Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/780

756 756 EGYPT and its territory was added to his dominions. A gre^t scarcity afnicted Cairo in 662, and Beybars threw open the Government stores, and strove in every way to alleviate the sufferings of his subjects. in 663 he again entered Syria, and took Csesarea and Ursoof ; and in the next year he commenced a series of campaigns against the Christians, notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances of the kings of France, of Aragon, and of Armenia. To raise the neces sary funds for the expenses of the war, he took occasion from the occurrence of many incendiary fires in Cairo, during his absence, to mulct their co-religionists of the sum of 500,000 decilitre, osten sibly to repair the damage caused by these fires. He threatened Acre, and took Safad ; and relieved from the apprehensions caused by the advance of the Tatars by the death of Hooldgoo and the retreat of his army, Beybars despatched a force which effected the conquest of Armenia, and penetrated to the borders of Anatolia, a transient success which was speedily annulled by the advent of Abaka Khan, the son of Hoolagoo. In the next war, Beybars again attacked the Christians, burning their churches and enslaving the people. He took Antioch, with horrible carnage, advanced to Hims and Hanidh, and thence returned to Cairo. After a cam paign against the Tatars, he ravaged the country around Acre ^the constant object of his attacks), and the &quot;Assassins,&quot; so long the terror of dynasties, submitted to his power. About this time the Tatars renewed their inroads and besieged Beyrah ; and in the year 671 Beybars took the field against them with two armies, one commanded by himself in person, the other by Kala-oon El-Elfee. In the battle of Beyrah the sultan was completely victorious, and the Tatars fled to the mountains of Kurdistan. In consequence of this victory, Armenia again fell into his hands, and was given up to pillage. Abaka Khan afterwards was again repulsed at Beyrah. Nubia also about this time acknow ledged the authority of Beybars. He died at Damascus in the year 676, after another expedition against Anatolia, attended with various success, in which the Tatars were leagued against him. Great military talents, coupled with the most indefatigable activity, Beybars certainly possessed, but he used his conquests unmercifully ; on many occasions he ravaged whole provinces, and sacked many towns, putting great numbers of the inhabitants to the sword. The melancholy annals of the Crusades bear ample testimony to this fact ; and while the example of other mouarchs, and of the Franks themselves, may be urged as some palliation, nevertheless his bar barity remains an indelible blot on his character. In Egypt he endeavoured to reform abuses and suppress vice ; and numerous public works were executed by his orders. Damietta was razed and rebuilt farther inland ; and the mouth of the Nile was protected by a boom against sudden invasion. He repaired the fortifications of Alexandria and the Pharos, the mosque El-Azhar in Cairo, and the walls of the citadel, and built the great mosque known by las name to the north of the city. The son and successor of Beybars, El-Melik Es-Sa eed Barakeh Khan, was exiled after a short reign of two years, and a younger brother El- Adil Selamish, raised to the throne, Kala-ooii El-Elfee acting as regent. This Memlook had married a daughter of Bey bars, and was consequently nearly allied to the sultan. He never theless conspired against him, and was soon proclaimed king by the title of El-Melik El-Mansoor. Distinguished in former wars, he achieved many successes during his reign of ten years. On his accession he despatched an army to reduce disturbances in Syria, and took Damascus. Peace was thus established in that province ; and in the year 680 he in person defeated a very superior force of Tatars and raised the siege of Rahabeh. Later in his reign (in the year 688) he besieged Tripoli, which for nearly two centuries had been in the possession of the Christians and was very rich and flourishing. The town was sacked and its unfortunate inhabi tants put to the sword. His memory is still preserved in Cairo by his hospital and mad-house adjoining his fine mosque in the principal street of the city. This charitable institution he is said to have founded as an expiation for great severity towards the citizens in enforcing an obnoxious edict. His son, El-Ashraf Khaleel, rendered himself famous by the siege and capture (in the year 690) of Acre, the last stronghold of the Crusaders in Syria. Many thousands of its inhabitants were massacred; and 10,000 who pre sented themselves before the sultan and demanded quarter were slaughtered in cold blood. He also took Erzeroom in 691, and two years after was assassinated in Egypt (A.D. 1294). El-Melik En-Nasir Mohammad, another son of Kala-oon, suc ceeded him at the age of nine years. The regent Ketboogha, how ever, followed the example of Kala-oon, and usurped the cove- reignty, with the title ELl-Melik El- Adil. Pestilence and famine were followed by war with the Tatars, who again ravaged Syria. Ketboogha despatched an army against them, but the valour of his troops was unable to withstand overpowering numbers, and I^ageen, Kala-oon s governor in Syria, was driven into Egypt with an immense crowd of fugitives. Ketboogha was deposed on the dlegatiou that he had not commanded in person, and El-Melik El-Mansoor Lageen was elevated in his stead. In little more than two years this king was deposed in a conspiracy. His character was amiable, and lie deserved a better return for the equity and kindness he showed to his subjects. A short period of confusion then ensued, during which an emeer was proclaimed king. En-Nasir Mohammad, however, was at length recalled from his exile at Karak, and restored in the year 698. Having firmly established himself in Egypt, he led an army against the Tatars, but met with a severe reverse in the plains of Hims ; a second expedition proved more fortunate, and En-Nasir, then only nineteen years of age, gained a bloody and decisive victory over the enemy near Damascus, in the year 702. The battle lasted three days ; during the iirst two the result was not decisive, although En-Nasir held the field ; on the third day the Tatars were utterly routed and pursued for many hours. The sultan on his entry into Cairo after this achievement was preceded by 1600 prisoners, each one carrying the head of a comrade slain in the combat, and 1000 other heads were borne on lances in the procession. En-Nasir reigned until the year 707, when he went to Karak and voluntarily abdicated. He had long struggled against the control of two powerful emeers, Beybars and Silur ; and in despair of throwing off their ascendency, he then openly yielded the reins of government to those who had long really held them. Since this prince s accession the Christians and Jews of Egypt suffered the most severe persecution (excepting that of El-Hakim) which had yet befallen them. In the year 700, they were ordered to wear blue and yellow turbans respectively, and forbidden to ride on horses or mules, or to receive any Government employment. The people took advantage of these measures to destroy many churches and synagogues. The churches continued shut for about a year ; but some of those which had been destroyed wore afterwards rebuilt at the request of Lascaris and other princes. 1 Another event of this period was a great earthquake which half ruined Cairo, giving it the appearance of a city demolished by a siege ; Alexandria and other towns of Egypt, as well as Syria, also suffered from it considerably. On the abdication of En-Nasir, El-Melik El-Mudhaffar Rukn- ed-Deeu Beybars II. was saluted sultan ; but ere long En-Nasir recovered his courage, and having collected an army marched to Damascus, where he was acknowledged, and thence to Egypt, entering Cairo without opposition. El-Mudhaffar had fled at his approach, and, never a favourite of the people, he was attacked on his exit from the metropolis, by a crowd of the citizens, who loaded him with abuse, and pelted him with stones. El-Nasir now for the third time ascended the throne of Egypt, and took the entire authority into his own hands. The remainder of his life was a period of profound peace, during which he occupied himself in im proving his dominions, and in embellishing Cairo. But another persecution of the Christians occurred in 721, and all the principal churches in Egypt were destroyed by certain fanatical Moslems. The sultan threatened a general massacre of the inhabitants of Cairo and El-Fustat ; the Christians, however, took revenge themselves by setting fire to very many mosques and houses in the metropolis; much tumult ensued, and many Christians and Muslims were executed. The threats of the mob induced En- Nasir to permit the people to murder and plunder any Christian whom they might meet in the streets; and the oppressive rules before enacted were rigorously enforced, and made even more degrading. The sons of En-Nasir followed him in succession, but the reigns of most of them were short and troublous. El-Mansoor Seyf-cd- Deen Aboo-Bekr, El-Ashraf Ala-ed-Deen Koojook, En-Nasir Shi- hab-ed Deen Ahmad, Es-Salih Imad-ed-Deen Isma eel, El-Kamil Zeyii-ed-Dccn Shaaban, and El-Mudhaffar Zcyn-cd-Deen Haggee were only raised to the throne to be either exiled or put to death. After these, the sultan Hasan deserves notice. He was deposed by his brother, Es-Salih Salah-ed-Deen, whose miuisterwas Sheykhoon, a man well known to students of Egyptian subjects ; but he soon regained his authority, reigned seven years, and at length fell by the swords of his memlooks in the splendid mosque which he built in the open space beneath the citadel of Cairo. Four more Memlook kings bring the history to the accession of a new dynast}. These were El-Mansoor Nasir-ed-Deen Haggee (son of El-Mud haffar), deposed in six months ; El-Ashraf Shaaban (son of Hasan), an unfortunate prince, whose reign passed away amid the intrigues of the faineant caliphs and the struggles of the now too powerful emeers.by whom he was ultimately strangled; his son, El-Mansoor Ala-ed-Deen, the victim of similar troubles, in whose time the celebrated Barkook rose to the regency; and Es-Salih Haggee, a brother of the last king. Exiled by Barkook, who was proclaimed sultan, he unsuccessfully endeavoured to recover his throne in the year 784 ; in 790 (A.D. 1388) he was restored, but he was soon once more dethroned, this time with the loss of his life. The sultan Edh-Dhahir Seyf-ed-Deeu Aboo-Sa eed Barkook was 1 See Modern Egyptians, supplement ; El-M:ikrcezce, Hist, des Sultans Uain- louks, trs. Quatrcmfere, torn, ii., livr. ii. 177, stqq.; nnd, for further information on the persecutions of the Christiana, Quatrtuiei c s Meinoiret sur l yvpte, torn. ii.