Nequitias Tellus scit dare nulla magis.
Nequitias Tellus scit dare nulla magis.
Nequitias Tellus scit dare nulla magis.
Nequitias Tellus scit dare nulla magis.
Their forms are elegant, their faces rather expressive than beautiful.
The following amusements are chiefly exhibited during the Ramadân:
After breaking the fast by some refreshments, the prayer commences, which is a long one. The principal meal then has place, and then the arrival of strangers to pay their respects to the Bey, or to transact business, occupies some time. The amusements then commence. The Gerîd and various other exercises are practised by day-light, but at night wrestling is commonly the first. In this the lower class of people in Egypt shew considerable vigour and activity at least, though perhaps not consummate skill. When the Bey and his company are tired of these exercises, singers (male) appear. The plaintive vocal music of Kahira, and the agreeable sensations occasioned by it, have been the subject of remark to many who have described Egypt. Then appear the story-tellers, who with wonderful readiness and rapidity of utterance go through the romantic adventures resembling theThousand and One Nights, of which the varieties are innumerable. These are succeeded by wits, who with droll and unexpected similies often set the company in fits of laughter. The adversary brings some similitude equally unexpected.—Whoever holds out the longest is rewarded as conqueror.—“Methel Sire”—“Let us wrestle in similies;” the other answers, “Ma Methel-lak”—“What is your similitude?”“You are like the city ass, look sleek and carry dung.” Some of these have really a portion of wit, and it is almost the only occasion that I remember, when the Arabs exhibit any thing that can properly be so denominated. The place of these, when they have received a present according to the pleasure of the Bey, is often supplied by female singers, who frequently accompany their voices with an instrument, touched like the guitar. There are women who are highly valued for this talent of amusing the public; and if any judgment may be formed from the manner in which they are sometimes rewarded, the gratification of their auditors is far from being moderate. There are occasions when some of theHaremexhibit their vocal powers in the presence of select company; but this is not common; and in that case the performer is concealed behind a curtain or lattice.
The last are the female dancers orghawasié. These, it may be supposed, if they are able to fascinate the eye of the multitude, in the public streets, with only ordinary exertions, neglect not to have recourse to the more laboured blandishments of their art in the presence of a prince.
Pehlawân, rope-dancers, &c. are introduced, whose exertions are not contemptible.
Chess and the Polish drafts are the only games that are indulged in, and in these some of the Beys are skilled. They play remarkably quick, and apparently without much premeditation. But habit has given this facility. They practise daily, and their minds are occupied by few objects.
Convenient markets appear in every part of the city. Coffee-houses are equally numerous, where the natives pass a great part of the day smoking and conversing. These commonly consist of one apartment, not very large. Only coffee and fire for the pipe are furnished. But at Damascus I afterwards saw coffee-houses remarkably large, some of them placed over running water. The furniture is however very simple, and unlike the splendid apartments, for the same purposes, to be seen in Constantinople. One, in particular, at Damascus, under the castle wall, is capable at a very moderate calculation of holding one thousand persons: it has no walls, but an extensive roof spreads over numerous benches, and it is encircled with trees and water.
The number of small imposts in Egypt is almost inconceivable; they are estimated to amount to three hundred and sixty. One is for all goods crossing from Jiza to Kahira; a poor woman bringing a basket of eggs, worth two paras, must pay the fifth part of a para for passing. Upon the whole, the revenue can hardly be raised to a greater amount than it is.
In May 1792 there was a famine, occasioned by various accidental circumstances; and wheat sold at 20 and 22 patackes theardeb. In October 1796 it was at five patackes. When I made my inquiries at the latter period, the following prices of provisions were stated:
The recent history of Egypt, till the time of Ismaîl Bey, is sufficiently known. On the death of Ismaîl, Hassan Bey succeeded him in his office of Shech-el-bellad, governor of the city, and implying the precedence among the Beys. Hassan was soon expelled by Murad Bey, who held the office till the Capitan Pasha arrived from Constantinople with a fleet, and drove him into Upper Egypt. The Pasha, after satisfying his avarice, withdrew, and the Beys returned. Ibrahim Bey, who had been a slave of Ali Bey the Great, had however acquired such authority, that Murad was constrained to share the government with him; and they have since ruled Egypt, Ibrahim asShech-el-bellad, and Murad asDefter-dâr. Mutual jealousies prevail between them, each seeking the destruction of the other. They however conspire together to recruit the number of the Mamlûks, and to collect treasure from all quarters.
These are considered as usurpers by the Beys of Upper Egypt, who are favoured by the Porte; one of whom, named Ali, contrived to escape from Saïd into Syria, where he courted the nearest Pasha, Jezzâr of Akka, to support their interest; but that potent and able leader refused to listen to his suggestions, or amused him with false hopes.
The year before I arrived, there had been a pestilence which had destroyed great numbers of the Mamlûks. The next memorable event was the contest with Alexandria, before stated.
To strengthen his interest, Ibrahim Bey had negotiated a marriage between his daughter and another powerful Bey, of the same name, but no relation. The wedding-day, 30th of August 1792, was celebrated with great pomp. A splendid equipage was prepared, in the European form, of a coach, drawn by two horses, and ornamented with wreaths of artificial flowers, in which a beautiful slave from theharem, personating the bride, whose features were very plain, was carried through the principal streets of Kahira. The blinds of the coach were however drawn up, and the fair deputy sat concealed. The procession was attended by some Beys, several officers and Mamlûks, and ended at the house of the bridegroom, who received her from the carriage in his arms. The Beys have baths in their houses, otherwise this procession, on arriving at the house of the bridegroom, would have attended the female to the bath, and then returned thither. In general, at Kahira, the bride, completely veiled, walks under a canopy, and supported by two women, to the house of the bridegroom.
The fête had continued for three days preceding the marriage. In the evening, fire-works were exhibited at the houses of the husband and the father, and presents of shawls, caffetans, and other parts of dress and money were liberally distributed. After consummation the ensanguined cloth was shown to the relations of the bride, especially the mother. The virgin had been beforeinstructed by matrons in what manner to receive the conjugal embraces, and the same women remained in an adjoining chamber during this final ceremony, to lend assistance if required. The Oriental virgins marry in such early youth that the marks of their purity are seldom deficient.
A curious circumstance occurred to mark the systematic rapacity of the Beys, which could not be lulled even by such a season of festivity. Ibrahim Bey, the father of the bride, having heard that a company of female singers, who usually attend on these occasions, had been employed in singing in Birket-el-fîl, the chief open place in the city, not only during the day, but also most part of the ensuing night, and had in consequence collected donations to a considerable amount, sent for the leading woman to his house. She, supposing that she had been summoned to receive some reward, or that the charms of her voice had been made known to the Bey, readily obeyed the mandate. On entering the apartment, the first question was, “How many half sequins (nusfiat) did you collect yesterday?”—She replied, “About ten thousand.”—“Pay me eight thousand, then,” said the Bey, “and I will give you a note of credit on Ibrahim Jeuhari, my secretary.” The money was paid, but the woman was turned out of the house without receiving any security whatever. She is said to have died of the disappointment a short time after.
Some negotiations took place that summer between the Beys here, and those in Upper Egypt (whom I afterwards found at Isna, attended by a small party of Mamlûks); the former wereso powerful that they rejected the applications of the latter. All continued quiet till I went to Upper Egypt.
I shall now endeavour to give some idea of the most celebrated Beys, who at present have the sway in this unhappy country. Ibrahim Bey is upwards of sixty years of age, a tall thin man, with an aquiline nose. He is very avaricious, but by his treasures and connections has secured a large party. His Mamlûks may amount to about a thousand. Though reputed to manage the sabre with dexterity, he has nothing of enterprise in his character, which has the mean rapacity of the vulture, nothing of the daring flight of the eagle.
Murad Bey, once his superior, now his equal in power, has passed a life of tumult and activity. Originally a slave of Mohammed Bey Abu-dhahab, at the head of a detachment of his master’s Mamlûks, he defeated and made prisoner Ali Bey the great, whose death shortly after ensued. Murad is detested by the Porte. He is an energetic character, and his profusion is supplied by his rapacity: about forty-five years of age, of a replete habit of body. His Mamlûks, in 1796, amounted to about seventeen hundred. His party, though not so numerous as that of Ibrahim Bey, is yet of a more decided and military stamp. Murad Bey is married to the widow of his master, the daughter of the celebrated Ali Bey.
Next in power is Mohammed Bey Elfi, a young man of not more than thirty-five years: his name imports that he was bought for a thousand patackes. His master was Murad Bey, just mentioned.Quick in apprehension, impetuous in action. Mamlûks eight hundred. Power great and increasing.
Ibrahim Bey,el Uali, a name derived from the second military magistracy in the city, is a young man, about the same age with the last. He is married, as has been mentioned, to the daughter of the elder Ibrahim, and is firmly attached to his interests. Of a sedate, yet firm character. Mamlûks six or seven hundred.
Aiûb Bey,el zogheir, or junior, is another powerful leader, perhaps the most eminent in capacity among the whole, and on all occasions consulted by the rest. His age, between thirty and forty. Mamlûks not many. He is a prudent manager, and rarely accused of extortion.
Fatmé, now the aged daughter of the famous Ali, is held in much respect by all the Beys. Even Murad, her husband, stands reverently in her presence. When a Bey is appointed to a government, he never fails to pay a visit to this old lady, who lectures him on his duties; and will say, “Do not pillage the people; they were always spared by my father.”
Abstract of the history of Africa in general, and Egypt in particular, under the domination of the Arabs.
Asthis portion of history is little known, and may lend illustration to many topics discussed in these pages, I have been induced to insert a brief idea of it, abstracted chiefly, in what regards Africa, from the valuable work of Cardonne, a compilation which has saved me much research into the original writers[16].
Syria and Persia had already fallen under the rapid progress of the followers of Mohammed, and it was so early as the 19th year of the Hejira, the 640th of the Christian æra, that the Chalîf Omar commanded Amrû to subdue Egypt. Memphis, or Misr, submitted through the treason of the governor; but Alexandria stood a siege of fourteen months. The loss of the library has been much regretted; it was probably replete with the absurd philosophy and divinity of the times; and amid thenumber of libraries in the Greek empire, it is impossible to conceive, that the work of any truly valuable author should have existed only in one copy.
A.D. 643. A famine desolating Arabia, Amrû re-opened the canal, formed by the Romans from Memphis to the Red Sea. The capital seat of the Chalîfs being soon after removed from Medina to Damascus, it was neglected and went to ruin.
A.D. 647. Abd-ullah, governor of Egypt, proceeds to the conquest of Africa. He vanquishes the Greek patrician Gregory in the battle of Yakûb.
AFRICA.
THISand the subsequent events are so ably narrated by Mr. Gibbon[17], that it would be presumptuous to enter the same ground. It is sufficient to observe that the Arabs, alternately advancing and repulsed, were not complete masters of Africa, or rather that portion of this vast continent which extends along the Mediterranean Sea, till about the year 709 of our æra. They had not only been opposed by the Greeks, but by theBerbers, or natives of the West. These Berbers were, according to Cardonne, an ancient Arabian colony, which hadmigrated into Africa, and retained its native speech. They were divided into five tribes, which now amount to about six hundred lineages, partly dwelling under tents, and partly in towns and villages.
Mûsa ben Nasr had effectuated the conquest of Africa before he proceeded to that of Spain. Till this period Africa had remained an appendage to the government of Egypt, which was in quiet submission to the Chalîfs, successors of Mohammed. But Abd-el-aziz, governor of Egypt, having been guilty of great extortions from Hassan the general in Africa, the Chalîf, Walid I. had assigned to Mûsa an independent authority.
Mohammed-ben-Yezîd succeeded Mûsa in the government of Africa.
A.D. 721. Nechrên Seffran was appointed governor of Africa by the Chalîf Yezîd, and died in 727, after having made some incursions into the interior of that continent.
The natives soon after revolted against the Arabs, whom they defeated with great slaughter.
A.D. 741. Hantele-ben-Seffran, governor of Egypt, was sent against them by the Chalîf Hakim. He succeeded in his enterprise; subdued the insurgents with great slaughter, and regained possession of Cairoan, the Arabian capital of Africa, founded by Akbal, about A.D. 670, fifty miles to the south of Tunis.
The revolt reviving, Hantelé again conquered the rebels, whose vast army was conducted by Abd-el-wahhad. The exaggeration of the Arabian authors computes the insurgents slain at an hundred and sixty thousand; and Hantelé, in giving an account of his operations to the Chalîf Hakim, reported that a more sanguinary contest had never been fought.
A.D. 749. The sceptre of the Chalîfs passing from the Ommiades to the Abbassides, Abd-el-rachmân, governor of Africa, refused tribute, assembled the people in the mosque of Cairoan, tore his robe, and abjured the authority of the new Chalîf.
Abd-el-rachmân being slain by his brothers, a civil war arose.
A.D. 772. The Chalîf Abu-Mansûr Djafar sends Yezîd with a strong army to regain Africa. He succeeds, re-establishes tranquillity, and attracts arts and manufactures to Cairoan the capital.
A.D. 786. On the death of Yezîd, the Chalif names Dawûd, son of that leader, to be his successor. Dawûd conquers the insurgent Berbers, and accepts the government of Egypt; his uncle, Ruhh-ben Chatem, succeeding him in that of Africa.
Dynasty of the Aglabites.
A.D. 800. It was under the reign of the famous Harôn-el-Rashîd, that Ibrahim ben-el-Aghleb, governor of Africa, finally threw off the yoke of the Chalîf of Damascus. Ibrahim secured his authority by maintaining a regular body of troops; and died in 811, being succeeded by his son Abu-’l-abbâs.
Ziadet-Ullah, his successor, subdued Sicily.
837. Abu Akkal ascended the throne of Africa.
840. The next prince, Abu-’l-abbâs, reigned thirty-four years; humane, liberal, and a lover of justice. He was however too much addicted to the pleasures of the table; and it is related, that one day being in a state of intoxication in the town of Sût, he embarked for the isle of Kûssa, and when the fumes of the wine had evaporated, was not a little surprised to find himself in the open sea.
874. Abu-’l-Abbâs had obtained of his brother Ishak an open renunciation, in the chief mosque of Cairoan, of all claim to the crown; yet that prince seized it on his death, to the prejudice of the former’s son. Ishak built a new town, called Rifadé.
A.D. 877. Ishak sends a fleet against Sicily. Syracuse is besieged for nine months, taken, sacked, and all the inhabitants put to the sword. The booty of that commercial city was immense.
The Egyptians invaded Africa, and besieged Tripoli, but were forced to retire on the approach of Ishak, with his regular negro troops.
878. A dreadful famine in Africa; corn at eight pieces of gold the bushel.
Ishak was a most cruel prince. It is reported that he put to death, in one day, sixteen of his own natural daughters by various concubines. His mother presenting him with two beautiful female slaves, he sent her in return a platter covered with a napkin; on lifting it up, instead of jewels as she expected, she beheld the heads of the two slaves. He was succeeded by his son Abu-’l-Abbâs-Abd-ullah, murdered by his brother Ziadet-Ullah, who seized the sceptre of Africa.
908. A revolt arising, the timid Ziadet-Ullah abandoned his dominions, and retired to Egypt, then governed by Basi-el-Nûchîsi, in the name of Mûktadir-b’illah, eighteenth Chalîf of the dynasty of the Abbassides. With Ziadet-Ullah expired the dynasty of the Aglabites, which had ruled Africa for an hundred and eight years[18].
Dynasty of the Fatimites, or Ismaëlians.
Obeid-ullah, who had seized the authority, resigned it soon after to his son Abu-’l-Cassim. Though the new family was of Egyptian extract, it pretended to deduce its origin from Fâtmé, daughter of Mohammed, through Ismael the sixth Imâm of the posterity of Ali.
Abu-’l-Cassim assuming the style ofMahadi, or real successor of Ali, displayed talents that sanctioned his usurpation. In the first year of his reign he subdued the Edrîssites of the West, and united all the Mohammedan part of Africa.
A.D. 912. Abu-’l-Cassim pours three armies into Egypt, intending to add that rich province to his other domains. The Chalîf Mûktadir, then reigning at Bagdad, had foreseen this design, which was frustrated by the defeat of the armies of Mahadi, though he took Alexandria. He built a city called Mehedié, now Mahdié, on the African shore, which he destined for the seat of his empire. He died in the sixty-third year of his age and twenty-sixth of his reign.
A.D. 933. His son Achmed was less fortunate. He died while his capital Mehedié was besieged by insurgents.
A.D. 945. Ismaîl his son defeated the rebels, and built Mansûriéh in Africa.
952. Abu-Tammim succeeded Ismaîl his father. In 968, he sent Jeuhar, a Greek, at the head of a strong army to seize Egypt, and succeeded. The capital, then styledMisr, orFostat, opened its gates. Jeuhar built a new capital, which he namedKahira, or theVictorious. Abu-Tammim, surnamed Moaz, in the twentieth year of his reign embarked for Sardinia, then subject to Africa, till Jeuhar should complete the new metropolis.
972. Abu-Tammim lands at Alexandria, where he is met by Jeuhar: advancing to Kahira he was welcomed by the acclamations of his new subjects. To this city he removed all his treasures, and even the bodies of his ancestors.
Jeuhar, the founder, had desired the building to be begun under the horoscope or ascendant of the planet Mars, calledKahir, or conqueror, by the Arabs; and hence it was styled Kahira.
The dynasty of the Fatimites, now transplanted to Egypt, ruled there till the year 1171, (Hejira 566,) when it was supplanted by Salah-el-dîn, the famous Saladin of the Christian authors.
Dynasty of the Zeirites.
To return to Africa. Abu-Tammim, before he proceeded to Egypt, had resigned the sovereignty of Africa, on condition of homage, to Yussuf-ben-Zeiri, of a family sprung from Arabia Felix.
The people of the province of Muggrib having rebelled, Yussuf defeated them; and Tremesen shewing a disposition to join the Muggrebins, it was razed, and the inhabitants transplanted to Aschir. Another revolt was equally unsuccessful: the chiefs were led in triumph through the streets of Cairoan, and then put to death.
979. Yussuf seized Fez and Sejelmas; and the Chalîfs of Spain lost all their African possessions, except Ceuta.
983. Abu-’l-Cassim Mansûr succeeded his father. He built a palace in the city of Cairoan, which cost eight hundred thousand pieces of gold. His cruelty was shewn in the murder of Abd-ullah his minister, and even in the punishment of the ungrateful rebel Abu-’l-Fahm, whose heart this prince is said to have torn from his body and devoured.
996. His son Abu-Menad received the homage of his nobles in Sardinia, long subject to Africa. The Fatimite Chalîfof Egypt sent him the dress and sabre, the accustomed mark of their superiority over the African monarchy.
Moaz, his son and successor, displayed his rage against heretics, or those Mohammedans who differed from his own sect, by an universal massacre. A Roman Catholic prince, misled by his priests, could not have shewn more inveterate cruelty. Moaz was however so young, that the blame rests with his ministers.
A.D. 1050. An important war arose between Moaz and Mostansir, Chalîf of Egypt, who wished to revive the absolute dominion of his house over Africa. The Egyptians entered the province of Muggrib, by the town of Zenata. Four years after they seized Tripoli. Mûnis, governor of the province of Cairoan, passed over to the enemy. Moaz lost a pitched battle, and took shelter in Mehedié. The Egyptians seized his capital Cairoan, stopped the springs, turned the course of the river, and destroyed the magnificent palaces and delicious gardens of the monarchs of Africa. Moaz, overwhelmed with his misfortunes, sunk into the grave, and closed a long and fortunate reign in the utmost misery.
1061. Tamîm, his eldest son, succeeded to the sceptre.
1088. The Greeks and Franks, equipping a fleet of four hundred sail, landed at the isle of Kûssa in Africa, which they ravaged. They then seized the town of Zawilé, but retired onreceiving a contribution of 200,000 pieces of gold. The conquest of Sicily by the Normans had given a military impulse, which Africa was often to feel.
A.D. 1107. Tamîm died, leaving the reputation of a just and generous prince. Having once purchased a slave, and her master, who was enamoured with her, deeply regretting the loss, Tamîm not only restored her, but sent him magnificent presents.
1108. Yaiah, his son and successor, put to death three alchymists, who had misled him by their vain pretensions.
1115. Yaiah died suddenly. Being addicted to astrology, he imagined a particular day would be fatal to him, and passed it in prayer. In the evening, happy that he had escaped the danger, he ordered a magnificent festival, and died as he sat down to table. His son Ali received the homage of his people at Mehedié.
1116. Ali suppressed the pirates of the isle of Gerbi, and received Tunis on submission. The people of Sebât, who robbed the caravans, were severely punished.
1121. Ali prepared a fleet of ten vessels of the first rank, and thirty of the second, against Sicily. Death prevented his designs.
His son Hassan being only in his fifteenth year, dissentions arose among the great.
1125. A Sicilian fleet ravaged the isle of Gerbi.
1146. The Sicilians seized Tripoli, which they held six months, and then retired.
A dreadful famine in Africa, so that even human carcases were devoured. Many of the inhabitants fled to Sicily.
Roger king of Sicily sent out a fleet of an hundred and fifty sail, loaded with soldiers and ammunition. Having captured an African ship, with some pigeons on board, Georgi the Christian admiral forced the captain to write a letter, importing that the Sicilian fleet had sailed to Constantinople. The pigeon flew back to Mehedié; and the inhabitants were exulting in the intelligence, when the hostile fleet appeared before the city. On landing, the Sicilians found the place totally abandoned, and the pillage lasted ten hours. Sfax and Sus were also taken; and the Sicilians became masters of all the coast from Tripoli to Tunis.
These events, accompanied with intestine commotions, terminated the rule of the Zeirite dynasty. Hassan-ben-Ali was the last prince.
Dynasty of the Marabûts, called by the Spanish authors Al-Moravides.
Marabût implies a saint; and this dynasty arose to power from a pretended zeal for religion. It originated in the West of Africa, about the year 1060. Yussuf the second prince, in the year 1069 founded Morocco; he conquered part of Spain, and died in 1106. His son Ali was less fortunate, and the short-lived dynasty of the Marabûts was followed by that of the Elmohâds or Unitarians.
Dynasty of the Elmohâds.
This dynasty originated in Mount Atlas. Tomrût, its founder, was followed by his celebrated disciple Abd-el-mûmin, originally a doctor of theology, but who displayed such talents in war, that Ali, king of Morocco, after meeting with many defeats, died in despair.
Abd-el-mûmin aspiring to the universal sovereignty of the Mohammedans in Africa, besieged and took Oran and Fez, A.D. 1142. Tasfîn, son of Ali, hardly retained Morocco, which was taken by Abd-el-mûmin from Ishak his successor, the last of the Marabût dynasty.
1150. The Moors of Spain having suffered great losses, sent to Abd-el-mûmin to request his aid against the Christians. That ambitious prince eagerly seized the opportunity, and sent several armies into Spain. The following year he conquered Bugia in Africa.
1159. The Sicilians retaining Tunis, and other places on the coast in the Eastern part of Africa, Abd-el-mûmin equipped a fleet, and left Morocco at the head of one hundred thousand combatants. Tunis was taken by treason. Mehedié, surrounded by the sea, except one part which was strongly fortified, was bravely defended by the Sicilians, and their king sent a fleet to their assistance. It was defeated by that of the Mûslims, and famine forced the garrison to surrender.
Abd-el-mûmin, being acknowleged sovereign of all Mohammedan Africa, resolved on the conquest of Spain; but death unexpectedly seized him at Sallî in 1160. He was succeeded by Abu-Yakûb his son.
1180. Abu-Yakûb carried his arms into Spain, where he received the homage of several Arabian princes. He was constrained to return to Africa, on intelligence arriving that a horde of Turks, who had passed from Egypt, had seized Tripoli, and other places. Sfax had also revolted. These commotions were appeased; and, at Mehedié, Abu-Yakûb renewed the truce with Sicily for ten years.
1184. Abu-Yakûb invades Spain, is defeated, and killed. Yakûb his son succeeded him.
The El-Moravides, who had fled to Spain, endeavoured to regain their power in Africa. They were supported by the Turks of Tripoli; but Yakûb took that city, and razed its walls.
1195. Yakûb defeats Alfonso king of Castille at Rema near Cordova, and besieges Toledo. He makes other campaigns in Spain.
1199. Yakûb dies at Sallî, in his forty-eighth year. The sceptre passes to Mohammed-el-Nasîr his son.
Mohammed lost all that his ancestors had possessed in Spain.
1210. He attempts to recover his Spanish territories at the head of 600,000 men, according to the wonted exaggerations of the Arabs; but is completely defeated at the famous battle calledAkalby the Arabs, andVanos-Tolosaby the Spaniards. Mohammed died of vexation the following year. The Elmohâds had possessed Valencia, Seville, Carmona, &c.
1211. Yussuf, son of Mohammed, proved a voluptuous and feeble prince. He reigned twelve years, and died without posterity.
1223. Abd-el-wahhad, his great uncle, succeeded, or was chosen by the grandees. The same year the royal title was transferred to Abd-ullah his nephew, who was murdered by rebels.
1226. Edrîs-ben-Yakûb, brother of Abd-ullah, became king of Africa, and used great cruelties to establish his authority. After reigning five years, he died of an apoplexy.
1231. His son Abd-el-wahhad succeeded, and was drowned when bathing. Other princes of this dynasty were, Said-Abul, 1242; Umer, 1248; Wasîk-Abul, 1266. In this usurper closed the dynasty of the Elmohâds.
[Decoration]
Upon the fall of this powerful dynasty, Africa was divided into those petty royalties which still subsist, with few variations.
The family of theMerinisbecame masters of Fez and Morocco, and were the most powerful of the successors of the Elmohâds.
The Abi-Hafs seized Tunis; and the Beni Ziân enjoyed Tremesen.
Abu-’l-Hassan, sultan of Morocco, became sovereign by conquest, about A.D. 1347, of all the African states; but this power was only a momentary meteor.
About the year 1500 an ambitiousSherîf, or descendant of Mohammed, seized the sovereignty of Morocco; and his descendants, under the style of Sherîfs, retain the power to this day.
The kingdom of Tremesen, on the East of Fez, contained Algier, Oran, &c. It was seized by the Beni Ziân about A.D. 1249. On the death of the last of that race, A.D. 1560, it was united to the Turkish Deydom of Algier.
The power of the Turks in Africa is very recent. It began in 1514, when the pirate Barbarossa seized Algier; and piracy, as is too well known, has become an appendage of their dominion.
Tunis became subject to the Abi-Hafs about A.D. 1240. Abu-Zekeria, the first prince, is said to have extended his contribution to the country of the negroes. A.D. 1270, St. Louis, attacking Tunis, perished by a pestilence.
In 1533 Barbarossa seized Tunis. The expedition of Charles V. 1535, is well known; but the African marygold is its only permanent product. The race of the Abi-Hafs terminated in 1570, when El-Wahhali, a descendant of Barbarossa, and Dey of Algier,took possession of Tunis. The Mohammedan power, on the North and West of Africa, remains divided between the Sherîfs of Morocco and Fez, and the Turks of Algier and Tunis.
EGYPT.
Egyptremained for a considerable time in quiet subjection to the Chalîfs, successors of Mohammed. But their power being on the decline, owing to the insolence of their Turcoman militia, the janizaries of that period, and other causes, this fertile country began to throw off the yoke.
The Tholonides.
In the year of the Hejira 265, A.D. 879, Achmed, son of Tholon or Teilûn, governor of Egypt, usurped the sovereignty from the Chalîf Motamid-b’-illah. This short-lived dynasty expired in Sultan Harôn, grandson of the usurper, about thirty years after.
The Fatimites.
The conquest of Egypt by Abu-Tammîm, Sultan of Africa, has been already mentioned.
975. Abu-Tammîm or Moaz was succeeded by his son Aziz. He carried on several wars in Syria.
996. Hakim, his successor, is only famed for his cruelty.
1021. Daher, fourth Chalîf of Egypt, conquered Aleppo, but was forced to abandon it.
1036. Abu-Tamîm Mostansir. In the reign of this Chalîf most of the Egyptian possessions in Syria were lost.
1094. Mostali. This Chalîf, in 1098, regained Jerusalem from the Turks; next year it was taken by the Franks, under Godefroy de Boulogne.
1101. Amer, a child. The Wizîr Afdhal exercised the sovereignty during his reign of thirty years.
1130. Hafed.
1149. Dafer. In his Chalîfate the Christians took Ascalon.
1155. Fayez.
1160. Aded. The Fatimite race had before this period sunk into such imbecility, that the Wizirs held the whole executive power. Shawûr, thereigningWizir, having been supplanted by the intrigues of Dargham, passed to Syria, to implore theassistance of Nûr-el-din, Sultan of Damascus[19]. In 1164 his request was complied with. Shirakûk, called Syracon by the Christian writers, and his nephew, the famous Salah-el-dîn, or Saladin, were sent to re-establish Shawûr, who soon finding his associates too powerful, formed an alliance with the Franks. Shirakûk however defeated all his projects; and in 1169 procured an order from the Chalîf Aded for the decapitation of Schawûr, with the robe and firmân of wizîr for himself. He died in the same year, and was succeeded by his nephew Saladin.
1171. Saladin obliges the Franks to evacuate Egypt. An enemy of the Fatimites, from religious schism, he omits the name of Aded, in the public prayers, and substitutes that of the Chalîf of Bagdad. Aded died on the 13th of September 1171; and in him terminated the dynasty of the Fatimites. His successors renounced the title of Chalîf, and assumed only that of Sultans.
The Aiûbite Sultans.
Salah-ed-din, son of Aiûb, a Kurd, usurped the title of Sultan of Egypt in 1174. Not contented with that sovereignty, he extended his views to Syria. In 1177 he is defeated at Ramlé by Rainaud de Chatillon.
1182. More success attended his arms in Syria; and next year he seized Amida in Mesopotamia, and forced Aleppo to a capitulation.
1187. Saladin gains over the Franks his famous victory at Hittîn: the Christian power falls, and Saladin becomes master of Jerusalem on the 2d of October.
1189. The Franks besiege Akka, or Ptolemais, which did not surrender till after it had been invested for two years.
1192. Saladin concludes a truce with Richard king of England. Akka and Yaffa were almost the only places left to the Franks.
Saladin died on the 4th March 1193, aged only fifty-seven, leaving sixteen sons and a daughter.
1193. Malek-el-Azîz, second son of Saladin. He seized Damascus, and left to his brother only Samosata.
1198. Malek-el-Mansûr. His uncle Afdhal, prince of Samosata, was called by the Emîrs to rule the kingdom during the minority, by the title of Atabek.
1200. Adel-Seif-el-dîn, brother of Saladin, usurps the crown.
1209. The Franks penetrate into Egypt, and retire with considerable booty. Nine years afterward they returned, and seized the isle Pharos and Damiatt.
1218. Malek-el-Kâmel, son of Seif-el-dîn. The crusaders abandon Damiatt in 1221.
1228. Malek surrenders, by treaty, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Sidon, to Frederic II. the Emperor of Germany.
1239. Malek Adel deposed by his brother.
1240. Malek Salah. In 1244 he defeated the Franks and Syrians, who were about to penetrate into Egypt.
1249. St. Louis seized Damiatt; and in the same year Malek Salah died.
He had bought from the Tatars a number of Turkish slaves from Kaptchak, to form a guard and marine. These he raised to the highest employments; and they became the famousMamlûks, who seized the sovereignty of Egypt.
1249. Turân Shah, son of Malek. Next year he captures St. Louis, and his army of 20,000. On the 1st May 1250, Turân Shah is massacred by the Mamlûks, who assign the sceptre to his step-mother, and afterwards to a boy of the Aiubite race, which in him closed its domination over Egypt.
[Decoration]
Baharite Mamlûks.
Thesewere so styled, from having been originally employed asmarinerson board the ships of the Sultan of Egypt. They were Turks.
A.D. 1254. Ezz-ed-dîn Moaz Ibegh was the first sovereign of this dynasty. He was assassinated.
1255. Nûr-ed-dîn Ali, son of Sultan Ezz-ed-dîn, followed.
It would be uninteresting to mark the names and short reigns of these princes, most of whom fell by assassination. The chief events alone shall be commemorated.
Bibars I. who reigned from A.D. 1260 to 1277, was an active prince, and seized most of the Christian possessions in Syria.
Kalîl Ascraf, who ascended the throne in 1290, took Ptolemais, and terminated the power of the Christians in Palestine.
During successive reigns many contests took place in Syria, the possession of which was disputed by the Mamlûk Sultans and the Moguls.
Nazr Mohammed, who died in 1341, distinguished himself by the protection which he granted to agriculture and the arts.
In 1348 a pestilence appeared in Egypt, or perhaps originally in Syria, which spread over a great part of Europe.
A.D. 1365. In October, Peter de Lusignan, king of Cyprus, besieged Alexandria; but he was soon constrained to abandon it, for want of provisions[20]. Shabân Ascrâf was then Sultan,and he was the first who ordered the Sherîfs, or descendants of the Prophet, to wear a green turban.
Borgite Mamlûks.
This race was of Circassian extract, and continued to rule Egypt till the French invasion.
1382. Barkûk-Daher, who had been Atabek in the minority of Hadgi Salah, deposed his pupil, and seized the supreme authority. Timûr invading Syria, Barkûk obtained two victories over the Moguls, and forced them to withdraw.
1399. Faradj, son of Barkûk. Few of these Sultans reigned above a year, till
1442. Bursbai, who reigned sixteen. He sent a fleet against Cyprus, which took Lymissos and Nicosia, and brought John II. and most of his nobility, captives. Syria remained almost a constant appanage to Egypt.
1461. Abu-’l-Fathe Achmed received tribute from Cyprus, and assigned the crown to James, natural son of John III.
Of the succeeding Sultans we find nothing remarkable; and the Mamlûk aristocracy began to render their station more and more precarious.
In 1501 Kansû El-ghûri was raised to the throne.
In 1516, Selim II. emperor of Constantinople, having declared war against him, defeated and slew him near Aleppo, and seized Syria.
Tomân Bey was appointed his successor by the Mamlûks. On the 24th January 1517, he lost, at Rodania near Kahira, a great battle against the Othman troops. After another obstinate conflict, Tomân Bey was again defeated by Selim, taken prisoner, and hanged at one of the gates of Kahira on the 13th April.