Saladin
Stanley Lane-Poole
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Heroes of the Nations
A Series of Biographical Studies presenting the lives and work of certain representative histori- cal characters, about whom have gathered the traditions of the nations to which they belong, and who have, in the majority of instances, been accapted as types of Iha leyeral national ideals.
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SALADIN
AND THE FALL OF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM
STANLEY LANE-POOLE. M.A.
torTiiB**upsormu.Tvom»CAiiiaiiGt" *' nm akt or tmrn facww **
'CAIBO,** **rrUDIBS IN A MOSQUB,** **THE MOOM III •TAIM'* **TVWaY," TUB BAUABV fOWAIW " SIC
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
YORK LONDON TWBrrV-THIKD tlWUl 94
I^t ||iii<lufb0ciur Jftm 1906
COVUCHT, 1898 BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS Kstered at Suuioncn' Hall, LoadoB
Vbc miiclwcboclier prcM, t\ev9 fiorli
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PREFACE.
ALADIN is one of the few Oriental Personages who need no introduction to English readers.
Sir Walter Scott has performed that friendly office with the warmth and insight of appreciative
genius. It was Saladin's good fortune to attract the notice not only of the great romancer, but also of King Richard, and to this accident he partly owes the result that, instead of remaining a dry historical expression, under the Arabic style of " eUMelikeiuNasir Salahtd^ din Yusufihn Ayyub*^ he has become, by the abbrevi- ated name of "Saladin," that familiar and amiable companion which is called a household word. The idea, it is true, is vague and romantic. The Talis* man has given us a noble portrait of the Sultan whose chivalry and generosity excited the admira- tion of the Crusaders, but the reader is left in un- certainty as to the history and achievements of the hero, and what he is told in those fascinating pages' is not always strictly authentic. On the historical relation of the novel to which Saladin owes so much of his fame something is said at the end of this book. The present biography, the first that has been writ-
tv
Saladin,
ten in English, aspires to fill in, from contemporary sources, the details of the picture;
It is singular that, so far as English literature is concerned, the character and history of Saladin
should have been suffered to remain where Scott left them seventy years ago, and that no complete Life of the celebrated adversaiy of Richard Cceur de Lion should have been written in our language. The materiab are abundant, even exhaustive, so far as eastern scholars understood biography. We must not expect the personal details which delight the student of " interviews " : there were no illustrated papers in Saladin's time. But for the essential facts of his life and the qualities of his nature we have the best possible evidence, rich in extent and faithful in detail. The writers of the two chief Arabic records had excellent opportunities of ascertaining the truth, and both were men of learning and high character. Baha-ed-din, who was only seven years younger than Saladin, though he survived him by forty, was an Arab of the celebrated tribe of Asad, bom at Mosil on the Tigris in 1 145. He went through the arduous course of study by which Moslems in those days qualified themselves for the judicial office of Kady. In the famous Nizamiya college at Baghdad, founded by the great Vezir Nizam-eUmulk, the friend and schoolfellow of the astronomer-poet Omar Khayyam, 15ah;i-cd-din attended the lectures of the most dis- tinguished professors of the day, men who had wandered, like our own medieval scholars, from uni- versity to university, from Spanish Cordova to Tatar Samarkand, teaching and learning as they went He
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became a professor himself at his native city of Mosil, and his wisdom and judgment so commended him to the Atabeg or ruler of Mesopotamia that he chose him repeatedly to be his ambassador in grave politi- cal emergencies.
Baha-ed-din was at Mosil when Saladin twice laid siege to it in 1182 and 1185 ; he went on an embassy to Damascus in 1 184, when Saladin was so much im- pressed by his ability that he offered him a judge- ship» which was lo3rally declined by the envoy ; but they met again at Harran in the spring of 1 186, when Baha-ed-din assisted in drawing up a treaty of peace between his sovereign and Saladin. After making the pilgrimage to Mekka, and to Jerusalem, then newly recovered from the Christians, he visited the Sultan once more, and from that time forth he seldom left his side. Entering his service on 28th June, 1 188, he was present throughout his subse- quent campaigns, witnessed the siege of Acre from the beginning to the end, accompanied him as he harassed Richard's march down the coast, took a prominent part in the engagements at Jaffa in 1192, and was at Saladin's bedside during his fatal illness. After the Sultan's death, he accepted the high dig- nity of judge of Aleppo, and there he devoted his zeal and his savings to founding colleges and training doctors to be learned in the law. One of his pupils has left a touching description of the venerable Kady, as he knew him, when a heated alcove and heavy furs could not warm the chilled blood of 85 ; but the old scholar still loved to teach the students who came to him after Friday prayers, when he could no longer
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VI
Saladin.
go to the mosque, and when even in his private de- votions he could scarcely keep his feet. " He drooped like an unfledged bird for weakness," says his biographer, and in 1234 he died, twoscore years after the events he related in his Life of his master.
For the last five years of Saladin's career, Baha-ed- dln is an incomparable authority, an eye-witness of what passed, and an intimate friend and counsellor of the Sultan. For the earlier periods he is less ac- curate and much less detailed ; but even here he is able to record several important transactions at first hand, and his familiar intercourse with Saladin and his officers and kinsmen must have supplied him with much of his information. He writes, it is true, as an avowed panegyrist, but though in his eyes the King can do no wrong, he is so frank and guileless in his narrative, and so obviously writes exactly what he saw and thought, that the biography has not suffered by the writer's hero-worship. It bears the unmistak- able stamp of truth, and its personal bias and oriental hyperbolism are easily discounted. As our sole first- hand witness to the negotiations between Richard I. and Saladin, Bahapcd-din's simple veracity is espe* cially a quality of importance.
If Halia-ed-din is an avowed hero-worshipper, in the other prime authority we find a useful corrective to undue admiration. Ibn-el-Athir had every political reason to decry the supplanter of his local lords, and his annals contain criticism of Sa]adin*s generalship and one or two graver accusations. Ibn-el-Athir, who was also an Arab, of the tribe of Sheyban, was fifteen years younger than Baha-ed-din, and was l>orn in 1 160
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Preface.
vu
at Jezirat-ibn-Omar on the Tigris, over which city his father was Waly or prefect. The historian spent most of his life in laborious study at Mosil, where his brother was a distinguished councillor of the Atabeg who ruled Mesopotamia. Another brother held a post in Saladin's chancery. Ibn-el-Athir, Hke Baha-ed-din, was present when Saladin besieged Mosil in 1185, and he accompanied the contingent which the Mesopotamian princes afterwards sent to join the Sultan's army in his north Syrian cam- paign of 1 188; he was also a traveller, and in his journeys to Damascus, Jerusalem, and Aleppo, he had means of verifying his information. His His- tory of the Atabigs 0/ Mosil, completed in 121 1, is as much a panegyric as Baha-ed-din's biography of Saladin, but it is a panegyric of Saladin's enemies ; its author can never forgive him for supplanting the dynasty of the Atabegs in Syria, and making even the great lord of Mosil his vassal. Thus, if anything can be urged in disparagement of Saladin, we may be sure that Ibn-el-Athir will not pass it over. Yet, with this natural bias in favour of his family's old masters and benefactors, he is not usudlly unfair. He recognises Saladin's great services to Islam, and in his later work, the Kamil, or Perfection of History^ which is brought up to within three years of his death in 1233, he shows a more impartial spirit than in his special eulogy of the Atabegs of Mosil.
These two historians must be the prime authori- ties for a Life of Saladin ; but there are others of great value for particular portions or aspects of his career. Of these Imad-ed>din of Ispahan, generally
• • •
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known as eUKatib, "the Scribe/' Saladln's chief secretary or chancellor for the Syrian provinces, is of the first importance ; but unfortunately only a small part of his work has been printed. He was with his master at the siege of Acre, and bis writings, despite their intolerable rhetoric, have the merit of first- hand documents. The Autobiography of Osama, an Arab prince and poet, of the castle of Sheyzar on the Orontes, who witnessed the greater part of the Cru- sading period from his birth in 1095 to his death in 1 188, presents a vivid picture of the times; but al- though in his old age he lived for some years at Damascus in frequent intercourse with Saladin, his reminiscences in this regard are disappointing : the old Arab was too full of himself to give much space to the sayings and doings of others. Ibn-Khallikan, the assiduous biographer of eminent men, and Abu- Shama, the author of The Two Gardens^ were neither of them contemporaries ; but both knew people who knew Saladin, and their writings sometimes supply what was missing, or amplify what was meagre, in the contemporary records.
Among the Christian chroniclers we are fortunate in the presence in Palestine of the incomparable Arch- bishop William of Tyre, whose Historia^ far trans- cending in vividness, grasp and learning all Latin or Arabic annals of the time, deals with the events' in the East from 1144 to 1183 from personal know- ledge. The Archbishop left no successor of his own calibre, and that he should not have lived to carry his history ten years further, to the end of the Third Crusade, is a loss which every student of the period.
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Preface.
ix
and not least the biographer of Saladin, must lament. The various continuators of his work cannot lay daim to his great qualities as an historian, but their merits are not to be undervalued, and the Cknmiele
of Ernoul in particular supplies valuable contem- porary evidence. Ernoul was squire to Balian of Ibelin, who played a prominent part in the Holy War and was frequently in personal relations with Saladin ; and the squire doubtless attended his mas- ter to the memorable field of Hittin and afterwards in the defence of Jerusalem. Emoul's narrative, which is full of vivid personal touches, is thus ex- tremely valuable as representing the Christian side of events which the Arabic writers describe from a Mohammedan point of view. It is also useful, in a less degree, in checking the exuberant Ricardolatry of the Itinerarium Regis Ricardi^ which forms our full- est authority for the Third Crusade, and, despite its exaggerations and party spirit, is a marvellously graphic recital of the achievements of the English hero.
These then are the chief sources from which the present Life of Saladin is drawn. They are nearly all contemporary, and a large part of the story is told by actual eye-witnesses, whilst in no instance has an authority been relied upon who was more than one generation removed from the events he relates. References to these sources are given when a state- ment seemed to require authentication, and in the later chapters, when it is important to distinguish the testimony of Christian from that of Moslem wit- nesses, such footnotes are frequent ; but in the eariier
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Saladiiu
part, where nearly everything rests upon the au- thority of Ibn-el-Athir and Baha-ed-din, references are given only when there is a serious discrepancy between the two. In an historical study founded upon original research such verification is, of course, essentia! ; but where none is given, some confidence, it is hoped, will be placed in the biographer. There is not a line in this volume that cannot be substan- tiated by practically contemporary evidence.
It has been remarked as strange that such abundant materials should not long ago have been utilised in an exhaustive Life of Saladin, but it would not be fair to ignore the admirable labours of M. Marin, ** un ecrivain aussi connu par la douceur dc ses mceurs que par I'^tendue de ses lumi^res et Tel^- gance de sa plume." M. Louis- Francois- Claude Marin was born in Provence, where he eventually held the posts of Censeur Royal et de la police, and S^cr^taife g6n^ral de la Librairie et des Academies dc Marseille et Nancy. In 1758 he published in two charmingly printed duodecimo volumes an Histoire de Saladin, Sult/uin d'Egypte et de Syrie (Paris, chez Tilliard, Libraire, Quai des Augustins, 4 1' Image Saint Ben6it). The book appears to be almost un- known, or it would surely have found a translator. At once scholarly, philosophic, and written with that light touch by which the French, preeminently, are able to carry off the ponderous effect of real learn- ing, M. Marin's biography has only to be read to be admired. He made a full use of the Crusading chronicles, and of Schultens* edition of Baha-ed-din, and he consulted Ibn-el-Athir*s Atabigs in an Arabic
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Preface.
XI
manuscript at Paris. So far as his contemporary materials go, he is excellent ; but he relied overmuch on later writers, and on unequal though learned com- pilations such as Herbelot's Biblioth^qne Orieniale ; and of course a great deal has been discovered and published since his time. Still, considering his neces- sary limitations, he achieved a remarkable success, and the only serious fault to be found with his man- ner of dealing with such authorities as he was able to use IS a tendency to read* more "between the lines" than the text really justifies. M. Marin em- ployed what is called *' the historical imagination " over freely, and despite his frequent references to original sources one can detect a personal equation which has to be eliminated. It is much more inter- esting to give oneself a free hand in writing history, but the temptation must be subdued and the letter of the text must be respected.
Some authors, in treating of the history of Meso- potamia, have thought it necessary to prepare their readers by beginning at the Flood. M. Marin con- sidered that his Life of Saladin demanded an intro- duction which went back to Mohammed and the first preaching of Islam. I have not tried the patience of the reader quite so severely, but without some ac- count of the course of history in western Asia dur- ing the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the political situation in which Saladin began his career would be unintelligible. Especially important is the posi- tion achieved by his great forerunner, Zengy, the conqueror of Edessa, whose unfulfilled ambitions prepared the way for the imperial realisations of
Saladin.
Saladin. The introductory chapters, however, have been reduced to as small a compass as possible.
Oriental names are naturally a stumbling-block to western readers, and the use of accents, long marks, dots, and the like, does not seem to be of much assistance to the unlearned. In the present work, therefore, the names are written as simply as possible, and the reader is only asked to pronounce the vowels after the Italian manner. Those who are curious as to the more precise transliteration will consult the index, where every name is furnished with the proper accents and distinguishing marks, and can be at once converted by the scholar into the Arabic character. In the text, the article el is generally omitted before the well-known names of towns, such as el-Mosil, er- Ramla, and western names are given when familiar, as in the case of Edcssa (for er-Ruha), Aleppo (for Halab), and Cairo (for el-Kahira). When a town has two names, one used by the Arabs, the other by the ^ Franks " or Crusaders, both are given on its first occurrence, and Crusading names are retained so long as the place remained in the hands of the Cru- saders.
Tables of contemporary sovereigns and princes in western Asia, of Saladin 's family, and of the chief Crusading houses, will help the reader to understand the political situation. The maps are
based upon the " Survey of Western Palestine," Thuillier and Rey's "North Syria," and the Arab geographers. Much assistance has been derived from Mr. Guy Le Strange*s valuable work on Palestine under the Moslems; the notes contributed by Gen.
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Preface.
•••
xm
Sir Charles Wilson and Lieut. -Col. Conder, R.E., to the Palestine Pilgrims* Text Society's translation of Baharcd-din have been consulted; but the text of that work, not being directly translated from the Arabic, has not been cited. The author is specially indebted to Mr. T. A. Archer, not onl\- for ready help in any difficulty that arose in connexion with the Crusading chronicles, but also for permission to quote his translation of parts of the Itinerary ef King Richard, originally published in his fascinating little book, The Crusade of Richard /., in the series of ** English History from Contemporary Writers," edited by Professor York Powell. His thanks are also due to Mr. E. B. Knobel, late President of the Royal Astronomical Society, for kindly investigating the chronology of the eclipses recorded in the course of Saladin's campaigns, and to the editor of the Quarterly Rcvic7^' for permission to reprint part of an article on **The Age of baladin.'*
M. Paul Casanova has kindly permitted the re- production of three of the photographs which illus- trate his valuable Hisioire et description de la Citadelle du Caire; to Dr. F. J. Macktnnon is due the illus- tration of the tomb of Saladin at Damascus, as restored in Ottoman times. The author is also obliged to the Council of the Royal Institute of British Architects for the use of two views of the Omayyad Mosque of Damascus, before the fire, from sketches by Mr. R. Phenfe Spiers, F.S.A.
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PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES.
Ibn-cl-AthIr (i 160-1233), tl-Bd- hir : History of the Atabegs of cl-Mosil, written in 1211 {Recueil des his tor tens des Croi- sades : historiens orientaux^ tome ii., 2, Paris. 1876).
IbD-eLAtUr (1160-1233), eUKi- mU JU4arikk: Genend His- torj, written np to iS3i (ed. Tombeif, 14 vols.. Leaden, 1866-76; Jttimii^ tome i., 1872; tomeii., i, 1887).
Babi ed din, Ibn-Sheddad (i 145- 1934)* tn'Nawddir eS'Sultani- ya wa-UMahdsin el- Yusuflya : Life of Saladin (ed. Schultens, Lcyden, 1732 ; Recueil, tome iii., 1884; and Palestine Pil- grims' Text Society, ed. Sir C. W. Wilson, K.C.B., R.E., 1897).
Ibn-KhtDikin (191M282), WV- Jaydt el'A^ydn : Biographical Dictioouy (trans, de Slsne, 4 Tols., Pkris, 1845-71).
Ostmsitm Mii]ikidli(t09S-ii88), Kiiib el-PHb&r s Antobic gnpbj (ed. and trans. H. Der-
Other iraikt an alio reCened to
enbouig, 2 vols., Paris, 1886-
93).
'Imad-ed-din el-Katib (11 25- 1201), el-Feth el-Kussy (ed. Landberg, vol. i., Ley den, 1888).
Abo.Shima(ob. 1267). KitH tr- XkbtUym : History of N&r^ dfn and Saladin (2 toIs., Cairo, 1870-71).
William of Tyre (e, 1137-1185). HuUria rerum in partibus transmarinis gesiarum {Re» cueil : historiens occidetUaux^ tomei., Paris, 1844).
Ernoul (fl. 11 87), Chronique {fA. Mas Latrie, Paris, 1871).
Itinerariutn Per^grinorum et Gesta Regis Ricardi (1190- 92) (ed. Stubbs, Rolls Series, vol. xxxviii. a, London, 1864).
Archer, T. A., Tke Crusadi 0/ RkhardL (London, 1888).
Le Strange, Giqr. PakiHmt Mm~ der tke M^sUmt (Palestine Ex> pkmtioii Fnnd, i8(/o).
Key, E.. Les colonies frtmgmei dt SyrU (Paris, 1883).
in the footnotes.
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CONTENTS.
FACB
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PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES |
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xiv |
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . |
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• |
. xxi |
TABLE I. DYNASTIES OF WESTERN ASIA IN THK ^
TWELFTH CENTURY .
4i
IL — THE FAMILY OF SALADIN
III. — KINGS OF JERUSALEM, PRINCES OF
ANTIOCH. AND COUNTS OF TRIPOLIS
IV. THE GREAT LORDS OF PALESTINE .
Q
g .
. « 6
11
PART I,— INTRODUCTORY, CHAPTER I.
SALADIN S WORLD .
CHAPTER II. THE FIRST CRUSADE, IO98
CHAPTER III THE HARBINGER, 112^ .
CHAPTER IV
THE PALL OF EDESSA, II27-II44
zvii
^4
35
47
xviii
Contents,
FART II,— EG VP T, 1 138-1 174,
CHAPTER V. ,AC« SALADIN's YOUTH, 1138-1164 65
CHAPTER VI.
THE CONQUEST OF EGYPT, I164-I169 ... 77
CHAPTER VII.
VEZIR OF EGYPT, I169-II71 98
CHAPTER VIII. SALADIN AT CAIRO, II71-1 173 .... Ill
PAR T III— EMPIRE, 1174-1186. CHAPTER IX.
THE CONQUEST OF SYRIA, II74-II76 . . 13I
CHAPTER X.
TRUCES AND TREATIES, II76-I181 . I47
CHAPTER XI.
THE CONQUEST OF MESOPOTAMIA. Il8l-Il83 . 164
CHAPTER XII. DAMASCUS, I183-I186 175
PART IV,— THE HOLY WAR, 1187-1101.
CHAPTER XIII. THE BATTLE OF HITTIN, I187 .... 197
CHAPTER XIV. JERUSALEM REGAINED, I187 ..... 217
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Contents, |
• XIX |
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CHAPTER XV. THE RALLY AT TYRE, 1 187-1x88 , |
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CHAPTER XVI. |
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CHAPTER XVn. THE SIEGE OF ACRE, II89-II9I . |
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PART Vr-RICHARD AND SALADIN, 1191-1192, |
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CHAPTER XVHI. THE LOSS OF ACRE, IIQI |
281 |
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CHAPTER XIX. THE COAST MARCH, AUG.-SEPT., II9I , |
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CHAPTER XX IN SIGHT OP JERUSALEM, SEPT., II9I-JULV, |
I192. |
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CHAPTER XXI. THE LAST FIGHT AT JAFFA, II92 . |
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CHAPTER XXII. AT REST, II92-II93 .... |
358 |
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CHAPTER XXIII. |
378 |
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403 |
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I
ILLUSTRATIONS.
rAQB
THE CITADEL OF CAIRO, EAST ANGLE . FrontispteCe
* STORMING or ANTIOCH, IO98 .... 24
* TAKING OP JIRU8ALIM IN THB FIRST CRUSADR a6 *ROBRRT OF NORMANDY UNHORSES A SARACEN . 30
* CRUSADERS PURSUING SELJUKS .... 34
* BATTLSBSTWBEN CRUSADERS AMD KURBUGHA . 36
ASTROLOGICAL CALCULATOR MADB BY MOHAMMBD
IBN KUTLUKH OF MOSIL, A.H. 639 ... 44 [In Uie British Mmeam.]
f A PARTY OF CRUSADERS RETURNING FROM A
FORAGING EXPEDITION 46
[From a thirteentb-centuiy mantticript ol Williaa of Tyro.]
{ THB ORBAT OMAYYASl MOSQUB AT DAMASCUS 74 ^CRUSADBRS AND BGYPTIANS BBFORB ASCALON 80
* Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10 represent paintioBi on glass windows, now demolished, at the abbey of St. Denys, executed by order of Abbot Soger in the middle of the twelfth century, and are valuable as contemporary attempts to depict Crusaders and Saracens in their armour. They are reproduced from Montfattcoa'a Mouumtnts de ia Monarckie Fran^aise^ Tome I., pi. Ll.-Liv.
f Reproduced from Archer's Crusade of Richard /.
X Reproduced from the JouriuU 0/ tkt Royal ImUtuU oj British ArikHicU,
ad
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xxii Ittusiraiums.
PRAYSR KICHB FROM THE CHAPEL OF SITTA NEFISA,
CAIRO 82
pn the Arab Mmenin, Odio.]
*II06QUB OF THB IMAM BtH-SHAFIY OUT8IDB CAIRO 96
GOLD COIN OF NUR-ED-DIN, STRUCK AT CAIRO IN
A.H. 569 (a.D, 1 173-4) BY ORDER OF SALADIN 98 [In the British Museum,]
EAGLE SCULPTURED ON THE WALL OP THE CITADEL
OF CAIRO IIO
GOLD COIN OF SALADIN STRUCK AT ALEXANDRIA IN
A.H. 579 (a.D. 1x83-4) Ill
BAB ZUWBYLA, GATE OF THB FATIMID PALACE OF
CAIRO, HUILT IN THE ELEVENTH CENTURY . 112 t MOSQUE OF IBN-TULUN, CAIRO, BUILT IN THE
NINTH CENTURY X16
A TOWER IN THE CITADEL OF CAIRO . X18
*GATE OF VICTORY (bAB EN-NASR), CAIRO, ELEV*
ENTH CENTURY 1 24
I SIEGE OF A SARACEN FORT I28
[From a thirteenth-century manuscript.]
SILVER COIN OF SALADIN STRUCK AT DAMASCUS IN
A.H. 573 (a.D. 1177-8) ..... 131
THE GATE OF STEPS, IN THE CITADEL OF CAIRO,
WITH SALADIN'S INSCRIPTION OVER THE ARCH 152
§ INSCRIPTION OF SALADIN AND KARAXUSH OVER THE GATE OF STEPS, RECORDING THE FOUNDA*
tion op the citadel of cairo, dated a.h.
579 (a.D. 1 1 83-4) 154
* Reprodnoed Irmb L«ie>PooIe*s Cairo.
f Reproduced from Lane-Poole*s Art of the Saracim,
X Reproduced from G. Paris' Guillaumr eU Tyr.
§ Reproduced from M^nunres pubUd* par k* Membrti 4i Ia Munm
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Illustraiians.
•••
XXUl
PAGB
COPPER COIN OF SBYF-ED-DIN GHAZY II., ATABBG OP MOSIL» STRUCK AT JEZIRA IN A.H. 57$ (a.D.
1179-80) 163
SILVER COIN OF SALADIN, STRUCK AT ALEPPO IN
A.H. 583 (a.D. 1 186-7) 164
^DOliS OF OUAYYAD MOSQUE AT DAMASCUS . . 184 COPPER COINS OF SALADIN's VASSALS •194
[i. Sukman II., Ortukid prince of Keyfa, A.H. 584 (A.D.
1 188).
8. Yuluk Arslin, Ortukid prince of Maridin, A.H. 58X (A.D. II85).
3. Kfikbory, emir of Harriii and Irbil, A,H. 587 (a«d.
1191).
4. *Us-€d^ii Mes*ad, Atibeg of Mdfil, A.H. $8$ (A.D.
1 189).
All four bear Saladin's name as Soxerain.]
SEAL OF REGINALD OF CHAtILLON • . . . 2l6
SEAL OF RAYMOND OF TRIPOLIS • • . • 234
t CASTLE OF SAHYUN (sAONE), TAKEN BY SALADIN
IN 1 188 246
X SIEGE OF A FORT 250
[From a th1rteenth>eentnrjr manuscript.]
fTHE KURDS* CASTLE, CRAC DES CUEVALiLKS • 256
SEAL OF RICHARD L (1x95) >99
COPPER COIN OF SALADIN, STRUCK IN A.H. 583
(a.D. 1187-8) 323
CASKET OF EL-'aDIL II 338
[In the South Kensington Museum.J
^ Rcpradttcad from the JomnuU •f the XcyeU InttiHUt t/BrUuk ArikiUett,
t Reprodoced from G. Ref*! MmmmmU de VArekiUchart MiH^ Uin des Cr9u/s, * Reproduced from G. Paris* GmUawnt de T^r,
xxiv
JUustralions,
OBVERSE OF COPPER COIN OF IMAD-ED-DIN, ATAHEG OF SINJAR, WITH TWO-HEAD£D EAGLE, STRUCK
IN A.H. 584 (a.d. 1188) 357
TOMB OF SALADIN, DAMASCUS .... 368 [From a photograph by Bonfils.]
Note. — The head- and tail-picccs not described above consist of Kutk inscriptions and arabesques not later than the thirleenth century.
MAPS AND PLANS.
MAP OF SALADIN*S EMPIRE IN II90 . . . Xxiv
PLAN OF CAIRO IN SALADIN'S TIME, TI70 . II4
MAP OF PALESTINE TO ILLUSTRATE SALADIN's CON- QUEST 196
MAP OF COUNTRY BETWEEN TIBERIAS AND ACRE . 2o6
* PLAN OF JERUSALEM .... .226 [From a twelfth-ceotary manuscript of Folcher of Chartres at Brussels.]
f PLAN OF ACRE AHOUT I29I .... 258
I PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF ACRE, OCTOBER 4, 1 189 262 {plan of THE BATTLE OF ARSUF, SEPTEMBER 7,
* Reproduced from Ldewel's d'o^rap^ du Moyen Age,
t Reproduced from Archer's Crusades.
X Keprodttced from C. Oman's Art pf War,
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SALADIN. PART I.
INTRODUCTORY.
MIMB mi RATB 8B1I THB DATS OP RI8 lUJUTV,
KING STRONG TO AID ; TBS SUM OP FISTY,
BANK OF THE CRUCIFIX-IDOLATRY, BANNEKET OF RIGHT AND GRNSROSITY,
SALAH-ED-DIN,
LORD OP ISLZM AND MUSLOIIN*
SAVING god's HOUSI PEOK THB NAXABBNB.
SERVING THB HOLT VLACBS TWIN,
ViCTORIOOS YOSUP, SON OP ATTDB, OP SHADHT*S KIH: GOD WATBR HIS GRAVE WtTR SHOWBRS OP CLBMBNCT,
AMD GRANT HIM IN MERCY S HOME THB MEED OF CONSTANCY.
BAHA-ED-DUf
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THE LIFE OF SALADIN.
CHAPTER 1. saladin's world.
IN the year II32 a broken army, flying before its pursuers, reached the left bank of the Tigris. On the other side, upon a steep cliff, stood the impregnable Fortress of Tekrtt, defended landwards by a deep moat and accessible only by secret steps cut in the rock and leading from the heart of the citadel to the water's edge. The one hope of the fugitives was to attain the refuge of the castle, and their fate turned upon the disposition of its warden. Happily he chose the friendly part, and provided a ferry by which they crossed to safety. The ferry boats of the Tigris made the fortunes of the house of Saladin. The flying leader who owed his life to their timely succour was Zengy, the powerful lord of Mosil ; and in later days, when triumph returned to his standards, he did not forget the debt he owed Tekrit, but, ever mindful of past services, carried its
S
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warden onward and upward on the wave of his progress. This warden was Saladin s father.
Ayyub (in English plain Job), sumamed after the fashion of the Saracens Nejm-ed-din, or ''Star of the Faith/' the fortunate commandant at this criti- cal moment, although an oriental and a Mohamme- dan, belonged to the same great Aryan stock as ourselves, being neither Arab nor Turk, but a Kurd of the Rawadiya clan» bom at their village of Ajda> nakan near Dawin in Armenia. From time imme- morial the Kurds have led the same wild pastoral life in the mountain tracts between Persia and Asia Minor. In their clannishness, their love of thieving, their fine chivalrous sense of honour and hospitality, and their unquestioned courage, they resembled the Arabs of the " Days of Ignorance " before Islam, or the Highland Scots before the reforms of Marshal Wade. They have ever been a gallant and warlike people, impervious as a rule to civilisation and dif- ficult for strangers to manage, but possessed of many rude virtues. At least, they gave birth to Saladin. Of his more distant forefathers nothing is known. His family is becomingly described by his biographers as *' one of the most eminent and respectable in Dawin," but even if true this is at most a provincial and limited distinction. Dawin, formerly called Dabil, was the capital of Inner or Northern Armenia in the tenth century, long before Tiilis attained to its greater importance. It was a large walled city, the residence of the governor of the province, and its inhabitants were chiefly Christians, who carried on a rich trade in the goats -
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TAe Family of Ayyub. 5
hair clothes and rugs which they wove and dyed with the brilliant crimson of the kirmiz worm. Jews, Magians, and Christians dwelt there in peace under their Mohammedan conquerors, and the Armenian Church stood beside the Mosque where Moslems prayed.
But Dawin was already in its decline when
Saladin's grandfather, Shadhy, son of Marwan, in- herited the family position of "eminence and respect- . ability"; and having a large number of sons he resolved to seek careers for them in the more stir- ring life of Baghdad, where the courts of the Caliph and the Sultan offered prizes to the ambitious. Shadhy is but a name ; nothing is known of his character or history, except that he had a close friend in the Greek Bihruz, who rose from slavery at Dawin to high office at the Persian court, became the tutor of Seljuk princes, and was rewarded with the important government of the city of Baghdad. To this old friend Shadhy resorted, and Bihruz out of his large patronage presented his comrade's son Ayyub to the post of commandant of the castle of Tekrit. Probably the whole family accompanied the fortunate nominee; certainly Shadhy and his son Shirkuh joined Ayyub ; and if the last justified his patron's trust by the wisdom and prudence of his rule, Shirkuh, ever hasty and passionate, wrecked, as it seemed, the good fortune of the family by an act of chivalrous homicide: he killed a scoundrel to avenge a woman's wrong. Bihruz was already annoyed at the escape of Zengy, whom he did not love; and he was not inclined to overlook the
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violence of Shirkuh. The brothers were commanded to seek employment elsewhere. They departed
from Tekrit, oppressed with a sense of misfortune, and drew a sinister omen from the fact that on the very night of their flitting a son had been born to Ay3rub. Never» surely, was augury worse inter- preted; for the infant whose first cnes disturbed the preparations of the journey that night in the castle of Tekrit in the year of Grace 1138, was Yusuf, afterwards renowned in East and West under, his surname of Honour of the Faith/* Salah^d-dm^ or, as we write it, Saladin.*
Before attempting to relate whither Ayy ub carried the baby Saladin, or what befell them, we must glance briefly at the political conditions in which the future leader of the Saracens would have to shape his career. The eastern world of that day was widely different from the old empire of the Caliphate ; it had vitally changed even in the life- time of Saladin's father. The flaming zeal which had at first carried the armies of Islam, like a rush- ing prairie fire, from their ancient Arabian muster- ground to the desert of Sind in the east and the surge of the Atlantic on the west, had not availed to keep together, in a well-knit organisation, the vast empire so suddenly, so amazingly, acquired. The Caliphate lasted indeed for over six hundred years, but it retained its imperial sway for scarcely
* The Mohammed nn year. 533, in which Saladin was bom. cor* respondt to the interval between 19 Sept. 1x37. and 8 Sept. 11 38. The month of Saladin's birth is not record«d, ind be may ^ ooune hAYe been bora in X137.
Decay of the Caliphate, 7
a third of that time. In the seventh century, the soldiers of the Arabian Prophet had rapidly sub- dued Egypt, Syria, Persia, and even the country beyond the Oxus, and early in the eighth they rounded off their conquest of the Barbary coast by the annexation of Spain. Such an empire, com- posed of contentious and rival races, and extending over remotely distant provinces, could not long be held in strict subjection to a central government issuing its patents of command from Damascus or Baghdad. The provincial proconsul of the Moham- medan system was even more apt to acquire virtual independence than his Roman prototype. The very idea of the Caliphate, which was as much an ecclesi- astical as an administrative authority, encouraged the local governors to assume powers which were not irreconcilable with the homage due to a spiritual chief ; and the religious schisms of Islam, especially the strange and fanatical devotion inspired by the persecuted lineage of Aly, led by a different road to the dismemberment of the state.
Already in the ninth centuty the extremities of the Mohammedan empire were in the hands of rulers who either repudiated the authority of the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, or at least tendered him, as Commander of the Faithful, a purely con- ventional homage. The Caliph's writ — or its Arabic equivalent,— even in the days of " the good Hanin cr-Rashid," did not run in Spain or Morocco, and met but a qualified respect in Tunis. Egypt on the one hand, and north-east Persia on the other, soon followed the lead of the extreme west, and by
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Saladin^
the middle of the tenth century the temporal powei of the Caliph hardly extended beyond the walls ol his own palace, within which his authority was grievously shackled by the guard of mercenaries whom he had imprudently imported in self-defence. This state of papal impotence continued with little change until the extinction of the Baghdad Cali- phate by the Mongols in 1258. Now and again, by the weakness of their neighbours or the personal ascendency of an individual Caliph, the Abbasids temporarily recovered a part of their territorial power in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates ; yet even then, although the Caliph had a larger army and possessed a wider dominion than hb pre- decessor had enjoyed, his authority was restricted to a narrow territory in Mesopotamia, and his influ- ence, save as pontiff of Islam, was almost a negligi- ble quantity in Saladin's political world.
This political world was practically bounded by the Tigris on the east and the Libyan desert on the west. For a centuiy and a half before Saladin began to mix in affairs of state, Egypt had been ruled by the Fatimid Caliphs, a schismatic dynasty claiming spiritual supremacy by right of descent from Aly the son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed, and repudiating all recognition of the Abbasid Ca- liphate of Baghdad. Still more nearly affecting the politics of the Crusades was the situation in Syria and Mesopotamia. The whole of these districts, from the mountains of Kurdistan to the Lebanon, are in race and politics allied with Arabia. Large tribes of Arabs were settled from early times in the
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The Scljuk Turks,
fertile valleys of Mesopotamia, where their names are still preserved in the geographical divisions. Bedavvy tribes wandered annually from Arabia to the pasture lands of the Euphrates, as they wander
to this day : and many clans were and arc still per- manently settled in all parts of Syria. The decay of the Caliphate naturally encoiiraged the founda- tion of Arab kingdoms in the regions dominated by Arab tribes, and in the tenth and eleventh centuries the greater part of Syria and Mesopotamia owned their supremacy; but by the twelfth these had all passed away. The Arabs remained in their wonted seats, and camped over all the country to the upper valleys of Diyar-Bekr, as they do now ; but they no longer ruled the lands where they pastured their flocks. The supremacy of the Arab in those regions was over for ever, and the rule of the Turk had begun.
The Turks who swept over Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria in the course of the eleventh century were led by the descendants of Seljuk, a Turkman chief- tain from the steppes beyond the Oxus. In a rapid series of campaigns they first overran the greater part of Persia ; other Turkish tribes then came to swell their armies ; and the whole of western Asia, from the borders of Afghanistan to the frontier of the Greek empire and the confines of Egypt, was gradually united under Seljuk rule. Persians, Arabs, and Kurds alike bowed before the overwhelming wave of conquest. But wide as was their dominion, the significance of the Seljuk invasion lies deeper than mere territorial expansion. Their advent formed
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Saladtn.
an epoch in Mohammedan history by creating a revival of the Moslem faith.
** At the time of their appearance the Empire of the Caliphate had vanished. What had once been a reahn united under a sole Mohammedan ruler was now a col- lection of scattered dynasties, not one of which, save perhaps the Fatimids of Egypt (and they were schis- matics), was capable of imperial sway. The prevalence of schism increased the disunion of the various provinces of the vanished empire. A drastic remedy was needed, and it was found in the invasion of the Turks. These rude nomads, unspoilt by town life and civilised indif- ference to religion, embraced Islam with all the fervour of their uncouth souls. They came to the rescue of a dying State, and revived it. They swarmed over Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Asia Minor, devastating the country, and exterminating every djmasty that existed there ; and, as the result, they once more reunited Mohammedan Asia, from the western frontier of Afghan- istan to the Mediterranean, under one sovereign ; they put a new life into the expiring zeal of the Moslems, drove back the re-encroaching Byzantines, and bred up a generation of fanatical Mohammedan warriors to whom, more than to anything else, the Crusaders owed their repeated failure." *
Melik Shah, the noblest of the Scljuk emperors, was one of those rulers who possess the power of imposing their minds upon their age. To belong to his household, to hold his commands, was not merely an honour and a privilege ; it was also an apprenticeship in principles. In serving the Sultan,
Lsae-Poole, Tht M^hamtm^ DyimtUs^ 149, ija
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The Emperor Melik Shah. 1 1
one grew like him ; and a standard of conduct was thus set up, modelled upon the life of the royal
master, the pattern and exemplar of the age. It is recorded by an Arab historian that a chief or governor was esteemed by public opinion in accord- ance with the degree in whidi he conformed to the Sultan's example; and the standard thus adopted formed no ignoble ideal of a prince's duties. Just- ice was the first aim of Melik Shah ; his chief effort was to promote his people's prosperity. Bridges, canals, and caravanserais bore witness to his en- cour^ement of commerce and inter-communication throughout his dominions. The roads were safe, and it is stated that a pair of travellers could journey without an escort from Merv to Damascus. Gener- ous and brave, just and conscientious, he fulfilled the ideal of a Moslem Prince, and his example impressed itself far and wide upon the minds of his followers.
Great as he was in character and statesmanship, Melik Shah owed much of his principles and his suc- cessful organisation to the still wiser man who filled the highest office in the realm. Nizam-el-mulk stands among the great statesmen of history. His Mohammedan eulogists dwell fondly upon his spirit- ual virtues, and recount with unction how he could repeat the entire Koran by heart at the age of twelve ; but the supreme testimony to his ability is seen in the prosperity and progress of the great empire for nearly a third of a century committed to his charge. His capacity for affairs was joined to a profound knowledge of jurisprudence and an en-
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Saladin.
lightened support of learning and science. He it was who encouraged Omar Khayyam in his astronom«
ical researches, — less famous to-day but certainly not less important than his well-known Quatrains, — and founded the famous Nizamiya college at Baghdad. And it was he who in his Treatise on the Principles of GovemmetU^ drawn up at the bidding of Melik Shah and adopted by the Sultan as his code, set forth an ideal conception of kingship that embodies an uncompromising doctrine of Divine Right. The sovereign, he holds, is without doubt God's anointed ; but the doctrine is tempered with a stern insistence upon the king's responsibility to God for every detail of his conduct towards the subjects entrusted to his protection. TIavr\ 6h ^ ilioBrf noKvy iroA.t) (itjTTjdijOETCKi nap amoVj ** For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required," is the Vezir's principle, as it was of a greater Teacher before him, and his ideal of a true monarch savours of a counsel of perfection. He defines the character of a king by a quotation from an old Persian anecdote :
**He must subdue Hatred, envy, pride, anger, lust, greed, false hopes, disputatiousness, lying, avarice, mal- ice, violence, selfishness, impulsiveness, ingratitude, and frivolity ; he must possess the qualities of modesty, equability of temper, gentleness, clemency, humility, generosity, staunchness, patience, gratitude, pity, love of knowledge, and justice."
One weighty judgment, it is alleged, is of more serv-
• Mfiditd hf M. Sdwfer with the CtUe of SSois&i Ntmik, Paik,
1893.
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Principles of GavernmetU. 13
ice to a king than a mighty army. He is cautioned to avoid favouritism and disproportionate rewards, to eschew excess in wine and unldngly levity, and recommended to be strict in fasting, prayer, almsgiving, and all religious exercises. In every circumstance he is to *' observe the mean " ; for the Prophet of Islam said, unconsciously quoting Aristotle, that in all things "the mean" is to be followed.
The most striking feature in the system of govern.
ment outlined by Nizam-el-mulk is his constant in< sistencc on the duties of the sovereign towards his subjects, and the elaborate checks suggested for the detection and punishment of official corruption and oppression. Twice a week the Sultan was obliged to hold public audience, when anybody, however humble and unknown, might come to present his grievances and demand justice. The Sultan must hear these petitions himself, without any go-between, listen patiently, and decide each case in accordance with equity. Various precautions are recommended to ensure the free access of the subject to the king. The example is cited of a Persian sovereign who held audience on horseback in the middle of a plain, so that all might see and approach him, when the obstacles of " gates, barriers, vestibules, passages, curtains, and jealous chamberlains" were thus re- moved. Another king made all petitioners wear red dresses, so that he might distinguish and take them aside for private audience; and the example is approved of a Samanid prince who sat alone and unattended all night during heavy snow, in the mid-
Saladin.
die of the great square of Bokhara, on the chance
that some oppressed subject, who might have been turned away by his chamberlains, should see him and come for redress.
Extraordinaiy pains were to be taken lest the maladministration of local governors should escape detection :
** When an officer is appointed to a post, let him be benevolent to God's creatures. One must not exact
from them more than is right, and one should demand it with gentleness and consideration. Taxes should never be claimed before the fixed legal day, else the people, under pressure of need will sell their goods at half-price, and become ruined and dispersed.*'
Constant inspection of the tax-gatherers and other officials is recommended, and severe punishment is to be meted out to the unjust. " Spies/' he says, "must perpetually traverse the roads of the various
provinces, disguised as merchants, dervishes, etc., and send in reports of what they hear, so that nothing that passes shall remain unknown." Another pre- caution was to change all tax-gatherers and agents every two or three years, so that they should not become rooted and overbearing in their posts. Further, inspectors of high character, above sus- picion, paid by the treasury and not by local tax- ation, were appointed to watch the whole empire ; " the advantages which their uprightness brings will repay an hundredfold their salaries." A prompt and regular system of post-messengers maintained rapid communications between the inspectors and the cent
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Feudal System,
ral government. Finally, the good behaviour of vassal chiefs was ensured by their sending hostages, relieved every year, to the imperial court, where no
fewer than five hundred were constantly detained.
These provisions for just administration and fre- quent inspection were all the more necessary in an empire which was founded upon a military organisa- tion, wherein the government was vested in the hands of foreigners. The Seljuk power rested on an army composed, to a great extent, of hired or purchased soldiers, and officered by slaves of the royal house- hold. Freemen were not to be trusted with high commands, at least in distant provinces ; native Per- sians and Arabs could not, as a rule, be expected to work loyally for their Turkish conquerors ; and it was safer to rely on the fidelity of slaves brought up at the court, in close relations of personal devotion to the Seljuk princes. These white slaves or ffiamluks^ natives for the most part of Kipchak and Tartary, formed the bodyguard of the Sultan, filled the chief offices of the court and camp, and rising step by step, according to their personal merits and graces, event- ually won freedom and power. They were rewarded by grants of castles, cities, and even provinces, which they held of their master the Sultan on condition of military service. The whole empire was organised on this feudal basis, which seems to have been usual among the Turks, and which was inherited from the Seljuks and carried into Egypt by Saladin, where it was for centuries maintained by the Mamluk Sultans. The greater part of Persia, Mesopotamia, and Syria was parcelled out in military fiefs, and governed by
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Seljuk captains — quondam slaves in the mamluk bodyguard — who held them in fee simple by letters patent, revocable at the Sultan's will, and who levied and lived on the land tax, on the sole condition of furnishing troops at the Sultan's call.
The greater feudatories in turn let out portions of their fiefs to sub-vassals, who were bound to fur- nish troops to their overlord, just as he was required to bring his retainers to the support of his sovereign. We read of a primitive method of summoning the military contingents, by sending an arrow round from camp to camp, or villao;e to village, as a signal for as- sembly. After a campaign the feudal troops were dismissed to their homes, whither they always retired during the winter, under an engagement to join the colours in the spring. In the interval a general was obliged to be content with his own immediate follow- ers, his bodyguard, and any mercenaries who could be induced to remain in the Beld. Saladin, as will be seen, invariably observed this custom. When liv- ing on their lands, the vassals were only allowed to collect the legal tax, amounting apparently to about one-tenth of the produce, and were straitly enjoined not to oppress the people or seize their goods. ** The land and its inhabitants are the Sultan's," wrote the great Vezir, " and the feudal lords and governors are but as a guard set for their protection.*' No doubt, so long as the Seljuk empire held together, the omni- present spy kept license and corruption at bay ; but when there was no supreme government, during the troublous times that preceded the establishment of Nur-ed-din's and Saladin's organised rule, much mis-
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Military Organisation. 17
eiy, instead of " protection," must have come in the train of feudalism. We read constantly of the barons or emirs setting forth on the war path, followed by
their retainers, and such a party was as likely as not to meet a rival troop somewhere along the rugged tracks of Mesopotamia, with the usual result of a skirmish, perhaps a victory, and then slaughter and pillage. The life of the shepherd, the husbandman, and the trader, must have been sufficiently exciting, and not a little precarious, in the midst of the valor- ous activity of neighbouring chiefs; and the equita- ble precepts of Melik Shah and his wise Vezir must often have been forgotten in the flush of victory.
The Arab chronicler, however, prone as he is to dwell upon feats of arms, never quite overlooks the condition of the peaceful population ; and it is worth noticing that in signalising the virtues of a great lord he puts prominently forward the justice and mildness he displayed towards his subjects. The " Gyrfalcon " (Ak-Sunkur) of Mosil is held up to admiration as a wise ruler and protector of his people.* Perfect just- ice reigned throughout his dominions ; the markets were cheap ; the roads absolutely safe ; and order prevailed in all parts. His policy was to make the district pay for its own misdeeds, so that if a caravan were plundered, the nearest villages had to make good the loss, and the whole population thus became a universal police for the traveller's protection. It is recorded of this good governor that he never broke his word, and the same might be said of more Mos- lem than Christian leaders of the Crusading epoch.
^Ibn-cl-Atlur, Atabegs^ 39, 3a
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The example of a just and virtuous chief naturally inspires emulation among his retainers, and it is not difficult, in many instances, to trace the effects of such influences. The constant endeavour of a great baron was to surround himself with a loyal body of retainers and minor feudatories, who could be trusted to support his arms, extend his dominions, and carry out his policy in the management of their domains. Upon their loyalty depended the succession of his family. When a baron died, his vassals and mamluks would rally round his heir, obtain for him the succes- sion in the fief, and uphold him on the throne. No feeble ruler, however, had a chance in that strenuous age ; he must be strong in war and firm in peace. It sometimes happened that an emir failed to satisfy the demands or retain the loyalty of his followers, who would then transfer their services to a more popular master.
In spite of its military character and the truculence of many of its leaders, nothing is more remarkable in Seljuk civilisation than the high Importance attached to education and learning. Although colleges ex> isted before in Mohammedan countries, we must ascribe to Seljuk patronage, above all to the influence of Nizam-el-mulk, the great improvements in educa- tional provision in the East during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The celebrated Nizamiya nudrtsa or university at Baghdad, founded by the Vezir him- self, was the focus from which radiated an enthusiasm for learning all over Persia, Syria, and Egypt, where it met a kindred stream of erudition issuing from the Azhar university of Cairo. To found a college was
Education and Learning, 19
as much a pious act among Seljuk princes, as to build a inosque or conquer a city from the intideis.'* The same spirit led the great vassab and the numer* ous dynasties that sprang up on the decay of the Seljuk power, to devote particular attention to ques- tions of education, and by Saladin's time Damascus, Aleppo, Baalbekk, Emesa, Mosil, Baghdad, Cairo, and other cities, had become so many foci of learned energy. Professors travelled from college to college* just as our own medieval scholars wandered from university to university. Many of these learned men and ministers of state (the two were frequently united) were descendants or household officers of Seljuk Sultans. The Atabeg Zengy of Mosil, with all his vast energy and military talent, could scarcely have held the reins of his wide empire without the aid of his Vezir and right-hand-man Jemal-ed-din, surnamed el-Jawad, *' the Bountiful," whose grand- father had been keeper of the coursing leopards in Sultan Melik Shah's hunting stables. So ably did he administer the several governments successively committed to his charge, and so charming were his manners and conversation, that Zengy received him into the intimacy of his friendship and advanced him to the post of Inspector-General of his principality and President of the Divan or Council of State. His salary was a tenth of the produce of the soil and he spent his wealth in boundless charity ; minis- tered lavishly to the necessities of the pilgrims at Mekka and Medina; built aqueducts and restored mosques ; and kept a gigantic roll of pensioners. When he died* '* the air resounded with the lament*
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ScUadin.
ations" of widows and orphans and of the countless poor who had hailed him benefactor.*
The ranks of the wise and learned were recruited from all parts of the Moslem world. Professors from Nishapur delighted audiences at Damascus. Persian mystics like es-Suhrawardy met traditioners like Ibn- Asakir, whose funeral Saladin himself attended in 1 1 76. In the same year there arrived at Cairo a stranger from Xativa in distant Andalusia, drawn eastward by the fame of the revival of learning ; it was Ibn-Firro, who had composed a massy poem of 1 1 73 verses upon the varies lectiones in the Koran, simply " for the greater glory of God." This marvel of erudition modestly confessed that his memory was burdened with enough sciences to break down a camel. Nevertheless, when it came to lecturing to his crowded audiences, he never uttered a superfluous word. It was no wonder that the Kady cl-Fadil, chief judge and governor of Egypt under Saladin, lodged him in his own house and buried him in his private mausoleum. The presence of such philoso- phers tempered with cool wisdom the impetuous (ire of the predatory chiefs. Many of the great soldiers of that age delighted in the society of men of culture ; and though the victorious Atabeg might exclaim that to him *' the clash of arms was dearer far than the music of sweet singers, and to try con- clusions with a worthy foe a greater delight than to toy with a mistress," yet he loved the company of his wise counsellor el-Jawad. His successor Nur-ed- din was devoted to the society of the learned, and
*Ibii-KbaIUkAii,iiL 395-9.
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Dtsrupiton of ike Seljuk Empire. 21
poets and men of letters gathered round his Court ; whilst Saladin took a peculiar pleasure in the con- versation of grave theologians and solemn jurists. The most bloodthirsty baron of them all could not do without his poet and historian. It was the same in later centuries with the Mamluk Sultans of E^pt. Barbarous and savage as they seemed, prone to deeds of blood and treachery, they loved the arts, en- couraged beUesdetttis^ and made Cairo beautiful with their exquisite architecture. It would seem that in the East, at all events, violence may go hand in hand with taste and culture, and it was not Saul alone whose moody fits were relieved by the music of sweet singers.
The effects of the Seljuk domination reached far and wide; but the dynasty itself was shortlived. Less than half a century after they had entered Persia as conquerors, the vast fabric they had auda- ciously planned and splendidly maintained split up into fragments. Three Seljuk emperors in succes- sion held their immense dominions under their personal rule without fear of rivalry or revolt ; but when Melik Shah died in 1092, civil war broke out between his sons, and the empire was divided. Seljuks continued to rule at Nishapur, Ispahan, and Kirman ; Seljuks at Damascus and Aleppo ; Seljuks in Anatolia: but they were divided planks of the mightly bole, unable long to resist the forces which pressed upon them from within and without. Their overthrow was the inevitable consequence of their feudal organisation ; they were hoist with their own petard. The slaves whom they imported for their
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defence became their destroyers, and the great fiefs that they had constructed for the protection of the empire proved to be its chief danger. The prime defect of European feudalism was equally conspicu- ous in the Seljuk system. The slave owed his master service, the vassal was bound to his overlord, but the service and loyalty did not extend beyond the immediate superior. If a chief vassal found him- self strong enough to rebel against his overlord, his retainers, sub-vassals, and slaves followed him ; they owed no service to the overlord. Nor was there any equivalent to a direct oath of allegiance to the sovereign, though one sometimes finds the sentiment of loyalty that induced sub-vassals to leave a rebellious overlord and go over to the side of the Crown. As the sovereign power grew weaker, this sentiment ceased to operate, and the great feudatories were able to found independent king- doms of their own with the full concurrence of their vassals. When the empire became divided against itself, the captains who had fought its battles and reaped its rewards became independent princes ; the mamluks who had won victories for their emperors became regents or governors (Atabegs) of their emperors' heirs ; and the delegated function was presently exchanged for the full rights of sovereignty and the transmission of hereditary kingship.
The twelfth century saw the greater part of the Seljuk empire in the hands of petty sovereigns who had risen from the ranks of the mamluks and con* verted their fiefs into independent states. In Persia, and beyond the Oxus, a cupbearer and a major domo
Slave Dynasties.
23
had founded powerful dynasties ; and the slaves of these slaves, a generation of "gentlemen's gentle- men,'* had established minor principalities on the
skirts of their masters' dominions. In this way a slave became regent over his master's heir and on his death assumed regal powers at Damascus ; thus Zengy, founder of the long line of Atabegs of Mosil, was the son of one of Melik Shah's slaves ; and the Ortukids and other local dynasts of Mesopotamia traced their fortunes to a similar source. However servile in origin, the pedigree carried with it no sense of ignominy. In the East a slave is often held to be l>etter than a son, and to have been the slave of Melik Shah constituted a special title to respect. The great slave vassals of the Seljuks were as proud and honourable as any Bastard of medieval aris- tocracy ; and when they in turn assumed kingly powers, they inherited and transmitted to their lineage the high traditions of their former lords. The Atabegs of Syria and Mesopotamia carried- on the civilising work begun by the wise Vezir of Melik Shah. The work was interrupted, indeed, by in- ternal feuds, but its chief hindrance during the twelfth century came from the Crusades.
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST CRUSADE.
1098.
ELIK SHAH, the great Scljuk Sultan, died
in 1092, and civil war immediately broke
out between his sons. Four years later, the First Crusade began its eastward march; in 1098 the great cities of £dessa and Antioch and many fortresses were taken ; in 1099 the Christians r€> gained possession of Jerusalem itself. In the next few years the greater part of Palestine and the coast of Syria, Tortosa, Acre, Tripolis, and Sidon (iiio), fell into the hands of the Crusaders, and the con- quest of Tyre in 11 24 marked the apogee of their power. This rapid triumph was due partly to the physical superiority and personal courage of the men of the North, but even more to the lack of any or- ganised resistance. Nizam-el-mulk had died before his master, and there was no statesman competent to arrange the differences between the emperors heirs. Whilst the Seljuk princes were casting away their crown in fratricidal strife, the great vassals^
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STORMING OF ANTIOCH, 109a
(from a painted window at ST. DENV8, 12TH CCNTURY.)
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The First Cricsadc. 25
though on the road to independence, had not yet learned their power: all were struggling for pieces of the broken diadem, each was jealous of his neigh- bour, but none was yet bold enough to lead. The founders of dynasties were in the field, but the dyn- asties were not yet founded. The Seljuk authority was still nominally supreme in Mesopotamia and northern Syria, and the numerous governors of cit« ies and wardens of forts were only beginning to find out that the Seljuk authority was but the echo of a sonorous name, and that dominion was within the reach of the strongest.
It was a time of uncertainty and hesitation— of amazed attendance upon the dying struggles of a mighty empire ; an interregnum of chaos until the new forces should have gathered their strength ; in short, it was the precise moment when a successful invasion from Europe was possible. A generation earlier, the Seljuk power was inexpugnable. A gen- eration later, a Zengy or a Nur-ed-din, firmly estab- lished in the Syrian scats of the Scljuks, would probably have driven the invaders into the sea. A lucky star led the preachers of the First Crusade to seize an opportunity of which they hardly realised the significance. Peter the Hermit and Urban 11. chose the auspicious moment with a sagacity as un^ erring as if they had made a profound study of Asiatic politics. The Crusades penetrated like a wedge between the old wood and the new, and for a while seemed to cleave the trunk of Mohammedan empire into splinters.
Seven years before the birth of Salad in, when
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Saladhi.
Fulk of Anjou ascended the throne of Jerusalem in 1 131, the Latin Kingdom was still in its zenith. Sy- ria and Upper Mesopotamia lay at the feet of the
Crusaders, whose almost daily raids reached from Maridin and Amid in Diyar-Bckr to el-Arish and *' the brook of Egypt." Yet the country was not really subdued. The Crusaders contented themselves with a partial occupation, and whilst they held the coast lands and many fortresses in the interior, as far as the Jordan and Lebanon, they did not seriously set about a thorough conquest. The great cities, Aleppo, Damascus, Hamah, Emesa, were still in Moslem hands, and were never taken by the Christ- ians, though their reduction must certainly have been possible at more than one crisis. The only great city which the Crusaders held in the interior, besides Jerusalem, was Edcssa, and tliis they were soon to lose. The Latin Kingdom, with its subor- dinate principalities, counties, baronies, and fiefs, was more an armed occupation than a systematic conquest ; yet even as an occupation it was inefficient. At the time of its greatest extent, the *' Frank '* do- minion extended along a zone over five hundred miles long from north to south, but rarely more, and often less, than fifty miles broad. In the north the County of Edessa (er-Ruha, Orfa) stretched from (and often over) the borders of Diyar-Bekr to a point not far north of Aleppo, and included such important fiefs as Saruj, Tell-Bashir (Turbessel), Samosata, and Ayn-Tab (Hatap). West and south of the County of Edessa lay the Principality of Antioch, which at one time included Tarsus and Adana in Cilicia, but
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THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM.
(from a painted window at 9T. DENVS, t2TH CENTURY.)
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Kingdom of Jertisaiem. 27
usually extended from the Pyramus along the sea- coast to a little north of Margat, and inland to near the Mohammedan cities, Aleppo and Hamah; among its chief fiefs were Atharib (Cercp), Maarra, Apamea, with the port of Ladikiya(Laodicea)* South again of Antioch was the County of TripoHs, a narrow strip between the Lebanon and the Mediterranean, indud* ing Margat (Markab), Tortosa, Crac dcs Chevaliers, Tripolis, and Jubeyl. Over all these states, as over- lord, stood the King of Jerusalem, whose own do- minions stretched from Beyrut past Sidon, Tyre, Acre, Caesarea, Arsuf, Jaffa, to the Egyptian frontier fortress Ascalon, and were bounded generally on the east by the valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. The chief subdivisions were the County of Jaffa and Ascalon (including also the fortresses of Ibelin, Blanche Garde, and Mirabel, and the towns of Gaza, Lydda, and Ramla) ; the Lordship of Karak (Crac) and Shaubak (Mont Real), two outlying fort- resses beyond the Dead Sea, cutting the caravan route from Damascus to Egypt ; the Principality of Galilee, including Tiberias, Safed, Kaukab (Belvoir), and other strongholds; the Lordship of Sidon; and the minor fiefs of Toron, Beysan (Bethshan), Nablus, etc.* A glance at the map will show that a large pro- portion of these Christian possessions were within a day's, or at most two days', march of a Mohamme- dan city or a garrisoned fort, from which frequent rauds were to be expected in retaliation for the in- cursions of the Franks. The autobiography of one of Salad in 's elder contemporaries, the Arab Osama,
^ Archer and Kingsfoid, Crmsada, ch. m
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Saladin.
reveals a perpetual state of guerilla encounters, alter- nating with periods of comparative friendliness and tranquillity. The general tendenqr of the original settlers of the First Crusade was undoubtedly to- wards amicable relations with their Moslem neigh- bours. The great majority of the cultivators of the soil in the Christian territories were of course Mo- hammedans, and constant intercourse with them, and social and domestic relations of the most inti- mate nature, tended to diminish points of difference and emphasise common Interests and common vir- tues. In the present day a European family can rarely live to the third generation in the East with- out becoming more or less orientalised. The early Crusaders, after thirty years' residence in Syria, had become very much assimilated in character and habits to the people whom they had partly con- quered, among whom they lived, and whose daughters they did not disdain to marry ; they were growing into Levantines ; they were known as Ptillani or Cre- oles. The Mohammedans, on their side, were scarcely less tolerant ; they could hardly approve of marriage with the polytheists," as they called the Trinitari- ans; but they were quite ready to work for them and take their pay, and many a Moslem ruler found it convenient to form alliances with the Franks even against his Mohammedan neighbours.
We find this interesting approximation between the rival races clearly appreciated in the fascinating memoirs of the nonagenarian Osama, the Arab prince of Sheyzar. As an historical witness, Osama was fortunate in his epoch. He was born in 1095, three
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Osama of Sheyzar.
years before the capture of Antioch gave the Franks their finnt d*afpui whence they advanced to the con- quest of Jerusalem; and he died in 1188, when the Holy City had just been retaken by Saladin. He
witnessed nearly the complete tide, the flow and ebb, of Crusading effort. His long life of ninety- three years embraced the whole period of the Latin rule at Jerusalem, and only just missed the Cru- sade of Richard Cceur de Lion. His family, the Beny Munkidh, were the hereditary lords of the rocky fortress of Sheyzar, the ruins of which still overhang the Orontes. Strong as the castle was, — shielded by a bold bluff of the Ansariya mountains, approachable only by a horsepath, which crossed the river, then tunnelled through the rock, and was again protected by a deep dyke crossed by a plank bridge, — its situation in the immediate neighbour- hood of Christian garrisons, half-way between the Crusading centres of Antioch and Tripoli, brought it into perilous contact with the forays that passed perpetually beneath its battlements.
Sheyzar was one of those little border states, between the Moslem and the Christian, which found their safest policy in tempering orthodoxy with diplomacy. No better post of speculation could have been chosen from which to observe the strug- gle that went on unceasingly throughout the twelfth century ; no witness more competent or more oppor- tune could be found than the Arab chief who sur- veyed the contest from his conning-tower of Sheyzar. He knew all the great leaders in the war, and often took part in the fray. His first battle was fought
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Saladin,
under that truculent Turkman, Il-Ghazy, the man who did more than anyone, before the coming of Zengy, to spread dismay through the Christian ranks. Osama served under Zengy himself, and was actually present in the famous flight over the Tigris into Tekrit when the timely succour of Ayyub made the fortunes of the house of Saladin. He had seen Tan- cred more than once, when the prince led an assault against Sheyzar ; and he remembered the beautiful horse which the Crusader received as a present from its castellan. King Baldwin du Bourg was a prisoner in the fortress for some months in 1 124, and rewarded his host's kindness, more Francorum, by breaking all his engagements the moment he was released. Jos- celin of Courtenay was another well-known figure in the armed expeditions which passed in perpetual pro- cession over the Orontes ; the autobiographer even saw the Emperor John Comnenus lay siege to his own eyry on the " Cock's Comb." Later on he visited King Fulk at Acre and explained to him through an interpreter, for Osama knew no lingua Franca^ that he too, Arab though he was, might call himself •* knight, after the fashion of my race and family; for what we admire in a knight is that he be lean and long." Nor was Osama's acquaintance limited to such high personages as he chanced to meet at Sheyzar or visited during brief excursions into Frank territory. He lived for long years at Damascus, at the court of Nur-ed-din, for whom he conducted a diplomatic correspondence with Egypt ; he became for a time the guest of the Fatimid Caliph at Cairo, and farmed a fief near by at Kom Ashfin, where he
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Franks and Moslems,
kept two hundred head of cattle, a thousand sheep, and reaped rich harvests of grain and fruit ; and in his latter days he was intimate with Saladin, who delighted In his poetiy and impromptu recitations.
Osama draws a firm line of distinction between the settled Franks, the families of the first Crusaders, who had grown accustomed to oriental life and be- come friendly with their Moslem neighbours, and the new arrivals, a set of bigoted pilgrims and needy ad- venturers, whose indiscreet zeal and lust of plunder embroiled the good understanding which had been established between the two creeds in Palestine. *• Those Franks," he says, " who have come and set- tled amongst us and cultivated the society of Mos- lems are much superior to the others who have lately joined them. . . . The new-comers are invariably more inhuman than the older settlers, who have be- come familiar with the Mohammedans." Personal friendships were frequent between the settled Crusad- ers and the neighbouring Moslems, and it was not un- usual for a Mohammedan to enjoy the hospitality of a Christian knight. Osama himself had acquaintances among the Templars, whom he called his " friends," and whom he preferred above all other Franks. When he visited Jerusalem, they gave him one of their oratories, close to the christianised mosque eU Aksa, wherein to say his Moslem prayers ; he walked with them in the Sanctuary, and was taken to the Dome of the Rock and House of the Chain. Of the hospitality of the knights of St. John, too, he does not stint his praise. He was a witness of an ordeal by battle and ordeals by water, which did not in-
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Saladtn,
crease his respect for Christian jurisprudence, and he cannot conceal his indignation at the frequent breaches of sworn faith by the Crusaders, who sel- dom kept pact with the " infidel." Whilst generously
admiring their valour, he lays special stress upon their defensive tactics, their cautious, orderly movements, their precautions against ambushes and surprises, and their self-control after victory in denying them- selves the delights of a headlong pursuit. Like a grave oriental, however, he cannot approve the idle merriment, jovial roars of laughter, and mad pursuit of pleasure, which he noticed among Franks of all degrees. An eastern gentleman can never under- stand childish bufifoonery or broad grins among men of sense and position. Still less can he tolerate the slightest public display of that gentle passion which, like a true Moslem, he conceals behind the curtains of his harim. He has no patience with the amazing • liberty allowed by Crusading husbands to their wives.
"They know not what honour means/' he writes, **nor jealousy neither. If they walk abroad with their
wives and meet another man, they let him hold the wife's hand and take her aside to talk, whilst the hus- band stands aloof till the conversation be done ! If the lady prolongs it overmuch, her spouse walks off and leaves her alone with her friend ! "
So peaceful a scene of mutual toleration and good- will between Christian and Moslem was not likely to last long. The first breath of fanaticism would of course blow all this fine cobweb to pieces. It came from both sides. In proportion as the first Crusaders became more tolerant and easy-going — ^not to say
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Aggression of the Franks. 33
careless and licentious — the later visitors found more reason for a display of zeaL To a political adventure, and a military annexation, succeeded an age of pious
pilgrimage, attended by thinly veiled freebooting. As soon as the early Crusaders had made Palestine a safe field for devout tourists, the shrines were be- sieged by pilgrims whose narrower experience could not stomach the worldly toleration assumed by the earlier Christian settlers. Added to the fanaticism of honest bigots came the lawlessness of palmer- adventurers, freelances who disguised the lust of plunder under a pious cockle-shell. Both classes ex- asperated the Moslem population and incited the Crusading leaders to unprovoked forays. Describing the situation at the end of the first quarter of the twelfth century, a Mohammedan historian says:
"The Franks raided the country day by day ; they worked unspeakable harm to the Moslems and brought ruin and desolation upon them. . . . Their forays pressed on into Diyar-Bekr, as far as Amid ; they spared neither orthodox nor heretics ; in Mesopotamia they de- spoiled the people of all the silver and valuables they possessed. As for Harran and Rakka, they oppressed them with contumely and shame^ and gave them daily to drink of the cup of death. ... All the roads to Damascus were cut, save that which passes Rahba and the desert, and merchants and travellers were forced to suffer the dangers and fatigues of a long journey across the wastes, in peril of life and property from the wander- ing Bedawis. The Franks even exacted black-mail from all the towns in their neighbourhood, and went so
far as to send agents to Damascus to liberate Christian a
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Saladin.
slaves. At Aleppo they forced the inhabitants to pay tribute up to the half of their revenue — even to the pro- ceeds of the mill at the Garden Gate."*
On the other side, the Saracens, at least the Turkish Moslems, though for the moment divided
and unable to offer any resolute opposition to the enemy, were by nature and training soldiers, and by race and teaching fanatics. The military system of the Seljuks bred up a nation of fighters; and their recent conversion to Islam, their ignorance and con- sequent subjection to the influence of fanatical mmU las, imbued them with the con vert *s proverbial zeal. Every little court that assumed regal attributes on the decline of the central power became a nursery of warriors, each one of whom was a strenuous up- holder of Islam. As with their Christian opponents, booty and Paradise no doubt combined to stimulate their enthusiasm for a religious war ; but, whichever motive was uppermost, it was certain that only com- bination and a leader were needed to convert these straggling forces into a formidable army ready to die for the Faith. It was but necessary to preach the yihadr—tYi^ Holy War — ^and to show them a commander whose courage and military genius all must respect, and the Turkman chiefs and vassals would at once become a Church Militant with whom the Crusaders would have very seriously to reckon. The leader was found in Imad-ed-din Zengy.
* Ibn-di-AUiir, AUiStgi, S9 ff- ^7 nuds^ 9omt allowuce for oriental prejvdice and ei^feiation, bat it mnit not be foifotten that the writer of the foregoing indictment lived toon after the events he deiaibcs, and that hit lather was an eye>witaeM of nany of theae
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CHAPTER III.
THE HARBINGER.
1 127.
MONG the numerous Seljuk officers, once
slaves of Melik Shah, who were rewarded (or
their services with valuable appointments,
Ak-Sunkur held a high place. As court chamberlain he was wholly in the confidence of his royal master, and enjoyed the special privilege of standing at his right hand at all public levees and councils of state. Later, as governor of the province of Aleppo, his rule was clement and enlightened*; his name be- came a proverb for loyalty and uprightness ; and he died for his faithfulness to his old master's son (10^). He left a boy of ten, Zengy, surnamed Imad-ed-din or '* Pillar of the Faith," round whom the retainers rallied. The greatest man then ruling in Mesopotamia was Kurbugha, lord of Mosil and many other cities, a vassal-in-chicf of Melik Shah's son and successor. Kurbugha had not forgotten his old friend the Gyrfalcon," and he summoned Zengy
^See above, p. 17.
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Saladin.
[1094
and his mamluks to his court. "Bring the lad," he wrote, " for he is the son of my comrade in arms, and it behooves me to see to his nurture." So they went to Mosil, were assigned becoming fiefs, and followed their new lord on his campaigns. Once near Amid, when the issue of a battle trembled in the balance, Kurbugha embraced Zengy before the army, and then consigned him to his own mamluks, saying, " Behold the son of your old master ; fight for kim I '* They closed round the boy and set-to with such fury that the day was won. This was Zengy's first battle-field, and he was then about fifteen.
Henceforward for many years he lived the life of a privileged favourite at the court of Mosil under successive leaders — a notable squire of the fighting lords who held the borderland- between the Crescent
and the Cross. He had grown tall and distinguished- looking, of swarthy complexion and piercing eyes, and his character was as upright as his carriage. Up to his thirty-eighth year he continued to play a secondary part in the wars and politics of Meso- potamia. "Five great barons, one after the other, held the government of Mosil with the defence of the marches, and each of them treated him like a son, endowed him with rich fiefs, and gave him high command in their constant expeditions against the Franks. On one of these occasions, at the siege of Tiberias, Zengy distinguished himself by a conspicu- ous deed of valour. At the head of liis men he had repulsed a sortie of the garrison, and pursued them to the gate of the city, which ho dinted with
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BATTLE BETWEEN CRUSADERS AND KURBUGHA. (from a painted window at ST. DENVB, 12TH CENTURY.)
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Zcngy the Syrian^
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his lance. Then facing about, he found he was alone ; his troop had halted after the engagement, and left him to follow the enemy singlehanded.
For some time he maintained his hazardous position, and kept the Franks busy, in the hope that his men would come up and join in an assault; but when none appeared, he reluctantly beat a retreat, and slowly returned to the lines unhurt. The fame of his exploit was noised abroad and he was known thereafter by the name of esh-Shamy, ** the Syrian." * In 1 122 '* the Syrian " was rewarded by the Seljuk Sultan for his military services by the gift of his first direct government, the fief of Wasit, then a large and important city, together with the post of warden of Basra.f He quickly justified the Sultan's choice. The Arabs of " the Swamps " in Lower Mesopota- mia, into which the Euphrates and Tigris in those days poured their waters, were eager to recover their lost supremacy in the fertile fields watered by the Great River ; but so long as Zengy commanded the frontier, they were held in check. The Arab histo- rian ^ives a graphic picture of the critical battle fought on March 1st, 1 123, between the Arabs and the Turks. The former were led by the famous Emir of the Asad tribe, Dubeys, spn of Sadaka, who had settled at HiUa, attacked Mada¥n(Ctesiphon), and even marched upon the '* City of Peace." Baghdad itself, the seat of the
• Ibn-cI-Athir, Atdbegs, 34, 35.
f It was a settled principle of the Seljuk administration that no one was eligible for a jjovcrnorship until he was thirty-six ; Zengy was now thirty-seven, and had therefore gained his promotion almost at the earliest possible date.
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Saladin.
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Abbasid Caliphate. The Caliph el-Mustarshid was no laggard ; he put himself at the head of his Turk- ish guard, marshalled his troops» and clad in his black robe and turban, with the cloak of the Prophet on his shoulders and the sacred staff in his hand, he em- barked in his galley. On landing on the other side he was received by his great vassal, el-6ursuky, the lord of Mosil, Zengy of Basra, the chief Kady, the head of the noble Seyyids, the chief of the Ulema, and other noted warriors and dignitaries, who, as soon as they saw the well-known baldachin surmount- ing the Caliph's horse, fell on their knees and kissed the ground before him. £1-Mustarshid received them in his tent, and one after the other the barons took the oath of faithfulness. Then they marched upon Hilla, the enemy's stronghold. Dubeys met them by the canal called Nile," which connected the Euphra- tes and Tigris, and both sides prepared for battle.
The Arabs numbered ten thousand horse and twelve thousand foot ; the Caliph and his lords mus- tered but eight thousand horse, and their infantry did not exceed five thousand. The Commander of the Faithful stationed himself with his staff behind the line of battle but in full view of the combatants. In front of him stood his chaplain^, each with an open Koran before him; all Baghdad was on its knees that day, reciting the Holy Word and seeking the protection of God ; and if it was read once, the Book was read right through a thousand times in that hour of stress. The right wing of the Caliph's army was under the command of Zengy and another emir, and received the brunt of the enemy's attack.
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Zengy at Court,
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Antar led his Bedawy horsemen in two brilliant charges, and had almost put the Caliph's troops to flight, when Zengy, by an adroit movement, took
the Arabs in flank, and, aided by el-Bursuky, drove the enemy into the canal. The rout was com- plete, the prisoners were slaughtered without mercy, their leader fled, and his women fell into the hands of the conquerors.
After the victory Zengy resolved to try his luck at court. He was tired of standin^j at the beck and call of temporary superiors. Fie called his hench- men and comrades together and addressed them: *' Our position," he said, " is become unbearable. New governors are continually appointed, and* we are to obey their whim and pleasure \ They send us now to Irak, now to Mosil, to-day to Mesopotamia, to- morrow to Syria. What do ye advise me to do?" Then Zeyn-ed-din Aly, the friend whom Zengy trusted most of all, spoke up : My lord, the Turk- mans have a saying, ' If so be a man must needs set a stone on his head, let it be quarried withal out of a high mountain.* In like manner, if it be necessary that we serve somebody, let it be the Sultan himself." Zengy took this advice and went to Hamadhan, to the court of the Seljuk Mahmud. Here he remained in waiting, without gaining any reward beyond his father's privilege of standing in the post of lionour next to the throne. This honour he enjoyed until his pockets were empty. *' O Aly, my friend," he said to Zeyn-ed-din, we have indeed put the stone on our headsy as you proposed, and, faith, it is heavy enough ! "
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Saladin,
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At length one day the Sultan rode forth to play polo, attended by his court. When it came to choos- ing partners, he singled out Zcngy and handed him
the chogan mall, saying "Come and play." After the match he turned to the other courtiers and up- braided them for their boorish jealousy.
** Are ye not ashamed ? " he asked. " Here is a well- known man, whose father held an exalted place in the state, and not one of you has so much as offered him a gift, or bidden him to his table ! By Allah, if I have left him so long without providing for his charges or allotting him a fief, it was only that I might see what ye would do." Then to Zengy : ** I give you to wife Kun- dughly's widow, and ray people shall supply you with gold for the wedding."
Kundughly had been the richest noble of the court, and his widow was endowed like a king's daughter. The day after his marriage the fortunate
Emir rode forth in great pomp, surrounded by his own and his wife's retainers.
Zengy s visit to court had succeeded, and he re- turned in 1 124 to the double fief of Basra and Wasit, which he ruled with a firm yet generous hand. When the Sultan and his spiritual suzerain came to blows, Zcngy defended Wasit against the Caliph's army, and then, seizing every boat he could lay hands on, embarked his troops and brought a timely reinforce- ment to the Sultan, who was then outside Baghdad, and was equally amazed and relieved when he sud- * denly saw the device of his trusty baron displayed on the approaching flotilla. In the result the Caliph
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11271
Atahec^ of MosH.
41
was forced to make peace; the Seijuk graciously con- sented to take up his undesired abode in the City of Peace ; and Zengy received the long coveted post of
warden of Baghdad, with the control and patronage of the whole of Irak (Chalda^a). In the autumn of 1 1 27 he was appointed to the government of Mosil and Jezira (the Island/' Mesopotamia). Nor was he merely a great feudatory and ruler of broad lands ; he was also given the important charge of bringing up two of the Sultan's sons, and by virtue of this ofiice he attained the dignity of an Atabeg or Gov- ernor of Princes. The new position placed him in the forefront of the struggle with the Latin power. Henceforward we shall see him as the champion of the Faith against the Franks — the Cid Campeador of the East. His encomiast recites his achievements in rhyming prose :
** He ravaged the Franks in the midst of their domain; and wreaked revenge for the true believers' pain ; till the crescents of Islam waxed full, after their wane ; and the suns of faith, of late extinct, flashed forth again ; and the Moslems trod proudly, arrayed in victory's dress ; and drank of the ever-flowing wells of success ; de- prived the Trinitarians of keep and fortress; and dealt back their lies and wickedness : so the worship of the One was restored in the * Island * and Syrian regions ; and there flocked to the cause of Islam defenders in legions.**
Before he could measure swords with the Crusaders,
however, he had to make good his position in his new and important government. Hitherto he had
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Sedadin.
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been but one of many peers — a great captain but no king. But at Mosil, two hundred miles away up the Tigris, he was practically independent* and per- mitted no interference in his government. H is system was that which had received the sanction of the ideal emperor, Mclik Shah, and which formed the model for the administration of all the states that sprang up from the ruins of the Seljuk empire. It depended upon direct personal rule, carried out by an elaborate network of inspectors, whose reports were checked by an army of spies. Zengy had agents at the capi> tals of all the neighbouring^ princes and even at the imperial court, and he knew exactly what the Sul- tan was doing from morning to night. Each day brought couriers from various parts with despatches, and he was always the first to hear of any news. The widest hospitality was extended to visitors, but it was combined with strict surveillance. No envoys passed through his territory without due notice and permission, and when they came they were furnished with a trusty escort to check inconvenient question- ing of the people and spying out of the land. His subjects were not permitted to leave his dominions, lest they should betray the weak points in his de- fences; if any escaped, he compelled their sur- render. When a company of peasants migrated from Mostl to Maridin, he called upon the Ortukid Prince of that city to send them back. Timurtash objected : '* We treat our fettahin well," he wrote, "and take but a tithe of their produce; had you done the like, these peasants would not have quitted you."
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Zengys Rule. 43
" Say to your master/* replied Zengy to the messenger, ** If thou didst take but one-hundredth of the produce it would be too much, seeing that thou livest in luxury and sloth on thy crag of Maridin ; whereas if I taxed my people up to two-thirds, it would be nothing for my ser- vices. For I have not only mine own enemies to fight but must wage the Holy War withal, and but for me thou couldst not drink even a cup of water in security at thy Maridin, for the Franks would have gotten possession of it. Wherefore, unless those peasants are sent back, ver- ily I will bring out every clodhopper from Maridin and dump him down at Mosil"
The emigrants were hastily sent back. Another time Zengy made the Sultan deliver up a fugitive noble ; the unhappy man was cast into prison and heard of
no more.
Evidently this was no lenient governor. The story is told how Zengy once surprised a boatman asleep at his post, when he ought to have been alert and awaiting him ; on being roused the man was so
terrified to sec his dreaded master standing before him that he dropped dead on the spot. His slaves complained, with too much reason, of his cruelty, and his servants went in such fear that they dared not ask him to repeat an order which they had not understood. It Is told how he gave one of his wait* ing-men a rusk to hold, and the man did not dare to let it go. Nearly a year had passed when Zengy suddenly called for it ; the man instantly produced it, carefully wrapped in a napkin. His obedience was rewarded by a rich appointment. Zengy was a shrewd judge of men, and whenever
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he found a capable servant or officer, that man was sure of steadfast trust and support. Moreover, severe as he was himself, he allowed no one else to tyrannise over his subjects ; there can be only one tyrant at a time in the land/' he said. Once, on a campaign, when he discovered that one of his favourite captains had turned a Jewish family out into the winter's cold, to make his quarters in their house, Zcng^' faced round on the man and gave him a single look, — and that emir went humbly forth from the city and pitched his tent in the mud and rain. Oppression and li- cence were never permitted among his officers, and no one in that age more rigorously punished assaults upon women. The wives of his soldiers, he held, were under his special protection, and no man in- sulted them with impunity during their husbands' absence at the war. He discouraged his followers from acquiring property. " So long as we hold the country," he said, " what boots your estate, when your military fief serves as well? If the country be lost to us, your estates go too. When a Sultan's followers own lands, they oppress and harass and despoil the folk." He never allowed his armies to trample on the people's crops, — ^they marched, says the chronicler, " as it were, between two ropes,** — and no soldier was permitted to take even a truss of straw from a peasant without payinjr for it. Acts of violence were ri^i^orously punished by crucifixion. He was lenient in his taxation towards the poor, but rich cities like Aleppo were heavily mulcted for the cost of his campaigns. After all he gave them a good return for their
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money. The effects of his severe and resolute rule were seen in the security and prosperity of his do- minions, and especially in the revival of his capital The father of the historian Ibn-el-Athir relates :
" I saw what Mosil, the Mother of the * Island/ was when our martyred * lord first came. The greater part
of the city was in ruins, and waste land stretched from the Quarter of the Drummers as far as the Citadel and i'alace. . . . The old mosque was deserted, and all the houses near the ramparts were abandoned to the distance of a stone's throw. . . . But as the Martyr's reign went on, the country enjoyed protection, the de- signs of the wicked were frustrated, and the powerful were restrained from tyranny. The tidings of improve- ment spread abroad, and the folk flocked into his terri- tory and settled there. Verily ' Generosity breeds attachment.' Buildings multiplied at Mosil and the other towns, insomuch that the very cemeteries vanished under new suburbs."
Zengy built the great Government House opposite the Almeida,! doubled the height of the ramparts, deepened the fosse, and erected the gate called after him el-Bab el-Imady. Before his time Mosil was so
poor in fruits that when a merchant sold grapes he- cut off little bunches with scissors to make the weight exact ; but when Zengy restored its prosperity, fertile
•Zengy did not die in battle for the Faith, which is the highest title to the name of She hid or * martyr* ; but the term is also applied to those Moslems who fall, as he did, by assassination, and other causes.
f Almdda, Arabic Meydan^ is a large square or open space uied lor lwiM>ncing, polo matches, ud other sports.
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gardens grew up around it, pomegranates and pears, apples and grapes abounded, insomuch that last year's gathering was hardly exhausted before the new crop was ready to be plucked.*
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CHAPTER IV.
THE FALL OF EDESSA. II2/-II44.
ZENGY'S historical importance rests not upon his benefactions to Mosil and its dependen-
cies» but upon his championship of Islam against the Crusaders, at a time when the Mo- hammedan cause seemed desperate. The Turkman chiefs of Mesopotamia were disunited and as prone to fight each other as to "go on the Path of God/' and they were in nowise disposed to follow the lead- ership of the new governor of Mosil. The whole country was parcelled out in military fiefs, corre- sponding to Zengy's own tenure, each with a number of vassab, and among the great feudatories were some of old standing and renown. The Ortukid princes had been settled at the castles of Keyfa and Maridin since the beginning of the century. The two sons of Ortuk, Sukman and Il-Ghazy, had been famous in their raids upon the Franks ; and the latter had held the high office of warden of Baghdad. No leader so far had inspired half the terror in the Christ-
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ian ranks that this truculent Turkman had aroused. From his mountain fastness he had raided northern Syria ; and when Aleppo put itself under his pro- tection, he marched to the relief of the city at the head of three thousand horse and nine thousand foot, and storming the hill of Ifrin, where the Franks were strongly posted, he won a signal victory, in which Roger of Antioch was slain. Il-Ghazy died in 1 122, — ^the very year of Zengy's first appointment, — but his son Timurtash succeeded to his eyry at Maridin and afterwards to Aleppo ; and though he was an easy-going prince, who preferred a quiet life, he was not likely to forget what was due to his father s son — at least, until he had received a lesson in deportment.
A more powerful and energetic leader of the Ortukids was his cousin David, who had succeeded to the castle of Keyfa in i io8, and became the most re- nowned chief in all Diyar-Bckr. When he sent one of his arrows round among the Turkmans, everybody girded his loins in delighted anticipation of the fray, and soon twenty thousand men mustered under his banners. Such a prince was not disposed to resign the first place to a new-comer, and Zcngysoon found that he had to reckon with David before he could venture into wider fields. Diyar-Bekr must be sul> dued or disarmed, or he could never safely advance into Syria without fear of a flank attack. His first move was against the town of Jeziret-ibn-Omar, which had recently shaken off the yoke of Mosil ; he took his army across the Tigris, some swimming, some in boats, and, aided by treacherous inhabitants, en-
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tered the town just in time ; for the next day there was a spate to the height of a man, and the river be- came impassable. From Jeztra he marched against
Nisibin, once a famous capital, from whose conquest Trajan derived his title of Parthicus. It was now one of the Ortukid cities, and Zengy won it by an unworthy artifice ; he caught one of the enemy's carrier-pigeons, which commonly served as messen- gers in Mesopotamia and Syria, and substituted a false message, which procured the immediate sur- render of Nisibin, quickly imitated by Sinjar.
Here a fresh danger awaited him. The cities commanding the upper course of the Euphrates, Edessa, Saruj, Bira, etc.» formed outposts of the Christians, and, in the hands of Joscelin de Courte- nay, their garrisons were a corps d'dite. They could not be left safely in the rear without precau- tions. Zengy met the difficulty by arranging an armistice with Joscelin, who was probably glad enough to postpone a struggle with so formidable an adversary ; and the Atabeg was left free to ad- vance into Syria. He was engaged in establishing order in his new territories when he received an ap- peal from Aleppo for deliverance from the exactions of the Franks. It was the very opportunity he was seeking. He straightway crossed the Euphrates (1128), passed through Manbij, and was welcomed with thanksgivings at Aleppo. The only Syrian lord who had been able to make any head against the Crusaders was Tughtigin, the Atabeg of Damas- cus; and he was just dead. In the very nick of
time, Zengy, now "the Syrian "/ar excellence^ came 4
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to take his place and to champion the despairing Moslems against the infidels.*
Master of Aleppo, Zengy stayed more than a year in northern Syria, doing as much mischief as possible to the Christians. Armed with the Sultan's letters- patent as Governor of all the Western Provinces, he laid siege to the strong castle of Atharib (the *' Cerep " of the Franks), a day s journey from Aleppo, to which it had long been a standing menace. Its gar- rison was full of picked warriors, and from its posi- tion and the mettle of Its defenders it was one of the most formidable of the Latin strongholds. For a long time Zengy's furious assaults were stead- ily repulsed, but he drew his lines closer and never lost heart. The besieged were in sore straits, and King Baldwin at Jerusalem held a council of war, whether or not he should advance to their relief. Some thought it a trifling matter and made sure that the Saracens would beat a retreat, as they had been used to do of late ; but one of the council, "a devil to know," says the chronicler, saw something more serious in Zengy *s movements : "A blaze will follow these sparks,** said he, ** and there is flame under this smoke. Is not this the young lion who left his spoor at Tiberias ? '*
* A melancholy incident marred his arrival. Turning over the treaturj and wardrobe of the governors of Aleppo he chanced to light apon ft Uood^ ttnic It was the very coat in whidi liis foUier liad been executed ; and the wife who stood bjr his tide was a grand- daog^ter of tlie Seljnk Tntnih who liad ordoed the deed. In va- oontrollable avenion Zengf pnt her aside, and in ipite of her entreatiei and the remooatnnoei of the jodge she was Stanly dtforoed.
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Baldwin finally resolved to relieve the beleaguered city, and marched " with his horsemen and foot, his banners and crosses, his princes, knights, and counts/*
to meet the lion of Tiberias. Zengy's counsellors advised a retreat to Aleppo, but he would none of their counsel : " Let us put our trust in God, and meet them, tide well or ill." Instead of waiting for the relieving army, he went forth to the encounter, and a furious battle ensued. Zengy at the head of his men charged the enemy again and again, shout- ing the words of the Prophet, "Take a taste of Hell!'* The Crusaders were utterly routed: "the swords of God were sheathed in the necks of his foes/* and few indeed escaped to tell of the field of shambles. They turned to fly, but what could avail when "the bottle was hung on the peg, and the locust had ended its song " ? No quarter was given ; the " Martyr " plunged through a sea of blood, cleaving heads and laying bones bare, till the field was covered with mangled corpses and severed limbs. Only those escaped who hid under the heaps of slain, or " mounted the camel of night.**
Deprived of its last hope, Atharib was taken by assault, its fortifications razed, and its garrison en- slaved or put to the sword, — the piles of their bones could be seen for years. Thus was the terror of Ccrep abated. The loss was not all on one side, however, and Zengy was anxious to get his wounded home and give his men rest. After making terms with the neighbouring fortress of Harim (Harenc), he returned to Mosil in 1 130, the most famous leader in Islam. His deeds were bruited over the land,
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and his name became a proverb for valour and ferocity. Sanguineus the Christians wrote his name, and he had signed it in blood on the field of Atharib.
Four years Zengy rested from the Holy War. He had much to occupy him at Mosil, in maintain- ing his supremacy over the neighbouring chiefs ; and the death of his sovereign the Sultan in 1 131 brought about another war for the Seljuk succession, in which Zen gy took his share. It was in this campaign that he encountered the defeat from Karaja the Cup- bearer which sent him and his army flyinc^ pell- mell to the Tigris, where the ferry-boats of the governor of Tekrit saved them from destruction. The Caliph sought to profit by this reverse and to pay off old scores against the Atabe^' ; but his siege of Mosil in 1 133 was literally circumvented by Zen^y, who completely surrounded the besiegers, and after three months of futile attack his Holiness retired. The eastern horizon being once more serene, the Atabeg turned his eyes zigaAn to Syria. To wage the Jihad with success, it was essential to have possession of Damascus, the heart of Syria, yet now little better than an outpost of the Franks. Damascus must be his, — and then, massing the armies of Syria and the " Island," he would drive the dogs of Christians " into the sea.
It was a dream destined never to be realised by the dreamer, though it came to pass after his death. His first attempt in 1135 was successfully repulsed. Then the able statesman who governed Damascus in the name of a series of nominal lords, Muin-ed-din Anar (the Ainardus of the Latin chroniclers), took
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the only possible measure to defeat Zengy's design : he made common cause with the Franks. The Crusaders themselves stood in no little dread of the furious champion of Islam, and were glad to aid Damascus in checking his advance. When Zengy again arrived in Syria in the summer of 1137 he found the Franks on the side of Anar, and his first act was to drive them, along with the King of Jerusalem, into the castle of Barin (Mont Ferrand). The Arab historians describe the fortress as " high as the crest of Orion, loftier than the mountain- peaks," the giddy summit of which was unattain- able by the weary-winged birds; and the Franks held it impregnable. Nevertheless, after Zengy *s mangonels* had played upon its walls, Mont Fer- rand was forced to lower its flag. The Atabeg presented King Fulk — ab hoste satis humane trac- tatus,'' as William of Tyre admits — with a robe of ceremony, and the exhausted and dispirited garri- son was suffered to march out with the honours of war.
This unwonted clemency was the result of com- mon prudence. Zengy had learned that strong reinforcements from Europe were landing in Syria, and hastily patching up a truce with Damascus he retreated to MosiL In fact a formidable combinap tion was gathering for his discomfiture. The Em- peror John Comnenus brought an army into Syria,
^ A mangonel or stooe-sling was a madiina for Uuowiiig ttoncs worked by means of twisted ropes. The other chief sieee-eneitte of the daj, the catapult (balista|, resembled a hnge arbalest or
GIQSdiOW*
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mother of the reigning lord, and giving his own daughter to the emir himself. The young man was murdered soon after, and everything had to be begun over again. Nothing could tempt or intimid- ate Anar, the real ruler of the city, not even the savage execution of the garrison of Baalbekk — his personal fief — after it had surrendered in Oc- tober, 1 1 39, to Zengy's solemn pledge of safe-con- duct on the Koran and the Triple Divorce. This treacherous butchery only strengthened the alliance with the Christians, which was now cemented by a formal treaty, whereby Anar agreed to pay the King of Jerusalem a monthly subsidy of 20,cxx) gold pieces and to give him Banias, if he would aid in taking it from Zengy and driving him out of the land. The town was duly taken by the strange allies, but Zengy saved them from the trouble of carrying out the last part of the agreement by him- self withdrawing his army from Syria. Leaving Saladin's father as warden of Baalbekk in reward for long and tried services, he once more left Damascus unsubdued, and returned to Mosil.
The resistance of Damascus defeated Zengy *s plans in Syria. He now developed an attack upon the Crusaders from a different quarter. Repulsed in the south, he would swoop upon them from the mountains of the north. His preparations were deliberate. He protected his rear and flank by overawing the Kurds, seizing Shahrzur and Ashib (which he rebuilt and named after himself el-Imadiya, Amadia, as it is called to this day), and allying him- self by marriage with the Shah of Armenia. Then
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he gradually advanced towards the enemy. One after the other, the towns of Diyar-Bekr fell into his hands, until his army lay before the strong walls of Amid, to which he b^;an to lay siege for no juster cause than the Arab adage, " The sword is a better title-deed than parchments." But Amid was not his objective; his eyes were elsewhere; and as the Eastern chronicler says, he but coquetted with Amid to conceal his desire for Edessa."
So long as his old antagonist, Joscelin de Courte- nay, had held the famous episcopal city, Callirrhoe of the sweet waters, Zengy had not dared to ap- proach it. The restless Count had been a terror throughout Diyar-Bekr and Syria : a very devil amongst unbelievers," the Mohammedan annalist called him ; and Edessa had been the strongest outpost of the Christian state. But Joscelin was dead, and a second and very different Joscelin sat in his seat. Valiant like his father, but only by htful impulses, ordinarily sluggish and pleasure-seeking, Joscelin IL preferred the comfortable ease of his fief at Tell Bashir (Turbessel) to the rigours of the hill, country, and Zcngy's ruse of a siege of Amid was quite enough to determine the Count to go away to his pleasant Syrian estate. His Latin followers were nothing loth to follow his example, and Edessa was left to the care of Chaldee and Armenian merchants, imhelles virt^ unskilled in arms, who re- lied upon the protection of mercenaries whose pay was often a year or more in arrears. With such defenders the strongest walls were little worth.
Zengy's opportunity had come, and when the city
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lay deserted by its lord and the picked Crusadiiii; chivalry, he suddenly raised the siege of Amid and advanced upon Edessa with a vast array. He first summoned the garrison to surrender, being loth to injure so queenly a city : but when they refused — mindful, no doubt, of the fate of Baalbekk — he took counsel with the Koran, and obtaining a favourable augury, gave the order for the si^e. He had brought mangonels and skilled sappers, and covered the approaches of the engineers with a devastating bombardment and incessant assaults, till the besieged realised the words of the Koran, *' The earth, all spacious as it is, becatne too strait for them,'' * An Arab poet sang of him :
He rides in a billow of horsemen,
they roll o'er the earth like a flood; His spears flash speech to the foeman —
incarnadined tongues of blood. Dnk as the night it his beauty.
but his brow his a morning light ; HcRj he uses at pleasure,
bat not in the stress of fha fight : Heart to the Heart of his host,
and wings to its Wings, is his migiht-t
After repeated storming parties had been sent in vain, the engineers at iast brought their mines, stuffed with burning faggots, up to the walls. Zengy himself inspected the trenches, and then said, " Let
no man sup with me to-night unless he will ride with me into Edessa in the morning." After a month's siege, a breach of over one hundred ells was made,
* AVroM, ix., 119. flbB-el-Athir, At^*ti», in.
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and the Turkman troops poured into the devoted city (23 December, 1 144). They were mad with the intoxication of victory, and burning to avenge the
thousand insults which the lords of Edessa had forced down Moslem throats ; now was the time to blot out in blood the raids and massacres, the sack- ing and burning, which had made the knights of Baldwin and Joscelin a terror throughout the coun- try side. In their first fury they spared nothing: they murder the widow and the strangers and put the fatherless to death**; crosses were overturned, monks and priests cut down, everything destroyed and trampled under foot, save only the girls like gazelles, the youths fit for slaves, and the treasures of the merchants. It was ruthless, but did not the Koran picture righteous punishments such as this ? " Even such was the heavy hand of thy Lord God^ which He laid on the cities that had wrought wiched^ ness : of a surety His grip is deadly ^ fearsome / ** *
Then Zengy himself entered the city, and was amazed at its beauty and stateliness, and grieved that it should suffer at his hands. H e stopped the soldiery in their destructive rage, and made them give up their prisoners, the youths and girls like gazelles, and the treasure and goods they had taken. He restored the inhabitants — all that wap left of them — to their homes, that the city might recover its prosperity, and he spared no pains to undo the mischief he had begun.
Edessa, in the words of the Arabic historian, was "the conquest of conquests": the stoutest prop of the Latin Kingdom was uprooted ; Saruj and the
^Koran^ xi., 104.
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Fall of Edessa.
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other satellites of the great city immediately surren- dered ; and the valley of the Euphrates was finally freed from the oppression of the infidel. Truth is
come and Falsehood vanished aivay * was proclaimed through the length and breadth of the land ; for Islam had triumphed. The victory was the common talk of the civilised world, and people delighted to relate strange portents of the wonderful event. Far away, a holy man, who afflicted his body with abstinence and rigour, came forth one day from his cell with a face transfigured with joy, and said to the people. One of the brethren has told me that Zengy has taken Edessa this day." After a time, some of the men who had fought in the siege chanced to come to his retreat : *' O master," said they, *' we knew that we should triumph, from the moment that we saw thee standing on the ramparts and shouting the bat- tle-cryt * AUaku Akbar* " The saint denied that he had been at Edessa, but they all swore with great earnestness that they had recognised him on the wall. Still more strange were the words of the pious Moslem sage at Palermo, over whom King Roger of Sicily was exulting in respect of some recent successes of his troops over the Saracens : '* Where was your Prophet,*' he asked, ''that he came not to the aid of his Faithful?" The sage made answer, " He was helping in the conquest of Edessa ! " The courtiers burst into laughter, but the king sternly checked them: the words impressed him strangely. Soon afterwards they were only too clearly explained, f
^ Koran, xvii., 83.
f Ibn^i-Athir, Atabtgi, 124, 125.
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riic great Atabcg did not long survive his crown- ing triumph. The next two years were spent, no doubt. In organising his new dominions, for he never returned to Mosil. In furtherance of his schemes of Syrian empire, he was actively besieging Castle Jaabar, hard by the Euphrates, in 1146, when one night as he was sleeping, being heavy with wine, some of his slaves stole into his tent and began drink- ing what was left. The noise roused Zengy, who roundly abused the fellows, and then fell asleep again. It seems that the men dreaded the punish- ment that was certain to follow in the morning; but the AtabcfT was often so cruel a master that little was needed to drive them to desperation, even if the gov- ernor of the besieged fortress had not offered them blood-money. They plucked up heart and stabbed him as he lay. The eunuch Yaruktash gave the fatal blow, and then all three turned and fled into the cas- tle. When the alarm was raised, the great Emir was in the veiy article of death. One who was present told how he had found his master still breathing:
''On seeing me he thought I had come to give him the final stroke, and he raised a piteous finger, as though praying for mercy. I stopped short, crying oat, ' O my master, who hath done this ? ' But he had no strength to answer, and that instant he breathed his last" (14 September, 1146.) *
So died Imad-ed-din Zengy, "King of Emirs/*
"Pillar of the Faith,** at the ago of sixty-two, by the sword which he had used without mercy — his great
*IbD-el-Athir, Aiabegt^ 13s.
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113S-1174.
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CHAPTER V. saladin's youth. 1 1 38-1 164.
WE left Ayyub in 1 1 38 sadly departing from the castle of Tekrit, with his brother, on the very night of Saladin's birth. They betook themselves to Zengy at Mosil, and were not disappointed of their welcome. The great Ata- beg had not forgotten the ferry on the Tigris, and was never the man to turn away a good sword. The two brothers served in his armies in many wars, and when Baalbekk fell, in October, 11 39, Ayyub be- came the governor of the conquered city. Baal- bekk, or Heliopolis, the old ** city of the Sun," was celebrated not only for its antiquity and its temples, but for its lofty situation. It stood between Leb- anon and Antilibanus, overhanging the valley of the Litany, at a height of four thousand feet above the sea, and was said to be the coldest town in Syria. A legend tells how men asked the Cold, " Where shall we find thee? " and it answered, " My home is Baalbekk.'* Though far from being the
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magnificent city that it was in the days when Anto- ninus Pius built the great temple of which a part still stands, Baalbekk in the time of Ayyub was yet an important town, surrounded by fertile fields, orchards, and gardens, and defended by a strong wall, with a citadel, or acropolis, on the west. It had not yet suffered the vandal touch of the Mongols, or the final upheaval of earthquake, which reduced it to its present ruined state. Its " presses overflowed with grapes," sweet water ran through the town, and mills and water-wheels all around bore witness to fer- tility.* To be placed in command of so great and prosperous a city was a convincing proof of Zengy's confidence, especially when it happened to be the southernmost outpost over against the hostile city of Damascus, distant only thirty-five miles.
Here the governor's son Saladin spent some years of his childhood ; and, according to the saying, they ought to have been happy years, because they have no history. We know al^solutely nothing of the family of Ayyub between 1 139 and 1 146, the period of their residence at Baalbekk. No doubt Saladin received the usual education of a Moslem boy ; probably as the son of the commandant he had the best teaching within reach. Ayyub was particularly devout, and even founded a convent for Sufy re* cluscs at Baalbekk. His son was doubtless drilled for years in the Koran, in Arabic grammar, and the elements of rhetoric, poetry, and theology ; for, what- ever the race of the Saracen rulers of those days, their educational standard was Arabian ; and to ia«
^ EMdrisy, writing in 1154.
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stil the Koran and traditions, to teach a pure Arabic style and the niceties of Arabic syntax, formed the chief aim of the learned but limited men who were entrusted with the training of distinguished youth.
Whatever schooling Sahidin had at Baalbekk must have been meagre compared with his later opportu- nities. He was not yet nine years old when his father's patron was murdered, and the death of the great Atabeg was of course the signal for the recovery of Baalbekk by its old Damascus owner. Ayyub made no effort to defend the town. He was ever a diplo- matic, prudent sort of man, keenly alive to his own interests. He saw that the two sons of Zeng>', who shared their father's dominions, were occupied in watching each other» and had no time to look after Baalbekk. Mosil was distant, and Aleppo timid. On the other hand, Damascus was near, and was resolved to get back her own. When her troops entered Baalbekk, Ayyub made terms from the citadel, and before he surrendered he had arranged to receive a handsome fief, including ten villages near Damascus, a good sum down, and a house in the capital. Here his statecraft and sagacity soon procured him a high position at the court of Abak, the grandson of Tughtigin, and in a few years he rose to be com- mander-in-chief of the Damascus army.
Ayyub held this exalted post when Zengy's son, the King of Aleppo, Nur-ed-din Mahmud, marched against Damascus in April, 1 154. The name of Nur- ed-din (Noradin) is second only to Saladin among the great defenders of Islam. After the catastrophe at Jaabar, the Atabeg s kingdom had fallen into two
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parts : his eldest son, Seyf-ed-din Ghazy, duly suo
ceedcd him at Mosil, whilst a younger, Nur-ed-din, ruled the Syrian province. Hardly had he estab- lished himself upon the throne of Aleppo, when he was called upon to defend Edessa. Immediately after the death of Zengy, the Armenian inhabitants invited their former Count, Joscelin de Courtenay, to retake the city, and in November, 1146, he surprised the Turkman guard in their sleep, and the town was his. The citadel, however, held out till Nur-ed-din's arrival^ when Joscelin and his troops prudently re- tired, whilst the Armenians who sought to flee under his protection were caught between the garrison and the relieving army and cut to pieces. For is gladius et itUus pavor.
**It was pitiful to see, and lamentable to tell,^the helpless crowd, the peaceful populace, old men and sick, matrons and tender maids, ancient grandams, and little children even at the breast, in the jaws of the gate, some trodden down by horsemen, some smothered in the press, some slain by the merciless swords of the enemy." *
Very few escaped with the outgoing army, which Nur^d-dln pursued and harassed as far as the Eu- phrates.
Joscelin himself was captured later on, blinded, and cast into prison at Aleppo, where he died after nine years* misery. His failure was followed by the complete extinction of the Prankish power throughout the County of Edessa and along the
* WiUitm of Tyre» xvt, t6.
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northern frontier. The disastrous Second Crusade,
led by the Emperor Conrad and Louis VII., still further depressed the courage of the Christians. They came at the preaching of St. Bernard to wipe out the disgrace of Edessa ; but they only disgraced themselves before Damascus, in 1148, where the vigilant Anar, no longer afraid of Zengy, and aided no doubt by Ayyub, held them at arm's length and eventually saw their forces evaporate.
" From the place of muster at Tiberias, the host, with
the Holy Cross at its head, marched across Jordan ; first went the barons of the land under King Baldwin, next the French, and last the Germans. The mud wall that surrounded the famous gardens of Damascus offered no bar to the advance of such an army. But the thick orchards with their narrow foot-paths and their growth of fruit and herbage formed a far better protection to the city. Everywhere throughout the length and breadth of this vast stretch of green and trees the ambushed Saracens opposed the invaders' progress ; or, penned up in lofty buildings, which here and there rose up like stone islands out of a sea of green, shot down their arrows from above. At last, after long fighting, the woods were cleared, and the Christians, wearied out with heat and thirst, made for the river, only to find a fresh army drawn up against them. ' Why do we not advance ? ' cried Conrad from the rear, and, learning the cause, burst through the French battalions to the van. There, in true Teutonic fashion, he and his knights leaped off their war-horses, and, closing up behind their shield-wall, soon swept back the enemy within the city. '* ' The siege now began in earnest, and would have
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l)t'en ])rought to a successful issue/ says William of Tyre, ' had it not been for the greed of the great princes, who commenced negotiations with the citizens.' At the ad- vice of traitors, the camp was shifted to the south-west, where, so ran the rumour, the wall was too weak to with- stand the feeblest onslaught. But here the Crusaders found a more deadly enemy than strong fortifications ; for in their new position they were cut off from the river and deprived of the orchard fruits ; and through lack of food and leadership despair fell upon the host, until men began to talk of retreat. There was jealousy, likewise, between the Syrian Franks and their Western allies, and out of this too fertile source of evil, Anar, the Vezir of Damascus, was not slow to reap profit for himself. He pointed out to the former the folly of helping their brethren to seize Damascus, the capture of which would be but the prelude to the seizing of Jerusalem also. His arguments, supported as they doubtless were by bribes, brought about the abandonment of the siege.***
By Easter, 1 149, this valiant Crusade was on its way home.
In such a crisis no man who could bear a sword could have been idle in Damascus. A3^ub, though he probably did not attain the rank of commander- in-chief until after Anar*s death in the August foU
lowing the siege, nnust have played a prominent part in the defence. Saladin was of course too young to be more than an absorbed spectator. It is true that Western legend tells how Eleanor of France carried on her amours with the future " Soldan " ; but as he was then but eleven years old, King Louis's jealousy
* AidicrMid Kiogtfoid, Cnuodet^ si>-ai^
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found a more probable accomplice for the divorce, which afterwards took place, than a good little boy at school
Five years later, Ayyub was the chief agent in changing the dynasty and admitting the son of his old patron to the capital of Syria. It hap- pened that whilst the elder brother had made terms with Damascus and had there risen to high power, *the younger, Asad-ed-din Shirkuh, the " Mountain-Lion," had taken service with Nur-ed-din, and such was the valour he showed in every engage- ment, that his master not only gave him valuable cities in fief — ^such as Emesaand Rahba, — but placed him in command of the army which was destined for the conquest of Damascus.
The great opportunity seemed at last to have come. • The Franks were discredited and dismayed after the miserable collapse of the Second Crusade; Meso- potamia was quiet under the magnanimous rule of Zengy's eldest son ; the indomitable Anar, who had repeatedly withstood the great Atabeg himself, was dead, and in his stead had risen Ayyub, whose brother was Nur-ed-din's trusted marshal ; and al- ready the Prince of Damascus had humbly paid hom- age to the King of Aleppo. If ever the hour had struck for the realising of Zengy's dream of a Syrian empire, centred at Damascus, it was now.
In April, 1154, Nur-ed-din's army appeared on some pretext before the unconquered city. Shirkuh opened negotiations with his politic brother within the walls. In six days all was arranged ; Ayyub did justice to hb old devotion to the house of Zeng> , —
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and espoused the side of the strongest battalions. // devint iraitre pour ii itre point ingrat. The peo- ple of Damascus^ like sheep astray, now that Anar was dead, abandoned their hereditary lord» and fol- lowing Ayyub's advice opened their gates to the poweifulcst sovereign of the age. Nur-cd-din en- tered Damascus without a blow, and the brothers were duly rewarded. Ayyub alone of all the court * was granted the right to be seated in the presence of the king, and was made governor of Damascus; Shirkuh was established at Emesa, with the viceroy- alty over the whole Damascene province. The ferry on the Tigris had proved a sovereign talisman ; but if they owed their first advance to a stroke of fort- une, both brothers evidently possessed the talent and courage to use their opportunities.
From 1154 to 1164, Saladin lived at Damascus, at the Court of Nur-cd-din, with the consideration that belonged to the son of the commandant. As to what he did, what he studied, how he passed his time, and with whom, the Arab chroniclers maintain an exasperating silence. We are informed that he showed himself a youth of ** excellent qualities," that he learned from Nur-ed-din how " to walk in the path of righteousness, to act virtuously, and to be zealous in fighting the infidels." As the favoured governor's son, he naturally enjoyed a privileged position, but, far from exhibiting any symptoms of future great- ness, he was evidently a shining example of that tranquil virtue which shuns "the last infirmity of noble minds." This is all we are told of Saladin up
* IbiMl-Athir, Aiabtgi^ 314.
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to the age of twenty-live. The Syrian nobles — and Salad in's rank was now high — spent their youth in
study, and their manhood in war and hunting and the cultivation of letters. Stalking the lion was the king of sports, but coursing and hawking were prac- tised with unflagging energy. We read of setters and falcons imported regularly from Constantinople, where they were bred with great care and science. But we are not told a word to favour the supposition that Saladin as a youth was a mighty hunter; all we know tends to the belief that he preferred a quiet se- dusion, and like his sagacious father, rather than his impetuous uncle, governed his life on principles of prudence and placidity. When it came to a choice of ways, the one arduous but leading to honour and renown, the other to peaceful insignificance, Saladin, as we shall see, endeavoured to choose the latter; nor was it a case of a formal nolo episcopariy but rather the protest of a retired nature against the rush and press of an ambitious career. He was one of those who have greatness thrust upon them ; and though, when once fairly launched, he missed no opportunity of extending his power, it may well be doubted whether he would ever have started at all but for the urgency of his friends. An uneventful youth might have gently passed into a tranquil old age, antl Sala- din might have remained plain Salah-ed-din of Da- mascus with a name too obscure to be Europeanised.
Nor is it likely that he would have distinguished himself as a scholar or poet. To judge by later years, his literary tastes tended to the theological; he loved poetry indeed, but less than keen dialectic;
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and to hear holy traditions traced and verified, canon law formulated, passages in the Koran explained, and sound orthodoxy vindicated, inspired him with
a strange delight. Like his father Ayyub, he was above all things a devout Moslem ; and at Damas- cus he had ample opportunities for cultivating di- vinity. Learning in those days meant theological armofy more than an3rthing else, and wise men came in throngs from the East and from the West, from Samarkand and from Cordova, to teach and be taught in the mosques and mcdresas of Damascus. They must have brought with them the knowledge of other lands and other customs and arts. Perhaps Saladin sat and listened in the w<5st comer of the Great Omayyad Mosque, when Ibn-Aby-Usrun was holding his lectures there. He could have no better master than one who was styled a " leader of his age in talents and legal learning," and whom Nur-ed-din not only brought with him to Damascus, but even built colleges in most of the great cities of Syria for him to lecture in, that his wonderful gifts might be known of all. He became a judge in Mesopotamia, and it speaks well for Saladin's faithfulness to early ties that, when the old man lost his sight, the Damascus youth who had become the greatest of Sultans refused to let him be deprived of his hon- ourable office.
A negative proof of the retired life led by Saladin in youth and early manhood is found in the fact that Osama, who spent nearly the whole of the ten years, ii 54-1 164, at Damascus in intimate relations with the court (when it happened to be there), does
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not once mention him« and when at last he nnet him in 1 1 74 it seems that a formal introduction had to be made.* Had Saladin been constantly at court, Osama must have known him. At the same time it must be remembered that the Arab chief was be- tween sixty and seventy at the period of his earlier Damascus residence, and would hardly have paid much attention to a mere youngster; and further, that the old poet's impulsive Bohemian nature could have had little in common with the staid young man who preferred the society of divines. Saladin pos- sibly thought Osama a sad warning, and the wild old Arab perhaps retorted with the opinion that the governor's discreet son was no better than a prig.
The fact that Saladin, who was afterwards the most renowned leader of his time, was apparently a completely obscure individual up to the age of twenty-five, is the more curious when it is remem- bered that his uncle Shirkuh, who afterwards brought him into public life, was Nur-ed-din's right-hand man, a conspicuously able and ambitious general, and was even spoken of as almost his colleague in sever- eignty.f When in 1159 Nur-ed-din was apparently dying of a malady which kept him stretched for months on a bed of sickness at Aleppo, Shirkuh, then unquestionably the premier noble of Syria, was on the point of seizing the crown itself, and was only deterred by the ever-prudent counsels of Ayyub, who suggested that it might be wise to wait and see whether their master was really going to die or not.
♦ Derenbourg, Ousama, 368. f Ibn-el-Atbir, Atabegs^ 305.
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In 1160 Shirkuh acted as leader of the Damascus caravan of pilgrims to Mekka, and displayed extraor- dinary pomp on the occasion ; yet we do not hear of Saladin among his brilliant staff, nor did the latter, despite his religious instinct, ever perform that jour- ney which to Moslems is the crowning act of grace. Shirkuh of course took a prominent part in the wars of Nur-ed-din, in the conquest of Harim (Harenc) from the Franks in 1164, and the ensuing capture of fifty Syrian fortresses, whereby the kingdom of Zengy s cautious son was extended to Marasb on the border of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum on the north, and southward to Banias at the foot of Mount Hermon, and to Bozra in the Hauran.
In all this Saladin had no share : if he had taken the smallest part in any warlike operation we may be sure his admiring biographers would have recorded it. It was not until Shirkuh made his memorable expeditions to Egypt that the future " Sultan of the Moslems" emerged from his voluntary retirement and stepped boldly into his uncle's place as the true successor of Zengy in the role of Champion of Islam.
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CHAPTER VI.
THE CONQUEST OF EGYPT.
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OR two centuries Egypt had suffered the
rule of a dynasty of heretical Caliphs who
boasted a descent from Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed, and were hence known as the Fat im ids. They professed the pecuhar mys- tical philosophy of the Shi'iteSy maintained the incarnation of the Divine Reason in the Imams sprung from Aly and Fatima, and believed in the coming of the Mahdy, the last inspired leader of the same elect descent. Notwithstanding the rigid orthodoxy of the vast majority of the Egyptians, who followed the teaching of the great Sunnite Imam esh-Shafiy, — ^whose tomb in the desert, out- side the southern wall of Cairo, is still an object of profound reverence, — the Fatlmid Caliphs imposed their authority with little difficulty upon a people accustomed to submission and pliable in matters of faith ; and for several generations wielded a power which stood unrivalled among Mohammedan states.
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Their navies disputed the command of the Mediter- ranean with those of the Caliphs of Cordova ; they successfully occupied Sicily, and raided Sardinia and Corsica ; their ships frequented the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and even coasted West Africa through the Straits of Gibraltar ; their caravans traded with Asia and Europe, and penetrated the heart of Africa even to Lake Chad ; their armies held Syria and Arabia as well as Egypt, and excited perpetual alarm in their decayed rivals, the orthodox Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad. Their wealth, the fruit of the great Indian trade, which passed through their cus- tonns-houscs to the merchants of Venice and Pisa, was fabulous, if we may credit the amazing inven- tory of jewels and treasure recited by the Arab histo- rians ; the luxury and prodigality of their court were the wonder of foreign envoys; the walls and gates and mosques of Cairo bear witness to their splendid conception of what was due to the royal city, yet what remains of their architecture is but a vestige of the noble works upon which they are known to have lavished all the resources of decorative art
Egypt has proved herself the Capua of more than one conquering race. The Fatimid Caliphs, aban- doning the simplicity of their early days, when they ruled as missionaries among the simple hardy Bcr» bers of Kayrawan, revelled in the wealth and luxury of their beautiful palaces at Cairo, and were content after a while to devote themselves to the unique pur- suit of pleasure, and to leave the obnoxious labour of government to their servants. Their vezirs gradu. ally usurped all sovereign powers, and even assumed
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the title of King, whilst the Fatimid pontiff, buried in the cushions of his harinOt retained only the inys> terious spiritual authority with which the "true Imam " was invested in the eyes of all devout fol- lowers of the sect of Aly. The Caliph of Cairo, on his jewelled throne, became as much a puppet as his rival of Baghdad. Cabals and factions were the natural consequences of bureaucratic rule, and the Fatimid kingdom, divided against itself, with a pop- ulation imperfectly reconciled to the ShiYte sect, might easily have fallen a prey to any determined invader. The long immunity of Egypt was due chiefly to the weakness of her neighbours. The SeU juks had indeed deprived her of Syria, but the Seljuk empire had split into fragments before an invasion of Egypt had been attempted. The only power that menaced the Fatimid government in the first half of the twelfth century was the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Franks were not only in possession of the Syrian coast and many inland fortresses, but were ambitious fighting men, bent upon plunder. For- tunately for Egypt, the Crusaders fought at least as much for gold as for glory, and there is no doubt that the later Fatimids procured their indulgence by a prudent application of subsidies, if not a settled annual tribute.*
The arrival of Nur-ed-din upon the scene of Syrian politics, especially after his conquest of Damascus, introduced a highly disturbing influence. The King of Syria and the King of Jerusalem were now rival powers : neither could allow the other to increase his
^ Annuam tributi fciumtfrn^ William of Tyre calls it (xix., 5).
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strength by the annexation of Egypt, and thus to acquire a vantage-ground from the south. Each coveted the delta of the Nile, and each watched his rival with jealous vigilance. The Egyptian vezirs» the real governors of the country, fully alive to the possibilities of the situation, set themselves to co- quet with both parties, and to play off one against the other. In the end they carried the game too far, and gave Saladin an opportunity which he did not neglect.
The cause of Nur-ed-din's first interference in arms
in the affairs of Egypt was an appeal from a deposed vezir. In a time of frequent assassinations and changes of ministers, Shawar, the Arab governor of Upper Egypt, made his way to the vezirate in Janu- ary, 1163, only to be deposed in seven months* time and driven out of the country by Dirgham, the War- den of the Gate and commander of the Barkiya bat- talion. Shawar fled to Nur-ed-din at Damascus and implored succour. It was not the first time that an Eg3rptian vezir had proposed terms of alliance to the Syrian King, but Shawar's proposals were the prodi- gal pledges of desperation. He offered to pay the whole cost of an invasion, and afterwards to give Nur-ed-din a third of the Egyptian revenue in annual tribute. The King of Syria was not indifferent to the importance of obtaining a hold upon Eg> pt : he knew that it was the master-key of the political situ- ation, and would form a prolific source of revenue. Yet he hesitated to accept Shawar's overtures. Dis* trust of the man himself, and apprehension of the risks to which an expedition would be exposed when
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marcliing' through the desert on the Crusaders* flank, made him pause.
Events, however, moved too fast for his prudence. Dirgham quarrelled with Amalric over the yearly subsidy, and the new King of Jerusalem with prompt decision invaded Egypt in September, 1163, to ex- act the usual tribute. Dirgham, after a severe defeat near Bilbeys, ingeniously avoided total discomfiture by breaking down the dams and causeways and flooding the country with the imprisoned waters of the Nile, then at its height. Amalric had already retired to Palestine, but half satisfied with some sort of composition, when Dirgham, hearing of Shawar's negotiations at Damascus, perceived his error in not conciliating the Latin King, and hastened to proffer an eternal alliance, to be cemented by increased trib- ute. This step must have been known to Nur-ed- din : fortified by an auspicious consultation of the Koran, he immediately cast his former scruples to the winds ; and before Amalric could intervene, Shawar was on the march to Egypt (April, 1164), supported by a strong force of Turkmans from Da- mascus, led by Asad-ed-din Shirkuh.with Saladin on his staff. The Egyptians were defeated at Biibeys, but rallied again under the walls of Cairo.
For several days indecisive conflicts took place, Shawar holding Fustat, and the other the castle of Cairo. Then, to raisQ funds, Dirgham possessed him- self of the ivakf, the money of the orphans," and at once the people began to fall away from him. Worse still, he was deserted by the Caliph and the army. Driven to bay, for the last time he sounded the as-
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sembly.*' In vain " the drums beat and the trumpets
blared, ina-sha-llah ! on the battlements " : no man answered. In vain the desperate Emir, surrounded by his bodyguard of five hundred horse, ail that re- mained to him of a powerful army, stood suppliant before the Caliph's palace for a whole day, even until the evening call to prayer, and implored him by the memory of his forefathers to stand forth at the win- dow and bless his cause. No answer came ; " the guard itself gradually dispersed, till only thirty troop- ers were left. Suddenly a warning cry reached him : * Look to thyself and save thy life ! ' — and lo ! Sha- war's trumpets and drums were heard, entering from the Gate of the Bridge.**
Then at last the deserted leader rode through the Zuweyla gate out into the streets beyond, calling on the people, who had once adored him and battened on his favour, to rise and do battle in his cause ; they only hooted and cursed, as is the manner of the mul- titude towards fallen favourites. Still he rode on, till his horse, maddened by the tumult, threw its rider, beside the sacred chapel of " our Lady Nefisa." Instantly the fickle folk hacked off his headland bore it in triumph through the streets ; his body they left to be worried by the curs. Such was the tragic end of a brave and gallant gentleman, poet, and paladin ; courteous and comely in face and bearing, cultivated in mind and accomplished in every manly sport; " one who could write like Ibn-Mukia, and composed poems with double rhymes " ; " the best horseman of his age," and as stout an archer as ever drew bow in Egypt.
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NICHE FROM THE CHAPEL OF 8ITTA NEFISA, ARAB MUSEUM, CAIRO.
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Amab'ic before Bilbeys,
Shawar, restored to power, in May, ii64»^ was eager to see the backs of the allies who had effected his reinstatement. He cautiously excluded Shirkuh
from the fortified city of Cairo, and kept him in the suburbs. Then safe, as he thouf^ht, within his own strong walls, he defied his ally, broke all his pro- mises, and refused to pay the indemnity. Shirkuh was not the man to forego his rights or condone broken faith ; he sent Saladin to occupy Bilbeys and the eastern province. This hostile movement com- pelled Shawar in turn to appeal to Amalric. Now the King of Jerusalem plainly foresaw the ruin of the Christian cause in Palestine, penned in be- tween the devil and the deep sea," if Nur-ed^in should once gain a firm footing in Egypt, and he willingly sent the same army with which he had intended to support Dirgham against the very man whom he was now to protect. The tables were thus turned: the Franks were now the allies of their former enemy, and the saviour of the Egyptian vezir had become his foe.
On the arrival of the Crusaders the Syrian army entrenched itself at Bilbeys, where it resisted all the assaults of Amalric for three months. A fortunate diversion at last came to its relief. Nur-ed-din was waging a successful campaign in Palestine. After a reverse at the hands of Gilbert de Lacy and Robert Mansel, he had taken Harim (Harenc) and was lay- ing siege to Banias (Caesarea Philippi) then com- manded by Walter Chesney ; and Amalric was sorely
• In his chronology of the first expedition to Ej^pt, Baha-ed-din i» a year too early (1163). I follow Ibn-el-Atbir in bis Kamil,
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wanted at home to protect his own kingdom, al- ways dangerously exposed upon its eastern marches. Nor was Shirkuh less anxious to extricate himself
from a situation where, attacked all day and every day, penned in behind weak earthworks, and running short of food, his position was neither safe nor agree- able. An armistice was accordingly arranged, and the two parties came to terms. On the 27th of October, the Syrians marched out of their camp and filed off between the lines of the allied Crusaders and Egy[> tians, Shirkuh himself, battle-axe in hand, bringing up the rear. A Prankish officer, surprised at this warlike attitude, asked the truculent old warrior whether he was afraid that the Christians would at- tack him in spite of their pledge. " Let them try!** said Shirkuh, and passed on. In accordance with the agreement, the army returned to Damascus, where they found that Nur-ed-din*s victories had been crowned by the surrender of Banias in mid October, and the capture of Bohemond Prince of Antioch, Raymond Count of Tripolis, with Hugh of Lusignan, and other noted knights, who were led in chains to Aleppo.*
The expedition to Egypt had ended without glory, but it had accomplished its object ; it had spied out the land, and Shirkuh was able to report favours^bly
on the possibility and advantages of annexation. Egypt was a country, he said, " without men^ and with a precarious and contemptible government." Its wealth and defencelessness invited aggression.
^ Waiiim gf T>ie, liz., 9.
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The ambitious general was devoured by desire for a vicerc^^ throne at Cairo, and from this time forth he persistently urged Nur-ed-din to authorise the
conquest of Egypt. The bolder spirits at court sup- ported his importunity, and the Caliph of Baghdad accorded his blessing and encouragement to a pro- ject which involved the deposition of his heretical rivaL Nur-ed-din, ever cautious, resisted these in- fluences for a while, but at last gave way, — possibly because rumours had reached him of a closer union between Shawar and the Franks, which soon proved to be well founded.
It was, in fact, a race for the Nile. Shirkuh started first, at the beginning of 1167, with two thousand picked horsemen, and, taking the desert route by Gazelle Valley (VVady-el-Ghizlan) to avoid a collision with the Franks, but encountering on the way a violent and disastrous sandstorm, reached the Nile at Atfih, some forty miles south of Cairo, where he might cross to the west bank without fear of mo- lestation. He had hardly carried his army over, however, when Amalric appeared on the east side, having hurried from Palestine as soon as he heard of the enemy's movements. The two armies fol- lowed the opposite banks down to Cairo, where Amalric pitched his camp close to Fustat, whilst Shirkuh took up a position exactly facing him at Giza. There each waited for the other to begin operations. Meanwhile Shawar had recovered from his surprise at the sudden irruption of the Franks^ whom at first he had not recognised with certainty as foes or friends, and began to testify his gratitude
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for their protection in a substantial form. Amalric took the opportunity of the vezir*s amicable dispo- sitions to place their alliance on a more formal basis. Convinced of the unstable character of the Minister,
he resolved to have a treaty ratified by the Cahph in person. The conditions were that Egypt should pay the King two hundred thousand gold pieces * then and there, and a further like sum at a later date, in return for his aid in expelling the enemy. On thb agreement Amalric gave his hand to the Caliph*s representatives, and claimed a like ratification from the Caliph himself.
The introduction of Christian ambassadors to the sacred presence, where few even of the most exalted Moslems were admitted, was unprecedented; but Amalric was in a position to dictate his own terms. Permission was granted, and Hugh of Caesarea with Geoffrey Fulcher the Templar were selected for the unique embassy. The vezir himself conducted them with every detail of oriental ceremony and display to the Great Palace of the Fatimids. They were led by mysterious corridors and through guarded doors, where stalwart Sudanis saluted with naked swords. They reached a spacious court, open to the sky, and surrounded by arcades resting on marble pillars; the panelled ceilings were carved and inlaid in gold and colours ; the pavement was rich mosaic The unac- customed eyes of the rude knights opened wide with wonder at the taste and refinement that met them at
* lo Arabic, dinars. The dinar was a gold coin weighing a few grains more than the |uesent half-sovereign, and containing A laiger proportion oi gold (.97).
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every step ; — ^here they saw marble fountains, birds of many notes and wondrous plumage, strangers to
the western world ; there, in a further hall, more ex- quisite even than the first, "a variety of animals such as the ingenious hand of the painter might depict, or the license of the poet invent, or the mind of the sleeper conjure up in the visions of the night, — such, indeed, as the regions of the East and the South bring forth, but the West sees never, and scarcely hears of." At last, after many turns and windings, they reached the throne room, where the multitude of the pages and their sumptuous dress proclaimed the splendour of their lord. Thrice did the vezir, ungirding his sword, prostrate himself to the ground, as though in hum- ble supplication to his god ; then, with a sudden rapid sweep, the heavy curtains broidered with gold and pearb were drawn aside, and on a golden throne, robed in more than regal state, the Caliph sat revealed.
The vezir humbly presented the foreign knights, and set forth in lowly words the urgent danger from without and the great friendship of the King of Jer- usalem. The Caliph, a swarthy youth emerging from boyhood,— procerus cor pare, facie venusta^ — replied with suave dignity : He was willing, he said, to confirm in the amplest way the engagements made with his beloved ally. But when asked to give his hand in pledge of faithfulness, he hesitated, and a thrill of indignation at the strangers' presumption ran through the listening court. After a pause, how- ever, the Caliph offered his hand — gloved as it was—
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to Sir Hugh. The blunt knight spoke him straight: My lord, troth has no covering : in the good faith of princes, all is naked and open." Then at last, very unwillingly, as though derogating from his dignity, the Caliph, forcing a smile, drew ofi the glove and put his hand in Hugh's, swearing word by word to keep the covenant truly and in all good faith ♦
The treaty thus ratified, Ani.ilric attempted to throw a bridge of boats across the Nile; but the presence of the enemy on the other side defeated the plan, and he resorted to another. Descending to the Delta where the river forked into its two main streams, he conveyed his army over to it by nighty and thence to the other side, in ships. Shirkuh dis- covered the movement too late to oppose, and find- ing the enemy landed he retreated to Upper Egypt. The King pursuing came up with him at " the two Gates '* (el-Baban), ten miles south of Minya. Here was a plain, on the border where the cultivated land touched the desert, and numerous sandy hills gave cover to the combatants. Shirkuh's captains at first advised him not to risk a battle ; but one of them stood forth and said stoutly, '* Those who fear death or slavery are not fit to serve kings: let them turn ploughmen, or stay at home with their wives." Sal- adin and others applauded ; and Shirkuh, always ready for hard knocks, gladly gave battle (l8th April, 1 167). He put the baggage in the centre, covered
♦ William of Tyre. Historia rcrurti in partibus transmarinis Cff' tarum, lib. xiz., cap. 19, 20. The embassy & not recorded by the Arabic chroniclers.
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by Saladin's troop, which was to bear the first brunt of the attack. Sahidin's orders were to fall back when pressed and draw the enemy in pursuit, and then to press them in turn, as the fight might allow. Shir- kuh himself took command of the right wing, com- posed of a body of picked horsemen, which was to cut up the enemy's rear, consisting of the less war- like Egyptians. It fell out as he expected. The Franks were drawn away by Salad in ; the Egyptians were cut up and routed ; and when the Crusaders, returning from the pursuit, found their allies fled, they also hastily retreated, abandoning their baggage and leaving Hugh of Cfesarea among the prisoners.* The victors, however, were not strong enough to fol- low up the success, march on tf) Cairo, and run Sha- war and Amalric to earth. Taking the lesser risk, Shirkuh went north by a desert route and entered Alexandria without opposition. Here he installed Salad in as governor, with one half of his army, while with the other he again turned southwards to levy contributions in Upper Egypt.
The joint forces of the Franks and Egyptians now invested Alexandria, whilst the Christian fleet held the coast. The defence of the city was Saladin's first independent command, and he quitted himself
* Ibn-d-Athir, Kamii, 548 ; McordiDg to his Atahegs it was a nonlh cariier. The nmnben engaged are varionslj estimated. The Aiab historians give Shirkuh only 9000 horsemen. William of Tyre, on the other hand, pots the Saracen force at 9000 men mailed {lorias galHsque), 3000 archers, and at least 10.000 Arabs armed with spears. The Latins, he says, had only 374 knights, an uncer- tain number of light infantry (Turcopules), and a body of Egyptians who were more a burden than a help (aix., 2^).
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well. He had but a thousand followers of his owa in the midst of a mongrel and partly foreign popu lace, who, as malcontents, were not sorry to take
part against a feeble government, or to defend their city against the savage and bloodthirsty Franks ; yet, as merchants and tradcsniLMi. could not conceal their terror of the siege-machines and infernal engines which the *' infidels*' brought against their walls. Provisions, moreover, ran short ; and short rations make a humble stomach. At last they rose in a tu* mult and openly talked of surrender : " Why suflFer we these things for a stranger and a cause which is not ours?" Saladin meanwhile liad sent to his un- cle for help, and Shirkuh was hurrying down from Kos laden with treasure. The news put fresh heart into the people, already spurred on by Saladin's spirited exhortations and the promise of reinforce- ment, or frightened into a desperate courage by his tales of the monstrous barbarities inflicted by the Franks upon the vantjuished. They held out for seventy-five days, in spite of hunger and incessant assaults, till it became known that Shirkuh was at the Abyssinians' Lake, laying siege to Cairo. On this, Amalric gave up all thoughts of Alexandria, and a peace was arranged (4 August, 1 167), by which both parties* agreed to leave Egypt to the Egyptians. Alexandria was surrendered to Shawar ; prisoners were exchanged ; and Shirkuh led the exhausted remnant of his two thousand troopers back to Da- mascus. Before leaving, Saladin was honourably
* It is fair to state that the Franks did not fully admit tliis pledge for their part of the treaty of peace.
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entertained in Amalric*s camp for several days but
rather, one suspects, as a hostage than as a guest. The experience, nevertheless, may have been valua- ble. He must have seen something of knightly order and discipline, and may here have formed a friendship with Humphrey of Toron» who was on terms of brotherliness {fraterno fouUre junctus erat with at least one Saracen emir. It is even probable that this was the occasion when Saladin received Christian Knighthood at Humphrey's hands. f
The Christians claimed the campaign as a triumph, and the evacuation of Alexandria as a surrender ; but if the Arab chroniclers are right in saying that Amal. ric paid Shirkuh fifty thousand pieces of gold to go awa\ , the advantage would appear to have been on the side of the Moslems. On the other hand, the Franks, in violation (apparently) of their agreement, not only left a Resident or Prefect at Cairo, but in- sisted on fumbhing the guards of the city gates from their own soldiers ; they also increased the an- nual subsidy to be paid by Shawar to the King of Jerusalem to one hundred thousand gold pieces. The apparent inconsistency of these arrangements at Alexandria and Cairo may be explained by the sup- position that the Christians, alarmed by the news of Nur.ed-din*s successes in Palestine, were eager to get home at all costs, and therefore abandoned their chances against Shirkuh, however propitious ; yet did not leave Egypt without clinching their hold upon the shifty vezir at Cairo.
♦ William of Tyre, xvii., c. 17.
t IHmwium Regis IHtmrdi. i . c. 3. See below, Chftp. XXIII.
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Not content with this hold» the more impetuous among Amalric's counsellors presently began to urge the complete conquest of Egypt, and their advice was strongly supported by the garrison they had left at
Cairo and Fustat, who had naturally the best means of discovering the weakness of the defences. The King of Jerusalem withstood these counsels in vain. He had doubtless discovered by this time that the only safe policy was to conquer Damascus first, and make the Kingdom safe on the east, with the great Syrian desert for its frontier, before attempting to annex XLgy^l — since invasion meant exposing his rear to the assaults of Nur^d-din. Moreover, Egypt, he said, was their milch cow ; and he pointed out the bad policy of turning a friend into an enemy and tlirowing Shawar into the arms of Nur-cd-din — with whom he was already supposed to be intrigu- ing,— but he argued to no purpose. His captains were bent upon invasion and confident of success, and at last he allowed himself to be persuaded. In open violation of hts word, as understood by the Saracens, and at least without the shadow of an ex- cuse, he once more marched into Egypt ; but now he entered as an enemy where before he had been bidden as an ally. Arrived at Bilbeys on the 3d of November, 1 168, he added to perfidy the crime of wholesale massacre, — he spared neither age nor sex, says the Latin chronicler, in the devoted town.
This barbarous act at once ranged the Egyptians on the side of Nur-ed-din, and inspired them to heroic ex- ertions. They took advantage of the Christians* fool- ish loitering, to marshal their forces and strengthen
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their defences. The old city of Fustat, for three hundred years the metropolb of Egypt, and still a densely populated suburb of Cairo, was by Shawar's
orders set on fire, that it might not give shelter to the Franks (i 2 November,! i68). Twenty thousand naph- tha barrels and ten thousand torches were lighted. The fire lasted fifty-four days, and its traces may still be found in the wilderness of sandheaps stretching over miles of buried rubbish on the south side of Cairo. The people fled *' as from their very graves," the father abandoned his children, the brother his twin ; and all rushed to Cairo for dear life. The hire of a camel for the mile or two of transit cost thirty pieces of gold.* The capital itself was in a tu- mult of preparation for the attack. Amalric did not keep it long in suspense, but he was forced to aban- don the usual camping ground (the Birket-el-Habash) on account of the suffocating smoke from Fustat. The assault, however, was postponed by the negotia- tions which Shawar adroitly contrived, to buy off his greedy assailants. There was more pretence than honesty in his diplomacy, for he was sending at the same moment couriers to Damascus to implore the aid of Nur-ed-din. The young Caliph of Egypt wrote himself, and even enclosed some of his wives* hair as a supreme act of supplication which no gen- tleman could resist. t
This time the King of Syria did not hesitate; he was nettled at the poor results of the two previous
♦ fTamil, 555 ; el-Makrizy, Khitat^ i., 286 ; Wustcnfeld, GcschichU dir Fatimiden Chalifen, 338-339. f Ibo-el-Atbir, Kamil^ 556.
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expeditions, and indignant with the Franks for what he held to be a flagrant breach of faith. He might even have gone in person, but that he was preoccu- pied with the unsettled state of Mesopotamia. He lost no time, however, in despatching a force of two thousand picked troopers from his own guard, with six thousand paid Turkmans of approved valour, under the command of Shirkuh» supported by a large staff of emulous emirs. The only one to hold back was, strange to say, Saladin himself. He had been his uncle's right hand in the former campaigns, but he stiUlovedhis old retirement and the discourse of pious men ; and when Shirkuh, in the presence of Nur-ed-din, said Now» Yusuf, make ready for the march," Saladin answered *' By Allah, if the sov- ereignty of Egypt were oflered me, I would not go : what 1 endured at Alexandria I shall never forget.** Then Shirkuh said to Nur-ed-din, Needs must he come with me," and Nur-ed-din turned to the young man and repeated the words, *' La budd min mesirik viaa ammik** ** Needs must that you go with your uncle." In vain Saladin pleaded his aversion to the campaign and his lack of means; Nur*ed-din would not listen, but supplied him with horses and arms and bade him make ready : So I went," said Sala- din, recounting the scene in later years, " I went like one driven to my death." Thus were accomplished the words of the Koran * : Perchance yt hate a thing although it is better for you, and perchance ye lot'e a thing although it is worse for you: but Godknoweth and ye know not,^^ Nur-ed-din himself superintended the
* Koran, ii., 113 ; A'amit, 563.
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marshalling of the army at the Spring Head, a day's march from Damascus, and gave every man a present of twenty gold pieces, whilst he committed to Shirkuh two hundred thousand dinars for his military chest.
On the 17th of December, 1 168, the third expedi- tion began its march to Egypt, once more to rescue Shawar, in name, but in fact with far larger designs. Amalric, always needy and greedy, was still waiting before Cairo for more of the vezir's promised gold, when Shirkuh suddenly effected his junction with the Egyptians (8 January, 1 169), evading the Frank army which had gone out to intercept his advance. Deceived by Shawar and outgeneralled by Shirkuh, the discomfited king retired to Palestine, without offering battle, having gained, as the proverb has it, nothing better than the "boots of Honeyn." The Syrians entered Cairo in triumph, and were welcomed as deliverers. The grateful Caliph gave audience to Shirkuh and invested him with a robe of honour, clothed in which he returned to display himself to the army. Shawar, inwardly devoured by jealousy and alarm, rode out daily to the Syrian camp, in great state, with all his banners, drums and trumpets, and overwhelmed the general with protest- ations of devotion ; but meanwhile he took no steps to perform his engagements to Nur-ed-din, but was actually meditating a treacherous arrest of Shirkuh and his officers at a friendly banquet. The Syrian leaders soon determined that he was not to be trusted, and Saladin and Jurdik resolved to get rid of him. As the vezir was riding out to visit the general, who chanced to be paying his respects to
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the venerated tomb of the Imam esh-Shafiy, Saladin and his men dragged him from his horse and made him prisoner. Whatever doubts Shirkuh may have entertained as to the fate of Shawar were set at rest by a peremptory order from the Caliph himself, who, like a slave emancipated from a rigorous master, de- manded the head of the vezir. It was sent, and thus ended the brief and checkered career of a re- markable and politic minister ; an Arab chief, more- over, of ancient lineage, with all the Bedawy's daring and the ancestral love of poetry — ^insomuch that he once filled Omara's mouth with gold in deh'ght at an ode — and, it must be added, with the Arab's full share of falsehood and deceit.
The Caliph eUAdid, who was much impressed by the gallant bearing of his deliverers, immediately ap- pointed Shirkuh to the vacant office, clad him in the robes of vezir, invested him with plenary powers, and gave him the titles of " Victorious King " and " Com- mander-in-chief ** (l8th Jan., 1169). The people were as pleased as the pontiff ; they had liked the jolly soldier as he rode over the country a year and a half ago, even though he was levying taxes ; and the Cairenes appreciated the liberal manner in which he had disbursed from his heavy military chest, and had refreshed them with the looting of Shawar*s palace, where they left not so much as a cushion for his lav- ish successor to sit on ! The Arab poet saw more clearly when he remarked that the claws of " the Lion " * were now fastened in his prey. The Lion
• And^-din, "Uon of the Faith," was the Anbic lUMac of Shlrknh, whidi it itaelf Penaaa for ** MoanUin-Laon."
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of the Faith," however, lived scarcely more than two months to enjoy his quarry, but died suddenly on the 23rd of March, i i69~the result of over-eating ; for he was a mighty trencherman and addicted to heavy
feeding. In person, Shirkuh was short and stout, choleric of face, and fierce by nature ; nor had Allah endowed him with a superfluity of intelligence. Yet he was a bold and capable soldier, emulous of glory, patient under hardships, liberal beyond his means, and beloved of his men ; and he had the grace to die at the right moment. The way was now open for Saladin.*
♦ William of Tyre's portrait of Shirkuh is worth quoting : it was
eridently drawn by one who knew him. He describes him as
**Yirum industrium, et in armis strenuum, liberalem supra vires
pttrtmonii sui, gloriae cupidum, et ill re millturi admodBm eierdlai"
tmn, militibiis carum, effidente mnnificentie, et acoeptain. . • .
Eiat aotem homo jam senior, pusillus statura, pingals muliam et
corpideDtior ... in altero ocnloram habens albnginem ; laboris
patientissininB, sed et sitim et famem aeqnanimiter tokians, snpra id
qnod aetas Ola soleafc snstineie."— /Tm/.. xuc, 5. 1
GOLD COIN OF NUR-ED-OIN ISSUED BY 8ALACNN AT CAIRO IN 1171.
CHAPTER VII.
VEZIR OP EGYPT. I169-II71.
MEANT Amr; but God meant Kharija/* is the I Arab version of V Jioinme propose et Dieu dispose. Saladin had been dragged to Egypt against his will, foreseeing nothing but misery; and now the very step he had tried to avoid was to lead him to the pinnacle of fame. The Prophet indeed said truly, ** God will make men wonder when i/iey see folk Jiauled to Paradise in chains'* In such happy bonds was Saladin led to the throne. The Fatimid Caliph chose him from among all the Syrian cap- tains to be the successor of his uncle, and on the 26th of March, 1 169, three days after Shirkuh's death, he was invested * with the mantle of vezir and decor- ated with the title el-Mclik en-Nasir, "The Kint^ Strong to aid." His comrades in arms, many of whom were older and more experienced than him- self, were not easily reconciled to the promotion of
* The actual diploma of af^xiintineiit is preserved «t Berlin, and runs to nioety-eight folios.
9»
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the young man of thirty over their heads. They thought him a well-behaved and intelligent subal- tern, too quiet and unambitious for high command ; — it was indeed this opinion of Saladin's docility that had procured him an office where a tractable tool was wanted : — but to raise him above the war-worn cap- tains of Nur-ed-din's campaigns was more than they could stomach. It needed all Saladin's tact and di- plomacy, supported by the specious arguments of el-Hakkary the lawyer, and a liberal opening of treas- ury coffers, to induce the jealous warriors to submit ; and several of them returned to Syria rather than serve under their junior.
On his side, Saladin began to order his life more rigorously. Devout as he had always shewn him- self, he became even more strict and austere. He put aside the thought of pleasure and the love of ease, adopted a Spartan rule, and set it as an ex- ample to his troops. He devoted all his energies henceforth to one great object — to found a Moslem empire strong enough to drive the infidels out of the land. " When God gave me the land of Egypt," said he, " I was sure that He meant Palestine for me also." It may well be that natural selfish ambition quickened his zeal; but the result was the same: thenceforward his career was one long champion- ship of Islam. He had vowed himself to the Holy War.
The new vezir's position was curiously anomalous. He was at once the prime-minister of an heretical
(Shi'fte) Caliph, and the lieutenant of an orthodox (^Sunnite) King. With admirable inconsistency, the
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two names were duly prayed for every Friday at the mosque. The anomaly would have to be abolished, but only by degrees : violent changes might be fatal
so long as the people of Egypt retained the affection for the (Shiite) doctrines which two centuries of Fatimid rule had instilled, and which was fostered by the very nature of the tenets. Saladin's rela- tions with Nur-ed-din were also delicate. The King of Syria congratulated him, indeed, on his appoint- ment, and confirmed him in his command of the Syrian army in Egypt, but was clearly resolved to keep him in his place. His despatches from Damascus were addressed merely " To the Emir Salah-ed-din, Commander-in-chief, and the other Emirs,*' to show him that he was but primus inter pares, liable to be recalled or degraded at his sovereign's pleasure. To gradually strengthen his own position without awak- ening the distrust of the people of Egypt or the jealousy of Nur-ed-din, was the prudent policy which Saladin must necessarily pursue.
His first step was to surround himself by his fam- ily. Like another Joseph, also vezir of Egypt, but under a Pharaoh instead of a Caliph, he sent for his father and brethren from Syria, and made them share his splendour. He even offered to surrender his high office to his father,* but A3ryub refused the honour. "My son," said he, "God had not chosen thee for this great position hadst thou not been fitted for it ; it is not well to play with one's luck." Ayyub, however, took upon himself the
* AjTnb arrived in EgjrpI in the middle of April, 1170, • year later than hit ions (Ibn-Khallikan, L, 245).
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duties of treasurer, and his other sons loyally sup- ported their brother in his difficult situation. They had their reward, for Saiadin gave them the fiefs of obnoxious Egyptians, whom he banished to places where they could do no hurt. His plan was to weaken the Caliph's party, and he did not care how much he was hated by the I'lgyptian courtiers and officers, so lon^ as he gained the confidence of the people. This he set himself seriously to win, and his Arab biographer says that the folk came from all parts of Egypt to see him, and seldom went away empty-handed : there was ever a petitioner at his ear, and none appealed to him in vain.
He needed all his popularity among the people; for the palace, with its numerous troops and de- pendents, was openly hostile. The Caliph had dis- covered that he was mistaken in Saladin*s character, — that he had adopted not a slave but a master; and intrifj;ues were soon a-foot to destroy the new vezir. Nejah, the chief black eunuch and major domo^ headed a conspiracy among the upholders of the Fatimid dynasty. They planned an understand- ing with the Franks, who were to invade Egypt and entice Saiadin from Cairo, when the conspirators would take him in rear, and thus attacked on both sides he and his Turkmans would perish. An acci- dent revealed the plot to Saiadin, and he had the chief eunuch watched, until at length he succeeded in catching him at his country house, outside the protection of the palace, and the unlucky Black was quickly beheaded (July, I169). This summary exe- cution of their countryman and leader aroused the
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fury of the Caliph's troops, then (as in modern
Egypt) composed largely of Sudanis; and fifty thousand, it is stated, of these Blacks rose up to avenge him. A bloody struggle ensued in the wide quadrangle that divided the palaces (Beyn el-Kas- reyn), and many houses and streets were set on (ire; but at last the Blacks were overcome, their quarter, eUMansuriya, was burnt, and they were compelled to beg for mercy. They were sent over the Nile, to Giza, and thence away to Upper Egypt, where rebellion smouldered for several years. In the winter of 1 171-2, Salad in 's eldest brother, Turan Shah, reduced them to temporary submission, but in the following winter he had to fight them again, and even pursued them into Nubia, where he took the city of Ibrim (Primis), near Korosko, pillaged the church of the monophysite Christians, tortured the bishop, and slew seven hundred of the pigs which were found there in great abundance, to the proper disgust of all pious Moslems. In 11 74 there was a formidable rising of the Blacks at Aswan, led by Kens-ed-daula ; and it needed some hard fighting before he was defeated and killed in September by Seyf-ed-din (el-Adil), another of Saladin's brothers. Yet another insurrection, at Koptos, had to be sup- pressed by the same general in 1 176. After this we read no more of risings among the Blacks, but, as the Arab historian piously concludes, *' God made an end of their villainy." It is evident that the struggle was obstinate, and that Upper Egypt was for six years in a state of intermittent rebellion ; and there can be little doubt that the Blacks who repeatedly
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revolted were stirred up by the fugitive Sudany slaves and other partisans of the Fatimids.*
Hardly had Saladin expelled the mutinous Blacks from Cairo, when a still more urgent danger arose. The Crusaders were not slow to grasp the significance of the political change in Egypt. The possession of the Nile by Nur-ed-din's general placed the Kingdom of Jerusalem as it were in a cleft stick, squeezed on both sides by armies controlled by the same power. The harbours of Damietta and Alexandria gave the Moslems the command of a fleet, and enabled them to cut off the communications of the Crusaders with Europe, stop the annual pilgrim ships, and seize their supplies. Every effort must be made to break this fatal chain, which threatened the very existence of the Latin power in Palestine. Accordingly the most formidable attack that Saladin ever had to meet in Egypt was organised, probably in connexion with conspirators in Cairo. Amalric joined hands with the Eastern Emperor, and a Greek fleet of 220 sail co-operated with a strong land force of Crusaders in besieging Damietta. Fortunately for the defenders, contrary winds delayed the fleet on its way from the Golden Horn, and Saladin availed himself of this respite to strengthen the garrison and prepare for the attack. At the same time he sent messengers to Nur-ed-din to report the state of affairs, and espe-
• See the ingenious memoir of M. Paul Casanova on Lfs dernier s Fatimides in the Memoires de la mission archeologique fran^aise au Cnre, tome vi., fasc. 3 ; and Ibn-el-Atbir, /Cami/, 566-S ; Baba- cd-din. 56 ; Ab«-Salih, GluitJUt and M^masteries pf Egypt^ ad. Evttli, f. 96. ; Mn. Batdicr» Cft«wv4 of Egypi^ ii., S04.
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cially to point out the risk of leaving a hostile fac- tion behind him at Cairo whilst he went himself to the assistance of Damietta. In response, the King
of Syria poured troops into Egypt, battalion on bat- talion, and began to distract the attention of the enemy by a demonstration against Palestine.
The siege of Damietta was begun in November, 1 169. Amalric took up a position between the sea and the town, and awaited the arrival of the Greek fleet. In three days it appeared, but an iron chain guarded by an impregnable tower prevented its en- tering the harbour, and it was unable to render the aid that had been expected. Nocuit differ re paratis : the chances of success were weakened by delay ; and when at last, led in person by their gallant king, the Franks attacked with all their elaborate machinery of mangonels and figliting towers,^' the garrison was more than equal to repelling them, and sallying forth burnt their siege engines and even set fire to part of the fleet. Saladin meanwhile had brought up his troops, with ample stores and munitions of war, and a million gold pieces in his chest, and perpetually harassed the besiegers. The garrison was easily kept
• ** The movable towers \castra or casUlla\ or ' bclfreys ' \berefrid{\, were brought in pieces, which were framed together. They were then poshed ecran the ditch of the fortress, which was filled up with hardies and iucines to Iscilitate their passage. The towers protected the * besieging engines' with which the walls were battered, and the mining operadons " (Sir C. W. Wilson, R.E., note to Baha«ed^in). They were the maekimaet pmr excellence^ of medieval warfare. They ran on wheels, and were often protected from fire by a covering of raw hides. Mr. Archer states {CrusaJf Kick, /., 8S) that Amalric's mocMna at Pamietta was sev^ stories high.
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supplied, since the arm of the Nile was open and protected by the troops from Cairo ; but the Franks
ran short of bread ; a diet of fruit disordered tlicir unaccustomed stomachs, and disease and famine thinned their ranks. The Greeks on the ships were starving, and the Latins ashore could spare them nothing.
The very elements seemed to conspire with the
improvidence of the commanders to complete their discomfiture. Heavy rains swelled the Nile, flooded the plain, and saturated the camp. The storm upset their tents and siege-scafifolds, and the garrison took advantage of their plight to pelt them with stones slung by powerful catapults. Murmurs arose in the ranks ; the wretched soldiers, half starved and half drowned, begged to go home ; and after fifty days of fruitless eflorts, Amairic was forced to give up the siege. Peace was made, and the generous and busi- nesslike Alexandrians opened their markets to the famished invaders, who, when they had well eaten, set out in great dejection on their return to Palestine (19 December). To crown the disaster, a tempest wrecked nearly the whole fleet, and the dead bodies of the Greeks were cast up on the coast which they had come to conquer. As the proverb says, " The ostrich set out to find itself horns, and came back without ears.*** Henceforward, instead of going forth to attack, the Latin Kingdom was on its defence.
Encouraged by the failure of the Franks at Dami- etta, Saladin took the field in the following year —
♦4r««i/. 568-70.
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a year memorable for the earthquake which devast- ated Syria and laid low many of its ancient cities, — and began the series of attacks which continued un- til his treaty with Richard of England, twenty-two years later. His first raid was against Gaza, the frontier city of the Latin Kingdom. On his way he laid siege to the small castle of Darum, the southern outpost of Christianity, which had been recently fortified by Amalric, and was held by the Knights Templars. Their commander, Ansel de Pass, made a vigorous defence, and gave time for Amalric to come up with 250 knights of both the military or- ders, and 2000 foot-soldiers, who speedily dislodged the Saracens from their positions. Saladin did not wait for a pitched battle : at dead of night he slipped away, and almost before they were awake the inhab- itants of Gaza found their town taken. The citadel, however, a strong fortress built by l^aklwin II I., held out, and its warden, Milo de Planci, sternly refused to admit the fugitive citizens, who were thus forced to stand outside the gates and fight to the death. Saladin had no mind for a long siege, and after plundering the town left the castle alone, and re- turned to Egypt with the spoils. On his way he passed close to Amalric, who got his men under arms, but was relieved to see him depart without offering battle. The year's successes ended in De- cember, 1 1 70, with the taking of Eylaat the head of the gulf of Akaba, — the same Elath whence Solo- mon's fleet sailed to Ophir, — the key of the Red Sea route for pilgrims to Mekka. In order to rescue this important post from the Crusaders, Saladin had
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ships built in sections at Cairo, carried the parts on camels to the Red Sea, where he put them together, and took the fort after a combined attack by sea and land.
These successes against the ** infidels " brought Saladiii much renown among the Egyptians, who were ready enough to forget their jealousies and religious differences when a campaign was on foot and booty within sight. As their champion against the common enemy, Sunnites and ShiTtes, Egyptians and Turkmans, eagerly followed the banners of the young leader, against whom they had no less will- ingly plotted when no Holy War was at stake. Saladin's valour and generalship convinced the army of his right to command, and the mass of the people, so far as they understood at all, recognised in him a powerful protector. His authority was now so firmly established that he could venture upon a momentous step. The anomalous situation of a Sunnite vezir holding office under aFatimid Caliph was peculiarly distasteful to a man of Saladin's orthodox views. For some time the King of Syria and the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad had pressed him to do away with this political and theological inconsistency by intro- ducing the name of the true instead of the false Caliph in the public Friday prayer {Jihutbd) — the recognised form of allegiance. Hitherto Saladin, despite his religious tenets, had combatted this pro- posal on the ground that the change might cause a revolution in Egypt. Another reason, which he did not mention, was that his popularity among the heterodox Egyptians might prove a valuable support
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in the very probable event of a rupture with Nur-
ed-din.
In 1 171, however, his position had become much stronger, and he could afford to run some risk. The Fatimid Caliph was no longer personally a factor in politics. Since the assassination of his black cham- berlain, he and his palace had been placed under the vigilant control of the white eunuch Karakush, Sal- adin's right-hand man, whose name, curiously enough, instead of being associated with acts of fidelity and severity, has become in the Turkish empire the de- signation of the ridiculous puppet. Punch. The seclu- sion and impotence of the Caliph had lowered the influence of ShiYte doctrine in Cairo, and Saladin had provided sound icligious instruction according to the Sunnite rules by founding colleges* and estab- lishing ap[)roved teachers of orthodoxy in the capi- tal and the chief provincial towns.
The ground was thus prepared, and advantage was taken of the illness of the helpless captive who still called himself Imam, or God-directed leader, to carry out the long-determined change in the Caliphate. On the first Friday in the sacred month Moharram, the first month of the year of the Flight 567 (the loth of September, 1 171), a bold divine from Mosil, an- ticipating the regular preacher in the chief mosque, recited the bidding prayer for the preservation and prosperity of the orthodox Caliph of Baghdad:
O God, assist him and assist his armies ; O Thou Lord of the Faith and of the world present and the world to
* The Nasiriya or Sherifya and the Kamhiya colleges near the mosque of Amr in Fnstat« were founded by Saladin in 1170.
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come, O Lord of the beings of the whole world. O God,
assist the forces of the Moslems and the armies of the worshippers of Thee (Jnly. O God, frustrate the in- fidels and poiytheists, Thine enemies, enemies of the Faith."
This ecclesiastical revolution took place without a
sign of opposition, — "there was not so much as the butting of two goats," says the chronicler ; nothing worse than surprise was shown by the crowded con- gregation. The Caliph at Baghdad was overjoyed, illuminated his capital, and sent Nur-ed-din and Saladin robes of honour and the famous black flags borne by the Abbasid legions. To Nur-cd-din he sent, besides, two swords, one for the dominion of Syria, the other for Egypt, and hailed him Sultan. Meanwhile the person most affected lay dying in his great palace at Cairo. £i<Adid, the last of the Fa- timid Caliphs, never heard of his supersession in the public prayers ; Saladin had forbidden his servants to tell him, saying, "if he recover, he will learn the truth soon enough, but if not, let him die in peace." He died three days later, not quite twenty-one years old. On his deathbed he had asked to see Saladin, but the vezir suspected a plot, and excused himself. Afterwards, when he found the wish was sincere, he repented his neglect, and spoke highly of the young Caliph's many virtues, his gentle character, his good qualities, and friendly advances.
Thus ended in feebleness and neglect the Fatimid dynasty, which had been the greatest Mohammedan power on the shores of the Mediterranean for nearly three centuries. The family indeed survived for two
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generations, but they could do nothing against the assured authority of Saladtn. £I-Adid left eleven sons, four sisters, four wives, and other relations, to the number altogether of one hundred and fifty- two ; but Karakush, the major domo, shut them up under strict guard, the men in one place, the women in another, according them the luxuries and respect to which they were accustomed. The great palace of the Fatimids owned a new master.
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OOLO COIN OF OALADIN STRUCK AT ALEXANDRIA IN 1188.
CHAPTER VIII.
SALADIN AT CAIRO. 1171-1173.
ISITORS to modern Cairo see very little of
Saladin's capital. Besides the three ancient
gates, three ruined mosques, and part of the old walls, nothing remains of the city he traversed when he first rode out from the Fatimid palace at the head of his guard. The most conspicuous feature of the present Cairo, the Citadel, with its slender Turkish minarets and commanding battle- ments, did not exist : only a rounded spur of Mount Mukattam suggested the place where a fortress should be built. Most of the wide expanse, now covered by the European houses of the Ismalliya quarter, between the Ezbekiya and the river, was under water ; for in Saladin's day the Nile ran much further east and almost washed the city wall at the part where the river-suburb of el-Maks then stood. Bulak and its island were not as yet risen above the surface of the water, and there was no Abbasiya suburb on the north. Houses and streets indeed
III
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stretched then, as now, beyond the old Zuweyla Gate, towards the south, as far as the chapel of our lady Nefisa," and there were many buildings or ruins of former habitations beyond this, where we now see only hill after hill of rubbish-heaps smothered In sand — the melancholy memorials of what was once the stately city, bowered in gardens, of old Fustat, and still older Babylon.
These suburbs and ruins were not then part of Cairo. The real Cairo, the city of the Fatimid Ca- liphs, was never more than an immense royal castle, called ''The Victorious,*' eUKakira^ the Cahere of William of Tyre, which Italians corrupted into our modern Cairo. It was also known as " the city " cl- Mediuay and it was founded, in 969, expressly for the residence of the Caliph and his vast harim and slave- household, with quarters round his palace for the separate brigades of his army, the vezir and officers of state, and the departments of government. The spacious enclosure of the castle, guarded by massive walls and imposing Norman-like gates, was forbidden ground to all but high functionaries of state. Even ambassadors of foreign powers were required to dis- mount outside, and were led to the Caliph s presence by both their hands in the manner of the old Byzan* tine and the medieval Ottoman courts.
The chief buildings were the "Great East Palace*' the Caliph's personal residence, where he kept his women, children, slaves, eunuchs and servants, esti- mated at from eighteen to thirty thousand in number, and the '* Lesser West Palace," or pleasure-house, which opened on the spacious garden of Kaf ur, where
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a nuydan or hippodrome provided exercise for the court. The two were separated by the square called " Betwixt the Palaces " \Beyn il-Kasrej^ where as many as ten thousand troops could parade; the
name is still preserved in part of the Suk-en-Nah- hasin or Coppersmiths' Market. An underi^round passage connected the two palaces, by which the Caliph could pass without violating that mysterious seclusion which was part of his sacred character. Hard by were the mausoleum where lay the bones of his Fatimid ancestors, brought from far Kayrawan ; and the mosque (el-Azhar) where the Caliph was wont to lead the Friday prayers as Prince and Pre- centor of the Faithful ; and near this» the Arab his- torian remarks, as if it were a common architectural feature, was " the well into which the Caliph used to throw the slain." The people believed that some- thing more valuable than corpses of murdered ca- liphs, slaves, or disgraced favourites, was hidden in its gloomy depths ; but when they searched for gold and precious stones, they were supernaturally re- pelled ; and since no man can safely contend with " the Jinn," the well was filled up, lest worse should happen.
Of the size and splendour of the Great Palace the Arabic historians speak with bated breath. We read of four thousand chambers ; — of the Golden Gate which opened to the Golden Hall, a gorgeous pavilion where the Caliph, seated on his golden throne, surrounded by his chamberlains and gentle^ men in waiting (generally Greeks or Sudanis), sur- veyed from behind a screen of golden filigree the
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festivals of Islam ; — of the Emerald Hall with its beautiful pillars of marble ; — the Great Divan» where he sat in state on Mondays and Thursdays, at a window beneath a cupola, — the same window,
perhaps, under which Dirgham stood suppliant in hi^s downfall ;~and the sakifa or Porch, where the Caliph listened every evening, while the oppressed and wronged came below and cried aloud the credo of the Shi'ites, till he heard their griefs and gave or- ders for their redress. The historians say little of the splendour within the palace, but some idea may be formed of its treasures by the marvels observed by Hugh of Caesarea,* and from the statement that among the amazing wealtli of jewels and precious stones which Saladin discovered on the death of el- Adid were an emerald four fingers long, and a ruby known as "the Mountain/' the weight of which, in our terms, was over 2400 carats (" I have seen and weighed It myself," says Ibn-el-Athir). The wealth of the Fatimids in jewels and works of the goldsmith*s art had long been proverbial. In the inventory of the treasures of one of these Caliphs we read of quantities of emeralds and pearls, cut crystal vases, chased and enamelled gold plate; coffers inlaid with designs in gold; furniture and ornaments of san- dalwood, ebony, and ivory, adorned with precious stones; cups and pitchers of fine porcelain filled with camphor and musk ; metal mirrors framed in silver and gold with borders of emeralds and carnel- ian ; tables of sardonyx ; countless vessels of bronze inlaid with silver and gold ; tapestry, silk, and bro-
* See aboTe, p. 86.
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CAIRO INTHBDAY8 0P SALADIN - 1170
JhStALuug show additions to Che fortUicaiions modi ^ Saiadin,.
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fim Treasures of the Caliphs, 115
cade, heavy with gold embroidery, and adorned with the portraits of kings.
Of all the treasures that he found, Saladin kept nothing for himself. Some he distributed among his followers, or presented to Nur-ed-din ; the glori- ous library of 120,000* manuscript volumes he gave to his learned chancellor the Kady eUFadil; the rest of the treasure was sold for the public purse. Nor did it suit his simple and austere mode of life to take up his residence in the stately palace of the late Caliph. Silken divans and "Pavilions of Pearls" were nothing to him. He remained in the '* House of the Vezir," and gave up the Great Palace to the captains of his army, allotting the western pleasure- house to his brother el-Adil. No longer a royal residence, the beautiful mansions of the Fatimids gradually fell into decay. " O censurer of my love for the sons of Fatima," cried Omara the poet of the Yemen, '*join in my tears over the desolate halls of the twin Palaces!" One of the doorkeepers re- marked that he had seen no wood brought in, and no rubbish thrown out, for a long time ; and when the woodwork is used for fuel and the refuse is left to accumulate, the end of a building is not far off. So it happens that not a vestige remains of these once splendid palaces, which were the wonder and envy of princes.
Outside the " city " or castle of Cairo there was a large population to the south-west, and when Sala-
♦ Some say 2,60(3,000 volumes, including 1220 copies of one book, the famous history of Tabary. The numbers and statistics of Ori- eoUl writers are iddom to be tnutedL
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Saladitk niTl
din rode forth to visit the holy tomb of the Imam esh-Shafiy in the desert, he passed by the sites of
three earlier capitals. Going out of the Zuwcyla gate, he would first traverse the comparatively re- cent quarters which had sprung up since the building of the royal and official '* city " ; he would pass by the ruins of the Mansuriya, out of which he had smoked the rebel Blacks like a nest of hornets. Further on, the " Lake of the Elephant," long since dried up, would be on his right, whilst on the left the craggy spurs of the Mukattam range prompted the build i!ig of the citadel which he afterwards began. All the way his road lay through the crowded suburbs of the populace^ whose houses covered the site where once had stood the famous city of " the Wards " (el-Katai), where Ibn-Tulun three centuries before had kept his kingly state. El-Katai was, like the " city " of Cairo, essentially an official capital, and was inhabited chiefly by the king and his court, his soldiers, and his purveyors, each class in a separate " ward." It was the third capital built since the Arabs conquered Egypt, and of all its magnificence nothing remains but the ruined mosque of Ibn-Tulun, of which the grandeur and admirable designs reveal something of what has been lost. Beyond, still to the south-west, once stood eUAskar, " the Camp,** another official centre, where the governors dwelt who were sent from Baghdad to rule Egypt in the days when the Ab- basid Caliph held undivided sway from the borders of India to the Atlantic Ocean. Furthest south of all, between the Abyssinians' Lake and the Nile, lay
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Fustat,
what remained of the oldest capital of Mohammedan Egypt, at once the ofKicial centre and the metropolis of commerce, called el-Fustat, " the Tent," in mem- ory of the pavilion of the Arab conqueror. In spite of the devastations of the great fire of 1168, the inhabitants had begun to return to their ruined homes and were trying to re-people the desolate streets. But Fustat never recovered its lost pro- sperity, when its bazars were renowned for wealth and commerce, and its houses reared their six stories aloft, and gardens of fruit and flowers stretched all around. Now nothing remains but the old Mosque of Amr, so often repaired and altered that its founder would not know it. and the Roman fortress of Babylon, the " Castle of the Beacon " of the Arabs, now a hive of Coptic churches served by Coptic drones, but once the guardian of a busy Christian city, the ancient and populous " Babylon of Egypt." The scanty suburb of "Old Cairo," or Masr* el- Atika, is not a relic of Fustat, for it stands on ground which was covered by the Nile in the days when Fustat was a city.
The history of the capital of Egypt under its Mohammedan rulers had thus been a series of trans- plantings from the south to the north-east. First il-Fustat, "the Tent," was founded by Amr the
♦ The capital of Efjypt was called by the Arabs by the same name as Et^ypt itself — Afisr, and this name was commonly used for F"ustat, which remained the commercial metropolis long after the building of Cairo. Misr is now pronounced Masr, and it is possible tbftt it wu so pronottiiced as early as the time of Saladin. for we find io WiOiam of Tyre, who Gertainly knew Arabic^ the spelling iiacer.
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conqueror in 641 ; then eUAskar^ " the Camp/' was built» as a government centre, on the site of the camp of the Abbasid general in 750 ; thirdly, f/-Kaiai, the Wards," was laid out, still further to the north- east, in 869, by Ahmad ibn Tulun, as the capital of his dynasty ; and lastly, in 969, J char, the general of the Fatimid Caliph of Kayrawan, after annexing Egypt, founded el-Kahira ** the Victorious," as a fortified residence for his master. Saladin carried on the tradition of building, in which every great eastern ruler took pride ; but, instead of pushing the capital still further to the north-east, he sought to unite tlie sites of all the four capitals, and to build a Citadel — the famous *' Castle of the Mountain " — on the westernmost spur of Mount Mukattam, to be the centre of government and to form a military stronghold capable of overawing the whole city and resisting assaults from outside. His plan was to connect this fortress by a bastioned wall with the old fortifications of the Fatimid ** city," and to extend it so as to enclose the site of Fustat and Katai, and thus to sweep round to the river ; but the plan was not completed, and even the Citadel was not finished till long after his death. Saladin 's enlargement of the area of the city was accompanied by the demolition of whole suburbs between the old " city *' and the shrine of Nefisa. These were replaced by pleasure gardens, and it is recorded that the tall Zuweyla gfate could be seen from the door of Ibn-Tulun's mosque. Jehan Thcnaud, who accompanied an em- bassy from Louis XII. to Cairo at a later period, found these gardens still a striking feature of the city :
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moult somptueulx et grans jardins plains de tous fruictiers: comme cytrons, lymons, cttruUes, oranges, aubercotz, cassiers et pommes de rouses ou d'Adam pour ce que Ton diet estre le fruict duquel Adam oul trepassa le commandement de Dieu. Lesquelz jardins tous les soirs et matins sont arrousez de Teau du Nil que tirent beufz et chevaulx.***
Traces of some of these pleasure grounds may even now be seen from the battlements of the Citadel.
It has been supposed that Saladin designed the Citadel of Cairo to protect himself against a possible insurrection of the partisans of the late dynasty. A sufficient explanation, however, is found in his early associations: every Syrian city had its citadel or fortress, and experience had shown many a time that the town might be taken whilst the citadel remained impregnable, a refuge for the people and a means of recuperation. Tlicrefore Cairo must have a citadel too. It might soon be needed as a tower of defence against his liege-lord Nur-ed-din himself. Saladin had propitiated the King of Syria with presents from the treasures of the Fatimid palace ; prayers were offered for him as sovereign lord every Friday in the mosques, above all in the great mosque of cl-Hakim, which now supplanted the Azhar as the chief mosque of the city ; and his name appeared on the coins struck by Saladin at Cairo. But in spite of this nominal sub- jection and the absence of all symbols of personal sovereignty, Saladin was virtually his own master; and supported as he was by a strong army com-
* Lf voyage et itinairc de oultre mer J aid par i>rkre Jthan Thcnaud^ cited in bcbefei's Nassiri KhQirau^ 133.
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manded by his brothers and nephews, he was in fact King of Egypt, Nur-ed-din was well aware of this, but his difficulties with the Franks, with the Seljuk Sultan of Rum, and with various contentious rulers
in Mesopotamia, left him no leisure to clip the wings of his vassal in Egypt. He could not even count upon Saladin's cooperation in the Holy War ; for, whether rightly or wrongly it is difficult to decide, Saladin was convinced that if once his suzerain had the chance of seizing his person, there would be an end of his power; and nothing could induce him to venture within Nur-ed-din*s reach. Not only this, but he seems to have carried this dread so far that he preferred to have the Franks on his borders as an obstacle to Nur>ed-din's advance.
An instance occurred immediately after the death of the Egyptian Caliph. Amalric was absent at Con- stantinople, concerting further measures against the Saracens with his wife's uncle, the Emperor Manuel Comnenus; and Saladin, probably acting on orders from Damascus, seized the opportunity for an attack upon Mont Real (esh-Shaubak), an irritatin<^ little fortress built by Baldwin I. in 1 1 1 5. Its glittering white battlements crowned a hill clothed with olives, and its gardens of apricots below formed a delicious oasis in the desert south of the Dead