
 in Greek " tzukanion/' which was the Persian name slightly 
 changed. Gradually the Arabs and almost all the Oriental 
 nations learned to play it. 
 
 Although polo was not so dangerous as the tournament, 
 yet fatal accidents often occurred in it. 
 
 The Arab historians give a long list of persons of note, 
 who were killed by falling from their horses while playing 
 it, for it was pursued with the utmost ardour and recklessness. 
 
 Sultan Salkh-ed-Din, his uncle Nour-ed-Din the Atabek 
 of Syria, and his father Nejm-ed-Din were especially skilful 
 players ; but all three played with a vehemence that caused 
 the spectators to fear some fatal issue ; for they kept their 
 horses at full gallop, and were careless of obstacles. 
 
 The Arab writers record the grace as well as the skill of 
 Nour-ed-Din. 
 
 When striking the ball ("korah") he never raised the 
 mallet above his head; and we are told that sometimes 
 after striking a ball into the air he would follow it at full 
 gallop, would catch it while yet in motion, and drive it 
 with his racket to the furthest extremity of the " meydan." 
 
 I leave polo players to decide if this be feasible or not ; 
 perhaps this account was only the flattery of an admiring 
 courtier. 
 
 That kind of mallet, the extremity of which was fitted 
 with a small racket, was properly called " tchukan." The 
 name of the other kind, which ended in a piece of solid 
 wood, was " savledjkn." 
 
APPENDIX. 131 
 
 In Egypt the game began to be in vogue soon after the 
 Saracen conquest of that country. Amongst celebrated 
 players of it whose names are recorded, were Ahmed-ibn- 
 Touloun (a.d. 815-884), the Fatimite khalifeh El-Aazi^ 
 (975-996), Nejm-ed-Din Saleh (1249), and Beybars, who, 
 when in Cairo, played it regularly twice a week. 
 
 Sultan Ladjin (1296-98) was a vehement player, and on 
 one occasion fell from his horse, was grievously bruised, 
 broke a rib, and the bones of his right hand. Makrizi 
 mentions the delight of his subjects on his first appear- 
 ance in public after his recovery, "for he was greatly 
 beloved." A similar accident befell Sultan Kaitbey a.d. 
 1484, who fell, and the horse rolling upon him, broke his 
 master's leg. 
 
 Fatal accidents were common, and there are instances 
 of the highest personages killed through being trampled 
 upon by the contending horsemen, who could not check 
 in time the impetuous rush of their horses, although wonder- 
 ful address was commonly displayed in sudden wheels and 
 swerves. 
 
 Polo was, in fact, the image of single combat, so far as 
 the evolutions of the horses were concerned; and skill in 
 the game enabled man and horse to avoid sabre-strokes 
 and lance-thrusts. 
 
 The game of the "djerid," once common amongst the 
 Osmanlis — and of which, in bygone days, I have seen 
 some very skilful players at Cairo and at Alexandria — 
 presents some distant resemblance to polo. But it is far 
 inferior ; and now that the once-famous cavalry force, the 
 " Delis," has disappeared, the "djerid" game has declined, 
 if it has not ceased to be played, among the Osmanlis. 
 
132 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 DRESSES OF HONOUR. 
 
 The distribution of " khilat " — " dresses of honour " — 
 formed a very essential part in the ceremonial of the 
 Egyptian court. There were three general classes of 
 recipients — the military, the officials of the chancellerie, and 
 the ulema. The gradations in each of these classes were 
 infinite, but all were distinguished with scrupulous exactness. 
 Thus the "khilah^' of the emirs in high command was of 
 red satin (''atlas ") of Asia Minor, lined with yellow satin of 
 the same fabric. On the upper vestment, were embroidered 
 gold brocade and minever. 
 
 The cap of the turban ("kaloutah" or ^'kalfatah") was 
 of gold brocade with clasps of gold. Round it was folded 
 .a piece of the finest muslin (" lahis ") ; to the ends of this 
 bands of white silk were attached, on which were embroidered 
 the sultan's titles, and other bands of brilliant-coloured 
 •silk. Then came a golden girdle, varying according to the 
 rank of the recipient. That of the highest in rank bore 
 ribs of gold, and between them two *' plaques " of gold ; 
 and two pieces of gold, encrusted with rubies, pearls, and 
 emeralds, were attached. 
 
 For those emirs who were of a lower dignity, the girdle 
 tliad but a single '* plaque," enriched with precious stones ; 
 
APPENDIX. 135 
 
 those yet lower in rank received a girdle with only one plain 
 gold " plaque." 
 
 Every personage appointed to an important office received 
 also a gold-mounted sabre from the royal armoury (" silah 
 khanah "). To this was added a horse from the sultan's 
 stables, with housings of cloth-of-gold, and a gold-em- 
 bossed bridle and bit^ sometimes a saddle adorned with 
 gold. 
 
 The Prince of Hamah and the Viceroy {^' Na'ib") of 
 Syria received two horses accoutred as described. Instead 
 of muslin, the turban, in their case, was wrapped round with 
 a piece of the choicest silk made in Alexandria; the 
 appendages were as before described. 
 
 For emirs of less dignity, the *' khilah " was of '^tardou- 
 hasch," a material woven in Cairo, Alexandria, or Damascus. 
 It was of bands of different-coloured silk, mingled with 
 ^*kasab" — Le, silk interwoven with flakes of gold^-or of 
 " atlas mukasab,'' gold-embroidered satin. Sometimes the 
 dress had a border of minever, beaver, or cloth of gold. 
 The under vestment was of *^ mufarrih," a silk fabric of 
 Alexandria. 
 
 Those of still lower rank received a robe of *'kandji" 
 silk, bordered with -the same material, but of a different 
 colour, or sometimes with a border of fur. Their turban 
 and girdle had no gold plaque or embroidered bands, but 
 was of bands yellow or green, mingled with gold-embroidered 
 silk. 
 
 Descending still in rank, the dress was of one colour 
 throughout; the turban-cap ('' kaloutah") was without gold, 
 and no girdle was given. Or the dress was of *^ mohram " 
 of one colour throughout, the under dress ('' kaba ") was in 
 bands of red, green, or other colours, or was entirely blue. 
 As the dignity of the recipients diminished, so did the value 
 and comeliness of their dress. 
 
134 APPENDIX. 
 
 For the secretaries, the robe was of white "kandji" silk, 
 bordered with fur, the sleeves were lined with fur, the head- 
 dress was a bonnet of linen (" bakiar ") manufactured at 
 Damietta, wrapped round with " farh," a silk stuff made in 
 Cairo or Alexandria. 
 
 Sometimes their " khilah " was of fine black woollen cloth, 
 this being the Abbaside orthodox colour — with an under 
 garment of "farh " silk. 
 
 The inferior secretaries received robes of " mohram *' 
 woollen cloth, with or without fur borders or linings ; their 
 under vest was of ''farh" or "et-tabi" silk, but never of 
 white. 
 
 The " khilah " of the kadis and ulema was of woollen 
 cloth without borders of fur, the under robe of " farh" silk. 
 The most distinguished amongst them received a white 
 outer robe. The inner robe was green, the sacred colour 
 of Islam. 
 
 It is amongst these men only that the beautiful dress of 
 the middle ages in Egypt, still exists in some degree ; and 
 very artistic are the delicate shades of colour that their 
 vestments present. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing that the distinctions of 
 dress following minutely on gradations in rank were infinite, 
 and naturally the expense of these gratifications was 
 enormous, for it was one of the chief means for securing the 
 good will and loyalty of the mamliiks and officials. The 
 number of maml^ks under the Kelaouns is estimated at 
 about 24,000, and Sultan Kelaoun II. maintained in high 
 efificiency, a corps-d^-elite of 12,000. Over each 1000 was 
 an emir of the highest rank, over each 100 one of lower 
 dignity. A very great number of dresses was therefore 
 necessary. The " ikta " or appanages attached to these 
 offices varied in value from 1500 dinars (about ;^78o) 
 to 150 dinars (about j[fio) per annum. Even this was 
 
APPENDIX. 135 
 
 a considerable reduction from the rate of pay that pre- 
 vailed in the time of Beybars. 
 
 Sultan Ladjin, who reduced the taxation, and lightened 
 the burdens of his people by every means in his power, 
 diminished the expense of the army and introduced a great 
 reform in dress. Himself and his courtiers dressed very 
 plainly. He forbade his mamluks to wear " kaloutahs " of 
 gold-embroidered cloth {i.e. the bonnet or cap, round 
 which the " shash " " turban-muslin " was wound). He for- 
 bade them also to wear gold brocade, or to have their long 
 locks of hair tied up in silk, pigtail fashion , and generally he 
 tried to introduce simplicity of attire. 
 
 But all this seems to have been changed in the reign of 
 Kelaoun 11. 
 
 In 1270 Beybars distributed in one day, in the Meidan 
 (hippodrome) of Damascus, a vast amount of gifts to 
 his officials and to those whom he would honour. 
 Amongst other things, 1200 horses were given away, and 
 1700 persons received each the value of a horse, in money. 
 We are told that the sultan "remained sitting till the 
 distribution was over " — but he was a man of iron constitu- 
 tion, of wonderful energy and activity, and seemed not to 
 know what fatigue meant ! 
 
 In 1284 Mansour Kelaoun I. distributed in one night to 
 1500 of his mamluks a robe of honour of dark red satin, a 
 ^' kaloutah," a cap of embroidered cloth-of-gold, and a gold 
 girdle each. The ceremony ended with a procession, in 
 which each of this great number of men bore in his hand a 
 wax taper. 
 
 The foregoing may give some idea of the vast expense 
 entailed by this custom. It was costly, but politic, perhaps 
 even indispensable. 
 
136 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX E. 
 
 FAMINES IN EGYPT. 
 
 I HAVE already given an account of a great scarcity in 
 Egypt during the year 1264, and of the measures taken to 
 provide for the utterly destitute in Cairo. 
 
 As to what occurred in the provinces, we are in complete 
 ignorance, no record existing. Probably the famine and its 
 constant companion pestilence, were left to pursue their 
 course unchecked, for the " fellahhin " (cultivators) were 
 of no account in that age. 
 
 Nothing under the Mamluk sultans equalled in horror the 
 famine and pestilence that afflicted Egypt under the 
 Fatimite Khalifeh, El Must'ansir b' Allah, when for six 
 successive years the Nile flood partially failed, and half the 
 population of Egypt perished. 
 
 But at frequent intervals under the Maml\ik sultans the 
 annual inundation failed to reach a sufficient height, and 
 severe distress, sometimes absolute famine, prevailed in 
 consequence; and although in modern times many years 
 have passed during which a " good Nile " has been the rule, 
 yet the failure or partial failure of the tropical rains in 
 Abyssinia and Central Africa would produce immense 
 suffering in all the land from the Soudan to the 
 Mediterranean, although the consequences might be less 
 dreadful than those in past ages. 
 
APPENDIX. 137 
 
 The fluctuations in the price of cereals during the 13th 
 century were great. In 1277, during the reign of Berdkeh 
 Khan, son and successor of Beybars, there was an immense 
 inundation of the Nile " which covered all Egypt." 
 
 It is only of late years, since cotton became the staple 
 produce of Egypt, that the Nile and the canals have been 
 embanked with high and thick dams, to keep out the flood. 
 Then, the river was allowed to extend unrestrained over the 
 whole land ; now, the irrigation must be done by pumping 
 engines, stationary or portable; for the Nile reaches its 
 highest point in the middle of the cotton harvest, and the 
 breach of an embankment causes immense loss of property, 
 sometimes even of life. 
 
 It is true that partial amends are made by the increased 
 fertility of the soil due to the greater deposit of Nile earth 
 ('*limon"), but if cotton is to be grown, the inundation 
 must be kept oif the land. 
 
 In 1277 "all Egypt was covered." A great fall in the 
 price of cereals occurred. We read that wheat fell to five 
 dirhems the ardeb, barley to three, other grains to two 
 dirhems. This seems impossible, for it amounts to only 
 about 7i'. the quarter. Yet Makrizi expressly mentions 
 this price. 
 
 In 1 28 1, during the reign of Mansour Kelaoun, wheat 
 was at 35 dirhems the ardeb = 42s. the quarter. The 
 sultan wished to open the public granaries and sell at 25 
 dirhems the ardeb ; but his emirs advised that, in order to 
 maintain public confidence, the national granaries should 
 remain closed. But they undertook to open their own 
 granaries (" shounah ") and to sell at the price named by 
 the sultan. This was done, and prices sank to 20 and 18 
 dirhems the ardeb. The last-mentioned price ruled till the 
 following harvest. 
 
 In 1294 grain rose to 90 dirhems the ardeb, owing to a 
 
1 38 APPENDIX. 
 
 deficient Nile inundation. Famine and pestilence pre- 
 vailed, but in 1295 the price was 50 dirhems. 
 
 In 1296 there was a frightful famine. Wheat rose to 150 
 dirhems the ardeb = 180^. the quarter. Barley cost 100 
 dirhems. A scarcity of rain and even severe drought 
 prevailed over Syria and North Africa. In the province of 
 Barca immense swarms of locusts appeared, and devoured 
 everything vegetable, even the leaves and bark of the trees. 
 
 About 50,000 of the people of Barca escaped to Egypt ; 
 but nearly all perished ; for the state of things in Egypt was 
 but little if at all better than in Barca. The Nile rose and 
 fell continually in a way that caused universal consternation, 
 but never reached its normal height. So dreadful was the 
 famine that cannibalism was of constant occurrence, and 
 pestilence followed. 
 
 Makrizi gives a sad account of the mortality in Cairo 
 alone, and of the utter demoralization and disorganization 
 that ensued. But gradually, as the next harvest approached, 
 prices began to fall — wheat to 45 dirhems, and at last to 
 20 dirhems, about 24s, the quarter. 
 
 In 1 199 there was a dreadful famine and pestilence, an 
 account of which is given by Abd-ul-Latif, the physician of 
 Sultan Saladin. He lived a.d. 1161-1231, and, it appears, 
 witnessed all this fearful national scourge. He estimates 
 the number of those who died in Cairo and Fostat during 
 a period of twenty months at 110,000 people. But he 
 mentions that these were only such as were properly and ' 
 decently buried. An enormous number of others died, of 
 whom no account whatever seems to have been taken. 
 
 He also cites instances of cannibalism as being of every- 
 day occurrence, and states that he himself, in the exercise 
 ■of his profession, on one occasion narrowly escaped falling 
 a victim to it ! His work is extant ; and his account is of 
 undoubted veracity. 
 
APPENDIX. 139 
 
 If such was the condition of the capital, we may well 
 imagine what an awful state of things prevailed in the 
 provinces ! 
 
 In 130 1, during the reign of Mohammed Kelaoun there 
 was a very severe epidemic of cattle disease. So great was 
 the mortality among the oxen, that there were not enough 
 beasts left to turn the " sakiyehs " (water-wheels). Makrizi 
 gives an instance of one large landowner, who lost 1003 
 head of cattle out of 102 1. Camels and asses were 
 harnessed together to the plough. 
 
 I have myself seen this strange sight during the great 
 cattle plague in Egypt of the years 1863-4. 
 
 The native breed of oxen is extremely fine, large, beauti- 
 fully formed, and of the colour of a ripe horse-chestnut. 
 The price of such cattle is always high. 
 
 In the years mentioned this breed well-nigh died out, and 
 immense importations took place of grey cattle from Italy, 
 and cattle from all the neighbouring countries ; but they 
 either caught the infection and died, or could not bear the 
 climate, and the stock on an estate had to be renewed 
 several times. At present the old breed has recovered itself, 
 and few or no grey cattle are to be seen. 
 
 But the loss caused was enormous, and could not have 
 been borne had it not been for the extremely high profit on 
 cotton caused by the American civil war, and the cessation 
 of cotton exports from the Southern states. 
 
I40 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX F. 
 
 THE ISMAELIS. 
 
 A GREAT number of heretical sects arose in the religious 
 world of Islam, in consequence of the claim to the Khalifate 
 of Ali, son-in-law of Muhammed. The Prophet of Islam 
 at his death either did not name a successor or did not 
 properly make his choice known ; and it was not till after 
 the Khalifates of Abu Bekr, Omar, and Othman, that Ali 
 became Khalifeh; even then his claim was disputed, and 
 on his assassination, his great enemy Muawlah became 
 Khalifeh, and founded the Ommayad dynasty. 
 
 But even the followers of Ali were soon divided into 
 sects, which disagreed with the rest of the Muslim world 
 and with each other, on many points, as e.g, concerning the 
 prerogatives attached to the Khalifate; concerning the 
 " Imam " — the lawful spiritual and temporal monarch ; 
 concerning the particular branch of All's descendants to 
 which the Imamate belonged of right. In one point, how- 
 ever, all Alides were agreed, viz. intense and undying 
 hatred of the first three Khalifehs, and of the Ommayad 
 and Abbasside dynasties. 
 
 It would be a wearisome and unprofitable task to enter 
 into any detailed account of the various religious opinions 
 of these sectaries. The curious in such matters may study 
 
APPENDIX. 141 
 
 Silvestre de Sagy's preface to his work " Exposd de la 
 Religion des Druses." This will show how wide and 
 difficult a subject is the history of these sects; some of 
 which were most formidable, and, at one time, even 
 threatened to subvert the faith of Islam. 
 
 The most famous of them were the Ismaelis and the 
 Karmathians, both of which have ceased to exist, although 
 it seems probable that the Khoja and Mopla sects, of South- 
 west India, are their successors, and profess most of their 
 opinions, though perhaps with a purer practice. 
 
 The Druses and Nasairis, direct descendants of these 
 Ismaelis, still exist, and the Wahkbis of Arabia may also be 
 regarded as Alides. 
 
 At first the distinctive points of belief between orthodox 
 Muslims and the followers of Ali were not very important, 
 excepting always the succession to the Khalifate; but as 
 time passed they diverged farther and farther, until the 
 Alides, although professing to be Muslims, were scarcely so 
 in reality. 
 
 It was no longer merely a question of succession. The 
 Saracens had become acquainted with the old Greek 
 philosophy, and this gave rise to deep and far-reaching 
 questions. Most of the Alides belonged to the Eastern 
 provinces of the Saracen Empire until North Africa and 
 Egypt were perverted, and many remains of the old religion 
 — ** Magism " — still existed in Persia and the neighbouring 
 lands. The Zoroastrians regarded their kings and rulers as 
 descendants of the gods, divinities of a subaltern order. 
 And we may compare with this the acceptance as Divine per- 
 sonages of Ali and his family, and of such a monster as the 
 madman Hakem. Then there was the belief in the exist- 
 ence of a Good principle and an Evil principle, and in 
 the independent existence of matter and mind. From 
 India came the doctrines of Buddhism ; and from certain 
 
142 APPENDIX. 
 
 peculiarities in Druse and Nasairi worship it may be sur- 
 mised that some relics of the old Phoenician religions 
 survived in the mountains of North Palestine and Syria. 
 
 Many of these religious opinions were adopted by the 
 Alides, and amalgamated with their strange and fanatical 
 belief, which within a couple of centuries after Muhammed 
 seemed at one time likely to supersede orthodox Islamism. 
 
 Orthodox Muslims have always regarded the various 
 sects of Alides with the utmost hatred and abhorrence. 
 They name them *' khariji" (schismatics) from the Arabic 
 verb meaning **to go out," — i.e, from obedience to the 
 orthodox khalifeh — • ** mulahedi " (heretics), " mutazeli "^ 
 (impious), from their explaining away the doctrines and 
 precepts of the Kuran, and from their vicious practices. 
 
 Their general name "Fatimi" is derived from Fatma^ 
 the daughter of Muhammed, and wife of Ali, and they 
 called themselves "Bath^niin" (partisans of the inner 
 sense, i,e, of the Kuran) ; because of the mystic and 
 esoteric meaning which they gave to the text of the sacred 
 book. 
 
 But the particular sect of Ismaelis who were known to the 
 Crusaders is better known as ** Assassins." This word has 
 been variously interpreted, but seems to be derived from 
 the Arabic "hashashin," i.e, "persons intoxicated by using 
 preparations of opium or Indian hemp." 
 
 They were called Ismaelis from their belief that the 
 dignity of Imam was transmitted in unbroken succession 
 from Ali to Ismael, son of GiafFar-es-Sadik, about a.d. 770. 
 He was the seventh Imam; after him that dignity wjis 
 bestowed by Allah on a personage unknown to men. 
 
 But the time would come when the " Mehdi " * (the 
 " Directed One") would be revealed, and the posterity of Ali 
 
 * "Mehdi" is also interpreted actively as "the guide," "the 
 director.'* 
 
APPENDIX. 145, 
 
 would triumph over all its enemies. The Ismaelis, how- 
 ever, believed that Muhammed, the son of Ismael, would be 
 that " Mehdi," and would suddenly reappear in the world. 
 There have been scores of pretended " Mehdis,'' and the 
 last was the impostor of the Soudan. 
 
 Up to A.H. 460-470 these sectaries professed belief in 
 the mission of the Prophet Muhammed, and obedience to 
 the precepts of the Kuran, but gradually their faith and 
 practice became utterly opposed to their profession. Their 
 doctrines varied, but all of them believed in the transmigra- 
 tion of souls ; in the union of the Deity with the family and 
 descendants of Ali. They all maintained that the Kuran 
 must be explained allegorically, and so, reduced its pre- 
 cepts to a nullity. In its place they professed a doctrine 
 purely philosophical, combined with a very licentious 
 practice, and the outcome was materialism and utter 
 atheism. 
 
 The Fatimi Khalifehs of Egypt belonged to the Ismaeli 
 sect, through Obeyad- Allah, a descendant of Ali. But they 
 concealed their secret doctrines, and even the most intolerant 
 of them imposed on their subjects only the duties of acknow- 
 ledging the rights of Ali and his family, and of hating the 
 Abbasside Khalifehs. Their dynasty lasted 270 years, and 
 they succeeded in conquering Egypt, Syria, North Africa^ 
 and Diarbekr — at one time they even held the two holy 
 cities^* Mecca " and ** Medina" — and in Baghdad itself 
 the public prayer {khutbah) was offered in their name 
 during a period of ten months. 
 
 The " dai's " or missionaries of the Ismaelis were very 
 zealous and very successful, especially in the Eastern pro- 
 vinces of the Empire. About a.d. 1080 one of them, a certain 
 Hassan el-Humayri, came to Egypt. He was received with 
 much favour by the reigning khalifeh, Most'ansser, but 
 being forced to leave Egypt^ owing to court intrigues, he 
 
144 APPENDIX. 
 
 made his way into Persia, to the mountainous province of 
 Kuhistan (Dilem and Ghilan), near Kaswin. There he 
 succeeded in corrupting the governor of the almost impreg- 
 nable fortress Alamut. It was betrayed to him for a bribe 
 (a.d. 1090), and all the force of Melik Shah failed to recover 
 the place. Soon Hassan gained possession of other forts 
 in the same mountain district, and proclaimed his inde- 
 pendence ; he professed, however, to be exercising authority 
 only in the name of the unrevealed Imam. This was the 
 origin of the larger community of *' Assassins '* — that of 
 Persia. 
 
 They soon became formidable to the whole body of 
 Oriental princes. In 1094 Melik Shah, King of Persia,* 
 and his vezir, " Nizam-ul-Mulk," perished under the daggers 
 of these pernicious heretics. The latter victim had himself 
 become partially a convert to their doctrines. 
 
 Hassan el-Humayri ruled the sect until his death in 1 124 ; 
 and, through the enthusiastic ferocity and implicit obedience 
 of his emissaries (/edawis), became an object of terror, and 
 even of respect, to the highest and most powerful among 
 the Oriental Muslim sovereigns. 
 
 A branch of these Persian Ismaelis, who were best known 
 to the Crusaders as " Assassins," soon after this time gained 
 possession of certain forts and strong places in the Lebanon 
 and Anti-Lebanon. However, these people, though attached 
 to their own dogmas, did not cease to profess themselves 
 Muslims. Their doctrine had not yet received that strange 
 development which it afterwards assumed. But the fourth 
 
 * This was the most powerful of the Seljuk Turkish sultans. His 
 •empire comprised Asia Minor to almost within sight of Byzantium, all 
 Syria to the frontiers of Egypt, Mesopotamia, Irak, Persia, and 
 Turkistan, up to the frontiers of India. The Seljuk power was much 
 ■weakened by the First Crusade, and thenceforward gradually declined 
 \mtil all that^was left of this once mighty empire was the sultanate of 
 Iconium (Koniah), which was finally conquered by the Ottomans, 
 
. . , v.xU '^j^pr^ (not on Coin) 
 
 
 ircle) 
 / 
 
 (not on Coin) 
 
 Gold Coin of Queen Shajarat-ad-Durr. 
 
 ( British Museum. ) 
 
APPENDIX. 145 
 
 prince of the Persian Ismaelis, also named Hassan, pretended 
 to have received secret orders from the Imam (who was 
 not revealed), by virtue of which he abolished the outward 
 duties and practices of Islam, and freed his followers 
 from all obedience to its laws. He taught that the know- 
 ledge of the allegorical sense, dispensed with obedience to 
 the literal precepts of the Kuran ; he permitted the use of 
 pork and of wine, allowed incestuous marriages, and all 
 kind of vicious indulgence ; he must even have had some 
 acquaintance with Christianity, for he introduced into his 
 religious system, some of its doctrines and practices ; in 
 this he has been followed by the Druses. 
 
 With regard to the term "hashashin" corrupted into 
 " Assassins," we have the testimony of Marco Polo, William 
 of Tyre, and many other annalists of the twelfth and thirteenth 
 centuries, as to the use made of *' hashish " by the Ismaeli 
 chiefs to carry out their policy of political murder. They 
 taught that implicit obedience was due to orders given by 
 themselves as representatives of the unrevealed Imam, even 
 though the consequence of obedience might be death. But 
 they promised an everlasting reward in that vile and sensual 
 paradise, of which they gave the Ismaeli neophyte a fore- 
 taste, by providing for him all kinds of sensual indulgences, 
 and especially by the administration of Indian hemp. Pro- 
 bably this drug was unknown to the Muslims until the 
 Ismaelis introduced it from Persia. No doubt its use 
 originated in India, and thence spread westwards. But the 
 way had been carefully prepared beforehand by the teach- 
 ing of the " Dai " missionaries. The will and conscience 
 of the neophyte had been already enslaved and corrupted 
 by their pernicious doctrines, and he would readily obey 
 the commands of those whom he was taught to regard as 
 agents of the Incarnate Deity, and who had the power of 
 conferring upon him the delights of paradise. 
 
 L 
 
146 APPENDIX. 
 
 This will explain the desperate ferocity of the Ismaeli 
 '' fedawiin." They cared not though their own life were 
 sacrificed, provided they could do the behest of their 
 emir. 
 
 About A.D. 880 the terrible Karmathian sect arose. Its 
 founder was a man named Hamdkn-el-Karmat, which last 
 word means in the Nabathoean language, '' the short footed," 
 *'the slow paced." 
 
 The doctrines of this sect were an advarice on the 
 common Ismaeli doctrines. They believed in the trans- 
 migration of souls, in the union of the deity with Ali and 
 his family ; they allegorized the Kuran, and dispensed with 
 obedience to its precepts ; they permitted incest, adultery, 
 and every kind of vice ; they taught the existence of two 
 contending powers, a good and an evil power ; they main- 
 tained the eternal and independent existence of matter. 
 In brief, their religious system led to utter atheism. 
 
 But these esoteric doctrines of the Ismaelis, i.e. pure 
 materialism and atheism, were reserved for the knowledge 
 of the few initiated only, viz. those called the 7'afyk (" com- 
 panions "). These were admitted to the great secret by 
 seven stages of initiation, according to their disposition 
 and adaptibility. As for the ordinary disciple, all that was 
 asked of him was implicit obedience to the commands of 
 the unrevealed Imim, i.e. the Incarnate Deity, as conveyed 
 by the chief of the sect. And for this subordinate stage 
 also he was prepared by the progressive teaching of the 
 " Dai " missionaries, and secured in it by the promise of a 
 sensual paradise, and by a foretaste of its delights, under 
 the influence of the drug hashish, *' Indian hemp." 
 
 The Dais whom Hamdkn-el-Karmat sent out were most 
 zealous, and gained a vast number of proselytes in the 
 Arabian peninsula, so that the greater part of the Arab 
 race was corrupted and debauched. 
 
APPENDIX. 147 
 
 Hamdkn preached a community of goods, exacted a 
 fifth of all possessions belonging to his converts, and finally 
 became master of all their wealth, which he employed for 
 making war on the Abbasside Khahfehs and their adherents. 
 
 About A.H. 276, he began to attack, plunder, and slay the 
 pilgrims to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. 
 
 All the efforts of the Khalifehs failed to crush this rebellion. 
 Their armies were utterly defeated, and the ferocious zealots 
 carried fire and sword in all directions. 
 
 On the death or disappearance of Hamdan, Abu Taher 
 became head of the sect. In a.h. 311 the Karmathians 
 captured and destroyed Basra; in a.h. 317 Mecca was 
 captured, its inhabitants put to the sword, the temple— the 
 " Beyt Allah," " the house of Allah " — was profaned, and the 
 famous black stone of the "kaaba" carried off. This was 
 too much even for the Ismaelis themselves, and Obeyad- 
 Allah, the Imam, wrote a letter full of reproaches to Abu 
 Taher on the enormities he was committing, and bade him 
 replace it in the kaaba ; * which was done. 
 
 Nothing, however, could suppress the Karmathian fanatics, 
 who ravaged, plundered, and destroyed at their will. But 
 their power sank as rapidly as it had arisen, and after 
 A.H. 394, there is no more mention of them, as a political 
 power. 
 
 They left two sects which still exist, the Nasairi and the 
 Druses; there is, however, some difference between the 
 tenets of these two — e.g. the Druses seem to have given 
 
 * The kaaba is a building in the court of the temple (Beyt Allah) of 
 Mecca. It is in the form of a cube (hence its name). The famous 
 black stone is supposed to be an aerolite. It was worshipped as an 
 idol by the Arabians in the "times of ignorance" before Islam, and 
 is still regarded with extreme veneration. One of the great ceremonies 
 of the "haj " (pilgrimage) is the solemn perambulation of the kaaba, 
 at which every pilgrim kisses the black stone, which is fixed in one of 
 the outward walls of the building, and has become polished by the lips 
 of countless devotees. 
 
148 APPENDIX. 
 
 up belief in the divinity of Ali, and consider as Divine the 
 savage madman, Hakem, b'Amr Allah, Khalifeh of Egypt, 
 A.D. 985-1033. Some of them even invoke his name, and 
 pray to him as the deity. 
 
 Hakem's reign was a series of the strangest acts of cruelty 
 and insanity ; and he was a terror to all around him. His 
 fate is wrapped in mystery ; but the most probable account 
 is that he was assassinated by order of his own sister during 
 one of his nocturnal excursions on the Mount Mokattam 
 above Cairo ; that his body was buried in some secluded 
 spot, and perfect secrecy secured by the slaughter of those 
 who had done the deed. At all events, he disappeared, and 
 nothing seems to be certainly known as to the causes and 
 means of his disappearance, which fact naturally gave colour 
 to the strange belief concerning him that is current among 
 the Druses. 
 
 During his reign a certain Ismaeli adventurer, named 
 Muhammed el Derazi, visited Egypt, and became a favourite 
 of El Hakem, whom he managed to persuade into the 
 belief that himself — El Hakem — was an incarnation of the 
 Deity — nay, even the Deity Himself! 
 
 Derazi was a pupil of Hamza of Khorassan, who at that 
 time was the most eminent of the Ismaeli missionaries. 
 This man also resorted to the court of El Hakem, and after 
 the death or disappearance of Derazi, continued to influence 
 the mad sultan, but always to the detriment or destruction 
 of Islam. 
 
 After the disappearance of Hakem, Hamza was expelled 
 from Egypt, and took refuge with the Ismaelis of the 
 Lebanon. He preached the future return to earth of El 
 Hakem, as the '* Mehdi," the "Imam," the "Directed 
 One;" and he was the real founder of the Druse sect, 
 though their name was derived from El Derazi. The 
 Druses were allowed to conceal their religion ; they might 
 
APPENDIX. 149 
 
 even profess agreement with any or every form of religion. 
 Thus they could represent themselves as followers of any 
 kind of religion whatever, which might seem at the time 
 convenient; and this practice they maintain, even at the 
 present day. 
 
 The Nasairis (Ansairi), who arose about the same time 
 as the Druses, do not admit the divinity of El Hakem. 
 They still maintain the divinity of Ali, who, in the belief of 
 some of these fanatics, " existed before the world was 
 created." They admit twelve Imams instead of seven. 
 In other respects they believe and practise as the 
 Karmathians. Their name, " Nasairis," is derived from El 
 Faraj, a native of the Persian town Nasrana. Hence his 
 own name. El Nasayri, which was, later on, applied to the 
 new sect which he founded. 
 
 The dynasty of the Persian assassins lasted for about one 
 hundred and seventy years, and the Arab historians relate 
 that many personages of the highest rank were murdered 
 by their emissaries. 
 
 Abu-1-feda mentions among their victims two Khalifehs, 
 one of Baghdad, and one of Egypt ; a sultan of Khorassan, 
 a prince of Mosul, several Seljuk princes, the famous wezir, 
 Nizam-el-Mulk, and many others. 
 
 In 1 148 Raymond Count of Tripoli was murdered by 
 them; in 1192 Conrad of Montserrat; in 1176 Salkh-ed- 
 Din had a narrow escape from three of them. They were 
 all killed either by the sultan himself or his attendants. 
 A little later, another determined attempt to murder him 
 was made ; for he was especially odious to them from his 
 suppression of the Fatimi Khalifate of Egypt. 
 
 But in 1254 the Tartar Hulagu crossed the Gihon and 
 attacked them. Out of fifty fortified places which they 
 held, only two held out for any length of time, and Hulagu, 
 by command of his brother Mangu Khan, completely 
 
ISO APPENDIX. 
 
 extirpated the fanatics; as Matthew of Paris writes, *' these 
 detestable people (the Tartars) destroyed the assassins, 
 who were still more detestable than themselves." 
 
 The assassins of the Lebanon, equally venomous, but 
 less powerful, did not long survive their brethren. 
 
 William of Tyre states that, in his time, they held ten 
 strong castles in the Lebanon, and numbered about 60,000. 
 They occupied the district between Antioch and Damascus, 
 especially round Mount Hermon. 
 
 We have fewer notices of political murders committed by 
 this western branch of the Assassins. Their possessions 
 were more easily reached, and themselves less powerful. 
 Our own Prince Edward, son of Henry III., narrowly 
 escaped death at their hands during his crusade. He was 
 wounded by one of them with a poisoned dagger, but saved 
 through the devotion of his wife, the Princess Eleanor, 
 who sucked the poison from the wound while the prince 
 lay asleep, or insensible. 
 
 Perhaps this incident has been improved and adorned, 
 otherwise the Ismaeli poisoners must have lost their 
 cunning ! 
 
 They seem to have degenerated at last into mere hired 
 murderers. The Venetian Sanuto tells us that about the 
 year 11 60, Henry Count of Champagne was invited by the 
 Ismaeli emir to pass through his territory. On his way he 
 passed near one of their castles, and, at a signal given by the 
 emir, two young men, without any hesitation, flung them- 
 selves from a tower and were dashed to pieces. Sanuto 
 writes, that the emir told the count, " If you wish to have 
 any one put to death, I can command servants, like these 
 my followers, to do it for you." 
 
 But their power gradually decayed ; Saladin greatly weak- 
 ened them. The Knights Templars forced them to pay 
 tribute; and they revenged themselves by perverting the 
 
APPENDIX. 151 
 
 Knights Templars. For, although the hideous charges 
 brought against this great Christian order by Philip le Bel 
 may not be credible, there seems to be some foundation 
 for the charge of free thinking — even, it may be, of atheism 
 — which was brought against them, and served as an excuse 
 for the suppression and destruction of a society, the real 
 crime of which was too great wealth, and too high a spirit 
 of independence. 
 
 Beybars treated the Ismaelis with the greatest ignominy, 
 forced them to pay him tribute, and occupied several of 
 their strongholds. He did not scruple, however, to make 
 use of their services (as Makrizi tells us) when he wished 
 an enemy removed! But about a.d. 1280 he determined 
 to extirpate them, and after a stubborn resistance their 
 castles were taken by storm, and themselves destroyed. 
 
 But the Ismaeli spirit still survives ! Not many years ago, 
 the Sherif of Mecca, a liberal and enlightened man, was 
 murdered by a *^fedawi." The summer of 1896 witnessed 
 the assassination of Nasr-ed-Din, the Shah of Persia, by a 
 fanatic of the Babi sect, an Ismaeli, if not in name, yet 
 in belief and practice. And in the same year two princes 
 of the Khoja sect of South-west India were murdered by 
 two daring and determined fanatics, who had dogged the 
 princes all the time of their pilgrimage to Mecca, and only 
 found an opportunity of executing their mission at Jedda, 
 on the night before the princes were to embark on their 
 return to India. 
 
 There, in the midst, literally, of their family and depend- 
 ants, the two victims were slain, one by a dagger-stab, the 
 other by a pistol-shot. 
 
 The murderers were caught ; but while yet under exami- 
 
 'nation at her Majesty's consulate, both became suddenly ill 
 
 and died j and it was found, on 2. post-mortem search, that 
 
 each one had swallowed enough arsenic to kill a dozen 
 
152 APPENDIX. 
 
 men ! But not a trace of their motives, or accomplices, or 
 reasons for the crime could be extracted from them before 
 death veiled their secret. One of them, however, just before 
 he died, faintly declared that they had not done the deed 
 " for money," and that they were "in good circumstances." 
 There is reason, therefore, to suppose that this was a 
 crime of a nature exactly similar to the terrible deeds of the 
 old Persian and Syrian Ismaelis. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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