Part 37

Before his arrival the administration of affairs had again been committed to Ibn Furat, 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 Ikshidi governor of Damascus, a cousin of Abu'l-Fawaris Ahmad, endeavoured to save Syria, but was defeated at Ramleh by a general sent by Jauhar and taken prisoner. Thus the Ikshidi Dynasty came to an end, and Egypt was transferred from the Eastern to the Western caliphate, of which it furnished the metropolis.

(4) _The Fatimite period_ begins with the taking of Fostat by Jauhar, who immediately began the building of a new city, al-Kahira 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 Ikshidi prefect of Damascus had pacified by a promise of tribute; this promise was of course not held binding by the Fatimite general (Ja'far b. Falah) by whom Damascus was taken, and the Carmathian leader al-Hasan b. Ahmad al-A'sam 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. Hasan al-A'sam 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 (Shi'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 Fatimite 'Aziz 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 Aftakin 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 'Aziz met the united forces of Aftakin and his Carmathian ally outside Ramleh in Palestine and inflicted a crushing defeat on them, which was followed by the capture of Aftakin; 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 Fatimites, 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 Fatimites to the other sects of Islam, and to other communities. Indeed at one time in 'Aziz'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. Aziz attempted without success to enter into friendly relations with the Buyid ruler of Bagdad, 'Adod addaula, who was disposed to favour the 'Alids, but caused the claim of the Fatimites to descend from 'Ali to be publicly refuted. He then tried to gain possession of Aleppo, as the key to 'Irak, but this was prevented by the intervention of the Byzantines. His North African possessions were maintained and extended by 'Ali, son of Bulukkin, whom Mo'izz had left as his deputy; but the recognition of the Fatimite caliph in this region was little more than nominal.

His successor _Abu 'Ali al-Mansur_, who reigned under the title _al-Hakim bi'amr allah_, came to the throne at the age of eleven, being the son of 'Aziz by a Christian mother. He was at first under the tutelage of the Slav Burjuwan, whose policy it was to favour the Turkish element in the army as against the Maghribine, on which the strength of the Fatimites 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 Hakim is credited are also ascribed to Ibn Tulun and the Ikshid (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 Fatimites, 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 Darazi, who preached the divinity of Hakim 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 _Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali_, who succeeded him with the title _al-Zahir li'i'zaz din allah_, 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, Salih b. Mirdas, succeeded in establishing a dynasty at Aleppo, which maintained itself after Syria and Palestine had been recovered for the Fatimites by Anushtakin al-Dizbari at the battle of Ukhuwanah 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, _Abu Tamim Ma'add_, who reigned with the title _al-Mostansir_, 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 Hakim'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-Jarjara'i, by whose mismanagement Aleppo was lost to the Fatimites. 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 (Sadakah, perhaps Zedekiah, b. Joseph al-Falahi), 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 Fatimite 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 Fatimite caliphate through the enterprise of one 'Ali b. Mahommed al-Sulaihi, while owing to the disputes between the Turkish generals who claimed supremacy at Bagdad, Mostansir's name was mentioned in public prayer at that metropolis on the 12th of January 1058, when a Turkish adventurer Basasiri was for a time in power. The Egyptian court, chiefly owing to the jealousy of the vizier, sent no efficient aid to Basasiri, and after a year Bagdad was retaken by the Seljuk 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 Mostansir's army nearly brought the country into the dominion of the Abbasids. After several battles of various issue the Turkish commander Nasir addaula b. Hamdan got possession of Cairo, and at the end of 1068 plundered the caliph's palace; the valuable library which had been begun by Hakim was pillaged, and an accidental fire caused great destruction. The caliph and his family were reduced to destitution, and Nasir 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. Mostansir then summoned to his aid Badr al-Jamali, 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 Amir al-Juyush ("prince of the armies") was given by Mostansir 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 Seljuk Malik Shah, and Damascus was permanently lost to the Fatimites; 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 Fatimite rule. The time of Mostansir is otherwise memorable for the rise of the Assassins (q.v.), who at the first supported the claims of his eldest son Nizar to the succession against the youngest Ahmed, who was favoured by the family of Badr. When Badr died in 1094 his influence was inherited by his son al-Afdal Shahinshah, and this, at the death of Mostansir in the same year, was thrown in favour of _Ahmed_, who succeeded to the caliphate with the title _al-Mosta'li billah_.

The Crusades.

Mosta'li's succession was not carried through without an attempt on the part of Nizar to obtain his rights, the title which he chose being _al-Mostafa lidin allah_; for a time he maintained himself in Alexandria, but the energetic 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-Afdal 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 Fatimites then successively fell into the hands of the Franks. After a reign of seven years Mosta'li died and the caliphate was given by al-Afdal to an infant son, aged five years at the time, who was placed on the throne with the title _al-Amir biahkam allah_, and for twenty years was under the tutelage of al-Afdal. 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-Afdal 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. Fatik al-Bata'ihi, who took the title _al-Ma'mun_. 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 Amir, 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 Nizar, son of Mostansir.

The succeeding caliph, _Abu'l-Maimun 'Abd al-Majid_, who took the title _al-Hafiz lidin allah_, 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-Afdal, 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 Hafiz 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 Hasan, 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-Mansur Isma'il_, who was seventeen years old at the time of Hafiz's death, succeeded him with the title _al-Zafir lia'da allah_. From this reign to the end of the Fatimite period we have the journals of two eminent men, Usamah b. Muniqdh and Umarah 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 Sallar. This vizier was presently assassinated by the direction of his stepson 'Abbas, who was raised to the vizierate in his place. This event was shortly followed by the loss to the Fatimites 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 'Abbas, according to Usamah, 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 Zafir, followed by the raising of his infant son _Abu'l-Qasim 'Isa_ to the throne.

The new caliph, who was not five years old, received the title _al-Fa'iz binasr allah_, and was at first in the power of 'Abbas. The women of the palace, however, summoned to their aid Tala'i' b. Ruzzik, prefect of Ushmunain, at whose arrival in Cairo the troops deserted 'Abbas, who was compelled to flee into Syria, taking his son and Usamah with him. 'Abbas was killed by the Franks near Ascalon, his son sent in a cage to Cairo where he was executed, while Usamah escaped to Damascus.

Frankish invasion.

Saladin.