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rise of the Turkish power brought trouble to the Copts in common with Eastern Christians of other races. At first the Turks appeared as mercenaries of the Arabs, serving under Arabian caliphs. But gradually their genius for war carried them to the front, till at length Turkish sultans usurped the authority of the caliphate. As early as the eleventh century a band of rebel Turks robbed the monasteries of the Thebaid and murdered many of the monks. The power of the Fatimite dynasty was now nearly extinct, and the Egyptian governors were appointed by the soldiers without any reference to the caliph. When the Seleucid Turks were supreme over the East, the ill-treatment of the pilgrims at Jerusalem led to the interference of Western Europe, and so provoked the Crusades. The result, while in many respects disappointing, brought some relief to the Greek and Syrian Christians. The