Page:Islam, Turkey, and Armenia, and How They Happened.djvu/121

Rh 30,000 captives slaughtered in his presence and thrown into the Nile. El Mutevekkil, the last Mohametan caliph in Egypt, was deposed from his rank as the spiritual head of Islam and the Turkish Sultan was clothed with the dignity by the sheriff of Mecca, who consigned the keys of the Kabeh to his hand. Sultan Selim consequently added to his other titles that of "the Caliph of Moslems, and the Shadow of Allah Upon the Earth, and the Defender of the Two Holy Cities (Mecca and Medina)." After this victory he returned to Constantinople with the plunder of Egypt, which required a train of a thousand camels to carry. His suceessorssuccessors [sic] have since been regarded as the supreme chief of the Moslem world and the Commander of the Faithful.

3. The Turks at the Gate of Vienna. The reign of Sultan Soliman (1520–1566)was the most memorable in the history of the empire when it reached its climax, which was never afterwards surpassed. Three years after the conquest of Belgrade and Rhodes the first French Ambassador appeared at the Turkish Court. The envoy came apparently to negotiate a general commercial treaty, but really to procure a powerful ally for his master Francis I. against the German Emperor Charles V. The division of Christendom into Romanism and Protestantism had commenced, and the anxiety to gain predominance led the unwise monarchs to avail themselves of the services of this mighty Mohametan State.

Sultan Soliman, according to his word with the French king to carry a campaign beyond the Danube