VOLUME IX SLICE I Edwardes to Ehrenbreitstein (continued 9)

The decline of Egypt was due to the purely military government of the Romans, and their subsequent alliance with the Greek party of Alexandria, which never represented the country. Under weak emperors, the rest of Egypt was exposed to the inroads of savages, and left to fall into a condition of barbarism. Ecclesiastical disputes tended to alienate both the native population and the Alexandrians. Thus at last the country was merely held by armed force, and the authority of the governor was little recognized beyond the capital, except where garrisons were stationed. There was no military spirit in a population unused to arms, nor any disinclination to be relieved from an arbitrary and persecuting rule. Thus the Moslem conquest was easy.

Bibliography.—Hellenistic Period.—See the special articles Alexandria, &c., and especially Ptolemies; J. P. Mahaffy, The Empire of the Ptolemies (London, 1895), A History of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty (London, 1899); A. Bouché-Leclercq, Histoire des Lagides (4 vols., Paris, 1903- ); E. A. W. Budge, A History of Egypt, vols. vii.-viii. (London, 1902); J. G. Milne, A History of Egypt under Roman Rule (London, 1898); E. Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (edited by J. B. Bury) (London, 1900). The administration and condition of Egypt under the Ptolemaic and Roman rules are abundantly illustrated in recently discovered papyri, see especially the English publications of B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt (Memoirs of the Graeco-Roman Branch of the Egypt Exploration Fund) and F. G. Kenyon (British Museum Catalogues); also Mr Kenyon’s annual summaries in the Archaeological Report of the Egypt Exploration Fund. An ample selection of the Greek inscriptions from Egypt is to be found in W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae (2 vols., Leipzig, 1903-1905).

(R. S. P.; F. Ll. G.)

2. Mahommedan Period.

(1) Moslem Conquest of Egypt.—In accordance with the scheme of universal conquest conceived by the founder of Islam, an army of some 4000 men was towards the end of the year a.d. 639 sent against Egypt under the command of ‘Amr (see ‘Amr-ibn-el-Ass), by the second caliph, Omar I., who had some doubt as to the expediency of the enterprise. The commander marched from Syria through El-‘Arīsh, easily took Farama or Pelusium, and thence proceeded to Bilbeis, where he was delayed for a month; having captured this place, he proceeded to a point on the Nile called Umm Dunain, the siege of which also occasioned him some difficulty. After taking it, he crossed the Nile to the Fayum. On the 6th of June of the following year (640) a second army of 12,000 men, despatched by Omar, arrived at Heliopolis (On). ‘Amr recrossed the river and joined it, but presently was confronted by a Roman army, which he defeated at the battle of Heliopolis (July 640); this victory was followed by the siege of Babylon, which after some futile attempts at negotiation was taken partly by storm and partly by capitulation on Good Friday, the 6th of April 641. ‘Amr next proceeded in the direction of Alexandria, which was surrendered to him by a treaty signed on the 8th of November 641, under which it was to be occupied by the Moslems on the 29th of September of the following year. The interval was spent by him in founding the city Fostat (Fusṭāṭ), near the modern Cairo, and called after the camp (Fossatum) occupied by him while besieging Babylon; and in reducing those coast towns that still offered resistance. The Thebaid seems to have surrendered with scarcely any opposition.

The ease with which this valuable province was wrenched from the Roman empire appears to have been due to the treachery of the governor of Egypt, Cyrus, patriarch of Alexandria, and the incompetence of the generals of the Roman forces. The former, called by the Arabs Mukaukis (Muqauqis) from his Coptic name Pkauchios, had for ten years before the arrival of ‘Amr maintained a fierce persecution of the Jacobite sect, to which the bulk of the Copts belonged. During the siege of Babylon he had been recalled and exiled, but after the death of Heraclius had been reinstated as patriarch by Heraclonas, and been welcomed back to Alexandria with general rejoicing in September 641. Since Alexandria could neither have been stormed nor starved out by the Arabs, his motives for surrendering it, and with it the whole of Egypt, have been variously interpreted, some supposing him to have been secretly a convert to Islam. The notion that the Arab invaders were welcomed and assisted by the Copts, driven to desperation by the persecution of Cyrus, appears to be refuted by the fact that the invaders treated both Copts and Romans with the same ruthlessness; but the dissensions which prevailed in the Christian communities, leading to riots and even civil war in Alexandria and elsewhere, probably weakened resistance to the common enemy. An attempt was made in the year 645 with a force under Manuel, commander of the Imperial forces, to regain Alexandria for the Byzantine empire; the city was surprised, and held till the summer of 646, when it was again stormed by ‘Amr. In 654 a fleet was equipped by Constans with a view to an invasion, but it was repulsed, and partly destroyed by storm. From that time no serious effort was made by the Eastern Empire to regain possession of the country. And it would appear that at the time of the attempt by Manuel the Arabs were actually assisted by the Copts, who at the first had found the Moslem lighter than the Roman yoke.

A question often debated by Arabic authors is whether Egypt was taken by storm or capitulation, but, so far as the transference of the country was accomplished by the first taking of Alexandria, there seems no doubt that the Terms of capitulation. latter view is correct. The terms were those on which conquered communities were ordinarily taken under Moslem protection. In return for a tribute of money (jizyah) and food for the troops of occupation (ḍarībat-al-ṭa’ām), the Christian inhabitants of Egypt were to be excused military service, and to be left free in the observance of their religion and the administration of their affairs.

From 639 to 968 Egypt was a province of the Eastern Caliphate, and was ruled by governors sent from the cities which at different times ranked as capitals. Like other provinces of the later Abbasid Caliphate its rulers were, during this period, able to establish quasi-independent dynasties, such being those of the Tulunids who ruled from 868 to 905, and the Ikshidis from 935-969. In 969 the country was conquered by Jauhar for the Fatimite caliph Mo’izz, who transferred his capital from Mahdia (q.v.) in the Maghrib to Cairo. This dynasty lasted till 1171, when Egypt was again embodied in the Abbasid empire by Saladin, who, however, was himself the founder of a quasi-independent dynasty called the Ayyubites or Ayyubids, which lasted till 1252. The Ayyubites were followed by the Mameluke dynasties, usually classified as Baḥri from 1252-1382, and Burji from 1382-1517; these sovereigns were nominally under the suzerainty of Abbasid caliphs, who were in reality instruments of the Mameluke sultans, and resided at Cairo. In 1517 Egypt became part of the Ottoman empire and was governed by pashas sent from Constantinople, whose influence about 1707 gave way to that of officials chosen from the Mamelukes who bore the title Sheik al-balad. After the episode of the French occupation, government by pashas was restored; Mehemet Ali (appointed pasha in 1805) obtained from the Porte in 1841 the right to bequeath the sovereignty to his descendants, one of whom, Ismail Pasha, received the title Khedive, which is still held by Mehemet Ali’s descendants.

(2) The following is a list of the governors of Egypt in these successive periods:—

(a) During the undivided Caliphate.

‘Amr-ibn-el-Ass, A.H. 18-24 (a.d. 639-645). ‘Abdallah b. Sa’d b. Abī Sarh, 24-36 (645-656). Qais b. Sa’d b. ’Ubādah, 36 (657-658). Mahommed b. Abu Bekr, 37-38 (658). Ashtar Mālik b. al-Hārith (appointed, but never governed). ‘Amr-ibn-el-Ass, 38-43 (658-663). ’Utbah b. Abu Sofiān, 43-44 (664-665). ’Utbah b. ’Āmir, 44-45 (665). Maslama b. Mukhallad, 45-62 (665-682). Sa’īd b. Yazīd b. ‘Alqamah, 62-64 (682-684). Abdarrahman b. ’Utbah b. Jahdam, 64-65 (684). Abdalazīz (‘Abd al-‘Azīz) b. Merwān, 65-86 (685-705). ‘Abdallah b. ‘Abd al-Malik, 86-90 (705-708). Qurrah b. Sharīk al-‘Absī, 90-96 (709-714). ‘Abd al-Malik b. Rifā’ah al-Fahmī, 96-99 (715-717). Ayyūb b. Shuraḥbīl al-Aṣbaḥī, 99-101 (717-720). Bishr b. Ṣafwān al-Kalbī, 101-102 (720-721). Ḥanzalah b. Ṣafwān, 102-105 (721-724). Mahommed b. ‘Abd al-Malik, 105 (724). Ḥurr b. Yūsuf, 105-108 (724-727). Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd, 108 (727). ‘Abd al-Malik b. Rifā’ah, 109 (727). Walīd b. Rifā’ah, 109-117 (727-735). ‘Abd al-Raḥmān b. Khālid, 117-118 (735). Ḥanẓalah b. Ṣafwān, 118-124 (735-742). Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd, 124-127 (742-745). Ḥassān b. ‘Atāhiyah al-Tu’jibī, 127 (745). Ḥafṣ b. al-Walīd, 127 (745). Hautharah b. Suhail al-Bāhilī, 128-131 (745-749). Mughīrah b. ’Ubaidallah al-Fazārī, 131-132 (749). ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwān al-Lakhmī, 132 (750). Ṣāliḥ b. ‘Alī, 133 (750-751). Abū ‘Aun ‘Abdalmalik b. Yazīd, 133-136 (751-753). Ṣāliḥ b. ‘Alī, 136-137 (753-755)—second time. Abū ‘Aun, 137-141 (755-758)—second time. Mūsā b. Ka’b b. ’Uyainah al-Tamīmī, 141 (758-759). Mahommed b. al-Ash’ath b. ’Uqbah al-Khuzā ī, 141-143 (759-760). Ḥumaid b. Qaḥṭabah b. Shabīb al-Ṭā’ī, 143-144 (760-762). Yazīd b. Ḥātim b. Kabīsah al-Muhallabī, 144-152 (762-769). ‘Abdallah b. ‘Abdarraḥmān b. Moawiya b. Ḥudaij, 152-155 (769-772). Mahommed b. Abdarraḥman b. Moawiya b. Ḥudaij, 155 (772). Mūsā b. ’Ulayy b. Rabāh al-Lakhmī, 155-161 (772-778). ’Īsā b. Luqmān b. Mahommed al-Jumahī, 161-162 (778). Wāḍiḥ, 162 (779). Manṣūr b. Yazīd b. Manṣūr al-Ru’ainī, 162 (779). Abū Ṣāliḥ Yaḥyā b. Dāwūd b. Mamdūd, 162-164 (779-780). Sālim b. Sawādah al-Tamīmī, 164 (780-781). Ibrāhīm b. Ṣāliḥ b. ‘Alī, 165-167 (781-784). Mūsā b. Mus’ab b. al-Rabī al-Khath’amī, 167-168 (784-785). Usāmah b. ‘Amr b. ‘Alqamah al-Ma’āfirī, 168 (785). al Faḍl b. Ṣāliḥ b. ‘Alī al-‘Abbāsī, 168-169 (785-786). ‘Alī b. Sulaimān b. ‘Alī al-‘Abbāsī, 169-171 (786-787). Mūsā b. ’Īsā b. Mūsā al-‘Abbāsī, 171-172 (787-789). Maslamah b. Yaḥyā b. Qurrah al-Bājilī, 172-173 (789-790). Mahommed b. Zuhair al-Azdī, 173 (790). Dāwūd b. Yazīd b. Ḥātim al-Muhallabī, 174-175 (790). Mūsā b. ’Īsā al-‘Abbāsī, 175-176 (790-792). Ibrāhīm b. Ṣāliḥ, 176 (792). Ṣāliḥ b. Ibrāhīm, 176 (792). Abdallah b. al-Musayyib b. Zuhair al Ḍabbī, 176-177 (792-793). Isḥāq b. Sulaimān b. ‘Alī al-‘Abbāsī, 177-178 (793-794). Harthamah b. A’yan, 178 (794-795). ’Obaidallah b. al-Mahdī, 179 (795). Mūsā b. ’Īsā al-‘Abbāsī, 179-180 (795-796). ’Obaidallah b. al-Mahdī, 180-181 (796-797)—second time. Ismā’īl b. Ṣāliḥ b. ‘Alī al-‘Abbāsī, 181-182 (797-798). Ismā’īl b. ’Īsā b. Mūsā al-‘Abbāsī, 182-183 (798). Laith b. al-Faḍl al-Abīwardī, 183-187 (798-803). Aḥmad b. Ismā’īl b. ‘Alī al-‘Abbāsī, 187-189 (803-805). ’Obaidallah b. Mahommed b. Ibrāhīm al-‘Abbāsī, 189-190 (805-806). Ḥusain b. Jamīl, 190-192 (806-808). Mālik b. Dalham b. ’Īsā al-Kalbī, 192-193 (808). Ḥasan b. al-Taḥtāḥ, 193-194 (808-809). Ḥātim b. Harthamah b. A’yan, 194-195 (809-811). Jābir b. al-Ash’ath b. Yaḥyā al-Ṭā’ī, 195-196 (811-812). ‘Abbād b. Mahommed b. Ḥayyān al-Balkhī, 196-198 (812-813). Moṭṭalib b. ‘Abdallah b. Mālik al-Khuzā’ī, 198 (813-814). ‘Abbās b. Mūsā b. ’Īsā al-‘Abbāsī, 198-199 (814). Moṭṭalib b. ‘Abdallah, 199-200 (814-816)—second time. Sarī b. al-Ḥakam b. Yūsuf, 200-201 (816). Sulaimān b. Ghālib b. Jibrīl al-Bājilī, 201 (816-817). Sarī b. al-Ḥakam, 201-205 (817-820). Abū Naṣr Mahommed b. al-Sarī, 205 (820-821). ’Obaidallah b. al-Sarī, 205-211 (821-826). ‘Abdallah b. Ṭāhir, 211-213 (826-829). Mahommed b. Hārūn (al-Mo’tasim), 213-214 (829). ’Umair b. Al-Walīd al-Tamīmī al-Bādhaghīsī, 214 (829). ’Īsā b. Yazīd, 214 (829). ‘Abduyah b. Jabalah, 215-216 (830-831). ’Īsā b. Manṣūr b. Mūsā al-Rāfi‘ī, 216-217 (831-832). Naṣr b. Abdallah Kaidar al-Ṣafadī, 217-219 (832-834). Muzaffar b. Kaidar, 219 (834). Mūsā b. Abi‘l-‘Abbās Thābit al-Hanafī, 219-224 (834-839). Mālik b. Kaidar al Ṣafadī, 224-226 (839-841). ‘Alī b. Yaḥyā abu l-Hasan al-Armanī, 226-228 (841-842). ‘Isā b. Manṣūr al-Rāfi‘ī, 229-233 (843-847). Harthamah b. al-Naḍir al-Jabalī, 233-234 (848-849). Ḥātim b. Harthamah, 234 (849). ‘Alī b. Yaḥyā, 234-235 (849-850). Ishāq b. Yaḥyā al-Khatlānī, 235-236 (850-851). ‘Abd al-Wāhid b. Yaḥyā b. Manṣūr, 236-238 (851-852). ‘Anbasa b. Ishāq b. Shamir, 238-242 (852-856). Yazīd b. ‘Abdallah b. Dīnār, 242-253 (856-867). Muzāhim b. Khāqān al-Turkī, 253-254 (867-868). Aḥmad b. Muzāhim b. Khāqān, 254 (868). Urjūz b. Ulugh Ṭarkhān al-Turkī, 254 (868).

Tulunid house.

Aḥmad b. Ṭūlūn, 254-270 (868-884). Khomārūya b. Aḥmad, 270-282 (884-896). Jaish b. Khomārūya, 282 (896). Hārūn b. Khomārūya, 283-292 (896-904). Shaibān b. Aḥmad, 292 (905). ’Īsā b. Mahommed al-Naūsharī, 292 (905). Mahommed b. ‘Ali al-Khalanjī, 292-293 (905-906). ’Īsā al-Naūsharī, 293-297 (906-910)—second time. Takīn b. Abdallah al-Khazarī, 297-302 (910-915). Dhukā al-Rūmī, 303-307 (915-919). Takīn b. ‘Abdallah, 307-309 (919-921)—second time. Abū Qābūs Maḥmūd b. Ḥamal, 309 (921). Hilāl b. Badr, 309-311 (921-923). Aḥmad b. Kaighlagh, 311 (923). Takīn b. Abdallah, 311-321 (923-933)—third time. Mahommed b. Takīn, 321 (933).

Ikshīdī house.

Mahommed b. Ṭughj al-Ikshīd, 321 (933). [Aḥmad b. Kaighlagh, 321-322 (933-934)]. Mahommed b. Ṭughj, 323-334 (934-946)—second time. Ūnjūr b. al-Ikshīd, 334-349 (946-961). ‘Alī b. al-Ikshīd, 349-355 (961-966). Kāfūr b. Abdallah al-Ikshīdī, 355-357 (966-968). Abu’l-Fawāris Aḥmad b. ‘Alī b. al-Ikshīd, 357 (968).

(b) Fāṭimite Caliphs, 357-567 (969-1171).

Mo‘izz Abū Tamīm Ma’add (or li-dīn allāh), 357-365 (969-975). ‘Azīz Abū Manṣūr Nizār (al-‘Azīz billāh), 365-386 (975-996). Ḥākim [Abū ‘Alī Manṣūr], 386-411 (996-1020). Ẓāhir [Abu’l-Ḥasan ‘Alī], 411-427 (1020-1035). Mostanṣir [Abū Tamīm Ma‘add], 427-487 (1035-1094). Mosta’lī [Abu’l-Qāsim Aḥmad], 487-495 (1094-1101). Amir [Abū ‘Alī Manṣūr], 495-524 (1101-1130). Ḥāfiz [Abu’l-Maimūn ‘Abd al-Majīd], 524-544 (1130-1149). Ẓāfir [Abu’l-Manṣūr Ismā’īl], 544-549 (1149-1154). Fā’iz [Abu’l-Qāsim ’Īsā], 549-555 (1154-1160). ‘Ādid [Abū Mahommed ‘Abdallah], 555-567 (1160-1171).

(c) Ayyūbite Sultans, 564-648 (1169-1250).

Malik al-Nāṣir Ṣalāḥ al-dīn Yūsuf b. Ayyūb (Saladin), 564-589 (1169-1193). Malik al-‘Azīz ‘Imād al-dīn Othman, 589-595 (1193-1198). Malik al-Manṣūr Mahommed, 595-596 (1198-1199). Malik al-‘Adil Saif al-dīn Abū Bakr, 596-615 (1199-1218). Malik al-Kāmil Mahommed, 615-635 (1218-1238). Malik al-’Ādil II. Saif al-dīn Abū Bakr, 635-637 (1238-1240). Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Najm al-dīn Ayyūb, 637-647 (1240-1249). Malik al-Mo‘azzam Tūrānshāh, 647-648 (1249-1250). Malik al-Ashraf Mūsā, 648-650 (1250-1252).

(d) Baḥri Mamelukes, 648-792 (1250-1390).

Shajar al-durr, 648 (1250). Malik al-Mo’izz ‘Izz al-dīn Aibek, 648-655 (1250-1257). Malik al-Manṣūr Nureddin ‘Alī, 655-657 (1257-1259). Malik al-Moẓaffar Saif al-dīn Kotuz, 657-658 (1259-1260). Malik al-Ẓāhir [Rukn al-dīn (Rukneddin) Bibars Bundukdārī], 658-676 (1260-1277). Malik al-Sa’id Nāṣir al-dīn Barakah Khān, 676-678 (1277-1279). Malik al-’Ādil Badr al-dīn Salāmish, 678 (1279). Malik al-Manṣūr Saif al-dīn Qalā’ūn, 678-689 (1279-1290). Malik al-Ashraf [Ṣalāḥ al-dīn Khalīl], 689-693 (1290-1293). Malik al-Nāṣir [Nāṣir al-dīn Mahommed], 693-694 (1293-1294). Malik al-’Ādil [Zain al-dīn Kitboga], 694-696 (1294-1296). Manṣūr [Ḥusām al-dīn Lājīn], 696-698 (1296-1298). Nāṣir Mahommed (again), 698-708 (1298-1308). Moẓaffar [Rukn al-dīn Bibars Jāshengīr], 708-709 (1308-1310). Nāṣir Mahommed (third time), 709-741 (1310-1341). Manṣūr [Saif al-dīn Abū Bakr], 741-742 (1341). Ashraf [Ala’u ’l-dīn Kuchuk], 742 (1341-1342). Nāṣir [Shihāb al-dīn Aḥmad], 742-743 (1342). Ṣāliḥ ‘Imād al-dīn Ismā’īl], 743-746 (1342-1345). Kāmil [Saif al-dīn Sha’ban], 746-747 (1345-1346). Moẓaffar [Saif al-dīn Ḥajji], 747-748 (1346-1347). Nāṣir [Nāṣir al-dīn Ḥasan], 748-752 (1347-1351). Ṣāliḥ [Ṣalāḥ al-dīn Ṣāliḥ], 752-755 (1351-1354). Nāṣir [Ḥasan] (again), 755-762 (1354-1361). Manṣūr [Ṣalāḥ al-dīn Mahommed], 762-764 (1361-1363). Ashraf [Nāṣir al-dīn Sha’bān], 764-778 (1363-1377). Manṣūr [‘Alā’u ’l-dīn ‘Alī], 778-783 (1377-1381). Ṣāliḥ [Ṣalāḥ al-dīn Ḥājjī, 783-784 (1381-1382). Barḳūḳ or Barqūq (see below), 784-791 (1382-1389). Ḥājjī again, with title of Moẓaffar, 791-792 (1389-1390).

(e) Burji Mamelukes, 784-922 (1382-1517).

Ẓāhir [Saif al-dīn Barqūq], 784-801 (1382-1398) [interrupted by Ḥājjī, 791-792]. Nāṣir [Nāṣir al-dīn Faraj], 801-808 (1398-1405). Manṣūr [‘Izz al-dīn Abdalaziz (‘Abd al-‘Azīz)], 808-809 (1405-1406). Nāṣir Faraj (again), 809-815 (1406-1412). ’Ādil Mosta’īn (Abbasid caliph), 815 (1412). Mu‘ayyad [Sheikh], 815-824 (1412-1421). Moẓaffar [Aḥmad], 824 (1421). Ẓāhir [Saif al-dīn Tatār], 824 (1421). Ṣāliḥ [Nāṣir al-dīn Mahommed], 824-825 (1421-1422). Ashraf [Saif al-dīn Barsbai], 825-842 (1422-1438). ‘Azīz [Jamāl al-dīn Yūsuf], 842 (1438). Ẓāhir [Saif al-dīn Jakmak], 842-857 (1438-1453). Manṣūr [Fakhr al-dīn Othman], 857 (1453). Ashraf [Saif al-dīn Īnāl], 857-865 (1453-1461). Mu‘ayyad [Shihāb al-dīn Aḥmad], 865 (1461). Ẓāhir [Saif al-dīn Khoshkadam], 865-872 (1461-1467). Ẓāhir [Saif al-dīn Yelbai or Bilbai], 872 (1467). Ẓāhir [Tīmūrboghā], 872-873 (1467-1468). Ashraf [Saif al-dīn (Kait Bey)], 873-901 (1468-1495). Nāṣir [Mahommed], 901-904 (1495-1498). Ẓāhir [Kānsūh], 904-905 (1498-1499). Ashraf [Jānbalāt or Jan Belāt], 905-906 (1499-1501). ’Ādil Tumanbey, 906 (1501). Ashraf [Kānsūh Ghūri], 906-922 (1501-1516). Ashraf [Tūmānbey], 922 (1516-1517).

(f) Turkish Governors after the Ottoman Conquest.

Khair Bey, 923 (1517). Ḥosain, 1085 (1674).

Muṣṭafā Pasha, 926 (1520). Ḥasan al-Jānbalāṭ, 1087 (1676).

Aḥmad, 929 (1523). Othmān, 1091 (1680).

Qāsim, 930 (1524). Ḥasan al-Silaḥdār, 1099 (1688).

Ibrāhīm, 931 (1525). Aḥmad, 1101 (1690).

Suleimān, 933 (1527). ‘Alī Qilij, 1102 (1691).

Dāwūd, 945 (1538). Ismā‘īl, 1107 (1696).

‘Alī, 956 (1549). Ḥosain, 1109 (1697).

Mahommed, 961 (1554). Qarā Mahommed or Aḥmad, 1111 (1699).

Iskandar, 963 (1556). Mahommed Rāmī, 1116 (1704).

‘Alī al-Khādim, 968 (1561). ‘Alī Muslim, 1118 (1706).

Muṣṭafā, 969 (1561). Ḥosain Ketkhudā, 1119 (1707).

‘Alī al-Sūfī, 971 (1563). Ibrāhīm Qabūdān, 1121 (1709).

Maḥmūd, 973 (1566). Khalīl, 1122 (1710).

Sinān, 975 (1567). Walī, 1123 (1711).

Ḥosain, 980 (1573). ’Ābidīn, 1127 (1715).

Masīḥ, 982 (1575). ‘Alī Izmīrli, 1129 (1717).

Ḥasan al-Khādim, 988 (1580). Rajab, 1130 (1718).

Ibrāhīm, 991 (1583). Mahommed al-Bāshimī, 1132 (1720).

Sinān, 992 (1584). ‘Alī, 1138 (1728).

Uwais, 994 (1585). Bākīr, 1141 (1729).

Ḥāfiz Aḥmad, 999 (1591). ‘Abdallah Kubūrlu, 1142 (1729).

Kurṭ, 1003 (1595). Mahommed Silaḥdār, 1144 (1732).

Sayyid Mahommed, 1004 (1596). Othman Ḥalabī, 1146 (1733).

Khiḍr, 1006 (1598). Bākīr, 1148 (1735).

‘Alī al-Silaḥdār, 1009 (1601). Muṣṭafā, 1149 (1736).

Ibrāhīm, 1012 (1604). Sulaimān b. al-‘Azīm, 1152 (1739).

Mahommed al-Kūrjī, 1013 (1605). ‘Alī Ḥakīm Oghlu, 1153 (1740).

Ḥasan, 1014 (1605). Yaḥyā, 1154 (1741).

Mahommed al-Sūfī, 1016 (1607). Mahommed Yedkeshi, 1156 (1743).

Aḥmad al-Daftardār, 1022 (1613). Mahommed Rāghib, 1158 (1745).

Muṣṭafā Lafakli, 1026 (1617). Aḥmad Kuruzīr, 1161 (1748).

Ja’far, 1027 (1618). Sharīf ‘Abdallāh, 1163 (1750).

Muṣṭafā, 1028 (1619). Mahommed Amīn, 1166 (1753).

Ḥosain, 1028 (1619). Muṣṭafā, 1166 (1753).

Mahommed, 1031 (1622). ‘Alī Ḥakīm Oghlu, 1169 (1756).

Ibrāhīm, 1031 (1622). Mahommed Sa’īd, 1171 (1758).

Muṣṭafā, 1032 (1623). Muṣṭafā, 1173 (1759).

‘Alī, 1032 (1623). Aḥmad Kāmil, 1174 (1761).

Muṣṭafā, 1032 (1624). Bākīr, 1175 (1761).

Bairām, 1036 (1626). Ḥasan, 1176 (1761).

Mahommed, 1037 (1627). Ḥamzah, 1179 (1765).

Mūsā, 1040 (1631). Mahommed Rāqim, 1181 (1767).

Khalīl al-Bustānjī, 1041 (1631). Mahommed Urflu, 1182 (1768).

Aḥmad al-Kūrjī, 1042 (1633). Aḥmad, 1183 (1770).

Ḥosain, 1045 (1636). Qara Khalīl, 1184 (1770).

Mahommed b. Aḥmad, 1047 (1638). Muṣṭafā Nābulsī, 1188 (1774).

Muṣṭafā al-Bustānjī, 1049 (1639). Ibrāhīm ‘Arabgīrli, 1189 (1775).

Maqsūd, 1050 (1641). Mahommed ‘Izzet, 1190 (1776).

Suyān Bey, 1054 (1644). Ismā‘īl, 1193 (1779).

Ayyūb, 1055 (1645). Mahommed Mālik, 1195 (1781).

Mahommed b. Ḥaidar, 1057 (1647). Sharīf ‘Alī Qaṣṣāb, 1196 (1782).

Aḥmad, 1058 (1648). Mahommed Silaḥdār, 1198 (1783).

‘Abd al-Raḥmān, 1061 (1651). Mahommed Yeyen, 1200 (1785).

Mahommed al-Silaḥdār, 1062 (1652). ‘Ābidīn Sharīf, 1201 (1787).

Ghāzī, 1066 (1655). Ismā‘īl Tūnisī, 1203 (1788).

Omar, 1067 (1652). Ṣāliḥ Qaisarli, 1209 (1794).

Aḥmad, 1077 (1666). Abū Bakr Ṭarābulsī, 1211 (1796).

Ibrāhīm, 1078 (1667).

French Occupation.

Khosrev, 1216 (1802). Ali Jazā’irlī’ or Ṭarābulsī, 1218 (1803).

Ṭāhir, 1218 (1803). Khorshīd, 1219 (1804).

(g) Hereditary Pashas (later Khedives), from 1220 (from 1805).

Mehemet ‘Alī, 1220-1264 (1805-1848). Ismā‘īl 1280-1300 (1863-1882).

Ibrāhīm, 1264 (1848). Tewfīk, 1300-1309 (1882-1892).

‘Abbās I., 1264-1270 (1848-1854). Abbās II., 1309 (1892).

Sa‘īd, 1270-1280 (1854-1863).

(3) Period under Governors sent from the Metropolis of the eastern Caliphate.—The first governor of the newly acquired province was the conqueror ‘Amr, whose jurisdiction was presently restricted to Lower Egypt; Upper Egypt, which was divided into three provinces, being assigned to Abdallāh b. Sa’d, on whom the third caliph conferred the government of Lower Egypt also, ‘Amr being recalled, owing to his unwillingness to extort from his subjects as much money as would satisfy the caliph. In the troubles which overtook the Islamic empire with the accession of Othman, Egypt was greatly involved, and it had to be reconquered from the adherents of Ali for Moawiya (Mo‘awiyah) by ‘Amr, who in A.H. 38 was rewarded for his services by being reinstated as governor, with the right to appropriate the surplus revenue instead of sending it as tribute to the metropolis. In the confusion which followed on the death of the Omayyad caliph Yazīd the Egyptian Moslems declared themselves for Abdallāh b. Zobair, but their leader was defeated in a battle near Ain Shams (December 684) by Merwān b. Ḥakam (Merwān I.), who had assumed the Caliphate, and the conqueror’s son Abd al-‘Azīz was appointed governor. They also declared themselves against the usurper Merwān II. in 745, whose lieutenant al-Ḥautharah had to enter Fostat at the head of an army. In 750 Merwān II. himself came to Egypt as a fugitive from the Abbasids, but found that the bulk of the Moslem population had already joined with his enemies, and was defeated and slain in the neighbourhood of Giza in July of the same year. The Abbasid general, Ṣāliḥ b. Ali, who had won the victory, was then appointed governor.

During the period that elapsed between the Moslem conquest and the end of the Omayyad dynasty the nature of the Arab occupation had changed from what had originally been intended, the establishment of garrisons, to systematic colonization. Conversions of Copts to Islam were at first rare, and the old system of taxation was maintained for the greater part of the first Islamic century. This was at the rate of a dinar per feddan, of which the proceeds were used in the first place for the pay of the troops and their families, with about half the amount in kind for the rations of the army. The process by which the first of these contributions was turned into coin is still obscure; it is clear that the corn when threshed was taken over by certain public officials who deducted the amount due to the state. In general the system is well illustrated by the papyri forming the Schott-Reinhardt collection at Heidelberg (edited by C.H. Becker, 1906), which contain a number of letters on the subject from Qurrah b. Sharīk, governor from A.H. 90 to 96. The old division of the country into districts (nomoi) is maintained, and to the inhabitants of these districts demands are directly addressed by the governor of Egypt, while the head of the community, ordinarily a Copt, but in some cases a Moslem, is responsible for compliance with the demand. An official called “receiver” (qabbāl) is chosen by the inhabitants of each district to take charge of the produce till it is delivered into the public magazines, and receives 5% for his trouble. Some further details are to be found in documents preserved by the archaeologist Maqrīzī, from which it appears that the sum for which each district was responsible was distributed over the unit in such a way that artisans and tradesmen paid at a rate similar to that which was enforced on those employed in agriculture. It is not known at what time the practice of having the amount due settled by the community was altered into that according to which it was settled by the governor, or at what time the practice of deducting from the total certain expenses necessary for the maintenance of the community was abandoned. The researches of Wellhausen and Becker have made it clear that the difference which is marked in later Islam between a poll-tax (jizyah) and a land-tax (kharāj) did not at first exist: the papyri of the 1st century know only of the jizyah, which, however, is not a poll-tax but a land-tax (in the main). The development of the poll-tax imposed on members of tolerated cults seems to be due to various causes, chief of them the acquisition of land by Moslems, who were not at first allowed to possess any, the conversion of Coptic landowners to Islam, and the enforcement (towards the end of the 1st century of Islam) of the poll-tax on monks. The treasury could not afford to lose the land-tax, which it would naturally forfeit by the first two of the above occurrences, and we read of various expedients being tried to prevent this loss. Such were making the Christian community to which the proselyte had belonged pay as much as it had paid when his lands belonged to it, making proselytes pay as before their conversion, or compelling them to abandon their lands on conversion. Eventually the theory spread that all land paid land-tax, whereas members of tolerated sects paid a personal tax also; but during the evolution of this doctrine the relations between conquerors and conquered became more and more strained, and from the time when the control of the finance was separated from the administration of the country (a.d. 715) complaints of extortion became serious; under the predecessor of Qurrah, ‘Abdallāh b. ‘Abd al-Malik, the country suffered from famine, and under this ruler it was unable to recover. Under the finance minister Obaidallah b. Ḥabḥāb (720-734) the first government survey by Moslems was made, followed by a census; but before this time the higher administrative posts had been largely taken out of the hands of Copts and filled with Arabs. The resentment of the Copts finally Coptic revolt. expressed itself in a revolt, which broke out in the year 725, and was suppressed with difficulty. Two years after, in order that the Arab element in Egypt might be strengthened, a colony of North Arabians (Qaisites) was sent for and planted near Bilbeis, reaching the number of 3000 persons; this immigration also restored the balance between the two branches of the Arab race, as the first immigrants had belonged almost exclusively to the South Arabian stock. Meanwhile the employment of the Arabic language had been steadily gaining ground, and in 706 it was made the official language of the bureaux, though the occasional use of Greek for this purpose is attested by documents as late as the year 780. Other revolts of the Copts are recorded for the year 739 and 750, the last year of Omayyad domination. The outbreaks in all cases are attributed to increased taxation.

The Abbasid period was marked at its commencement by the erection of a new capital to the north of Fostat, bearing the name ‘Askar or “camp.” Apparently at this time the practice of farming the taxes began, which naturally led to even greater extortion than before; and a fresh rising of the Copts is recorded for the fourth year of Abbasid rule. Governors, as will be seen from the list, were frequently changed. The three officials of importance whose nomination is mentioned by the historians in addition to that of the governor were the commander of the bodyguard, the minister of finance and the judge. Towards the beginning of the 3rd Islamic century the practice of giving Egypt in fief to a governor was resumed by the caliph Mamūn, who bestowed this privilege on ‘Abdallāh b. Ṭāhir, who in 827 was sent to recover Alexandria, which for some ten years had been held by exiles from Spain. ‘Abdallāh b. Ṭāhir decided to reside at Bagdad, sending a deputy to Egypt to govern for him; and this example was afterwards followed. In 828, when Mamūn’s brother Motaṣim was feudal lord, a violent insurrection broke out in the Ḥauf, occasioned, as usual, by excessive taxation; it was partly quelled in the next year by Motaṣim, who marched against the rebels with an army of 4000 Turks. The rebellion broke out repeatedly in the following years, and in 831 the Copts joined with the Arabs against the government; the state of affairs became so serious that the caliph Mamūn himself visited Egypt, arriving at Fostat in February 832; his general Afshīn fought a decisive battle with the rebels at Bāsharūd in the Ḥauf region, at which the Copts were compelled to surrender; the males were massacred and the women and children sold as slaves.

This event finally crushed the Coptic nation, which never again made head against the Moslems. In the following year the caliph Motaṣim, who surrounded himself with a foreign bodyguard, withdrew the stipends of the Arab soldiers in Egypt; this measure caused some of the Arab tribes who had been long settled in Egypt to revolt, but their resistance was crushed, and the domination of the Arab element in the country from this time gave way to that of foreign mercenaries, who, belonging to one nation or another, held it for most of its subsequent history. Egypt was given in fief to a Turkish general Ashnās (Ashinas), who never visited the country, and the rule of individuals of Turkish origin prevailed till the rise of the Fāṭimites, who for a time interrupted it. The presence of Turks in Egypt is attested by documents as early as 808. While the governor Turkish governors appointed. was appointed by the feudal lord, the finance minister continued to be appointed by the caliph. On the death of Ashnās in 844 Egypt was given in fief to another Turkish general Ītākh, but in 850 this person fell out of favour, and the fief was transferred to Montaṣir, son of the caliph Motawakkil. In 856 it was transferred from him to the vizier Fatḥ b. Khāqān, who for the first time appointed a Turkish governor. The chief places in the state were also filled with Turks. The period between the rise of the Abbasids and the quasi-independent dynasties of Egypt was marked by much religious persecution, occasioned by the fanaticism of some of the caliphs, the victims being generally Moslem sectarians. (For Egypt under Motawakkil see Caliphate, § c. par. 10.)

The policy of these caliphs also led to severe measures being taken against any members of the Alid family or adherents of their cause who were to be found in Egypt.

In the year 868 Egypt was given in fief to a Turkish general Bayikbeg, who sent thither as his representative his stepson Aḥmad b. Ṭūlūn, the first founder of a quasi-independent dynasty. This personage was himself the Ṭūlūnid Dynasty. son of a Turk who, originally sent as a slave to Bagdad, had risen to high rank in the service of the caliphs. Aḥmad b. Ṭūlūn spent some of his early life in Tarsus, and on his return distinguished himself by rescuing his caravan, which conveyed treasure belonging to the caliph, from brigands who attacked it; he afterwards accompanied the caliph Mosta‘īn into exile, and displayed some honourable qualities in his treatment of the fallen sovereign. He found a rival in Egypt in the person of Ibn al-Modabbir, the finance minister, who occupied an independent position, and who started the practice of surrounding himself with an army of his own slaves or freedmen; of these Ibn Ṭūlūn succeeded in depriving the finance minister, and they formed the nucleus of an army by which he eventually secured his own independence. Insurrections by adherents of the Alids gave him the opportunity to display his military skill; and when in 870 his stepfather died, by a stroke of luck the fief was given to his father-in-law, who retained Aḥmad in the lieutenancy, and indeed extended his authority to Alexandria, which had till that time been outside it. The enterprise of a usurper in Syria in the year 872 caused the caliph to require the presence of Aḥmad in that country at the head of an army to quell it; and although this army was not actually employed for the purpose, it was not disbanded by Aḥmad, who on his return founded a fresh city called Kaṭā’i‘, “the fiefs,” S.E. of modern Cairo, to house it. On the death of Aḥmad’s father-in-law in the same year, when Egypt was given in fief to the caliph’s brother Mowaffaq (famous for his defeat of the Zanj), Aḥmad secured himself in his post by extensive bribery at headquarters; and in the following year the administration of the Syrian frontier was conferred on him as well. By 875 he found himself strong enough to refuse to send tribute to Bagdad, preferring to spend the revenues of Egypt on the maintenance of his army and the erection of great buildings, such as his famous mosque; and though Mowaffaq advanced against him with an army, the project of reducing Aḥmad to submission had to be abandoned for want of means. In 877 and 878 Aḥmad advanced into Syria and obtained the submission of the chief cities, and at Tarsus entered into friendly relations with the representatives of the Byzantine emperor. During his absence his son ‘Abbās revolted in Egypt; on the news of his father’s return he fled to Barca, whence he endeavoured to conquer the Aghlabite dominions in the Maghrib; he was, however, defeated by the Aghlabite ruler, and returned to Barca, where he was again defeated by his father’s forces and taken prisoner.

In 882 relations between Aḥmad and Mowaffaq again became strained, and the former conceived the bold plan of getting the caliph Mo’tamid into his power, which, however, was frustrated by Mowaffaq’s vigilance; but an open rupture was the result, as Mowaffaq formally deprived Aḥmad of his lieutenancy, while Aḥmad equally formally declared that Mowaffaq had forfeited the succession. A revolt that broke out at Tarsus caused Aḥmad to traverse Syria once more in 883, but illness compelled him to return, and on the 10th of May 884 he died at his residence in Kaṭā’i‘. He was the first to establish the claim of Egypt to govern Syria, and from his time Egypt grew more and more independent of the Eastern caliphate. He appears to have invented the fiction which afterwards was repeatedly employed, by which the money spent on mosque-building was supposed to have been furnished by discoveries of buried treasure.

He was succeeded by his son Khomārūya, then twenty years of age, who immediately after his accession had to deal with an attempt on the part of the caliph to recover Syria; this attempt failed chiefly through dissensions between the caliph’s officers, but partly through the ability of Khomārūya’s general, who succeeded in winning a battle after his master had run away from the field. By 886 Mowaffaq found it expedient to grant Khomārūya the possession of Egypt, Syria, and the frontier towns for a period of thirty years, and ere long, owing to the disputes of the provincial governors, Khomārūya found it possible to extend his domain to the Euphrates and even the Tigris. On the death of Mowaffaq in 891 the Egyptian governor was able to renew peaceful relations with the caliphs, and receive fresh confirmation in his possessions for thirty years. The security which he thereby gained gave him the opportunity to indulge his taste for costly buildings, parks and other luxuries, of which the chroniclers give accounts bordering on the fabulous. After the marriage of his daughter to the caliph, which was celebrated at enormous expense, an arrangement was made giving the Ṭūlūnid sovereign the viceroyalty of a region extending from Barca on the west to Hīt on the east; but tribute, ordinarily to the amount of 300,000 dinars, was to be sent to the metropolis. His realm enjoyed peace till his death in 896, when he fell a victim to some palace intrigue at Damascus.

His son and successor Abu’l-‘Asākir Jaish was fourteen years old at his accession, and being without adequate guidance soon revealed his incompetence, which led to his being murdered after a reign of six months by his troops, who gave his place to his brother Hārūn, who was of about the same age. In the eight years of his government the Ṭūlūnid empire contracted, owing to the revolts of the deputies which Hārūn was unable to quell, though in 898 he endeavoured to secure a new lease of the sovereignty in Egypt and Syria by a fresh arrangement with the caliph, involving an increase of tribute. The following years witnessed serious troubles in Syria caused by the Carmathians, which called for the intervention of the caliph, who at last succeeded in defeating these fanatics; the officer Mahommed b. Solaimān, to whom the victory was due, was then commissioned by the caliph to reconquer Egypt from the Ṭūlūnids, and after securing the allegiance of the Syrian prefects he invaded Egypt by sea and land at once. Before the arrival of these troops Hārūn had met his death at the hands of an assassin, or else in an affray, and his uncle Shaibān, who was placed on the throne, found himself without the means to collect an army fit to grapple with the invaders. Fostat was taken by Mahommed b. Solaimān after very slight resistance, at the beginning of 905, and after the infliction of severe punishment on the inhabitants Egypt was once more put under a deputy, ’Īsā al-Nausharī, appointed directly by the caliph.

The old régime was not restored without an attempt made by an adherent of the Ṭūlūnids to reconquer Egypt ostensibly for their benefit, and for a time the caliph’s viceroy had to quit the capital. The vigorous measures of the authorities at Bagdad speedily quelled this rebellion, and the Ṭūlūnid palace at Kaṭā’i‘ was then destroyed in order that there might be nothing to remind the Egyptians of the dynasty. In the middle of the year 914 Egypt was invaded for the first time by a Fāṭimite force sent by the caliph al-Mahdī ’Obaidallah, now established at Kairawān. The Mahdi’s son succeeded in taking Alexandria, and advancing as far as the Fayūm; but once more the Abbasid caliph sent a powerful army to assist his viceroy, and the invaders were driven out of the country and pursued as far as Barca; the Fāṭimite caliph, however, continued to maintain active propaganda in Egypt. In 919 Alexandria was again seized by the Mahdi’s son, afterwards the caliph al-Qā’im, and while his forces advanced northward as far as Ushmunain (Eshmunain) he was reinforced by a fleet which arrived at Alexandria. This fleet was destroyed by a far smaller one sent by the Bagdad caliph to Rosetta; but Egypt was not freed from the invaders till the year 921, when reinforcements had been repeatedly sent from Bagdad to deal with them. The extortions necessitated by these wars for the maintenance of armies and the incompetence of the viceroys brought Egypt at this time into a miserable condition; and the numerous political crises at Bagdad prevented for a time any serious measures being taken to improve it. After a struggle between various pretenders to the viceroyalty, in which some pitched battles were fought, Mahommed b. Ṭughj, son of a Ṭūlūnid prefect of Damascus, was sent by the caliph to restore order; he had to force his entrance into the country by an engagement with one of the pretenders, Ibn Kaighlagh, in which he was victorious, and entered Fostat in August 935.

Mahommed b. Ṭughj was the founder of the Ikshīdī dynasty, so called from the title Ikshīd, conferred on him at his request by the caliph shortly after his appointment to the governorship of Egypt; it is said to have had the Ikshidite Dynasty. sense of “king” in Ferghana, whence this person’s ancestors had come to enter the service of the caliph Motaṣim. He had himself served under the governor of Egypt, Takīn, whose son he displaced, in various capacities, and had afterwards held various governorships in Syria. One of the historians represents his appointment to Egypt as effected by bribery and even forgery. He united in his person the offices of governor and minister of finance, which had been separate since the time of the Ṭūlūnids. He endeavoured to replenish the treasury not only by extreme economy, but by inflicting fines on a vast scale on persons who had held offices under his predecessor and others who had rendered themselves suspect. The disaffected in Egypt kept up communications with the Fāṭimites, against whom the Ikshīd collected a vast army, which, however, had first to be employed in resisting an invasion of Egypt threatened by Ibn Rāiq, an adventurer who had seized Syria; after an indecisive engagement at Lajūn the Ikshīd decided to make peace with Ibn Rāiq, undertaking to pay him tribute. The favour afterwards shown to Ibn Rāiq at Bagdad nearly threw the Ikshīd into the arms of the Fāṭimite caliph, with whom he carried on a friendly correspondence, one letter of which is preserved. He is even said to have given orders to substitute the name of the Fāṭimite caliph for that of the Abbasid in public prayer, but to have been warned of the unwisdom of this course. In 941, after the death of Ibn Rāiq, the Ikshīd took the opportunity of invading Syria, which the caliph permitted him to hold with the addition of the sacred cities of Mecca and Medina, which the Ṭūlūnids had aspired to possess. He is said at this time to have started (in imitation of Aḥmad Ibn Ṭūlūn) a variety of vexatious enactments similar to those afterwards associated with the name of Hākim, e.g. compelling his soldiers to dye their hair, and adding to their pay for the purpose.

In the year 944 he was summoned to Mesopotamia to assist the caliph, who had been driven from Bagdad by Tūzūn and was in the power of the Ḥamdānids; and he proposed, though unsuccessfully, to take the caliph with him to Egypt. At this time he obtained hereditary rights for his family in the government of that country and Syria. The Ḥamdānid Saif addaula shortly after this assumed the governorship of Aleppo, and became involved in a struggle with the Ikshīd, whose general, Kāfūr, he defeated in an engagement between Homs and Hamah (Hamath). In a later battle he was himself defeated by the Ikshīd, when an arrangement was made permitting Saif addaula to retain most of Syria, while a prefect appointed by the Ikshīd was to remain in Damascus. The Buyid ruler, who was now supreme at Bagdad, permitted the Ikshīd to remain in possession of his viceroyalty, but shortly after receiving this confirmation he died at Damascus in 946.

The second of this dynasty was the Ikshīd’s son Ūnjūr, who had been proclaimed in his father’s time, and began his government under the tutelage of the negro Kāfūr. Syria was immediately overrun by Saif addaula, but he was defeated by Kāfūr in two engagements, and was compelled to recognize the overlordship of the Egyptian viceroy. At the death of Ūnjūr in 961 his brother Abu’l-Ḥasan ‘Alī was made viceroy with the caliph’s consent by Kāfūr, who continued to govern for his chief as before. The land was during this period threatened at once by the Fāṭimites from the west; the Nubians from the south, and the Carmathians from the east; when the second Ikshīdī died in 965, Kāfūr at first made a pretence of appointing his young son Aḥmad as his successor, but deemed it safer to assume the viceroyalty himself, setting an example which in Mameluke times was often followed. He occupied the post little more than three years, and on his death in 968 the aforementioned Aḥmad, called Abu’l-Fawāris, was appointed successor, under the tutelage of a vizier named Ibn Furāt, who had long served under the Ikshīdīs. The accession of this prince was followed by an incursion of the Carmathians into Syria, before whom the Ikshīdī governor fled into Egypt, where he had for a time to undertake the management of affairs, and arrested Ibn Furāt, who had proved himself incompetent.

The administration of Ibn Furāt was fatal to the Ikshīdīs and momentous for Egypt, since a Jewish convert, Jacob, son of Killis, who had been in the Ikshīd’s service, and was ill-treated by Ibn Furāt, fled to the Fāṭimite sovereign, and persuaded him that the time for invading Egypt with a prospect of success had arrived, since there was no one in Fostat capable of organizing a plan of defence, and the dissensions between the Buyids at Bagdad rendered it improbable that any succour would arrive from that quarter. The Fāṭimite caliph Mo’izz li-dīn allāh was also in correspondence with other residents in Egypt, where the Alid party from the beginning of Abbasid times had always had many supporters; and the danger from the Carmathians rendered the presence of a strong government necessary. The Fāṭimite general Jauhar (variously represented as of Greek, Slav and Sicilian origin), who enjoyed the complete confidence of the Fāṭimite sovereign, was placed at the head of an army of 100,000 men—if Oriental numbers are to be trusted—and started from Rakkāda at the beginning of March 969 with the view of seizing Egypt.

Before his arrival the administration of affairs had again been committed to Ibn Furāt, who, on hearing of the threatened invasion, at first proposed to treat with Jauhar for the peaceful surrender of the country; but though at first there was a prospect of this being carried out, the majority of the troops at Fostat preferred to make some resistance, and an advance was made to meet Jauhar in the neighbourhood of Giza. He had little difficulty in defeating the Egyptian army, and on the 6th of July 969 entered Fostat at the head of his forces. The name of Mo’izz was immediately introduced into public prayer, and coins were struck in his name. The Ikshīdī governor of Damascus, a cousin of Abu’l-Fawāris Aḥmad, endeavoured to save Syria, but was defeated at Ramleh by a general sent by Jauhar and taken prisoner. Thus the Ikshīdī Dynasty came to an end, and Egypt was transferred from the Eastern to the Western caliphate, of which it furnished the metropolis.

(4) The Fāṭimite period begins with the taking of Fostat by Jauhar, who immediately began the building of a new city, al-Kāhira or Cairo, to furnish quarters for the army which he had brought. A palace for the caliph and a mosque for the army were immediately constructed, the latter still famous as al-Azhar, and for many centuries the centre of Moslem learning. Almost immediately after the conquest of Egypt, Jauhar found himself engaged in a struggle with the Carmathians (q.v.), whom the Ikshīdī prefect of Damascus had pacified by a promise of tribute; this promise was of course not held binding by the Fāṭimite general (Ja’far b. Falāh) by whom Damascus was taken, and the Carmathian leader al-Ḥasan b. Aḥmad al-A’ṣam received aid from Bagdad for the purpose of recovering Syria to the Abbasids. The general Ja’far, hoping to deal with this enemy independently of Jauhar, met the Carmathians without waiting for reinforcements from Egypt, and fell in battle, his army being defeated. Damascus was taken by the Carmathians, and the name of the Abbasid caliph substituted for that of Mo’izz in public worship. Ḥasan al-A’ṣam advanced from Damascus through Palestine to Egypt, encountering little resistance on the way; and in the autumn of 971 Jauhar found himself besieged in his new city. By a timely sortie, preceded by the administration of bribes to various officers in the Carmathian host, Jauhar succeeded in inflicting a severe defeat on the besiegers, who were compelled to evacuate Egypt and part of Syria.

Meanwhile Mo’izz had been summoned to enter the palace that had been prepared for him, and after leaving a viceroy to take charge of his western possessions he arrived in Alexandria on the 31st of May 973, and proceeded to instruct his new subjects in the particular form of religion (Shī’ism) which his family represented. As this was in origin identical with that professed by the Carmathians, he hoped to gain the submission of their leader by argument; but this plan was unsuccessful, and there was a fresh invasion from that quarter in the year after his arrival, and the caliph found himself besieged in his capital. The Carmathians were gradually forced to retreat from Egypt and then from Syria by some successful engagements, and by the judicious use of bribes, whereby dissension was sown among their leaders. Mo’izz also found time to take some active measures against the Byzantines, with whom his generals fought in Syria with varying fortune. Before his death he was acknowledged as caliph in Mecca and Medina, as well as Syria, Egypt and North Africa as far as Tangier.

In the reign of the second Egyptian Fāṭimite ‘Azīz billah, Jauhar, who appears to have been cashiered by Mo’izz, was again employed at the instance of Jacob b. Killis, who had been raised to the rank of vizier, to deal with the situation in Syria, where a Turkish general Aftakīn had gained possession of Damascus, and was raiding the whole country; on the arrival of Jauhar in Syria the Turks called the Carmathians to their aid, and after a campaign of many vicissitudes Jauhar had to return to Egypt to implore the caliph himself to take the field. In August 977 ‘Azīz met the united forces of Aftakīn and his Carmathian ally outside Ramleh in Palestine and inflicted a crushing defeat on them, which was followed by the capture of Aftakīn; this able officer was taken to Egypt, and honourably treated by the caliph, thereby incurring the jealousy of Jacob b. Killis, who caused him, it is said, to be poisoned. This vizier had the astuteness to see the necessity of codifying the doctrines of the Fāṭimites, and himself undertook this task; in the newly-established mosque of el-Azhar he got his master to make provision for a perpetual series of teachers and students of his manual. It would appear, however, that a large amount of toleration was conceded by the first two Egyptian Fāṭimites to the other sects of Islam, and to other communities. Indeed at one time in ‘Azīz’s reign the vizierate of Egypt was held by a Christian, Jesus, son of Nestorius, who appointed as his deputy in Syria a Jew, Manasseh b. Abraham. These persons were charged by the Moslems with unduly favouring their co-religionists, and the belief that the Christians of Egypt were in league with the Byzantine emperor, and even burned a fleet which was being built for the Byzantine war, led to some persecution. Azīz attempted without success to enter into friendly relations with the Buyid ruler of Bagdad, ‘Aḍod addaula, who was disposed to favour the ‘Alids, but caused the claim of the Fāṭimites to descend from ‘Ali to be publicly refuted. He then tried to gain possession of Aleppo, as the key to ‘Irāk, but this was prevented by the intervention of the Byzantines. His North African possessions were maintained and extended by ‘Ali, son of Bulukkīn, whom Mo’izz had left as his deputy; but the recognition of the Fāṭimite caliph in this region was little more than nominal.

His successor Abū ‘Alī al-Manṣūr, who reigned under the title al-Hāḳim bi‘amr allāh, came to the throne at the age of eleven, being the son of ‘Azīz by a Christian mother. He was at first under the tutelage of the Slav Burjuwān, whose policy it was to favour the Turkish element in the army as against the Maghribine, on which the strength of the Fāṭimites had till then rested; his conduct of affairs was vigorous and successful, and he concluded a peace with the Greek emperor. After a few years’ regency he was assassinated at the instance of the young sovereign, who at an early age developed a dislike for control and jealousy of his rights as caliph. He is branded by historians as the Caligula of the East, who took a delight in imposing on his subjects a variety of senseless and capricious regulations, and persecuting different sections of them by cruel and arbitrary measures. It is observable that some of those with which Ḥākim is credited are also ascribed to Ibn Ṭūlūn and the Ikshīd (Mahommed b. Tughj). He is perhaps best remembered by his destruction of the church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem (1010), a measure which helped to provoke the Crusades, but was only part of a general scheme for converting all Christians and Jews in his dominions to his own opinions by force. A more reputable expedient with the same end in view was the construction of a great library in Cairo, with ample provision for students; this was modelled on a similar institution at Bagdad. It formed part of the great palace of the Fāṭimites, and was intended to be the centre of their propaganda. At times, however, he ordered the destruction of all Christian churches in Egypt, and the banishment of all who did not adopt Islam. It is strange that in the midst of these persecutions he continued to employ Christians in high official positions. His system of persecution was not abandoned till in the last year of his reign (1020) he thought fit to claim divinity, a doctrine which is perpetuated by the Druses (q.v.), called after one Darazī, who preached the divinity of Ḥākim at the time; the violent opposition which this aroused among the Moslems probably led him to adopt milder measures towards his other subjects, and those who had been forcibly converted were permitted to return to their former religion and rebuild their places of worship. Whether his disappearance at the beginning of the year 1021 was due to the resentment of his outraged subjects, or, as the historians say, to his sister’s fear that he would bequeath the caliphate to a distant relative to the exclusion of his own son, will never be known. In spite of his caprices he appears to have shown competence in the management of external affairs; enterprises of pretenders both in Egypt and Syria were crushed with promptitude; and his name was at times mentioned in public worship in Aleppo and Mosul.

His son Abū’l-Ḥasan ‘Ali, who succeeded him with the title al-Ẓāhir li‘i’zāz dīn allāh, was sixteen years of age at the time, and for four years his aunt Sitt al-Mulk acted as regent; she appears to have been an astute but utterly unscrupulous woman. After her death the caliph was in the power of various ministers, under whose management of affairs Syria was for a time lost to the Egyptian caliphate, and Egypt itself raided by the Syrian usurpers, of whom one, Ṣāliḥ b. Mirdās, succeeded in establishing a dynasty at Aleppo, which maintained itself after Syria and Palestine had been recovered for the Fāṭimites by Anushtakin al-Dizbarī at the battle of Ukhuwānah in 1029. His career is said to have been marked by some horrible caprices similar to those of his father. After a reign of nearly sixteen years he died of the plague.

His successor, Abū Tamīm Ma‘add, who reigned with the title al-Mostanṣir, was also an infant at the time of his accession, being little more than seven years of age. The power was largely in the hands of his mother, a negress, who promoted the interests of her kinsmen at court, where indeed even in Ḥākim’s time they had been used as a counterpoise to the Maghribine and Turkish elements in the army. In the first years of this reign affairs were administered by the vizier al-Jarjarā‘ī, by whose mismanagement Aleppo was lost to the Fāṭimites. At his death in 1044 the chief influence passed into the hands of Abu Sa’d, a Jew, and the former master of the queen-mother, and at the end of four years he was assassinated at the instance of another Jew (Ṣadaḳah, perhaps Zedekiah, b. Joseph al-Falāḥī), whom he had appointed vizier. In this reign Mo’izz b. Badis, the 4th ruler of the dependent Zeirid dynasty which had ruled in the Maghrib since the migration of the Fāṭimite Mo’izz to Egypt, definitely abjured his allegiance (1049) and returned to Sunnite principles and subjection to the Bagdad caliphate. The Zeirids maintained Mahdia (see Algiers), while other cities of the Maghrib were colonized by Arab tribes sent thither by the Cairene vizier. This loss was more than compensated by the enrolment of Yemen among the countries which recognized the Fāṭimite caliphate through the enterprise of one ‘Ali b. Mahommed al-Ṣulaiḥī, while owing to the disputes between the Turkish generals who claimed supremacy at Bagdad, Mostanṣir’s name was mentioned in public prayer at that metropolis on the 12th of January 1058, when a Turkish adventurer Basāsīrī was for a time in power. The Egyptian court, chiefly owing to the jealousy of the vizier, sent no efficient aid to Basāsīrī, and after a year Bagdad was retaken by the Seljūk Toghrul Beg, and the Abbasid caliph restored to his rights. In the following years the troubles in Egypt caused by the struggles between the Turkish and negro elements in Mostanṣir’s army nearly brought the country into the dominion of the Abbasids. After several battles of various issue the Turkish commander Nāṣir addaula b. Hamdān got possession of Cairo, and at the end of 1068 plundered the caliph’s palace; the valuable library which had been begun by Ḥākim was pillaged, and an accidental fire caused great destruction. The caliph and his family were reduced to destitution, and Nāṣir addaula began negotiations for restoring the name of the Abbasid caliph in public prayer; he was, however, assassinated before he could carry this out, and his assassin, also a Turk, appointed vizier. Mostanṣir then summoned to his aid Badr al-Jamālī, an Armenian who had displayed competence in various posts which he had held in Syria, and this person early in 1074 arrived in Cairo accompanied by a bodyguard of Armenians; he contrived to massacre the chiefs of the party at the time in possession of power, and with the title Amīr al-Juyūsh (“prince of the armies”) was given by Mostanṣir complete control of affairs. The period of internal disturbances, which had been accompanied by famine and pestilence, had caused usurpers to spring up in all parts of Egypt, and Badr was compelled practically to reconquer the country. During this time, however, Syria was overrun by an invader in league with the Seljūk Malik Shah, and Damascus was permanently lost to the Fāṭimites; other cities were recovered by Badr himself or his officers. He rebuilt the walls of Cairo, of more durable material than that which had been employed by Jauhar—a measure rendered necessary partly by the growth of the metropolis, but also by the repeated sieges which it had undergone since the commencement of Fāṭimite rule. The time of Mostanṣir is otherwise memorable for the rise of the Assassins (q.v.), who at the first supported the claims of his eldest son Nizār to the succession against the youngest Ḁhmed, who was favoured by the family of Badr. When Badr died in 1094 his influence was inherited by his son al-Afḍal Shāhinshāh, and this, at the death of Mostanṣir in the same year, was thrown in favour of Aḥmed, who succeeded to the caliphate with the title al-Mosta’lī billāh.

Mosta’lī’s succession was not carried through without an attempt on the part of Nizār to obtain his rights, the title which he chose being al-Moṣṭafā lidīn allāh; for a time he maintained himself in Alexandria, but the energetic The Crusades. measures of his brother soon brought the civil war to an end. The beginning of this reign coincided with the beginning of the Crusades, and al-Afḍal made the fatal mistake of helping the Franks by rescuing Jerusalem from the Ortokids, thereby facilitating its conquest by the Franks in 1099. He endeavoured to retrieve his error by himself advancing into Palestine, but he was defeated in the neighbourhood of Ascalon, and compelled to retire to Egypt. Many of the Palestinian possessions of the Fāṭimites then successively fell into the hands of the Franks. After a reign of seven years Mosta’lī died and the caliphate was given by al-Afḍal to an infant son, aged five years at the time, who was placed on the throne with the title al-Āmir biahkām allāh, and for twenty years was under the tutelage of al-Afḍal. He made repeated attempts to recover the Syrian and Palestinian cities from the Franks, but with poor success. In 1118 Egypt was invaded by Baldwin I., who burned the gates and the mosques of Farama, and advanced to Tinnis, whence illness compelled him to retreat. In August 1121 al-Afḍal was assassinated in a street of Cairo, it is said, with the connivance of the caliph, who immediately began the plunder of his house, where fabulous treasures were said to be amassed. The vizier’s offices were given to one of the caliph’s creatures, Mahommed b. Fātik al-Batā’iḥī, who took the title al-Ma’mūn. His external policy was not more fortunate than that of his predecessor, as he lost Tyre to the Franks, and a fleet equipped by him was defeated by the Venetians. On the 4th of October 1125 he with his followers was seized and imprisoned by order of the Caliph Āmir, who was now resolved to govern by himself, with the assistance of only subordinate officials, of whom two were drawn from the Samaritan and Christian communities. The vizier was afterwards crucified with his five brothers. The caliph’s personal government appears to have been incompetent, and to have been marked by extortions and other arbitrary measures. He was assassinated in October 1129 by some members of the sect who believed in the claims of Nizār, son of Mostanṣir.

The succeeding caliph, Abu’l-Maimūn ‘Abd al-Majīd, who took the title al-Ḥāfiẓ lidīn allāh, was not the son but the cousin of the deceased caliph, and of ripe age, being about fifty-eight years old at the time; for more than a year he was kept in prison by the new vizier, a son of al-Afḍal, whom the army had placed in the post; but towards the end of 1131 this vizier fell by the hand of assassins, and the caliph was set free. The reign of Ḥāfiẓ was disturbed by the factions of the soldiery, between which several battles took place, ending in the subjection of the caliph for a time to various usurpers, one of these being his own son Ḥasan, who had been provoked to rebel by the caliph nominating a younger brother as his successor. For some months the caliph was under this son’s control; but the latter, who aimed at conciliating the people, speedily lost his popularity with the troops, and his father was able to get possession of his person and cause him to be poisoned (beginning of 1135).

His son Abu’l-Manṣūr Ismā‘īl, who was seventeen years old at the time of Ḥāfiẓ’s death, succeeded him with the title al-Zāfir lia’dā allāh. From this reign to the end of the Fāṭimite period we have the journals of two eminent men, Usāmah b. Muniqdh and Umārah of Yemen, which throw light on the leading characters. The civil dissensions of Egypt were notorious at the time. The new reign began by an armed struggle between two commanders for the post of vizier, which in January 1150 was decided in favour of the Amir Ibn Sallār. This vizier was presently assassinated by the direction of his stepson ‘Abbās, who was raised to the vizierate in his place. This event was shortly followed by the loss to the Fāṭimites of Ascalon, the last place in Syria which they held; its loss was attributed to dissensions between the parties of which the garrison consisted. Four years later (April 1154) the caliph was murdered by his vizier ‘Abbās, according to Usāmah, because the caliph had suggested to his favourite, the vizier’s son, to murder his father; and this was followed by a massacre of the brothers of Zāfir, followed by the raising of his infant son Abu’l-Qāsim ’Īsā to the throne.

The new caliph, who was not five years old, received the title al-Fā’iz binaṣr allāh, and was at first in the power of ‘Abbās. The women of the palace, however, summoned to their aid Ṭalā’i’ b. Ruzzīk, prefect of Ushmunain, at whose arrival in Cairo the troops deserted ‘Abbās, who was compelled to flee into Syria, taking his son and Usāmah with him. ‘Abbās was killed by the Franks near Ascalon, his son sent in a cage to Cairo where he was executed, while Usāmah escaped to Damascus.

The infant Fā’iz, who had been permanently incapacitated by the scenes of violence which accompanied his accession, died in 1160. Ṭalā’i’ chose to succeed him a grandson of Ẓāfir, who was nine years of age, and received the title al-‘Āḍid lidīn allāh. Ṭalā’i’, who had complete control of affairs, introduced the practice of farming the taxes for periods of six months instead of a year, which led to great misery, as the taxes were demanded twice. His death was brought on by the rigour with which he treated the princesses, one of whom, with or without the connivance of the caliph, organized a plot for his assassination, and he died in September 1160. His son Ruzzīk inherited his post and maintained himself in it for more than a year, when another prefect of Upper Egypt, Shāwar b. Mujīr, brought a force to Cairo, before which Ruzzīk fled, to be shortly afterwards captured and beheaded. Shāwar’s entry into Cairo was at the beginning of 1163; after nine months he was compelled to flee before another adventurer, an officer in the army named Ḍirghām. Shāwar’s flight was directed to Damascus, where he was favourably received by the prince Nureddin, who sent with him to Cairo a force of Kurds under Asad al-dīn Shīrgūh. At the same time Egypt was invaded by the Franks, who raided and did much damage on the coast. Dirghām was defeated and killed, but a dispute then arose between Shāwar and his Syrian allies for Frankish invasion. the possession of Egypt. Shāwar, being unable to cope with the Syrians, demanded help of the Frankish king of Jerusalem Amalric (Amauri) I., who hastened to his aid with a large force, which united with Shāwar’s and besieged Shīrgūh in Bilbeis for three months; at the end of this time, owing to the successes of Nureddin in Syria, the Franks granted Shīrgūh a free passage with his troops back to Syria, on condition of Egypt being evacuated (October 1164). Rather more than two years later Shīrgūh persuaded Nureddin to put him at the head of another expedition to Egypt, which left Syria in January 1167, and, entering Egypt by the land route, crossed the Nile at Itfīḥ (Atfih), and encamped at Giza; a Frankish army hastened to Shāwar’s aid. At the battle of Bābain (April 11th, 1167) the allies were defeated by the forces commanded by Shīrgūh and his nephew Saladin, who was Saladin. presently made prefect of Alexandria, which surrendered to Shīrgūh without a struggle. Saladin was soon besieged by the allies in Alexandria; but after seventy-five days the siege was raised, Shīrgūh having made a threatening movement on Cairo, where a Frankish garrison had been admitted by Shāwar. Terms were then made by which both Syrians and Franks were to quit Egypt, though the garrison of Cairo remained; the hostile attitude of the Moslem population to this garrison led to another invasion at the beginning of 1168 by King Amalric, who after taking Bilbeis advanced to Cairo. The caliph, who up to this time appears to have left the administration to the viziers, now sent for Shīrgūh, whose speedy arrival in Egypt caused the Franks to withdraw. Reaching Cairo on the 6th of January 1169, he was soon able to get possession of Shāwar’s person, and after the prefect’s execution, which happened some ten days later, he was appointed vizier by the caliph. After two months Shīrgūh died of indigestion (23rd of March 1169), and the caliph appointed Saladin as successor to Shīrgūh; the new vizier professed to hold office as a deputy of Nureddin, whose name was mentioned in public worship after that of the caliph. By appropriating the fiefs of the Egyptian officers and giving them to his Kurdish followers he stirred up much ill-feeling, which resulted in a conspiracy, of which the object was to recall the Franks with the view of overthrowing the new régime; but this conspiracy was revealed by a traitor and crushed. Nureddin loyally aided his deputy in dealing with Frankish invasions of Egypt, but the anomaly by which he, being a Sunnite, was made in Egypt to recognize a Fāṭimite caliph could not long continue, and he ordered Saladin to weaken the Fāṭimite by every available means, and then substitute the name of the Abbasid for his in public worship. Saladin and his ministers were at first afraid lest this step might give rise to disturbances among the people; but a stranger undertook to risk it on the 17th of September 1171, and the following Friday it was repeated by official order; the caliph himself died during the interval, and it is uncertain whether he ever heard of his deposition. The last of the Fāṭimite caliphs was not quite twenty-one years old at the time of his death.

(5) Ayyubite Period.—Saladin by the advice of his chief Nureddin cashiered the Fāṭimite judges and took steps to encourage the study of orthodox theology and jurisprudence in Egypt by the foundation of colleges and chairs. On the death of the ex-caliph he was confirmed in the prefecture of Egypt as deputy of Nureddin; and on the decease of the latter in 1174 (12th of April) he took the title sultan, so that with this year the Ayyubite period of Egyptian history properly begins. During the whole of it Damascus rather more than Cairo counted as the metropolis of the empire. The Egyptian army, which was motley in character, was disbanded by the new sultan, whose troops were Kurds. Though he did not build a new metropolis he fortified Cairo with the addition of a citadel, and had plans made for a new wall to enclose both it and the double city; this latter plan was never completed, but the former was executed after his death, and from this time till the French occupation of Egypt the citadel of Cairo was the political centre of the country. It was in 1183 that Saladin’s rule over Egypt and North Syria was consolidated. Much of Saladin’s time was spent in Syria, and his famous wars with the Franks belong to the history of the Crusades and to his personal biography. Egypt was largely governed by his favourite Karākūsh, who lives in popular legend as the “unjust judge,” though he does not appear to have deserved that title.

Saladin at his death divided his dominions between his sons, of whom ’Othman succeeded to Egypt with the title Malik al-Azīz ‘Imāl al-aīn. The division was not satisfactory to the heirs, and after three years (beginning of 1196) the Egyptian sultan conspired with his uncle Malik al-‘Ādil to deprive Saladin’s son al-Afḍal of Damascus, which had fallen to his lot. The war between the brothers was continued with intervals of peace, during which al-‘Ādil repeatedly changed sides: eventually he with al-‘Azīz besieged and took Damascus, and sent al-Afḍal to Sarkhad, while al-‘Ādil remained in possession of Damascus. On the death of al-‘Azīz on the 29th of November 1198 in consequence of a hunting accident, his infant son Mahommed was raised to the throne with the title Malik al-Manṣūr Nāṣir al-dīn, and his uncle al-Afḍal sent for from Sarkhad to take the post of regent or Atābeg. So soon as al-Afḍal had got possession of his nephew’s person, he started on an expedition for the recovery of Damascus: al-‘Ādil not only frustrated this, but drove him back to Egypt, where on the 25th of January 1200 a battle was fought between the armies of the two at Bilbeis, resulting in the defeat of al-Afḍal, who was sent back to Sarkhad, while al-‘Ādil assumed the regency, for which after a few months he substituted the sovereignty, causing his nephew to be deposed. He reigned under the title Malik al-‘Ādil Saif al-dīn. His name was Abū Bakr.

Though the early years of his reign were marked by numerous disasters, famine, pestilence and earthquake, of which the second seems to have been exceedingly serious, he reunited under his sway the whole of the empire which had belonged to his brother, and his generals conquered for him parts of Mesopotamia and Armenia, and in 1215 he got possession of Yemen. He followed the plan of dividing his empire between his sons, the eldest Mahommed, called Malik al-Kāmil, being his viceroy in Egypt, while al-Mu‘azzam ’Īsā governed Syria, al-Ashraf Mūsā his eastern and al-Malik al-Auḥad Ayyūb his northern possessions. His attitude towards the Franks was at the first peaceful, but later in his reign he was compelled to adopt more strenuous measures. His death occurred at Alikin (1218), a village near Damascus, while the Franks were besieging Damietta—the first operation of the Fifth Crusade—which was defended by al-Kāmil, to whom his father kept sending reinforcements. The efforts of al-Kāmil after his accession to the independent sovereignty were seriously hindered by the endeavour of an amir named Aḥmed b. Mashṭūb to depose him and appoint in his place a brother called al-Fā’iz Sābiq al-dīn Ibrāhīm: this attempt was frustrated by the timely interposition of al-Mu‘azzam ’Īsā, who came to Egypt to aid his brother in February 1219, and compelled al-Fā’iz to depart for Mosul. After a siege of sixteen and a half months Damietta was taken by the Franks on Tuesday the 6th of November 1219; al-Kāmil thereupon proclaimed the Jihād, and was joined at his fortified camp, afterwards the site of Manṣūra, by troops from various parts of Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia, including the forces of his brothers ’Īsā and Mūsā. With these allies, and availing himself of the advantages offered by the inundation of the Nile, al-Kāmil was able to cut off both the advance and the retreat of the invaders, and on the 31st of August 1221 a peace was concluded, by which the Franks evacuated Egypt.

For some years the dominions of al-‘Ādil remained divided between his sons: when the affairs of Egypt were settled, al-Kāmil determined to reunite them as before, and to that end brought on the Sixth Crusade. Various cities in Palestine and Syria were yielded to Frederick II. as the price of his help against the son of Mu‘azzam ’Īsā, who reigned at Damascus with the title of Malik al-Nāṣir. About 1231-32 Kāmil led a confederacy of Ayyūbite princes against the Seljuk Kaikobad into Asia Minor, but his allies mistrusted him and victory rested with Kaikobad (see Seljuks). Before Kāmil’s death he was mentioned in public prayer at Mecca as lord of Mecca (Hejāz), Yemen, Zabīd, Upper and Lower Egypt, Syria and Mesopotamia.

At his death (May 8th, 1238) at Damascus, his son Abū Bakr was appointed to succeed with the title Malik al-‘Ādil Saif al-dīn; but his elder brother Malik al-Sāliḥ Najm al-dīn Ayyūb, having got possession of Damascus, immediately started for Egypt, with the view of adding that country to his dominions: meanwhile his uncle Ismā’il, prince of Hamath, with the prince of Homs, seized Damascus, upon hearing which the troops of Najm al-dīn deserted him at Nablus, when he fell into the hands of Malik al-Nāṣir, prince of Kerak, who carried him off to that city and kept him a prisoner there for a time; after which he was released and allowed to return to Nablus. On the 31st of May 1240 the new sultan was arrested at Bilbeis by his own amirs, who sent for Najm al-dīn to succeed him; and on the 19th of June of the same year Najm al-dīn entered Cairo as sultan, and imprisoned his brother in the citadel, where he died in 1248. Meanwhile in 1244 Jerusalem had been finally wrested from the Franks. The administration of Najm al-dīn is highly praised by Ibn Khallikan, who lived under it. He made large purchases of slaves (Mamelukes) for his army, and when the inhabitants of Cairo complained of their lawlessness, he built barracks for them on the island of Roda (Rauḍa), whence they were called Bahrī or Nile Mamelukes, which became the name of the first dynasty that originated from them. Much of his time was spent in campaigns in Syria, where the other Ayyūbites allied themselves against him with the Crusaders, whereas he accepted the services of the Khwarizmians: eventually he succeeded in recovering most of the Syrian cities. His name is commemorated by the town of Salihia, which he built in the year 1246 as a resting-place for his armies on their marches through the desert from Egypt to Palestine. In 1249 he was recalled from the siege of Homs by the news of the invasion of Egypt by Louis IX. (the Seventh Crusade), and in spite of illness he hastened to Ushmum Tannā, in the neighbourhood of Damietta, which he provisioned for a siege. Damietta was taken on the 6th of June 1249, owing to the desertion of his post by the commander Fakhr ud-dīn, and the Banū Kinānah, to whom the defence of the place had been entrusted: fifty-four of their chieftains were afterwards executed by the sultan for this proceeding. On the 22nd of November the sultan died of disease at Manṣūra, but his death was carefully concealed by the amirs Lājīn and Aktai, acting in concert with the Queen Shajar al-durr, till the arrival from Syria of the heir to the throne, Tūrānshāh, who was proclaimed some four months later. At the battle of Fāriskūr, 6th of April 1250, the invaders were utterly routed and the French king fell into the hands of the Egyptian sultan. The Egyptian authorities now resolved to raze Damietta, which, however, was rebuilt shortly after. The sultan, who himself had had no share in the victory, advanced after it from Manṣūra to Fāriskūr, where his conduct became menacing to the amirs who had raised him to the throne, and to Shajar al-durr; she in revenge organized an attack upon him which was successful, fire, water, and steel contributing to his end.

(6) Period of Baḥrī Mamelukes.—The dynasties that succeeded the Ayyūbites till the conquest of Egypt by the Ottomans bore the title Dynasties of the Turks, but are more often called Mameluke dynasties, because the sultans were drawn from the enfranchised slaves who constituted the court, and officered the army. The family of the fourth of these sovereigns, Ka’ā’ūn (Qalā’ūn), reigned for 110 years, but otherwise no sultan was able to found a durable dynasty: after the death of a sultan he was usually succeeded by an infant son, who after a short time was dethroned by a new usurper.

After the death of the Sultan Tūrānshāh, his step-mother at first was raised to the vacant throne, when she committed the administration of affairs to the captain of the retainers, Aibek; but the rule of a queen caused scandal to the Moslem world, and Shajar al-durr gave way to this sentiment by marrying Aibek and allowing the title sultan to be conferred on him instead of herself. For policy’s sake, however, Aibek nominally associated with himself on the throne a scion of the Ayyūbite house, Malik al-Ashraf Musa, who died in prison (1252 or 1254). Aibek meanwhile immediately became involved in war with the Ayyūbite Malik al-Nāṣir, who was in possession of Syria, with whom the caliph induced him after some indecisive actions to make peace: he then successfully quelled a mutiny of Mamelukes, whom he compelled to take refuge with the last Abbasid caliph Mostasim in Bagdad and elsewhere. On the 10th of April 1257 Aibek was murdered by his wife Shajar al-durr, who was indignant at his asking for the hand of another queen: but Aibek’s followers immediately avenged his death, placing on the throne his infant son Malik al-Manṣūr, who, however, was almost immediately displaced by his guardian Koṭuz, on the plea that the Mongol danger necessitated the presence of a grown man at the head of affairs. In 1260 the Syrian kingdom of al-Nāṣir was destroyed by Hulaku (Hulagu), the great Mongol chief, founder of the Ilkhan Dynasty (see Mongols), who, having finally overthrown the caliph of Bagdad (see Caliphate, sect. c. § 37), also despatched a threatening letter to Koṭuz; but later in the same year Syria was invaded by Koṭuz, who defeated Hulagu’s lieutenant at the battle of ‘Ain Jālūt (3rd of September 1260), in consequence of which event the Syrian cities all rose against the Mongols, and the Egyptian sultan became master of the country with the exception of such places as were still held by the Crusaders.

Before Koṭuz had reigned a year he was murdered at Sālihia by his lieutenant Bibars (October 23rd, 1260), who was piqued, it is said, at the governorship of Aleppo being withheld from him. The sovereignty was seized by this Rule of Bibars. person with the title of Malik al-Qāhir, presently altered to al-Zāhir. He had originally been a slave of Malik al-Sāliḥ, had distinguished himself at the battle after which Louis IX. was captured, and had helped to murder Tūrānshāh. Sultan Bibars, who proved to be one of the most competent of the Baḥrī Mamelukes, made Egypt the centre of the Moslem world by re-establishing in theory the Abbasid caliphate, which had lapsed through the taking of Bagdad by Hulagu, followed by the execution of the caliph. Bibars recognized the claim of a certain Abu’l-Qāsim Aḥmed to be the son of Zāhir, the 35th Abbasid caliph, and installed him as Commander of the Faithful Abbasid caliphate revived. at Cairo with the title al-Mostanṣir billāh. Mostanṣir then proceeded to confer on Bibars the title sultan, and to address to him a homily, explaining his duties. This document is preserved in the MS. life of Bibars, and translated by G. Weil. The sultan appears to have contemplated restoring the new caliph to the throne of Bagdad: the force, however, which he sent with him for the purpose of reconquering Irak was quite insufficient for the purpose, and Mostanṣir was defeated and slain. This did not prevent Bibars from maintaining his policy of appointing an Abbasid for the purpose of conferring legitimacy on himself; but he encouraged no further attempts at re-establishing the Abbasids at Bagdad, and his principle, adopted by successive sultans, was that the caliph should not leave Cairo except when accompanying the sultan on an expedition.

The reign of Bibars was spent largely in successful wars against the Crusaders, from whom he took many cities, notably Safad, Caesarea and Antioch; the Armenians, whose territory he repeatedly invaded, burning their capital Sis; and the Seljukids of Asia Minor. He further reduced the Ismā‘īlians or Assassins, whose existence as a community lasted on in Syria after it had nearly come to an end in Persia. He made Nubia tributary, therein extending Moslem arms farther south than they had been extended by any previous sultan. His authority was before his death recognized all over Syria (with the exception of the few cities still in the power of the Franks), over Arabia, with the exception of Yemen, on the Euphrates from Birah to Kerkesia (Circesium) on the Chaboras (Khabur), whilst the amirs of north-western Africa were tributary to him. His successes were won not only by military and political ability, but also by the most absolute unscrupulousness, neither flagrant perjury nor the basest treachery being disdained. He was the first sultan who acknowledged the equal authority of the four schools of law, and appointed judges belonging to each in Egypt and Syria; he was thus able to get his measures approved by one school when condemned by another.

On the 1st of July 1277 Bibars died, and the events that followed set an example repeatedly followed during the period of the Mamelukes. The sultan’s son Malik al-Sa‘īd ascended the throne; but within little more than two Kalā’ūn. years he was compelled to abdicate in favour of his father-in-law Kalā’ūn, a Mameluke who had risen high in the former sovereign’s service. The accession of Kalā’ūn was also marked by an attempt on the part of the governor of Damascus to form Syria into an independent kingdom, an attempt frequently imitated on similar occasions. The Syrian forces were defeated at the battle of Jazūrah (April 26th, 1280) and Kalā’ūn resumed possession of the country; but the disaffected Syrians entered into relations with the Mongols, who proceeded to invade Syria, but were finally defeated by Kalā’ūn on the 30th of October 1281 under the walls of Homs (Emesa).

The conversion to Islam of Nikudar Aḥmad, the third of the Ilkhan rulers of Persia, and the consequent troubles in the western Mongol empire, let to a suspension of hostilities between Egypt and the Ilkhans (see Persia: History, § B), though the latter did not cease to agitate in Europe for a renewal of the Crusades, with little result. Kalā’ūn, without pursuing any career of active conquest, did much to consolidate his dominions, and especially to extend Egyptian commerce, for which purpose he started passports enabling merchants to travel with safety through Egypt and Syria as far as India. After the danger from the Mongols had ceased, however, Kalā’ūn directed his energies towards capturing the last places that remained in the hands of the Franks, and proceeded to take Markab, Latakia, and Tripoli (April 26th, 1289). In 1290 he planned an attack on Acre, but died (November 10th) in the middle of all his preparations. Under Kalā’ūn we first hear of the Burjite Mamelukes, who owe their name to the citadel (Burj) of Cairo, where 3700 of the whole number of 12,000 Mamelukes maintained by this sovereign were quartered. He also set an example, frequently followed, of the practice of dismissing all non-Moslems from government posts: this was often done by his successors with the view of conciliating the Moslems, but it was speedily found that the services of the Jewish and Christian clerks were again required. He further founded a hospital for clinical research on a scale formerly unknown.

Kalā’ūn was followed by his son Khalīl (Malik al-Ashraf Salāh al-dīn), who carried out his father’s policy of driving the Franks out of Syria and Palestine, and proceeded with the siege of Acre, which he took (May 18th, 1291) after a siege of forty-three days. The capture and destruction of this important place were followed by the capture of Tyre, Sidon, Haifa, Athlit and Beirut, and thus Syria was cleared of the Crusaders. He also planned an expedition against the prince of Lesser Armenia, which was averted by the surrender of Behesna, Marash and Tell Hamdūn. The disputes between his favourite, the vizier Ibn al-Sa’lūs, and his viceroy Baidara, led to his being murdered by the latter (December 12th, 1293), who was proclaimed sultan, but almost immediately fell a victim to the vengeance of the deceased sultan’s party, who placed a younger son of Kalā’ūn, Malik al-Nāṣir. Mahommed Malik al-Nāṣir, on the throne. This prince had the singular fortune of reigning three times, being twice dethroned: he was first installed on the 14th of December 1293, when he was nine years old, and the affairs of the kingdom were undertaken by a cabinet, consisting of a vizier (‘Alam al-dīn Sinjar), a viceroy (Kitboga), a war minister (Ḥusām al-dīn Lājīn al-Rūmī), a prefect of the palace (Rokneddin Bibars Jāshengir) and a secretary of state (Rokneddin Bibars Manṣūrī). This cabinet naturally split into rival camps, in consequence of which Kitboga, himself a Mongol, with the aid of other Mongols who had come into Egypt after the battle of Homs, succeeded in ousting his rivals, and presently, with the aid of the surviving assassins of the former sultan, compelling Malik al-Nāṣir to abdicate in his favour (December 1st, 1294). The usurper was, however, able to maintain himself for two years only, famine and pestilence which prevailed in Egypt and Syria during his reign rendering him unpopular, while his arbitrary treatment of the amirs also gave offence. He was dethroned in 1296, and one of the murderers of Khalil, Ḥusām al-dīn Lājīn, son-in-law of the sultan Bibars and formerly governor of Damascus, installed in his palace (November 26th, 1296). It had become the practice of the Egyptian sultans to bestow all offices of importance on their own freedmen (Mamelukes) to the exclusion of the older amirs, whom they could not trust so well, but who in turn became still more disaffected. Ḥusām al-dīn fell a victim to the jealousy of the older amirs whom he had incensed by bestowing arbitrary power on his own Mongol Wars. Mameluke Mengutimur, and was murdered on the 16th of January 1299. His short reign was marked by some fairly successful incursions into Armenia, and the recovery of the fortresses Marash and Tell Hamdūn, which had been retaken by the Armenians. He also instituted a fresh survey and division of land in Egypt and Syria, which occasioned much discontent. After his murder the deposed sultan Malik al-Nāṣir, who had been living in retirement at Kerak, was recalled by the army and reinstated as sultan in Cairo (February 7th, 1299), though still only fourteen years of age, so that public affairs were administered not by him, but by Salār the viceroy, and Bibars Jāshengir, prefect of the palace. The 7th Ilkhan, Ghazan Mahmud, took advantage of the disorder in the Mameluke empire to invade Syria in the latter half of 1299, when his forces inflicted a severe defeat on those of the new sultan, and seized several cities, including the capital Damascus, of which, however, they were unable to storm the citadel; in 1300, when a fresh army was collected in Egypt, the Mongols evacuated Damascus and made no attempt to secure their other conquests. The fear of further Mongolian invasion led to the imposition of fresh taxes in both Egypt and Syria, including one of 33% on rents, which occasioned many complaints. The invasion did not take place till 1303, when at the battle of Marj al-Ṣaffar (April 20th) the Mongols were defeated. This was the last time that the Ilkhans gave the Egyptian sultans serious trouble; and in the letter written in the sultan’s name to the Ilkhan announcing the victory, the former suggested that the caliphate of Bagdad should be restored to the titular Abbasid caliph who had accompanied the Egyptian expedition, a suggestion which does not appear to have led to any actual steps being taken. The fact that the Mongols were in ostensible alliance with Christian princes led to a renewal by the sultan of the ordinances against Jews and Christians which had often been abrogated, as often renewed and again fallen into abeyance; and their renewal led to missions from various Christian princes requesting milder terms for their co-religionists. The amirs Salār and Bibars having usurped the whole of the sultan’s authority, he, after some futile attempts to free himself of them, under the pretext of pilgrimage to Mecca, retired in March 1309 to Kerak, whence he sent his abdication to Cairo; in consequence of which, on the 5th of April 1309, Bibars Jāshengir was proclaimed sultan, with the title Malik al-Moẓaffar. This prince was originally a freedman of Kalā‘ūn, and was the first Circassian who ascended the throne of Egypt. Before the year was out the new sultan had been rendered unpopular by the occurrence of a famine, and Malik al-Nāṣir was easily able to induce the Syrian amirs to return to his allegiance, in consequence of which Bibars in his turn abdicated, and Malik al-Nāṣir re-entered Cairo as sovereign on the 5th of March 1310. He soon found the means to execute both Bibars and Salār, while other amirs who had been eminent under the former régime fled to the Mongols. The relations between their Ilkhan and the Egyptian sultan continued strained, and the 8th Ilkhan Oeljeitu (1304-1316) addressed letters to Philip the Fair and the English king Edward I. (answered by Edward II. in 1307), desiring aid against Malik al-Nāṣir; and for many years the courts of the sultan and the Ilkhan continued to be the refuge of malcontents from the other kingdom. Finally in 1322 terms of peace and alliance were agreed on between the sultan and Abū Sa‘īd the 9th Ilkhan. The sultan also entered into relations with the Mongols of the Golden Horde and in 1319 married a daughter of the reigning prince Uzbeg Khan (see Mongols: Golden Horde). Much of Malik al-Nāṣir’s third administration was spent in raids into Nubia, where he endeavoured to set up a creature of his own as sovereign, in attempts at bringing the Bedouins of south-eastern Egypt into subordination, and in persecuting the Nosairīs, whose heresy became formidable about this time. Like other Egyptian sultans he made considerable use of the Assassins, 124 of whom were sent by him into Persia to execute Kara Sonkor, at one time governor of Damascus, and one of the murderers of Malik al-Ashraf; but they were all outwitted by the exile, who was finally poisoned by the Ilkhan in recompense for a similar service rendered by the Egyptian sultan. For a time Malik al-Nāṣir was recognized as suzerain in north Africa, the Arabian Irak, and Asia Minor, but he was unable to make any permanent conquests in any of these countries. He brought Medina, which had previously been governed by independent sherīfs, to acknowledge his authority. His diplomatic relations were more extensive than those of any previous sultan, and included Bulgarian, Indian, and Abyssinian potentates, as well as the pope, the king of Aragon and the king of France. He appears to have done his utmost to protect his Christian subjects, incurring thereby the reproaches of the more fanatical Moslems, especially in the year 1320 when owing to incendiarism in Cairo there was danger of a general massacre of the Christian population. His internal administration was marked by gross extravagance, which led to his viziers being forced to practise violent extortion for which they afterwards suffered. He paid considerable attention to sheep-breeding and agriculture, and by a canal which he had dug from Fuah to Alexandria not only assisted commerce but brought 100,000 feddans under cultivation. His taste for building and street improvement led to the beautifying of Cairo, and his example was followed by the governors of other great cities in the empire, notably Aleppo and Damascus. He paid exceptionally high prices for Mamelukes, many of whom were sold by their Mongol parents to his agents, and accustomed them to greater luxury than was usual under his predecessors. In 1315 he instituted a survey of Egypt, and of the twenty-four parts into which it was divided ten were assigned to the sultan and fourteen to the amirs and the army. He took occasion to abolish a variety of vexatious imposts, and the new budget fell less heavily on the Christians than the old. Among the literary ornaments of his reign was the historian and geographer Ismā‘īl Abulfeda (q.v.), to whom Malik al-Nāṣir restored the government of Hamath, which had belonged to his ancestors, and even gave the title sultan. He died on the 7th of June 1341. The son, Abu Bakr, to whom he had left the throne, was able to maintain himself only a few months on it, being compelled to abdicate on the 4th of August 1341 in favour of his infant brother Kuchuk; the revolution was brought about by Kausūn, a powerful Mameluke of the preceding monarch. This person’s authority was, however, soon overthrown by a party formed by the Syrian prefects, and on the 11th of January Malik al-Nāṣir Aḥmad, an elder son of the former sultan of the same title, was installed in his place, though he did not actually arrive in Cairo till the 6th of November, being unwilling to leave Kerak, where he had been living in retirement. After a brief sojourn in Cairo he speedily returned thither, thereby forfeiting his throne, which was conferred by the amirs on his brother Ismā‘īl al-Malik al-Sāliḥ (June 27th, 1342). This sultan was mainly occupied during his short reign with besieging and taking Kerak, whither Aḥmad had taken refuge, and himself died on the 3rd of August 1345, when another son of Malik al-Nāṣir, named Sha‘bān, was placed on the throne. The constant changes of sultan led to Decline of the Bahri power. great disorder in the provinces, and many of the subject principalities endeavoured to shake off the Egyptian yoke. Sha‘bān proved no more competent than his predecessors, being given to open debauchery and profligacy, an example followed by his amirs; and fresh discontent led to his being deposed by the Syrian amirs, when his brother Ḥājjī was proclaimed sultan in his place (September 18th, 1346). Ḥājjī was deposed and killed on the 10th of December 1347, and another infant son of Malik al-Nāṣir, Ḥasan, who took his father’s title, was proclaimed, the real power being shared by three amirs, Sheikhun, Menjek and Yelbogha Arus. During this reign (1348-1349) Egypt was visited by the “Black Death,” which is said to have carried off 900,000 of the inhabitants of Cairo and to have raged as far south as Assuan. Towards the beginning of 1351 the sultan got rid of his guardians and attempted to rule by himself; but though successful in war, his arbitrary measures led to his being dethroned on the 21st of August 1351 by the amirs, who proclaimed his brother Sāliḥ with the title of Malik al-Sāliḥ. He too was only fourteen years of age. The power was contested for by various groups of amirs, whose struggles ended with the deposition of the sultan Sāliḥ on the 20th of October 1354, and the reinstatement of his brother Ḥasan, who was again dethroned on the 16th of March 1361 by an amir Yelbogha, whom he had offended, and who, having got possession of the sultan’s person, murdered him. The next day a son of the dethroned sultan Ḥājjī was proclaimed sultan with the title Malik al-Manṣūr. On the 29th of May 1363 this sultan was also dethroned on the ground of incompetence, and his place was given to another grandson of Malik al-Nāṣir, Sha‘bān, son of Ḥosain, then ten years old. The amir Yelbogha at first held all real power and is said to have acquired a degree of authority which no other subject ever held. During this reign, on the 8th of October 1365, a landing was effected at Alexandria by a Frankish fleet under Peter I. of Cyprus, which presently took possession of the city; the Franks were speedily compelled to embark again after plundering the city, for which compensation was afterwards demanded by Yelbogha from the Christian population of Egypt and Syria. Alexandria was further made the seat of a viceroy, having previously only had a prefect. On the 11th of December 1366 Yelbogha was himself attacked by the sultan, captured and slain. His successor in the office of first minister was a mere tool in the hands of his Mamelukes, who compelled him to institute and depose governors, &c., at their pleasure. In 1374 the Egyptians raided Cilicia and captured Leo VI., prince of Lesser Armenia, which now became an Egyptian province with a Moslem governor. On the 15th of March 1377 the sultan was murdered by the Mamelukes, owing to his refusing a largess of money which they demanded. The infant son of the late sultan ‘Alī, a lad of eight years, was proclaimed with the title Malik al-Manṣūr; the power was in the hands of the ministers Kartai and Ibek, the latter of whom overthrew the former with the aid of his own Mamelukes, Berekeh and Barkūk. An insurrection in Syria which spread to Egypt presently caused the fall of Ibek, and led to the occupation of the highest posts by the Circassian freedmen Berekeh and Barkūk, of whom the latter ere long succeeded in ousting the former and usurping the sultan’s place; on the 19th of May 1381, when the sultan ‘Alī died, his place was given to an infant brother Ḥājjī, but on the 26th of November 1382, Barkūk set this child aside and had himself proclaimed sultan (with the title Malik al-Zāhir), thereby ending the Bahrī dynasty and commencing that of the Circassians. For a short period, however, Ḥājjī was restored, when on the 1st of June 1389 Cairo was taken by Yelbogha, governor of Damascus, and Barkūk expelled; Ḥājjī reigned at first under the guardianship of Yelbogha, who was then overthrown by Mintāsh; Barkūk, who had been relegated to Kerak, succeeded in again forming a party, and in a battle fought at Shakhab, January 1390, succeeded in gaining possession of the person of the sultan Ḥājjī, and on the 21st of January he was again proclaimed sultan in Cairo.