Page:Bury J B The Cambridge Medieval History Vol 2 1913.djvu/407

909-1171] the authority of the Aghlabids was in a tottering state. The diversion to Sicily of the generals and troops, always inclining towards insubordination, gave them a respite for a considerable time; after lasting for a century their kingdom was destroyed by the political lack of discipline of the Berber tribes and by bloody quarrels within the dynasty itself.

These conditions were cleverly utilised by the Shī'ite opposition, which just at that time, after many ill-successes in Asia, had pushed forward into Africa, where the propaganda of the Idrīsids had paved the way for them. The leader of the movement was named 'Ubaidallāh, whose descent from Ali is by no means established beyond doubt; the race itself however was called, after Fāṭima, the daughter of the Prophet, the Fāṭimites. When 'Ubaidallāh had become master of the situation in the year 909, through the fortunate trend of circumstances and his skill in recruiting, he assumed the cognomen Mahdī, i.e. the directed one, a title in which the old claims of Ali's kinsmen to the Caliphate found expression. Mahdī founded a new capital, Mahdīya, and established a State which for centuries held the supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean. For this end of course the possession of Egypt was needed, but the acquisition of this was first effected by Mu'izz (969), Mahdī's third successor, who was the founder of Cairo. The centre of gravity of the Fāṭimite kingdom was now transferred eastward, especially when Syria also was conquered. Africa soon attained independence again as a State under Yūsuf Bulukkin, a Berber of the Ṣanhāja, the governor appointed by the Fāṭimites; Yūsuf founded the dynasty of the Zīrids (972-1148), alongside of whom the Ḥammādids held their ground in the West, and specially in Algeria, from 1107 till 1152. The kingdom of the Idrīsids in Morocco had in the meantime been split up into a number of petty principalities. The Fāṭimites however remained the rulers of the eastern territory, and under them Egypt experienced its most brilliant times, but suffered also its worst defeat. In 1171 the heir to the Fāṭimite kingdom was Saladin.

We were compelled to give an anticipatory sketch of the history of North Africa until the commencement of the times of the Crusades, in order to understand the second great advance of the Saracens against Sicily and Southern Italy as one connected whole. Incidents from the standpoint of individual countries, these regular attacks of the Muslims on Mid-Europe are presented, in the light of universal history, as a connected movement, which naturally closes with the occupation of Sicily and also of parts of the Continent. As in Spain, the reaction of the Christian world follows upon the action of Islām. Just as they came, so the Muslims are gradually forced back. Here we have to do with the forward action alone, and though from chance reasons this took place much later in Sicily and Italy than in Spain or Asia Minor, yet its description comes notwithstanding within the scope of a general