CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS d <>i of the Hon. John Colast THE SPHINX. CAIRO JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS THREE CHIEF CITIES OF THE EGYPTIAN SULTANS BY D. S. MARGOLIOUTH, D.Litt. With Illustrations in Colour by W. S. S. TYRWHITT, R.B.A. cn z^^ [Fi <,<>> r^ ra cu Ig] — ^o v^ K/=^ IB Nem fork Dodd, Mead and Company 1907 Copyright, 1907, by DODD, MEAD & COMPANY Published October, igoy OEDICATED TO HER HIGHNESS PRINCESS NAZLI, DAUGHTER OF MUSTAFA FADE PASHA AND GREAT-GRAND- DAUGHTER OF MOHAM- MED ALI PASHA Madame^ — I utilise your kindly per' mission to dedicate a book to you by offering this, in the confidence that the work of the artists will have your approval, whatever may be your judgment on the text. The scenes which they have painted, and which I have attempted to describe, are familiar to your Highness from childhood. In and about them your ancestors have played a great part, and two out of the three cities illus- trated here are indissolubly con- nected with their names. It has long been your Highnesses custom to judge with leniency and sympathy what- ever comes from this country to yours; may the same charity be ex- tended to this book. Your Highnesses humble servant, THE AUTHOR PREFACE CHE task of composing the letterpress to ac- company Mr. Walter Tyrwhitt's paintings of scenes at Cairo, Jerusalem and Damas- cus was offered to the present writer, an occasional visitor at those cities, as a relief from the labour of editing and translating Arabic texts. The chance of being associated at any time in his life with the Fine Arts constituted a temptation which he was unable to resist. The account of Cairo has been based on the Khitat Taufikiyyah Jaddiah of Ali PaSHA MubaRAK, cor- rected and supplemented from various sources, especially the admirable memoirs published by the French Archaeological Mission at Cairo, and bearing the names of Ravaisse, CASANOVA, and VANBercHEM. Monographs dealing with particular buildings have been used when available, especially those of Herz Bey: the author regrets that he has not been able to get access to all this eminent architect's works. Of historical treatises employed he need only mention the History of Modern Egypt (Arabic) by his friend, G. Zaidan, which has been of use especially for the Turkish period. For Chapter XI (Jerusalem) the author must ac- [vii] PREFACE knowledge his obligation to the works published by the Palestine Exploration Fund, especially those by Wilson, Warren, Conder, and Lestrange. For Chapter XII (Damascus) he has derived much help from the Description de Damas, translated, with an excellent commentary, by M. Sauvaire of the In- stitut in the Journal Asiatique, ser. ix, vols. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. The architectural paragraphs have been either revised or written by Mrs. MargolioutH, who has had training in architectural drawing. The treatises on Arabic Art of Gayet, Saladin, and Lane-Poole have been studied with profit. The author has, how- ever, abstained from consulting the work of the last of these writers on Cairo: for, owing to Mr. Lane-Poole's unique qualifications for dealing with this subject, the perusal of his book might have in- volved anyone else writing on the same theme in plagiarism. Oxford, September, IQ07. [viii] CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I, Cairo before the Fatimides i II. The Fatimide Period 30 III. Buildings of the Fatimide Period .... 65 IV. The Ayyubid Period and its Buildings . . 81 V. The First Mameluke Sovereign 107 VI. Nasir and His Sons i39 VII. The Early Circassian Mamelukes . . . . 170 VIII. The Last of the Circassian Mamelukes . . 206 IX. The Turkish Period 228 X. The Khedivia Polderi 256 XI. Jerusalem: An Historical Sketch .... 293 XII. The Praises of Damascus 366 XIII. Scenes from the History of Damascus . . 402 Appendix 453 [ix] ILLUSTRATIONS The Sphinx Frontispiece Facing Page The Sentinel of the Nile 2 Tooloon (Tulun) Mosque, Cairo 12 In a Cairene Street 20 Midan-el-Adaoui (Maidan El-Adawi) 26 Street Scene, Bab el Sharia (Bab Al-sha'Riyyah), Cairo . 34 Old Gateway near Bab-al-Wazir, Cairo 42 Sharia el Azhar (Shari-al-Azhar), Cairo 50 Courtyard of the Mosque of El Azhar, University of Cairo 58 A Mosque in the Saida Zeineb (Sayyidah Zainab) Quarter, Cairo 66 The Citadel of Cairo . . ^ 74 An Old Palace, Cairo 82 Door of a Mosque, Cairo 92 Mosque of Sultan Bibars (Baibars), Cairo ICXD The Khan El Gamaliyeh ( Jamaliyyah), Cairo .... 108 A Street near El Gamaliyeh (Jamaliyyah), Cairo . . . 116 Mosque of Almas; Interior, Cairo 124 Minaret of Ibrahim Agha's Mosque, Cairo 132 Outside the Mosque of Ibrahim Agha, Cairo .... 140 Ibrahim Agha's Mosque: the Interior 148 The Washing-place, Ibrahim Agha's Mosque . . . . 156 Interior of the Mosque of Shakhoun (Shaikhun), Cairo . 164 The Tentmakers' Bazaar, Cairo 172 [xi] ILLUSTRATIONS Facing Page An Old House near the Tentmakers' Bazaar, Cairo . . 176 Tombs of the Caliphs, Cairo 182 The Dome of El Moaiyad (Muayyad) from Bab Zuweylch (Zuwailah), Cairo 188 A Courtyard near the Tentmakers' Bazaar, Cairo . . . 200 Palace of Kait Bey (Kaietbai), Cairo 216 The Mosque el Ghoree (Ghuri), Cairo 222 Mosques in the Sharia Bab al Wazir, Cairo 230 A Side Street in Cairo 236 A Street Scene in Cairo 244 Sharia el Kirabiyeh or Street of the Water-Carriers, Cairo . 256 The Khan el Dobabiyeh (Dubabiyyah), Cairo .... 266 Cairo: Shari Darb el Gamamiz (Jamamiz) .... 274 Souk Silah, the Armourers' Bazaar, Cairo 284 The Fair, Moolid el Ahmadee (Maulid Ahmadi), Cairo . 290 Morning in Jerusalem: The Dome of the Rock on the Shaded Side 296 Jerusalem: The Dome of Kait Bey (Kaietbai) Haram-es- Shereef (Sharif) 308 The Gate of the Cotton Merchants, Jerusalem .... 320 South Porch of Mosque and Summer Pulpit, Jerusalem . 330 Dome of the Rock from Al Aksa, Jerusalem 346 Haram es Shereef (Sharif), Jerusalem 356 Damascus from the Salahiyeh (Salihiyyah) : Sunset over the City 368 House of Naaman, Damascus 374 Tomb of Sheik (Shaikh) Arslan, Damascus 382 Walls of the City and Barada River, Damascus ... 388 The Hamareh (Suk Ali Pasha), Damascus 396 A Khan in Damascus 403 [xii] ILLUSTRATIONS Facing Page (i) Syrian Tile of the XVIIIth Century, from a Damascus Mosque, (2) Syrian Tile, XVIth or XVIIth Century, from a Damascus Mosque 408 Minaret of the Bride, Damascus 418 Damascus, Minaret of Jesus 424 General View of Damascus in Early Spring .... 428 Traditional Site where St. Paul was let down in a Basket, Damascus 432 Domes of Damascus 438 The Moslem Cemetery and View of Mount Hermon, Damascus 442 The Midan (Maidan), Damascus 446 Near the Midan (Maidan), Damascus 450 LINE DRAWINGS Page Hezekiah's Pool 303 Tower Antonia, Jerusalem 339 Dome of the Rock, Interior 353 Summer Pulpit, Haram Area 363 The following illustrations have been reproduced by the courtesy of their owners: Tooloon Mosque; In a Cairene Street; A Street Scene, Cairo; The Mosque El Ghoree, Cairo; and Door of a Mosque, Cairo, by kind per- mission of the owner, T. M. Kitchin, Esq.: and the Sentinel of the Nile, by kind permission of the owner, M. le Vicomte R. d'Humieres. Errata. The titles of the two plates " Morning in Jerusalem: The Dome of the Rock on the Shaded Side," and " Minaret of Ibrahim Ayha's Mosque " are incorrectly given on the plates themselves as "Morning in Jerusalem: the Mosque of Omar on the Shaded Side," and " Mosques in the Sharia Bab-el-Wazis." Where the phonetic spelling of other titles differs in text and illustrations, the alternative titles are given in brackets in the list of illustrations and on the tissues. [ xiii ] CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES XF modern Egypt is a doubly dependent country, tributary to one empire, and protected by another, a few centuries ago it claimed to be not only independent but imperial. Its capital, Cairo, was founded when the power of Baghdad was already declining, and for y two centuries it maintained a Caliph who contested with his Eastern rival the possession of Syria, Pales- tine and Arabia. And when in the thi^rteeoth cen- tury the Mongol storm wrecked the great metropolis of Islam on the Tigris, it was at Cairo that sovereigns arose capable of rebuilding an Islamic empire, and repelling the Mongols beyond the Euphrates. For two and a half ceQlurie_s Cairo remained the capital of western Islam, and the seat of the most powerful Mohammedan state, sending out governors to many provinces, and recognised as suzerain even where it did not appoint the ruler: being itself the laboratory of a political experiment perhaps never tried else- where. Its monarchs bore the title Slave {Matrie- ^ Juke) , not in mock humility like the Servus servorum Dei, but in the plain and literal sense of the term. [I] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS The occupant of the throne was ordinarily a Turk, Circassian or Greek, who had been purchased in the market, and then climbed step by step, or at times by leaps and bounds, a ladder of honours at the top of which was the sultan's throne. A slave with slaves for ministers constituted the court, and men of the same origin officered the army. The talents which had raised the first sovereign to the first place were rarely, if ever, handed on to his offspring; the natural J/^heir to the throne could seldom maintain himself on it for more than a few jrnonths or years. To have passed through the slave-dealer's hands seemed to be a necessary qualification for royalty. In the country which gave them their title these rulers housed as strangers. To its religion they in- deed conformed, but with its language they were usually unfamiliar. The life of the nation was afifected by their justice or injustice, and the wisdom or unwisdom of their policy, internal and external; V but in the nation they tg^k no^ root. Hence one battle displaced them for the Ottomans, just as one battle in our day put the country under the power of Great Britain. Cairo then eclipsed Baghdad, to be eclipsed after two-and-a-half centuries by Constantinople; but to , the dynasty under which it reached the zenith of its \ fame and power it did not owe its foundadon. That took place in the tenth century, A. D.^ when an army was sent to invade Egypt by the descendant of a suc- cessful adventurer, who, claiming to be of the Prophet Mohammed's line, had founded a dynasty [2] - H a J) CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES in North Africa. The place where this army had encamped, after capturing the older metropolis, was chosen to be the site of the new one. And it was V/ called Victoria (Kahirah) in commemoration of the conquest already achieved, and as an augury of others to be won. Those who found cities to inaugurate new dynasties ordinarily keep near the beaten track. Cairo is but two miles to the north of Fostat, which had been the capital of the country from the time of the Moham- medan conquest. Its name is the Latin word Fos- satum " an entrenchment " — and it was the camp of the conquering army which, under Amr, son of al-As, had wrested Egypt from the Byzantine empire, and which was made the seat of government because the Caliph of the time would have no water between his capital, Medinah, and any Islamic city. This is why the capital of Greek and Roman times, Alexandria, lost its pre-eminence. Fostat itself was not far from the remains of the ancient M emph is, and a city called Babylon, supposed to date from Persian times. For some time the new city kept growing by the side of the old city without the latter losing much of its importance or its populousness, of which fabulous accounts are given by persons professing to be eye- witnesses. At one time it was supposed to contain 36,000 mosques and 1270 public baths. A descrip- tion of the fourteenth century, when it had long been on the decline, still gives it 480 small and 14 large mosques, 70 public baths and 30 Christian churches or monasteries. Fostat was celebrated not only for CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS its size, its populousness and the wealth of its stores, but also for the f oulness of its air — for the mountains screened it from the fresh breezes of the desert — and the carelessness of its inhabitants with regard to the most elementary precautions of cleanliness. Dead animals were flung into the streets and left there; the gutters discharged into the same Nile whence water for drinking was raised in myriads of buckets. The cause, however, of the eventual desolation of Fostat was not its unhealthiness, but the act of a ruler of Egypt. Shawar, nominally vizier but really sov- ereign, in the year 1163 having to defend the coun- try at once against the Franks and against a rival from Syria, despaired of saving the double city; so he committed the older capital to the flame s. Twenty thousand bottles of naphtha and ten thousand lighted torches were distributed by his orders in Fostat, whence all the population had been cleared, to be harboured in the mosques, baths, and wherever else there was space in Cairo. For fifty days the ancient city blazed; when at last the flames were extin- guished, all that remained of the capital of the first Moslem conqueror of Egypt was a pile of ashes. The history of Cairo falls into five main periods: the Fatimide, the Ayyubid, the Mameluke, the Turk- ish, and the Khedivial. The Fa_ dmid£.s , though the first independent Moslem dynasty both in fact and in name that governed Egypt, had been preceded by some rulers only nominally dependent on Baghdad. The first of these was Ahmad Ibn Tulun, whose mosque still remains. The example of governing [6] CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES Egypt for its own good with the aid of a foreign gar- rison was set by this predecessor of Mohammed Ali, and has been repeatedly followed. The materials for his biography are fairly copious, and the figure which emerges is like those of many Oriental statesmen — a combination of piety, benev- olence, shrewdness and unscrupulousness. His father, Tuliin, was a Turk, who had been sent by the governor of Bokhara in the tribute to Baghdad, to the Caliph Mamun, son of the famous Haryn al- Rashid, early in the ninth century; for at that time part of the tribute of those Eastern dependencies was paid in slaves. Ere long he was manumitted, and rose to a post of some importance at the Caliph's court, which was beginning to depend on Turkish praetorians. His son, Ahmad, the future ruler of 1/ Egypt, w^as born September 20, 835. At the age of twenty-two, after his father's deatHThe obtained leave to migrate to Tarsus, a frontier city, exposed to at- tacks from the Byzantines, on the chance of seeing active service and obtaining regular pay. But his taste for t heolo gy was no less keen than that for the profession of arms, and at Tarsus he found oppor- tunities for the profoundest study. At last, however, an earnest summons from his mother decided him to return, and he started for Samarra, where at the time the Eastern Caliph had fixed his residence. On this journey he got the first chance of displaying his military capacity. The caravan, five hundred strong, to which he had attached himself, was convey- ing a great collection of contraband treasures from [7] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Constantinople to Samarra. After passing Edessa, and having reached what was supposed to be safe ground, it was attacked by Arab banditti, whom Ahmad succeeded in defeating, thereby rescuing the Caliph's treasure from their hands. This act placed him high in his sovereign's favour. Ere long a palace revolution led to this sovereign's deposition, and Ahmad Ibn Tulun accompanied him to exile at Wasit in the capacity of guardian, in which he conducted himself with modesty and gentleness. A command from Samarra to dispatch his prisoner was disobeyed by him; but he made no difficulty about handing his former sovereign over to another executioner. In the year 868 Ahmad's stepfather was appointed governor of Egypt, and sent his stepson thither to represent him. On September 15 he entered Fostat, the then capital of the country, at the head of an army. His authority did not stretch over the whole land, and the financial department, chiefly connected with the collection of the tribute to be sent to Bagh- dad, was under another official, independent of the governor and inclined to thwart him. This finance minister, like many of his successors, had rendered himself unpopular by a variety of ingenious extor- tions, and in order to protect his life had surrounded himself with a bodyguard of a hundred armed pages. Ahmad excited this man's suspicion by re- fusing a handsome present of money, and demanding of him instead his bodyguard, which he was com- pelled to hand over. In spite of the finance minis- [8] CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES ter's consequent endeavours to blacken Ahmad's character at court, fortune continued to favour the deputy governor persistently. In 869 his stepfather w^as executed, but the government of Egypt was con- ferred upon his father-in-law, who not only retained Ahmad in office, but placed under him those Egyp- tian districts which had previously been independent of him. By the suppression of various risings he won such a reputation for ability and loyalty that when in 872 the governor of Syria rebelled against the Caliph and appropriated the Egyptian tribute, Ahmad was summoned to Syria and authorised to gather forces sufficient to quell the rebellion. These forces were not actually employed for this purpose, but they were not disbanded, and Ahmad on his re- turn to Egypt ordered a new suburb north of Fostat to be built for their accommodation. This suburb, which covered a site previously occupied by Jewish and Christian burial grounds, was called Kata'i, j " the fiefs," and was divided into streets assigned to the different classes of which the army was formed; its area was about a square mile. It has been re- marked that each epoch in the development of the Moslem capital of Egypt was marked by the fresh location of a permanent camp; and the origin of . Fostat and Kata'i will be reproduced in the cases of ) Cairo and its citadel. The next years were spent by Ahmad in consoli- dating his power, and, by various devices, not un- scrupulous for an Oriental, getting free from his enemies. Agents were maintained by him in Bagh- [9] \ CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS dad to intercept communications from Egypt di- rected against himself, and summary punishment meted out to those from whom the communications emanated. By bribes wisely administered at court he contrived that all to whom the governorship of Egypt was offered should decline it; and by lending money through agents on easy terms he gained a hold on many a potential enemy. The finance minister who had stood in his way was after a time induced to resign his post, and Ahmad, who took it over, re- leased his subjects from the onerous imposts to which they had been subjected ; an act of piety for which he is supposed to have been rewarded by luck in the discovery of treasures: but whether these discoveries actually took place or were fictions of Ahmad himself or his biographers is unknown. In 876, owing to exorbitant demands made by the Caliph's brother, then occupied in fighting with a pretender who had raised the standard of revolt in the marshes of the Euphrates, Ahmad definitely threw off his allegi- ance; an army was equipped against him, but owing to mutiny it never came near the Egyptian frontier. In the following year Ahmad seized Syria, and ad- vanced as far as Tarsus, whence he withdrew after establishing peaceful relations with the Byzantine emperor. To Ahmad Ibn Tulun three buildings were ascribed, of which only one remains intact. In 873 he founded the first hospital of Moslem Egypt; its site, in a quarter called Askar, southwest of the new quarter Kata'i, is accurately described by the great [10] CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES medieval topographer of Cairo, by whose time it was already ruined. According to custom, the rents of a number of buildings were given it by way of endowment. Patients, during their stay in it, w^ere to be fed and clothed at the expense of the hospital; when by eating a chicken and a roll one of them had given evidence of being restored to health, his gar- ments and any money that he had brought were re- turned to him, and he was dismissed. Ahmad Ibn Tulun was a diligent visitor at his l^ospital until a practical joke played by a lunatic under treatment there gave the founder a distaste for further visits. Another work ascribed to the same ruler is an aqueduct, by which water raised at a well on a spur of Mount Mokattam was brought northwards. The a queduct, at its commencement not more than six metres high, gradually becomes level with the ground. The ruins of this engineering work were identified by Corbet-Bey (to whose article in the " Journal of the Asiatic Society " for 1891 we shall be indebted for part of the description of Ahmad's Mosque), with an aqueduct known as Migret al- Imam, commencing opposite the village of Basatin. According to this writer the structure of the aqueduct confirms the legend which makes it the work of the same architect who afterwards built the Mosque, and who, for having allowed some fresh mortar to remain on which one day Ahmad's horse stumbled, was re- warded for his services with five hundred blows and imprisonment. The immediate purpose of the aqueduct was to furnish water to a mosque called the [II] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS % Mosque of the Feet, which, though renewed after Ahmad's time, seems to have disappeared. It served, however, for a much larger community than the keepers of the Mosque, and like the rest of this ruler's institutions was well endowed. The excel- ilence of the construction of the aqueduct caused it to I be imitated afterwards, it is said, without success. In 1894 ^ small sum was devoted by the Committee for the Preservation of the Monuments of Arab Art to its repair. More permanent than either of these works has /I been the Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun, built during 1 the years 877-879. Only t\vo. mosques for public worship preceded it in Egypt, if we may believe the chroniclers — one, the old Mosque of Amr, the con- queror of Egypt, of which the original has quite dis- appeared, though a building is still called by its name; another, long forgotten, in the quarter called Askar, the creation of which came between that of Fostat and Kata'i. The people of Fostat are said to have complained that the Mosque of Amr was not large enough to hold all Ahmad's black soldiers at Friday service; yet since Mohammedan potentates have ordinarily endeavoured to perpetuate their names by the erection of religious edifices, this mo- tive is not required to explain the undertaking. Mr. Lane Poole has observed that the older form of mosque consisted of an area enclosed by cloisters, which gave way to a form less wasteful of space, when ground became valuable. This was the design adopted by Ahmad Ibn Tulun, but a building of the [12] ■^ TOOLOON MOSOUE, CAIRO. CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES size contemplated required a vast number of columns, such as could only be obtained by demolishing exist- ing churches or oratories, since the supply to be had from ancient and disused edifices had run short; and ' it was only so that the Moslem builders supplied themselves with columns. The Coptic architect — if the legend may be believed — hearing in his prison of the ruler's difficulty, sent word to the effect that he could build the desired edifice without columns, or at least with only two. He could build with piers, and employ brick, a material better able to resist fire than marble. His offer was accepted, he was released and set to work. The Mosque has been frequently represented and described, perhaps best by Corbet-Bey in the article to which reference has already been made. The hard red bricks of which it is constructed are eighteen centimetres long by eight wide, and about four thick, laid flat, and bound by layers of mortar from one- and-a-half to two centimetres thick, all covered with several layers of fine white plaster. The foundations are for the most part on the solid rock; the site being called the Hill o f Yashkur, named after an Arab f tribe who were settled there at the time of the con- ^{ quest of Egypt, and employed before Ahmad's date as a trial ground for artillery. Owing to the nature of the foundation and the solidity of the building the whole Mosque, with slight exceptions, has re- sisted the effects of time, only one row of piers — the front row of the sanctuary — having fallen, in conse- quence of an earthquake on Sunday, June 8, 1814. [15] \ \ CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS The founder's desire that the edifice should survive fire and flood has therefore been fulfilled. Besides the use of piers instead of columns, the building is noteworthy as exhibiting the first employ- ment on a large scale in Moslem architecture of the pointed arch, which is said to be specially character- istic of Coptic architecture, and indeed to be found in all Coptic churches and monasteries; the builder of the Mosque had already employed them in the aqueduct. The arches (according to Corbet's measurements) spring from a height of 4.64 metres from the ground, rising at the apex to a perpendicu- lar height of 3.70 metres from the spring; their span is 4.56 metres, and there is a slight return. Above the piers the space between the arches is pierced by a small pointed arch, rising to the same height as the main arches, and indicating that the architect was aware of the mechanical properties of the pointed arch. Four cloisters then — three consisting of double rows and one of a fivefold row of piers — surround a square court, of which the sides measure ninety and ninety-two metres, while the whole Mosque covers an area of 143 by 119. On three sides the whole is enclosed by a surrounding wall at a distance of about fifteen metres from the cloisters. Various geometri- cal ornaments in low relief are worked in the stucco both around and above the arches, as they appear in the painting, which, however, represents not such arches as have been described, but windows in the wall of the same type as those which support the [16] CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES roof of the colonnades, but springing from engaged dwarf columns. A line of stucco ornament of a similar type runs above the small arches over the colonnades; the space between this and the roof of sycamore beams is filled with wooden planks, con- taining verses of the Koran in Cufic letters cut in wood and attached to the planking. Exaggerated accounts make this frieze contain the whole of the Koran; but Corbet-Bey's calculations show that they could never have contained more than a seventeenth part of the Moslem sacred book. Two features of interest are the dome in the centre of the court and the minaret on the north side. The central space was originally occupied by a fountain, for ornament, not for ablution, a ceremony for which the founder had already made provision elsewhere. The fountain was in a marble basin, covered by a dome resting on ten marble columns and surmounted by another resting on sixteen. There were thus above the fountain two chambers, from each of which the Muezzin could utter the call to prayer; while the roof had a parapet of teak wood, and had on it something resembling a sundial. The whole of this marble erection was destroyed by fire on Thursday, September 7, 892, nine years after the founder's death, and more than a hundred years elapsed before it was replaced. The original minaret begins as a square tower, above which there is a round tower, each of which has an external staircase, broad enough for two loaded camels to mount; to these, in later times, two [17] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS octagonal towers with internal staircases, after the style of the ordinary minaret, have been added. In explanation of this remarkable shape the Moslems tell a story how Ahmad Ibn Tulun, who considered it beneath his dignity to trifle in council, once by accident played with a roll of paper, and to conceal his momentary lapse asserted that he was making the model after which the minaret of his mosque should be built. Other writers, however, state that both the Mosque and its minaret were copied from the great Mosque of Samarra, which in Ahmad Ibn Tulun's time had been the metropolis of the Caliphate; and though Samarra quickly went to ruins when the su- premacy of Baghdad had been restored, we hear something of a wonderful minaret there, whence a view of the surrounding country could be obtained. Corbet-Bey imagines the form of the minaret to resemble that of Zoroastrian fire-towers; and this suggestion seems to account for the occurrence of the type at Samarra, which it was natural for a pro- vincial governor to copy. The tower was at one time surmounted by a boat, standing by which, after the completion of his work, the Christian architect is said to have demanded his reward, which this time was amply accorded. The same ornament continued till May, 1694, when it was blown off in a gale, but it was afterwards for a time replaced. The total cost of the building is given unanimously by our authorities as a sum which works out at about £60,000; and when Ahmad's subjects doubted whether this money had been lawfully obtained, and [.8] CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES therefore whether the Mosque could safely be used for worship, the founder is said to have silenced their scruples by assuring them that it had all been built out of treasure trove — money almost miraculously supplied by Heaven's favour. Tales are told of the magnificence of the decoration and furniture pro- vided for the inaugural ceremony; how it was even intended to encircle the Mosque with a line of ambergris, that the worshippers might always have a fragrant odour to delight their sense. The dedi- catory inscription was engraved on more than one marble stele, and parts of one of these have recently been rediscovered and fixed to one of the pillars of the sanctuary, opposite the mihrab, or niche, marking the direction of prayer. It runs as follows: " In the name of, etc. The Emir Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad Ibn Tulun, client of the Commander of the Faithful, whose might, honour and perfect favour God prolong in this world and the next, commanded that this holy, happy Mosque be built for the Mos- lem community, out of legitimate and well-gotten wealth granted him by God. Desiring thereby the favour of God and the future world, and seeking that which will conduce to the glory of religion and the unity of the believers, and aspiring to build a house for God and to pay His due and to read His Book, and to make perpetual mention of Him; since God Almighty says: In houses which God has per- mitted to be raised, wherein His name is mentioned, and wherein praise is rendered unto Him morning [19] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS and evening by men that are distracted neither by merchandise nor by selling from making mention of God, reciting prayer and giving alms, fearing a day wherein the hearts and eyes shall be troubled, that God may reward them for the good that they have wrought, and may give them yet more out of His bounty. And God bestows on whom He will with- out reckoning. In the month Ramadan of the year 265. Exalt thy Lord, the Lord of might, over that which they ascribe to Him. And peace be on the messengers and praise unto God the Lord of the worlds. O God, he gracious unto Mohammed, and Mohammed's family, and bless Mohammed and his family even according to the best of Thy favour and grace and blessing upon Abraham and his family. Verily Thou art glorious and to be praised." Of the history of the Mosque after Ahmad's time some notices are preserved. His suburb Kata'i, which contained not only his Mosque but also his vast palace and parade ground, was burned in 905; and as the surrounding locality became more and more deserted, the Mosque itself suffered from neglect. The second of the Fatimide Caliphs is said to have replaced the fountain, which, as we have seen, was burned soon after its erection; but the desolation of the region reached its climax during the long reign of the Fatimide Mustansir, and the Mosque came to be used as a resting-place for Moor- ish caravans on their way to Mecca, who stabled their camels in the cloisters. Its use as a hostel was coun- [20] ^f(URi:~. IN A CAIRENE STREET. CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES tenanced by the Egyptian rulers of the twelfth cen- tury, who even provided food for those who made it their resting-place; such persons were also declared free from the ordinary tribunals, and told to appoint a judge of their own to settle any quarrels that might arise. Systematic restoration was effected by the Mame- luke Sultan Lajin, who, after murdering his master in the year 1294, took refuge in the then desolate Mosque, and there vowed that, if he escaped his pur- suers and eventually came to power, he would restore it. Two years later, being raised to the throne of Egypt, he was in a position to fulfil his promise; to which pious object he devoted a sum of about ten thousand pounds. He rebuilt the fountain in the centre of the court, turning it into a lavatory for the ceremonial ablution, and his building still remains; he provided a handsome mimbar or pulpit, of which some panels have found their way into the South Kensington Museum; but the inscription which re- cords his munificence is still there. He repaved the colonnades and restored the plastering of the walls. He also provided the Mosque with endowments sufficient to support a variety of officials, including professors of the chief Moslem sciences, and a school for children. Shortly after his time, early in the fourteenth century, the two minarets on the south side were built; and in 1370 the north colonnade was rebuilt, and perhaps the arches which connect the minaret which has been described with the Mosque were constructed. [23] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Under the dominion of the Turks the Mosque was again allowed to fall into neglect, and became a fac- tory for the production of woollen goods; while in the nineteenth century it became a poorhouse for the aged and infirm, the arcades being built up and turned into a series of cells, and the interior profaned and desecrated in every possible way. The poor- house was closed in 1877, and in 1890 the Committee for the Preservation of the Monuments of Arab Art succeeded in removing some traces of the injuries which the edifice had sustained, and it has ever since remained under their care. The period between the death of Ahmad Ibn Tulun in 884 to the foundation of Cairo in 969 was in the highest degree eventful, but the events which it contained were of little consequence for the subject of this book. The last days of Ahmad were embit- tered by the rebellion of one of his sons, who, being caught and imprisoned, was put to death shortly after the accession of another son, Khumaruyah, who reigned for thirteen years. He showed great com- petence both as a diplomatist and as a soldier; he re- stored friendly relations between the courts of Egypt and Baghdad, and received in fief from the Caliph for the period of thirty years a vast empire stretching from Barca to the Tigris. He was, however, more famous for his magnificence than for his statesman- ship or his military skill. Wonderful tales are told of his palaces, his gardens and his menageries; of w^alls frescoed at his order with pictures of the ladies in his harem, with crowns on their heads; of trees [24] CAIRO BEFORE THE FATLMIDES set in silver, and exotics brought to Egypt from all parts; of a pond of mercury whereon was placed a bed of air-cushions, secured with silk and silver^ that its perpetual rocking might give him the sleep which his physicians could not procure for him save by dis- tasteful remedies; of the tame lion that guarded him sleeping; and of the wealth of Egypt expended on the dowry of his daughter, sent to Baghdad to wed the Caliph. The pond of mercury is apparently no fiction, since it is recorded that after his day men found the liquid metal all about the site where it had stood. In 896 Khumaruyah was assassinated, it is said, in consequence of some indulgence; and his sons and other successors of his family were quite incapable of managing great afifairs. Nine years after his death Egypt was conquered by a force sent from Baghdad, and the surviving members of the line of Ahmad Ibn Tulun were carried captive to the metropolis on the Tigris. Such parts of Kata'i as remained after the fire had only the status of an annex to Fostat. Once more the country was governed by a viceroy sent from Baghdad, with a finance minister equal to him in authority. The weakness of the Caliphate prevented this ar- rangement from working as it had worked in earlier times. Another Turk from Farghanah, similar in a variety of ways to Ahmad Ibn Tulun, utilised the favour of a vizier with whom he had contracted an alliance to obtain by fraud an appointment to the governorship of Egypt. In August, 935, this person [25] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS entered Egypt as governor, having defeated other aspirants to the office; and shortly afterwards he ob- tained permission from headquarters to assume the title Ikhshid, which in his native country stood for ''king"; somewhat as in the nineteenth century the Egyptian viceroy got from his Turkish suzerain the right to style himself Khedive. An enterprising chieftain deprived the Ikhshid of the provinces of Syria and Palestine by force of arms; and his being confirmed in their possession by the Caliph provoked such resentment in the mind of the Ikhshid that he bethought him of abandoning the Prophet's succes- sor on the Tigris, and bestowing his homage on the pretender who was founding an empire in Western Islam. The Ikhshidi dynasty was of even shorter duration than that of Ahmad Ibn Tulun, and left in Egypt even less to perpetuate its name. Its founder was charged by his contemporaries with avarice and cowardice, neither of them a quality which helps to secure immortality. The system of slave rule, which, as has been seen, gave Egypt its best days, was anticipated in the inter- val between the death of the Ikhshid and the acces- sion of the Fatimides. Of two negroes brought from the Sudan to the Egyptian market one aspired to em- ployment in a cook shop, that he might never want food; the other aspired to become ruler of the coun- try, and each obtained his wish. Purchased for a small sum, and passing through the lowest stages of misery and degradation, the latter rose finally by [26] ;k*<: v|- I CAIRO BEFORE THE FATIMIDES force of character to be the Ikhshid's first minister and general of his forces; and on his master's death he contrived to keep the heirs in a state of tutelage to himself, and afterwards to seat himself on their throne; displaying throughout capacity for the man- agement of great affairs. Kafur, '' Camphor," whose name of itself indicated the servile condition of its owner, was not only master of Egypt, Syria and Arabia, but in one respect was the most fortunate of all Oriental sovereigns. He obtained as his en- comiast the most famous of Arabic poets, known as al-Mutanabbi " the Prophetaster," at a time when the poet's powers were at their ripest; and although in consequence of a dispute these brilliant panegyrics were speedily followed by no less brilliant and scath- ing satires, the portrait of Kafur that results is more complete and more familiar than that provided by the paid eulogiser of any other Sultan. It might be difficult to point out in Cairo any relic of the Ikhshidi period, though the idea of expanding Fostat towards the north appears to have found sup- port while it lasted. Kafur laid out a vast park on the eastern bank of the Great Canal, containing a palace which formed his favourite residence. After- wards, when Cairo was built, this park formed the garden of the Lesser Palace, constructed by the sec- ond of the Fatimide Sultans. And the Tibri Zawi- yah, restored by Shafak Nur, mother of the late Khedive Tewfik, is on the site of a small mosque built by one of Kafur's ministers. [29] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD HE rights of members of the Prophet's house appeal to all Moslems, and there have always been multitudes among them holding that the succession should have fallen to the sons of his daughter rather' than to the descendants of his uncle. At the time when the rep- resentatives of the latter in Baghdad had become puppets of foreign commanders, and the hold of Baghdad on Egypt as well as other provinces had become so lax as almost to be non-existent, a pretender to the succession through the Prophet's daughter had founded a kingdom in North Africa, which by con- quest was steadily approaching the Egyptian fron- tier. To the Moslem population of Egypt allegiance to such a monarch seemed far less humiliating than to such foreigners and slaves as had ruled over them since the fall of the Tulunids. During the disorders that broke out after the death of Kafur, a Jew who had been employed in some government office, and received rough treatment from one of Kafur's ephemeral successors, betook him to the capital of the North African dynasty, a place called Mahdiy- yah (or city of the Mahdi), and informed the pro- [30] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD fessed descendant of Ali and Fatimah there reigning that the time was ripe for the occupation of Egypt. On February 6, 969, an army was despatched under; one Jauhar, said to be a Greek by origin, who by July 9 of the same year had crushed all resistance, and takeh possession of the old capital, Fostat. A formal procession of the troops was made on that day through the city, and they were quartered for the night on the plain to the north, where on the follow- ing night the lines of the new city were drawn. The troops, for whom the new city was to provide a resi- dence, numbered a hundred thousand mounted men. The lines of the new city were determined by the canal, called the Canal of the Commander of the Faithful, which ran from Fostat towards the south- east, discharging at the port of Kulzum or Klysma. That is the dry canal (now the route of a tram-line) which bisects Cairo from south to north, the city having afterwards expanded on its western side, in the direction of the Nile, whose bed has since re- ceded considerably in the same direction. For many centuries the view over this canal was the favourite sight in Cairo, and wealthy persons used to build their houses where they could enjoy it. The eastern boundary was also a canal, called the canal of the Red Mountain; it must have silted up at no great length of time after the building of Cairo, and no trace of it exists. The southern boundary of the new city was Mount Mokattam, with the two ruined suburbs of Fostat called al-Askar and al-Kata'i. There was also a canal on this side, supposed to have [31] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS been dug by the first Moslem conqueror of Egypt. To the north there was no limit quite so definite, but the line was drawn well to the south of Ain Shams, and a canal was afterwards dug on this side also, so that the new city had moats on all four sides. The lines drawn by Jauhar for the walls of the new city were found next morning to contain certain obliquities, but his belief in the auspiciousness of the moment chosen for their drawing prevented his after- wards rectifying them. These obliquities were in any case very slight; the walls when built enclosed a city that was practically foursquare, and nearly true to the cardinal points. We shall try under the guid- ance of Casanova to trace the remains of the ancient walls and gates. The southern wall that looked towards Fostat was pierced by the double gate called Zuwailah about the middle, and at the southwestern angle by the gate called Faraj (deliverance). On the west side there was a gate called Sa'adat, after one of the Fatimide generals who had entered the city thereby. Two other gates were afterwards cut in this wall: one called Khukhah (the wicket) near the bridge by which the Mouski passes over the canal, and another the Gate of the Bridge by which the canal was crossed at an earlier time. On the north side there were two gates, known as Bab al-Nasr and Bab al-Futuh (both meaning Gates of Victory). On the east side there were also two called Barkiyyah and Mahruk re- spectively: the second of these names belongs to a later time. [32] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD Rather more than a hundred years later — in 1087 A. D. — it was found necessary to rebuild the walls, this time with burned bricks, the original walls hav- ing probably been of mud. This was done by the order of the Fatimide Caliph Mustansir, and under the direction of his minister Badr al-Jamali, com- monly called Emiral-Juyush (Prince of the Armies) . The lines of Jauhar's wall were closely followed, ex- cept that the northern wall was extended so as to include the Mosque of Hakim, which had been built outside the old wall. This involved the displacing of the Nasr and Futuh Gates. The southern wall was also displaced so that the Zuwailah Gate was given its present position. These three gates were, it is said, built by three brothers from Edessa, prob- ably Syrian Christians. An inscription which at one time stood on the Bab Zuwailah stated that it had been erected in the year corresponding to 1091, whereas the Bab al-Nasr had been completed four years earlier. The former of these two gates was regarded as a masterpiece, unrivalled in the world for the size of its doors and the massiveness of the towers which defended it. A legend made the leaves revolve on pivots stuck in disks of glass. When the Muayyad Mosque was built in 1416, these towers were employed as the foundation of the minarets, and much of the original construction on the side of the Mosque was reduced. The increase of traffic with the older town led to the wall at the side being demolished. The Committee has done much work upon the remains of the Gate, and in 1900 brought to [33] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS light part of a Cufic inscription, which is, however, purely religious in character and contains neither the name of the founder nor the date. Under the vault of the arch there used to be two chambers of which that to the west is still in existence and communicates with the Muayyad Mosque. These chambers were used by the Egyptian sov- ereigns to watch various spectacles of which this part of the city formed the theatre, especially the starting and return of the Sacred Carpet (mahmil) . Owing to the populousness of the region the gate was used for a variety of purposes which demanded pub- licity, notably the execution of criminals. Proces- sions regularly had their route between the Futuh and Zuwailah Gates. Eighty years later the great Saladin finding the wall of Jauhar in ruins resolved to repair it. His idea was to build a single wall, which, starting from the Nile, should enclose both Fostat and Cairo and return to the Nile. The commencement of the wall, as planned by the great Sultan, was from Maks or Maksim (a name derived probably from a Roman named Maximus), the port of Cairo on the Nile, where Hakim built a Mosque, called afterwards the Mosque of the Gate of the Nile, or of the Sons of Anan. From this point the new wall went directly to the Great Canal. West of the Canal it was pierced by the Bab Sha'riyyah, still marked on the plans, named, it is said, after a Berber tribe encamped in the neighbourhood. Traces of the wall of Saladin have been discovered by Casanova at various other [34] 'J 73 a THE FATIMIDE PERIOD points. From the northeast corner of the old wall the northern wall was continued for some hundreds of metres, as far as a point called Burj Zafar (Tower of Victory), a name apparently chosen to accord with those of the gates already piercing the north wall; the extended line after a space went back to resume the line of the older wall, slightly north of the Bab al-Barkiyyah. That gate was, however, shifted to the east, as was also the case with the gate called Bab Mahruk, while two new gates were con- structed called the New Gate and the Vizier's Gate. The southern wall, running from the Citadel to the Nile, so as to enclose the Mosque of Amr, had four gates, called respectively after the Cemetery, Safa, Old Cairo and the Bridge. Of the gates that have been mentioned, three, Zu- wailah (now usually called Mutwalli), Futuh, and Nasr are fairly well preserved; the remainder no longer exist, but their names are preserved in the plans, and streets or spaces are called after them. The gate which has been mentioned above with the name Mahruk (the Burned) is said to have been previously called the Forage-dealers' and to have changed its name owing to the following circum- stance. On Thursday, September 27, 1254, the Emir Aktai, who had been planning to usurp the throne of the reigning Mameluke Aibek, was treacherously seized by the latter and assassinated within the Citadel. His followers, some seven hundred in num- ber, determined the following night to leave Cairo and start in the direction of Syria. Finding the [37] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Forage-dealers' Gate locked, as usual at night, they set fire to it. When the gate was afterwards replaced it was known as the Burned Gate. A relic of Jauhar's work is left in the name Bair al-Kasrain, " Between the two Palaces," sometimes given to the Nahhasin Street. One of the general's first tasks was to build a palace for his master, and the site selected was on the eastern side of the great avenue which bisected the new city. Opposite, on the other side of the avenue, were the gardens of Kafur, also containing the palace which that former sovereign of Egypt had occupied. The great East- ern Palace, as this was called, to distinguish it from the Western Palace built by the second Fatimide Caliph, was commenced the same night as that on which the lines of the walls were drawn. The vast building, or series of buildings, was a city in itself, capable of containing 30,000 persons. A high wall, pierced with a number of gates, whose names are still preserved in some local appellations, screened it from the gaze of the populace; and from a distance it seemed comparable to a mountain. Dissatisfied with this great palace, the second of the Fatimide Caliphs built himself a smaller one opposite. It was an open rectangle, embracing a recreation ground, which fronted the avenue " Between the two Palaces." These palaces, of which M. Ravaisse has endeav- oured to reconstruct the general plan, were occupied by the Fatimide Caliphs till the fall of the dynasty. When Saladin resolved to put an end to it, he [38] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD found, it is said, in the great Eastern Palace 12,000 persons, all of them women, with the sole exception of the Caliph and his sons, and other males of the imperial family. It was assigned by Saladin to his ministers to dwell in; and it speedily went to rack and ruin. This was due to the building of the Citadel, which not only became the residence of the ruler, but of necessity that of the chief ministers as well. The troops brought by Jauhar were assigned dif- ferent quarters in the new city, where they proceeded to build. On the western side of the great avenue there were four quarters or Harahs — called respec- tively after Burjuwan, the Emirs, Jaudar and Zu- wailah. Four other quarters lay to the west of these, and between them and the canal; these were called Farahiyyah, Murtahiyyah, Akrad (Kurds) and Mahmudiyyah. These names are mainly taken from either detachments of the army of Jauhar or from their captains. East of the Avenue there were the upper and lower quarter of the Greeks, to the north and south respectively; east of the grand palace the quarters of the chief general; south of it the quarters of the Dailemites and Turks; northeast of it the quarter called after Utuf, a black captain; west of it the Barkiyyah quarter. Other quarters were built by less fortunate troops outside the walls. According to the calculations of Ali Pasha Mu- barak, the length of each side of Jauhar's city was about 1200 metres, and the area 340 feddans,* of which 70 feddans were occupied by the great palace, *4,2oo spuare metres. [39] V CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS thirty-five by the garden of Kafur, thirty-five by the two parade grounds, and the remaining 200 by the soldiers' quarters. Between the western wall and the canal there was a distance of thirty metres. The new walls built by Emir al-Juyush gave the city a further extension of sixty feddans. The addition to Cairo of the space w^est of the canal towards the Nile and to the south towards the city of Ahmad Ibn Tulun took place during the period of the Mamelukes. Mean- while the bed of the Nile has moved to a distance of something like a mile and a half west of its ancient course. The recovered land has gradually been built over, and by these repeated extensions the area of Cairo has reached something like six times that of the original city. The early years of the Fatimide Caliphs were dis- turbed by the attacks of the Carmathians, against w^hom, as we have seen, Jauhar found it necessary to fortify Cairo with a series of trenches in addition to his wall. In origin the Carmathians and the Fati- mides appear to have been the same, but the sects had become divided in the course of the century dur- ing which the former had been thriving in the West, while the original community had been devastating Arabia and the Eastern provinces of the Caliphate. Both followed a system of mysticism, one part of which was to assign rights, more or less approximat- ing to the divine, to the family of Ali, the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law; but whereas the practice of statesmanship had reduced the fanaticism of the Fatimides, their Eastern brethren were iconoclasts [40] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD and persecutors of as vehement a sort as ever arose in Islam. At the period of the Fatimide conquest of Egypt the leader of the Carmathians, al-Aasam, had his headquarters in al-Ahsa on the Persian Gulf, but was in relations with the Caliph of Baghdad, and even employed forces nominally subject to the Caliph in wresting from Egyptian rule Damascus \/ and other Syrian cities. The disturbed state of the reign formerly held by the Ikhshidis enabled the Carmathian leader to gain a series of victories, till in October, 971, his army was encamped at Ain Shams in the immediate neighbourhood of Cairo. The skill of the Fatimide general was now put to a greater test than it had to undergo when he was sent to conquer Egypt, but it proved equal to the occasion. Sorties were organised by him on November 19 and 20, in the second of which a severe defeat was in- flicted on the Carmathian leader, who was compelled to retreat to al-Ahsa, finding that in consequence of his failure he was defeated by various Arab tribes who had gladly joined his plundering expeditions. The land victory was followed by one over the Carmathian fleet at Tinnis, and in Syria, too, at- tempts were made to shake ofif the Carmathian yoke. Al-Aasam, however, had no intention of giving way without another struggle, and the Fatimide Caliph, whose arrival was hastened by the representations made to him by his general concerning the Carma- thian trouble, found himself a year after his enthrone- ment besieged in his capital, while various Carma- thian corps ravaged lower Egypt. Al-Aasam was [41] ■ CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS again compelled to raise the siege, chiefly through the timely administration by the enemy of bribes to some of his shifty allies. Egypt was thus delivered from the Carmathlans ; but the possession of Syria was not yet secured for the Egyptian sovereigns. When the first Caliph Muizz died at the end of 975, his son and successor Aziz found himself threatened in Syria by an enemy who had succeeded to the inheritance of the Carma- thlans. This was a Turk, Aftakin, who, as com- mander of a force of mercenaries which had been in the employ of the Eastern Sultan and had mutinied, had in the spring of 975 become master of Damascus, where by justice and capacity he had made himself popular, and presently found himself strong enough, with the aid of disaffected Carmathians, to endeavour to extend his rule over all Syria. In July, 976, Jau- har was sent by the advice of Jacob, son of Killis (the Jew who had originally summoned the Fati- mides to invade Egypt) , to deal with this new enemy, and he besieged Damascus for two months. Aftakin was finally persuaded by the Damascenes to invoke the aid of the Carmathians, who were now under another chief. The result of this alliance was that Jauhar had presently to raise the siege of Damascus, and was soon himself shut up in Askalon where his army suffered great privations. Jauhar in these cir- cumstances in some way got to the ear of Aftakin, who, against the judgment of his Carmathian col- league, was persuaded to allow Jauhar's army to de- part without apparently having made any conditions [42] •"^ o < u N < W I pa < ca < w z w o» O z O < ''''-... THE FATIMIDE PERIOD of peace. They were met on their return by a new army equipped by the Caliph Aziz, who advanced with them to Ramlah, where in the summer of 977 a fierce engagement took place, ending in the defeat of Aftakin and the Carmathians, who are said to have lost 20,000 men. In spite of this success, the Egyp- tian Caliph was content to stave off further attacks by the offer of a yearly tribute. Aftakin, who through treachery was taken captive by the Caliph, was treated honourably and even admitted to the circle of the Caliph's advisers: a fact which is said to have so roused the jealousy of the Vizier Jacob, son of Killis, that he caused this possible rival to be poisoned about four years after his capture. We should gladly try to exonerate this capable proselyte from so grave a charge, but his career makes it im- probable that he was troubled with more scruples than Marlowe's Jew of Venice. Still he seems to have served his Caliph faithfully, who found him indispensable, being obliged to restore him to office whenever he tried to cashier him, and who, on his death in 990, fasted for three days and gave him the most honourable interment. The accounts that are handed down of this person's possessions give a vivid idea of the amount which it was possible for a minister of state to accumulate. He left jewels, coined wealth, goods of various kinds and estates valued at about two million pounds; his harem, containing 800 wives, came near rivalling Solomon's; and there was a dowry of about 100,000 pounds left for his daughter. Besides this he had [45] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS followed the plan adopted by yet earlier ministers, and destined to influence the destinies of Egypt in the future, of forming a bodyguard, which in his case had risen to the number of 4000 Mamelukes; they were housed in barracks which formed a street called Vizier Street, and even after Jacob's death were not disbanded. The other founder of the Fatimide Empire In Egypt, Jauhar, survived him rather more than a year, dying at the beginning of 992. His relations with his master continued friendly to the end, but his ill-success in the Syrian expedition appears to have definitely tarnished his laurels. For several years Aziz was occupied with the conquest of Syria, where the Hamdanide Saad al- Daulah, whose capital was at Aleppo, managed to maintain himself, and on his death in 991 was suc- ceeded by his son, Abu'l-Fada'il. This sovereign endeavoured to obtain the help of the Greek emperor against the Egyptian invaders, and such help was readily given, since the maintenance of Antioch in Christian hands depended on the possibility of play- ing off one Moslem power against the other. Aleppo after a siege of thirteen months by Aziz's general was set free by the timely aid of the Emperor Basil. The plans, however, of this Caliph were interrupted by his death in the year 996, when his son Mansur, known as Hakim, was placed on the throne, being eight years of age. The practice of proclaiming minors was destined to be followed many times, chiefly during the Mame- [46] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD luke dynasties, when it usually led to the throne being seized after a few days or months by an ambitious minister. Such a coup d'etat was suggested on this occasion to the minister Burjuwan the Slave, who had been appointed regent by the last Caliph's dying dis- positions; but he did not consent to carry it out. He was, however, soon involved in a struggle with his colleague, the Commander of the Forces, which again were divided into two camps of Moors and Syrians including Turks. Burjuwan succeeded in getting the upper hand and displacing his colleague, who was presently assassinated by the Turks. Burjuwan maintained his regency for about four years, and managed affairs successfully. He recov- ered Syria, pacified Damascus, and after defeating the Greeks made a truce with their emperor for ten years. But his protege Hakim developed the quali- ties of an eastern tyrant at an early age, and finding the restraint of Burjuwan intolerable, intrigued with two other ministers, who assassinated him. Hakim was at this time twelve years of age. Though com- pelled to tolerate another regent, as usual the assassin of the last, he required that all petitions should be addressed to himself, and that the new regent should make no pretensions to independence. Ere his thir- teenth year was at an end, he began the series of ex- travagant ordinances and regulations which were continued through the whole of his reign and have won him the title " Caligula of the East." His de- light in bloodshed was utilised by his ministers for the purpose of getting rid of rivals, but those who [47] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS gratified their resentments in this way quickly fell victims in their turn. Thus Burjuwan's assassin sur- vived him little more than three years. As this Caliph began to assert his independence, the people of Egypt became subjected to as much cruelty and purposeless annoyance as can ever have fallen to the lot of any nation; though the instability of the tyrant's purpose and the perpetual veering of his inclinations may have done something to relieve them. At times he amused himself with oppressing Jews and Christians, at times they were the objects of his favour. At times he ordered that day should be turned into night, and vice versa; at times no one was to be allowed about after dark. Dumb animals, and even plants, were often the object of his resent- ment. One whim of Hakim's cost the Christians many churches, for at one period he demanded that all those in Egypt should be demolished, and he ex- tended his iconoclasm to the ancient and much venerated Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem. Jews and Christians were compelled to adopt Islam under penalty of having to carry heavy weights in the form of a calf or a cross. An amusement of this monster was the hacking of young children to pieces ; a remonstrance against which cruelty cost a general who had saved Hakim's throne his life. Viziers and other officers were honoured, tortured or executed according to the Caliph's caprice. In spite of the character of Hakim's rule few serious attempts seem to have been made to rid Egypt [48] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD of him. Apparently the hatred between the Moor- ish and Syrian elements in his army was so great that he could always rely on one or other of them in the event of disaffection spreading. Nor does it appear that any opponent of tyranny could build on the ordi- nary resentment inspired by the Caliph's acts; any- one who opposed him on the ground of nearer descent from the prophet could perhaps get together some allies. Two attempts to substitute a new dynasty for that of Hakim on this principle were made by pre- tenders from Barcah and Meccah respectively; the former of these came near succeeding, but Hakim found a general capable of defeating him. The latter was rendered innocuous by administering bribes. The persons who joined in these revolts were, moreover, not the sufferers from the Caliph's tyranny, but hordes of free Arabs, whose fickleness ruined any cause that they temporarily took up. Nor can we find that Hakim's cruelties inspired much, if any, horror in his contemporaries, since various princes voluntarily put themselves under his suze- rainty. Toward the end of his reign he was possessed of the same ambition as had formerly seized Caligula — the desire to be regarded as a god. Missionaries sprang up in Cairo who taught the new doctrine of the divinity of Hakim, and demanded that it should be recognised. This claim seemed at last to rouse the submissive people of Cairo to indignation, and several of the missionaries and their adherents were murdered. Hakim avenged himself by again tak- [49] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS ing the Jews and Christians into favour, allowing the forced converts to return to their former religions, and rebuild their churches and synagogues; and in addition, permitting his Sudanese troops to indulge in all sorts of excesses with the Moslem population. At times the other troops took the side of the popu- lace against the Sudanese, and in the course of the skirmishes which ensued much destruction was WTOUght. The deliverance of the people of Egypt came by the hand of an assassin in the year 1021. All that is known is that Hakim rode out one evening to the Karafa, or cemetery, on an ass with a small escort, and never returned. The ass was afterwards found in a mutilated condition, and the tracking of foot- steps led to the discovery of Hakim's clothes. The assassination is ascribed to a sister of Hakim's, who was indignant at his resolve to appoint a distant rela- tion as his successor to the exclusion of his own son. She is credited with having organised the assault, and afterwards got rid of the person who carried it out. As she further had a number of innocent per- sons murdered, because they refused to acknowledge to having had a share in the assassination, she appears to have been a worthy sister to the tyrant. The rumour that Hakim still lived and would return at some time was even more persistent than a similar fancy about Nero. There are sects that still believe in Hakim's existence and destined return. It is marvellous that they should desire it. His successor, who took the name al-Zahir, was [50] f n 1 ; ■ 1 (▼'* il » i 4 C K^ .m. .'^limk SIIARI.\-KL-AZIIAR, CAIRO. THE FATIMIDE PERIOD rather more than fourteen years of age, and was put on the throne by his aunt who, like so many Egyptian princesses, from immemorial times, took an active part in politics. She managed to maintain herself in the regency for four years, during which she showed more skill in organising executions than in securing Egyptian rule over the provinces; still neither she nor her nephew exercised whimsical tyranny after the style of Hakim, except on rare oc- casions. Zahir reigned in all fifteen years and eight months, and before his death recovered nearly all Syria, which in the early years of his reign had been the prey of a variety of usurpers. The fourth Fatimide Caliph died of the plague in 1036; his successor Mustansir was aged seven years at the time of his accession, so that the real power fell to his mother, who was a black slave, and her former master, a Jewish curiosity dealer, named Abraham. For a time this person, through the Caliph's mother, appointed the viziers, among them a former co-religionist who had adopted Islam; this person, however, found the means of getting rid of his benefactor, and presently himself fell a victim to the resentment of the Caliph's mother. The reign of Mustansir was distinguished by the commence- ment of a bodyguard of black freedmen, got together by the Caliph, it is supposed because, being of the same race as his mother, their fidelity could be trusted. Mustansir was particularly favoured by having his cause taken up by various adventurers in different [53] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS parts of the Moslem empire, of whom one incorpo- rated Yemen in the Egyptian realm, while another even took Baghdad, and for a time obtained recogni- tion of the Fatimide Caliph in the metropolis of his i rival. This event, which had been caused by dissen- sions in the family of the Seljuks, who at that time were supreme in the Eastern Caliphate, was of short duration, partly because the adventurer who had taken Baghdad excited the envy of Mustansir's Vizier, who refused further supplies to his rival, partly because the military talents of the Seljuk prince were equal to the emergency. Meanwhile Egypt wa5 troubled by the rivalries between the Turkish and negro elements of the Caliph's bodyguard, which broke out into open war. The result was long doubtful, but finally was in favour of the Turks, commanded by Nasir al-Daulah. The claims of the Turkish praetorians became, in con- sequence of their victory, excessive, and a dispute arose between their commander, Nasir al-Daulah, and the Caliph, which ended in the latter falling com- pletely under the former's control, who even threat- ened to restore Egypt to the suzerainty of Baghdad. This person's rule, which ended with his assassina- tion in 1073, was accompanied by great misery; the palace of the Caliph was repeatedly plundered, and its vast library partly burned and partly handed over to pillagers; and the Caliph himself was reduced to absolute poverty, so that his wife and daughters had finally to flee to Baghdad to avoid starvation. It is uncertain whether Nasir al-Daulah's ambition was [54] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD to become governor of Egypt for the Abbasids, or whether he aimed at founding a dynasty of his own. After his assassination the condition of the Caliph did not at first better itself; in despair he put himself into the hands of Badr al-Jamali, an Armenian freed- man w^ho had served as Governor of Damascus and Acre, and who had provided himself with an Ar- menian bodyguard; this person accepted the Caliph's invitation to settle the affairs of Egypt, which he be- gan in old Arab style by summoning all the existing officials to a feast and murdering them. With his unscrupulousness, however, he combined both mili- tary and administrative ability of a high order, and by quelling rebellion everywhere and seeing to the proper administration of justice he brought back a fair degree of prosperity. During the rule of Badr al-Jamali the walls of Cairo were, as we have seen, rebuilt; but though Egypt prospered, the Fatimides lost Syria, which was first conquered by a usurper named Athiz, who went so far as to invade Egypt, where Badr defeated him; his Syrian conquests then fell into the power of the Seljuk Tutush, from whom Badr was able to re- cover a few towns. But Damascus remained in Sel- juk hands. Mustansir died in 1094, having reigned over sixty years, more than any other Oriental Caliph or Sul- tan. Like Khumaruyah he appears to have dis- played some ingenuity in devising new forms of pleasure, but otherwise he exhibited no competence. Before order was restored by the Armenian troops ( CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the country was devastated by the Berbers, negroes, Turks and Syrians who formed the different corps of the Caliph's army; Egyptian troops nowhere figure in the list. The death of Mustansir was followed by a struggle for the succession, in which, however, the youngest son of the late Caliph, being supported by Badr's son and successor, al-Afdal, was victorious; he was pro- claimed with the title Musta'li. Al-Afdal put him- self into communication with the Crusaders, and un- dertook to aid them in defeating the Seljuks; and, indeed, he succeeded in retaking Jerusalem and some other places in Syria. This was before he was aware of the intentions of the Crusaders with regard to Jerusalem; when that place, in 1099, fell into their hands, and the whole population of Moslems was massacred, al-Afdal found his dominions threatened by the Franks, and had to retire to Egypt, leaving Syria to the invaders. By i loi the bulk of the towns which had had Egyptian garrisons had fallen into their hands. The same year Musta'li died, and was succeeded by his son al-Amir, then an infant five years old. Al-Afdal acted as regent, and governed Egypt well for twenty years. His attempts, how- ever, to withstand the Franks in Syria and in Pales- tine were unsuccessful, and towns which had re- mained in Egyptian hands, such as Ptolemais and Tripoli, were compelled to surrender. In 1 1 17 the Crusaders for the first time invaded Egypt itself, but had to quit it the next year, having effected little. In 1121 the Caliph, who was now of [56] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD age, feeling tired of the regent, found means to have him assassinated; his possessions were then confis- cated, and it was found that he had enriched himself beyond even the by no means contemplatible per- formances of previous viziers. He was succeeded in his office by the man who had been employed to organise the murder, Ibn Fatik al-Bata'ihi, who had y^ risen from the ranks. In 1125, he, too, was got rid of by the Caliph, though only imprisoned, and the latter proceeded to govern personally without the aid of a vizier. His rule was exceedingly arbitrary and vexatious, and he involved himself in much blood- shed; his end was however brought on, not by the resentment of his subjects, but by fanatics of a sect who held that his father's elder brother Nizar had been wrongly displaced. By one of these he was assassinated in 1130. He was succeeded by a cousin who took the title JtLafiz, and was compelled to employ as his vizier Ahmad the son of the murdered al-Afdal and grand- son of Badr al-Jamali. This vizier enjoyed his honours for a little more than a year, during which he had made himself detested by insolence towards the Caliph, and an endeavour to modify the current form of religion; like his father he was got out of the way by assassination. According to custom an Armenian freedman Yanis, who had organised the attack on the former vizier, was installed in his vic- tim's place. A year's time brought him into con- flict with the Caliph who resorted to a subtle form of poison to relieve himself of the vizier. Hafiz shortly [57] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS after had to deal with an Absalom in the shape of his son Hasan, who fought pitched battles with his younger brother and then with troops summoned to defend his father; he was victorious and forced his father to name him successor, and to hand over to him the reins of authority, but his conduct quickly gave offence; he was compelled to take refuge with his father within the palace, and a Jewish and a Christian physician were summoned to administer poison to him; the Jew refused, but the Christian provided what was required. In consequence the Christian was presently executed by the Caliph's order, and his property given to the Jew who became sole court physician. The army, which by this time claimed the right to make all appointments of a political nature, gave the post of vizier to an Ar- menian Christian named Bahram, and he filled most of the subordinate posts with Armenians, who, in spite of their religion, have frequently formed the cabinets of Moslem rulers. His power lasted from 1 135 to 1 137. An adventurer named Ridwan then gathered an army and displaced him; his power also lasted two years only, after which he was compelled by Hafiz to flee from Cairo to Syria, where he col- lected an army in the hope of recovering Egypt; after a variety of adventures, combining successes and fail- ures, he was assassinated in 1148. The Caliph him- self died in 1149. He was followed by his youngest son Ismail, called Zafir, who was seventeen years old at the time. In character he was no stronger than his predecessors, [58] 1 -t I % COURTVARU OF THE MOSgLE OF EL AZJIAK. LNI\ ERSITY OF CAIRO. THE FATIMIDE PERIOD and the vizierate was seized by an ambitious gover- nor of Alexandria, named Ibn Sailar, who presently was murdered by his stepson, who in his turn was in- stalled in the dangerous office. This episode cost the Fatimides Askalon, their last possession in Palestine, which, owing to the disputes between the rival parties was taken by the Crusaders. Zafir was, after a reign of four years, murdered by his favourite Nasr, the son of the Vizier Abbas, who then proceeded to make away with the brothers of the Caliph, and to place on the throne his infant son, Isa, called Fa'iz. He attempted to govern independ- ently, but gave dissatisfaction and was shortly com- pelled to flee before a South Egyptian governor, Tala'i Ibn Ruzzik, who came with an army to Cairo and usurped the office of vizier. The youthful Caliph, who suffered from epileptic fits, occasioned by the violence which accompanied his accession, died at the age of eleven in the year 1160. The vizier, after the ordinary custom, appointed to the vacant Caliphate a child, cousin of the de- ceased, who was nine years of age, and was given the title Adid; with him the Fatimide Caliphate was destined to terminate. According to the ordinary custom also the Caliph soon grew tired of the regency of the vizier, and hired persons to assassinate him, and as the vizier lived after the attempt on his life long enough to avenge himself, the Caliph had the baseness to lay the blame on his aunt and hand her over to execution. The vizierate was seized by the son of the murdered man, who, however, was speedily [ 61 ] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS displaced by the governor of Upper Egypt, Shawar, a man who had already figured as a person of impor- tance in previous reigns; who ere long had to give way to another usurper, Dirgham, head of a corps formed by Tala'i, whose conduct soon made his fol- lowers wish Shawar back. The disturbed state of Egypt gave the Crusaders an opportunity to effect a landing, do much damage, and only retire on promise of tribute. Meanwhile Shawar had found an ally in the Prince of Damascus, and in 1164 returned to Egypt with an army commanded by a general of the latter named Shirguh; after a month's resistance Dirgham found himself deserted, and both he and his brothers met their deaths. After the joint enter- prise of Shawar and Shirguh had been crowned with success, the two fell out, and since Shawar did not shrink from applying for the help of the Crusaders, Shirguh was compelled to return to Syria. Early in 1 167 he returned with an army of 2000 picked men, with whose aid he won a decisive victory over the united forces of Shawar and the Franks at Ush- munain in the same year. It is in this battle that we ^st hear of Saladin, sent by Nur al-din, the Prince of Damascus, accompanying and aiding his uncle Shirguh. After the battle Saladin was ap- pointed by his uncle governor of Alexandria, where he was presently besieged by the united forces of Shawar and his Prankish allies. The news that Shirguh had commenced the siege of Cairo induced the parties to make peace, and by the end of the year Shirguh had withdrawn to Damascus. Meanwhile [62] THE FATIMIDE PERIOD a Prankish garrison was admitted into Cairo to make sure of the tribute which had been promised the Crusaders as the price of their assistance, and treated the inhabitants with great harshness. The ill-con- tent of the inhabitants led to the summoning of Nur al-din from Syria by the Caliph, while on the other hand a Prankish army came from the north of Egypt and began to lay siege to Cairo. On this occasion occurred the burning of Postat, which was described above. The Pranks were bribed by Shawar to re- tire; but Shirguh's forces were received with joy by the people of Cairo, and in a short time after their arrival Shawar was, at S aladin ^s instance, attacked and put to death. Shirguh, who got his place, oc- cupied it only two months, since in March, 1168, he fell a v ktim to glutton y. After some claims being put forward by other candidates, Saladin was chosen to succeed him as vizier and governor of the Egyptian Empire. Saladin was an earnest fol- lower of the Sunni doctrines, on opposition to which the Patimide throne was based; he therefore ap- pointed persons of his own persuasion to the chief posts in Egypt, and constantly reduced the sphere of activity of the Caliph. As usual he was threatened with an insurrection, but was able to suppress it; and with the aid of his chief, Nur al-din, raised the siege of Damietta, which had been besieged by the Pranks with a powerful force. His further exploits in deal- ing with the Crusaders are well known. At the be- ginning of 1 171 Saladin finally consented to a step which Nur al-din had been long urging on him, that [63] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS I of substituting in the Friday prayer the name of the Baghdad Caliph for that of the Fatimide Adid; and Adid, who was ill at the time, fortunately died a few days after, and never heard of his dethronement and the loss of the imperial title to his family. Mean- while steps had been taken to substitute orthodox for Shi'ite judges, and also to found schools and colleges where the younger generation should be brought up in Sunnite principles. Though Adid was but twenty-one years at his death he left several children, two of whom found some partisans; but their at- tempts to regain the throne were unsuccessful and disastrous to their followers. The history of the Fatimides bears a close resem- blance to that of the Baghdad Caliphs, except that the Abbasid family appears to have produced far more able men, and the mayors of the palace in the lat- tercase succeeded in founding dynasties of some dura- tion, unlike the ephemeral vizierates of the Fatimide Empire. The plan of appointing infants to the ^throne in order to permit the ministers a free hand V will meet us repeatedly. The results were ordinarily ^ disastrous to both minister and sovereign. [64] BUILDINGS OF THE FATIMIDE PERIOD ONE of the earliest cares o f Jauhar , the con- queror of Egypt for the Fatimides, was to build a mosque for public worship, and this project was the commencement of the famous al-Azhar . It took about two years to erect , and was finished Jtin^ 14, Q72 . It was not at first a literary institution any more than any other mosque; all such places had from the beginning of Islam served as rendezvous for savants, and places where those who undertook to interpret the Koran or recite traditions could establish themselves. The line be- tween religious and secular studies was not drawn during the early centuries of Islam; men made cir- cles in the mosques for the purpose of reciting verses, or telling literary anecdotes, as well as for instruction of a more decidedly edifying character. The_first mosque qyer built in_ Islam, that of the Prophet at IVTedinah, had served a number of purposes for which separate buildings were deemed necessary in more specialising days: it had not only been church and school, but town hall, hospice and hospital as well. Since politics and religion could not be kept distinct, [6s] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the mosque was the place where announcements of importance respecting the commonwealth might be made. The ideas connected with it in some ways re- sembled those which attach to a church, in others were more like those which are connected with a syn- agogue, but the peculiar evolution of Islam furnished it with some which those other buildings do not share. The person who conceived the idea of turning the first mosque of the new city into a university was the astute convert from Judaism who had suggested to the Fatimide sovereign that the time was ripe for the conquest of Egypt, and had been rewarded for his advice by being made vizier. Having been born in Baghdad in the year 930, he had come to Egypt in 942, where he got employment in the office of one of Kafur's ministers; in this capacity he obtained the notice of Kafur, who promoted him from one office to another till he became chief treasurer. In 967 he embraced Islam, and took into his house a tutor who could give him regular instruction in the matters which a Moslem gentleman should know. Once vizier, he followed the example of many who had previously held that high office, in becoming a patron of learning and belles lettres; on Thursday evenings he regularly held a salon in his house for the recita- tion of his own compositions, and also for reunion of all the savants of Cairo. The notion, however, of Jacob, son of Killis, in encouraging learning was somewhat deeper than that which had inspired many other viziers. Since the Fatimide dynasty had succeeded in virtue of its reli- [66] o < u PS w H Di < o» n z a O BUILDINGS OF THE FATIMIDE PERIOD gious claims, it was necessary to provide for its main- tenance by a body of literature comparable with that which the supporters of the rival Caliph could dis- play, and which enjoyed widespread respect and au- thority owing to the long series of venerated names concerned with its composition and perpetuation. These authoritative books once provided, and ar- rangements being made whereby their study could be encouraged and maintained, no mean dam would be provided against inundation from without. The books therefore he composed himself; the University was to secure that they should be properly studied and interpreted. In 988, when the second Fatimide Caliph was reigning, Jacob Ibn Killis requested his master to provide a grar^t for the m^aintfiiiance of a fi^xed num - ber o f schola rs. The Caliph Aziz assented; provi- sions were made for thirty-five students, and a house adjoining Jauhar's Mosque secured for their lodging. Thus began al-A^ har. whose name is thought to have been selected out of compliment to the supposed foundress of the Fatimide line, Fatimah, honourably called al-Zahr a (t he lu minous), of which word Azhar is the masculine. This year's statistics give 9758 j is the present number of students, with ^J_2JPSP- TSso^rs. At times the numbers of both have been still greater. Political events led to its diversion from its original purpose as a school of heresy to its becoming the great centre of Moslem orthodoxy; but what circumstance it was that enabled it to eclipse all its rivals is not so clear. We understand why the [69] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS University of Cairo should have survived those of Spain and those of Irak. Cairo was the metropolis of Islam when those countries could no longer con- tain one, and the city to which it handed over its headship, Constantinople, spoke a foreign tongue and not the original language of Mohammedanism. !But in Cairo itself there were so many rivals at all periods; in the period of the later Mamelukes every sovereign, almost, built and liberally endowed a col- lege to perpetuate his name. Probably al-Azhar superseded the others in virtue of its antiquity and the reputation which it won. Its name was known all over the Mohammedan world; the others scarcely got the chance to become fashionab le. The second f ound er of al-Azhar was the mad Hakim, whose madness did not prevent his under- standing the importance of learning. He himself founded three mosques, and got together a great library, which once occupied part of the Eastern Palace. The purpose of this last institution was in the main to spread the tenets of his dynasty and his own variations of them. His deed of gift is pre- served in full, and contains a number of details as to the nature of the moneys bestowed and the mode in which they were to be administered. The deed con- tains his benefactions to his three mosques, to al- Azhar, and to his public library or academy. To the share of the Azhar there fell, besides books, three public buildings in the older city; for it was the cus- tom at this time and long after in Egypt to settle on religious institutions not lands, but the rents of houses [70] BUILDINGS OF THE FATIMIDE PERIOD or shops. The trustees were, whenever necessary, to advertise the buildings for hire, to keep them in good repair with the proceeds, and to make a number of specified payments out of the remainder. The Preacher of the Mosque was to have seven dinars (perhaps 75 francs) a month; other sums were to be expended on matting, glass, incense and other scents, camphor, wax, etc., and certain sums were to be set aside for payment of persons employed in sweeping, repairing, cleaning, etc. Three leaders of prayer, four other religious officials and fifteen mueddins were to have between them 556 dinars; other sums were set apart for the hospice. Even such details as dusters for cleaning the lamps, buckets for scour- ing and brooms for sweeping were provided for by specified payments to come out of the benefactions. The plan of the original Mosque bore some re- semblance to that of the Mosque of Ibn Tulun, being a rectangle with the sanctuary side wider and there- fore supported by more rows of columns than the rest; but in the case of al-Azhar piers were not used, their place being taken by 380 columns of different materials, marble, porphyry and granite, with bases and capitals of different styles. Though it was fre- quently restored and repaired, additions seem to have been made only in comparatively late times. The Caliph Mustansir is mentioned as one of its bene- factors; and in the time of the Mameluke Baibars I an Emir, Izz al-din Idumir, restored walls and col- umns, plastered the former afresh, and repaired roof and pavement. In 1303 it, with several other mosques, [71] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS was partly demolished by an earthquake; the Emir Sallar undertook the restoration of what had fallen. A fresh restoration was undertaken in the year 1360 by Bashir the cup-bearer; he built an establishment for the provision of drinking-water on the south side, with a school for poor children above it. In 1382 fresh emoluments were provided by a law that prop- erty of all intestate residents of the Mosque should fall to it. From the first it had been the custom of students who had no other lodging in Cairo to live in the Mosque, and the spaces between the columns were more and more fitted as dormitories for that purpose; different parts being assigned to different nationali- ties, and in after times to different sects. Various leg- acies were left for the maintenance of these students, while pious persons undertook the duty at different times of supplying them with necessaries or luxuries. An attempt was made in the year 141 5 by an officious Kadi to turn these poor students out, doubtless with the view of rendering the condition of the Mosque cleaner and more sanitary; this measure had only temporary effect, though great annoyance seems to have been caused by it at the time. A fresh restora- tion took place in the year 1495 and another in 1596; on this last occasion a benefaction of lentils was as- signed to all students for daily consumption, and this caused a great inflow of scholars. Ten years after- wards it was freshly paved and otherwise repaired, lywaz Bey, who died in the year 1724, renewed the roof, which was falling in, and since then a variety of [72] BUILDINGS OF THE FATIMIDE PERIOD additions and improvements have been effected. The improvements of Abd al-Rahman in 1777 in- cluded two minarets, an erection of fifty marble columns containing a school, a cistern and a mauso- leum for himself; a dormitory for students from Up- per Egypt, and a new gate of vast dimensions made so as to introduce the Taibarsi and Akbogha colleges within the precincts of al-Azhar. Other dormitories or cloisters have been added for students from Bagh- dad, Meccah, Hindustan, etc. The Mosque has eight gates, of which the largest is called the Barbers' Gate, opposite the opening of Boxmakers' Street; this gate, which is double, has above it a school and a minaret. It was erected by the Abd al-Rahman mentioned above. The inscrip- tion on the older gate which occupied the same site is still preserve(;i, and is to the effect that the gate was erected in 1469 by the Sultan Kaietbai. The re- maining gates are named after the Moors, Syrians, Upper Egyptians, etc. The maksurah (a kind of private pew surrounded with a grating, in which eminent personages take part in devotions) is repre- sented in al-Azhar by several erections; the oldest is the work of Jauhar and extends from the Gate of the Syrians to the Cloister of the Orientals, and is on seventy-six pillars of white marble; it communicates with the quadrangle of the Mosque by three doors. The second maksurah built by Abd al-Rahman is separated from Jauhar's by a court, and its roof is some two metres higher than that of Jauhar. The great university of al-Azhar has recently been [73] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS accurately described in French by M. Arminjean (" L'enseignement, la doctrine, et la Vie dans les Uni- versites Musumanes d'Egypte," Paris, 1907), in a manner that leaves little to be desired, whether in re- gard to the structure of the buildings, the nature of the studies, or the mode in which the students spend their time. Two of its denizens furnished him with autobiographies, and these give a vivid impression of the character of a Mohammedan " University Ca- reer." Our notion of a course of study, limited in time, followed by a degree after which the student ceases to be a student, must be removed from the mind, if we would familiarise ourselves with the ways of al-Azhar — at least the al-Azhar of all but the most recent times — for here, too, it would seem that the examination system and European hurry are begin- ning to make themselves felt. The underlying theory of the Oriental University is that there is noth- ing new under the sun. It is therefore the purpose I of the teacher to communicate as accurately as possi- jble what he has himself learned; of the student to ( master it with the same thoroughness, to leave noth- ' ing out, but never to add anything of his own. The sciences, as they are called, of al-Azhar were all per- fected in past time — before the fall of the Caliphate of Baghdad; what the student has to do is to acquire mastery of the manuals in which that old learning was finally incorporated, or some abridgement of them, or else an abridgement of an abridgement. He may perhaps spend his whole life in accomplishing this task; in any case it will take him a number of [74] >^i-S'r ^%. o a: ^"^fSP ' w o :^ \ BUILDINGS OF THE FATIMIDE PERIOD years. (For what the Oriental learns he usually // learns very thoroughly indeed.J Next in importance to the Mosque al-Azhar among Fatimide edifices is the Mosque of Hakim, outside the first but inside the second wall of Cairo. Built on piers, and with brise or slightly pointed arches, it bore considerable resemblance to the Tulunid Mosque, and even the minaret is not wholly unlike that which has been described in dealing with that building; but it has long been in ruins, certain piers and arches only standing beside the dismantled minaret. Commenced by the second Fatimide Caliph, it was finished by the mad Hakim in 1012; and richly furnished and endowed by him. The floors were covered with 36,000 square yards of mat- t.^ ting. In the year 1303 it was wrecked by the earth- quake which, as has already been seen, did consider- able havoc to the buildings in Cairo; it was then repaired by the Sultan Baibars, who in addition to fresh revenues for its maintenance appointed pro- fessors of the four schools of law to lecture in it, and furnished endowments for scholars. In 1359 it was restored by the Sultan ^Hasan, who paved the whole afresh; and an endowment of 560 feddans was added to its estates. Nevertheless for some reason the Mosque became deserted soon after this and appears to have been so in MakrizTs time. In the early part of the last cen- tury it was occupied by Syrian artisans of different sorts, such as makers of glass lamps, silk-weavers, etc. Of the original seven g atgg two remained open, l77l CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the rest being walled up. For some part of the last century it was used as an Arab museum, but even this service to learning and religion it no longer renders. Tala'i son of Ruzzik , of whom a short account was given above, vizier of the last Fatimide Caliph, built a mosque somewhat to the south of the Zuwailah Gate. Its purpose was to harbour the head of Jiuiain, son of Ali, hero of the Muharram Mi racier plays; this precious relic had been kept at Ascalon, and it was feared that it might fall into the hands of the Crusaders. The Caliph, however, refused to let it be housed anywhere save in the Palace, and the Mosque built for its reception remained neglected till the brief reign of Aibek, under whom, in 1252, serv- ice began to be performed in it. It fell in the great earthq uake of 1303, but was rebuilt. The place where the head was actually deposited is said to be where the great Mosque of Sayyiduna Husain now stands. A magnificent building was, immediately after its arrival, built to hold it, and travellers of the sixth century speak with enthusiasm of this Mash- had (or saint's grave). Marble, silk, gold, silver and other precious materials were lavished upon it as if they were of no account. The Mosque was re- peatedly enlarged in the time of Abd al-Rahman Ketkhuda, and more recently in that of the Khedive Abbas Pasha, and afterwards in that of Isma'il. Ali Pasha Mubarak, in his account of the Mosque, com- plains that an excellent plan drawn by himself had been spoiled in the execution; in consequence of which the building was out of the correct orientation, [78] BUILDINGS OF THE FATIMIDE PERIOD and by the time he himself came to be head of the public works department, it could not be rectified. Its revenue in this time — about twenty years ago — ■ amounted to about £1000 yearly; and more trouble was taken there than with any other mosque to keep everything in a state of the most perfect purity. It is, of course, highly improbable that the head which it contains really belonged to the prophet's grandson; though of the ultimate fate of the real head there seems to be some doubt. Perhaps the claims of the relic to be genuine were not more pre- posterous than those of the Fatimides to be connected with the mother of Husain. Moreover, it pleased the Fatimides to maintain the doctrine that large numbers of the Alid family in early times found their final resting-places in the neighbourhood of Cairo. The Sayyidah Zainab, indeed, presumably a daughter of Ali himself, who gives her name to a quarter of Cairo, appears to be a very late importation — later even than the end of the Fatimide period; but the story that another Zainab , daughter of a much later Ali who was, however, one of the twelve Imams, was buried in Cairo, goes back probably to Fatimide times. One more mosque dating from this period should be mentioned, the modest building called al-Akmar, in the Nahassin Street. It dates from the time of the Caliph Amir, though it has repeatedly undergone repairs and alterations. M. Herz, the highest au- thority on Moslem architecture, observes that it is the only example of a Fatimide building in which the [79] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS fagade corresponds with the disposition of the edifice. Prior to that time the facade played an unimportant part; the small dimensions of this Mosque may have permitted the architect to experiment. The door- way is surmounted by a shallow niche, with fluting for ornament round it, and with a central rosette made up of letters; the decoration, afterwards so familiar, the stalactite, is said to appear in this mos_gu^or the first time^ [ 80 ] Qllfapter Jour THE AYYUBID PERIOD AND ITS BUILDINGS *ACH dynasty that got control over Egypt founded a new capital, ordinarily within easy distance of the last; the dynasty estab- lished by Saladin and destined to control the nearer East for something less than a hundred years did not abandon this precedent. From Cairo itself the seat of government was to shift to the south- east, the high ground between the city and Mount Mokattam, where a site was found for a citadel. The idea of such a structure is said to have been suggested by the Crusaders' procedure. The soldiers of the Cross, when they had conquered a hostile country, shut themselves up in fortresses such as their chiefs possessed in Europe, where, safe from attack, they could retain and enjoy their mastery. Saladin, chiefly remembered in history for his successful re- sistance to the Crusaders, learned from his enemies,, and built himself a fortress similar to theirs. The selection by Saladin or his minister Kara- kush of a point dominated as the Cairene Citadel is by a mountain, has been criticised by European writ- ers as a strategic blunder; and defended on the [8i] II CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS ground that a fortress actually on the top of Mount Mokattam would have been too far removed from the city to be of much use for either protecting the inhabitants of Cairo or keeping them in order, and would, besides, have involved the fortification of the eminence on which the Citadel was built^ to prevent the mountain being isolated by some enterprising enemy who chose to occupy that intervening height. And this defence seems unanswerable. The site of the Citadel is supposed to have origi- nally had the name '^ Cupola of the Air," and to have directly overlooked a parade ground established by Ahmad Ibn Tulun; the whole place was after his time turned into a cemetery (karafah), in which numerous mosques were erected. Here Saladin ordered Karakush to build a fortress, which he was never destined to inhabit himself. His residence, when Sultan, was the old Palace of the Viziers, and the first Sultan who inhabited the Citadel itself was al-Kamil, who came to the throne many years after Saladin's death. The Citadel in all the plans is divided into two distinct portions: the northern, rectangular in shape (at least on three sides), and the southeastern, sepa- rated from the former by a thick wall. Casanova suggests that the former was what was intended in Saladin's original plan. After the work had made some progress, he bethought him of building himself a palace under the shelter of the Citadel. Access to the northern enclosure was given by a gate called by various names, among them the Step [82] AN OLD I'ALACli, CAIRO. V DOOK Oh A MOSgUli, CAIRO. THE AYYUBID PERIOD college or school (madrasah) in the neighbourhood of the grave of al-Shafi'i, known as the Imam, or founder of an orthodox system of Law. Provision was made in this school for teaching that great jur- ist's doctrine, it being of importance that facilities should be provided for bringing Egypt back to ortho- doxy after so many years of Fatimide government. This college was of enormous size, equal, according to one enthusiastic visitor, to a town; the site on which it was built had previously been a prison. Sa- ladin's successor apparently made some additions, but in Makrizi's time it was in ruins, and in 1761 Abd al-Rahman Ketkhuda, whose name has already met us in connection with al-Ahzar, pulled down what was left of it, and built on the site the present Mosque of Shafi'i. Another prison which had oc- cupied part of the old Fatimide Palace was turned by him into a hospital ; and — a yet greater innovation — a house called after a former owner Sa' id al-Su' ada, west of the old Avenue of the Two Palaces, was turned into a hospice (khanagah) for poor ascetics. At a later time, as we shall see, the ideas of mosque, school and hospice all became confused; but in Sa- ladin's time they were still distinct, and the appur- tenances of a mosque, a minaret, a pulpit and a wash- ing place, were added to the hospice in much later times. It also served as a final resting-place for many of the saints. A visitor to Cairo in Saladin's time has in his diary left us his impressions of the place — the Span- iard Ibn Jubair. The Citadel and the surround- [95] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS ing wall had been begun in his time; and the in- tentions of the Sultan in the matter were well known. What interested him most in the city or its neighbour- hood was the great number of mausoleums contain- ing the remains of members of the Prophet's house, men and women, companions of the Prophet, jurists and saints. Over the sanctuary which contained the head of Husain he is ecstatic; he confesses that no words can give an adequate description of its mag- nificence. But he has a good deal to say, too, of the arrangements of Saladin's School and especially his Hospital; with its separate establishments for men and women, with beds provided with coverings, all under the management of a custodian with a staff of assistants; while hard by is an asylum for the insane, who, too, have their comfort thoroughly studied, but whose windows have to be secured with iron grat- ings. No detail in his description is more striking than the apparently speedy recovery of Fostat from its ashes. The traces of the great fire were indeed apparent, but building was proceeding continuously. Saladin died in Damascus at the beginning of March, 1193; he had made Egypt once more nomi- nally dependent on Baghdad, but had in reality sub- stituted a new dynasty for the effete Fatimide family, whose Palace he had ruined. The reign of his son and successor was disturbed by family disputes, which for a time were settled by the division of Sa- ladin's empire; one son (Aziz) retaining Egypt, while another (Afdal) reigned in Syria. The former, however, had to submit to the direction of [96] THE AYYUBID PERIOD his uncle Adil, who at the death of Aziz after five years' reign, was easily able in 1199 to supplant his infant son. The reign of Aziz is notable in the history of Cairo for the commencement of a residential quarter on the west bank of the Great Canal, the site of Euro- pean Cairo of our time. Ibn Jubair speaks with great admiration of the embankment of the Nile by Saladin, of course before the river had shifted its bed towards the west. The region west of the Bab al-Sha'riyyah and north of the present Ezbekiyyeh quarter was at that time a plantation of date-palms; the Sultan Aziz, in the year 1197, ordered these palms to be cut down, and an exercising ground to be laid out where they had stood. This proceeding led to the adjoining land being parcelled out and built on. The now fashionable region further south was not occupied till Mameluke days. Eight months of the preceding year are said to have been occupied by this prince in a futile attempt at treasure-hunting . in the pyramids of Gizeh ; after a time it was known I that the cost of undoing the ancient builders' work | was greater than the value of the expected treasure, j The Sultan Adil, like his brother Saladin, spent little of his time in Egypt, where he appointed as his deputy his son, called al-Kamil. We have seen how this sovereign completed the Citadel which his uncle had begun. The transference thither of the seat of government led to the south and southeast of Cairo becoming fashionable and populous. The Sultan Kamil gave his name to the Kamiliy- [97] . CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS yah School, in the Nahassin Street, built by him in the year 1225; it was long known as the House of Tradition (ddr alhadith)^ and was said to be the second edifice with that title, the first being one built in Damascus. From its erection perhaps we are to infer that orthodox books of Tradition were not yet studied in al-Azhar. Like so many of these pious edifices a fanciful account had to be given of the source of the funds employed in its erection. The workmen who dug the foundations were fortunate enough to discover a golden image, which, melted down, served to defray all expenses! In Mameluke times it was crowded out by a number of religious and educational edifices erected in the immediate neighbourhood, and in Makrizi's time instruction in Tradition had already ceased to be given in it, and it was turned into an ordinary mosque. Kamil's successor Adil II. reigned only two years; he was superseded by his brother Salih, called also Najm al-din Ayyub, who reigned nine years (1240- 1 249). His reign was notable for several events. Like previous sovereigns he took to purchasing slaves of various nationalities, suitable to form a bodyguard, and at first housed them in the Citadel, or in Cairo itself. Like the old Prstorians of Bagh- dad, their disregard for the rights of ordinary citi- zens made them a source of annoyance to the popu- lace; and just as one of the Baghdad Caliphs had built a city, Samarra, to keep his praetorians at a dis- tance from the metropolis, so the Sultan Kamil built a fortress on the Island of Raudah to hold his Mame- [98] THE AYYUBID PERIOD lukes. These troops thence got the name Mame- lukes of the Nile (or the Sea, as the Arabs ordinarily call the river of Egypt) . The site of these barracks was chosen not only with a view to the comfort of the Cairenes; with vessels at their disposal the Mame- lukes were constantly ready to descend the Nile in case of a Prankish invasion. Our chroniclers regale us with a story how a party of deserters from the fortress of Raudah came in the desert across an aban- doned city, with streets and houses and cisterns con- taining water that was sweeter than honey; green marble was the material chiefly used in the construc- tion of the town. Coins were found in some of the shops, with legends in an ancient script; the archaeol- ogists to whom they were shown read thereon the names of Moses, on whom be peace! Like the cities of the Takla-makan desert which have been un- earthed in our day, it had been covered with sand; at times, however, the winds uncover such buried habitations of men, and this had occurred in the year 1244, when the Mamelukes deserted; another wind then covered the city as it was before, and those that looked for it could not find it. The erection of the barracks on the Island of Raudah led to the building of more houses on the western bank of the Great Canal; and the Bab al- Khark (of which the name survives as Bab al- Khalk) formed the head of the avenue which led from the city to the new fortification. The heaps of ruins which are to the left of the traveller from Cairo to Old Cairo belong to a period when several causes led to this being a fashionable quarter. [99] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Relics of buildings by this Sultan exist in the shape of a mausoleum and a school, both in the old avenue Between the Two Palaces. Their site is where part of the ancient Eastern Palace stood, and indeed in- cluded the famous gate of the palace called Bab al- Zuhumah, supposed to be named after the " odour of cooking." On May i6, 1242, the demolition of the older structure commenced, and in two years' time the school was ready. Chairs were provided in it — for the first time — for the four orthodox systems of Law, and this principle continued to be followed in the colleges built by Egyptian Sultans, though it appears to have been in the first Mameluke period that a Sultan cynically confessed that the public maintenance of four systems was to give the sover- eign the better chance of getting his rulings au- thorised. The practice of having the separate sys- tems taught in annexes to the four liwans, or cloisters, gives such buildings a shape approximating to the cruciform. Architecturally, Herz Bey tells us, the College of the Sultan Salih is of interest for the development of the fagade. In the Fatimide period the facade be- gan to be ornamented by a niche over the door, which served no other purpose than that of decoration. In the Mameluke period it develops into a series of win- dows. The College of Salih offers the earliest example of the introduction of a window, whereby the niche is given a definite purpose. In the fagade of the mausoleum of the same sovereign the niches extend to the full height of the wall. [ 100] MOSQUR OF Sri.TAX HIHARS, CAIRO. THE AYYUBID PERIOD The building originally consisted of two schools, separated by a long passage to which access was given by the gate under the minaret; this was of iron, orna- mented with a marble slab, bearing the name Salihiy- yah. Each of the schools consisted of an open court, surrounded by four cloisters. Of the southern school nothing now remains except the fagade. Of the northern there remains the western cloister and part of the wall belonging to the eastern. The old pass- age has now become a street. This school was at times used as a court of justice. We have a record of a scene occurring in the year 1 52 1, in the early days of Turkish rule, when on the occasion of festivities in Cairo, owing to the victories of the Sultan Sulaiman, some Christians who had got drunk in honour thereof and indulged in unseemly language were taken there to be tried. Two of the judges decided that though they might not be exe- cuted they ought to be scourged for drunkenness; two other judges raised a protest against this, and thereupon the mob interfered, and nearly stoned the judges. A party of Janissaries rushed to the rescue, seized the Christians, and cut two of them in pieces; a third turned Moslem, and so with difficulty saved his skin. The remains of the murdered Christians were then burned by the fanatical mob, who tore down beams from the shops for the purpose. The mausoleum of the Sultan Salih, which adjoins his school, is the first of a series of mosque-tombs built for themselves by the Egyptian Sultans, as though the air which had inspired the erection of the [103] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Pyramids were still suggesting some similar ideas. It was built seven years later than the school, to the northern section of which it is attached by an open- ing made in the wall of the western cloister. The influence of the West is, Herz Bey tells us, exceed- ingly apparent in this mausoleum. The Sultan Salih died in Mansurah, whither he had gone after the seizure of Damietta by the Crusaders under St. Louis, in order to organise a force to deal with the invader. He had gone thither while suffering from an ulcer, believed to be his pun- ishment for the murder of his brother and predeces- sor on the throne. According to a custom of which most monarchies furnish illustrations, his death was concealed until his son Turanshah, then at Hisn Kaifa, was safely seated on the vacant throne; the widowed queen meanwhile undertook the manage- ment of affairs: it was given out that the Sultan was still ailing, physicians continued to pay their visits and report on his progress, and despatches continued to be issued in his name. Turanshah's reign began brilliantly, owing rather to the valour and skill of the Emir Bukn al-din Baibars with the Mamelukes, than to his own. The Christian fleet was destroyed, and the retreat of the Crusaders cut off. The French King was himself taken prisoner, to be released after- wards for a great ransom. Damietta itself was restored to the Egyptian Sultan, and lest it should again harbour an invader, utterly destroyed. All that was left of it for the time was a group of fisher- men's huts. But Turanshah offended the Mamelukes [104] THE AYYUBID PERIOD of his father by preferring his own satellites above them, and committed the still greater error of under- rating the ability of his father's widow, Shajar al- durr, who proved a formidable adversary. This woman, reviving the traditions of old Egyptian and Ethiopian queens, replied to the threats of her stepson by organising a conspiracy among his father's serv- ants. An assault was made upon him at a banquet given at Mansurah. From the sword he fled into a wooden refuge, soon to be devoured by flame; and thence he flung himself into the water, where he was ultimately dispatched. His reign lasted forty days only, and with its end the Ayyubid period practically closed. The great relic of the Ayyubid period is then the Citadel; from the time of Saladin till the nineteenth century the history of Egypt centres round that of the fortress which commanded Cairo. The religious importance of the Ayyubid dynasty is also very great. By restoring Moslem orthodoxy in Egypt, they fitted that country to serve as the headquarters of Islam during the centuries which elapsed between the fall of Baghdad and the consolidation of the power of the Ottomans. They made Cairo the University of Islam, and that position it holds to this day. Polit- ically they accustomed the people of Egypt to gov- ernment by aliens and Turks, taking on therein a tradition which had commenced before the Fatimide dynasty had begun. Historically their importance otherwise is to be found in the fact that they bore the brunt of the [105] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Crusades; to recover the cities which the Prankish invader had taken w2ls the problem which they had to face, and before the dynasty was over this problem had practically been solved. The founder of the line, Saladin, towers far above the others; the admi- rable biography of him by Mr. Lane Poole enables the general reader to estimate him aright. When he first took part in affairs there was a prospect of Egypt being annexed to the Prankish Empire, and indeed we find the Pranks in actual occupation of Cairo. Aided partly by circumstances, such as the dissensions of the Prankish chiefs, and the want of suitable successors to the throne of Jerusalem, but chiefly through his own ability as a statesman and general, Saladin was able to reconquer Jerusalem, and to write the death-warrant of the Prankish oc- cupation of the nearest East. Al-Kamil was, by the invasion of Egypt in the years 121 8 to 1221, brought into greater straits than Saladin had been. But the loss of Damietta, after its long and heroic resistance, was compensated in the following year by the Sul- tan's well-planned and successful resistance to the Crusaders' expedition against Cairo, which ended in the Pranks being driven from Egypt. The Sultan on the occasion of his brilliant victory showed that the chivalrous spirit which sheds a halo round the memory of Saladin was in his nature too. The heroism of his successor Salih is sufficiently indicated by the circumstances of his end. Pew, if any, of the dynasties of Islam have in so short a time brought to the front so many capable rulers. [106] THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS "FTER the murder of Turanshah the Emirs accepted the government of the woman who had organised the coup, and she was enthroned in the same style as male sover- eigns, except that a curtain separated her from the ministers, who kissed the ground as their act of homage. To the rule of infants the Islamic peoples were accustomed: but it was to them a great rarity to hear the preachers in the Mosques name after the Caliph " the wife of the Sultan Salih, the Queen of the Moslems, the Protectress of the world and of the faith, the screened and veiled Mother of the deceased Khalil " — for in that name she chose to reign, since her own name, " Pearl-tree," too obviously suggested the slave-girl — both male and female slaves being commonly called after gems. In spite of her eminent qualifications for the sove- reignty, she could not long resist the popular objec- tions to a woman holding such a post: and the Caliph himself sent from Baghdad to tell the Egyptians that if they had not among them a man qualified to be Sultan, they might apply to him, and he would send them someone. After three months' sovereignty [ ^07] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS she consented to a compromise whereby she abdi- cated, only, however, to continue to rule as the wife of Izz al-din Aibek, whom she had employed as chief minister. This person had originally been a slave purchased by the Sultan Salih, and enrolled in the force of Raudah Island, presently manumitted and promoted to high office. The praetorians were, however, not yet accustomed to seeing one of their number Sultan : they clamoured for a member of the Ayyubid family. Aibek, per- haps by the direction of his wife, sent for such a person, a youth of tender years, who agreed to be joint Sultan with Aibek, the names of both figuring on coins and being recited in the public prayer; but the husband of Shajar al-durr was resolved to be sole master, and utilised the treasures at his disposal for the purchase of armed men. When sufficiently strong, he entrapped one of the leaders of the oppo- sition in the Citadel, had him assassinated and his head flung to his friends in the Rumailah Place. The rest of the opposition fled into Syria, among them two men, afterwards prominent as Egyptian Sultans, Baibars and Kala'un. The Ayyubid prince was then imprisoned, and Aibek reigned alone. He now considered himself strong enough to dis- place his wife, Shajar al-durr, and sent to solicit the hand of a daughter of Badr al-din Lulu, prince of Mausil. This proceeding was followed by violent recriminations on the part of the ex-Queen, to escape which Aibek abandoned the Citadel and went to re- side in the new quarter called Luk, which, in conse- [io8] < p ■<••'■. ^ THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS quence of the innovations of al-Aziz and al-Kamil was springing up between the Great Canal and the Nile. Shajar al-durr contrived, however, by various blandishments to allure him back to the Citadel: where she had arranged that five of her Byzantine eunuchs should murder him in his bath. The tragedy was not yet finished. Aibek had left a son, Ali, by another wife, whom Shajar al-durr had forced him to put away when she raised him with herself to the throne. This son, having his father's praetorians at his mercy, handed his stepmother over to the tender mercies of his mother, who ordered her handmaids to beat the fallen Queen to death with their shoes. She was then stripped, dragged by the feet, and flung into a ditch, where she remained un- buried three days. At the end of this time she was taken out and interred in the mausoleum which she had built for herself, and which still exists between the Mashhads of Sayyidah Nafisah and Sayyidah Sakinah. M. van Berchem shows by the evidence of an inscription — in modern letters, but doubtless copied from an older one — that this mausoleum must have been built after Shajar al-durr had become queen, but before she married Aibek: for among her oflicial titles she is there called Mother of Khalil, but not wife of Aibek. The present building is modern, being a restoration dating from the year 1873. It ^^so contains the tomb of one of the shadowy Caliphs, of whom we shall hear more. Her death took place April 15, 1257: she had ascended the throne May 14, 1250. [Ill] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Aibek is said to have destroyed the barracks built by his predecessor on Raudah Island, and to have cleared away many dwellings in the parts of Cairo that stretch from Bab Zuwaileh to the Citadel, and westward to the Bab al-Luk. He built a college in old Cairo called Mu'zziyyah, after his title Malik Mu'izz. The new Sultan, who had dealt such vengeance on his stepmother, was eleven years of age: a regent had to be appointed, and a Mameluke of his father, named Kotuz, was chosen. The next year Baghdad was taken by the Mongol Hulagu, who now threat- ened to advance westward; and just as it had been the business of the Ayyubids to arrest the progress of the Crusaders, so it became that of the Mameluke dynasty to check this more terrible enemy. A council was held at which the chief jurist of the time declared that the occasion called for a man, and not a child, to be at the head of afifairs; and on November 4, 1259, Ali, called al-Mansur, son of Aibek, was deposed, and the regent installed Sultan in his place. Such events were destined to occur with great frequency during this dynasty, and the fate of the deposed monarch was ordinarily unenviable. In some cases, as that of Ali, it was lifelong imprisonment: some- times it was honourable banishment, and more fre- quently still it was execution. For a man to whom allegiance had once been sworn could generally be suspected of harbouring designs against his successor. The command of the forces was given by the new Sultan to Baibars al-Bundukdari, an officer who was [112] THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS credited with much of the merit of the great victory over Louis IX. Almost immediately after the en- thronement of Kotuz there arrived a missive from Hulagu couched in the style of Sennacherib of old; and by tremendous efforts, coupled with ruthless ex- tortions, an army was equipped and despatched to Syria to meet the Tartars. On September 3, 1260, a battle was fought at Ain Jalut, in which the victory remained with the Egyptians. This was presently confirmed by another victory, and Kotuz not only repelled the Mongol invasion, but secured for Egypt the suzerainty over the whole of Saladin's old em- pire. But on his triumphant return to Egypt, he was attacked and slain by the Emir Baibars, who ap- proached the Sultan ostensibly to kiss his hand for the present of a slave girl. Since the officers decided that Baibars, by way of compensation for this act, should be made sovereign in his victim's stead, it is probable that the assassination was the outcome of a widespread conspiracy. The contemporary biog- rapher of Baibars, who fills pages with eulogies of his master's virtues, can only say of this act that there happened what did happen. The date is given as November 21, 1260. Baibars reigned for seventeen years, and showed great capacity as both a warrior and administrator, though utterly unscrupulous in his dealings. He re- established in theory, as we have seen, the Caliphate of the Abbasids by recognising the claim of one Abu' 1-Kasim Ahmad to be the heir of the Baghdad poten- tates, and installing him in the Citadel as Caliph with [113] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the title Mustansir. Mustansir then proceeded to confer on Baibars the title of Sultan, and invest him with all Islamic lands and any lands that might afterward become Islamic by conquest. The address in which this shadowy Caliph instructs Baibars in his duties is a curious document. It appears that Baibars at one time intended to restore his Caliph to Baghdad, and to equip him with a force which might have been sufficient to enable him to recon- quer that capital. But he was advised in time not to make his creature powerful enough to become his master, and sent with him so small a force that he was easily defeated and slain by the troops of the Mongol governor of Baghdad. After his death a substitute was speedily found in another person who claimed descent from the Abbasid family: but this Caliph remained in Cairo, and, though one of his successors was actually Sultan for a few days, the greater number of these Egyptian Caliphs served no other purpose than to confer legitimacy on their Mameluke masters. The reign of Baibars was spent largely in success- ful wars against the Crusaders, from whom he took many cities, notably Safad, Caesarea and Antioch; the Armenians, whose territory he repeatedly in- vaded, burning their capital Sis; and the Seljucids of Asia Minor. All these were to some extent the allies of the Mongols. He further reduced the Is- ma'ilians, better known as the Assassins, whose ex- istence as a community lasted on in Syria after it had practically come to an end in Persia. He estab- [i'4] THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS lished friendly relations with some of the Christian powers of Europe, e. g., the Emperor of Constanti- nople, the King of Naples, and the King of Castile. He made Nubia tributary to Egypt, thereby extend- ing Moslem arms further south than they had been extended by any earlier sovereign. He was, as has been noticed, the first sovereign who acknowledged the equal authority of the four orthodox systems of law, and appointed judges be- longing to each of them in Egypt and Syria. Two buildings in Cairo commemorate the reign of the Sultan Baibars, whose title was at first al- Kahir, and afterward al-Zahir. One of these is a disused mosque at the end of the Zahir Street, which leads out of the Faggalah. The materials employed for this building were largely taken from the Cru- saders' Castle at Jaffa, which was seized by him on March 7, 1268, by surprise, he being supposed to be at peace with its governor. The building materials, including columns and marble slabs, were piled on a vessel and conveyed by water to Cairo. The site selected for the mosque was the exercise-ground named after Saladin's minister Karakush. The cupola over the Kiblah (or mihrab) was in imitation of the cupola over Shaft's grave; the doorway was copied from the door of his own school (madrasah) which had already been built. Ali Pasha has been able to produce few notices of the fate of this great building — which Baibars does not appear to have ever intended for his own mauso- leum — before the time of the French expedition, [IIS] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS when the invaders turned it into a fortress. The place was then desecrated and various dwellings erected within and around it. In Mohammed Ali's time a military bake-house was instituted inside the old mosque: this was removed in the time of Isma'il Pasha, but has been renewed since the British occu- pation. Three inscriptions that still remain have been published by M. von Berchem, in which the name, date, and titles of the founder are preserved. An interesting title is that of " Copartner with the Commander of the Faithful," by whom the Abbasid is meant, whose installation at Cairo constituted one of Baibar's masterstrokes. These Mameluke Sultans seem to have been quite ready to acknowledge their original status; and one of the adjectives employed as a title of the founder means that he was the freedman of the Ayyubid Sultan Salih. The same Sultan was also the founder of a school (madrasah) called the Zahiriyyah, which used to be in the Nahassin Street, forming part of the ancient avenue " Between the two Palaces." This was erected in 1263, when the Sultan was in Syria, on the site of part of the old Fatimide Palace called the Golden Gate. It had four liwans, one for each school of law, according to the system already prevailing; it was furnished with a rich library, and beside it was built a school for instructing poor orphans in the Koran. The buildings in the space between the Zuwailah and Faraj Gates (outside the city) were settled on the madrasah, which was to be supported by their rents. In Makrizi's time it had been superseded by [116] A STREET NEAR EL GAMALIYEH. THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS the numerous other institutions of the same kind which had been erected in the neighbourhood; till V 1870 some ruins still remained; but in 1874 ^^e ruins were almost entirely removed, owing to the cutting of a new street to the Bait al-Kadi. One of the doors in finely wrought bronze was discovered by M. van Berchem in the French Consulate-general, whither it had been taken apparently at the time when the ruins were cleared away. It bears an inscription with the name of the Sultan, and a date in somewhat later style. One chronicler credits Baibars with rebuilding al-Azhar " after it had been in ruins since the time of Hakim," but this must be a gross exaggeration. He also built a bridge over the Great Canal, long famous as " The Lions' Bridge," so called after some stone lions with which it was adorned, and which were put there because the animal figured on the Sultan's coat of arms. This bridge was near Sayyidah Zainab, and was of great height. The great builder Mohammed al-Nasir replaced it by a bridge that was lower and wider, not, Makrizi states, because there was anything the matter with it, but because this Sultan envied any architectural or engineering glory enjoyed by his predecessors. Baibars also restored the barracks on the Island of Raudah, and compelled his bodyguard to establish themselves there. The Bab al-Luk quarter also, we are told, received an access of population owing to the policy of the Sultan in welcoming Tartar colonists. Quite at the [119] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS beginning of his reign emissaries, sent by him into Syria to discover the plans of Hulagu, found a de- tachment of Mongols who were anxious to seek the protection of the Egyptian Sultan, being in number about a thousand horsemen with their families. On November 1 1, 1262, these refugees were given a pub- lic reception by the Sultan, who had ordered houses to be built for their habitation in the region that has been mentioned, and the welcome granted to these Mongols with the promotion that was speedily ac- corded them in the Sultan's service led to many more of their brethren following their example. An ex- ercise-ground was laid out in the same region, and there every Tuesday and Saturday the Sultan rode to play ball. The origin of the name Luk appears to be quite obscure; the grammarians try to show that it means land originally submerged, but afterward re- covered, a description which would suit this part of Cairo accurately. Another quarter that grew up in Baibars' time was in the region between Sayyidah Zainab and the Nile, and another in the region yet further south, adjoin- ing the river, called Dair al-Tin, or Clay Monastery, where brick-kilns had previously occupied the ground. The character of Baibars is one of great psycho- logical interest, and in some way resembles that of Napoleon. His victories, like Napoleon's, were won by his great rapidity of movement: he went from Egypt to Syria and Syria to Egypt in times that con- stituted records for that age. Where his personal [ 120] THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS ambition was concerned, he appears to have recog- nised no moral obligations. The indictment against him drawn up by the German historian Weil leaves a most painful impression on the reader. Perfidy and cunning can nowhere be better illustrated. Appar- ently, however, the Moslem world of those days, owing to the terrible catastrophes which it had un- dergone, could not easily be shocked; and we find that the murder of Turanshah with which his career commenced, horrified the imprisoned Crusaders much more than Turanshah's subjects; and the calm- ness with which the people of Egypt permitted Bai- bars to seat himself on the throne of the meritorious Sultan whom he had assassinated could not easily be paralleled either in earlier or later times. That such a man as Baibars should have been a founder of religious edifices is not surprising; what astonishes us more is that he appears in many ways to have led a blameless life, and to have sincerely interested him- self in the reformation of public morals. The growth of Cairo in his time was largely due to the scrupulousness with which he looked after the ad- ministration of justice. His services to Islam irt repelling the Mongols and bringing the Prankish kingdom established by the Crusaders to the verge of extinction, were very great; and, probably, the elaborate hierarchy of officials which characterises Mameluke times was at least in part due to his genius for organisation. On July I, 1277, Baibars died and was buried in Damascus. He was succeeded by an incompetent [.21] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS son, Barakah Khan, otherwise called al-Malik al-Sa'id, who soon became involved in disputes with both his provincial governors and his bodyguard in Egypt. M. van Berchem identified a mosque in the old street Khurunfush, which had been built by the maternal uncle of the Sultan, of whom we read that he was imprisoned for ten days for the offence of representing to the Sultan's sister that unless he acted with greater prudence he would lose his throne. This mosque was in ruins when the Swiss archaeologist first saw it, and has since been displaced by a cafe. Sa'id himself is said to have built a bath, but of this there appears to be no trace. Sa'id found first a mentor and presently a danger- ous rival in the Emir Kala'un al-Alfi, who was in command of the Syrian forces, and had been pro- moted and highly trusted by Baibars. The Queen- mother endeavoured to mediate between them, but, though treated with respect, she succeeded only par- tially, and after some negotiations Kala'un marched against Cairo, and besieged the Citadel in the Sul- tan's absence. Kala'un permitted the Sultan to join his besieged adherents, in order thereby to get him more easily into his power. The Sultan found him- self unable to stand a siege, and was soon induced to abdicate, on condition of being allowed possession of Kerak, a city which played a rather important part in Mameluke times as a refuge for deposed sov- ereigns. There shortly afterwards he died of a fall from his horse. Kala'un did not at first venture to proclaim himself [ 122] THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS sovereign, thinking it safer to make an infant brother of Sa'id, nominal Sultan. His confederates, however, represented to him that this arrangement would lead them into danger, since the bodyguard of Baibars would probably group round the son of their former chief and eventually oust the usurper. To this argu- ment he yielded, and allowed himself to be installed as Sultan on November i8, 1279. An Under-Secretary of State, who has left us a biography, or rather panegyric of this Sultan, gives an account of an interview that preceded the procla- mation. He had already taken possession of the Palace of the Sultan Sa'id on the Citadel, and had opened a window in the Great Hall, where he sat to discharge his duties as regent: He commanded me, says the Under-secretary, to write out the names of a number of earlier kings — doubtless with the view of selecting a suitable name. The Under-sec- retary refused to make out such a list in the palace of a king who was reigning, and could not be prevailed upon to do so until all the ministers were assembled: so great was his fear of being an accomplice in a coup which might after all fail. When the minis- ters were all present, the Under-secretary made out his list; and Kala'un selected the name Mansur as his royal title. He has been manumitted from slavery thirty-three years before. His first years of sovereignty were occupied with troubles in Syria, where a governor of Damascus re- belled; and though this rebellion was crushed in the spring of 1280, the disaffected Syrians entered into [123] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS relations with the Mongols, who repeatedly invaded and ravaged the country, but were defeated by Kala'un in a great battle under the walls of Horns on October 30, 1281. During his residence in Damascus Kala'un had been cured of the colic by remedies prepared at the hospital that had been founded there by the Sultan Nur al-din. Kala'un resolved to provide his Egyp- tian capital with a similar institution, and the name of this still remains in the Muristan (an abbreviation of the Persian word Bimaristan) or hospital in the Na- hassin Street. The name is ordinarily made to in- clude three buildings, the hospital, the school, and the mausoleum of the Sultan, which lay behind the others. The building which they replaced belonged originally to the daughter of the Fatimide Sultan Aziz, and when taken over by Kala'un was in the possession of an Ayyubid princess, to whom the Emerald Palace, part of the ancient Fatimide Palace, [ was given in exchange. The Fatimide princess had been served in it by 8000 slave girls (if Oriental figures are to be trusted) — a statement which indi- cates its size. A story similar to that connected with the Tulun Mosque was excogitated to conceal the source when the funds had been supplied for cover- ing the expense. The workmen when digging the soil fortunately discovered sealed boxes containing jewels and coin in sufficient quantities to defray the whole. The reason for this fiction was that great violence had been used by the contractor in employ- ing forced labour for the building. All the artisans, [ 124] ¥ o o 5 < J < O THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS we are told, in Cairo and Fostat were compelled to work at this and nothing else, no other orders in either city being allowed to be attended to while it was being erected. Passers-by were compelled to stop, or if mounted to descend from their horses and carry stones, and in order to supply materials, build- ings in the Island of Raudah were pulled down. Be- sides this it was generally supposed that the Ayyubid princess had been turned out of her palace against her will; though Makrizi observes about this that no resentment could justly be felt for the robbery of the Ayyubids, who themselves had robbed the Fati- mides. It would seem, however, that the mode in which the transformation of the building was carried out gave great ofifence, and means had to be devised to allay the agitation. The arrangements when the hospital was complete were said to be superior to those of any similar institution. It was to be open to any number of persons for any length of time, whether male or female, bond or free. Separate wards were assigned to dififerent diseases; arrange- ments were made for the treatment of out-patients as well as in-patients; and medical courses were to be given for the benefit of students who " walked the hospital." From the rents which were settled upon it, amounting to a million dirhems, a whole staff of officials, including bed-makers, male and female, were to be paid; and materials of various sorts re- quired for the compounding of drugs were liberally supplied. Arrangements on a similar scale were made in connection with the school, the orphanage, [ 127] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS and the sepulchral cupola which was to be the Sul- tan's own resting-place; fifty readers of the Koran were employed to recite the Sacred Volume in turns without ceasing day or night; and a library was, as usual, added to the foundation. Van Berchem shows by the evidence of inscriptions that the hospital took five months, the mausoleum four months, and the school three months to build: a fact which agrees with what we are told of the violent methods em- ployed by the contractor for hurrying on the work. The date of the completion of the whole was August, 1285. The scene which is described as taking place after the completion of the buildings gives us an idea of the liberty of speech permitted at this time in Egypt, which we could scarcely have gleaned from the his- tory. The jurists declared prayer in such a place unlawful. The chief ecclesiastical authority of the time long refused to preach an inaugural sermon, and when at last he consented to do so, it contained some bitter reproaches levelled both at the Sultan and the minister who had been entrusted with the work of erection. Even the principal finally ap- pointed to the new institution expressed his opinion of both quite freely before he accepted the post. The hospital remained in use for many centuries, and received benefactions from Ezbek, after whom the Ezbekiyyah is named, and also from some of the Turkish Sultans. It appears to have fallen into neg- lect at the time of the French occupation, and never afterwards recovered. A school of Malekite law still [128] THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS remains. In the earthquake of 1303 a minaret was damaged, but was immediately afterward restored by the great builder, the Sultan Nasir, who also placed the railing round the Sultan Kala'un's tomb. That Kala'un should have set about building his mosque-mausoleum so soon after his accession to the throne shows how quickly the idea of such a form of monument, which was originally quite alien to Islam, had taken root. Two obelisks now In the British Museum, covered with hieroglyphics, were found by the French in the school of Kala'un, and sent ofif to France. The vessel by which they were conveyed was captured by an English man-of-war, which brought the obelisks to England. The conversion to Islam of the Ilchan (the title by which the Mongol ruler of Baghdad was known) and the consequent troubles In the Mongol empire led to a cessation of hostilities between Egypt and the Ilchanate, though the Mongol rulers did not cease to agitate in Europe for a renewal of the cru- sades with little result. Kala'un did not at first pur- sue any career of active conquest, though he did much to consolidate his dominions, and especially to extend Egyptian commerce, for which purpose he started a system of passports enabling merchants who possessed them to travel with safety through Egypt and Syria, and as far as India. After the danger from the Mongols had ceased, he directed his ener- gies toward capturing the last places in Syria that were still occupied by the Franks. In 1290 he [ 129] s/' CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS planned an attack on Acre, but died (November lo) in the middle of his preparations. During the greater part of his reign he took one of his sons as associate in the government, and indeed kept him to take care of Egypt, while himself absent in Syria; on the death of his son Musa, in 1288, he associated with himself his son Khalil, who was his successor. The Under-Secretary has preserved a very elaborate set of instructions given by Kala'un to his victory for the conduct of affairs during his absence. The pigeon- post, the telegraph of the time, was to be organised so as to convey to headquarters early tidings of the rising of the Nile; and great trouble was to be taken to see that all bridges and embankments were in good order. The viceroy must also see that every patch of ground in which cultivation was possible should be cultivated. The viceroy's first business, we read in one of these sets of instructions, when he returns to the Citadel after bidding his father farewell and Godspeed on one of his warlike expeditions, is to look carefully after the disaffected Emirs who happen to be im- prisoned in the Citadel, to see that they are properly fed and clothed, and that if any of them are ill, they should receive proper medical attendance, and by fair promises to endeavour to win their loyalty. Great care is to be taken that the gates of the Citadel are properly guarded, and indeed the Eastern or Cemetery Gate is to be kept locked the whole time of our absence. The municipal authorities are to keep special guard on such parts of both cities as are [130] THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS likely to be rendezvous of evil doers; such places are in particular the Nile-bank, the Cemeteries, and the Ponds, i. e., the Elephant's Pool, the Abyssian's Pool and some others now dried up. At night both cities should be patrolled and the Dispensaries locked up; and especially certain public halls in the Husa- iniyyah quarter, called Halls of Chivalry (ka'at al- futuwah) which were frequented by turbulent per- sons. All persons practising astrology are to be in- hibited, and their instruments seized, while the public are to be warned to place no confidence in their arts. The judges appointed to settle religious questions are to sit in the liwans of the various schools every day, Fridays not excepted, both morning and even- ing, and are to avoid all mutual rivalry. The pro- vincial governors are to be perpetually reminded that no one must be allowed to get more or less than his fair share of Nile water. The viceroy is advised not to ride out much, and when he does so to keep to the highway, only to admit to his neighbourhood persons in whom he has complete confidence, and when in the course of his promenades petitions are handed to him, to see that justice is done to the peti- tioners. Kala'un appears to have built barracks on the Citadel for the large numbers of guards whom he purchased, whilst still retaining some on the Island of Raudah: the former class came to be entitled the Mamelukes of the Tower (Burjis), and when Kala'un's dynasty was overthrown that which suc- ceeded it was called by that name. The native his- [13'] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS torians praise him for giving the Mamelukes a less hideous uniform than they had previously been com- pelled to wear. The old uniform had included a dull blue cap, the hair being allowed to grow in long tresses which were tied up in a bag of red or yellow silk; the tunics were fastened with a buckle of leather and brass, to which were attached great bags of black leather, containing a wooden spoon and a long knife. Kala'un abolished this eccentric attire, and adorned his officers with fur and velvet. He was succeeded by his son Khalil, who carried out his father's policy of driving the Franks out of Palestine and Syria, and proceeded with the siege of Acre, which he took (May i8, 1291) after a siege of forty-three days. The capture and destruction of this important place was followed by the capture of Tyre, Sidon, Haifa, Athlith and Beyrut; and thus the nearer East was cleared of the Crusaders. Acre was utterly destroyed by Khalil, and its fine buildings came to be a quarry for building materials. Khalil's brother Nasir, who reigned after him, got thence the marble doorway of his school; it had originally adorned a church in Acre. Others were used by Khalil himself for edifices which he caused to be constructed in Damascus and elsewhere. His own tomb, to which a school was once attached, in the Sayyidah Nefisah region, was built before this event, and while he was associated with his father, who is named in the epitaph with such titles as are assigned only to living sovereigns. Close by is the tomb of his stepmother, the mother of his brother [132] MOSQUES IX TIIK SIIAKl A H \1?-KL-\V \/.l R, CAIRO. THE FIRST MAMELUKE SOVEREIGNS Salih, who had originally been appointed to succeed. The triumphal entry of Khalil into Cairo after his return from the holy war must have been one of the most glorious processions in which Moslem Sultan ever figured. " He entered at the Nasr Gate, and went across the city, the Emirs walking before him, while the Viceroy carried the parasol with the bird over his head, and the caparisons were shaken before him; and when he arrived at the hospital, he turned his horse, and went to visit his father's grave; after which he rode up to the Citadel, and distributed decorations. The name Saladin which was one of his titles of honour, while he reigned under the name of al-Ashraf, had not been given him in vain. Yet it does not appear that he shared with his illus-* trious namesake the qualities which have rendered the later a type of chivalry. And the glory of hav- ing achieved what his predecessors for two hundred years had vainly striven to accomplish is said to have turned his head. The career of the Conqueror of the Franks was brought to an abrupt conclusion at the beginning of the fourth year of his reign (December 12, 1293). In the disputes between his favourite Ibn Sa'lus and his Viceroy Baidara, he took the part of the former, and the Viceroy, who appears to have peculated on a tremendous scale, organised a conspiracy against his master. Baidara and his party fell upon the Sul- tan when he was hunting without escort at Tarujah, near Damanhur; they killed and mutilated him, and proceeded to elect Baidara Sultan in his place, after [135] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the precedent set in the time of Baibars. But thirty years of orderly government had changed men's ideas on this subject; the ministers and guards of the murdered Sultan met the assassins on the left bank of the Nile, as they were returning to Cairo, and routed them. Baidara was himself killed, and the avengers of al-Ashraf regaled themselves in primitive and savage stvde on his liver. But the corpse of the vic- tim remained three days in the desert, and w^as gnawed by wolves before what was left of it could be taken up and deposited in the mausoleum that had been built none too soon. [136] NASIR AND HIS SONS ^^^^^^HE younger son of Kala'un, who was now m C^ placed on the throne, had the singular for- ^L J tune of reigning three times, being twice ^^"^^ dethroned. He was first appointed Sultan on December 14, 1293, when he was nine years old, and the affairs of the kingdom were undertaken by a Cabinet, consisting of a vizier, a viceroy, a war min- ister, a prefect of the palace, and a secretary of state. Three of these five were destined to enjoy ephemeral sovereignty; the first, Sanjar al-Shuja'i, though never a sovereign, is known to history as the general em- ployed by the Sultan Khalil in his war against the remnant of the Franks. According to the historian, he aspired to be Sultan, and went so far as to offer a price for the head of any follower of the Viceroy Ketbogha: the latter got together a force, defeated the Vizier's forces in the Horse-market between Cairo and the Citadel, and besieged his rival, who had retreated into the fortress. The Queen-mother then addressed the besiegers from the wall of the Citadel, and asked what they wanted: the reply was the deposition of the Vizier. To this the Queen- mother assented, and the Vizier's fickle followers [ 137] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS turned against him and beheaded him. A man car- ried his head out to the besiegers in a silk wrapper. "What have you there? " asked the guardian of the gate, an adherent of the fallen Vizier. " Hot bread to show them that they are not likely to starve us out," was the reply. The head was then carried round the city; and since it was this Vizier who had organised the forced labour in connection with the building of Kala'un's hospital, the Cairenes paid the carriers money to let them have the head in their houses to beat it with sandals. The conqueror Ket- bogha assumed the reins, and after a short time, was strong enough to depose the infant Sultan, whose first reign was eleven stormy months. The new Sultan was a Mongol, who had been taken prisoner by Kala'un in one of his battles. This Sultan's reign was rather less than two years, and was clouded by famine and pestilence. The oc- casion of his absence was seized by his viceroy, Lajin, who, after the murder of Khalil, had hidden in the Mosque of Ahmad Ibn Tulun, and afterwards been promoted by Ketbogha, to oust his benefactor and master. During Ketbogha's time the population of Cairo was increased by a fresh colony of Mongols, who settled in the Husainiyyah quarter, to the north of the Futuh Gate; while in the south, overlooking the Elephant's Pool, some building was occasioned by the Sultan laying out an exercise-ground, as a sub- stitute for that which Baibars had selected at the Bab al-Luk. This exercise-ground soon had to give way to a palace, built by the Sultan Nasir. [138] NASIR AND HIS SONS Lajin himself fell a victim to a conspiracy of the Praetorians when he had reigned two years and two months. The murderer was almost immediately ex- ecuted by a commander who returned to Cairo the day after the event; and the Emirs decided on the re- call of al-Nasir, then in exile at Kerak. February II, 1298, was the day on which he commenced his second term of sovereignty. M. van Berchem has discovered some curious ves- tiges of the quick succession of rulers in the school of the Sultan Nasir, which is to the north of the ^ mausoleum of the Sultan Kala'un. An inscription contains the contradictory statement that it was built by the Sultan Mohammed al-Nasir in the year of the Hijrah 695, when, in fact, Ketbogha and not al-Nasir was reigning. Apparently then — and this is asserted by the archaeologists — the school was begun by Ketbogha, and had risen as high as the gilt band on the fagade, when Ketbogha was dethroned. Work on the school was then resumed when Mohammed was restored and then apparently the old date was al- lowed to stand, while the name of the sovereign was altered — perhaps in virtue of a theory similar to that by which the reign of Charles II. is supposed to have commenced at the death of Charles I. M. van Berchem accounts for the date of completion, 703 A. H.^ which seems to involve a longer time than might reasonably have been occupied by a moderate sized edifice (supposing indeed that building was continuous) — by the supposition that it suffered from the great earthquake of the year 702, and had [139] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS to be rebuilt a year or two after its actual completion. Its doorway was regarded by Makrizi as one of the wonders of the world. It was of white marble, of great beauty and extraordinary workmanship, hav- ing come originally from one of the churches at Acre. Inside the gate there is a cupola, smaller than that built by the Sultan's father, where his mother and one of his sons lie buried^ he himself lying near his father. This earthquake commenced in August, 1303 A.D., and shocks were felt for twenty successive days. Great damage was done in Alexandria, where the re- turning wave, which is a phenomenon often accom- panying great earthquakes, inundated a considerable portion of the city. On Thursday, the 23d of the month Dhu' 1-Hijjah, says Makrizi, at the moment of morning prayer, the whole land shook; the walls were heard to crack, and terrible sounds proceeded from the roofs. Pedestrians were compelled to bend down, men on horseback fell off their mounts. The people imagined that the sky was coming down. All the inhabitants, men and women, rushed out into the streets. The terror and haste was such that the women did not wait to veil their faces. Houses tum- bled down, walls split, the minarets of the mosques and the schools were overthrown, many children were prematurely born. Violent winds arose, the Nile overflowed, and tossed such boats as hap- pened to be on the bank to the distance of a bowshot. Presently the water withdrew, and left these vessels with broken anchors high and dry. The inhabitants, [140] > GATEWAY OF THE MOSQUE OF IBRAHIM ACHA, CAH<0. NASIR AND HIS SONS driven by fright out of their houses, took no thought of what they had left inside. They were entered by robbers, who seized whatever they chose. The own- ers passed the night in tents, which were set up from Boulak to Raudah. Only Thursday night was spent in the mosques and chapels by crowds imploring the mercy of God. Of edifices that were damaged by the earthquake — which left fallen bricks or other traces of itself in the doorway of every house — Makrizi enumerates the mosque of Amr, the mosque al-Azhar, the mosque of Salih situated outside the Bab Zuwailah, the school of Kala'un, which lost its minaret, and the mosque of al-Fakihani, which underwent the same disaster. Forty curtains and twenty-seven towers be- longing to the wall of Cairo fell. Cairo and Fostat were left in such a condition that anyone who saw them might have supposed that they had been sacked by an enemy. , To the second reign of the Sultan Nasir belongs the Mosque of Jauli, removed by a couple of hun- dred metres from the Mosque of Ibn Tulun. It con- tains two domed tombs of the Emirs Sanjar and Salar, both celebrities of this period. The inscrip- tion published by van Berchem gives the date of con- struction as 703. The Mosque, of which the shape is unusually irregular, occupies 780 square metres. In one of the many apartments which it contains for the use of Sufis (or ascetics) there is, says Ali Pasha Mubarak, a square blue stone, of which the greater portion is buried in the soil, and in which there is a [143] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS hole. Piles, it was supposed, could be cured by the sufferer placing in this hole some olive oil; he then sat in the hole a quarter-of-an-hour, after which he would anoint himself with the oil, and his cure would be effected. When the Pasha wrote, he could speak of three tombs, of which, however, one was unknown. The Emir Salar was Viceroy when he built this monument, and held this post for eleven years. By domineering overmuch over his master, al-Nasir, he caused the Sultan, in the year 1308, to retire from the sovereignty for a second time. When al-Nasir re- turned for the third time, Salar resigned his office, and was at first treated honourably by the Sultan, but was presently seized and starved to death in prison, where he is last heard of trying to eat his shoes. As Viceroy, he enjoyed a revenue of 100,000 dirhems a day; and a pretended report of the treasures found in his house at the time of his arrest gives the items dis- covered day by day, thus : Sunday: Nineteen Egyptian quarts of emeralds; Two Egyptian quarts of rubies; Two-and-a-half quarts jacinths; Six boxes of gems for rings, diamonds and others; and so on, the figures getting more and more fabulous. The task of arresting him had been committed to the other occupant of this mausoleum, San|ar al- Jauli, who also obtained leave to bury his friend Salar after his death from starvation. This person, after filling other offices, was governor of Gaza and Southern Palestine for a number of years; he was [144] NASIR AND HIS SONS then recalled and imprisoned for eight years by al- Nasir, after which time he was released and given office at the Cairene Court. During the ephemeral reigns that followed on the death of Nasir, he played an important part. In his governorship of South Palestine he distinguished himself by numerous works of public utility; he rebuilt Gaza, and founded mosques, hospitals and schools, both there and in other important cities of his province. Unlike his friend, he died in his bed in Cairo, and was hon- oured with a solemn funeral. When, in 1308, the Sultan Nasir abdicated and took refuge in Kerak, his place was taken by the Emir Baibars (called the Jashangir, which properly means the taster) who had been one of the Cabinet which had governed for him at his accession. His reign lasted not quite a year, in which he rendered himself odious by punishing with barbarous cruelty numbers of the common people who were guilty of singing a comic song in which he was lampooned. ■ A monument of this ephemeral sovereign exists in the monastery called Rukniyyah (after his official title Rukn al-din) or Baibarsiyyah, in the Jamaliyyah Street. The dervish who should have no home but the Mosque was a natural object for the bounty of pious founders, and about 400 A.H. the custom arose of building places where they could carry on their devotional exercises undisturbed. The earliest place of the sort built in Cairo was, as has been seen, the work of the great Saladin, and the ascetics seem to have done fairly well in it at first: each man was [ H5 ] y '; WiCVV-'. CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS to have daily three pounds of bread, three pounds of meat with broth, sweets once a month, a provision of soap, and forty dirhems yearly for clothes. In time the revenue of Saladin's hospice proved insuf- ficient for this outlay, and great troubles arose. The hospice of Baibars II. was the second of its kind in Cairo. Its site is where the ancient palace of the Fatimide viziers stood. Originally it had three windows facing the street, of which one was a famous window brought from Baghdad by that Basasari who defeated the Abbasid Caliph Ka'im, and for the mo- ment rendered the metropolis of the East subject to the heretical Caliphate of the West. This part of the place was left unchanged when it was transferred to its religious purpose. The windows were after- wards removed, and shops substituted in order to furnish rentals for the maintenance of the institution when, owing to the failure of the Nile, the ordinary revenues were cut off. It was begun by the Emir be- fore his brief reign, during which it was completed, but he was compelled to flee 'before the inaugural ceremony could take place; and when Nasir returned he closed the hospice, and it remained empty for nineteen years, when the same Sultan reopened it. The inscription which remains contains traces of this chequered history, which van Berchem with his usual skill has succeeded in enucleating. A story perhaps less apocryphal than others dealing with buried treasure is to the effect that a friendly Emir informed Baibars when he commenced building that there was a store of rich marble under part of the [146] NASIR AND HIS SONS ancient Fatimide palace, which, when discovered, had been left undisturbed and ready for use: that QBaibars made use of this information, had the marble unearthed, built his hospice, mausoleum, and mili- tary asylum with part of it, and stored the remainder in the hospice, where Makrizi declares that it re- mained till his own time. The hospice was to hold four hundred ascetics, the asylum one hundred de- cayed soldiers; the mausoleum was for himself, and thither his body was ultimately brought, probably after the reopening of the establishment. According to Makrizi the workmanship was so sound that no repairs were required for a century and a half. In 1892 the Committee found that the state of de- composition to which the walls had come must speed- ily lead to the total ruin of this monument and pre- ventive measures were taken. The marble with which the walls were still clothed proved that this rich ornamentation at one time rose to the height of more than 3.60 metres. Slabs of coloured marble alternated with slabs of mosaic. Many had fallen and others owing to the moisture of the walls were about to follow them. If Baibars II. had permitted the exiled Sultan to remain quietly at Kerak, he might have attained his throne: but by sending threatening and extortionate letters he compelled Nasir to invoke the feeling of loyalty to his father Kala'un that slumbered in the breasts of his former subjects, especially in Syria. They invited him to resume the sovereignty, and Baibars had to retreat precipitately, being followed [147] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS out of his capital by the hisses of the mob. He was granted a provincial governorship, but before he could reach it, was arrested by order of Nasir, and strangled with a bowstring. Nasir's third reign lasted from 1309 to 1340, and was prosperous in most ways. The Sultan developed a great taste for building and similar operations, and some of the work done by him on the Citadel has al- ready been noticed. A work of another sort was the Nasiri Canal which he had dug: in a mode not un- like that which was used in much later times for the excavation of the Suez Canal. This Canal started from the Nile in the Kasr al-Ain region, and after a long course mainly northward, discharged into the Great Canal near the Mosque of Baibars. Its pur- pose was, it is said, to convey goods to the buildings erected near the new exercise-ground laid out by the Sultan at Siriacos; but it was also used for pleasure parties and processions, and many mansions were built along its banks. Probably more buildings remain from the time of this Sultan than from any of his predecessors. Such are the mosques of the Emir Husain in a street lead- ing out of the Mohammed Ali Boulevard in the di- rection of the Bab al-Khalk: of the Emir al-Malik Jaukandar in the Husainiyyah quarter: of the Emir Almas in the Place Hilmiyyah: of the Emir Kausun (most of it destroyed when the Mohammed Ali Boulevard was constructed) ; of the Emir Beshtak in the Jamamiz Street, entirely renewed in the year i860 by the brother of the Khedive Isma'il: of the [.48] 2; NASIR AND HIS SONS Emir al-Maridani near the Mihmandar Mosque, in the Tabbanah quarter, leading from the Zuwailah Gate to the Citadel, which also dates from a late period of Nasir's reign: and of the Lady Maskah near the Mosque of the Sheik Salih to the south of the Mabduli Street. The lady who founded this ) last mosque was a slave of the Sultan, who rose to the office of manageress of such matters as were en- trusted to the women of the palace, such as the eti- quette of weddings, the education of the royal chil- dren and the organisation of various ceremonies. The foundress records in the dedicatory inscription that she had visited both Meccah and Medinah. All the Emirs mentioned in this list were persons of mark in Nasir's reign. The Emir Husain was also the builder of a bridge and a wicket called after his name, to enable people to come from Cairo to his mosque. The Emir Sanjar, who was governor at the time, objected to a hole being made by a pri- vate individual in the city wall. When the Emir Husain, nevertheless, obtained leave from the Sultan to make it, and boasted of his victory to Sanjar, the latter persuaded the despot that Husain meant trea- son, and Husain was sent away to Damascus. The mosque of Kausun was built by an architect from Tabriz, who modelled the minarets on those of a Tabriz edifice: the founder appears to have come thence to Cairo as a trader in the escort of one of Na- sir's brides and is said to have sold himself — a some- what unusual proceeding — into the service of the Sul- tan, and once enrolled, to have advanced rapidly. [151] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Like Joseph of old he presently sent for his relatives, and gave his sister to the Sultan, who married him to his daughter. On the Sultan's death he was left in charge of the royal children, and met with his end in an attempt to secure the power to himself by main- taining infants on the throne. One of the minarets fell, carrying with it a large part of the mosque, in the year 1800, apparently being exploded by the French; the other minaret was destroyed in 1873 when the Boulevard Mohammed Ali was cut. The Emir Beshtak was a famous builder, and among other achievements erected himself a palace in the main avenue of Cairo, facing that of his rival Bisri, both so splendid that the avenue could once V more be called Between the two Palaces, as it had been called in the days of Fatimides. The remains of the palace are on the right of the Nahassin Street, the actual entry to them being in the lane which leads to the School of Sabik al-din. M. van Berchem has discovered the fragment of an inscription belonging to it, which, however, contains neither date nor name. His mosque was built in a place occupied by Franks and Copts, " who committed such atrocities as might be expected of them." When the call to prayer re- sounded from the minaret, they were overawed and left the neighbourhood. A bath erected by the same person is to be found at the opening of the lane which bears his name, oppo- site the southwest corner of the ruined Mosque Mir- Zadeh. The interior is said to belong to a later date: but the exterior is thought by Herz Bey to be still as [152] NASIR AND HIS SONS it was built by the Emir, and it is of importance for the history of the development of the facade. This Emir died in 1341, the year after Nasir. He was one of those ministers who under the Mameluke Sultans acquired fabulous wealth. A conversation is recorded between him and another mosque-builder, the Emir Kausun, in which the latter declared himself disqualified for the Sultanate as having once sold leather; whereas Beshtak was disquali- fied as having sold beer. It is characteristic of Egypt that it was considered a degradation for a man in high office to know the language of the country. Beshtak, therefore, though knowing Arabic well, would never talk to his servants except through a dragoman. His object in life was to obtain the gov- ernorship of Damascus, and with this he eventually was invested, but was executed before he could enter upon office. Maridani is better known by the name Altin- bogha. He was one of the Emirs who took a great part in the troublesome times that followed on the death of Nasir, and appears to have played a double game with Kausun ; and eventually he was sent into exile as a Provincial Governor in Syria, where he died. In constructing his mosque he took material from the Mosque of Rashidah, erected by Hakim. Originally it was isolated on all sides; at a period unknown, though not distant, a house was built con- tiguous to the northwest facade. The surface occu- pied by it is said to be 2664 square metres: originally it consisted of an uncovered court surrounded by [153] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS four liwans. At present only the eastern liwan re- mains, containing relics of finely-executed mosaics. The enumeration given by the archsologists of the public works carried on in Cairo under the Sultan Nasir is very lengthy. It includes canals, embank- ments, pools, palaces, exercise-grounds, and indeed every branch of the architect's and engineer's art. The security produced by a long and prosperous reign led to a rise in the value of land, w^hich accord- ingly v^as everywhere about the city cut up into building plots. Owing to the number of buildings erected, says Ali Pasha, Cairo became continuous with Fostat, and the two came to be one city: from the Tabar Mosque to the Vizier's Garden south of the Abyssinians' Pool, and from the Nile bank at Gizeh to Mount Mokattam all was covered with houses. In the year 1320, which fell near the middle of this Sultan's reign, there was a great conflagration in Cairo, which was attributed by the populace to the Christians. On May 19 of that year a number of churches in various Egyptian cities had been de- stroyed by the Moslems: their fanaticism was con- stantly aroused by the invasion of the public offices by Christian secretaries, who for clerical work were always found more competent than Moslems. The incendiarism which followed, and which had for its objects buildings in the Citadel as well as the city, was attributed to the resentment of the Christians, and it is asserted that the Coptic patriarch did not deny that his co-religionists were concerned in it. [154] NASIR AND HIS SONS The Sultan, who himself favoured the Christians, did his utmost to prevent violent reprisals; but popu- lar feeling was too much for him, and Moslem in- dignation found vent in a series of highly oppressive enactments. Anti-Christian feeling ran so high that for a time Christians who wished to appear in the streets disguised themselves as Jews; to show them- selves in Christian attire was dangerous, while to be caught in Moslem attire meant certain death. From the fact that these intolerant edicts had constantly to be re-enacted, we may reasonably infer that after a very short time they fell into abeyance. Whether there was any truth in the ascription of this incen- diarism to the Christians cannot be easily determined. In the reign of Baibars I. a similar event had oc- curred, and the Sultan determined to make a pyre of all the Jews and Christians that could be found. Some pious persons bargained with him to redeem these victims at so much per head, and the Sultan made a considerable sum by the transaction. Nasir was succeeded by no fewer than eight of his sons. The son Abu Bakr, to whom he at his death on June 7, 1341, left the throne, was able to maintain himself on it for a few months only, being compelled to abdicate on August 4, 1341, in favour of his infant brother Kuchuk; the revolution was brought about by Kausun. This person's authority was soon over- thrown by a party formed by the Syrian prefects, and on the following January 11, Ahmad, an elder son, was installed in his place, though he did not actually arrive in Cairo till November 6, being unwilling to [155] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS leave Kerak, where he had been living in retirement. After a brief sojourn in Cairo he speedily returned to Kerak, thereby forfeiting his throne, which was con- ferred by the Emirs on his brother Isma'il. This Sultan was mainly occupied during his short reign with besieging and taking Kerak, whither Ahmad had taken refuge, and himself died August 3, 1345, when another son of Nasir, named Sha'ban, was placed on the throne. Sha'ban proved no more com- petent than his predecessors, being given up to open debauchery and profligacy, an example followed by his Emirs: fresh discontent led to his being deposed by the Syrian governors, when his brother Hajji was proclaimed Sultan in his place. Hajji was deposed and killed December 10, 1347, and another son, Hasan, who took his father's title, proclaimed. Hasan's rule was slightly less ephemeral than that of his predecessors, for he remained in power till August 21, 1 35 1, and though then deposed, he re- ceived a fresh lease of sovereignty three years after- wards, which he retained for six years and a half, when he was finally displaced. During this reign Egypt was visited by the black death, which is said to have carried ofif 900,000 of I the inhabitants of Cairo, and to have raged as far as Assouan. The result was to reduce Cairo to the pro- portions which it had attained before the time of the Sultan Nasir. The plague was followed by a famine, due to the wholesale destruction of the agri- cultural population, and of their beasts, for these were attacked by a simultaneous epidemic. [156] NASIR AND HIS SONS Some of the Cairene monuments date before Hasan's resumption of the sovereignty. One of these is the mausoleum of the Sultan Kuchuk, who was dethroned in 1342, and strangled three years later. It forms part of the Mosque of Ibrahim Agha, of which the present volume contains several illustra- tions. Ibrahim Agha was not the founder of the mosque, but its restorer: its founder was the Emir Ak Sonkor, of whom three inscriptions remain. The mosque is noteworthy for the tiles which cover the walls in parts to a height of four metres. The Emir who built it was a celebrity of the reign of Nasir, during which he was governor of a number of Syrian cities: finally he was made viceroy in Egypt itself. The last scene in which he figures is one in which he plays rather a courageous part; when the sixth of Nasir's successors came to the throne and desired to have him arrested, he drew his sword and tried to attack the Sultan's person; he was, however, in time overcome and strangled the following day. This was six weeks after the mosque had been inaugurated. Much of the property of the mosque was in Aleppo, and when after the death of the Sultan Barkuk the Syrian governors revolted, the revenues accruing to the mosque were stopped, whence many of the insti- tutions connected with it fell into abeyance. Appar- ently, however, they were afterwards restored, or else the properties in Cairo settled upon it rose greatly in value, since Ali Pasha gives them at a very high figure. The restoration was executed in 1650, during the Turkish period, and Ibrahim Agha's [159] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS tomb was built two years afterward, when Abd al- Rahman was governor of Egypt. An inscription to the left of the Kiblah states that on the night of Fri- day, July 14, 1463, the Prophet was seen standing and praying on the spot. The two tombs in the mosque are those of the founder and the restorer. Our artist lingered over it because it is situated in an old street, and the sur- rounding buildings have not lost the flavour of antiquity. Due north of it there is a sebil or foun- tain, also instituted by Ibrahim Agha. A pond roofed over, the roof being on marble pillars, was placed inside this mosque in the year 1422, the materials being taken from the Mosque of the Ditch, which was pulled down for the purpose, having been long disused. The person who was responsible for this proceeding had the name Toghan. One or two more monuments belong to the period of the Sultan Hasan, besides the magnificent build- ing that bears his name, and claims to be one of the great mosques of the world. Such is the mosque of the Emir Shaikho, with a monastery facing it, to the west of the Rumailah Place. This part of the city is outside the old square of Jauhar, and in the region called of old Kata'i: various houses were bought by the founder of these two edifices, and pulled down to make room for it. He was one of the temporary rulers of Egypt who rose from honour to honour, and at one time is said to have received from his various estates the sum of 200,000 dirhems daily. He perished, finally, at the hand of an assassin, a man [160] NASIR AND HIS SONS who, being denied the promotion for which he had petitioned, revenged himself by a murderous assault on the Emir. The mosque was built in the year 1349, and a company of Sufis at the first maintained there; six years afterwards the hospice was built on the opposite side of the road, and special residences pro- vided there for the ascetics who were transferred thither from the mosque. Nevertheless, the object and the external appearance of the two buildings being very similar, it has often been a matter of doubt which was meant to be mosque and which hospice. The inscription on the front entrance of the hospice is couched, M. van Berchem observes, in the lan- guage of the Sufis or ascetics, and care is taken therein to avoid the pompous titles which the Emir who founded the building could have claimed. Indeed, the hospice seems to have been built by him in an access of religious fervour, such as would be accom- panied by self-abasement. He was buried in his hospice with great pomp, the ceremony being con- ducted by the Sultan Hasan himself; and nature, to exhibit her sympathy with the people of Cairo in their bereavement, produced a slight earthquake, and equally strange, a shower of rain, though it was summer. At the time of the final downfall of the Mameluke dynasty, when Tuman Bai was attacked by the Sultan Selim, the former took up his headquar- ters in the Hospice of Shaikho; fire was accordingly set to the building by the Ottomans, and a consider- able part of it burned down. The preacher of the mosque was brought before the Sultan Salim, who at [161] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS first determined on his execution, but afterwards thought fit to pardon him. The mischief that had been done was then speedily repaired. A restoration of both mosque and hospice is recorded for the year 1816. The great monument of this time, however, is the mosque of the Sultan Hasan, on the right hand of the Boulevard Mohammed Ali, at the end which looks towards the Citadel. It covers an area of 8525 square metres; a magnificent gate situated at the north angle gives access to a vestibule covered by a dome, which rests on a crown of stalactites. Turning in a south- east direction, after a detour, we reach the Court of the Mosque. The middle of this is occupied by a fountain. In front is the great Liwan, with the prayer-niche, the pulpit and the dikkah; to the left, the right and behind, are three other oratories. The site had been formerly occupied by the house of the Emir Yelbogha. The mosque was begun in the year 1356, and took three years to build, 20,000 dirhems being each day devoted to the cost of the operations. The Sultan would have desisted from the undertak- ing when he learned to what the expense would amount, had it not been that he regarded it as un- worthy of a Sultan of Egypt to desist from an enter- prise that had been once begun. The chief court measures sixty-five yards by sixty-five ; the great dome was thought to have no rival in any Islamic city, and the marble of the pulpit is of unequalled beauty. Originally the architect had planned four minarets: .one, however, that had been erected over the portal [162] NASIR AND HIS SONS fell, in the course of building, burying under it some three hundred persons: the Sultan therefore con- tented himself with the two that are still standing. The Mosque of the Sultan Hasan plays a more im- portant part than any other in the political history of Cairo, for owing to its proximity to the Citadel and to its enormous size, it could be regularly employed as a counter-citadel, and on the occasion of any civil w^ar, it was usually so used by the force which aimed at dislodging the inmates of the Citadel itself. The Sultan Barkuk destroyed the perron in front of the mosque, as well as the staircases which led up to the minarets, and blocked up the front door. A side door was opened in one of the law-schools, which, as usual, surround the main court, to enable worship- pers to enter and use the mosque; but the means of ascending the roof and the minarets were taken away. The bronze door, which was regarded as of un- rivalled beauty, was afterwards purchased for a comparatively small sum by the founder of the Muayyad Mosque, which alone rivals it in impor- tance. In 142 1, in the reign of Barsbai, the innova- tions of Barkuk were cancelled; the perron, minaret staircases and the original entrance were restored and a bronze door was introduced in place of that which had been removed. This portal seems to have been again closed in the year 1639, and reopened 150 years later. Of the two minarets erected by the founder, the eastern fell in the year 1659, and was rebuilt on a smaller scale than the original. The [163] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS cupola of which Makrlzi speaks so admiringly col- lapsed in the following year, and was replaced by the existing dome under the government of Ibrahim Pasha. The account of the condition of the building given in the report of the Committee for 1894 is ex- ceedingly gloomy. Since then, large sums have been spent in effecting a worthy restoration. Ali Pasha gives at length the document In which various properties were settled on the mosque by the Sultan and here as in the case of al-Azhar the most trivial details were provided, and money lavished on each. A couple of physicians with a surgeon were appointed to treat such of the officials or students as were invalided; provision was made for a number of orphans to be educated and outfitted when they reached maturity: and in the list of religious and other officials we find specialisation carried to an extent previously unknown. These vast revenues have for the most part disappeared. In Ali Pasha's time the whole institution possessed a hundred and fifty pounds a year, which was devoted to the pay- ment of salaries and partly to upkeep and repairs. Twenty-two years after the completion of the mosque, which took place two years after the founder's death, his tomb was erected and inscribed; it is thought that the exact spot where he lay may have been then unknown. After the second dethronement and subsequent murder of the Sultan Hasan, a son of his dethroned brother Hajji was proclaimed; but on May 29, 1363, this Sultan also was deposed on the ground of incom- [164] o o> ■r. o X. NASIR AND HIS SONS petence, and his place given to another grandson of Nasir, Sha'ban, who at the time was ten years old. His reign was rather longer than that of his pred- ecessors, and it was not until March 15, 1376, that he was murdered by the Mamelukes, for refusing a largess of money which they demanded. To the right of the street leading to the Citadel there is to be found the Mosque of this Sultan, the founder's inscription dating from the year 1369. It contains a wonderful plenitude of titles, among which the most remarkable is that of " master of the Isma'ilian fortresses and the Alexandrian frontiers." The con- quest of the Assassins, who played so ominous a part in Oriental politics, was an achievement of which the Sultan Baibars was justly proud; the remnant of the sect were, however, under the protection of the Egyptian Sultans, and every now and then they were required to supply persons ready to discharge the function which won them their former fame. The mention of Alexandria is due to the fact that in 1365 the King of Cyprus thought fit to make a raid on Alexandria, which he took and sacked; his success was only momentary, for an Egyptian army was speedily sent to the relief of the maritime capital, and the Franks fled with their plunder before it arrived. The Sultan, however, decided to garrison Alexandria with a stronger force than before. The popular name for this Mosque is " the Sul- tan's Mother"; or "Queen Barakah," to whom it was dedicated by the Sultan. The meaning of such a dedication probably is that the Sultan assigned to [.67] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS her the merit that he had acquired by the founda- tion. She was afterwards buried under the cupola. A tomb that by popular tradition is supposed to con- tain the Queen's remains is shown by an inscription to belong to a princess Zahrah, whose name the chroniclers do not appear to know. The Sultan himself is said to repose in this mosque, though his corpse went through some vicissitudes before it reached its final resting-place. After his assassina- tion it was thrown into a well, whence it was presently rescued to be interred near the sanctuary of the Say- yidah Nefisah; a slave transferred it thence to the mosque that bears his mother's name. The Mosque or School of the Emir Al-Jai con- tains the grave of the minister after whom it is named, and who was the husband of the Princess Barakah. After the death of the Queen he disputed with the Sultan her son over the succession to her property, fought some battles, and being compelled to flee from Egypt was drowned while attempting to cross the Nile on horseback. His body was fished up by divers, and was interred in the Mosque which he had built, north of the Mosque of the Sultan Hasan. As usual copious revenues were settled upon it, and courses instituted for two of the orthodox schools of law. After the murder of this Sultan an infant son of his named Ali was set on the throne, and eventually the highest offices in the state came into the hands of two praetorians, Barakah and Barkuk, of whom the latter ere long succeeded in ousting the former, [i68] NASIR AND HIS SONS and usurping the Sultan's place. On May 19, 1381, when the Sultan Ali died, his place was given to an infant brother Hajji; but on November 26, 1382, Barkuk set this child aside, and had himself pro- claimed Sultan, thereby ending the Bahri dynasty, and commencing that of the Burjis or Circassians. [ 169 ] THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES ^^^^^HE reign of Barkuk, who was the first of M C^ the Circassians to displace the family of ^L J Kala'un, was exceedingly troublous, since ^^^^ many of the Emirs aspired to do as he had done. Indeed, after seven years he was actually com- pelled to abdicate and allow his predecessor Hajji to be restored to the throne under the tutelage of another Emir, Kerak being, as usual, the place of retirement for the ousted sovereign. Before this calamity he had taken care to perpetuate his name by a mosque or school in the ancient Nahhassin Street, between the Hospital of Kala'un and the Kamiliyyah School. It is called the New Zahiriyyah, to distinguish it from the foundation of the Sultan Baibars I., who also bore the title Zahir; only in the case of Barkuk it is said to have been taken with the signification " midday ruler," because he happened to be pro- claimed Sultan at midday, whereas his predecessor had meant nothing more definite by it than " con- queror." This building, which has a right to the names mosque, school and hospice — since it was origi- nally intended to harbour a number of Sufis — is re- [170] THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES markable for the long corridors and large vestibules which have to be traversed before arriving at the main court; for the arcades which, set at an equal distance from the north and south walls of the court, divide it into three portions; and for the coloured marbles which to a height of six metres cover the wall which contains the Kiblah. The tomb which adjoins the building is thought to contain the remains of a daughter of the Sultan who died in infancy in 1386, before the completion of the building; at a later period the remains of different members of his family were brought together and buried in the same spot. He himself, of course, lies in the vast mauso- leum built for him in the desert by his son Faraj. The Minbar is the gift of the Sultan Jakmak, who reigned from 1438 to 1453; a door plated with bronze, which originally belonged to some part of the institution, was at one time in the possession of an Armenian dealer in the Mouski. Owing to the ever-increasing popularity of al- Azhar, the lectures which were originally to have,, been given in this building have long ceased; but this, says Ali Pasha, is the case with the greater num- ber of the schools and colleges founded in Cairo. Indeed, it is clear that far more of these buildings were erected than bore any relation to either the spiritual or educational needs of the people. Sul- tans and Emirs thought this the proper line for them to follow, and in founding schools and hospices merely did as others had done. To Egyptians Barkuk is a monarch of interest, as [>7i] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS having abolished the old " bank-holiday" with which the Coptic New Year's Day was celebrated. The description which the historians give of it resembles the English bank-holiday in some particulars, while it has some features which we do not attempt to re- produce. " On that day the rabble of Cairo used to gather together at the doors of the great; the Master of the Ceremonies used to make out receipts for large sums, and any magnate who refused to pay them had to endure a volley of abuse. A picket would be stationed at his door, and refused to leave it till he had paid the sum assigned him by the Master, which was taken from him by violence. The lazy crowd would stand in the streets and besprinkle each other with dirty water, throw raw eggs in each other's faces and interchange missiles of mats and shoes. All the streets were blocked and traffic stopped. Houses and shops were all locked up, and any person found in the market, whatever his eminence or station, would be rudely accosted, besprinkled with dirty water, pelted with raw eggs and buffeted with shoes. Neither buying nor selling was permitted, and the people drank wine and committed other im- proprieties in places of public recreation. The brawling that ensued led to the loss of many lives." A more pleasant feature of the celebration was that people sent each other presents of fruit — pomegran- ates, almonds, quinces, apples, dates, grapes, melons, figs, peaches, pots of chicken jelly, barrels of rose- water, trays of Cairene sweets. Barkuk, whose name means Apricot, and had to be [172] <: < N < In w til < H Z w H W H THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES banished from the fruiterers' vocabulary so long as he reigned, made a sort of alliance with the Otto- man Sultan Bayazid, and incurred the wrath of his enemy the terrible Timur Lenk, who at this time was desolating the East. In order that there might be no truce, he proceeded to murder the envoy of the %^ Mongol world-conqueror — a proceeding which at this time was normal in Oriental diplomacy. The great encounter with Timur, however, was postponed until the following reign. A monument of the time of Barkuk is the school of the Emir Inal al-Yusufi, south of the Bab Zuwailah. The inscription w^hich records the name of the founder is on the neig-hbouring: fountain, and is of \ ^ mterest, accordmg to van Berchem, as bemg the earliest example of a poetical distich inscribed on a fountain, to which in later times there were many parallels. The founder was a celebrity of the time, who held various offices and enjoyed many honours. He figures on the stage first about the time when Barkuk was aiming at the sovereignty. Being in command of an army corps, he seized the Citadel, and endeav- oured to maintain it in the Sultan Hajji's name, but was outwitted by Barkuk, who got into the fortress by a secret door. He was afterwards able to secure Barkuk's favour, and was appointed to the governor- ship of various cities in Syria; this mode of employ- ment constituting, as indeed it still does, an honour- able form of banishment. As governor of Aleppo he took the side of Barkuk against Yelbogha, who in [>7S] :^^ CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the year 1389 raised the standard of revolt, but was defeated and imprisoned. Nor was he released till Yelbogha, who for a time had obtained the mastery in Cairo, had been expelled by another Emir Min- tash, and this Emir was in his turn overthrown by • Barkuk, who again resumed the sovereignty. His mosque was commenced in 1392 and finished the next year, after the founder's death. His body, which had been temporarily interred outside Cairo, was then brought to the resting-place which he had pre- pared for it. The uncertainty which attached to the post of Sul- tan apparently had at this time the rather remark- ■ able effect of making the rival usurpers more lenient ( and forgiving towards each other. Barkuk, when caught by his enemy Yelbogha, had been honour- ably treated, and though condign punishment had been threatened to anyone who harboured him, the person found guilty of this act was, in fact, praised and rewarded. When Barkuk in his turn got Yel- bogha in his power, the restored Sultan gave him an honourable place in the court at which he had for a time been virtually supreme. To the time of Barkuk belongs the Khan Khalili,, now a famous and familiar place of merchandise. Its site is that part of the ancient Fatimide Palace where the Caliphs used to be buried. Chaharkas, *-> ^ master of the stable to Barkuk, becoming possessed >"^ of the site, had the remains of the Fatimide Caliphs exhumed, and carried on asses' backs to the Barkiy- yah Gate, where they were flung on dunghills, this [■76] AN OLD HOLSE NEAR THE TENTMAKEKS' BAZAAR. CAIRO. THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES being his mode of showing his contempt for dead heretics: an act of fanaticism for which, if Makrizi may be believed, he was afterwards punished by be- ing allowed to remain naked and unburied outside the walls of Damascus. When Barkuk died in 1398, according to the cus- tom that had so often proved disastrous, his son, Faraj, a lad aged thirteen, was appointed his succes- "^ ei.^^c^- sor under the guardianship of two Emirs. In the three years that followed the Egyptian dominions in Asia were in consequence swallowed up partly by the Ottoman Sultan, and partly by the terrible Timur, whose demand for homage was granted in 1402 by the Egyptian government, when the princes who had sought refuge from the world-conqueror in Egypt were also delivered up. The death of Timur in the 7^,^^^,,^^ beginning of 1405 restored Egyptian authority in f^o'i' Syria, which, however, became a rendezvous for all who were discontented with the rule of Faraj and his Emirs, and two months after Timur's death was in open rebellion against Faraj. He succeeded indeed in defeating the rebels, but was compelled by in- subordination on the part of his Circassian Mame- lukes to abdicate, when his brother was proclaimed Sultan in his place. This brother was, however, deposed after two months, and Faraj, who had been in hiding, was recalled. Most of his reign was oc- cupied with revolts on the part of Syrian governors, in order to quell which he frequently visited Syria. Among the leaders of the rebels was Sheik Mah- mudi, afterwards Sultan in Egypt, with the title [ 179] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Muayyad. Owing to the disturbance and misgov- ernment the population of Syria and Egypt is said to have shrunk in the time of Faraj to one-third of what it had been before, and the Sultan violated Moslem sentiment not only by debauchery, but even more by having his image stamped on coins. The reign of Faraj, though politically disastrous^ is perpetuated in Egypt by several notable buildings. One of these is the school of the Emir Jamal al-din Yusuf in the Jamaliyyah Street. It is sometimes called the " Suspended Mosque," a name given to any such building to which there is access by a flight of stairs. The place was originally a store. When the Emir began to turn it into a mosque and school, he utilised materials purchased by him for a trifling sum from the Sultan Hajji, who for a time displaced Barkuk, and which had formed the furniture of the mosque of the Sultan Sha'ban on the Citadel. The sums settled on teachers and pupils in this school seem to have been specially handsome — 300 francs a month for each of the former, and thirty with rations for each of the latter. The teachers at al-Azhar have to be contented still with pay on the latter scale. This generosity had, however, been provided by gross extortion. Moreover by a method adopted by many in Egypt the interest on the benefactions was settled on the founder's family in perpetuity. Be- fore the Mosque was completed, the Emir Yusuf was imprisoned and executed by the Sultan, who, as usual, confiscated the property. His first idea was to destroy the new building; but being warned by [180] / THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES the legal authorities that such an act would leave a painful impression on the people, he preferred the alternative of appropriating it, and having his own name inscribed instead of Yusuf's. This was there- fore carried out. The name of the Sultan Faraj was placed at the summit of the walls which bound the central court, on the chandeliers, carpets and ceilings. However, the name of Faraj no longer appears there, nor indeed in the solitary inscription round the court which is the only inscription that remains. It would appear that after the death of Faraj the brother of the founder succeeded in recovering control of the institution, with possession of the benefactions, and he probably had the name of Faraj removed. The document in virtue of which this brother had got possession of the institution was afterwards demon- strated to be a forgery, and the control was restored to the court official who by the will of the first founder was to have charge of it. The great mausoleum in the cemetery called the Tombs of the Caliphs, which is named after Barkuk, is the work of the Sultan Faraj. The popular ascrip- tion is so far right that Barkuk is actually buried in the mosque, and that the building was ordered by that Sultan though achieved by his son. The in- scriptions which it contains furnish a series of dates from 1398 to 1483, the earliest being that on a marble column in front of the Sultan Barkuk's tomb in the north mausoleum, which, however, merely records the time of his death; the latest being that of the Sul- tan Kayetbai, on the marble pulpit in the sanctuary [181] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS of the monastery. Barkuk's tomb was not finished till nine years after his death. Other persons buried in the building are his son Abd al-Aziz, whose short reign interrupted that of Faraj ; " a young man," probably a son of Faraj, who himself died at Damas- cus; and one of his daughters, the princess Shakra. The so-called Tombs of the Caliphs occupy a cemetery first used in Fatimide times, when Badr al- Jamali, a famous personage of that period, erected himself a tomb north of the hill on which the Citadel was afterwards built. The region became popular and fashionable for this purpose. The fact of vari- ous saints being buried there was probably what sug- gested to Barkuk to have his mausoleum in the same place. He died without having commenced to build it; his son set about the filial duty at once, and it took twelve years to complete. Another monument of the Sultan Faraj is a school, called by the modest name Zawiyah (literally " Cell,") a little to the south of the Bab Zuwailah. It is usually known as the Zawiyat al-Duheshah, the latter word signifying Hall or Court. Over it are rooms the rental of which was settled on the school. The school or mosque itself has a kiblah of coloured marble. Close by it is a fountain with a maktab, or school for the young above it, also the foundation of the same Sultan. The causes of the frequent change of rulers from the time of Barkuk to the end of the Circassian dynasty are not always intelligible; in the case of Faraj they appear to have been notorious incompe- [182] r Cu O r. f THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES tence displayed at a period when the Moslem world was confronted in the person of Timur with an enemy who threatened to exterminate it. His career was closed by a general revolt of the Syrian Emirs, who defeated him at the battle of Lajun in May, 141 2. A document was drawn up by the judges at the com- mand of the victors declaring Faraj a murderer and debauchee who was unfit to reign; and that there might be no jealousy between the two Emirs who were chiefly responsible for his downfall, they agreed to install as Sultan the Caliph Musta'in while the two Emirs were to have separate spheres of influence. More than a century and a half, then, since the ter- mination of Abbasid rule in Baghdad, a descendant, or at least a professed descendant of the imperial family was given something more than a nominal position at the head of the chief Moslem state. He did not apparently much believe in his good fortune; and before investiture as Sultan stipulated that, if he were forced to abdicate, he might resume his nominal dignity of Caliph. This stipulation turned out to be very necessary, although it was not observed; at the end of less than six months the Emir to whom Egypt had fallen. Sheik Mahmudi, desired the title as well as the rights of Sultan, and easily obtained a declara- tion from the ecclesiastical authorities that a man of business was wanted at the head of affairs. The Ab- basid was therefore deposed from his Sultanate, and soon after was deprived of the title of Caliph also. Naturally the new Sultan had to fight the colleague whose sphere of influence was to have been Syria, [185] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS and who refused to recognise any overlord but the Caliph. But Sheik Mahmudi, now called the Sul- tan Muayyad, appears to have been a capable gen- eral, and in the course of several campaigns he reduced Syria to complete subjection, captured his rival Nauruz, "who had been to him more than a brother and reposed his head on the same pillow," and sent his head to be exposed on the Bab Zuwailah. With the Bab Zuwailah this Sultan was otherwise connected, for he had in the time of Faraj been im- prisoned in the Shama'il gaol, which adjoined it. To commemorate his imprisonment and subsequent promotion, he determined to erect on the site of this prison a mosque which should bear his name, in ful- filment of a vow that he made when confined therein and suffering from the vermin which infested the place. The mosque was commenced three years after his elevation; no forced labour was employed in the construction, all workmen being honourably re- . munerated; only the marble slabs and columns were I taken from a variety of older buildings which had to be pulled down. In two years' time the eastern liwan was finished, and the Friday prayer was cele- brated there. Before this the Sultan had endowed the institution with a rich library, taken from the old library of the Citadel, and so perhaps containing some volumes that had once belonged to the Fatimide collection, to which a certain Barizi, whose house at Boulak the Sultan was in the habit of visiting, added 500 volumes, to the value, we are told, of 10,000 dinars, securing to himself and his descendants by this gift [186] THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES the office of librarian. In order to find place for the lavatory some dwellings were purchased and de- molished by the vizier, whose own foundation will next be mentioned. The minarets of the new mosque were built on the flanking towers of the Bab Zu- wailah; one of them, soon after erection, was found to be out of the perpendicular, and its demolition was ordered by the architect. In the course of this opera- tion a stone fell and killed one of the passers-by, in consequence whereof the gate was closed for thirty days, " the like whereof had not happened since Cairo was built." The cupolas which cover the graves of a daughter of the Sultan, buried before the first service had been held in the mosque, and the Sultan himself with his son Ibrahim were finished at different times, both after 142 1, the year of the Sul- tan's death. The story of this Ibrahim throws a painful light on the builder of the mosque and its first librarian and preacher. The year before the Sultan's death he became so infirm that when he wanted to move he had to be carried on the shoulders of his slaves. The preacher told him that the army was tired of a paralysed Sultan, and were turning their regards to his strong and gallant son. The best plan, he sug- gested, was to get rid of this rival by poison. The advice was followed; but on the following Friday the Sultan came to hear a funeral sermon preached over his victim in the mosque which contained his remains. The preacher, with the view of diverting suspicion from his master, delivered an affecting dis- [■87] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS course, telling how the Prophet late in life had him- self lost a son of the same name, Ibrahim, and quot- ing the affecting and noble words of grief and resignation with which the founder of Islam bore the blow. What was intended to clear the Sultan's fame was regarded by him as a reproach; he determined then to get rid of the preacher by the same means as had carried off his son, and invited him to a meal, from the effects of which he died in a few days' time. The mosque rises about five metres above the level of the street; in the time of Isma'il Pasha the whole building with the exception of the wall containing the Kiblah was in ruins. During his government it was restored, and various repairs have at different times been executed by order of the Committee. An inscription in the sanctuary records some restorations done by order of Ibrahim Pasha, son of Mohammed Ali, and some are recorded as having been executed under a yet earlier Ibrahim Pasha, who governed Egypt as viceroy for the Turks at the end of the six- teenth century. The partial destruction of the mosque must have taken place after 1826, when a plan was made — pub- lished in Coste's " Illustrations of Cairene Architect- ture " — which represents all four cloisters as com- plete. The work done under Ibrahim and Isma'il Pashas must have been inadequate, since the plan of 1890 shows only the sanctuary, or southeast, liwan as standing, with the rest in ruins. The work done by the Committee in 1890 and later consisted in restoring the sanctuary and rendering it fit for public worship, [■88] THU. DOME OF EL MOAIYAP FKO.M liAB ZIWKVLEH, DAMASCUS. THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES repairing the great perron by which the mosque is entered, and completing the minarets. Two years before the erection of this wonderful edifice a school was built in the ancient region Be- tween the Two Walls, sometimes called the Fakhri School after its founder Fakhr al-din. Vizier of the Sultan Muayy^ad, but better known as the " Girls' School." Its founder had an unenviable reputation: " He combined the tyranny of the Armenians with the cunning of the Christians, the devilry of the Copts and the injustice of the tax-gatherers, being by origin an Armenian, and trained among the other three classes mentioned." He at one time had to flee to the Kan of Baghdad, but found means to regain the favour of the Egyptian Sultan, who had in him a convenient instrument for the extortion of money from his subjects. In 1852 it was restored by a wife of Mohammed Ali, but has since undergone further alterations. To a competent ruler Orientals, and perhaps not they only, are willing to forgive much : and the judg- ment which they pass on the Sultan Muayyad is on the whole exceedingly favourable. They admire his skill in music and versification, his taste for the fine arts, which undoubtedly is exemplified in his Mosque, and his keen knowledge of men. There lies in the Muayyad Mosque one more mem- ber of its founder's family, his son, Ahmad, who reigned after him, if a suckling can be said to reign. His story is rather tragical. Muayyad's praetorians demanded that a son of his should reign over them; [■91] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS and the surviving son was eighteen months old. He was proclaimed sovereign in his nurse's arms, and in- jured for life by fright at the beating of the drums. The Emir who was to govern for him married his mother as soon as he decently could, and hurried him ofif to Syria, there to quell one of the rebellions that had by this time become normal on such occasions. By the most ruthless executions he succeeded in quell- ing it; and when he had quelled it he at once divorced the queen mother, deposed her son, and sent him to Alexandria, where dangerous persons were ordinarily imprisoned. There nine years later he was carried off by plague. But the queen-mother had not been Muayyad's wife without learning some of the secrets of empire. Before the usurper reached his capi- tal, he knew that there was poison in his veins; and after three months' reign he went to join his victims. "God be pleased with him!" says the historian — • truly a marvellous wish. Another ephemeral child's reign and a series of palace intrigues ended in the throne being occupied in 1422 by a powerful ruler, Barsbai, who took the title Ashraf, less ruthless in his ways than his pred- ecessors, yet not unwilling to use poison when con- venient. His reign lasted from 1422 till 1438, and was on the whole a peaceful time for Egypt, though twice while it lasted much of the population was swept away by plague. In a census made during this reign, on the occasion of a new tax being intro- duced, it was found that the total number of towns and villages in Egypt had sunk to 2170, whereas in [ 192] THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES the fourth century A. H. it had stood at 10,000. Bars- bai began shortly after his usurpation to build his monument, which is called Ashrafiyyah, after the title by which he reigned. It is situated where the street of the same name crosses the Rue Neuve. Its site was occupied by a number of stores, of which the rents were settled on another mosque; these were pulled down, but that there might be no sacrilege, other rents were substituted for them. The con- struction was confined to a certain Abd al-Basit, who occupied important posts in both his reigns and the last; he was in Muayyad's reign manager of the trust funds which provided the covering for the Ka'bah sent yearly to Meccah, and keeper of the royal ward- robe; Barsbai made him inspector-general of the army, and relied in most things on his advice. In Muayyad's reign he had himself built a school or hospice in the Khurunfush quarter, opposite the palace of the Sayyid al-Bekri. The Mosque of Barsbai consists of two large and two small liwans — a characteristic of the later period of mosque construction, due to the fact that of the four orthodox systems of law only two retained their popularity in Egypt. No columns are employed in it; and it belongs to the class called Suspended, as there is an ascent to it by a flight of steps. Ali Pasha tells us that it is largely used by students of al-Azhar in preparing their lessons, owing to its size and the clean condition in which it is kept, and, of course, its proximity to the great University. A mueddin who once was drunk when he performed his [ 193] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS sacred duty dreamed that the Prophet whipped him with the kurbash; he woke and finding on his person the weals resulting from the blows, repented of the wickedness of his ways. For many years the helmet of the King of Cyprus was suspended over the door. For one of Barsbai's titles to the gratitude of the Egyptians was that he avenged the repeated raids of the Cyprians on Alexandria by sending to Cyprus a fleet which burned Limasol, and another which took Famagusta, while a later expedition succeeded in taking the King of Cyprus captive, who was brought to Cairo, and presently released for a ransom of 200,000 dinars, on condition of acknowledging the suzerainty of the Egyptian Sultan and paying him tribute. An inscription going along the sanctuary and the western liwan about the middle of the wall, contains the deed of settlement on the Mosque, which has been reproduced with an ample and exhaustive commentary by van Berchem. The benefactions as usual took the shape of rents on buildings for the most part, but some of them were in the form of lands. The deed also gives a list of other settle- ments made by the same Sultan both on his heirs and on other pious institutions. This is the last building mentioned by the great Cairene topographer, Makrizi, whose work was be- gun in the reign of Mua5^ad, and finished in the fourth year of Barsbai. Few cities in the world have been so exhaustively described as Cairo is by this writer, who also composed a history of the Mame- luke dynasty up to his time, and a biographical dic- [ 194] THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES tionary of persons who had lived in Egypt. His book on Cairo has been the basis of all archaeological studies connected with Moslem Egypt; and the French Archaeological Mission has provided stu- dents with a translation of it. In the cemetery to the east of Cairo the Sultan Barsbai built himself a mausoleum and a hospice. The latter has disappeared ; the former exists, but has undergone some alterations. In the ruins of the latter a lengthy inscription has been discovered, de- tailing the revenues settled by the Sultan on these in- stitutions; it is rather remarkable that two of this Sultan's foundations should contain such deeds which are somewhat rare. The present deed contains pro- vision for the maintenance of certain other tombs besides the Sultan's; among the buildings furnishing rentals are some shops at Bab al-Luk. These in- scriptions, Ali Pasha observes, by no means had the effect contemplated by their author, which was to render the settlements inalienable, and the founda- tions regularly maintained; they were overtaken by decay, as others were. The last years of Barsbai were clouded by the decay of the Sultan's mental faculties, leading him to reproduce the part played of old by Hakim. He en- acted that no woman should appear in the streets at all; the layers-out of corpses had to apply for a special badge from the magistrate before they could discharge their duty. The animosity against dogs that at one time seized the Prophet of Islam also found its way into this Sultan's bosom; they were [195] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS banished from Cairo to Gizeh, and a reward offered to all who arrested one of these animals. Wrongs done to women and dogs perhaps evoked little resent- ment in the minds of the Egyptians; but the Sultan's eccentricity also assumed a homicidal turn, and his death was probably a relief to his subjects. He left a successor, a son fourteen years of age, who was almost immediately displaced by a minister, Jakmak, originally a freedman of the Sultan Barkuk, and sixty-seven years of age when he usurped the throne. And, indeed, the Palace revolutions which regularly followed on the death of a Sultan in this period, succeeded in fairly often putting into power a man of ripe experience, and free from the vices associated often with heirs-apparent. The dethroned lad made an attempt to escape from his honourable quarters in the Citadel; he dressed himself as a kitchen boy, bore a tray on his head, begrimed his face, and went out in the company of the cook, who rated him in suitable style. But the unfortunate lad had no plan is his head of the course to be pursued when he had escaped, and so waited about in Cairo until he was retaken. The early days of Jakmak were distinguished by a Servile War, reminding the reader of his Roman history; five hundred blacks fled from their masters, crossed to Gizeh, and there set up a state and a Sultan of their own. This attempt ended as the Roman Servile Wars ended; the slaves were captured and sent off in dhows to the markets of the now powerful Ottoman Empire. The time of this Sultan was also marked by perse- [196] THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES cution of Christians and Jews, involving the destruc- tion of many Christian churches. As the chroniclers represent the matter, this persecution was caused by the Sultan's desire to enforce total abstinence; and, of course, the wine trade was in the hands of these two communities. If the Sultan heard of any of his prstorians being intoxicated, he would banish him, cut off his allowance and confiscate his property. A strict search was made into all houses, and wherever any liquor was found it was poured away. Some monuments are left of Jakmak's reign. One is the Mosque of the Emir Tangri Bardi, called also the Mosque of Mu'dhi, in the Salibah Street. It consists, says Ali Pasha, of two liwans with a covered court between them ; this area is illuminated by a sky- light. A white cupola covers the tomb of the founder, an Emir who held high office, but owing to his surliness was known by the title, " the Public Nuisance," which the alternate name of the founder of the Mosque signifies. His disagreeable conduct was finally the cause of his death at the hands of his Mamelukes. A more important personage of this reign was the Kadi Yahya (the Arabic for John), whose mosque is by the bridge which takes the Mouski over what was once the Great Canal. Its founder had the high office of Ma.yoT of the Palace, and underwent repeat- edly exile and torture, finally dying of the latter, when at the close of his long life he was drawn from his retirement by the Sultan Kaietbai, and basti- nadoed in the hope that treasure might be extorted [197] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS from him. Of his mosque, Herz Bey observes that it is of the model belonging to the latest period of the Circassian Mamelukes. Its dimensions are small, its shape cruciform, the north and south liwans are reduced, the minaret is at the point most in view, the mausoleum is at the southeast, and is surrounded by a small school. The name of Jakmak himelf is commemorated by a mosque in the Salibah region, and a school, of which only the fagade is preserved, in a street be- tween the Mouski and the Boulevard Mohammed All. Jakmak tried to perpetuate his dynasty by a plan which has often proved successful — abdicating in favour of his son, who, being nineteen years of age, might reasonably have been competent to reign. And, indeed, he commenced by administering tor- tures to various Emirs from whom he hoped to ex- tort money, in a manner worthy of an older man. The money was required for the usual largess de- manded by the praetorians on a new sovereign's ac- cession; and little of it being forthcoming, his min- ister of the works thought of the by no means new expedient of debasing the coinage to make a little go a longer way; a proceeding which so exasperated those whom it was meant to cajole, that a new Sultan was immediately elected, under whom the revolted praetorians besieged the son of Jakmak in the Citadel, and ere long starved him into surrender. Though at first imprisoned, the dethroned Sultan lived not only to be released, but to return to the Citadel, not, [198] THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES indeed, as monarch, but as the honoured guest of one of his successors. The succeeding Sultan Inal tried to secure the suc- cession to his son by appointing him, so soon as he was himself sovereign, to high office in the State; but he had to retract this step, which provoked jealousy. Since it was the custom of each succeeding Sultan to imprison numerous suspects, but to release many of those whom his predecessors had incarcerated, pos- sibly there were always many to whom the continuity of a dynasty was undesirable, for some persons are likely to have been interested in those who pined in captivity. Yet it would be unsafe to draw any infer- ences from ordinary communities to these regiments of freed slaves, torn violently from their homes in youth and spending their whole lives as garrison amid an alien population. The Janissaries would form the nearest parallel to them; but then the Janis- saries did not furnish the sovereign, nor ordinarily the ministers. This Sultan — whose reign lasted from 1453 to 1460, and whose year of accession was noteworthy because in it Cairo was decorated to celebrate the taking of Constantinople by the Ottomans, who be- fore another century had passed were to be masters of Egypt also — like his predecessor perpetuated his name by a school, mosque and monastery in the ceme- tery that already contained some noble monuments of the kind. The whole set of buildings is sur- rounded by a wall which encloses various spaces, covered and uncovered. The mausoleum was com- [ 199] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS menced by the founder when he was still a minister only, two years before he ascended the throne, and is said to be the only example of a monument begun by a minister and ended by the same man as sovereign. Some of his children appear to have been buried in it before his accession, and steps were taken to alter the inscriptions in order to make them accord with his regal titles. After he had become Sultan, he de- cided on enlarging his former scheme by the inclu- sion in it of a vast monastery or hospice, the numerous cells of which, though deserted, count, says van Berchem, among the most curious relics of Egyptian Sufism. The historians record the festivities with which the inauguration of the monastery was accom- panied; and the dedicatory inscription, without nam- ing, makes an allusion to Jamal al-din Yusuf, direc- tor of public works at this time, who oversaw the building of this monument, and indeed is said to have supplied the necessary funds. We have already met with this personage, suggesting tampering with the coinage as a financial expedient. At a later period he suggested, and with some difficulty carried through, an expedient of the contrary sort, the restoration of pure metal; a proceeding which cost many persons the third of their fortunes, though its beneficial results were speedily felt. How many persons took advantage of the numer- ous hospices for religious retirement we cannot say; besides those which have met us as connected or identical with mosques, there was a humbler sort called Takiyyeh or Ribat, and a building of this sort, [ 200 ] -5SIW»»*" ^^ N K z o THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES founded by Inal, still exists in Cairo, though only three of those mentioned by Makrizi have left any traces. Some of these institutions were for female ascetics, the greater number for males. The Moslem notion of asceticism or sainthood by no means ex- cludes marriage; yet it is likely that most of those who passed their lives in these retreats were, when they entered, near the end of their worldly careers. The account given of the Sultan Inal personally is more than usually favourable. He shed no blood, except in judicial executions, and he lived with one wife. On the other hand, he was so ignorant that he had to sign public documents with his mark, being unable to read or write. An event occurred in this reign which illustrates the relations between Sultan and Caliph. The soli- tary duty of the latter was, as we have often seen, to give legitimacy to the title of the former; and in the uncertainty as to the result, when there was a variety of pretenders to the throne, the Caliph's course was not easy to steer. The Caliph who had invested Inal, having espoused his cause before his rival had been defeated, considered himself afterwards insuffi- ciently rewarded and took up with another pretender. The pretender was defeated, and Inal then demanded that the Caliph should divest himself of his office. " I divest myself of the Caliphate," he then ex- claimed, " and I also divest Inal of the Sultanate." This proceeding alarmed the audience, not seeing an exit from the deadlock. A courtier easily found one. Having divested himself first, he observed, the [203] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS ex-Caliph no longer had the power to divest anyone else. He ought to have begun with the Sultan, if he had meant the act to be valid. The sufferings of the civil population are said to have been very great in this reign, notwithstanding the benevolence of the Sultan. Where the sover- eign's right was based entirely on force, and had absolutely no root in the loyalty of the subjects or their hereditary affection, it was his natural policy to furnish himself with a bodyguard of which the members solely looked to him; the freedmen of an earlier sovereign could not be trusted, as such loyalty as they were capable of feeling would have for its object, at least in part, the heirs of their former mas- ter. The accession of each usurper therefore either threw out of work, or left in dangerous idleness, a great number of mercenaries who had no affection for the Egyptian populace, while introducing a fresh supply in the service of the new Sultan whom he could not venture by violently repressive measures to offend. The result was a succession of riots, in which shops were looted and peaceful passengers robbed without any possibility of obtaining redress. The successor of Inal, his son Ahmad, who came to the throne in 1460, his father having abdicated in his favour some time before his own death, was a favourite of the Egyptian people, and endeavoured to repress the evils which have been stated. He ap- parently trusted too much to the loyalty of his father's freedmen and slaves, who as soon as they saw that he intended to govern for the good of his subjects, turned [204] THE EARLY CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES against him. They sent to the Governor of Da- mascus, offering him the Sultanate; but, in their im- patience to get rid of Ahmad, could not wait for his arrival, and appointed the commander of the forces, Khushkadam, as stopgap. Naturally the stopgap refused to make v^^ay for the person w^hose deputy he was meant to be, and retained his place. [ 20^ ] THE LAST OF THE CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES ;HUSHKADAM, the thirty-eighth Sultan of the Mameluke dynasty, is said to have been in origin a Greek slave, but the name which Arab writers use for " Greek " does not give much information, since it is applied to all residents in Asia Minor or Turkey in Asia, and indeed the Ottoman Sultan is by Arabic authors of this period called the King of the Greeks (Rum). His reign is noteworthy for the commencement of the struggle between the Ottoman and the Egyptian Sul- tanates, which finally led to the incorporation of Egypt in the Ottoman Empire. This began with a quarrel over the succession in the principality of Ka- raman, where the two Sultans favoured rival candi- dates, and the Ottoman Sultan Mohammed supported his candidate with force of arms, obtaining as the price of his assistance several towns in which the su- zerainty of the Egyptian Sultan had hitherto been acknowledged. Open war did not, however, break out between the two states in Khushkadam's time. His reign of six years is not otherwise of consequence for the development of either Egypt or Cairo, though he, as usual, built himself a mausoleum. [206] LAST OF CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES His death was followed by the accession succes- sively of two ephemeral usurpers, after whom there came another great sovereign in the person of Kaiet- bai, who occupied the throne for the lengthy period of twenty-seven years (1468-1495). Much of his time was spent in struggles with Uzun Hasan, Prince of Diyarbekr, and Shah Siwar, chief of the Zulkadir Turcomans. He gave grave offence to the Ottoman Sultan, Bayazid II., by entertaining his brother Jem, who afterwards took refuge in Christian Europe, and was poisoned by Pope Alexander VI. In the war which ensued the troops of Kaietbai were successful, and after they had repeatedly defeated the Ottomans, peace was made in 1491, when the keys of the towns which the Ottomans had seized were handed back to the Egyptian Sultan. Kaietbai was a builder on about as great a scale as the Sultan Nasir, and extended his operations far be- yond Cairo; he erected edifices on a costly scale at Meccah and Medinah, Jerusalem and elsewhere. The Citadel and the parts of Cairo in its neighbour- hood were, if we may believe the chroniclers, practi- cally rebuilt in a more magnificent stymie than before by this Sultan, and he founded a whole series of mosques in different parts of his capital, on the island Raudah, in the Kabsh, and in the great cemetery which already contained so many of these monu- ments. Apparently the revenues of the country must have been wasted on these costly schemes, and the State treasury was regularly during his reign in an exhausted condition. The historians, however, turn [207] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS their attention to his piety rather than to his extrava- gance, and surround his person with the romance attaching to a saint. Before his accession to the Sul- tanate was ever thought of, pious persons had the fact revealed to them. When a plague was raging in Cairo, someone dreamed that the Prophet's servant averted the destroying angel from Kaietbai's person. He told Kaietbai of this vision, and the future Sul- tan wisely bade him conceal it. Another person saw in a dream a pomegranate tree with a single fruit upon it, which Kaietbai hastened to pluck. He told Kaietbai that this was a sure omen of his sovereignty, but was rebuked by the future Sultan when he ven- tured to narrate the vision. In a vision which the Sultan himself saw when he went on pilgrimage he was informed by the Prophet that he was one of the saved. Many of the great monuments of Cairo underwent some form of restoration by his care, such as the Mosque al-Azhar, that of Sayyidah Nefisah, that of Amr Ibn al-As, the tomb of al-Shafi'i, the Meidan of the Sultan Nasir and many more. The chief architectural monument of his reign, which also marks the highest point to which art was carried in the days of the Circassian Mamelukes, is his mosque in the cemetery now called *' The Tombs of the Caliphs." " Everything that is to be found separately in the other temples is united in this with incomparable talent," says Gayet. *' The bold gate- way is surmounted by trefoil arch; to the left the facade is pierced by the windows of a fountain [208] LAST OF CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES {sebil) and a school. Those of the fountain are closed with grilles of network, to the right is an octagon minaret with a square base ornamented with rosettes. The back wall of the sanctuary is pierced by two double windows, separated by a rose window, also in glass. This arrangement is reproduced in the sepulchral hall. The octagonal dome of the latter is of incomparable grace," etc. The building em- braces a school, a fountain, a school for children, a mausoleum and as usual a hospice for Sufis, though this last has disappeared. German travellers visit- ing Cairo in 1483 were enthusiastic over the beauty of this mosque, which had then been completed nine years. These travellers — ^whose accounts are re- printed by M. von Berchem — were greatly struck by the noise made by the Mohammedan " priests," i. e., Mueddins and Dervishes, lodged in the hospice pro- vided for their use. The uncomplimentary epithet " dogs " was applied by these devotees to their Euro- pean visitors. The plan of the school (madrasah) was that of the latest period, in which, as has been seen, the two lateral liwans are increased, and the others dimin- ished in size. Together with the alterations in the structure of the schools or mosques comes the gradual displacement of brick by stone. The employment of the latter material in Egypt was a natural relic of the traditions of the Abbasid Caliphate, since the Babylon of that monarchy, no less than that of its predecessor, was an a figiilis munita urbs. The architects towards the beginning of the fifteenth cen- [209] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS tury succeeded in building stone cupolas over tombs, but for arches which had to support great weights they found stone difficult to work, and soon took to covering the liwans with wooden ceilings in prefer- ence to arched roofs. The deed of foundation is given at length by Ali Pasha, and apparently exceeds in munificence all pre- ceding foundations, lavish as many of these had been. The leader of prayer was to have five hundred dir- hems a month, and three loaves a day; there were to be nine well-paid mueddins, " scholarships " for two orphan schools, one of twenty and the other of thirty children; five hundred dirhems a day for each of forty Sufis with their head, and special benefactions for special occasions. The mere enumeration of buildings settled on this fourfold institution is lengthy. A building less religious in character also belong- ing to the epoch of Kaietbai is the Bait al-Kadi, oc- cupying part of the site of the old Eastern Palace of the Fatimides. This house was a portion of the Palace of the Emir Mamai, which he appears to have repaired rather than to have built. The late Mr. H. C. Kay, who did not a little for the exploration of Cairo, discovered some forty yards west of the law court which is usually identified with the Palace, a ruined saloon, with liwans separated from the cen- tral portion by lofty arches of solid masonry. The base of the arches contained an inscription which identified this saloon as part of Mamai's Palace. In Mr. Kay's time it was occupied as a corn mill, with [2io] LAST OF CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES stabling for the cattle that worked the mill. This Mamai played an important part in the history of his time, and was repeatedly employed as ambassador from the Egyptian Sultan to the Ottoman Porte. The loggia is remarkable for its size. Another Palace, of which some remains are to be found, is that of the Emir Yashbak, behind the mosque of the Sultan Hasan, constituting one of the latest specimens of the civil architecture of the Mamelukes. It comprehends a rez-de-chaussee vaulted with a saloon (ka'ah) of gigantic dimensions. Three buildings bearing the title Wakalah (often pronounced Ukalah) were erected by Kaietbai in- side Cairo. This form of edifice is similar to what is called a khan in Syria; it means a magazine in which strange merchants can deposit their wares. One of those founded by this Sultan was in the Rue Surujiyyah, and was condemned by the Committee, who, however, took care that any objects left there of artistic or archaeological interest should be carefully removed and preserved. Of the two others, opposite al-Azhar and near the Bab al-Nasr respectively, the facades are preserved. The Wakalah in the neigh- bourhood of the Nasr Gate had three fagades — that which faces the street shows an alternate series of mashrabiyyahs and grilles, the first floor overlapping the ground floor. Various other buildings of interest date from the time of the Sultan Kaietbai. One of these is the School or Mosque of Muzhir, in the lane leading from the street Between the Two Walls to the [211] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Khurunfush. Of its two gates one is ornamented with bronze, the other with inlaid ivory work in geometrical patterns. The two larger liwans have pillars of marble, and the w^hole is paved with marbles of various colours also arranged in geometri- cal designs. The woodwork of this mosque is also highly admired. The whole is said to be still much as its founder left it, except for certain slight im- provements and repairs executed at various times. Muzhir, or rather Ibn Muzhir, was private secretary to the Sultan Kaietbai, and as such had to represent him on certain occasions. On one that is recorded by the chronicler he was sent by the Sultan to a coun- cil that had been summoned of the ecclesiastical authorities, to decide whether for the defence of the State it was desirable to seize the revenues of the reli- gious foundations, leaving them just enough to main- tain them in working order. The Sheiks naturally made the same reply as the privileged orders when their taxation was suggested at the commencement of the French Revolution; such an act was against the divine law, and the Sheiks, if they countenanced it, would have to answer for the impiety on the Day of Judgment; it was of no use summoning them to a council, if such a proposition were put before them to discuss. The Sultan Kaietbai made himself famous for the economy of his regime, and the expedients which he invented for saving the revenues of the State — in order to squander them on his buildings — one of these might have been borrowed from the Odyssey of [212] LAST OF CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES Homer if we could imagine that this Sultan had access to that poem. Persons enjoying military pay were summoned to the Sultan's presence and invited to draw a tough bow; if they failed, they were dis- qualified and their pay withdrawn. The task of dis- tributing it was undertaken by the Sultan personally, who sat on definite days for the purpose. In spite of this economy the fortunes which the Emirs man- aged to accumulate show that further supervision would have been desirable. The Mosque often known as that of the Sheik Abu Haribah (after a saint buried in it) in the Ahmar Street, belongs to the time of Kaietbai, and was built by an Emir of his named Kachmas (Turk- ish for "flees not"). This person, who held a variety of important posts, signalised himself by building outside Alexandria a refuge for travellers who arrived after the closing of the gates of the city, when they were exposed to the attacks of marauders. He also founded a number of religious institutions in the various cities in which he held oflice, chiefly hospices for Sufis. The Sheik Abu Haribah is a modern celebrity who died in the year 1851. Born in Upper Egypt, he studied various forms of Su- fism, until he was ready to start a system of his own ; he came to Cairo and took a situation as clerk in a Christian bakehouse, where he proselytised and made as many as sixty converts to Islam. His teaching was greatly sought after, and his fame attracted the attention of the rulers of Egypt; Mohammed Ali sent him a present of £500, and Abbas Pasha offered [213] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS him a gift of land, but both presents were declined. His disciples have erected an ivory monument to him in the Mosque. The part of Cairo called Ezbekiyyeh, familiar to all European visitors, dates from the reign of Kaiet- bai. According to the chronicler it was during the Fatimide period partly sand-heaps and partly mo- rass; at some time it was drained by a canal called the Male Canal, which was blocked when the Sultan Nasir had his Nasiri Canal dug. The buildings which had sprung up in consequence of the land be- ing drained now fell into ruin, and the region became a haunt of evil doers. By private enterprise a bath was presently built in the region, to which water was conveyed by an aqueduct from the Nasiri Canal; the same water was also used for agricultural purposes and cereals grown in fields. In the year 1470, near the beginning of Kaietbai's reign, the Emir Ezbek decided to build here some stalls for his camels, and afterwards residential quarters. He proceeded to have the rubbish-heaps that were there removed, to have the land levelled, and to excavate a pond, into which water was introduced from the Nasiri Canal. The pond was surrounded by a stone embankment. Owing to the great liking of the Egyptian residents for views over water, the region speedily became fashionable, and handsome residences were erected all round the new pool. By the end of Kaietbai's reign the Ezbekiyyeh, as the quarter was called after its founder, had become " a city for itself," and the same Emir proceeded to build a mosque in splendid [214] LAST OF CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES style for the religious needs of his " new city," with baths, stores, mills and bakehouses for its temporary wants. The day in the year on which water was let into the pool became one of public rejoicing, and the occasion would be celebrated by the lighting of a bonfire of unheard-of magnitude. At the time of the French occupation the bed of the pond was according to M. Rhone's estimate about three times the area of the Place de la Concorde, or equal to the interior of the Champ de Mars. iWhen the inundation of the Nile filled it with water, the surrounding buildings had the aspect of Venetian palaces, whereas in winter the area was covered with green vegetation. The pond was drained by Mo- hammed Ali, and his successor Ibrahim Pasha had the recovered land covered with fine trees. These were cut down by Isma'il Pasha, who " abandoned the place to the horrors of speculation," and insti- tuted the public park which now occupies the middle of the quarter. The statue of Ibrahim Pasha which originally stood on a mound was transferred to its present site, and the Mosque of Ezbek demolished to make room for its pedestal. The modern build- ings in this region date from the reign of Isma'il or his successors. The Emir Ezbek is celebrated for much besides the Ezbekiyyeh. Originally a slave of the Sultan Barsbai, he was purchased and manumitted by Jak- mak, who gave him successively two of his daughters. He was promoted to high office at the Egyptian court, and for a time held a governorship in Syria, [215] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS whence he returned to Egypt to be commander of the forces, under Kaietbai; it was this office which under the Circassion regime often trained a man to be Sul- tan. He led expeditions against the Bedouins and Turcomans, helped to defeat the Ottomans, and in the absence of Kaietbai from Cairo was left in charge of affairs. According to a custom illustrated in Eng- lish history by the practice of Queen Elizabeth he was in the habit of defraying out of his own purse the cost of the expeditions which he commanded. Like many eminent men's careers his was not un- clouded; he was banished four times in the course of it and imprisoned in Alexandria twice. When he died, owing to a dispute between his heirs, his estate was seized by the Sultan, and was discovered to in- clude 700,000 dinars in coin, besides goods corre- sponding in value; indeed, the chroniclers add, had it not been for what he spent in the public service, and what he had laid out on the Ezbekiyyeh, his wealth would have defied calculation. He is credited with great personal ability, but otherwise with few good qualities; he had a sharp tongue and an arrogant manner; he was implacable if once offended, and if ever he imprisoned anyone, would never permit a release. A Mosque erected by another Emir Ezbek still exists in the Birket al-Fil (Elephant's Pool) region. It is of the late style, in which the two main liwans are enlarged to the detriment of the two lateral cloisters. It contains the tomb of a stepson of the founder, Sidi Faraj, son of a governor of Damascus [216] f!*^ ggimt 'ALACK OF KMT MKV, CAIkO. LAST OF CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES whose widow became the wife of Ezbek. This lady, called the Princess Bunukh, is buried close by. The architectural and engineering works ordered by the Sultan Kaietbai were more varied in character than most of those of his predecessors. Ezbek — of the Ezbekiyyeh — was employed by him to restore certain bridges over the canals which came between the Pyramids and Gizeh, and which when Saladin ordered his great plan of fortification, had formed part of a road whereby material was to be taken from the pyramids and brought to the Nile. These bridges were seen and their inscriptions copied in the eighteenth century; but in the nineteenth century the bridges disappeared, and with them their inscriptions. One of these inscriptions spoke of ten arches, of which the original construction went back to a period an- terior to Islam. This was probably an exaggeration, though perhaps intended in good faith. Ezbek's last triumph was in the year 1491, when he brought his troops home from Asia Minor, after having inflicted a severe defeat on the Ottoman forces, stormed some fortresses, and taken many cap- tives. He returned, indeed, without having received leave from his chief, owing to the insubordination of his troops, who demanded more and more pay; but Cairo was adorned to welcome the victors, and Kaietbai made peace with the Ottomans on the earliest opportunity. The want of money in Egypt had by this time reached its height, and not all the expedients which the Sultan and his ministers could devise produced a sufficient supply. The revenues [219] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS of all religious foundations were sequestrated for seven months, a measure extended to Syria as well as Egypt, and ruthlessly executed. Another plan adopted by the Sultan was to endow research in the shape of alchemy, various persons professing to turn base metal into gold, if money were provided to pay for experiments. When these experiments proved unsuccessful, the Sultan avenged himself by depriv- ing the unfortunate alchemists of their eyes and tongues. The great Nur al-din in Saladin's time had allowed himself to be cajoled by a man of this craft, who offered to utilise his art for the Sultan's benefit on condition that the gold so produced should only be employed for the sacred war. The charlatan melted down a thousand dinars, to give the Sultan the satisfaction of seeing, as he thought, a gold ingot produced out of base metal; and the Sultan, when he had seen it, liberally equipped the adventurer to go in search of a large supply of the chemicals that he required for his experiments, of which, naturally, sufficient was not to be had in Damascus. One of the Sultan's subjects then made out a class-list of fools, placing the Sultan at the head; he offered if the alchemist ever returned to erase the Sultan's name from this post of honour, and give it to the former, but never had occasion to alter his list. Kaietbai had one son, Mohammed, whose mother after his death married one of his ephemeral succes- sors, Jan-balat, and experienced various vicissitudes of fortune in the troublous times which Egypt passed through in the early tenth century of the Mohamme- [ 220 ] LAST OF CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES dan era, but has left a monument of herself in a mosque at Fayyum. This princess was the wife of two Sultans, the mother of a third, and the sister of a fourth; for the first of the two Kansuhs who mounted the throne during these troubles owed his promo- tion to the discovery that he was the brother of Kaiet- bai's Queen. The Sultan Kaietbai had built a palace for his son, in order to gratify his taste for building; and in consequence of a palace intrigue which he was unable to quell he was induced to allow the prince to be proclaimed Sultan the day before his own death (August 7, 1496) , though, being only four- teen years of age, he would be unable to govern him- self, but would be a puppet in the hands of the Com- mander of the forces. The expedient of securing the succession by appointing the new Sultan during his father's lifetime had been already tried under more favourable circumstances, and had failed. It succeeded no better now; for four years the supreme power passed into the hands of a series of adven- turers; and not till 1501 was there seated on it a mon- arch possessing the capacity to maintain himself. Kansuh al-Ghuri is the last great monarch of the Circassian dynasty, and indeed of Independent Egypt. His name is perpetuated by the Mosque al- Ghuri, in the neighbourhood of the Citadel, and by another in the Street called after it Ghuriyyah, not far from the Ashrafiyyah Mosque. There are two large and two small liwans (as usual at this period), and no columns. The pulpit, which is much ad- mired, is said to have a talisman to keep ofl flies [221] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS which is, according to Ali Pasha, found to be quite effective. The minaret commands a fine view; and the mosque, which was intended to be a school, had the usual adjuncts of a hospice, a fountain, and a school for children. The cupola was supposed to have been built to hold the Koran of the Caliph Othman of which the binding, as might well be im- agined, was by this time sorely in need of repair; the Sultan had it freshly bound, placed in a wooden case, and stored under the Cupola specially built to re- ceive it. A deed of benefactions rivalling that of Kaietbai's foundation is given by our guide in con- nection with this mosque; the writer of the deed was to have a pension of thirty dirhems a month and three loaves a day for the rest of his life. The story of Kansuh al-Ghuri's accession shows that the state of Egypt was generally unhealthy, and its easy conquest by a foreign power to be expected; for he was selected by the mutinous prstorians on the remarkable ground that being a man of little wealth and little influence, he could easily be de- posed; and indeed he stipulated that if they chose to depose him, his life was to be guaranteed. Once in power he endeavoured by a variety of artifices to isolate the Emirs who were in control of affairs, and where more gentle means were unavailing, to employ poison. His reign was remarkable for a naval con- flict between the Egyptians and Portuguese, whose fleet interfered with the trade between India and Egypt; Kansuh caused a fleet to be built which fought naval battles with the Portuguese with vary- [ 222 ] ff i X o \ LAST OF CIRCASSIAN MAMLUKES ing result. In 1515 there began the war with the Ottoman Sultan Selim, which led to the close of the Mameluke period, and the incorporation of Egypt with its dependencies in the Ottoman Empire. Kan- suh was charged by Selim with giving the right of way through Syria to the envoys of the Safawid Isma'il, whose destination was Venice, where they hoped to form a confederacy of west and east against the Turks. The actual declaration of war was not made by Selim till May, 1515, when all his prepara- tions had been made; at the Battle of Marj Dabik, August 24, 15 16, Kansuh was defeated by the Otto- man forces, and fell fighting. His body was left on the battlefield and never was interred in his mauso- leum. His successor, Tumanbai, made a brave but useless resistance to the Ottomans, who now invaded Egypt. The Mameluke rule had at no time been identified with any national cause in Egypt, though the vic- tories of the first dynasty over the Crusaders had won for it the respect of the Moslems. The chroniclers do not wish us to suppose that the defeat of the Mame- luke by the Ottoman Sultan was regarded as a na- tional misfortune; indeed they suggest that the extor- tion and injustice which the last of the Mamelukes had organised, or at least countenanced, rendered the prospect of a change almost desirable. As has been seen, the Egyptians cared not at all to which of the two powers they paid their taxes, their only anxiety was not to pay them twice. In his history of the Egyptian Revolution, Mr. A. [225] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS A. Paton produced a description of the court of Kansuh al-Ghuri given by a Venetian ambassador, who visited it in the year 1503. The Sultan had then been seated on the throne three years. " On reaching the foot of the castle they dismounted and ascended a staircase of about fifty steps, at the top of which they found a large iron door open, and within seated, the warder, dressed in white, with a muslin turban. On either side of him were perhaps 300 Mamelukes dressed in white, with long caps on their heads, half black and half green ; they were ranged all in line, so silent and respectful that they looked like observ- ant Franciscan friars. After entering this door they passed eleven other iron doors, between each of which there was a guard of eunuchs, black and white, three or four for each door, and all of them seated with an air of marvellous pride and dignity. At each door upwards of one hundred Mamelukes stood respectful and silent. After passing the twelfth door, the ambassador and his suite were tired out, and had to sit down to rest themselves, the distance they had traversed being nearly a mile. They then entered the area or courtyard of the castle, which they judged to be six times the area of St. Mark's Square. On either side of this space 6000 Mame- lukes dressed in white and with green and black caps were drawn up; at the end of the court was a silken tent with a raised platform, covered with a carpet, on which was seated Sultan Kansuh al-Ghuri, his under- garment being white surmounted with dark green cloth, and the muslin turban on his head with three [226] LAST OF CIRCASSIAN MAMELUKES points or horns, and by his side was the naked scimitar." The Ambassador observed of Cairo it- self, " In the first place it is so peopled that one can- not judge of the amount of its population, and one can scarcely make way through the streets; there are very large mosques in great number, very excellent houses and palaces, handsomer within than without, and the streets are straight and wide (straight they certainly were, but their width must have been judged by a Venetian standard) ; living is dear; there is much populace and a few men of account. The Mamelukes are in fact the masters." [ 227 1 THE TURKISH PERIOD ^^^^--'HE Ottoman army, though they had cir- m C| cumvented Tumanbai, did not take the m^ J metropolis without a severe struggle, in ^^^^ which large parts of Cairo underwent seri- ous damage. For four days the inhabitants main- tained the unequal conflict, and contested with the Ottomans every inch of ground; 10,000 of them are said in that period to have lost their lives. A rigid search was then made by the conquerors for such of the Mamelukes as were concealed in the houses, and as many as were taken were killed. For eight months the Sultan Selim remained in Egypt, arranging the future government of the country; when he left for Constantinople he took away with him numerous artisans and various persons of importance, and, most important of all, the Caliph who had accompanied the unfortunate Sultan Ghuri on his last expedition. By a satisfactory arrangement the Caliph was in- duced to resign his rights as spiritual chief of the Moslems to the Ottoman Sultan; and those who hold that such transference was within the rights of the last of the Abbasids recognise the Sultan of Turkey as the Successor of the Prophet. [228] THE TURKISH PERIOD The taking of Egypt by the Ottomans, however, deprived Cairo of its status as an imperial city, and as has been seen, one of the first acts of the new ruler was to transfer to his own capital some of the beauti- ful marbles which had adorned the Citadel, where it was not now desirable that the Governor's Palace should be too luxurious. With the vast numbers of religious and philanthropic institutions in Cairo it was not his intention to tamper. The administration of the new province of the Ottoman Empire had for its aim the suppression of any forces that might make for independence. Three powers were, therefore, created, whose mutual jeal- ousies might serve as a safeguard to the sovereign state. These powers were the Pasha, or governor, sent from Constantinople, and often recalled after a few years, or even months: an army of occupation divided into six regiments under a commander who was to reside in the Citadel, and leave it under no pretext whatever, while to each regiment six officers with different duties were assigned. These officers together formed the governor's council, and had the right to veto his orders. The third power was the Mamelukes, who provided the Beys or heads of the twelve provinces or Sanjaks into which Egypt was divided. The Sultan who succeeded Selim, Sulai- man, and who reigned forty-two years, further cre- ated two Chambers, called respectively the Greater and the Lesser Diwan; of these the former sat on important occasions, the latter daily. The members of the former were partly military, partly ecclesias- [229] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS tical officials, while the religious officers of Islam were not represented on the latter. The control of both extended to various departments of internal ad- ministration. This Sultan also added a seventh regi- ment to the existing six, in which the Mameluke freedmen were enrolled. The total numbers of the army of occupation thus came to about 20,000. Be- sides the title Pasha which the Turkish conquest in- troduced into Egypt there are a variety of others that meet us first from this time. Such is Agha, the name for the commander of the forces, or of the separate regiments; Ketkhuda or Kehya, the Pasha's deputy, used also as the title of an official attached to each regiment: Bey and Efendi; most of these had at the first special applications, which in the course of time they lost, degrading into a mere hierarchy of titles. The first governor appointed in Egypt by the Otto- man Sultan was Khair Bey, the man who is supposed to have betrayed the cause of his master Ghuri, who when he reached Syria in his campaign against the Ottomans was repeatedly warned against this lieu- tenant, but was afraid of causing open division in his force if he showed his suspicions openly. Having to command one of the divisions of the Egyptian Army in the battle of Marj Dabik, he is supposed to have, by preconcerted arrangement with the enemy, made his men leave the field, a proceeding which, of course, led to a general rout. His government lasted rather more than five years, and owing to his unpopu- larity with his Moslem subjects, he espoused the cause of the Jews and Christians. He is celebrated [230] MOSQl'F.S IX THE SlIAKMA HAM-KI.-W \/l K, C\IKl>. \ THE TURKISH PERIOD for a deathbed repentance. When he despaired of life he liberated all except criminals who were pining in the dungeons of Cairo, and caused quanti- ties both of goods and coin to be distributed among the indigent and those who were dependent on the religious institutions of the capital. His mosque is close to that of Ibrahim Agha in the quarter called after him Kharbakiyyeh, and it is there that he lies. His successor Mustafa, the Sultan Selim's son-in- law, was the first of the governor's of Egypt who had the title Pasha (pronounced in Egypt Basha). The contemporary historian gives a rather humorous ac- count of his arrival, and receiving deputations lying on his back, and through his ignorance of the na- tional language looking as though he were made of wood. The need for provision against attempts on the part of governors to render themselves independent of the Porte was shown very soon after the conquest; the third of the governors sent, Ahmad Pasha, made such an endeavour, and went so far as to assume the insignia of sovereignty in the East, having his name mentioned in public prayers, and having coins struck in his name — and indeed the right to an inde- pendent coinage had been left to Egypt by the Otto- man conqueror. The safeguards which had been de- vised were found to work effectually; two emirs whom Ahmad had imprisoned broke from their con- finement, and attacked the ambitious Pasha in his bath. Though he escaped their onslaught and got away, he was presently captured, and his head, after [233] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS being suspended on Bad Zuwailah, was sent to Con- stantinople. The history of Egypt during the first century of Ottoman rule has little interest even for Egyptians. It consists of a series of governors, sometimes no sooner appointed than recalled, of whom a few built schools or mosques in the style of the old Mameluke Sultans, while most spent their time, as might be expected, in profiting as well as they could by their opportunity of acquiring wealth. Of governors who perpetuated their names by monuments we may es- pecially mention Sinan Pasha, who governed from 1567 to 1571, with an interval, and Masih Pasha, governor from 1575 to 1580. The name of Sinan Pasha is otherwise famous in Turkish history for his wars in North Africa. He founded a mosque with its ordinary accompaniments in Boulak, and the deed of settlement contains the elaborate provisions for its maintenance to which we are accustomed. The con- trol of the funds was to lapse after his death to the Sheik of Islam or highest ecclesiastical authority in Constantinople, who was to appoint a suitable agent in Egypt. Masih Pasha left a monument in the Masihi Mosque in the street called after his name, east of the Bab al-Karafah. It is called after Nur al-din al- Karafi, a learned man of the time, for whose devo- tions and perhaps lectures it was built, and in it he, and perhaps the founder, have their last resting place. Masih Pasha is commended by the chron- iclers for having restored peace to Cairo with se- [234] THE TURKISH PERIOD curity for life and property, and for having ordered all his rescripts to be prefaced with some pious senti- ments out of the Koran. His methods of restoring order were apparently drastic in the extreme, as they are said to have involved the execution of some 10,000 persons. For various reasons the Ottoman Pasha exhibited the tendency which the nominal head of the state or province so often displayed in the East, that of ceas- ing to be virtually at the head of affairs. The char- acter of the army of occupation enabled it to dispose of the Pasha as it wished, and get rid of him by vio- lence if his measures were displeasing to it. When the Pasha took the part of the people of Egypt, and wished to relieve them of onerous exactions by which the army profited, he had the army against him. One of these Pashas had to face an organised revolt, of which the leaders had even chosen a sovereign to supersede him. With the aid of some troops that re- mained faithful, and the guns at his disposal he suc- ceeded in quelling it. Large numbers of the disaf- fected were then banished to Yemen, while some seventy were executed. And in the troubles over the succession at Constantinople, which followed on the decease of the Sultan Ahmad I., the Egyptian forces could defy the Porte and choose their own governor in opposition to the sovereign's views. This gover- nor, Mustafa Pasha, used the opportunity of a terri- ble pestilence which devastated the country in 1625 to declare himself heir to all property left by its victims. The feeling which he roused against him- [235] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS self by this proceeding led to his downfall, and the Porte had no difficulty in recalling him. His suc- cessor compelled him to disgorge his plunder, and he himself was executed in Constantinople. The process by which there came to be substituted for the influence of the Pasha that of the chief of the Mamelukes, called Sheik al-Balad (something like Mayor of the City), is not easy to follow. It would seem that the perpetual changes at headquar- ters and the disputes between the governor and the army left a bureaucracy the chance of gaining or regaining power, by the possession of hereditary acquaintance with the affairs of the country which the strangers sent from Constantinople did not pos- sess, and also by the bureaucrats being identified in their interests with a permanent part of the popula- tion. What is clear is that the practice of Mameluke times, the acquisition by wealthy persons of Circas- sian, Turkish and other slaves, whom they trained in arms and whom they could promote to places of wealth, did not cease with the Turkish occupation, and that the Mamelukes remained a power in the country through the whole of this period. By the end of the seventeenth century the Sheik al-Balad becomes an official, of first-class importance. When a governor was sent from Constantinople, the Sheik and his associates would despatch a deputation to Alexandria to inquire into his intentions. If they found him likely to be a peaceful nonentity, they would condescend to give him an official welcome, whereas if he seemed likely to assert himself they [236] A SIDE STREET IN CAIRO. THE TURKISH PERIOD would bid him remain where he was, while sending word to Constantinople that the governor appointed was unfit for the post and that his arrival would be injurious to the welfare of the community. The army of occupation appears to have been perma- nently quartered in the capital and so to have gradu- ally transferred its allegiance to the permanent Emirs. By the early eighteenth century the Mamelukes are themselves divided into facjtions, named respectively the Kasimites and Fijarites, whose origin is mysteri- ous, but may go back to the time of the conqueror Selim, or be much later. Nothing appears to be heard of the rivalry between these factions till the year 1707, when Hasan Pasha, one of the ephemeral governors, set himself to create bad blood between the two with so much success that a battle was fought lasting eighty days. The Mamelukes had, it is said, the consideration to go outside Cairo and carry on the fight in the daytime, without interfering with the business of the inhabitants; at night they, or such of them as survived the fray, went home and reposed like ordinary citizens. In this prolonged battle, the Sheik al-Balad Kasim lywaz perished. He was succeeded in his municipal office by his son Isma'il Bey, who was fortunate enough to be able to recon- cile the contending parties for the time. How much more influential the Sheik al-Balad was now than the governor is shown by a story in which Isma'il compels the latter to restore a quantity of coffee which was in the possession of a man whose execu- tion had been ordered from Constantinople. He [239] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS held the office sixteen years, when his end was brought on by a concession to one of his faction, the Kasimites, who desired to seize an estate belonging to a Fikarite. The Fikarite complained to the Pasha, who could only suggest to him that he had best get an assassin to put an end to Isma'il. This suggestion was successfully executed, and the con- fusion which arose gave the Pasha opportunity to organise a general massacre of Isma'il's followers and to assign his place to the head of a rival faction named Shirkas Bey. It illustrates the condition of Egypt at this time that the assassin, on whom the wealth of his victim had been bestowed as a reward, was in a position to purchase and train a force of Mamelukes, with whose aid he was able to eject Shirkas Bey, the Sheik al-Balad, and install himself in the vacant place^ when he proceeded to execute numerous Beys, with the idea of founding a tyranny. The expelled Shirkas Bey was repeatedly invited by the discon- tented to unseat the usurper, but failed and was finally defeated and drowned; while the assassin (named Dhu'l-Fikar) himself presently fell a victim to an onslaught similar to that which had been the foundation of his fortunes. His lieutenant, Othman Bey, avenged his death by numerous executions, and succeeded in obtaining the place of Sheik al-Balad, though one of his rivals attempted the familiar strat- agem of preparing a banquet which was to be fol- lowed by the massacre of Othman and his party, who had been invited to it; Othman had, however, taken [240] THE TURKISH PERIOD precautions, and his rival fled to Constantinople after seeing his helpers' heads lying severed outside the Hasanain Mosque. Othman Bey is the hero of various stories showing that he left on the people of Cairo a favourable im- pression of his justice and courage. The former quality is illustrated by an anecdote recorded by by Zaidan. A donkey-boy (the word " boy" in this context implies nothing as to age) found in his house some treasure, which he put in his wife's charge, telling her to conceal the find, lest the government should claim it as treasure trove. This she consented to do; but when her husband refused to buy her some ornaments with the wealth now at his disposal, she betrayed the discovery to Othman Bey. The donkey-boy was summoned before the Sheik al- Balad, who to his surprise bade him retain the treas- ure, but divorce his wife. A fresh couple of names that meet us in Egyptian politics of this period is that of the Kazdoglu and the Julfi Mamelukes. The founder of the first faction was a saddler by profession; the eponymous hero of the latter was a porter, who became possessed of a secret hoard. The heads of these factions, named Ibrahim and Ridwan respectively, formed in Oth- man Bey's time a close alliance, and by their united wealth won such influence that they were in a posi- tion to challenge Othman Bey's supremacy. The latter endeavoured to form a counter-alliance of in- fluential Beys, who advised the assassination of Ibra- him, at that time Ketkhuda of the Janissary regiment. [241] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS The plot was betrayed by an official in the household of Othman Bey, who, fearing reprisals, fled to Syria, leaving Cairo clear to the hostile factions. The lead- ers of these, having possessed themselves of Othman's house and effects, proceeded to organise a massacre of his supporters. These were lured into the Citadel, the gates closed on them, and firing upon them or- dered. The Pasha's consent had been obtained for this proceeding, which he would probably have been unable to prevent. When it was over, the govern- ment remained in the hands of Ibrahim Bey and Isma'il Bey, who agreed to take the offices of Sheik al-Balad and Leader of the Pilgrim Caravan, and hold them in alternate years; a curious form of dual sovereignty which was successfully imitated at a later period. The former, who was the more ener- getic of the two, immediately set about recouping himself for the money expended in the attainment of his ambition, by a series of violent extortions, prac- tised on all in Cairo who were supposed to be pos- sessed of means. An attempt was made to overthrow the two Consuls by one of the ephemeral Pashas. Ibrahim's absence on pilgrimage offered a good op- por4:unity for devising a plot, and in fact after Ibra- him's return he and his colleague were actually seized and imprisoned. Their supporters, however, came to the rescue, broke open their prison, and drove the refractory Pasha back to Constantinople. The new Pasha came with instructions to gain the confidence of the Beys, with a view to getting them at some time into his power, and restoring the effec- [242] THE TURKISH PERIOD tive control of the Porte by a massacre. But Ibrahim Bey was wary, and though the coup was not at- tempted till the new governor had been in office two years, it only partially succeeded; Ibrahim Bey him- self escaped, and only three of his adherents were killed. The Sheik al-Balad thereupon took it upon himself to depose the Governor, and sent to Constan- tinople requesting that he be replaced. Into one of the vacant Beyships he promoted Ali, known as Ali Bey the Great, destined to play a somewhat impor- tant part in the history of Egypt; he was a freedman of Ibrahim, who had won his esteem by fighting and defeating a gang of brigands who attacked the Pil- grim Caravan. It will be remembered that Ahmad Ibn Tulun won his spurs by a not very dissimilar exploit. The promotion of Ali Bey evoked the jealousy of another follower of Ibrahim Bey, called Ibrahim the Circassian, who presently gave vent to his resentment by murdering his master; whose office fell to his col- league Ridwan, who had maintained friendly rela- tions with Ibrahim Bey all along. But another fol- lower of Ibrahim Bey who himself aspired to the headship was able to direct the guns of the Citadel at the palace of Ridwan overlooking the Elephant's Pool, and in the course of the bombardment to inflict a wound on Ridwan himself of which he shortly after died. His murderer, however, soon succumbed to the resentment of Ridwan's friends, and a certain Khalil Bey became Sheik al-Balad. For eight years Ali Bey kept pursuing the plan by [243] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS which the sovereignty of Egypt had been so often acquired, that of purchasing slaves and training them as a bodyguard, while doing his utmost to con- ciliate the other Beys. Finally his proceedings aroused the suspicions of the Sheik al-Balad, who endeavoured to get rid of him by an open assault. Ali Bey's bodyguard defended their master, but were defeated and compelled to flee to Upper Egypt; his office and those of his adherents were declared for- feited, and many persons known to belong to his party executed. In Upper Egypt Ali Bey found other malcontents, who, joining his bodyguard, made up an army large enough to warrant an attack on Cairo, which he did not hesitate to execute. In a series of successful engagements Ali Bey drove his rival northwards, and finally obtained possession of his person. Khalil Bey was first banished, and then executed. Ali Bey remained supreme in Egypt, and in 1763 was installed Sheik al-Balad. Shortly after his appointment he ordered the exe- cution of the murderer of his former master Ibrahim Bey, an act which was so ill received by the other Beys that Ali Bey had to flee from Egypt to Jeru- salem and then Acre. At the latter place he suc- ceeded in winning the favour and affection of the commander of the garrison, who obtained from Con- stantinople confirmation of his appointment as Sheik al-Balad at Cairo, whither he proceeded to return. Ali Bey appears to have possessed the qualities which appertained to most of the great founders of [244] A STREET SCENE IN CAIRO. THE TURKISH PERIOD dynasties in Egypt — astuteness, courage and ruthless- ness. Jazzar, who as governor of Acre acquired a European reputation for the last of these qualities, began his career as one of his lieutenants, sent out by him to quell a rebellion in the southern provinces of Egypt. Ali elevated eighteen persons to the rank of Bey, hoping thereby to provide himself with faith- ful and powerful supporters, since each of them com- manded some sort of force. These were, as usual, Circassians or Georgians. His ultimate aim was to render Egypt independent of the Sublime Porte, be- ing herein as in much else the precursor of Moham- med Ali. With this view he endeavoured to oust on one pretext or another all the nominees of the Porte from their places in the Egyptian army, and to fill the vacancies with creatures of his own. A much more momentous step, and one which must surely have been attempted before, was to monopolise the right to purchase and train Mamelukes, and so to pre- vent possible rivals arising in Cairo itself. When in 1768 war broke out between Turkey and Russia Egypt was ordered to provide 12,000 men for the Porte. Ali Bey began to draft them, but it was uncertain whether he intended them to aid the Sultan or the Czar. Every provincial governor from the commencement of the Caliphate had found it necessary to maintain spies at the metropolis, and those kept by Ali Bey at Constantinople informed him on this occasion that despatches were being sent to the Pasha at Cairo to put Ali Bey to death. The Sheik al-Balad was ready for the emergency; he [247] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS had the envoys waylaid and killed, and their bodies buried in the sand, while he himself secured the de- spatches, of which he published an account suitable to his purpose. He averred that what was ordered from Constantinople was a general massacre of the Mamelukes, and urged his colleagues to fight for their lives. In a powerful oration he reminded them of the old glories of the Mameluke Sultans, of whose monuments Cairo was full. The time had now ar- rived to revive the old Mameluke Sultanate, and free Egypt from the Ottoman yoke. His speech carried conviction, and his project was approved. The Pasha was given forty-eight hours to leave the coun- try. Ali Bey's old friend the governor of Acre promised his warm support to the Sheik al-Balad's plans, and an attempt made by the governor of Da- mascus to reduce him to order was defeated with loss. The Porte being unable owing to the European war to attend to remote provinces, Ali Bey proceeded to consolidate his power in Egypt, and sent a force to reduce Arabia. Success attended his efforts in the peninsula, and he further despatched his son-in- law and favourite Abu'l-Dhahab, with a force of 30,000 men to reduce Syria, and here too his arms were successful. Abu'l-Dhahab, whose name " father of gold " was earned, it is said, by his habit of giving all his charity in that metal, met with little resistance. But now the fickle goddess began to assert her character. The Syrian lieutenant, who on a former occasion had been concerned in a plot against Ali [248] THE TURKISH PERIOD Bey, in which his part had been condoned in con- sideration of his betraying his fellow-conspirators, preferred to conquer for himself rather than for his master; and, apparently, entered into an arrange- ment with the Porte by which he was to have under Turkish suzerainty the reversion of Ali Bey's posses- sions, if he succeeded in overthrowing that usurper. With the troops employed by him in Syria he crossed to Egypt, where, avoiding Cairo, he made for South- ern Egypt, and seized Asiout. Ali, being quite un- able to defend his capital, fled once more to his bene- factor, the governor of Acre, followed by an insig- nificant number of adherents. At the time when he raised the standard of revolt from the Porte he had endeavoured to enter into alliance with Venice and Russia, and his negotiations had met with fair suc- cess. Such a measure was at that time risky for any- one who depended on the favour of a Moslem nation, since alliance with Infidels against Believers is not only liable to denunciation as being in defiance of the doctrines of the Koran, but could be shown his- torically to be disastrous. However, at Acre Ali Bey enjoyed the fruits of his Russian policy, as a Muscovite fleet which happened to be there renewed the alliance with the refugee, and encouraged him to retake the Syrian cities which, after the departure of Abu'l-Dhahab, had fallen back into Ottoman possession; and about a year after his flight messages came from Cairo requesting his return to Egypt, to put a stop to the arbitrary regime introduced by Abu'l-Dhahab, who had assumed the title Sheik al- [249] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Balad, and was rendering himself unpopular by coercive measures. Ali Bey thereupon decided to march into Egypt with a motley force of eight thousand men, and in an engagement with his rival at Salihiyyah scored a slight success. But his alliance with Christian powers against the Turks had brought his cause into disrepute with the Moslems of Egypt, and he learned that he could count on no effective aid from his par- tisans in Carlo; illness and wounds, moreover, pre- vented his taking an active part in the management of his affairs. Abu'l-Dhahab, besides, exhibited far more skill than Ali Bey in winning over adherents from the opposite party by various modes of corrup- tion. In a following engagement many of Ali Bey's soldiers and captains left him for the enemy, and those that remained faithful fled in confusion. Ali had not himself, owing to illness, been able to take part in the battle, and his routed followers desired him to mount a horse as well as he could, and once more seek refuge at Acre. He determined that death was preferable to this humiliation, and waited by his tent until a detachment of the enemy came up to it; with these he fought bravely till disabled by shots and thrusts. He was finally taken and conveyed to his house in Cairo " in the Abd al-Hakk Lane, al- Bakir Street, behind the Debt Chest," where he was not molested ; but he died after seven days, of wounds and chagrin. The Egyptian chroniclers give Ali Bey the title *' the Great," which is perhaps more than he de- [250] THE TURKISH PERIOD served, since his enterprise left no permanent mark on the fortunes of Egypt. He, apparently, was less to blame than some other conquerors of that country for risking all in the attempt to acquire possession of Syria, since his obligations to the governor of Acre forced this upon him. He appears to have made un- pardonable mistakes in the choice of instruments. He was for a time popular in Egypt because he en- deavoured to check various forms of extortion which had been long exercised; but it is observable that his cry was not Egypt for the Egyptians, but Egypt for the Mamelukes. During the period covered by Othman Bey and Ali Bey vast restorations were carried out in the buildings of Cairo by a man whose name has already met us in connection with them, Abd al-Rahman Ketkhuda. His father was patron of a certain Oth- man Ketkhuda, who in this ofKce had acquired great wealth, which some time after the latter's death was assigned to his patron's son in virtue of a theory that the property of freedmen goes to those who have manumitted them, in default of other heirs. Abd al-Rahman further attracted the notice of Othman Bey, with whom he went on pilgrimage, and by whom on their return to Cairo he was made admin- istrator of trusts. He utilised the funds at his dis- posal for a general restoration of the religious insti- tutions of Cairo, as well as the erection of a variety of monuments which were to perpetuate his own name. His work of renovation extended to all the sanctuaries which bear the names of famous ladies [251] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS of the Prophet's house. Eighteen mosques were either built or repaired by him, all these being places of public worship; the smaller sanctuaries which he restored were still more numerous, and he also saw to the erection of numerous cisterns, fountains, bridges and other engineering works. His useful labours were continued till 1764, when Ali Bey was in power, who, fearing the influence he had acquired, banished him to the Hejaz. Twelve years later, when the days of Ali Bey were over, he was recalled to Cairo, only to die. He was buried in a mauso- leum that he had prepared for himself in his addi- tions to al-Azhar. His personal character appears to have displayed more piety than virtue, since he is credited with having introduced bribery and corrup- tion on an unprecedented scdle — a difficult achieve- ment in Egypt. Abu'l-Dhahab was rewarded by the Porte in 1772 for his services in suppressing Ali Bey, with the title Pasha and the official governorship of Cairo. He did not enjoy his honours long, for he died — it is un- certain how — two years later on his successful ex- pedition for the recovery of Syria. After some disorders two of the Beys created by Ali, who had afterwards deserted his cause for that of his rival, persons named Ibrahim and Murad respectively, got possession of the Citadel, and agreed on a divided rule similar to that which had been arranged between a former Ibrahim and Ridwan, the one to fill the office of Sheik al-Balad, the other to be Leader of the Pilgrim Caravan. The arrangement was at the [252] THE TURKISH PERIOD first marred by broils, and even armed conflicts, but presently the two found themselves able to work har- moniously, and their government, with an interrup- tion, lasted on till the French invasion of Egypt. This interruption was occasioned by an expedition sent from Constantinople to restore order in Egypt. The episode of Ali Bey showed that the assertion of Ottoman sovereignty was necessary, and indeed, for a long time the official representative of the Sultan had been treated with scant courtesy. When the Sheik al-Balad and his Emirs wanted a Pasha re- moved, they sent to Constantinople to request his removal. An emissary would then be despatched, who would be introduced to the Citadel, where he would kneel before the Pasha. On rising he would fold up the carpet on which he had knelt, and cry aloud, Pasha, descend! The Pasha would thereby be deprived of his office, and the emissary would take temporary charge. In June, 1786, the Turkish expedition arrived in Egypt, and the Mamelukes found themselves unable to make any resistance to the artillery of the Otto- mans. Ibrahim and Murad fled before the invaders to Upper Egypt, and Cairo was seized by the Turk- ish troops. Their treatment of the population was no improvement on that of the Beys, and only the interference of the ecclesiastical authorities pre- vented atrocities which went beyond what the people of Egypt were accustomed to. No great change was made in the system of government by the conquerors, who installed as Sheik al-Balad Isma'il Bey, a [253] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS former supporter of Ali Bey, who had even held the office for a short time after the death of Abu'l- Dhahab. When, in 1790, he and most of his family were swept off by a plague, Murad and Ibrahim hav- ing had experience of government, found it possible to return to Cairo and resume the offices which they had previously held. Of these they were in posses- sion when in 1798 Bonaparte invaded the country. Murad Bey carried on some operations ostensibly for the restoration of the Mosque of Amr, but really, it is said, in order to discover an iron chest which the Jews knew to be hidden somewhere about the Mosque, and the secret of whose existence they had sold to Murad as the price of his remitting an ex- traordinary contribution which he had imposed on their community. The chest was discovered, but found to contain only leaves from an ancient copy of the Koran. Murad Bey's piety was not sufficient to make him consider this find a substitute for the treas- ure which he had expected, and the Jews got harder terms than if they had consented to the imposition at the first. The Turkish period was on the whole of little importance for the decoration or growth of Cairo, though, as has been seen, some Pashas and others went to the expense of erecting mosques, and many a palace was built by the wealthy Mamelukes. Writers on Arab art usually stop at the taking of Cairo by the Ottomans, because the architecture of Egypt from that time becomes more and more dependent on Turkish models. [ 254 ] THE TURKISH PERIOD Many European travellers visited Cairo between the entry of Selim and that of Bonaparte, and some selections from their experiences are put together by Mr. W. F. Rae, in his work called " Egypt To-day: the First to the Third Khedive." These extracts deal chiefly with the condition of foreigners in Cairo, which is painted in very dark colours. The mass of the people, we are told, in no place could be more barbarous than in Cairo; foreigners, persecuted and even ill-treated under the most frivolous pretexts, lived there in perpetual fear. If they ventured to appear in public in the attire of their own country, they would be infallibly torn in pieces. Bruce, who visited Cairo in 1748, asserts that a more brutal, un- just, tyrannical, oppressive, avaricious set of infernal miscreants there was not on earth than the members of the Government of Cairo. Of the streets it was asserted that the widest would be looked upon as a lane in Europe. Hasselquist, in a letter to Linne, dated 1750 from Cairo, said that if a man were guilty of any crime he could not expiate it better than by going to reside for a little while in that city. [255] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI 'HE sufferings of the French merchants resident in Cairo would have been a suffi- cient justification for the enterprise of Bonaparte, but its object was undoubtedly to strike a blow at Great Britain, and the latter coun- try endeavoured to stop it at the outset, and succeeded in crippling it and eventually bringing it to a disas- trous termination. On the history of the French oc- cupation of Egypt, which has often been described, we need not dilate here; the Beys were as much put out of their reckoning by the tactics of the greatest general of the age as the Sultan Ghuri had been put out of his by the artillery of the Sultan Selim. The capture of the Egyptian capital caused the plunder of many houses by the invaders and the mob, and besides meant the desecration of numerous religious edifices which were required for the French system of fortification. After the naval engagement of Abu Kir had resulted in the annihilation of the French fleet, the people of Cairo rose against the invader and barricaded the streets. Bonaparte planted artillery on all high points, partly destroyed the Husainiyyah [256] %■■ "*! iflt''^'^ -»^-^'' 1 ^ b i< i:^ i^s^a -^"^ i^'^"^' i 'fe- -^ — ••■' t r t o u OS s s < a H a 3 < S W I < 5 7j THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI quarter where the fiercest resistance had been made, and occupied al-Azhar, which had been the head- quarters of disaffection, with a force. Cavalry stabled their horses in the great home of Moslem learning, smashed the coloured lamps and tried to erase the verses of the Koran with which the walls were decorated. Only after complete submission on the part of the insurgents, and the intercession of the most esteemed sheik, did the French general agree to withdraw his soldiery from the Mosque. Short as was the French occupation of Cairo, it marked the introduction of European methods into the government of the city, which it was left to the Khedivial family to carry out. The gates which had formerly closed the streets and lanes were all re- moved by order of the French commander; the prac- tice of lighting the streets at nights was introduced, and for administrative purposes the city was divided into eight quarters (or rather eighths), each under the supervision of a sheik. To the French are due the registration of births and deaths, the abolition of intramural interment and some other precautions of sanitation. An honourable monument of the French occupation is the great " Description of Egypt," well worthy of the keen interest in science and archae- ology which characterises the people from whom it emanated. Whether the programme of the French occupation was in itself consistent and intelligible to the Egyp- tian people is not very clear, but it may be considered to have first formulated the Egyptian nationalist as- [259] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS pirations, though the French may have done little ta gratify them. Ostensibly the invaders wished to abolish the tyranny of the Mamelukes, who are at- tacked in their manifestoes in violent terms; and though the Egyptians at first supposed that the pur- pose of the invasion was to reclaim the country for the Sultan, it was soon shown that this view deviated widely from the facts. To Bonaparte's profession of belief in Islam apparently no importance was at- tached by the real adherents of that religion. The Turkish manifesto which declared the old faiths of Europe to be far nearer Islam than the religion of the French Revolution was undoubtedly in accord- ance with the facts. Most writers are agreed in regarding these professions of Mohammedanism as a mistaken policy. The French occupation, how- ever, while it may be doubted whether the moral and political standards which the invaders exhibited were a very great improvement on those to which the Egyptians are accustomed, prepared the country for that discipleship to Europe which it underwent for the greater part of the nineteenth century and is still undergoing. Other invaders were no further ad- vanced than the Egyptians in science and culture; from the French the inhabitants learned that in such, matters they were far behind. The respect for the ability of the European, which is now so often ex- aggerated in the East, begins in Egypt with the French occupation. And the cry of " Liberty, Equality and Fraternity," which perhaps had never been heard in the East before, at least with any prac- [260] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI tical meaning attached to it, could not fail to rouse an echo here and there in a population that had been accustomed from time immemorial to despotism, and for centuries to the despotism of foreigners. Like Ali Bey, Bonaparte regarded the possession of Syria as necessary to the security of Egypt, and in February, 1799, he started on a career of conquest in the former country, which terminated with the well- known check at Acre, occasioned by the co-operation of the British fleet under Sir Sidney Smith with the Turkish troops. Bonaparte on his return had to satisfy himself with fortifying al-Arish, the key of Egypt, in lieu of the possession of Syria, but the fail- ure of his original scheme was doubtless the cause of his evacuation of the valley of the Nile. Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey, who had been in retreat in Upper Egypt, were emboldened by the defeat of Bonaparte to proceed southwards, hoping to co-operate with a Turkish force that was to land at Abu Kir. Bona- parte had, however, no difficulty in defeating the Beys, and afterwards inflicting a crushing blow on the Turks at the moment of their disembarking. But from the English squadron at Abu Kir he learned news of European affairs which determined him to quit Egypt, and his departure sealed the future of the French occupation of the country. Kleber, whom Bonaparte had left to govern at Cairo, showed himself equal to dealing with a diffi- cult situation, and arranged by an honourable con- vention at the beginning of 1800 for the evacuation of the country; the rejoicings in Cairo over the pros- [261] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS pective departure of the French were great, and an enforced impost was cheerfully paid. The Mame- lukes whose houses had been pillaged and who had been compelled to conceal themselves, began to re- turn, hoping to enjoy a new lease of power; and one Nasif Pasha placed himself at their head. Mean- while through the intervention of Great Britain the convention was rendered ineffective; an Ottoman army after taking al-Arish, advanced towards Cairo, and at Matariyyah, north of the capital, an engage- ment took place in which the united forces of the Turks and Mamelukes were defeated by the French general. Nasif Pasha, retreating from the battle- field, marched to Cairo with his Mamelukes, and suc- ceeded in rousing the Moslem population against the French, and even started a massacre of the Christian population both native and foreign. Nasif's attacks on the Citadel and the forts in the possession of the French were, however, unsuccessful, and in a bayonet charge of 200 French troops in the Ezbekiyyeh the superiority of European discipline asserted itself over the Mamelukes and their Cairene allies. The French continued to bombard the city from the Citadel and the forts, while batteries were erected by the in- surgents with cannon dug up out of places where they had been hidden. The streets were barricaded; a powder factory was improvised; and every Moslem was compelled to pass the night in the discharge of some military duty. Before Nasif Pasha could renew his attack on the French headquarters, and when the insurrection had [262] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI lasted two whole days, a force arrived to relieve tKe French garrison, having been sent for that purpose by Kleber. The vigour and enthusiasm of the in- surgents and the able measures which they had taken for the defence of the streets rendered it difficult for the French relieving force to retake the city. And though Nasif Pasha, when Kleber himself arrived on the spot, was disposed to capitulate, the fanatical party prevented him from doing so. Kleber resolved to storm Boulak before attacking the city, and on April 14, 1800, carried out this project and gave up the place to pillage and conflagration. He imme- diately proceeded after this success to an attack upon the city itself, in which numerous houses were burned down, especially in the region of the Ezbekiyyeh. Lighted torches were, it is said, flung right and left by the soldiers, with the object of destroying the whole city by conflagration ; and women and children flung themselves ofi walls and roofs to escape being burned. Nasif Pasha himself went into hiding. When at last resistance had ceased, Kleber ordered an amnesty to be proclaimed, and proceeded to have the streets cleared of debris and corpses, after which a three days' feast was announced in celebration of the victory. The arrest of fifteen sheiks and their subsequent release on payment of twelve millions of francs, was the only repressive measure which fol- lowed the retaking of Cairo. Orders were then issued to repair those parts of the city that had suf- fered during the insurrection. Two months after these successful operations [263] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Kleber was assassinated at the house of General Damas in the Ezbekiyyeh; and the assassin when dis- covered was shown to have been instigated by a com- mander of Janissaries, and to have been in communi- cation with the sheiks of al-Azhar, three of whom were condemned to execution as having been acces- sories before the fact. The assassin himself was impaled, public opinion in Europe at that time not sufficiently condemning the barbarous punishments in use in the East; the act, however, was rendered the more culpable, because it would appear that the man had been induced to confess on promise of a free pardon. Kleber's follower, Menou, was an eccentric per- sonage, who adopted Islam, and tried in various other ways to conciliate the Cairene population, with whom he gained little favour, while losing his influence with the French. As an ardent convert he deprived the Egyptian Christians of the equality which under Bonaparte's regime they had shared with the Mos- lems. As an equally ardent Frenchman he declared Egypt a French colony, whereas till then the suze- rainty of the Porte had been nominally recognised. He had soon, however, to have his military skill put to the test, and this proved no greater than his admin- istrative ability. On March 21 there was fought the action in which Sir Ralph Abercrombie, having landed with a British force at Abu Kir, defeated the French army brought against him by Menou, at the cost of his own life. Four days later the English were reinforced [264] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI by a body of Turks, which proceeded to capture Rosetta. And another Turkish army was now on its way from Syria and was advancing towards Cairo. The defence of that city had been left to General Belliard, whom Menou, now shut up in Alexandria, had left in command, when he went north to meet Abercrombie. A junction having been effected be- tween the English and Turkish armies, Cairo was invested; and the French commander not having sufficient troops to hope for victory over the allies, an armistice was agreed to on June 22, followed by a convention on June 26, by which Cairo was to be evacuated by the French troops, who were to pro- ceed to the coast and embark for France. The evacuation of Egypt was accomplished a few months later. This was the end of French domination in Egypt, and the commencement of the relations of Great Brit- ain with that country. At first the Mamelukes seemed to have their star in the ascendant. A con- tingent of Mamelukes had been with the force that compelled General Belliard to treat for the evacua- tion of Cairo, and Ibrahim Bey, emerging from his hiding place, had implored the assistance of the Eng- lish General, and been treated with respect. Murad Bey had succeeded in negotiating with Kleber before that General was assassinated and had by him been confirmed in the government of Upper Egypt. He died shortly before the evacuation. His dependents broke his arms over his bier, in token that no one was worthy to bear them after him. It was possible that [265] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the end of the foreign occupation might lead to a resumption of the old regime. Those, therefore, who aimed at ruling Egypt considered that the relics of the Mamelukes must before all things be destroyed. The process was commenced by the agents of the Porte, and in the style familiar to readers of Moslem history. The Turkish Admiral at Abu Kir en- trapped a number of Beys into his barge by inviting them to a conference, and this barge was presently surrounded and attacked; whereas a number more were bombarded at Gizeh without previous intima- tion of any difference. In spite of these disasters the country even before the final departure of the English fell back fast into Mameluke hands — little besides Alexandria and Cairo were virtually subject to the Porte, and the newly appointed Pasha was unable to procure the money to pay the troops who now oc- cupied the Citadel. The situation gave an opportunity to a man who proved himself well qualified to use it — Mohammed Ali, the founder of the dynasty that now reigns in Egypt; often called by anticipation the first Khedive, wrongly, inasmuch as that title was conferred first on Isma'il Pasha; yet not without ground, since the fortunes of the Khedivial family were made by the founder of the line. He comes to the front in history first as leader of a corps of Albanians in the Turkish force which soon after the arrival of the English took Rosetta; his birthplace was Cavalla, where he lost his parents in infancy but received kindness from an uncle, and also from a French resident, a fact which [266] H THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI did much towards determining Mohammed Ali's Francophile policy at a later time. Like other resi- dents in Cavalla in his early years he traded in tobacco, with conspicuous success. Coming to Egypt with the Turkish force sent out for the recovery of the country, he advanced in the service by leaps and bounds, and was after a short time given command over a force of between three and four thousand Al- banians by Khosrau Pasha, a Georgian freedman of the Turkish Admiral, who at the latter's suggestion had been installed by the Porte in the government of Egypt. In the struggle that ensued on the one hand between the governor and his discontented soldiers, on the other, between the Turks and the Mamelukes, Mohammed Ali succeeded in at first holding the balance between the parties, and pres- ently found an opportunity for decisive action when Khosrau Pasha had been driven by a revolution in the Citadel to fly in the direction of Damietta, and another ephemeral ruler had been installed in Khos- rau's place. Mohammed Ali decided to join forces with the Mameluke leaders, Othman al-Bardisi and the veteran Ibrahim Bey, took possession of the Cita- del, and drove out of it all troops save his own Al- banians and those under the Mamelukes; he then proceeded in the direction of Damietta, where he compelled the Pasha to capitulate. At first, appar- ently, the old system was to be restored; Bardisi, the Mameluke leader, was to be in a position similar to that held by the Sheik al-Balad, whether with or without the title, while the presence of a powerless [269] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS governor was to maintain the tradition of the Porte's suzerainty. Soon, however, Mohammed All turned against Bardisi; his Albanian troops demanded arrears of pay, and threatened disturbances unless their de- mands were complied with. To meet them Bardisi imposed heavy contributions on the people of Cairo, which only aroused general indignation. Finally, March 12, 1804, Mohammed Ali with his troops at- tacked Bardisi's palace, and having previously won over his artillerymen had little difficulty in driving him out of Cairo, when he was followed by Ibrahim Bey, who appears to have resumed his old place in the government of the city. The Cairenes sum- moned Khurshid Pasha, Governor of Alexandria, to undertake the government of Cairo, and he had a triumphal entry. He proved no more capable of dealing with the difficult situation than those who had preceded him, but saw the necessity of maintain- ing a force capable of counteracting that of Mo- hammed Ali, whose Albanians were greatly attached to his person, and to that end obtained a regiment of Moors, whom he introduced into the Citadel; Mo- hammed Ali, who was engaged at the time in reduc- ing Upper Egypt, returned to Cairo on hearing of this, and in May, 1805, received the appointment of Governor of Jeddah from the Porte. Before leav- ing for Arabia, his Albanians demanded pay from the Pasha, and were told to obtain the equivalent by plundering. Before Mohammed Ali could leave for his post, if indeed he ever had intended to do so, [270] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI a deputation came to him from the leading sheiks in Cairo, urging him to undertake the government of the city, and to depose Khurshid Pasha, of whose incompetence and arbitrary methods they declared themselves tired. After some hesitation Moham- med Ali consented to accept their nomination, and a deputation was sent to Khurshid Pasha, informing him of his deposition, which he, as the representative of the Sultan, refused to recognise, since only the authority by whom he had been appointed could cashier him. As Khurshid Pasha did not hesitate to bombard the town, Mohammed Ali employed the Mosque of the Sultan Hasan as a counter citadel, a use to which it was accustomed, and dragged cannon up Mount Mokattam so as to command the Citadel from behind also. Earnest representations had meanwhile been sent to Constantinople, urging the recall of Khurshid and the appointment of Moham- med Ali in his place ; and by July 9 a rescript arrived from the Sultan, confirming the action of the sheiks, and declaring Khurshid deposed. A Turkish force was also sent to carry out these orders by force, should Khurshid continue to resist. Khurshid presently saw the vanity of such an endeavour, and on August 3 Mohammed Ali entered the Citadel as governor of Egypt for the Porte. The Mamelukes had played an important part in the rise of Mohammed Ali, but he proved to be a more effective enemy to them than either the Turks or Bonaparte had been. In two scenes of carnage he caused the remains of them to disappear from the [271] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS face of Egypt. In August, 1805, shortly after his official appointment, a party of Mamelukes were through the Pasha's agents induced to enter Cairo by the Northern Gate, on the supposition that the Pasha was away, seeing to the opening of the Nile dams, a ceremony which the chief authority in the capital regularly attended; soldiers had been put in ambus- cade in the houses that line the narrow street that ends at Bab Zuwailah, and these marksmen, when the Mameluke cavalry entered, dealt deadly execution on both men and horses. The survivors took refuge in the School of the Sultan Barkuk, in the Nahassin Street; here they were captured, and most of them afterwards executed. The second massacre took place in February, 181 1, when an army was equipped and ready to start for Arabia, to restore the authority of the Porte, and quell the Wahhabi rebellion. A reception was given at the Citadel, to which the Mamelukes were invited in numbers. On their departure they were attacked by the Albanian troops of the Viceroy, in the avenue cut in the solid rock which leads down from the Cita- del, the lower gate having been closed. In this gorge 460 are said to have perished, and orders had been issued to massacre those that were scattered about in Egypt. The event was followed by an attempt made by the soldiery to sack Cairo which the Pasha had some difficulty in repressing. To understand the feeling which prompted this measure it must be remembered that after the depar- ture of the French one of the Mameluke leaders had [272] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI visited England, and for a time, while French in- fluence was on the side of the maintenance of Mo- hammed Ali, English influence was in favour of the restoration of the Mameluke regime. The idea of the Pasha was then to annihilate the party which in the event of disasters in Arabia might be in a position again to bring Egypt into disorder. And he did annihilate it. The Mamelukes play no part in the politics of Egypt since 1811. The widows of the slain were spared, but the Pasha claimed the right to give them in marriage to his followers. In the whole Mameluke system there is much that is obscure, especially in the phenomenon that these slave-rulers required constantly to be refreshed from outside, the offspring of the Emirs apparently amal- gamating with the Moslem population, and invari- ably taking ordinary Moslem names. It was a late survival in history of the old beginning of kingship, where a man slew the slayer, and should himself be slain; for if this does not always literally hold good of the Mameluke sovereigns, yet it is a formula which does not diverge over widely from the truth. Ali Bey saw that the system must be struck at, but was satisfied with preventive measures for the future; Mohammed Ali tore out the system by the roots. Not quite a century has elapsed since that event, and Cairo is still the capital of Mohammed All's dynasty, and has expanded to greater dimensions than it ever reached under the most prosperous of its earlier sovereigns. Mohammed All's career has been repeatedly nar- [273] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS rated, and we have no room even to sketch it here. Aided by his able son, Ibrahim Pasha, he subdued Arabia, whereas two other sons extended his dominions by conquests in the region of the Upper Nile. Like other possessors of Egypt, he was anxious to hold Syria as well; and, picking a quarrel with the Porte when that power had been weakened by the Greek War of Independence, he sent Ibrahim Pasha northwards, and shortly overran Syria and Asia Minor, and was in a position to threaten Con- stantinople itself. The interference of Russia pre- vented the Egyptian Pasha dealing with the Sultan as the Buyids and Seljuks had dealt with the Caliph of Baghdad; but for some six years Syria was an Egyp- tian province. The discontent of the Syrian popula- tion then gave the Porte an opportunity to attempt the recovery of this region, only, however, to sustain severe losses both on land and sea. But at this point the European concert stepped in. Yet it was not be- fore Ibrahim Pasha had been defeated by European officers that the pretensions of the Pasha of Egypt were moderated, and he was satisfied with the he- reditary government of the Valley of the Nile. In 1841, by the terms of peace between Mohammed Ali on the one side and the Sultan with his European allies on the other, the government of Egypt was vested in the Pasha's family, though the title Khedive was not conferred on the ruler till some time later. Perhaps, if the history of the older Eastern con- querors were better recorded, we should in each case understand the means whereby they came to the front [274] n; THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI and defeated their rivals. In Mohammed Ali's case, the secret lay in his determination to adopt the civili- sation of Europe. The introduction of European drill and tactics was entirely against the prejudices of his subjects, and at first led to a plot for his assassina- tion; the conspiracy was revealed in time, but the un- popularity of his measures did not daunt the Pasha, and he even allowed the objectors to go unpunished. European, and especially French, officials were in- troduced to train troops, cast cannon and build men- of-war; but the military inventions of the West were not the only ones adopted by the Pasha, who imported education, architecture and medical appliances from the same source. Vast schemes, some successful, others destined to failure, were set on foot with the object of increasing the productiveness of Egypt and even rendering it a manufacturing country, and the internal administration both of town and country underwent a radical change. To Mohammed Ali, moreover, is due, if not the introduction yet the en- forcement of religious toleration on an ample scale. Fanaticism, whether exercised against native or foreign Christians, was punished by him with exemplary promptitude; and the attitude of mutual respect and consideration adopted by the various reli- gious communities of Egypt, which is a pleasing fea- ture to any visitor of that country, probably dates from Mohammed Ali's time, though the brief French occupation may have contributed towards bringing it about. In Cairo itself Mohammed Ali introduced the [277] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS first specimens of European architecture, and of course the capital was greatly altered during his long and eventful reign. His draining of the Ezbekiyyeh Pool has already been noticed; he built himself a palace at Shubra and laid out the long boulevard that connects this suburb with the capital, as well as another connecting Cairo with Boulak, where a substantial new stone quay was erected for river steamers. To a late period in his reign belongs the Rue Neuve, the need for which was occasioned by the great number of foreign merchants settled in the Mouski, a street which derives its name from a bridge built over the Great Canal by one Mouski, a relation of the great Saladin, who died in the year 1 1 88. The Rue Neuve was begun in the year 1845, its width being calculated by the space requirements of two loaded camels passing each other. It crosses at right angles the old thoroughfare which originally bore the name Between the Two Palaces, and, doubt- less, in the course of its construction many an old landmark was obliterated. The name of Mohammed Ali is perpetuated in Cairo by his great mosque, erected on the Citadel after the older mosques of which there were so many at different times, had fallen into ruin or become dis- used. The Mosque of Nasir still remains as a shell, but of the others few but archaeologists know the traces. Mohammed Ali's building is in imitation of the mosques of Constantinople, for all which the original model was furnished by Saint Sophia. Prince Puckler Muskau visited Cairo when this [278] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI mosque was in course of erection, and speaks of it in the following enthusiastic strain: " At the southern extremity of the Citadel the Vice- roy is now erecting a mosque, just opposite to the ruined Saladin [rather Nasir] Mosque, which in some respects will be the most superb edifice in the world; for not only are all the columns made of mas- sive, polished alabaster, but even the inner and outer walls are completely covered with this costly ma- terial, which has hitherto been employed only in making vases, watchstands and little knickknacks of the kind; and I should not be in the least surprised if the entire quarry of Sheik Abadeh were to be exhausted in the creation of this temple. The efifect of the whole is quite astonishing; but it is very much apprehended that this delicate stone will not be able to withstand the effects of the climate." Most European visitors are much more restrained in their admiration of this building, and regard the taste which it displays as vastly inferior to that ex- hibited in the mosques of the Mameluke period. The following is a translation of Ali Pasha Mubarak's description of it: " This Mosque was built by the late Hajj [i.e., Pilgrim], Mohammed Ali Pasha, native of Cavalla, founder of the Khedivial family in Egypt. He be- gan its erection in the year of the Hijrah, 1246 [1830- 1831], after he had set the affairs of Egypt in order, and terminated those operations of vast utility which we have sketched in the introduction to this book. He selected for its site the Citadel of Cairo, in order [279] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS that the benefits of public worship might be enjoyed by the employes in the palaces and public offices, in- asmuch as during his time all the ministries and most of the offices were in the Citadel. He prepared for its erection a broad area, which contained the re- mains of edifices that had been erected by former sovereigns, all of which he ordered to be cleared away, as also the soil till he came to the solid rock,, on which he ordered the foundations to be laid. He built the walls of enormous stones, some three-and-a- half metres in length; iron rods connected each pair of stones, and molten lead was poured in. In this style the foundations were laid till the surface of the ground was reached. The mosque was modelled on the beautiful Nur Osmaniyyeh Mosque of Constanti- nople, and in part on that of Sidi Sariyah on the Citadel — an unimportant mosque of which the orig- inal appears to be obscure. The building of the walls was continued in the style that has been described. Four doors were made, two to the north, one admitting to the court, the other to the dome; two also were placed on the south side. The stone walls were faced with alabaster both within and without to their full height. He who enters from the gate of the Citadel called Bab al-Daris finds a wide place in which he is confronted by the doors of the court and the dome. The door leading into the court has in- scribed over it in marble a text from the Koran com- mending prayer. The letters are gilt. The threshold is of marble, the door of antique wood ; the tympanum is of wood also. The height of the door is four [ 280 ] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI metres, the wooden tympanum is one metre high. The wall is two metres thick. The court is fifty- seven metres long by fifty-five broad, its surface being 3135 square metres. It embraces five liwans, surmounted by forty-seven domes, mounted on marble pillars, eight metres high, exclusive of the base. The number of these pillars which surround the court and support the domes is forty-five. Each has a necking and torus of brass, and each column is connected with every other by an iron bar; the num- ber of these bars amounts to ninety-four. To each dome there is appended a brass chain, to which a lamp is attached. On the left side as one enters from this door is the door of the minaret, of ordinary wood ; 265 steps lead to the summit, exclusive of those which lead up to the iron obelisk which crowns it. On the left side in the middle, between the two liwans is the door which leads from the court into the dome; it is of folding doors of antique wood, as also is the semicircular tympanum; over it the date is written in Turkish. Some seven years before the liwan, which comes after the door of the dome, is the door which leads to the second minaret, ascended by the same number of steps as the last; they form winding staircases with bronze balustrades. The height of each of these minarets is eighty-four metres from the ground, of which twenty-five and two-thirds are from the ground to the roof of the mosque. On the same left hand side are nine windows belonging to the dome, each of which contains a text from the Surah called Fath, engraved in marble and filled in with [281] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS gold. Over the door of the dome there is written a text promising Believers Paradise; doubtless this promise has been realised in the founder's case. In the middle of the court there is a wooden dome mounted on eight marble columns, seven metres high, underneath which there is a fountain with an ala- baster cupola, and sixteen spouts, with a marble spout over each, containing the text of the Koran which enjoins washing before prayer, and the tradi- tion, 'Washing is the Believer's Weapon.' In front of each spout there is a marble base. Between each pair of pillars there is an iron rod, holding a brass chain for a lamp, while over each is a crescent of bronze. Close by is the entrance to the cistern which is underneath the court; the coping is of ala- baster, and the lid of brass. There is a pump there also for raising the water. " The southern gate of the court resembles the northern, which it faces, and there is engraved above it in marble the text, * Your Lord hath prescribed unto Himself mercy.' In the liwans which sur- round the court there are thirty-eight windows, each two-and-a-half metres in length, and one-and-a-half in breadth; the thickness of the wall is two metres. It contains a window in bronze. In front of the north door, which gives entrance to the dome, there is a gallery on twenty-four alabaster columns, with bronze neckings and tori, each eight metres high, not including the base. The pillars are connected by twenty-two iron bars, and surmounted by eleven domes with bronze crescents. Hence you proceed [282] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI into the sanctuary, which is almost square, forty-six metres by forty-five, exclusive of the liwan on the kiblah side, which is seventeen metres by nine, with an area of one hundred and thirty-five metres. In it there is a very lofty dome, some sixty-one metres above the floor of the Mosque, mounted on four piers of hewn stone, faced with marble to a height of two metres. The dome has four semicircles, one on each side, and four small domes. The whole of the great dome is elaborately painted, and decorated with gold-leaf. There are circles painted round it, with certain pious formulae inscribed in gold-leaf. To the left of the sanctuary you find the Mihrab, with a semicircular roofing, while the niche itself is in marble with an inscription in coloured glass. The niche is enclosed by two small marble columns, with brass necking and torus. To the left, close to one of the piers that have been mentioned, is the reader's chair made of wood, with a balustrade of the same material turned. Five steps lead up to it, and it is carpeted with red cloth. To the right is the pulpit of wood, decorated with gold-leaf, reached by twen- ty-five steps, also carpeted with red cloth and with folding doors. Above in a circle there is inscribed the text, * Friday is with God the best of days.' Above the preacher's seat is a tall dome on four wooden columns, with a Koranic text written round it. At the bottom of the pulpit there is a guichet on each side, inscribed with texts; between them there is a sort of cupboard to which access is given by a door under the pulpit. Opposite the Mihrab is the [283] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS door of the dome leading out of the court, sur- mounted by a bench for the Mueddins, extending the whole breadth of the sanctuary, and mounted on eight marble pillars, eight metres high, surrounded by a bronze balustrade, which also surrounds the upper part of the sanctuary, this upper part contain- ing thirty-one brass windows, with lights of white glass. At a distance of about twelve metres there is another balustrade, facing thirty-one more windows, this time of stained glass. Between (?) the two there are the twenty-four windows of the great dome, with a brass balustrade, the windows being of bronze work with stained glass lights, and the balustrade at the top of the dome has in front of it forty stained glass windows. Round each of the four domes men- tioned above there are ten windows with balustrade. The purpose of these balustrades is to support lamps. In the semicircle of the Mihrab there are sixteen windows, with a gallery containing a balustrade in front, and round the wall low down there are thirty- six windows each two-and-a-half metres long, with white glass lights, each one containing a portion of the poem called ' Burdah.' Access is given to the galleries from the two minarets and the roof of the Mosque. The southern door of the dome, which faces the northern, has written on the outside ' God's are the places of worship, and invoke no one with God.' In front is a vast gallery, on eleven columns of alabaster, some eight metres high. Twenty-two iron bars connect these pillars, which are surmounted by eleven domes, similar to those in the gallery facing [ 284 ] SOUK SELAL, IIIIC AKMOURICKS' HAZAAK, CAIRO. THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI the first door. The tomb of the founder, which he ordered to be hewn for himself in the solid rock, is in the southwest corner to the right as one enters from the door leading from the court into the dome. The completion of the Mosque in this style was in the year 1261 [1845]. The founder died three years later, and was followed by Ibrahim his son, who died shortly after. He was succeeded by Abbas Pasha, son of Tusun, who ordered the Mosque to be finished. They whitewashed the piers, and then painted them to look like marble, paved the floor, and painted and inscribed the domes." One other monument in Cairo which preserves the name of Mohammed Ali, the Boulevard called after him, belongs to the reign of Isma'il Pasha, who gov- erned Egypt from 1863 ^^ 1882. Its site was a series of graveyards, which continued in use till Mo- hammed All's time. The bones were collected when the Boulevard was cut, and distributed in various places; over the spot where many of them were laid a mosque called the Bone Mosque was built. The plans were drawn in 1873. M. Rhone, who is no friend to the renovation of Cairo, gives the following description of the process by which the Boulevard was made: *' Like a shot fired too soon, it started one fine day from the Ezbekiyyeh, without knowing whither it was going, and alighted at a distance of two kilometres from its starting-point, at the for- midable angle of the mosque of the Sultan Hasan, which it could not help encountering. On its way it had displaced a whole hillful of houses and [287] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS mosques; halfway, on the canal, it let fall Its burden of debris, and this gave birth to the palace of Mansur Pasha." Ali Pasha, who took part in the under- taking, naturally speaks in a different style of this great artery, which he holds to have benefited Cairo enormously, among other services purifying the air. But the amount of displacing done was enormous; 398 buildings had to be removed to make room for the Boulevard; of these 325 were dwellings, some large and some small; the rest were baths, bake- houses, etc., besides religious buildings. We have already seen that the Mosque of Kausun suffered severely, though it must be added that Mehren, who made his list of religious monuments of Cairo before the construction of the Boulevard found this mosque in a ruinous condition; another sanctuary that suf- fered was that of the Sheik Nu'man, dating from the year 1575. Isma'il Pasha is the founder of modern Cairo, of which the centre is the Place Atabah al-Khadra, or the Green Threshold, supposed to be called after a palace with that name which formerly existed there, and was the abode of one Mohammed al-Shara'ibi, who lived in the twelfth Mohammedan century. From it there radiate streets or boulevards in all directions; Mouski leads eastwards to the old parts of the city, crossing where was once the Grand Canal to what remains of the work of the Fatimides ; west- wards a number of avenues lead to the quarter called after Isma'il, the abode of the English and the wealthy. When new streets are built, an attempt is [288] THE KHEDIVIA POLDERI made to preserve some history in their names; few, such as the Boulevard Clot Bey, are called after quite modern personages; in most cases they preserve the memory of either an ancient quarter, or some build- ing that once stood near their sites. The committee, to whose w^ork allusion has so often been made, acting on expert opinion, sees that no ancient work is de- stroyed which has either historical or artistic interest. Europe has taught the East to pay reverence to its ancient monuments. If Cairo should ever indulge in the taste for his- torical pageants which is so characteristic of our country at this time, it would not be difficult to find a number of scenes worth reproducing, some of them graced with figures that loom large in the vista of the centuries. Ahmad Ibn Tulun's architect sum- moned from his prison to solve the problem of the mosque; Jauhar drawing the lines of his city at an auspicious moment; Saladin rejecting the splen- dours of the Fatimide Palace; Shajar al-durr receiv- ing the homage of the Emirs behind her curtain; Baibars receiving his investiture from the Caliph of his own appointment; Kala'un's Hospital in- augurated by a disloyal preacher; Cairo decorated to celebrate the fall of Constantinople, and presently itself entered in triumph by the Ottoman Sultan; al- Azhar, stormed by Bonaparte's soldiers; the Mame- lukes surrendering to Mohammed Ali in the Barkuk Mosque — these might be suggested as a character- istic and not wholly uninteresting selection. And if scenes from yet later times were included, there [289] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS might be a few in which great Englishmen figured also: Baker, sent by Isma'il Pasha to suppress the slave-trade in the Soudan; Gordon, hastening to his heroic defence of Khartoum; and last, but not least, the farewell address of the statesman to whom the present financial and administrative prosperity of Cairo is due. [290] > o D J o o Da <^ b W JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH ^^^^^HE situation of Jerusalem is majestic and M C| impressive. It lies on four hills, which ^L^^^ some with a taste for sacred numbers have ^^^ wished to increase to seven ; on three sides deep valleys encircle it. Both those that separate the hills and those that surround them were at an earlier period far deeper than they are now, since excavators have found accumulations of rubbish about them, varying in depth from forty to over a hundred feet; one of the hills was, it is said, deliberately lowered as a military precaution, and one of the internal depres- sions artificially filled up. Before these operations of art and nature were accomplished, the features which excite our admiration now must have been greatly accentuated. And those have taught us most about the ancient topography of the city who have driven shafts and tunnels through these accumu- lations, and mapped out underground Jerusalem. Their work constituted a record in excavation, and some of their names are dear to the British nation on quite other than archaeological grounds. If they have left many a controversy undetermined, it is be- [293] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS cause inscriptions, the surest indications of ancient sites, have rarely been discovered, and still more rarely on the places w^here they originally stood; be- cause the place has been often taken by relentless enemies, determined if possible to leave no stone upon another; and because ancient descriptions of it are often either ideal descriptions, or made by per- sons who wrote at a distance from the scenes which they described, and were perhaps unskilled in accu- rate observation and the technicalities of archi- tecture. The nature of the soil has determined the area of the city, but except for its brief period of glory, to which allusion will presently be made, there was no reason why it should ever have to harbour a great population. Since the building of the second Tem- ple it has been far more a religious than a politi- cal centre; and even as such it has never been able to occupy quite the first rank. With Islam it was only occasionally and under special circumstances able to rival Meccah; with the more powerful por- tion of Christianity it was superseded by Rome. Probably the more energetic and capable of the Israelites have regularly preferred to be its occa- sional visitors than to constitute part of its perma- nent population. The class whom such a place at- tracts consists of persons worn out with worldly things, and interested only in spiritual concerns, while the expectation of a golden stream from out- side discourages in the natives the original effort and the growth of those sterling qualities which the [294] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH struggle for existence ordinarily produces. Con- stantly recruited from without, it produces little or nothing from within. Thus for an indigenous art or architecture in Jerusalem no one looks; the explorer searches only for relics of the styles imported at dif- ferent periods sometimes by domestic rulers, more often by donors and benefactors. The Solomonic Temple was in Phoenician style, the Temple of Nehemiah probably Persian; for later buildings the models were furnished by Greece, Rome and Byzan- tium, after which came Norman and Gothic impor- tations from Europe; to-day the patterns in fashion in every European state of consequence are repre- sented. Should a new Jewish Temple be built on the Haram area, it would probably be from French or Italian designs. The period during which the city could claim the title imperial was very short, extending no longer than the reigns of David and Solomon, the former of whom appears to have brought several of the sur- rounding peoples into subjection. This is the view which we take, if we approach the Old Testament record without too great scepticism. With the name of the first of these two sovereigns the city has been in historic times connected, although there is a great doubt as to the part of it which he occupied; the operations executed by him with the view of making the place a metropolis are too briefly stated to permit of much being elicited. The name appears to go back to a much earlier period than that of David, who is said to have found the city, or part of it, in [295] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS possession of a tribe called Jebus, after whom it was then called ; members of the tribe occasionally meet us after David's seizure of their stronghold. Their fortress is usually supposed to have occupied one of the hills only, with which the founder of Israelitish Jerusalem incorporated others, enclosing the whole with a wall. Such dwellings as already existed would then be allotted to those who helped to storm the fortress, and permission given for others to build. The speed with which the residence of a victorious prince attracts inhabitants is extraordinary, and Jeru- salem was doubtless a populous city before his reign ended. That no sanctuary was erected by him to the national Deity seems certain, and the fact re- quired explanation at an early time; that in which the later Jews acquiesced was that he was disquali- fied for erecting a sanctuary by the blood which he had shed, but the earlier explanation may have been different. The only monument in the city's neighbourhood which may be actually connected with David is the King's tomb outside the Sion Gate. The exact spot where David was buried is not mentioned in his biography, but his tomb is employed as a landmark by Nehemiah, and is mentioned repeatedly by Jose- phus, who declares that the King had much treasure deposited with him, which in the centuries just pre- ceding the Christian Era was despoiled by Hyrcanus and Herod. In the Acts of the Apostles also the tomb of David is mentioned as a well-known object in Jerusalem. A Christian tradition identifies a [296] ■y^4 3 z a '■ --r-^ r. i^^ y. V •3.* JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH room in the buildings surrounding the tomb as the Upper Chamber where the Eucharist was instituted and where the miracle of Pentecost was wrought. The room is said by Epiphanius to have remained undestroyed when the city was burned by Titus, and to have afterwards been used as a church. A con- vent for the Franciscans was here erected in the four- teenth century by Sancia, Queen of Robert of Sicily, which was taken from them by the Moslems in 1560, it is said, owing to the vengeance of a Jew, who had desired to perform his devotions at the tombs of David and Solomon underneath the convent, and had been refused permission by the Franciscans, and who then persuaded the Grand Vizier at Constan- tinople to take the tombs of the two Kings, whom the Koran calls Prophets, out of the hands of unbe- lievers. A few favoured travellers have had access to the tombs themselves, which appear to have been discovered in the time of Benjamin of Tudela, when stones were taken from the wall of Mount Sion to repair the church. The story of their discovery is not free from fabulous elements, but some monu- ments of artistic excellence appear to exist on the spot. The question to whom they belong has not been definitely solved, and even in Nehemiah's time the traditional site may not necessarily have been the real one. Solomon's character, like that of David, is a fa- miliar one to readers of Oriental history. While the father was the enterprising and astute empire- builder, the son was the magnificent patron of the [299] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS arts, of literature, and of commerce. Under him the metropolis began to be adorned with edifices worthy of the sovereign's power and wealth, and foreign artificers were summoned to erect them, the Phoeni- cians at this time occupying the place which at a later period belonged to Greeks, and after them to nations yet further west. Of the building of the Temple, the sacred writers have preserved a most elaborate account; and though there is some contro- versy as to the part of the Haram area which it occu- pied, there appears to be general agreement as to the practical correctness of the traditional site. The breaches in the continuity of the tradition are not in- deed considerable; perhaps the most considerable being that between the times of Jeremiah and Nehe- miah, though Moslem writers make it appear that when the Mohammedan conqueror wished to be directed to the site of the Temple, wrong directions were given him at first, apparently through igno- rance. The probability is that none of the vicissi- tudes through which Jerusalem passed left the coun- try quite without inhabitants familiar with so notable a site. Besides the Temple, the King's own domestic arrangements required the erection of several pal- aces, and probably of numerous shrines for the hous- ing of the deities worshipped by the different nation- alities represented in his household. Of these palaces and sanctuaries the Bible pre- serves some names and some architectural details; but of the general appearance of the city in Solo- mon's time it is not possible to gather any distinct [300] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH impression. The material used by him appears to have been perishable in the extreme, and it is un- likely that any work executed by him still remains. Owing, however, to the memories of Solomon's wis- dom and magnificence, legend attributes to him all anonymous works on a great scale that are to be found either in the city or in its neighbourhood. The theory that Solomon had supernatural agencies under his control enabling him to carry out the vast- est designs can be traced back to the time of Josephus, and through the influence of the Koran has become an article of faith with Moslems. The Biblical ac- count of his methods shows that no supernatural agents were requisite. The whole wealth of a small country, and unlimited labour, such as lay at the dis- posal of the Sultan of the time, would easily account for the execution of any of the works attributed to him. No contemporary traveller tells us what Jeru- salem looked like in his day, for the memoirs of the Queen of Saba, if she left any, have not come down. Probably it was largely a collection of wooden huts. These form an intermediate stage between the dwell- ings of the nomad and the town resident; and the cry, " To your tents, O Israel " had not ceased to be heard in Solomon's time. The palaces differed from the other houses in the quality, but not in the nature of the material of which they were mainly constructed. The magnificent monarch often leaves on the mind of his subjects not so much pride in his grandeur as resentment at the extortions which have been the I 301] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS source of his magnificence, and with all but Solo- mon's own tribe and one other the latter appears to have been the sentiment which dominated. The un- popularity which has attached to the tribe of Judah ever since it became known to the general world, seems to have belonged to it in its relations with the other tribes constituting Israel, and so soon as Solo- mon was dead, they hastened to throw off a yoke, which indeed the King's taste for building by forced labour had rendered exceptionally severe. Other sanctuaries became more popular with the northern kingdom, which was far more populous and power- ful than the small remnant which remained loyal to the family of David. That loyalty, however, ap- pears to have been a deep-rooted sentiment, and to have kept the southern kingdom tolerably free from the scramble for the sovereignty which disturbed and finally wrecked the northern. The record which we have of both is exceedingly imperfect, and in the matter of building we hear chiefly of repairs done to the wall of Jerusalem, of the occasional erection of towers, and of provisions made for a better water supply. The only inscription in Jerusalem which is from the period of the kings is that which records the construction of an aqueduct in the time of King Hezekiah. This aqueduct, which took the form of a tunnel, appears to have been commenced at both ends at once, a fact which implies the existence of greater engineering skill, and instruments of greater precision, than we should ordinarily suppose to have been possessed by the Jews. [302] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS The condition of Jerusalem during the period of the divided kingdom, as the Book of Kings records it, was by no means one of quiet development; it was, on the contrary, one of perpetual disturbance, in which city and Temple were repeatedly sacked, varied at times by spells of peace and prosperity under some competent ruler. The maintenance of the Temple was, it would seem, during the whole time, the chief function of the King, and according to the influences to which different kings were sub- ject many innovations were introduced, both in the structure of the sanctuary and in the form of ritual. The unfriendly attitude adopted by the Jewish religion towards all others appears at least in prac- tice to date from the last century of the monarchy; previously Jerusalem contained sanctuaries dedicated to objects of worship other than the God of Israel, and the Temple itself at times harboured altars of more than one Deity. The record which has come down to us of Jewish history is written in the spirit of Deuteronomy, and is too deeply hostile to pagan cults to take any interest in the monuments erected for their celebration; while, therefore, we hear occa- sionally of the names of deities to whom shrines were dedicated in Jerusalem, it is chiefly when the his- torian rejoices over their destruction; neither has he any more sympathy with sanctuaries intended for the God of Israel, but outside the Temple area. We therefore conjecture rather than know for certain that Jerusalem, in its best days, presented an appear- ance not unlike what it exhibits to-day, where with [ 304 ] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH one pre-eminent mosque representing the dominant cult, there is associated a variety of other mosques, churches and synagogues, the latter belonging, to a large extent, to strangers, though in part to natives; the notion that the sanctity of the chief edifice is impugned by the presence of these other places of worship has now been outgrown, though even before the Deuteronomic reform it had no wide currency. The mode whereby that reform was introduced has been made out, so far as the nature of the evi- dence admits of positive conclusions, by those who have written on the history of Israelitish religion, and we know that when Judaism was once started on the doctrine of one God, one Temple, it drew the inferences with ever-increasing rigour. Prob- ably those are right who trace the origin of the process to the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sen- nacherib, when the northern Kingdom had been swept away by Assyria. If, as the history suggests, there were strong reasons why the sect, whose motto was the doctrine stated, could claim the miracle as one granted specially to their cause, their ability to monopolise Judaism and in time Jerusalem seems to be explained. That effect was not attained with- out violent reactions, in the course of which Jerusa- lem itself perished, for the miracle was not renewed, and the violent religious persecutions which fol- lowed the reign of Hezekiah must have greatly re- duced such power of resistance as the Jewish people might have been able to bring against the tremen- dous power of Babylon. Belief, however, in the [305] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS sanctity of the spot where alone a temple might stand and sacrifice could be offered was harboured as a precious heirloom by the descendants of those who had been forcibly ejected from the sacred city. The conviction that it would eventually arise from its ruins, no more to be polluted by alien worships, gave it for a time an ideal existence, and enthusiasts de- voted their energies to planning how it should be laid out. The time which elapsed before such operations could be executed seems to have been very lengthy. It is not now thought probable that there was a Jeru- salem between that of David and that of Nehemiah; if there was it must have been a place of small im- portance, for the inquisitive Herodotus, who com- posed his inquiry in the fifth century B.C.^ had heard of Palestine but appears not to have heard of Jeru- salem. Josephus answers that he had also not heard of Rome, a reply which seems unsatisfactory. A re- turn from exile in the form of a splendid pageant, such as some of the Prophets awaited, did not take place; but early in the fourth century, B.C.^ one Nehemiah, who had won promotion at the Persian court, then in possession of the East, obtained leave to rebuild city and temple on a modest scale. The restored Jerusalem appears to date from his efforts, but the combination of his authentic narrative with another of unknown date and authority has rendered the process of restoration hard to follow. The un- friendly attitude adopted towards their neighbours by the Israelites seems to have involved the re- [306] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH builders of Jerusalem in difficulties, but there is no doubt that through the work of Nehemiah it was raised to the rank of something like a provincial cap- ital, and this rank it retained when before the close of the fourth century Persian domination gave way to Greek. For the gap which separates the termination of the Old Testament from the Maccabaean period even Josephus appears to have had only historical ro- mances to guide him, but in the restored city, pre- vented by the suzerain power from having an inde- pendent foreign policy, something like the theocracy contemplated in the Mosaic legislation could be put in practice. And of the divine worship which con- stituted the main concern of the city the representa- tion projected by the Books of Chronicles into the age of David is likely to be a faithful account. The one fragment of history that belongs to this period tells how one of the high priests fortified the Temple and secured the city against besieging. This does not imply independence, but a wise pre- caution, since one of the most painful features of warfare in all but the most modern times was that the people, whether belonging to the ruling castes or not, suffered all the horrors that accompanied the sack- ing of cities in quarrels that were not theirs. During this period Palestine was alternately in the power of Egyptian and Syrian princes, and was perpetually exposed to their hordes. The peculiarities of Israel- itish worship began to attract some attention in the Hellenic world, and with these the foreign garrisons [307] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS located in the Citadel could not fail to obtain a tol- erable acquaintance. While in some cases the im- pression created was not unfavourable, in others Judaism roused the vehement hatred which for some reason or other it has constantly been found capable of exciting. Finally, in the first quarter of the sec- ond century B.C.^ the Syrian monarch, Antiochus Epiphanes, set himself the task of destroying Juda- ism, and compelling its adherents to adopt Hellenic culture. Pagan worship" was instituted in the Temple itself, and the animal which for unknown reasons is abhorred by Jews and Moslems was se- lected for sacrifice. Interference with the exercise of the law provoked resentment which no amount of oppression of a different sort could have awakened: the family of Mattathias, a descendant of Asmoneus, was found equal to organising resistance, and its members by their victories secured to their country- men a fresh lease of independence, and renewed prosperity for Jerusalem. A tower commanding the Temple area which had been erected by the per- secutors was destroyed by the defenders of Judaism, and the Temple purified from its defilement. To the Maccabaean period — or a little later — there belongs a description of the city, professedly written by a Greek of the third century B.C.^ but in reality by a Jew of a much later time, anxious as many as of his race have often been to conceal his nationality and identity. Whether this writer had ever seen the city which he depicts is uncertain : in any case his account is quite ideal and belongs rather to the con- [308] ■ ^fi^J^zsr^ .x "^i^/, -■i'- JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH ception of the heavenly Jerusalem, of which we have seen the origin. Situated in the midst of mountains, on a high hill, Jerusalem was crowned with a Temple girt with three walls over seventy cubits high. The court of the Temple, which was paved with marble, covered vast reservoirs of water — this part of the description is confirmed by Sir C. Warren's discov- eries — fountains of which washed away the blood of the myriads of beasts there offered. The streets formed a series of terraces stretching from the brow of the hill down into the valley, and were furnished with raised pavements, the purpose of which was to prevent the clean being contaminated by contact with the unclean. It was admirably fortified with a number of towers arranged like the tiers in a theatre. The compass of the city was about forty stades. The comparison of the city to a theatre, of which the temple area was the stage, has been made by others, yet its appropriateness seems very doubtful. Before the Maccabaean dynasty had lasted a cen- tury, the precious possession of independence was sacrificed to the personal ambitions of rival claim- ants for the chief place in the State; Jerusalem was taken by Pompey, and the Holy of Holies profaned by the entrance of a stranger. But ere long Herod, who in the troubles which ruined the Roman Repub- lic, had played with consummate skill a difficult hand, being installed as monarch, and obtaining pos- session of Jerusalem at the price of a tremendous massacre, restored the city to greatness by no means inferior to that of its imperial days. His deeds were [311] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS recounted by a contemporary of his own, whose work survives in the excerpts made by the Jewish historian Josephus, whose books form a storehouse of informa- tion on the topography of Jerusalem, which, if in no wise to be compared with Makrizi's account of Cairo, is yet highly prized for its fulness of detail. Money ruthlessly extorted by Herod was spent by him in beautifying and strengthening his capital, where he rebuilt the Temple on a scale of unsur- passed magnificence — unless, indeed, the concept of the heavenly Jerusalem may have affected the rep- resentations of Josephus. The king built three towers " excelling all in the world in size, beauty and strength," which he named after his brother, his friend and his wife. To the north of the city he built a palace surpassing all powers of description, surrounded with a wall thirty cubits high, containing banqueting-halls, guest-chambers, avenues, channels for water, and all else that can be imagined. The white marble blocks of which the towers were con- structed were so truly joined that each appeared to be one mass of stone. How much in the descriptions of these buildings is due to the imagination is un- known: the buildings themselves have disappeared without a trace. Herod's magnificence no more won the afifection of his subjects than did Solomon's before him; the people at his death thought the direct yoke of Rome preferable to an Oriental des- potism, and before the destruction of the city they had painful experience of both. The Jerusalem of the Gospels is, of course^ [312] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH Herod's Jerusalem, with some alterations effected by Roman occupation. On the whole the magnificence ascribed by Josephus to the buildings of Herod is borne out by allusions in the early Christian records, and an inscription discovered by M. Clermont-Gan- neau, composed in the Greek of this period, in which strangers are forbidden to proceed beyond a certain point in the Temple area on pain of death, strikingly confirms the statements of the Jewish historian. The employment of the Temple at this time as a place where those who wished to give instruction could do so is similar to that which is characteristic of the Moslem Mosque. But the elaborate ritual of which the Temple was the scene has rather been inherited by the Christian sanctuary, though of course the abolition of sacrifice, due to the destruction of the Temple, has deprived religious worship of what used to be its most important feature. The attention of the Jewish historian and the oral tradition of his countrymen is so much engrossed by the Temple, the palaces and the forts, that little is left for the other public and private buildings which at this time filled the city; we hear casually of a gymnasium, and ob- tain a casual reference to public baths. We hear of numerous synagogues shortly after the destruction of the Temple, and it is likely that there was no lack of these, in different parts of the city, in the period which preceded that disaster. Some provision must also have been made for the religious wants of the foreign army of occupation, and indeed for those of other foreign visitors, though the Romans seem ordi- [313] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS narily to have respected Jewish prejudices on this subject so far as possible. And especially must pro- vision have been made for the great numbers of devout persons who visited the metropolis regularly at feast times. Of Herod's descendants, Herod Agrippa, the friend of Claudius, who for his services in connection with the Emperor's accession had received his grand- father's kingdom, continued the work of fortifica- tion, and commenced, where practicable, a new en- circling wall, rendered necessary by the growth of the population, which, had it been completed, should, in the opinion of Josephus, have rendered the city impregnable. The city was for a short time the focus of general attention during the rebellion quelled by Vespasian and Titus, and ending in the fall of Jerusalem in the year 70. It would be interesting to know the amount of the population at this time, but our authorities give figures which could only with great difficulty be accommodated in the space; 600,000, or about eight times the present population, and 2,500,000, or about thirty-five times the existing num- bers. Moreover, the present population covers an area which seems certainly to include ground that was outside the city besieged by Titus. The same must be said of these numbers as of the wall seventy cubits high that surrounded the Temple, that they suit the heavenly Jerusalem rather than the earthly. Whatever the numbers may have been, they were unable to defend the city, which appears to have been [314] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH destroyed no less thoroughly than after its capture by the Babylonians. Herod's three towers are said to have been left, with as much of the western wall as would serve to protect the ruins. It would seem that the destruction of the public buildings did not pre- vent a certain number of persons returning to their homes, and a community established itself there after the fall, similar to that which may have occupied the same site before the time of Nehemiah. About sixty years after the fall a man who believed himself to be the Messiah, and persuaded others of the same. Bar Cochba, heading a new nationalist movement on the part of the Jews, seized the ruined city, refortified it, and proceeded to rebuild the Temple. The revolt was not more successful than that described by Josephus; and, after its suppres- sion, Jerusalem was turned into a Roman colony, called Aelia Capitolina, with a temple to Jupiter Capitolinus on the Temple area. To that god in Vespasian's time the tribute had been assigned that had previously been sent by the Jews to their own Temple, and the Jews were forbidden access and even approach to the city of their fathers. The name Aelia supplanted the time-honoured name, which for a while belonged exclusively to the heavenly city of devotional fancy, which the fall of Jerusalem under Titus had caused to be painted in more gorgeous colours than before. Even now Aelia is with Moslems the alternative appellation for " the Holy City," and figures on the imprints of books printed at Jerusalem. [315] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Of the events which led to Jerusalem being en- deared to half the world, few at the time realised the importance. The progress of Christianity, its sep- aration from Judaism, its honeycombing the Roman Empire, and its final adoption by a Roman emperor, form a fascinating subject of study, which at no time is likely to make the process perfectly clear. Except for the brief period occupied by siege and fall, it is probable that the Christian community at Jerusalem maintained a sort of continuity, and the concept of the New Jerusalem covered the site of the Old with a sanctity of which it was never divested, even before the instinct for pilgrimage found its interpretation in the desire to visit the sacred sites. One of the first results of the conversion of the Empire to Christianity was that steps were taken to cover with worthy monuments the places where scenes of transcendent importance had been enacted. A church was erected with great magnificence by Constantine, containing within its walls the Tomb of Christ, the place of the Crucifixion, and the spot where the True Cross had been found. What reason is there for supposing that the sites were still known in the fourth century, and could be accurately located? The question has often been debated, though it is uncertain when scepticism was first expressed. The best discussion of it is to be found in the posthumous work of Sir Charles Wilson, called " Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre," pub- lished by the Palestine Exploration Fund in 1906. The eminent explorer's conclusion is ambiguous, and [316] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH does not therein differ from that of many others who have been over the ground. There is no evidence that the site had any interest for the Christian community till long after all chance of being able to identify to it had disappeared, owing to the violent convulsions which had attended the taking of Jerusalem by Titus, its recapture at a later time by Bar Cochba, and its transformation into a Roman colony by Hadrian. To those who were filled with belief in the living Christ, any interest in the Holy Sepulchre would savour of the absurdity condemned in the Gospel of seeking the living among the dead. Only when an emperor desired the site to be recovered persons would not be wanting ready to discover it. The question for us is what indications led those who identified the site to select one rather than another. How came they to mention only the most obvious difficulty, to place the Tomb inside the City, when the Gospel leads us to suppose that it was outside? If the site was in accordance with authentic tradi- tion, the City must have been moved, i.e., its walls must in the time of Constantine have included a space which they did not include at a time when there is great reason for supposing the City to have been far more populous. Moreover is the proximity of the Sepulchre to the place of crucifixion either likely or suggested by the sacred narrative? The writers who narrate the discovery of these sacred sites usually introduce into the story the miraculous element; and this portion of it is scarcely less im- probable than the explanation given by some nar- [317] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS rators that the site was learned from a Jew tortured to reveal it. For why should such knowledge be preserved by Jews? Tradition seems unanimously to assert that the site was hidden beneath a Temple of Venus, a goddess of evil reputation, whose shrine was thought to be an intentional profanation of the holy spot, and that those who searched there were rewarded by the discovery of a grave, and presently by other confirmation of their find. The large liter- ature that exists on this subject illustrates the varying effect of arguments not only on different minds, but on the same mind at different times. The ordinary visitor may be contented with Sir C. Wilson's con- clusion that while there is no decisive reason, histori- cal, traditional or topographical, for placing Gol- gotha and the Tomb where they are now shown, yet no objection urged against the sites is of such a con- vincing nature that it need " disturb the minds of those who accept in all good faith the authenticity of places that are hallowed by the prayers of count- less pilgrims." Other writers have expressed themselves with much less caution on this subject. Some have re- garded the credit of Christianity as in a way bound up with the site selected in the time of Constantine, and even Sir C. Wilson says he would attach more weight to the opinion of Constantine's contem- poraries than to the conjectures of modern scholars, if it is a question of conjecture. On the other hand, those who have been fortunate enough in modern times to hit upon places which seem to them to cor- [318] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH respond to the requisite conditions are apt to express themselves very positively; so Colonel Conder, whose suggestion is marked on modern maps, re- gards it as a happy occurrence that the sacred site v^as trodden by the Crusaders without knowledge of its importance, and so spared the terrible scenes that were enacted at the taking of Jerusalem in the im- mediate neighbourhood of the site selected by Con- stantine. Scepticism has once or twice been ex- pressed on the identity of the present location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with that of Con- stantine's building; but for this there appears to be a continuous tradition, interrupted once or twice for a very few years only, not for a period during which there would be any probability of the site being for- gotten. Of the interruption of the tradition before the time of Constantine there is no question, but we have no accurate knowledge of the length of the break. In a city built on the plain, a site is easily rendered unrecognisable by such convulsions as be- fell Jerusalem and its neighbourhood in the three centuries which elapsed before Constantine built his church; but on such ground as is occupied by Jerusa- lem, landmarks are somewhat more permanent. In the period which followed the conversion of Constantine Jerusalem was adorned with many re- ligious edifices, and the whole land began to teem with monasteries and the abodes of anchorites. There is a record of a strange attempt made by the Emperor Julian to restore the Jewish Temple on the area which probably contained a disused sanctuary [319] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS of Capitoline Jupiter, but for some reason or other this scheme was not carried out. The practice of pilgrimage to the sacred sites grew in popularity, and owing to various inconveniences that arose was at times discouraged, though with little effect, by the Fathers of the Church. The Empress Eudocia is said to have rebuilt the walls of the city, and to have founded various religious and philanthropic institu- tions both in and around the place. More impor- tance attaches to the buildings of the Emperor Jus- tinian, who erected a hospital for sick pilgrims and finished the Church of the Virgin which the Patri- arch Elias had begun. Twelve years were occupied in the erection of this edifice, of which contemporary writers speak in enthusiastic terms. The platform on the Temple area selected for the building not be- ing large enough, it was artificially increased by arches on substructures. New methods were de- vised for bringing stones and columns of a size vast enough for the building contemplated. The hospi- tal was to contain 200 beds, and substantial revenues were settled upon it. The Church of St. Mary in some way escaped de- struction, when in 614 the nearer East was invaded by Chosroes — that last dying exploit of the Sassanian Empire, whose days were numbered. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was not equally fortunate, as it, with all its contents, was burnt to the ground. The malice of the Persian invaders is said to have been directed by Jews, who, as usual, were destined to reap no permanent advantage from the catas- [320] T. ■/. a. o d w JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH trophe. If the figures of the historians are to be trusted, the massacre effected by the Persians must have been on as great a scale as any of the events of the kind witnessed by Jerusalem; 90,000 Christians of both sexes are said to have perished, and 65,000 corpses were presently gathered and deposited in a single cave outside the Western Gate. The news of this terrible blow to the Byzantine Empire penetrated into Arabia, where the Prophet Mohammed, still at Meccah, foretold that the Persian victory would shortly be followed by a de- feat. The rebuilding of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre appears to have commenced almost as soon as the Persians had departed, the name of Modestus, superior of the monastery of Theodosius, being con- nected with this restoration, which took ten years to accomplish. Mohammed's prophecy was fulfilled fourteen years after its occasion, and in 628 the con- queror Heraclius visited the city on pilgrimage, and the part taken by the Jews in the former disaster was now visited on them heavily at the time when their brethren in Arabia were suffering persecution at the hands of another enemy. The imperial visit had doubtless the effect of causing the city to rise fast from its ruins, and a few years later a calculation, which may rest on tradition or conjecture, estimates the population of Jerusalem at 12,000 Greeks and 50,000 natives, about the number of human beings which the city with its suburbs contains at the pres- ent day. But the restoration of Christian rule in Jerusalem [323] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS was not destined to be permanent. A power of which there had been no previous indication was springing up at the time, destined to give Jerusalem a new lease of existence as a sacred city, while ban- ishing Christianity, at least as a dominant religion, from the nearer East. On Mohammed's mind the sanctity of Jerusalem had in his youth been im- pressed by those Jewish or Christian story-tellers with whom he had associated in his travels as a leader or as a follower of a caravan. And to him it had been portrayed as somewhat similar to the Bethel of Jacob's dream; the place where there was a ladder between heaven and earth, whereby visitors could ascend or descend. For him who was to be per- mitted to approach the Deity's abode Jerusalem was the starting point. Thither the Koran tells us the Prophet made a night journey from Meccah; and as dreamland is bound by no conditions of space or time, it was the Temple — long ruined and even pol- luted, but still the Furthest Sanctuary, furthest from us and so nearest to Allah — whither he was taken; it was there that — according to the tradition — he mounted the Pegasus that was to convey him to the upper world and its seven storeys. Whether the tra- dition that gives us the details of this eventful journey is all of it or any of it Mohammed's state- ment, cannot now be known ; all that concerns history is that it was believed. Jerusalem was to the fol- lowers of Mohammed what Sinai was to ancient Israel, more than the unknown Mount of the Trans- figuration ever became to Christians; and yet, just [324] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH as most Islamic institutions are coloured by some- thing out of both the preceding systems, so the Furthest Mosque has associations similar to those that belong to each of these mountains. Starting thence the Prophet associated with some of his less mighty forerunners, and received the honours due to his worth; and thither he brought down some of the legislation which through the ages is distinctive of Islam. So long as Mohammed was bent on holding no compromise with Meccan idolatry, it was to the Furthest Sanctuary that his followers were com- manded to turn when they prayed. Only when cir- cumstances rendered it necessary to conciliate Pagans and exasperate Jews, was Meccah substituted as the direction of prayer. Fourteen years after Mohammed's flight from Meccah came the Moslem conquest of Syria, decided by the battle of Yarmuk. The Patriarch of Jeru- salem was invited to deliver up the city without re- sistance to the Caliph's general, Abu Ubaidah, and since the terms of capitulation included security for life and property, religious toleration, and involved only the payment of a poll-tax and certain other by no means vexatious duties, not much difficulty was made about accepting them. As the Christians, it is said, declined to treat with anyone but the Caliph himself, perhaps doubting the power of any sub- ordinate to make treaties, Omar, the second follower of the Prophet, then reigning at Medinah, decided to accept this condition, and came to receive the capitulation of the sacred city. His name has ever [325] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS since clung to it, in connection with the Mosque of Omar, often falsely located. From 636 till July 15, 1099, the city remained under Moslem government; the nature of which renders religious toleration very variable, since it depends on the taste of the ruler for the time being whether non-Moslems shall be molested or not. And in such a city as Jerusalem, the possession of which could not fail to be an object of keen desire to Jews and Christians, the tendency to fanaticism must always have been greater than in any part of the Moslem world, except perhaps the sanctuaries of Meccah and Medinah. The Moslem conquest tended, therefore, to secure to Jerusalem sanctity similar to that which it had en- joyed under Byzantine rule, though to the Moslems it was one of three sanctuaries, to only one of which, and that not Jerusalem, pilgrimage was enjoined. When in Umayyad times the Caliphate gravitated towards Damascus, Jerusalem ran a chance of be- coming the central sanctuary, perhaps even the capital of Islam; but this prospect was found to be incapable of realisation, and Islam would scarcely have survived such a shifting of its religious centre. If any place in Palestine could supplant Meccah, it should rather have been Hebron, the city of Ibrahim or Abraham, the mythical founder of the Islamic or Hanefite faith. The doctrine of the Koran con- nected the sacrifice of Abraham's son not with Mount Moriah but with the neighbourhood of Meccah, where, indeed, the Ka'bah was supposed to [326] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH have been rebuilt by Abraham and Ishmael; the heroes of Jerusalem were persons in the main respected indeed, but not of primary importance for Islam. In accordance with the territorial division which the Arabs took over from the Byzantines, Jerusalem was situated in the Jund (or army) of Filastin (Pal- estine), of which the capital was Ramlah, in the time of the Caliph Sulaiman (715-717) who founded it, and long after; when Ramlah had been destroyed by Saladin in 11 87, Jerusalem inherited the right to the title of capital in this province. But the history of Syria was chequered, and as the conquest of the Abbasids had meant the loss of the metropolis to that country, it had a tendency to fall to those usurpers whose efforts gradually led to the establishment of a western Caliphate, to which Syria regularly be- longed. Professor Palmer observes that the ravages of the Carmathians in Arabia, where, in 929, Meccah itself was pillaged, and the Black Stone removed, led to Jerusalem being for a time the chief resort of Moslem pilgrims, a circumstance which also tended to cause a recrudescence of persecution. The annals of a cathedral town, especially when it is not the capital of a province, are unlikely to be ex- citing; and the scantiness of the annals of Jerusalem before the Prankish conquest and after it is easily explicable. Its history is little more than a record of damage and repair to the Christian and the Mos- lem sanctuaries. This, as will be seen, is fairly well recorded, but the governors of the place were not [327] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS sufficiently important for chronicles of their doings to be kept. The present condition of the city, in which the Christian feasts are the matter of real importance, which the Moslems, whose religious con- cern they are not, have to regulate, is likely to reflect the state of affairs that has been normal since the Moslem conquest. The Moslem is a casual visitor, the Christian a visitor to be reckoned on. He is not a welcome guest, but as a show place lives by its visitors, it is unwise to discourage him too much. On the other hand, a place of pilgrimage loses some- thing of its attractiveness, if it be too accessible; ex- ploits over which no risk is incurred are of little honour. So long then as the Christian pilgrims were only moderately humiliated and fleeced, Jerusalem could prosper. Mr. Lestrange, whose " Palestine under the Mos- lems " contains extracts from Moslem writers both before and after the Crusaders, lucidly arranged and interpreted with reference to the present topography of Jerusalem, has drawn attention to the descriptions of Jerusalem by Moslems who wrote at the end of the tenth and in the middle of the eleventh century respectively. The first of these was a native of the place, whose description is somewhat coloured by patriotism, and by the theory of the heavenly Jeru- salem. The second, a Persian visitor, of excellent repute as a writer, estimated the population at twenty thousand, and fancied that as many more Moslem pilgrims sometimes came in the month of pilgrimage. Numbers of Christians also came on pilgrimage, [328] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH and the Jews had a synagogue which was to them what the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was to the Christians; the native writer of half a century before declared that these two communities had all the power. One can hear similar complaints from Mos- lems now in Turkish cities. Both praise the place for its cleanliness; which, however, they rightly at- tribute to the geographical position of the city, and to the mode in which the streets are laid out, which permits impurities to be carried down by the rain. Of the list of eight gates made in the tenth century only one, the Bab al-Amud (called by Europeans the Damascus Gate) has preserved its name up to the present time. The sites of the remainder are not difficult of identification. Perhaps some of these may be on the same sites as gates mentioned by Nehemiah, though the variations in the elevation of the soil renders this doubtful. In spite of the assertions of these writers the con- dition of the Christians within Jerusalem, as in other places where Moslems were in power, was precarious in the highest degree. They were in a way hostages for the good behaviour of their coreligionists out- side; and activity on the part of the Christian powers might be avenged on them. Moreover, Islam was lacerated by internal wars, and the contributions which the diflferent aspirants to power required for the support of their armies could more easily and conveniently be levied on unbelievers than on be- lievers. The Crusaders were preceded by armies of pilgrims, large enough to inspire suspicion, though [329] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS not of sufficient size to attempt violence with much hope of success. The destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in loio by the mad Hakim had aroused some indignation in Europe, and the Seljuke rule, which at Baghdad was accompanied at first by violent disorders, had put the Christians of Palestine in a worse plight than before. The Jews, whether truly or not, were supposed to get at the ear of Mos- lem sovereigns, and avenge the ill-treatment of their brethren in Europe by falsely accusing the Chris- tians of the East. Yet all the wrongs of the branches of the Church subject to Moslems, and all the humiliations to which pilgrims from the West were subjected, would have produced no effect, had not one man been found gifted with the enthusiasm, the eloquence, and the energy to transform sentiment into words and action. The historians of the Crusades rightly give Peter the Hermit a place beside the most powerful movers of human masses that are known to fame. That such a man should have proved but an indifferent fighter is not surprising; credit must be given him for the possession of more organising ability than many mere rousers of en- thusiasm have been able to display. The movement started by Peter the Hermit led to the foundation of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem, of which lucid accounts have been given by Conder, Palmer and many others. On Friday, July 15, 1049, after a siege of forty days, Jerusalem was taken by the forces led by Godfrey of Bouillon, who himself was the first to scale the wall. His scaling tower, [330] -1 ■n ■A *: r'. ^ D J] ^ >?; < :ij k ;_) OJ ■A o »<; * ^ o 1 B u Ci o a, w JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH which had been vainly tried on the east of the city, was advanced with greater effect on the north side of the wall, near the gate called after Herod; and when once the city had been entered on this side, the forces of Raymond of Toulouse entered without diffi- culty from the west and south. The vanquished Moslems sought refuge partly in the Haram area, and partly in the Tower of David. In the former place a massacre took place, in which the slain are estimated by Arabic writers, accustomed to exag- gerate, at 70,000; while the other refugees appear to have been sent in safety to Askalon by the efforts of Count Raymond. The impression created by the news in the Moslem world was vast. An attempt was made at Baghdad, its centre, to start a rival cru- sade for the delivery of the captured city, but the time was not yet ripe amid Moslem dissensions for such an enterprise. Godfrey was appointed ruler of the reclaimed city, where he refused on religious grounds to bear the title king. He proceeded to transform the mosques into what many of them had been before, Christian churches, and to arrange on western lines for the proper maintenance of these as also of those churches which the Christians had under Moslem domination been allowed to retain. A patriarch was soon ap- pointed without reference to either the local Church or to the Pope; and a code of laws gradually drawn up which has won much admiration, as displaying a spirit far in advance of the time to which it belongs. For military purposes a modification of the feudal [333 ] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS system of Europe was introduced in the new king- dom, which was to include all Palestine, with certain vassaldoms beyond its confines. Among the most remarkable phenomena of the Crusades was the establishment of the orders at once military and ecclesiastical of the Templars and the Knights of St. John. The Templars were lodged in Aksa Mosque, which at first was used as a royal palace; when in 1118 the Order was founded. King Baldwin removed to other quarters, and the knights were housed in what they called the Temple of Solo- mon, to which they made various additions for reli- gious and other needs. The Muristan, now incor- porated in the recently built German Church, retains the memory of the Hospice of the Knights of St. John, who there had two buildings of this nature, one for males and another for females. They were not the first buildings of the sort for the use of Chris- tians even since Moslem domination; since the good relations between Charlemagne and the famous Harun al-Rashid had rendered it possible for the former to found a hospice in Jerusalem, and in gen- eral obtain tolerable conditions for the Christians resident there. A third Order, the Teutonic, also had a hospital of St. Mary in Jerusalem, founded after that of St. John's Knights, for the accommoda- tion of German pilgrims. The theory of the Prankish kings appears to have been to exclude Moslems from Jerusalem, just as non- Moslems were excluded from the Arabian sanc- tuaries. In order to replenish the devastated city the [334] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH second king, Baldwin L, brought into it a number of Syrians from villages beyond Jordan. The needs of trade appear to have caused the admission of a cer- tain number of Jews into the city during Prankish times, since a traveller found two hundred Jewish dyers living under the Tower of David. The vari- ous branches of the Oriental Church, Abyssinians, Armenians, Copts, Georgians and the different sects of Syrians appear to have all found representation in the Prankish city, just as they find it now. Whereas at one time it was supposed that the West owed much of its architecture to the East, the con- verse is now very generally believed. " The monu- ments," says Colonel Conder, " which the Latins left behind them attest their mastery in the art of build- ing. The masonry was far more truly cut than that of the Byzantines. The slender clustered pillars, the bold sharp relief of the foliaged capitals, the intri- cate designs of cornices witness their skill as masons and sculptors." The authors of " The Survey of Western Palestine " have made out a list of thirty- seven churches known to have existed in Jerusalem or in the vicinity of the city walls in the twelfth cen- tury. " Nor," they add, " is this all that remains of the crusading town, for wherever the explorer walks through the Holy City he encounters mediaeval remains. The whole of the present Meat Bazaar, adjoining the Hospital of St. John on the east, is cru- sading work, representing the old street of Mal- cuisinat; and the walls of the street leading thence towards the Damascus Gate, together with a fine [335] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS vaulted building on the east side, are of mediaeval masonry. The present Tower of David is the Cru- sading Castle of the Pisans, which was rebuilt as soon as the city was taken by Godfrey. The so-called Kal'at Jalut in the northwest angle of the present city is the mediaeval Tancred's Tower," The Prankish kingdom of Jerusalem lasted eighty- eight years, and the throne was occupied during that time by nine sovereigns, one of them an infant, and more than one under the influence of a woman. Ap- parently western government of eastern states can only be carried on successfully when the western in- vader is not a colonist, but a temporary occupant, to be replaced after a time by some one fresh from the West; the colonist speedily degenerates and cannot even cope with the indigenous inhabitant. Although the state founded by the Crusaders was perhaps less disturbed by wars and dangers than the ordinary his- tories of the time might lead the reader to believe; and the condition of Moslems subject to the Prankish king was not intolerable, the new kingdom took no root, and it is agreed by students that the efifect produced by the Crusaders on Europe was far greater than anything which they achieved in Asia. It has been pointed out that many Arabic words remain in European languages, as mementoes of that enterprise, w^hereas few, if any Prankish words have got into the vernaculars of Syria or Egypt in consequence of the presence of the knights. When once the differences between the sections of the Islamic world had been appeased by the great Saladin, the ejection of the [336] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH Franks ceased to be impossible. The final battle, of Tiberias or Hattin, fought July 2, 1187, ended with the army of the King of Jerusalem being annihilated by Saladin, and the King himself, Guy of Lusignan, falling into the Moslem leader's hands. The defeat appears to have been due to incompetent leadership on the Christian side, not to brilliant generalship on the part of Saladin. The effect, however, was the same. Town after town now fell back into Moslem hands, and after a futile attempt at resistance Jeru- salem was given back by capitulation to Saladin on October 2 of the same year. Few events in the his- tory of Islam are more honourable than Saladin's entry into Jerusalem without massacre and without pillage. According to the Mohammedan historian of Jerusalem the number of the inhabitants at the time was 100,000, from whom ransom was demanded at the rate of ten dinars per man, five per woman, and one per child. Guards were stationed at the gates, and only those who paid their ransom allowed to go out. Yet several managed to climb down the walls, and many were released on one pretext or another, the Sultan being kind-hearted. The recovery of Jerusalem by the Moslem Sultan counted in the East as no less an exploit than its con- quest had counted in the West, and pilgrimages to Jerusalem commenced from all Islamic countries. The Frankish residents sold their goods for what- ever they would fetch, being anxious to quit a Mos- lem city; and it was suggested to the Sultan to seize the gold and silver in the churches, as not having [337] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS been included by the capitulation, but he, anxious for the fair fame of Islam in Europe, refused to profit by this suggestion. Owing to the crusade for the second recovery of Jerusalem in which the English king, Richard L, played so noteworthy a part, Saladin deemed it advisable to strengthen the forti- fications of the city, and for that purpose came and took up his abode in the hospital near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, now called Muristan. Artisans were sent for from Mosul, with whom 2000 Chris- tian prisoners were compelled to work; a series of towers were constructed from the Jaffa to the Damas- cus Gate, a trench being at the same time excavated in the rock, whence the stones were used in erecting the towers. The Sultan himself set the example of carrying stones on his saddle, and the whole Moslem population, including ecclesiastical and military dignitaries, helped in the work. In this way opera- tions that might have taken, we are told, many years, were accomplished very quickly. The English forces did not actually besiege Jerusalem on this oc- casion, as a treaty was made between Richard and Saladin, securing certain advantages for the Chris- tians in the holy city. Whence its great number of Moslem inhabitants had come we are not told; but probably the state of war caused many to be home- less, and of the Moslem pilgrims attracted by the recovery of the place many may have been induced to remain by the favourable conditions on which property could be purchased; and the colleges of Baghdad must have been turning out numerous jur- [338] J £r-<^ _i jjr?x ^^.rrsr.. liiMi 3i -C-jJi; » 1/^' r. N IV TOWER ANTONIA, JERUSALEM CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS ists and theologians anxious to be placed. A certain number of Christians, we are told, asked and obtained leave to continue residing in the city on the terms granted by Moslem rulers t-o tolerated cults. The work of Saladin was not to remain undis- turbed. In 1 2 19, when Damietta was being besieged by the Franks, Isa, called al-Muazzam, who had in- herited Syria from his father al-Adil, fearing that Jerusalem might again be taken by the Christians, sent a party of masons and sappers to destroy it. This measure was followed by a general stampede of the inhabitants, who disposed of their property at ruinous prices. The people who remained assembled in solemn supplication at the two great sanctuaries on the Temple area, where this sovereign had himself carried out many works of decoration, besides found- ing schools for the study of law and grammar in the vicinity. Doubtless the idea of this prince was the humane and advanced one that the only way to avoid disputes between the two religions was to render the city common property, each sect having free access to its own sanctuary — a condition which would be ren- dered impossible by the presence of walls and fort- resses, which must necessarily be in the possession of one party, only too likely to tyrannise over the other. The prince should have lived either much earlier or much later for his views to be practical. Some authorities go so far as to assert that his workmen reduced the whole city to a heap of ruins with the exception of the great Christian and Mos- lem sanctuaries and the Tower of David. The de- [340] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH molition of these walls shortly afterwards caused the failure of negotiations for the restoration of Jeru- salem to the Franks, as an indemnity was demanded which the Egyptian Sultan refused to pay. In 1229 owing to the quarrels between the representatives of the Ayyubid family, the Emperor Frederic 11. suc- ceeded in obtaining the ruined city from the Egyp- tian Sultan, on condition that the walls should not be rebuilt, and that there should be no interference with the sanctuaries on the Temple area. These terms naturally gave little satisfaction to either of the con- tending religions. For eleven years the Franks held the city under them, when al-Nasir, prince of Kerak, on the pretence that the conditions under which the sacred city was held were being violated by its forti- fication, attacked the place, and levelled to the ground the Tower of David which al-Muazzam had spared. But for four years afterwards (1243) on the arrival of the Duke of Cornwall, brother of Henry III., with a company of English Crusaders, the former treaty was renewed, the Prince of Kerak who was in possession finding it desirable to obtain the aid of the Franks for purposes of his own. It was not, how- ever, to remain long in European hands. The next year the Egyptian Sultan obtained the help of the subjects of the Khwarizm-Shah, driven from their country by the Mongol hordes, and 20,000 of these appeared before Jerusalem, whose defences had only begun to rise after their complete demolition. The Khwarizmians, whom history represents as little less savage than the Mongols, swept away the Christian [341] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS population, beheaded the priests ministering at the altar in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and wrought great havoc in that edifice; the graves of the kings there buried were opened, and their ashes scat- tered, and other churches in and about the city were desecrated or demolished. Since the year 1244, Jerusalem has remained in Moslem hands. With other possessions of the Ayyubids, Jerusalem was handed on to the Mameluke dynasties, whence it came into possession of the Turks. The attitude adopted by these dynasties towards Jews and Chris- tians was ordinarily tolerant, and both Jews and Mcl- chite Christians undoubtedly received better treat- ment under their rule than under that of the Franks. At no time since the abandonment of the Crusades has the City of David been the focus of public at- tention in both East and West, as it was when Europe and Asia were contending for its possession. It sinks into provincial mediocrity, and is entirely over- shadowed by Cairo or Constantinople, the capital whence it derives its ruler. Even its special histor- ians have little to say about it from this time. To the imperial historians it is chiefly of interest as a place of exile or retirement of eminent men who com- memorate their residence there by some benefac- tion. The ruined fortifications appear to have lain in heaps till the time of the Ottoman Sultan Sulaiman, the builder of the existing walls which bear date 1 542. To the Christians the chief interest of the place lay in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; to the Mos- [342] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH lems in the Temple area. For these two sanctuaries, Jerusalem might be said to exist. In order to be true to the title of this book, a little should be said about the work done by the Mame- luke Sultans for the decoration of the city. Baibars I., who built a mosque over the supposed Tomb of Moses, is said to have instituted the festival in honour of the " Prophet Moses," which to this day serves as a sort of counterpoise to the Greek Easter. He re- newed " the stonework which is above the marble " of the Dome of the Rock. Outside the city on the northwest he built in the year 1264 a khan or hos- pice, which he adorned with a door taken from the Fatimide palace in Cairo, and on which he settled the revenues of several villages in the neighbourhood of Damascus. The building contained a mill and a bakehouse, as well as a mosque. Its purpose was to harbour visitors (perhaps belated visitors) to the city, and an arrangement was made for the distribu- tion of bread at the door. In Mujir al-din's time the revenues had already been sequestrated, and no more bread was handed out. Baibars also repaired the Dome of the Chain. The Sultan Ketbogha Is credited with having done some repairs to the stonework of the Dome of the Rock, and having rebuilt the wall of the Temple area which overlooks the cemetery of the Bab al- Rahmah in the year 1299. His successor Lajin re- newed the mihrab of David in the southern wall near the Cradle of Jesus. The great builder Mohammed al-Nasir naturally [343] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS left some memorials of his taste in Jerusalem. He faced the front of the Aksa Mosque with marble, and opened in it two windows which are to the right and left of the mihrab. This was done in the year 1330- 133 1. He had the domes of the two chief edifices regilt, so well, says Mujir al-din, that, though in his time 180 years had passed since the operation, the work still looked brand-new. He rebuilt the Gate of the Cotton-merchants in very elaborate style. The Sultan Sha'ban, grandson of Nasir, built the minaret near the Gate of the Tribes in the year 1367. He renewed the wooden doors of the Aksa Mosque, and the arches over the western stairs in the Court of the Dome, opposite to the Bab al-Nazir, nine years later. The next year the Franciscans on Mount Sion were massacred by this Sultan's order. The great Sultan Barkuk built the Mueddin's bench opposite the mihrab in the Dome of the Rock, and repaired the Sultan's Pool outside Jerusalem on the west. The author quoted remarks that it had gone to ruin and was useless in his day. In 1394 a governor named Shihab al-din al-Yaghmuri, ap- pointed by Barkuk, placed on the western door of the Dome a marble slab containing a declaration that various imposts instituted by former governors had been remitted. The following Sultan Faraj placed on the wall of the Bab al-Silsilah a slab declaring that in future the Sultan's representative at Meccah and Medinah must be a different person from the governor of Jerusalem, which was to form an administrative unit with [344] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH Hebron. The effect of this edict was quite tem- porary. The Sultan Jakmak on the occasion of his turning the Christians out of the Tomb of David in the year 1452 instituted a severe inquisition into the monas- teries of Palestine, and, in consequence of this, damage was done to the Church of the Holy Sepul- chre and other Christian edifices. New construc- tions raised by the Franciscans in the Monastery of Mount Sion were demolished, and a chapel erected by them near their cloister was in 1491 destroyed by order of Kaietbai. We may now condense the history of the two chief sites. The Temple area, containing the Dome of the Rock and the Furthest Mosque, counts, as we have seen, as one of the three great sanctuaries of Islam. On the Israelitish temples that once stood there much has been written, and ingenious reconstructions of them are exhibited by the heirs of the late Dr. Shick; it does not come within our scope to do more than allude to them. When Jerusalem was taken by the Moslems, the church erected by Justinian was on part of the area; and a late writer who narrates the erection of the Moslem temple, states that Omar prayed in this building. For the rest the account re- produced by E. H. Palmer of the founding of the Furthest Mosque has been shown by Mr. Lestrange to be apocryphal. It belongs to a period after the recovery of Jerusalem from the Franks, when the Arabs produced many an historical romance, and the exploits of the early heroes of Islam were adorned [345] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS with divers fabulous details. According to these works Omar, coming to the Sacred City to receive the capitulation of the Patriarch, demands to be shown the Furthest Sanctuary. He is taken to the Church of the Resurrection, but tells his guide that he lies; he is then conducted to another church, and again refuses to be cajoled; finally, he is brought to the Temple area, which, from Christian spite against the Jews, is covered so thickly with refuse that it can scarcely be approached. The Caliph proceeds in great humility" to clear away the refuse with his cloak, and his followers aid him. Even when this work of purification has been performed the area has to be three times cleansed by rain from heaven before prayer on it is permitted. Apparently this story is in the main an etv^mological myth, to account for the name Kumamah (sweepings) applied by Moslems not to the Temple area, but to the Church of the Resurrection (Kiyamah). The connection of Omar's name with the Dome of the Rock is probably due to the tradition of his clearing the site. A curious description of a building by him above the Rock has been preserved by Adamnan, Abbot of St. Columba, as related to him by a French pilgrim, Bishop Arculphus. He states that the Mosque of the Saracens was a square building, put together of planks and beams yet large enough to contain 3000 w^orshippers. The building by Omar of a Mosque in Jerusalem is, however, not recorded by early Arabic historians, though Mr. Lestrange has discovered an allusion to [346] < s. < O JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH it in the Byzantine chronicler, Theophanes. Of that which now bears his name the Arabic geographers appear to take no notice; it is a meagre building, probably meant to commemorate a site on which the Caliph said his prayers, he having magnanimously, according to the legend, refused to do this in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, for fear this might afterwards give the Moslems a title to the place; a story which implies that Omar possessed a remark- able power of projecting himself into the future. That the Moslems who took Jerusalem did not seize the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is doubtless due to the fact that this site could have no interest for them, since their system denies both the death and resurrection of the Christian Saviour; the very name Holy Sepulchre involves according to them mendac- ity almost comparable to that of the Cretans. The Temple area contains two sacred buildings of pri- mary importance, the Dome of the Rock which is in the centre, and the Furthest Mosque. Both are ascribed to the Caliph Abd al-Malik, who reigned from 685-705, and who had a political reason for en- deavouring to make Jerusalem once more supersede Meccah as the great place of pilgrimage. Belong- ing to the Umayyad dynasty, which, though de- scended from the most stubborn of the Prophet's opponents, had, through the ability of Mu'awiyah, the first Umayyad Caliph, not only usurped the Prophet's throne, but made it a hereditary possession, he had the same reasons as Jeroboam of old for wish- ing to divert the stream of pilgrimage from the place [349] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS where both objects and persons would remind the visitors that their sovereign was seated on a throne to which others had a better claim. The worship of a stone was held by the ancients to be the main article of Arabian religion, and to this sentiment Moham- med had to give way, though Omar was notoriously reluctant to retain the ceremony of kissing the Black Stone, which was the nucleus of the Meccan Ka'bah, the surrounding sanctuary, and of Islam. Abd al- Malik, like most of the Umayyads, considering reli- gion as of political value only, fancied he could satisfy his co-religionists if he provided them with a stone and a sanctuary round it, and appears deliber- ately to have started the cult of the Rock round which he in the year 691 built the Dome which was to cor- respond with the Ka'bah, ordaining at the same time a ceremony similar to the time-honoured circuit round the Meccan shrine. Like Jeroboam he went so far as to forbid the pilgrimage prescribed in the Koran, and substituted his own for it. The second founder of the Abbasid line of Caliphs, whose capital Baghdad became world-famous, made a similar en- deavour, and for the same reason ; the fear that a visit to Meccah might turn Moslems into partisans of the Prophet's descendants. But even in the year 691 the ordinances of Islam were too deeply rooted to permit of so tremendous an innovation; and later writers, regarding even the attempt as inconsistent with ordinary prudence, suppose the sagacious Ca- liph's purpose to have been to counteract the effect produced on men's minds by the magnificence of [350] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH Christian churches existing at the time at Jerusalem and elsewhere. It should be observed that some eminent authori- ties identify the Dome of the Rock with Justinian's Church of S. Sophia, and it has even been suggested that the Rock is itself one of the sites regarded as Golgotha. This opinion has, however, few sup- porters. With regard to the Stone it appears that nothing is known of it prior to the statement of the Bordeaux Pilgrim, who visited Jerusalem A. D.^ 333, and asserts that near the two equestrian statues of the Emperor Hadrian still standing on the Temple Area there was a pierced stone which it was the custom of the Jews to anoint with oil once in the year, when they wailed and tore their garments, after which ceremonies they retired. The process of pouring oil on stones be- longs to the pre-Mosaic religion of the patriarchs; it has no countenance in the law of Moses. We find, however, that according to the Moslem tradition the anointing of the stone was ordered by the Umayyad Abd al-Malik, and continued till his dynasty closed. It would seem, then, that what the Dome of the Rock restored was not a Mosaic cult, but one which be- longs to a different stratum of the Israelitish religion, which somehow was continued, probably in secret during the domination of Judaism, and after the destruction of the Temple was revived. The ordi- nary theory identifies the rock with the site of the altar of burned sacrifice, whence the blood is sup- posed to have been conveyed into a chamber below [351] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the rock, whence it was drained into the Kedron. Other suggestions have been made by eminent explorers. The name of Abd al-Malik lies concealed in the inscription above the cornice of the octagonal colon- nade which supports the Dome. For Abd al-Malik the name of Mamun, who reigned from 813 to 833, has been substituted, the alteration being still notice- able in the crowding of the letters, and the different tint of the tiles. The person who made this altera- tion forbore to alter the date also, whence Mamun is said to build this Dome in the year 691 (72 A. H.), nearly a century before his birth. From M. van Berchem's Corpus of Cairene inscriptions we have already examples of this mode of alteration, which reminds us of the treatment by ancient compilers of the documents which they embodied in their books, resulting in contradictory statements being left side by side. M. van Berchem thinks that the bronze plates above the northern and eastern doors belong to the period of Abd al-Malik, but in these cases both names and dates have been altered, the latter to the year 216 A. H, (813 A. D.) The quotations of Mr. Lestrange show that the shape and appearance of the Dome have varied very slightly since its foundation by Abd al-Malik, though during the period that has elapsed it has frequently suffered from earthquake, and the episode of the oc- cupation of Jerusalem by the Franks might have been expected to leave a permanent mark upon it. The chief effect of the Frankish possession would [352] DOME OF THE ROCK, INTERIOR CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS seem to be found in the chipping away of pieces of the rock to be taken to Europe as relics; the priests in charge of the Rock being amply paid for these fragments. This abuse is said to have led to its being paved over as a precaution; Saladin ordered the pavement to be removed, the Moslem theory of sacred objects being different from the Christian. The accounts given by different visitors vary some- what as to the number of columns, but in most matters are in striking agreement with the present condition of the edifice. Abd al-Malik undoubtedly employed Byzantine artists for his building, and to them is due the extremely rich mosaics which cover the arcades above the columns, form a wide border round the dome and fill the spaces between the win- dows. The cubes are not only of glass coloured and gilt, but of ebony and mother-of-pearl, which latter material gives a lovely translucent effect in the dim light beneath the dome. The designs are chiefly large vases and crowns whence wreaths and garlands depend. Other sovereigns who have left inscriptions in the Dome, commemorating work done by them in restor- ing or beautifying it, are the Fatimide Caliph Zahir (1022 A. D.), who rebuilt it after it had fallen in, in consequence of the earthquake of the year 1016; Sa- ladin (1187), who renewed the gilding; the great Cairene builder, Nasir, son of Kala'un (13 18 and 13 19) , and the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II. ; the last repaired the Dome in the first third of the nineteenth century, but the inscription which records what he [354] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH did is imperfect. Of the restoration by Sulaiman, the Magnificent (1520- 1566), there is no com- memorative inscription. Yet much of the special beauty of the mosque is due to him; it was he who restored the cupola and altered its windows, the arches of which are slightly pointed, while the older and wider arches beneath are round; he filled them with coloured glass in an elaborate setting of small patterns so that the light filters through with rich effect. He substituted Persian tiles on the upper parts of the outer fagade for El-Walid's mosaics: for this he probably im- ported Persian potters, as his predecessors had mosaic workers. On the broad border round the building a broken colour effect is obtained by the juxtaposition of glazed bricks of very varied shades, chiefly blues, from turquoise to full and dark tints relieved with pale and rich greens, while the bricks of the archi- volts are glazed on their outer surfaces with blue and white alternately. The pilasters between the win- dows are chiefly of a golden brown. These, how- ever, seem to have suffered more from restoration than other parts. And there must be frequent oc- casion for restoration. We saw workmen without ladders attempting to remove weeds growing far above them, with a long pole pointed with metal, this while ineffective against plants, as it could at most cut off their leaves, scratched the enamel, and occasion- ally knocked out a tile. Several bays have lost their marble casing and are temporarily covered with a plastering like mud till Yildiz Kiosk allows the re- [3SS] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS placing of the slabs, which are, we were assured, ready to hand. The other great building which occupies part of the Temple area, the Aksa or Furthest Mosque, was probably built at the same time as the Dome of the Rock or rather transformed into a mosque from the remains of Justinian's Church; but there appears to be no authentic account of its origin. The later romancers state that in Abd el-Malik's time the gates WTre covered with plates of gold and silver, which were stripped off and turned into money by order of the Abbasid Mansur, who utilised the sum so obtained for restoring the Mosque after the rav- ages of an earthquake, which had wrecked it shortly before the fall of the Umayyad dynasty. Another earthquake brought the building down after this restoration, and the Caliph Mahdi (775-785 A. D.) had it rebuilt, but with the proportions somewhat altered; for supposing that the weakness of the edifice had been occasioned by excessive length and deficient breadth, he made the new building shorter but broader than the old. It has been shown that these Caliphs did actually visit Jerusalem, whence there is no inherent improbability in the romancers' statements with regard to the successive restorations, though the story of the gold and silver plates is probably apocryphal. According to a geographer of the tenth century, in the restoration effected by Mahdi, the rebuilding of the several colonnades was assigned by the Caliph to various governors, but a portion of the ancient edifice and that supported on [356] *? a ".^ ■ .11 ^s^s^ a x a < if JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH marble columns, remained embedded in the new. A marble colonnade on the north side had been added in the first half of the ninth century by the governor of Khorasan. The account of the building given by the historian of Jerusalem at the end of the fifteenth century agrees very closely w^ith its present condition, but those historians who described it before the times of the Crusaders appear to have seen a much more mag- nificent edifice, double the width of the present Mosque, with 280 pillars supporting the roof, and fifteen aisles. The Mosque has now seven aisles only. The dimensions, according to the eleventh century traveller, were 420 by 150 cubits, the former a wholly impossible figure, for which Mr. Lestrange reads 120, making the width greater than the length. Another English writer supposes the Mosque to have suffered in the taking of Jerusalem by the Crusaders, and accounts for its reduced dimensions (230 feet by 170) by the work of the Franks, who, however, are supposed to have added rather than to have taken away, and whose work was removed without much difficulty, it would seem, by Saladin. In the case of a building at Jerusalem the chance of exaggera- tion cannot be eliminated, whence it seems doubtful whether there is any necessity for the hypothesis to which reference has been made. The small Dome of the Chain, which is a few paces east of the Dome of the Rock, is supported on seventeen pillars, without any enclosing wall, except on the kiblah side. Moslem writers have fabulous [359] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS accounts of the reason why a chain was suspended from this dome, which in Prankish days is said to have been called the Chapel of St. James the Less. Mr. Lestrange has, in this case, too, the merit of having refuted certain fictions that have got into European works from a late Arabic historian of Jerusalem, with reference to the origin of this build- ing, which may be as old as the Dome of the Rock. A dome should serve to shelter something, probably an image, and the fact of this dome being open all round is evidence that its original purpose must have been something of the kind. Another of the many isolated buildings is a little sebil, or drinking fountain, built in 1445 by Kaietbai, of whose Palace in Cairo we have an illustration, and who has left traces at Damascus also of his love of building. This fountain is thoroughly Egyptian in style, and bears considerable resemblance to Kaiet- bai's Tomb, especially in the shape of the cupola, its ornamentation of arabesques and its metal finial. Of the other domes and sanctuaries included in the Temple area the existence is certified at various times before the Crusades, but there would appear to have been some variation both in their names and location. The same is true of the eleven gates of the area. We have seen that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre goes back to the time of Constantine, who enclosed the three sites of importance within a single building. After the destruction of the church by Khosroes three, or according to some authorities [360] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH four, separate churches were erected in the same area. In loio the church was again destroyed by order of the Fatimide Caliph Hakim; various ac- counts are given of the motive or occasion for this arbitrary proceeding, and, as might be expected, the Jews are supposed to have had hand in it. In the case of this particular despot it is unnecessary to search for either. Rebuilding is said to have com- menced shortly afterwards, but it would appear that serious operations did not begin till 1037, after lengthy negotiations between the Byzantine Em- perors and the Egyptian Caliphs; the church, in the condition in which it was found by the Crusaders, was finished by the year 1048, chiefly at the expense of Constantine Monomachus, who sent Byzantine architects for the purpose. The cave of the sepulchre was surmounted by a circular church, while detached chapels were erected over the other sites, which were now, owing to the accumulation of legends, more numerous than they had been in the time of Constantine or Heraclius. The Franks en- larged the Rotunda, which covered the sepulchre, by the addition of the choir, from the southeast of which walls were built so as to include the Calvary chapel, while on the east the choir was connected through the Chapel of St. Helena with the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross. During the Frankish period the Church was, of course, in the possession of the Latins, whereas after the conquest of the city by Saladin the Greeks resumed possession; certain rights were afterwards purchased for the Latins in [361] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS 1305, and in 1342 they obtained possession of the Chapel of the Apparition. Of the damage done to the Church by the Khwarizmians when the city was finally restored to the Moslems mention has already been made, and at some time all entrances were closed except one in order to save Moslems trouble in the collection of admission fees from pilgrims. In 1502 Peter Martyr was sent by Ferdinand of Arra- gon to negotiate a treaty for the defence of pilgrims and the maintenance of the sanctuaries. In 1598 the Pasha of Damascus wished to turn the church into a mosque, but was induced to desist by the representa- tions of French and Venetian envoys. These dates are given by Sepp, who has also gone more fully than other writers into the history of the Latin orders established in Palestine, and the martyrdoms en- dured by overenthusiastic preachers to Moslems, till orders were issued from Rome, forbidding such en- deavours. In 1808 a conflagration occurred which did considerable damage, but this had been repaired by September 11, 1810, at a cost of 4,000,000 of roubles. To one who has witnessed the ceremony of the appearance of the Sacred Fire it is marvellous that such conflagrations are not more frequent. • Modern Jerusalem is the product of a variety of forces which had free play in the nineteenth century, religious revivals in England and America, archaeo- logical enthusiasm in the same countries, and politi- cal ambitions on the part of various European nations concerned with the nearer East. To these there has been added in quite recent times the force [362] < w Pi < < < Pi o CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS of Zionism, the programme of those who regard a return to Palestine as the natural solution of the problem raised by anti-Semitism in the countries where there are the largest Jewish congregations. The relations between the Ottoman empire and the European powers being so very different from what they were when Europe was in disorder, Jerusalem has by these various forces been transformed into a centre for religious and philanthropic effort, uncon- nected to a great extent with either of the sanctuaries which formerly constituted its chief attraction. Curiosity attracts nearly as many visitors as are drawn by devotion, and the ease with which pil- grimage can be accomplished detracts somewhat from its merit. While the Christian and Jewish quarters are constantly expanding, the latter indeed at an enormous rate, the Moslem population shows no sign of increase, and its members, while not un- affected by European philanthropy, appear ordi- narily incapable of emulating Western enterprise. Those who, like the Khalidi family, do so, are hap- pily adopting the conception of unsectarian philan- thropy, which the new and bloodless invasion from Europe has brought. The enthusiasm which char- acterised the descriptions of those who arrived there at the cost of vast sacrifices is wanting in the memoirs of the traveller who is conveyed thither comfortably by steam; yet it is probable that in population and in the beauty of its buildings modern Jerusalem would compare favourably with the Jerusalem of any earlier period. Certainly at no time have life [364] JERUSALEM: AN HISTORICAL SKETCH and property been so safe, or the relations between the dififerent elements of the population so satisfac- tory. The number of tongues spoken by its inhabi- tants and its visitors, great even in the time of the Apostles, is now phenomenal, being variously esti- mated at from twenty-five to forty. But the dangers which used at one time to attend a great influx of strangers are now almost forgotten, and the most crowded solemnities pass off with little or no dis- order. Should the present tendencies meet with no unexpected check, the city may long maintain the position of an international sanctuary, common to the chief religions of the world. [365] THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS 'HE enthusiastic language of Moslem writers about the beauties of Damascus, which they regard as an earthly Paradise, may seem to western visitors exaggerated and true of it only at an age long past, if ever. And, indeed, there are few show buildings left where once there were many. The great Umayyad Mosque, much of it brand new, is the one important edifice, whither the sight-seer hastens; there are besides one or two show-houses, gorgeous rather than beautiful; and the Bazaars, still illustrative of Oriental manners, are probably roofed with European materials, and largely stocked with European goods. The beauty of the place lies rather in its natural than its artificial en- dowments. Its situation is indeed neither wild nor grand; but the contrast between its luxurious vegeta- tion with its copious waters, and the arid region which often lies between it and the traveller's start- ing-point or destination, connects it in the mind with eastern conceptions of Paradise, literally a garden, and never represented without trees and running water. A fountain enlivens the courtyard of every [366] THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS house: to him who looks down upon the city from Mount Kasion the minarets and castle-battlements appear to rise out of an orchard; peace seems to reign within its walls, and plenteousness within its palaces. To the southwest the snow of Mount Hermon lends a touch of Alpine beauty to the scene. The moun- tains which surround it on three sides are no more than a background to the picture, viewed from the east; they are a natural finish to the landscape, not a bulwark of defence. Probably the eastern admiration for Damascus was in part at least influenced by certain material comforts, chiefly its abundant fruit, and in ordinary circumstances the cheapness of living, which even a system of railways with Damascus for terminus has not yet seriously changed. Another beauty of a more artificial sort lay in the goods manufactured there by craftsmen who inherited their skill and transmitted it to their descendants, till foreign con- querors withdrew them from the place, hoping to transplant their crafts. Such was the manufacture of damask, and equally famous that of Damascene blades. A Damascene writer of the ninth or tenth century of Islam, translated by M. Sauvaire, makes out a list of the beauties of his native city, some of which still exist, while others are in ruins or have disappeared. The list is heterogeneous, as it deals with single buildings, villages and flowers. The last include " the many-flowering eglantine, trained over arbours like the vine"; narcissus, violets — this flower gives [367] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS its name to a neighbouring valley — jessamine, lily, lilac, ox-eye, cyclamen, myrtle, anemone, water-lily, Egyptian sallow, and one called " Stop and look!" Among buildings he assigns the first place to the Citadel, which has long been a shell; from a distance it still looks formidable, but the interior is in ruins. In the tenth century of Islam it was still a hive of activity, containing a bath, a mill, various shops, a mint, a mosque, and, of course, the governor's palace. The canal called Banyas passed through the Citadel, and divided into two streams, one for drinking pur- poses, parted afresh into a number of rills, while the other served as a drain, and went some twelve feet underground to issue at the Little Gate, whence it was turned towards farms. The round tower of the Citadel, " which might have been cast in a mould of wax," was thought to have no rival in the world. At one time — probably during the Mameluke period only — the Citadel possessed a great council-chamber whose walls and ceilings were covered with the rich- est arabesques, and inscribed with texts of the Koran written in gold-leaf. Its foundation is ascribed to Atsiz, the contemporary of Badr al-Jamali, who for a time got possession of the chief Syrian cities; but it was rebuilt by Nur al-din, in whose time the eastern peoples had learned something about for- tresses from the Crusaders. Further improvements were made by the Egyptian Sultan Adil, who ordered each member of his family to build a tower, and whose name remains in an inscription of thd northeast tower. The towers were stripped of their [368] H U X H z a w >< X < o K fa U < THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS roofs and the walls of their battlements by Hulagu's Mongols; these were restored by the Sultan Baibars, whose services are recorded in several inscriptions. Great damage was done when Timur-Lenk besieged and took the city; a trench was dug round the round tower, and wood piled against it and fired. The ruinous condition of the whole edifice apparently dates from the time of the disbanding of the Janis- saries, at the beginning of the nineteenth century. In Mameluke times the governor's palace was with- in the Citadel, once three storeys high. The present palace, or Serai, is said to occupy the site of one built by the Sultan Nur al-din, called " House of Justice." The modern building dates from the time of Ibrahim Pasha, who effected many changes in Damascus. A famous palace in Damascus called the Parti-coloured Castle was the model for similar buildings else- where; it dated from the time of the Sultan Baibars, and was located in the Meidan. Below the Citadel, i.e., on the east side, there was a square somewhat similar to the Rumailah Place below the Cairene Citadel. This counted as one of the beauties of Damascus, being surrounded by pal- aces, and supplied with all that could delight the ear or charm the eye. Shops stocked with all kinds of goods were established there. It was a pleasure re- sort of the people of the city at evening time, till a double beat on the drums within the Citadel re- minded them that the second watch of night had be- gun, and they cleared away to their homes. The Citadel was joined at either side by the walls, [371] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS which, where they still exist, display, as has often been remarked, traces of three styles of building — ■ Roman, Arab and Turkish. Inscriptions on the towers forming part of the wall record the names of Nur al-din, who is credited by the historians with having rebuilt the walls, and the Ayyubid Salih. The height is from fifteen to twenty feet. The Mos- lems have a tradition that when the place was taken there were seven gates, called like the weekdays after the seven planets; and the gates, they assert, were sur- mounted by images of the deities corresponding with those planets — probably they mean before Christian times. If there be any truth in this tradition, the names must have all been altered, for the modern names can be traced back to an early period of the Moslem occupation with only a few variations. Two new gates, called Faraj and Salamah, in the style of the gates of Cairo — these words mean " Safe- ty " and " Deliverance " — are said to have been added by the Ayyubids. Another gate that once ex- isted was called Bab al-Imarah, from the new quar- ter to which it led. The waters of Damascus naturally take their place among its beauties, and of the pride of the inhabi- tants in their rivers we have a trace in the Old Testa- ment story of Naaman, who felt personally wounded at the suggestion that the Israelitish Jordan could possess properties not to be found in the waters of Damascus. In these days the Damascenes are said to attribute to their waters the actual property re- quired by the Syrian Captain, viz., that of curing [ 372 ] THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS leprosy, or at least preventing it spreading. This belief must go back in some way to the story of Naaman. From an early time there has existed an elaborate system of canals, by which the water of the Barada has been made to irrigate a large area. Within the city the water is conducted in under- ground tubes from which every house gets its supply. In von Kremer's time leaks in the tubes were re- paired by putting refuse into the water, which even- tually stopped them; but this process naturally was insanitary. Modern and ancient writers agree as to the names of six canals drawn off the main river be- fore it enters Damascus and flowing at different levels. The channels for these are largely excavated in the rock, and are thought to be at least partly pre- Islamic. The most northerly of these, which bears the name Yazid, is said to have been dug by the Caliph of that name, who reigned from 680 to 683. Further operations, with a view to irrigation, are said to have been executed by the Umayyad Caliphs Sulaiman and Hisham, but the account of them is not quite easy to understand. Apparently they con- sisted in making arrangements whereby the amount of water to flow in each channel could be exactly regulated. Besides the water supplied by the Barada, there were supposed to be 360 springs be- tween the Bab Salamah and the Bab Tuma to the northwest of the city, all flowing southwards. The number is one used by Arabic writers to denote an indefinite quantity, one for each day in the year. [373] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Two places are mentioned by a writer on the Beauties of Damascus, in which the water furnished the chief attraction. One of these was called the Place Between the Two Rivers, to the east of the city, where the Barada parted into two channels, of which one bore the name of the saintly Sheik Arslan. It was used as a place of public entertain- ment, and the names of the dealers in different kinds of refreshments who had stalls there exhibit wonder- ful specialisation. That the religious needs of the visitors might be gratified also, there was a chapel where special rites were performed on Tuesdays and Saturdays; some of these ceremonies, probably forms of dance, were of a sort calculated to daze those who witnessed them. Another place of public resort was " The Parting of the Streams," said to be where the seven canals divided, but this can scarcely be correct. The pools and cascades formed by one of these canals were, we are told, and may well believe it, " a spec- tacle which banished care and made sorrow fly away." The southerly canal, called Kanawat, was made with the view of supplying the city with drinking water, which is abundant and good. But as all ad- vantages have some corresponding drawback, the wealth of water with which Damascus is blessed is probably the reason why fever prevails there as mucK as in any city of Syria. On the other hand, those who had to defend the place against besiegers could at times utilise the waters for rendering approach' difficult, and the Barada itself saved the necessity of [374] '.*^m *, " ■•«», M. tri ■f. z < [I. O ^ », = ?;- 1^. li >• 1. ji THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS building many towers to strengthen the wall before which it flows. The classical writers say little or nothing of the buildings of Damascus, yet there is evidence that the city contained some fine monuments when the Arabs took it, and we hear of two palaces near the site of the Umayyad Mosque. With the Street called Straight, famous from the allusion to it in the Acts of the Apostles, it is usual to identify the great thor- oughfare bisecting the city from the western gate, called Bab al-Jabiyah probably from a village of that name, to the gate still called eastern (Sharki). The gates were originally threefold, and between them was a threefold avenue, divided by Corinthian colon- nades, the central being for the use of foot-passengers, while the other two were to enable the horse-traflic going in opposite directions to keep separate. " I have been enabled," says J. L. Porter, " to trace the remainder of colonnades at various places over nearly one-third of the length of this street. Wherever ex- cavations are made in the line, fragments of columns are found in situ, at the depth in some places of ten feet and more below the present surface: so great has been the accumulation of rubbish during the ages. This street was thus a counterpart to those still seen in Palmyra and Jerash." Further traces of this ancient thoroughfare have been discovered at a later period. The Arabs blocked up all but the northern passage of the gates. There is at present no street in Damascus which would command much admiration, but the long-roofed bazaars, of which that called [377^ CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS Hamidiyyah (after the present Sultan) is the most important, are admirably adapted to the traffic of the place, though the absence of trottoirs occasions some inconvenience. On the justice of the identification of the Street called Straight it would be unwise to make any pronouncement. Fifteen churches are said to have been granted to the Christians by the Moslem conqueror, but the author of the " Description " can apparently enumer- ate only thirteen, and in this list one is a Jewish syna- gogue. In most cases too he can only locate them roughly, without being able to specify their names: the romancer translated in the next chapter was better informed. The church of St. Mary was the most famous, and according to Ibn Jubair was the next most important Christian edifice in the east, after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; it contained a mar- vellous number of ikons, " sufficient to bewilder the thought and arrest the eye." When the news of the defeat of the Mongols in 1260 reached Damascus, the Moslems attacked this church and destroyed it. Most of the others fared similarly at some time or other. A church, curiously called " the Crusaders', " was turned into a mosque in the time of Saladin at the instance of a silk-merchant, who asserted that it had been a mosque originally; he got a crowd to- gether to dismantle it, and when the images had been removed from the south side, a mihrab was discov- ered, surrounded by an Arabic inscription in lapis lazuli ; the crowd were overjoyed at this confirmation of the man's assertion. Another pretence whereby [378] THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS churches could be destroyed was that they had either not been included in the original treaty of capitula- tion, or that they had been built since that time, so we are told that " the Mosque of Shahrazuri in Elo- quence Street" was a church that had not been specified in the treaty. When the " Description " was written, it would appear that there were only two churches in Damascus, one belonging to the Jacob- ites, the other probably to the Melchites, called the Church of Humaid son of Durrah (a relation on the mother's side of the Caliph Muawiyah), who was owner of the street in which the church was situated. The relations between Moslems and Christians in this place appear rarely to have been cordial. It is asserted that at the time of the Moslem conquest, only one Christian family adopted Islam, and this would imply greater tenacity on the part of the Damascene believers than was displayed by their co-religionists in most Oriental cities. The latest writer on the his- tory of Islamic civilisation charges the Uma)ryads, in whose time Damascus was the capital of the Moslem Empire, with persecution of Christians; and the transformation of the Church of St. John into a mosque is admitted by Moslem historians to have been against the treaty. These persecutions were not dictated by fanaticism on the part of the Umayyads, who, with one exception, were notoriously lax; but by the need for money with which to pay partisans, their claim to the Caliphate being untenable on its own merits. This at least is the explanation given by the writer quoted. Syrians were, moreover, con- [379] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS stantly suspected of being In league with and abetting the Byzantine emperor, and the episode of the Crusades naturally embittered the relations between the communities, though Damascus never actually fell into Frankish hands. In the extract dealing with the taking of Damascus by Hulagu, it will be seen that in the year 1260 the Christians for a few months enjoyed the privilege of avenging to some ex- tent the oppression of centuries, and how speedily the sky clouded again over them after that brief gleam of sunshine. Since the time of Ibrahim Pasha, when various humiliations imposed on Christian visitors were removed, the relations have probably im- proved; yet the events of i860 showed that the anti- Christian feeling was deep, and among certain por- tions of the Moslem population it might still be roused. The Umayyads in such anecdotes as are preserved of them often figure as luxurious and magnificent princes, whence we should expect to hear something of their palaces, since wonderful things are told us of those belonging to the Caliphs of Baghdad and Cairo. Our curiosity in this matter is not adequately grati- fied, though occasionally there is a notice to the effect that some mosque or other edifice occupies part of the ground at one time covered by an Umayyad palace. Of that built by the founder of the dynasty, Muawi- yah, whose reputation was rather for gluttony and cunning than magnificence, though in some tales he is represented as boasting that he had enjoyed all that the world could give, we have an anecdote which sug- [ 380 ] THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS gests anything but splendour. When this prince, who at first held the office of governor only, built himself a palace of baked brick, he had occasion to receive a Byzantine enjoy, whose opinion he asked about the structure. " The upper part," replied the Greek, " will do for birds, and the lower for rats." Muawiyah had the house pulled down and rebuilt of stone. It was purchased afterwards by Abd al- Malik, the other great sovereign of this line, from a descendant of its founder, for the sum of 40,000 dinars and four estates; but this need not imply that it was on a grand scale, since it was the fashion at the time to pay huge sums for any dwelling that had ever been occupied by one of the early heroes of Islam. Fabulous prices are recorded as having been given for dwellings of this sort at Meccah, which we can- not believe to have been very gorgeous. The list of show-houses at Damascus given by the author of the " Description " consists almost entirely of buildings that enjoyed such a reputation. Part of the Copper- smiths' Bazaar, stretching as far as the Bazaar of the Bootmakers, was said to have been the site of the resi- dence of a son of Utbah Ibn Rabi'ah, an eminent contemporary of the Prophet. Inside the Gate of Thomas was the house of the conqueror Khalid with his oratory. The house of Auf Ibn Malik, another hero of the early days of Islam, was shown near the old Thread-market. Inside the eastern gate to the right was the house of Malik Ibn Hubairah, Muawi- yah's general, etc. A rather more important mansion was that of the [381] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS celebrated Hajjaj, viceroy of Abd al-Malik, notori- ous in eastern history for his ruthless severity, but celebrated for his magnificence also. A whole quarter of Damascus was called after his palace, and the name is not yet obsolete; but no traces of the building have been discovered. In 1237-8 the whole of this region was burned down, and the re- mains of the palace, which had probably been a ruin long before, are likely to have perished then. In most descriptions of Damascus, whether an- cient or modern, every religious building appears to be dwarfed by the Great Umayyad Mosque, which we shall leave to the end. The rulers of Damascus were no less liberal founders of religious edifices than were other Sultans and governors; and the " De- scription " enumerates no fewer than 241 mosques for public worship, afterwards supplemented by lists which bring the number up to 572, though this figure includes some that were outside the walls. The same work gives eleven other lists of buildings in which provision was made for religious service, un- less (which is unlikely) the medical schools were an exception. In the time of the traveller Ibn Ju- bair — i.e. the late twelfth century — there were be- sides these two hospitals, the old and the new, of which the latter was probably the institution founded by Nur al-din, to which reference has al- ready been made; it had an endowment of fifteen dinars daily. Doctors visited it every morning to prescribe for the patients, of whom lists were kept. There was special treatment for the insane, who were [382] ,?^gBPBess?wi^>_^t ar/ TOMR OF SHEIK ARSLAN, DAMASCUS. THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS chained. The medical schools of the " Description " are all of a later period than the hospitals. The first was called the Dakhwari5ryah ^' in the old Ba- zaar of the Goldsmiths " south of the Great Mosque, founded in the year 1250 by a physician, who, for his successful treatment of maladies suffered by the Ayyubid princes, was given the title Chief of the Physicians of the Two Zones (Syria and Egypt). It appears that a successful medical career was a road to fortune in those days as in these; this person received as fees for special cures the sums of 7000 and 12,000 dinars, and al-Ashraf settled on him es- tates which brought in 1500 dinars annually, when he gave him the post of court-physician. The build- ing left by him to the city as medical school had been his own house. Two other houses were devoted to the same object within the next sixty years, but one of these was afterwards turned into a mosque, whereas the other went to ruin. The traveller Ibn Jubair was greatly struck by the monasteries or hospices, of which the number at the time of the " Description " had risen to about twenty-nine. The friendly disposition of the Ayyu- bids towards the Sufis has already been noticed; and according to the Spanish visitor these ascetics had things very much their own way at Damascus. Their hospices, he says, are splendidly decorated palaces, in all of which there is running water, beau- tifully conducted. " The Sufis are kings in this city, for God has spared them the trouble of worldly em- ployment, has rendered it possible for them to devote [385] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS their minds to His service, and has housed them in mansions, such as must ever remind them of the man- sions of Paradise; to those of them who are saved the pleasures of both this world and the next have been given. Very admirable are the practices and orders of these brotherhoods, especially the arrange- ment by which different members undertake differ- ent departments of service. Beautiful are their gatherings to hear thrilling melodies, where not un- frequently in the intensity of their emotion some of them pass away out of the world. The most won- derful building belonging to them is a palace called by them the Tower, which rises high in the air, with dwellings at the top, commanding a glorious view; it is half a mile distant from the city. To it there is attached a vast garden, said to have been the pleasure ground of a Turkish sovereign. One night he was amusing himself by pouring some of the wine, which was being drunk in the palace, on the heads of Sufis who passed by; complaint was made to Nur al-din, who did not rest till he had got the whole place as a gift from its owner, which he then proceeded to settle on the Sufis in perpetuity." In the siege of Damas- cus of the year 1228 several of these hospices were pillaged and ruined. A considerable number of schools still exist in Damascus, but many edifices which were originally designed for this purpose have been turned into pri- vate houses; von Kremer identified a number which had experienced this change in the street which leads northwards from Bab al-Barid to the Tomb of Bai- [386] THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS bars, and a number more in the quarter between Suk Bab al-Barid and Suk Jakmak. Still, several that are mentioned in the " Description " appear to be in existence, and several have been built since. Some of those which were intended to be for advanced study have sunk to the level of infant schools. Probably aspirants after the higher Moslem education have for many centuries gone to al-Azhar to seek it, whereas Constantinople attracts students of another kind. Of schools that receive the attention of visitors there may be mentioned that of the heroic Nur al- din, whose name occurs in the history of Egypt also, in the Cloth Bazaar. The building Is said to have been originally part of the palace of the Umayyad Hisham, son of Abd al-Malik, who reigned from 724-743. The prince, Nur al-din, was at first buried in the Citadel, but his body was afterwards trans- ferred to this school; which the author of the " De- scription " asserts to have been built for him by his son, al-Salih Isma'il, although it would appear that this is contradicted by inscriptions on the school it- self, which name Nur al-din himself as founder. A similar institution is that called Raihaniyyah, a little to the west of the Nuriyyah. Its date is 1 178-9; its founder w^as a eunuch and freedman of Nur al-din, who entrusted to his charge the Citadel and prison of Damascus, in which posts he was confirmed by Saladin, whose cause he espoused when the famous Sultan took Damascus. An inscription copied by M. Sauvaire still records the lands settled upon it. [387] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS A school of some celebrity is the Kaimariyyah, founded 1266 by al-Kaimari, an Emir who at the death of Turanshah played a part of importance in Syria. He is said to have spent 40,000 dirhems on a clock put up over the door of his school. Von Kremer describes it as a moderate-sized building, with a stone-paved court, cloistered all round below, and with open corridors above. The front towards the street has three cupolas. Of more interest than these is the school of the Sul- tan Baibars, between the gates Bab al-Faraj and Bab al-Faradis, north of the Umayyad Mosque. It had originally been the house of a certain Akiki, of whom Ayyub, father of Saladin, purchased it; ap- parently Baibars himself turned it into a school and mausoleum, but some ascribe this action to his son Barakah Khan. The foundations are said to have been laid on October 12, 1277. In the time of the author of the " Description " it had been turned into a private house. Between the library of Baibars and the Umayyad Mosque is the Tomb of Saladin, side by side with that of one of his ministers. The " Description " lo- cates the tomb of the great Sultan in the school of al-Aziz, west of the tomb of al-Ashraf, north of the School of Tradition founded by the " Excellent Judge," a man of great note of the time of Saladin, especially as stylist and poet, and the collector of a great library in Cairo. Founded by al-Afdal (1186-1196) it was finished by al-Aziz of Egypt, who had the body of the Sultan, first deposited in the [388] ■'*■' '%~ <-,,. ?*« .v..*l •1?b w -lasr ^!^** — z \ THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS Citadel, transferred thither. Prayers offered at this tomb are, the author assures us, answered: " the fact has been recounted by the greatest and most dis- tinguished doctors, and admits of no doubt." An epitaph by the " Excellent Judge " was inscribed on the grave, in which the wish was expressed that after so many cities had opened their gates to him. Para- dise might do the same. Damascus is otherwise famous for harbouring the ashes of numerous persons of importance; the grave- yard of the Little Gate is said to contain those of Bilal, the Prophet's Mueddin, an important person at the beginning of Islam, and two of the Prophet's wives. Outside the gate of the Jordan Mosque there is, or used to be, a pile of stones marking where the grave of the Caliph Yazid once stood. The stones were thrown by Persian visitors, with a view of expressing their abhorrence of the worst of the Umayyads — the Caliph under whom occurred the affair of Kerbela, when Husain, the Prophet's grandson, was killed, to be mourned, wherever Shiites are to be found, on the tenth of the month Muharram. Most of the mausoleums described in the work translated by M. Sauvaire belong to sovereigns and other persons of eminence not later than the Ayyubid period. The author dwells especially on those which contain the ashes of the three princes, al-Adil, al-Ashraf and al-Kamil, whose names all figure in the history of Egypt. An interesting personage also occurring in this list is Ismat al-din Khatun, wife [391 ] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS of Nur al-din and afterwards of Saladin, highly esteemed for her piety and virtue, " who did not act without a good intention." She founded in her hus- bands' city a mosque, which was afterwards turned into a private dwelling, a hospice, and a mausoleum for herself on the Yazid Canal in the Salihiyyah, which some 150 years after her death was turned into a mosque, and after a somewhat longer period had elapsed was, in the year 1568, yet further en- larged and endowed. Leaving the abodes of the dead for those of the living, we notice what has often been observed, that the outside of the houses is rarely of great magni- ficence. It is inside that the architects display their skill and the wealthy their riches. The rooms usu- ally open out into a court and are disconnected. This practice is said to go back to pre-Islamic times. In the two houses which are usually exhibited to visitors there is an abundance of marbles and mo- saics, with enamelled tiles and profusion of gold and colouring. Two other classes of buildings to which the visi- tor may be taken are the Baths, of which that called the Queen's Bath is perhaps the finest, and the Khans, or storehouses for merchandise, among which that which bears the name of As'ad Pasha is pre- eminent. It is supported on four piers with nine domes above them. Of the number of actual mosques given above from the " Description," many must have become disused or been demolished before the seventeenth century, [392] THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS when the figure was 150. During Ibrahim Pasha's government some further transformation of mosques took place. That of Yelbogha was turned into a bis- cuit-factory, and that of Tengiz into barracks, and then into a military college. The existing mosques that attract the notice of travellers are chiefly the fol- lowing: that of Sinan Pasha (near the Jabiyah Gate), the minaret of which is conspicuous every- where for the highly-glazed green tiles with which it is covered; the interior is decorated with marble col- umns and a marble pavement. It was originally, we are told, called The Onion Mosque. In the year 1585, when Sinan Pasha was appointed governor of Damascus, he rebuilt it and made it suitable for Fri- day worship. Though the governorship of this Pasha lasted only six months, the building of his Mosque appears to have taken — probably intermit- tently — some years, since 1590 is given as the date of its completion. To about the same period belongs the Derwishiyyah Mosque, which also was a recon- struction of a similar building on a smaller scale, or- dered by Derwish Pasha, governor from 1571 to 1574. Somewhat earlier is the Mosque of the Sultan Selim in the Salihiyyah. It contains the tomb of the greatest of the Sufi writers, Ibn Arabi, whose works have often been condemned for heresy, but neverthe- less whose reputation for sanctity perhaps surpasses that of any other Moslem saint. The mosque was built by the Sultan in the years 15 17 and 15 18 out of respect for the memory of the saint. Previously, we are told, the spot had been marked by a ruined bath [393] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS and a pile of refuse. The Sultan spent " Incalcu- lable sums " upon it, and provided it with four mueddins and thirty readers of the Koran. Another mosque built by an Ottoman Sultan is that called after Sulaiman, who founded it in 1554, together with the Tekiyyeh, or hospice, which also bears his name. They are situated on the site of the famous palace of the Sultan Baibars in the " Green Meidan." The materials which belonged to the palace were employed again for these buildings, the erection of which took six years. The author of the supplement to the "Description" declares the mar- ble, the cupolas, and the leaden work of the buildings to be such as " stupefy the spectator while rejoicing his heart." Special attention is called to the basin in the middle of the court, to the pulpit and the mihrab. Only the writer complains that in accordance with a tradition current among the architects the minarets were placed east and west, instead of north and south, whence the area in which the call to prayer would be heard was considerably reduced. The architect was " the most incomparable of great geniuses, the noblest of the children of Persia, our master Mulla Agha." He was also set in charge of the administration, and followed, we are told, the unusual plan of giving the best places to those who injured him, and the worst to those who tried to do him a kindness. We conclude with the great Umayyad Mosque.^ This is the grandest of all Mohammedan buildings and Arabic writers give full rein to their powers of description in recounting its magnificence and the [ 394 ] THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS riches lavished upon its erection by El-Walid; the whole revenue of Syria for seven years, not counting eighteen shiploads of gold and silver from Cyprus and many rich gifts of precious stones. These latter enriched the mihrab and minbar but, with the 600 golden lamps suspended by chains of the like precious metal, were soon diverted to other uses by a following Caliph. The leaden roof of the mosque is described in as high terms of admiration as the gold so lavishly spread on the interior. Every town had to furnish its quota, but so difficult was it to obtain sufficient that tombs were rifled. From one sarcophagus the body was taken from its leaden shell and laid on the ground; the head fell into a ravine and blood burst from the mouth. Terror-struck, the bystanders made inquiry, till at last they were told, " It is the tomb of King Talut (Saul)." A prettier story is that of a woman who refused to sell some lead, needed to complete one corner, save weight for weight in gold. The Caliph wrote that her demand should be complied with, but then the woman said, ^'It is my gift to the mosque." "You were too avaricious to sell save weight for weight, and now do you offer a gift? " " I acted thus believing that your lord played the tyrant and exacted forced labour. Now that I see he pays punctually and weight for weight, I acknowledge that in this matter he wrongs no one." The commissioner reported these words and the Caliph commanded that these sheets of lead should be marked " For Allah"; this was done by means of a mould. [395] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS To return to figures, there was praying space for 20,000 men; as for the money expended, one item, viz., the cost of the cabbages eaten by the workmen is said to have been 6000 dinars (£2500). When the wondrous work was finished, the Caliph would not look at the accounts brought to him on eighteen laden mules, but ordered that they should be burnt and thus addressed the crowd: " Men of Damascus, you possess four glories above other people; you are proud of your water, your air, your fruits, your baths ; your mosque shall be your fifth glory." Like some other famous places of worship, this mosque was once the site of a heathen temple, por- tions of which can be traced in the porticos. Theo- dosius built a church there (a.D. 379) and dedicated it to St. John the Baptist, to whom there is still an imposing shrine. When the Moslems entered Da- mascus (a.D. 635), by an amicable arrangement, the building was shared between Christians and Mo- hammedans, but in A.D. 708 El-Walid, sixth of the Umayyads, drove the Christians out, confirming them, however, in the possession of other churches. But to this day one of the three minarets is called by the name of Isa (Jesus), and above a gate, long since closed, is the inscription, "Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion en- dureth throughout all generations." El-Walid summoned a fabulous number of crafts- men (one writer says 200, another prefixes one and makes it 1200, a third adds a nought and reckons 12,000) from Constantinople, and his magnificent [396] o < as X w 33 THE PR_\ISES OF DAMASCUS mosque was, like other early Moslem edifices, en- tirely Byzantine in sn^le and rich with rare marbles and line mosaics; while in accordance with another Moslem custom, antique columns were plundered from many Syrian towns. Many of these remain in the interior, but most of those described by the Arab geographer Mukkadisi as sustaining the arcade round the great court, have disappeared and piers covered with plaster have taken their place. It is thought, however, that many columns remain within these piers of masonn-. The mosaics represented Meccah, Medinah and Jerusalem and other princi- pal to^Mis of tl^ie world, amid groves of orange and palm, while long inscribed scrolls and wreaths of foliage filled tlie interspaces; of these, fragments can still be traced, and more are probably hidden under plaster and whitewash. The nvo principal gates are at the west and east, they are named Bab-el-Barid (Gate of the Post) and Bab Jairun after a mythical conqueror. They had triple portals closed with bronze-covered doors; one of these which remains at the East Gate (Bab Jairun) bears a central band of inscription with the name of the Sultan Abd el-Aziz, son of Barkuk (1405) and a chalice, a device of the Mamelukes. The gates and adjoining porticos have retained more ancient work, botli of construction and of ornament, such as inlay of beautiful coloured marble, tlian the rest of the building. There were originally towers at die four corners, those at the south side remain; the Madana, Gharbiy- [ 399 ] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS yah (Western Minaret) formerly inhabited by anchorites, also named after Kaietbai; opposite it, i.e., at the southeast angle, is the Madanat Isa (Min- aret of Jesus) or the White Minaret. On the north side, rather more than a third from the east angle, stands the Madanat al-Arus (Minaret of the Bride) ; this was not as the other towers, originally Byzantine, but was built by al-Walid. The Great Court is surrounded on three sides by spacious corridors, now resting on piers, with round arches; the upper storey retains at the east double arches separated by a small column; these have been replaced elsewhere by commonplace narrow win- dows. Within the Court stand three small and beautiful cupolas, at the west the Kubbat el-Khaznah (Dome of the Treasury), for the mosque had great endow- ments. This building is, however, no longer used, but is filled with ancient MSS. jealously kept from view; it was only as a special favour to the Emperor Wilhelm that German scholars were allowed to handle them, and for a specified time only. The Kubbat el-Naufarah, in the centre of the court, has a fountain for ablutions; it is also called Kafs el-Ma (the Water Cage) , because a spout rises from a grat- ing so that people drink from the side. The building stands on arches upheld by four thick and as many slender columns, an upper room has wooden supports only and a flattish broad leaden roof with a little cupola in the middle. The third, Kubbat el-Sa'at XDome of the Hours) stands at the east of the Court. [400] THE PRAISES OF DAMASCUS The whole of the south side of the Court is occu- pied by the mosque, with its three great aisles divided by columns twenty-three feet high; its interior mea- surements are 429 feet by 124. The whole floor is covered by more carpets than we could count, about eight abreast, and many of them fine. The clere- story has round arches. The chief entrance is in the middle of the north side, i.e., from the Court; it leads under wide transepts to the mihrab and chief pulpit in the southern wall; there are three other mihrabs for the other Schools of Law. Over the centre, where the transepts cross the aisles, is the great dome,i nearly fifty feet in diameter and above 120 in height; it is called Kubbat al-Nasr (the Vulture Dome) it- self counting as the head, the aisle below as the breast and the lofty transept roofs, high above the other roofs, being likened to outspread wings. " From whatever quarter you approach the city, you see the dome high above all else as though suspended in the air." The Mosque has suffered repeatedly from fires, especially in 1069, owing to riots between the Fati- mides and Shiahs; in 1400, when Timur-Lenk took the town; lastly, and very severely, in 1894, since when plaster and whitewash have taken the place of the gold and coloured brilliance of old. [401] SCENES FROM THE HISTORY OF DAMASCUS IT has been observed with justice that Da- mascus has prospered in a variety of con- ditions, as the capital of a state, more frequently as the capital of a province, sometimes as a provincial town. It never as a me- tropolis grew to the vast dimensions of Babylon or Baghdad; on the other hand it never suffered very seriously by the removal of the court. The periods when it has been the chief city of a sov- ereign state have not been many. From the Old Testament we learn of a kingdom of Aram with Damascus for its capital, which was contemporary with the northern Israelitish kingdom, and perished with it; and we hear incidentally of a temple of Rim- mon, a god whose name appears to show Assyrian affinities ; we learn also the names of a few kings, and are amazed that the Israelitish prophets should in- terfere in the matter of their appointment. Little is heard of the place during the period when Persia dominated the nearer East, and when after the fall of that Empire a Greek kingdom of Syria was set up, Damascus was superseded after a time by a new capi- tal Antioch. At times before and after the com- [402] w: I ~li'~ 1 ir ^^ ff ■ I N ^ S~' z z \ SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS mencement of Christianity it was occupied by Na- bataean rulers, some of whom are known to us by in- scriptions in Arabia. Christianity appears to have made way in the city at an early date, and probably long subsisted by the side of a mixture of Greek and Nabataean cults. A fresh era in its history was con- stituted by the Mohammedan conquest, especially when the founder of the Umayyad dynasty (661-750) made it the capital of an empire that steadily grew in extent. Since the termination of that period it has not been a metropolis, for even such sovereigns as Nur al-din acknowledged the suzerainty of the Caliph of Baghdad, while other rulers have been commissioned by the Sultans reigning in Cairo and Constantinople. Numerous rebellions have indeed been commenced at the Syrian capital, but their suc- cess has usually been temporary, and the independ- ence of Syria rarely their ultimate object. In Mohammedan times it has sometimes, but not always, been the chief city of Syria. Its rival has been Aleppo, which it displaced in the year 13 12, by command of the Sultan Nasir, anxious to gratify the Emir Tengiz, a faithful partisan, whose daughter the Sultan married. When Tengiz came to Cairo to be present when his grandchild was born, and both spent and received fabulous sums, he thankfully prostrated himself when the child proved to be a girl: had it been a boy, he would have thought his luck too great! His distrust of fortune was justified; for, ere a year was over, the Sultan's face changed towards him, and he was summoned from Damascus, imprisoned and [405] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS executed. The reason for this proceeding is un- known, but is said to have been the Sultan's resent- ment at his harshness towards the Christians of Da- mascus, who had been charged with incendiarism. In 1366 Aleppo was again given precedence over Damascus, and this relation appears to have lasted until Turkish times. Imperfect as is the record of Damascene history, the city has more than one historian, and indeed one of the most frequently cited monuments of Arabic literature is the " History of Damascus," by Ibn Asakir, filling some sixty volumes, but occupied for the most part with biographies of persons who at any time in their lives had any connection with the city. Thus a whole volume is devoted to the first Caliph, who may perhaps have visited it on a trading expedi- tion. This author lived in the sixth century of Islam, and many exciting scenes have taken place in the city since his time. These have their historians, but the centre of interest in the Islamic world has usually been elsewhere. Syrian history is either Egyptian history or Turkish history: those who write it are more concerned with the succession of Sultans at the capital than with that of governors in the provinces. Of the scenes that have been enacted in Damascus four of special interest have been selected for descrip- tion: one, the taking of the city by the first Moslem conquerors, as told by the most trustworthy of Mos- lem chroniclers, and also as told in one of the romances which were inspired by the exploits of those who had to repel the Crusaders; another the brief [406] SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS period of sunshine enjoyed by the Christians at the time of the first Mongol conquest; and the third the destruction of the city by the terrible Timur. The last occasion on which Damascus was the focus of general attention, the massacre of i860, is told after an anonymous Arabic author; it has also, it may be observed, been portrayed with remarkable skill by the author of the admirable novel " Sa'id the Fisher- man," in which Oriental thought and manners are de- lineated with an accuracy rarely to be found in either history or fiction. CAPTURE OF DAMASCUS BY THE MOSLEMS A. D. 634 (a. H. 13) 'After Tabari When outposts have been despatched to guard the roads between Damascus and Emesa, and Damascus and Palestine, the city was itself invested, where the governor was Nastus, son of Nastus. Different de- tachments of Moslems were posted at different quarters; their commanders being Abu Ubaidah, Amr and Yazid. Heraclius was at the time in Emesa, but steps had been taken to deal with relief coming thence. The place was besieged some seventy nights, during which various assaults were made, and engines made to play on the walls, within which the inhabitants were entrenched, expecting relief from Heraclius, who was so near, and to whom they had sent for help. The cavalry despatched by the Emperor in answer to this ap- [407] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS peal were intercepted by Dhu' 1-Kula, who had been stationed at a day's journey from Damascus on the Emesa road, and whose camp the relief forces from Heraclius were compelled to besiege. When the Damascenes became convinced that no help w^ould arrive, they became despondent and down- hearted, while the Moslems were all the more eager to take the place. At first the inhabitants had sup- posed that this was an ordinary raid, and that when the cold weather came on, the besiegers would with- draw; and now the Pleiads fell, and the besiegers still remained. This made the Damascenes despair, and the troops regretted that they had shut them- selves up in the city. Now it so happened that a child was born to the Patrician who was governor of Damascus. He, in consequence, gave a banquet, and in consequence of the feasting the soldiers neglected their stations. None of the Moslems per- ceived this except Khalid, who neither took nor allowed others any rest, nor suffered anything that was going on in the town to escape him. Keen of vision, he was always attentive to that on which he was engaged. He had prepared a set of rope- ladders with nooses. When evening was come, he with a picked party started out, taking the lead him- self, with al-Ka'ka, son of Amr, and Madh'ur, son of Adi, and some other men of the same stamp, who had served him on similar enterprises before. Their in- structions to their followers were to wait until they heard the cry, Allah Akbar (God is greatest!) from the walls, when they should make for the gate. [408] I 1 ■\ II ii ni i n ai f ii— m ill » iiiiiii (i) SYRIAN TILi:, OF 1 1 1 !•. X\ lllih e'KNTURY, l-RO.M A DAMASCUS MOSQUE. (2) SYRIAN TILE, XVItli OR Wllth CENTURY, FROM A I) AM AScUS MOSQUE. . > SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS When Khalid had come to the gate opposite which he was stationed, he and his picked men, having on their backs the inflated skins with which they had crossed the ditch, threw their nooses at the battlements; and when two had caught, al-Ka'ka and Madh'ur climbed up, whereupon they proceeded to fix all the other rope-ladders to the battlements. The place they were storming was one of the best fortified in Damascus, having the deepest water in front of it, and being most difficult to approach. However, they suc- ceeded in ascending it, and every one of their party either climbed up the wall, or drew near to the gate. Having reached the top of the wall Khalid let his comrades down, and descended himself, after leaving a party to guard the ascent for such as should follow: those on the top of the wall then raised the cry, Allah Akbar. The Moslems outside advanced to the gate, some of them, however, making for the rope-ladders; Khalid meanwhile had got to the gate, where he slew the warders. There rose a great uproar in the city, and the soldiers rushed to their stations, not knowing what was the matter; and while each party was concerned with its own part of the wall, Khalid and his followers smashed the bolts of the gate with their swords, and let the Moslems in. They pro- ceeded to slay all the soldiers in the neighbourhood of Khalid's gate, and when Khalid had thus stormed his portion of the city, such as escaped ran to the gates where other detachments of the Moslem army had been stationed. These had repeatedly ofifered terms to the inhabitants which had been refused; and [411] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS now to their surprise the inhabitants themselves were offering terms of capitulation, which the Moslems accepted. The gates were then opened to these other detachments, whom the inhabitants begged to enter and protect them from those who were coming in by Khalid's gate. Thus the other detachment entered by treaty, while Khalid took his part by storm; Khalid and the other commanders met in the middle of the city, the first plundering and massacring, the second quieting disturbance and preserving order. Khalid's portion was then brought within the terms of the treaty. The treaty was that all property, landed and coined, should be equally divided be- tween the inhabitants and the Moslems; and a dinar was demanded per head of the population. When the spoil was divided, Khalid's troops only shared like the others. THE TAKING OF DAMASCUS BY THE MOSLEMS 'According to the Arabic romance called Wakidi's Conquest of Syria Abu Ubaidah had stationed his captains at the various gates of Damascus; sorties and battles took place at each one of them except the Gate of St. Mark, which was never opened for this purpose, and so was afterwards called the Gate of Safety or Peace. Damascus was under the command of Thomas, son-in-law of the Emperor Heraclius. [This Thomas is represented as a brave man; but in one of [412] SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS the sorties he loses the Great Cross, and is shot in the eye by Umm Aban, daughter of Utbah, whose husband he had killed. The arrow cannot afterwards be got out, and the end has to be sawn ofif. This wound only infuriates Thomas, who orders a night sortie. The Christians issue from the gates, and the Jews help them by discharging missiles from the battlements. Khalid, whose business it has been to guard the women and children, is so alarmed by this night attack, that he leaves his camp and rushes unarmed to the fray at the head of 400 horse. A terrible duel takes place, outside the Gate of Thomas, between Thomas himself and the Moslem commander Shurahbil, once the Prophet's secretary. Umm Aban tries to help the latter, as before, with her arrows, but at last she is taken captive, and Shu- rahbil's sword is broken. Thomas is about to take him prisoner also, when the horsemen come up in time and rescue both captives. The result of the sortie is in general so disastrous to the " Greeks," that when the gates are once more closed, a deputation approaches Thomas, telling him that if he will not make terms with the enemy they will without him, and he begs for time to send word to the Emperor.] The letter was written and sealed and sent off be- fore morning, but when morning came Khalid ordered a renewed assault, and refused to give the Damascenes a moment's truce for deliberation. Worn out with the siege and waiting for the answer of the Emperor, the chief people at last assembled, and said to each other, " Friends, we cannot endure [4>3] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS any longer what the Moslems are doing to us; if we fight against them, they are always victorious, whereas if we refrain from fighting and shut our- selves up in the city we shall be ruined by the siege. Let us no longer be obstinate, but rather ask peace of them on their own terms." Then there rose up an old Greek, who had read the Ancient Books and pond- ered on them, and said : " Friends, I am certain that if the king were to come with all his forces he could not raise the siege; for I have read in the Books that their founder Mohammed is the Seal of the Prophets and the Prince of the Apostles, and that his religion is bound to triumph over every other. Let us, there- fore, abandon all vain hopes and fancies and give the Moslems the terms they demand; that is our best course." When the people heard this utterance, they took the old man's side, owing to the respect in which he was held and to his knowledge of the records and the stories of wars. So they asked him how they should set about it. " You are to know," he replied, " that the commander at the east- ern gate is a shedder of blood [meaning Khalid, son of al-Walid]. If, therefore, you wish hostilities to cease, you had best go to the commander at Bab al- Jabiyah [meaning Abu Ubaidah]." They approved his suggestion ; and, when night came on, they went in a body to Bab al-Jabiyah, and one of them, who was acquainted with Arabic, cried out in a loud voice, " Ye Arabs, have we a safe-conduct that we may come down unto you and speak with your com- mander, that we may make a treaty of peace? " [414] SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS Now Abu Ubaidah had sent some of his soldiers to keep watch near the gate, fearing a surprise like that which had taken place on a previous night. The party sent that night were Dausites, commanded by Amir, son of Tufail. " While we were seated in our places," said Abu Hurairah, a member of the tribe, " we heard the people shouting. I immedi- ately rushed to Abu Ubaidah and gave him the good news, saying to him, ' There is a chance now that God may relieve the Moslems of their fatigue.' My mes- sage cheered him, and he bade me go and tell the Romans that they should be safe till they had got back to their city. So I went and called to them that they might come down without harm. They asked me which of Mohammed's followers I was, and whether I could be trusted? I replied that I was Abu Hurairah, a companion of the Prophet, and that treachery was not our custom. ' Why,' I said, * if one of our slaves were to give a guarantee of security, we should respect it; since God says, " Keep promises, for a promise is to be claimed." The Arabs were always celebrated for good faith in the times of paganism; much more then when God has given them Mohammed for a guide.' " So the Greeks descended and opened the gate. Those that came out were a hundred in number, men of note, priests and doctors of theology. When they came near Abu Ubaidah's camp, the Moslems hastened, and divested them of their belts (this zonarion was part of the Christian costume in Mos- lem countries) and crosses, when they were led to [415] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the tent of Abu Ubaidah, who bade them welcome, rose up to greet them, and bade them be seated. Mohammed, he observed, bade us treat with honour visitors who were honoured in their own country. The subject of peace was then started. " We wish you," they said, " to leave us our churches, and not to turn us out of them; these being the Church of St. John (now the Mosque), the Church of St. Mary, of Ananias, of St. Paul, of al-Miksat, of the Night Market, of St. Andrew, of Quirinarius (by the house of Humaid, son of Durrah)." Abu Ubaidah agreed to this, and to all their stipulations. He then drew up a deed of capitulation, to which, however, he neither attached his own name nor those of witnesses; being unwilling to act as commander, after he had been deposed from that office by Abu Bakr. When he had made out the document, and handed it over to them, they asked him to come with them. So he mounted, and took with him thirty-five com- panions of the Prophet, and sixty-five undistinguished Moslems, and rode up to the gate; before, however, he would enter the city he demanded hostages, which they at once produced. Others, however, say that he did not demand hostages, relying instead on God. For in the night on which the agreement was made, after saying his prayer, he had fallen asleep, and seen the Prophet in a dream; who uttered the words, "This night shall the city be taken, if God will." The Prophet then hastened away. Abu Ubaidah asked whither he [416] SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS was hurrying, and was told that it was to the funeral of Abu Bakr. When Abu Ubaidah awoke from his sleep, there was Abu Hurairah, bringing the tidings of the offer of terms. So he took no hostages, relying on God's word. He then entered the city, preceded by the priests and the monks, clad in sackcloth, holding up copies of the Gospel, and censers filled with incense. The day was Monday, Jumada II., 13 A. H. (August 22, 634)- Abu Ubaidah entered at the Bab al-Jabiyah, Khalid having no knowledge of what was going on, since he was engaged in a fierce fight at the eastern gate. He was greatly incensed against the Dama- scenes, because another Khalid, son of Sa'id, brother of Amr, son of al-As on the mother's side, had been killed with a poisoned arrow; Khalid, son of al- Walid, had prayed over him when he was buried between the Eastern Gate and the Gate of Thomas. Now there was a Greek priest named Joshua, son of Mark, living in a house close to that part of the wall which adjoined the eastern gate. He possessed the " Oracles of Daniel," and other books, whence he knew that God would put the city into the hands of the Moslems, and that their religion would prevail over every other. On the Sunday night preceding the day of which the date has been given, he made a hole in the wall and went outside without his wife or children knowing anything of it. Coming before Khalid, he told him how he had dug a hole in the wall, through which he had come out, and asked [417] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS that his life and the lives of his family should be guaranteed. Khalid gave his hand upon that, and sent with him a hundred men with their armour, most of them of the tribe of Himyar. They had orders, when they got into the city, to shout al- together, and to make for the door, of which they WTre to smash the bolts and fling away the chains. The men were then preceded by Joshua, son of Mark, who led them in by the hole which he had made, and when they got into the house they put on their armour, then issued forth and made for the gate, where they raised the cry, Allah Akbar. The Greeks were fighting on the wall, and when they heard this cry they were alarmed, and felt sure that the Companions of the Prophet must have entered the city with them ; and they were greatly distressed. Then the commander of the party got to the gate and broke the bolts and cut the chains, so that Khalid and his followers were able to enter. They began to slaughter the Romans, who retreated before him till he reached the Church of St. Mary, all the way kill- ing or taking prisoners. So the two hosts met in the church of St. Mary, those of Khalid and of Abu Ubaidah. Khalid be- held a procession led by priests and monks whom Abu Ubaidah followed, none of his followers having their swords drawn, or fighting. He was amazed thereat, and gazed in wonder. Abu Ubaidah, per- ceiving in his face the signs of disapproval, said to him, " Abu Sulaiman, the city has been taken by me under an agreement, and God has saved the Moslems [418] K I ti '% MINARET OV THE BKIDE. DAMASCUS. SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS the trouble of fighting." " Agreement? " said Khalid, " God make your circumstances anything but agreeable! I have taken the city by storm, and there are no defenders left; what agreement can I make with them?" Abu Ubaidah replied, " Com- mander, fear God; I have covenanted with these people, and the arrow has been discharged with what is upon it [i.e. the matter is irrevocable]. I have written the contract, and see there it is in their hands unfolded." '' How dare you make agreements with- out my order and without giving me notice? " replied Khalid; " am I not your chief, and are not you under my flag? No, I w^ill not sheathe the sword until I have slain them every one!" Abu Ubaidah cried, " By Allah, I never thought that you would disallow any covenant that I had made, or disapprove of any opinion that I had expressed. I adjure you by God, respect what I have done. I have given my guarantee to them all, and pledged thereto the faith of God and of the Prophet. All the Moslems who were with me assented thereunto, and treachery is not our custom. God have mercy on you." A fierce quarrel broke out between them, and the spectators took sides. Khalid was unwilling to change his resolution, and Abu Ubaidah looked at the followers of Khalid, Bedouins and old cam- paigners, and saw that they were eager for rapine and slaughter, and unwilling to spare a life. He began to cry with bitterness that he had been affronted and his promise disregarded; and, setting spurs to his horse, he began to point to the Arabs, now [421 ] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS right and now left, and adjure them by the Prophet to move no further in the direction whence he had come, till some arrangement might be come to be- tween himself and Khalid. At his entreaty they stopped slaying and pillaging, and a number of the captains gathered together at the church where they had met with the view of deliberation. Some of these captains urged the advisability of carrying out Abu Ubaidah's wishes on the ground that Syria was as yet imperfectly conquered, and that Heraclius was still at Antioch. If the rumour spread that having once made terms the Moslems had violated them, no other city would capitulate by agreement; and sec- ondly, it would be better to have the Christians of Damascus peaceful subjects than to slaughter them. It was then agreed that each of the two commanders should retain possession of the part of the city which he had got, and write to ask the Caliph's decision by which they should abide. To this Khalid assented. Presently, much against Khalid's wishes, the two governors, Thomas and Arabius, are allowed to leave the city with quantities of treasure, with a promise that they shall not be molested within three days of their departure. Khalid makes up his mind to fol- low them when that period has elapsed. And now there follows a romance in the stricter sense of the word. " I was," said one Wathilah, " among the horsemen whom Khalid employed to patrol between the gates under command of Dirar, son of al-Azwar. On one moonlight night before Damascus was taken, we were near the Kaisan Gate, [422] SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS when, hearing the hinges creak, we stopped. The gate was opened, a horseman came out, whom we al- lowed to proceed till he came near us, when we arrested him, telling him that if he uttered a word he would be beheaded. Two other mounted men then came out and stood on guard at the gate. They called to our prisoner by his name, and we bade him reply and decoy them out. He called to them in Greek, ' The bird is in the net,' whence they learned that he was arrested, and hastened inside and locked the gate. We wanted to kill the prisoner, but some of us suggested that he should be taken to the Com- mander, who might decide what should be done with him. When Khalid saw the man, he asked him who he was. He answered, ' I am a patrician, one of the rulers of Syria. Before your arrival I was betrothed to a maiden of my people whom I deeply love. As the siege became protracted, I asked her people to let the marriage take place, but they refused, saying that they had other things to think about. Being anxious to meet the maiden, I made an appointment with her that we should both be present at the city sports. There we met and conversed, when she asked me to take her to the city gate, where I left her, and came out to reconnoitre when I was caught by your men. My two friends with the maiden came out after me, but I called out to them that the bird was in the net to warn them, for fear the maiden might be made prisoner. Had it been anyone else I should not have minded.' Khalid suggested to him that he should embrace Islam, in which case, should the city be [423] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS taken, he should wed his bride. ' Otherwise,' he said, ' I shall kill you.' The patrician elected to become a Moslem, and testified that there was no God but Allah and Mohammed was His Prophet. He then showed himself a doughty warrior on our side. "When we entered the city in virtue of the capitu- lation, he went to look for his bride, and was told that she had become a nun out of grief for him. He went to the church and saw her, but she did not recognise him. He asked her what had induced her to take the veil. She replied that she had taken it because she had caused her betrothed to risk his life and be captured by the Arabs. She had become a nun out of grief over him. He said, ' I am thy betrothed; I have embraced the religion of the Arabs, and thou art now under my protection.' When she heard his words she cried out, ' No, by the Lord Jesus ! Never! This cannot be!' She left Damascus with the two patricians, Thomas and Arabius. When her be- trothed saw that she was determined to discard him, he went and complained to Khalid. Khalid in- formed him that Abu Ubaidah had taken the city by capitulation, and that he had no control over her. Knowing, however, that Khalid intended following the refugees, he offered to go with the commander on the chance of finding his bride. Khalid waited until the fourth day after their departure; and when he did not start, the Greek came and asked him whether after all he intended following the two miscreants, and taking from them what they had got. Khalid [424] DAMASCUS: MINARET OF JESUS. SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS replied that such had been his intention, but that he was kept from executing it by the distance which now lay between him and them, since the refugees had been hastened by their terror, and they could not now be overtaken. The patrician, whose name was Jonas, said that the distance was no sufficient reason for abandoning the enterprise, since he knew the country and could take Khalid's forces by short cuts which would enable them to overtake the party, and that he would willingly do this on the chance of re- covering his bride. After assuring Khalid that he was acquainted with the country, he advised that Khalid's followers should don the attire of the Chris- tian Arab tribes, Lakhm and Judham, and take suffi- cient provision for the journey. The people did as he advised. Khalid collected his 4000 guards, and ordered them to mount the fleetest of their horses, and reduce their store of provisions to the lightest possible weight. They then started, Khalid having left Abu Ubaidah in charge of the city. " So we rode, guided by Jonas, who followed their trail, which, indeed, we could often make out our- selves, not only from the track of the horses and mules, but also because any mount, camel or mule, that fell was left by them, and any horse that could not proceed was hamstrung. We rode on night and day, stopping only at prayer-times, till the trail came to an end. This alarmed us, and Khalid asked Jonas what he had to say about it. ' Commander,' he replied, 'ride on and ask God's aid; the refugees have turned out of the road for fear of you, and taken [427] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS to the mountains and passes; still we have all but overtaken them.' " Then he made the Moslems turn aside from the road, and took them through ravines and over moun- tains and stoneheaps. ' He took us,' said one of the party, ' over a very stony track, out of which a man could with difficulty extricate himself. We com- pelled our horses to go among the stones, and could see the blood oozing from their hocks, and their shoes falling off their hoofs. Our own shoes were cut to pieces, and only the uppers left.' Another member of the party said, " I was with Khalid on that expedition, and we had to follow the guide. I had a pair of leather shoes with Yemen soles, of which I was very proud, and which I fancied would last me for years. On that night nothing remained of them but the uppers on my legs. I was afraid of the results of the rough and difficult mountain path that we had traversed, and perceived that the others were complaining and wishing that the guide had kept to the beaten track. However, before night was over we had got over the worst part, and emerged into the main road, where the guide hoped that we should have come up with the fugitives; but when we had reached it, we saw their track, and found that they had got in front of us, by forced marches appar- ently. Khalid said, ' They have escaped us.' But the guide Jonas said, ' I have hopes that God Almighty will detain them till we can come up with them, if He will. So let us hasten.' Khalid accordingly bade the men bestir themselves. The Moslems said, [428] y. '^ a. •y. < y. Pi I # I? ^f|i t, t/5 73 .^J y? V^ u a: w Li\ii ^pTa-.i-.w.,. ?..*<• ^ ij.,: SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS * Commander, the difficult path has worn us out, so let us rest and give our horses food and rest also.' But he said, ' Move on in the name of God, for it is God who bids you march; hasten in pursuit of your enemies.' " So they hastened, the guide showing the way, and also acting as our interpreter, and whatever village we entered, the people there thought us Christian Arabs of the tribes Ghassan, Lakhm, or Judham. He took us past Gibili and Latakieh, and brought us at last within sight of the sea, still following the trail. And then we saw that the fugitives had passed by Latakieh without entering it for fear of the Emperor Heraclius. Jonas was amazed at this, and going to a village near asked some of the proprietors what had happened; and they informed him that the Em- peror Heraclius hearing that Thomas and Arabius had delivered the city of Damascus to the Moslems, was exceedingly angry, and had not permitted them to approach him; his purpose being to collect an army and despatch it to Yarmuk. He was afraid of their telling the soldiers about the courage of the Prophet's Companions, and so disheartening them; he had therefore sent orders to them to proceed with their company to Constantinople, and not to enter Latakieh. When the Damascene Jonas heard that the fugitives had gone off in the direction of the sea, he was vexed and alarmed for the Moslems, and un- certain what to do. He was in favour of going back, but Khalid encouraged the Moslems by narrating a dream which appeared to promise success. Heavy [431] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS rains now delay the fugitives, and after some more time spent in pursuit, the Moslems reach a spot where they can hear sounds which seem to proceed from the Christian host. Jonas with another ascend a mountain called by the Greeks Jebel Barik (the Lightning Mountain), and see below a fertile meadow, green and flowery, in the middle of which the Christians are loitering, worn out with fatigue and wet with the rain. Many are asleep, and the loads have been taken off many of their beasts. " The good news is brought to Khalid by the two scouts, and Jonas takes care to stipulate that his bride must be reserved for his own possession, should she be captured by anyone else. Khalid then divides his party into four troops who charge the fugitives from different sides. The Christians resist, supposing at first that the Arabs are a small detachment whom they can easily overcome, but they find themselves involved in a terrible conflict. " Said one of those who were present: ' I was in Khalid's right wing, and had gone with my band to attack the part of the Christian host that contained the women, children and baggage. I observed the Greek women defending themselves vigorously, and I noticed a horseman attired in Greek style dismount and commence fighting with a Greek woman, each of whom displayed great vehemence. I approached to see who it was. It was Jonas fighting with his bride, and the struggle was like one between lion and lioness.' " For a time this spectator was occupied with a [432] [/I u Si < < r. Z z ■S u V.,.. r sas-j? iS^f jm. i < SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS fight on his own account, having endeavoured to cap ture a number of Greek women, one of whom killed his horse. He succeeded, however, in making her his prisoner, and she turned out to be Heraclius's daughter. But before leaving the field he wished to see what had become of Jonas. ' Finally I found him sitting with his bride before him, she weltering in blood and he in tears. I asked him what had happened. He said, " This is my bride, my sole object of pursuit. I loved her dearly. When I saw her, I said, ' See, I have overtaken thee, and shalt thou escape from my hand '? She said, ' By the Lord Jesus, thou and I shall never be united, seeing thou hast left thy faith and entered into the religion of Mohammed. I have given myself to Christ, and am on my way to Constantinople, there to enter a convent.' Then she fought for her liberty, and I fought with her till I had made her my prisoner; and when she saw that she was taken, she drew out a knife and plunged it into her breast, and fell down dead. And see I am weeping over her, broken- hearted." ' " (This story is no mean tribute from a Moslem writer to the heroism of Christian women.) THE TAKING OF DAMASCUS BY HULAGU After D'Ohsoon On January 29, 1260, Nasir, great-grandson of Saladin, prince of Damascus, hearing of tKe sack of Aleppo, was persuaded by his generals to retreat in [435] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS the direction of Egypt, leaving Damascus unde- fended. By his order all the chief inhabitants, sol- diers as well as citizens, departed hastily for Egypt, some after selling their goods at ruinous prices. Seven hundred silver dirhems w^as the hire of a camel. After the departure of Nasir the Emir Zain al-din Sulaiman, better known as Zain al-Hafizi, closed the gates of the city, assembled the notables, and agreed with them to deliver Damascus to the Mongols in order to spare the blood of the people. In conse- quence a deputation, composed of the chief inhabi- tants, left for the Mongol camp at Aleppo, taking with them some rich presents and the keys of the city. Hulagu bestowed a robe of honour on the head of the deputation, the Judge Muhyi'1-din, son of al-Zaki, and nominated him chief judge of Syria. This per- sonage immediately thereupon returned to Damascus, where he assembled the doctors and notables, before whom clad in his robe of honour he read out the letters nominating him to his new post. He then pub- lished an edict whereby Hulagu promised the inhab- itants of Damascus the security of their lives. The Mongol chief then sent two commanders, one a Mongol the other a Persian, to Damascus, with in- structions to follow the advice of Zain al-Hafizi, and treat the inhabitants well. A short time after there arrived the general, Kitubogha, with a detachment of Mongol troops. The city sent to meet them a dep- utation of sheiks and notables, carrying banners and copies of the Koran. The new governor re- [436] SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS newed the edict promising security, and saw that neither life nor property was violated. When the Christians of Damascus saw the city occupied by Mongol troops, they produced an order of Hulagu, granting them protection, and armed with this they proceeded to defy their oppressors. Mohammedan historians relate with indignation how they drank wine publicly, even in the fasting month, spilling it on the garments of the Moslems and the doors of the mosques; how they compelled the Moslems to rise when they passed with the Cross before the Moslem shops; insulting any who refused to do so. They ran through the streets singing psalms and proclaiming that Christ's religion was the true one ; they went so far as to pull down mosques and minarets that were close to their churches. The outraged Moslems made complaint to the Mongol governor; but he being a Christian disregarded them, and caused some of them to be beaten; w^hereas he treated the Christian priests with great respect, visited the churches, and took the Christian leaders under his protection. On the other hand the chief Judge Zain al-Hafizi extorted large sums of money from the inhabitants, with which he purchased valu- able fabrics which he presented to the Mongol chiefs; and every day he sent them loads of provisions for their banquets. The Citadel' had not yet capitulated. Kitubogha began the siege on the night of March 21, and bat- tered the place with twenty catapults until April 6, when it yielded. The Mongols sacked it, burned the [437] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS buildings which it contained, demolished most of the towers, and destroyed all the military engines. Zain al-Hafizi wrote to Hulagu to ask for instructions with regard to the commander of the Citadel and his adjutant, who had been made prisoners; he received as reply their death-warrant, and proceeded to execute them himself; he beheaded them at Marj Barghuth, where Kitubogha had placed his camp. In September of the same year was fought the battle of Ain Jalut at which the Mongols were de- feated by the forces of the Egyptian Sultan. The Mongol camp, with the women and children, fell into the power of the victors. Hulagu's governors were assassinated in a number of towns. Those who were in Damascus were able to escape in time. When the news reached this place, the Mongol commanders and their partisans immediately made off, but they were plundered by the country people. The Mongol occupation of Damascus had lasted seven months and ten days. From Tiberias, a day or two after his victory, the Sultan addressed a letter to the city of Damascus, proclaiming the victory which had been vouchsafed him by God. The news caused transports of joy, be- cause the Moslems were despairing of ever being delivered from the yoke of the Mongols, who till then had appeared invincible. The Moslem in- habitants immediately rushed to the houses of the Christians, which they pillaged and ruined; many Christians were killed. The churches of St. James and St. Mary were burned. The Jews had to suffer [438] I w-1 Ki X u O \ SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS similarly. Their houses and shops were completely- looted, and armed force had to be employed to pre- vent the people from setting fire to their dwellings and synagogues. Then came the turn of those Mos- lems who had acted as partisans and agents of the Mongols; they were massacred. A few days later Kotuz arrived with his army before Damascus, and remained in camp for two days before entering the city. He ordered the execution of several Moslems who had taken the Mongol side, and had thirty Christians hung. He then imposed on the Christian population a fine of 150,000 dirhems. THE DESTRUCTION OF DAMASCUS BY TIMUR After Ibn lyas The Sultan Faraj had, on hearing of the advance of Timur into Syria, come to Damascus in person, where he had scored some slight victories over the outpost of the Mongol invader, and received large accessions of deserters. News, however, of an attempted revolu- tion at home caused him to withdraw suddenly, leav- ing Damascus exposed to the attack of Timur. Hear- ing of the approach of the Mongols, the people of Damascus on Saturday 21 Jumada I., 803 (January 8, 1400), were in great dismay, and locked the gates of the city. They mounted the walls, and began to shoot at Timur's army, and dragged each other for- ward to fight. The first day there was a considerable engagement, in which some 2000 of Timur's army were killed. On Sunday Timur sent requesting that [441 ] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS some eminent and intelligent citizen should be sent to act as intermediary, with a view to peace negotia- tions. When Timur's envoy brought this message, there was some discussion as to whom they should send, and the choice finally fell on the Kadi Taki al-din Ibn Muflih the Hanbalite, he being a ready speaker, skilful in both Turkish and Persian. He was let down from the top of the wall in a basket, and with him five other eminent Damascenes. He stayed away a little time, and then returned, when he stated that Timur had been exceedingly courteous. " This city," he had said, " is the home of the Prophets, and I give it its liberty for their sake." He had also gone to see the tomb of Umm Habibah (one of the Prophet's wives), and expressed his regret that such a monument should be without a cupola; he had therefore undertaken to provide it with one himself. Ibn Muflih further stated that the Mongol prince throughout the audience had been frequently men- tioning the name of God Almighty, and asking for- giveness for his sins, and that he never let the rosary drop from his hands. This, however, was as Ibra- him al-Mi'mar says: !As the butcher pronounces the name Of the Lord on the beast that he slays: So our governor's tyrannous acts He preludes with prayer and praise. Ibn Muflih was indeed so eloquent on the virtues of Timur that the people of Damascus felt unwilling to fight against such a man, and anxious to be his sub- [442] ,v k ^aUiCb- Vjjj 9 Ifl O H o w o a I i SCE3'Zi FROM HI5T0?vY C J rAMASCL'S . T : . -:. - r riiner. tney . i^c mtn twu pames. nie -: _ . ' : - "- '/_ - : "_ ' . . : -^ ne rcher ?dll reur (3n £^112:- ms 1' : irif ta Ihn T - ' :"? rer?c A: £rsc th r .■:-':- ' - '', ler cf rhe ir- - ±e :i--:- :: : -:by:: - -- - -- j "^ ^ _.; - - li re n -T : 1 r_ i_ : rity for his pclicv. mi ^si=hed re rpen. :/ T I - : iI-N'iiir- Tliis. hc^s^ver. wis (?rt>rsed b""T :/ ; , " - " , :r of tze Cini^ ^35-^0 ^ii mitred s? : -— -/ : . — if it -^^r? i:-r. Ibn M- : _ r^ ^. rri :::_ - : : .~r:r5. ;-iz^. i^i sheiks. C- _ -^ :--^rt5 fruin the r:r of tne — ^"^ "vr?-? e^rsrtsizei the ^- . ' . -~ nisfct in T_z._r'3 C-iir 7 1" : -f~: ri:i :: IT _:_-,-j:i5 the next di:j "wntli -^ 1= -fi: 1 _i ±e Umawad Mosq^ie. i— _ -js r..-.-;i -~ ;::_: r^'-riring bv the rec?'t :f liue cirv. wh: i::;- :::~ci the Bib Sighir. i--.«" fwit perfectly secure, rut G:f ."i" £Z-":v? whit is in the heart, is his "rcfn sii. Hewr-f : - ' - - - -^ Lie- .: H^ : - -^ Wl:: : ; pite WIS c^rened, ctre of Timur's c:Scers took his siiucn there, is>ert:r.g that it « ^ r. si- ncss to see that the M : ?s did ao . ce. Timur then sent ', ■ 1 ; ' . ■ i the larte: . denook to collea a ni. - . > [ 445 J CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS of Damascus. This he set about doing immediately after the audience, but when the sum was made up and brought to Timur, the Mongol made a wry face and declared himself dissatified, asserting it was a million tomans for which he had stipulated, a to- man having the value of ten (million) dinars. Ibn Muflih was disconcerted by this demand, and after leaving Timur tried every expedient in his power to get together the money, applying rack and torture to the citizens, demanding ten Syrian dirhems from each individual, great or small; three months' rev- enue was demanded from all religious establish- ments: and the distress resulting from these measures was indescribable, especially as prices had risen dur- ing the siege, a bushel of wheat fetching forty Syrian dirhems. Public prayer and preaching were aban- doned, and one of Timur's ca^Dtains, named Shah Malik, took up his quarters with his women folk in the Umayyad Mosque, of which he locked the door; he took up the carpets and the matting of the mosque, and with them blocked up the openings in the walls, and he with his soldiers proceeded to drink wine, beat drums and play dice in the Mosque. While this lasted, there was no call to prayer or any public worship in any of the sanctuaries; business was at a standstill, and the markets empty, while each day more and more of Timur's troops entered the city, till it became full of them, and they proceeded to lay siege to the Citadel. This was deliver'^d up to the Mongols after twenty-nine days' siege, when the gov- ernor thought there was no prospect of saving it. [446] I .;...««. V ^ X I Ir • « I \ SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS The Mongols took possession of everything, animate and inanimate, which it contained, and, indeed, of the whole city. Ibn Muflih then made a second presentation of money to Timur, who told him that what he had brought amounted in Mongol reckon- ing to three million dinars; there were thus still seven millions owing. The first stipulation made by the Mongol with Ibn Muflih had been for a million dinars, exclusive of the goods, arms and beasts left by the Egyptian Sultan and his officers when they went away. Returning from the audience Ibn Muflih had a proclamation made that whoever had in his keeping any property left on trust by the Sultan, his officers or his soldiers, should immediately produce it. The order was obeyed, and the whole brought before Timur, who told Ibn Muflih he must now bring the property of all Damascene merchants and persons of eminence who had left the city. When all this had been brought, Ibn Muflih was told to bring all the beasts of burden in the city, horses, mules, camels and asses; these were brought to the number of 12,000 head. Next he was told to collect and bring all weapons of any sort, however good or bad. After these had been fetched, Ibn Muflih was ordered to make out a list of all the quarters and streets of Damascus. When Ibn Muflih had made out a set of tables, and brought them to Timur, he was told finally to apportion the sum of 7,000,000 dinars which was still owing according to the terms of the capitulation. Ibn Muflih replied that there was not a gold or silver coin left in the place. At [ 449 ] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS this Timur was angry, and commanded Ibn Muflih and his assistants to be arrested and put in irons. '' Cauterisation is the leech's last expedient." It turned out then as has been said; A king's Intent is gall to eat Coated with honey from outside: So he who tastes it thinks it sweet Till he find out what It doth hide. Timur then distributed the tickets containing the names of the streets among his officers, and the whole army was introduced within the walls. Each officer stationed himself in a street, and demanded of its inhabitants an impossible sum. Each householder would be made to stand in his rags at the door of his house, and bidden to pay the sum allotted to him; when he replied that he had nothing left, he would be violently beaten, his house entered, and all the furniture and copper utensils would be taken away. He with all his family would then be dragged out, and his wives and daughters would be violated be- fore his eyes. The male children after being made to undergo similar atrocities would be beaten, and the scourging of the householder himself continued while all this was done. Ingenious forms of torture were devised; hempen cord would be tied round a man's head and tightened till it sank in ; then it would be put under his arms, and his thumbs be tied to- gether behind his back; then he would be made to lie on his back, and a cloth containing hot ashes be put over him. Men were suspended by their great [450] t/] z :ij SCENES FROM HISTORY OF DAMASCUS toes, and fires lighted under them, till they either died of the agony or fell into the blaze. Timur's soldiers did such things as it whitens the hair to hear of. Nineteen days did these atrocities continue; on Wednesday, the eighteenth of Rejeb of the year 803 (March 4, 1400), Damascus was entered by an army like the waves of the sea, all foot-soldiers, with drawn swords in their hands. These looted whatever re- mained in the city, and bound the men, women and children, whom they dragged off in ropes not know- ing whither they were to be taken. They left in the city infants under four years of age, and decayed old women and men. The rest were led off. On Thursday the first of Sha'ban (March 17, 1400), Timur ordered the city of Damascus to be set on fire, which was done; a pyre blazed which dis- charged sparks as big as yellow camels. The Umay- yad Mosque was burned till all left was a wall stand- ing with no roof, nor door nor marble; most of the mosques and oratories of Damascus were burned also, as were the market-places and the magazines which had first been plundered, and most of the streets were destroyed by the fire so as to become un- recognisable, as has been said: I pass by haunts I once knew well, Bright homes of wealth and gladness, Only the owls do there now dwell — Plague on ye, birds of sadness! So Damascus that had been so prosperous, so happy, so bright, so luxurious, so magnificent, was [453] CAIRO, JERUSALEM, AND DAMASCUS turned into a heap of ruins, of desolate remains, destitute of all its beauty and all its art. Not a liv- ing being was moving, nothing was there except carcasses partly burned, and figures disfigured with dust, covered with a cloak of flies, and become the prey and the spoil of dogs. Even a sagacious man could not find the way to his house, nor distinguish between a stranger's dwelling and his own. "We are God's and to God do we return! " [ 454 ] APPENDIX THE MASSACRE OF 1860 FROM A WORK CALLED "THE UNVEILING OF THE TROUBLES OF SYRIA" ©HERE was at this time in Damascus a gov-^ ernor named Ahmad Pasha, who had been given control of both the administration and the army. The whole history of Tur- key offers no example of a baser, more mischievous or more cunning scoundrel. He made it his chief busi- ness to stir up angry passions and prepare the way for a massacre. The massacres of Hasibiyya and Rashiyya were by his orders and under his direction, and the Turkish soldiers who carried them out were his servants. Circumstances helped him to stir up bad blood, especially the rescript in which the Sultan proclaimed equality between his subjects in accord- ance with the Treaty of Paris. When the Moslems perceived that their power of lording it over the Christians was gone, that all communities were now equal, and that no sooner had the Christians been enfranchised than they had begun to surpass the Moslems in wealth, honour, knowledge and every- thing else, the latter resented this and harboured [455] APPENDIX mischievous designs. Now, one of the articles of the Treaty of Paris was that soldiers should be drawn from the Christian no less than from the Moslem part of the population; the Government, however, did not observe this article for reasons that are well known, and in lieu of military service levied a heavy contribution on the Christians, £50 a head. This sum being more than they were able to pay, they made repeated complaints and begged the Govern- ment to reduce the amount or else permit Christians to serve in the army. The Government would not listen to these appeals, and in the year i860 insisted on the payment of all arrears. The Orthodox Greek Patriarch at that time was a Greek unacquainted with the language and character of the people. When his flock thronged round him and encompassed his residence, begging his mediation in this matter, he wished to disperse them with the aid of the soldiers; he therefore wrote to the Governor informing him that the Christians were in a turbulent and excited state in consequence of the imposition of the heavy military tax, and expressed the hope that the Gover- nor would disperse them, as they were crowding round his house. The Governor was delighted with this communication and kept the letter in his pocket to serve as his justification, if necessary, for the mas- sacre that he meant to bring about; for in answer to any question he could produce the letter of the Patri- arch, attesting the fact that the Christians were start- ing a riot, which he had been compelled to repress by force of arms. [456] APPENDIX By the secret instigations of Ahmad Pasha the ex- citement of the Moslems in Damascus increased daily, and presently they heard with delight of the mas- sacres in Hasibiyya, Rashiyya, Zahlah and Dair al- Kamar. With the heroes of Zahlah they had a long account to settle, and when they received the news of the fall of Zahlah and the massacre of its defenders, they decorated Damascus and instituted public re- joicings. The Christians looked on but durst not interfere; only some of the more distinguished and virtuous^ of the Moslems were displeased with this proceeding and extinguished the illuminations, and besides went round and urged their co-religionists to be sensible and calm. Their laudable efforts had little effect; they were overcome by the Government and the mob. At the end of this chapter we shall record the names of the noble-minded men, in order that their memory and the memory of their services may endure in history. As we said, the excitement of the Moslems kept increasing daily, whilst the Chris- tians had to suffer contempt and insult and contumely of every sort. Complaint brought no redress and they found that application to the Government was use- less. Most of them remained shut up in their houses ; merchants and employes durst not go out to their busi- ness, but passed the time in prayer, meditation and deliberation. Meanwhile the feeling of the Moslems grew worse and worse, and the Christians saw death approaching. The Consuls, perceiving the state of affairs, kept sending reports to their Governments, and when mat- [457] APPENDIX ters came to a crisis a meeting was held in the house of the British Consul, in accordance with his request, at which they all attended. After considering what measures they could take to prevent a massacre, they agreed to open their houses to refugees from murder or pillage; and determined to warn the Governor of the consequences of negligence. The Greek Consul was selected to convey their message to the Governor, this Consul being skilled in Turkish. He did his utmost to impress on the Governor the necessity of calming the excitement, but without effect; Ahmad Pasha at first professed absolute ignorance of the existence of any excitement, maintaining that the city was perfectly quiet. When, however, as the days passed, it became impossible for him to deny the fact, he began to excuse himself on the plea that the sol- diers whom he had were not sufficient to restrain the mob from carrying out their designs. He also began to make an exhibition of surprise and anxiety at the state of affairs, but he did not issue a single order to the effect that either the soldiers or the mob should be restrained from attacking the Christians. When the debate became hot between him and the Consul who was commissioned to converse with him, he would declare that the Christians had rebelled against the Porte and endeavoured to shake off their alle- giance; " and this," he said, " I can prove by the let- ters of their bishops and chief ecclesiastical authori- ties." The Consuls then went in a body to the palace of the Governor and insisted that he must do some- thing to improve the state of affairs. Finding he [458] APPENDIX could no longer refuse, he promised to do as they wished, and issued an order to the inhabitants and the army that they should keep quiet and not molest the Christians. This order was partly effective, and the Christians experienced a certain amount of relief; orders were presently sent by the Governor to such of them as were in the employ of the Government, bid- ding them have no fear, and return to their duties. Supposing the excitement to have subsided they took courage, and people were near imagining that the waters had returned to their channels. Ahmad Pasha, however, had no idea of letting this tranquillity continue, but continued his secret instiga- tions, and the army with the mob became even more seriously excited than before, whilst the Christians were again compelled to conceal themselves from' their enemies. Everyone perceived that something terrible was about to happen, although the Consuls of Great Britain and Greece tried to urge the distin- guished Moslems to help them in quieting the excite- ment. A few of the best among the Damascenes came to their aid, but their efforts were unavailing; for the disturbance kept increasing, and the ruffians began to thirst more and more for blood. Hearing of this the Arabs and other Moslem neighbours of Damascus came to the city from all quarters, anxious to gratify their resentments by the murder of Christians and plunder of Christian goods. Most unfortunately those who had escaped from the massacre of Hasibiyya arrived in Damascus at that time, bringing with them, as it were, the infection of massacre. The ruf- [459] APPENDIX fians could wait no longer, and the Druzes from the outside and the Moslems from the inside kept urging the Government to issue a rescript giving them leave to commence slaying, violating women, plundering goods and burning houses. Ahmad Pasha saw that the time had come for the execution of his purpose, and fanned the flame by circulating a rumour that the Christians were planning a night attack on the Moslem quarters, with a general assault, notwith- standing that the Christians of Damascus were the weakest of God's creatures, not one of whom could handle a weapon, and whose only expedient for self- defence was imploring mercy or hiding. The wicked Governor, whenever he went to public prayer, had the troops ranged round the mosque, on the pretence that the Christians were meditating an assault on his person. By means of these rumours and slanders the wrath of the Moslems was roused to such a pitch that the continuance of quiet was impossible. Presently the Governor removed his family to the Citadel which he protected with guns, and this served as a signal to the Damascenes that the time was come, and they commenced making preparations for the abso- lute annihilation of the Christians of the city. The excitement grew fiercer and fiercer, the preparations for a massacre were completed, and the Christians despaired of deliverance. The Governor now sent a regiment of soldiers to the Bab Tuma, where is the Christian quarter, to pro- tect the Christians, who, however, had heard of the sort of protection accorded by these Turks at the [460] APPENDIX other massacres in Syria, and were convinced that one was about to commence. They supposed the sol- diers had been sent to attack them, and their terror was vastly increased when they learned from the Hasi- biyya refugees that this was the very regiment that had been in Hasibiyya and assisted in the massacre there, and having got some practice in such proceed- ings had come on to Damascus to repeat the scenes of Hasibiyya. And, indeed, the intentions of these sol- diers were apparent on their countenances. The Christians, in despair, committed their future to God, some of them, indeed, trying to take refuge in the houses of the more virtuous Moslems or to leave the city secretly when not prevented by the soldiers, while others tried to soften the soldiers and officers by pres- ents of money. Indeed, these were so lavishly be- stowed that the poorest of these Turkish soldiers be- came richer than the most eminent of the Christians, the wealth of the unfortunate Christians being trans- ferred to these savages, who, having been sent to protect their lives, attacked them in contravention of the law of God, the law of Islam and the law of manhood. When Ahmad Pasha perceived that further delay would be harmful rather than profitable, and that all that was now wanted was a signal, he began to search for something that would excite the Moslems to such a pitch that they would of their own accord start on a massacre without instructions from the Govern- ment. He found an expedient directly. The Moslems, especially the Turks, had at that [461] APPENDIX time repeatedly insulted the Christian religion, and complaints about this had repeatedly been made to the Governor. When he wished the massacre to com- mence, he ordered the arrest of three Moslem lads who had openly insulted the Cross, and sent them bound and escorted to the Christian quarter, with orders to sweep its streets as a punishment for their conduct. The Moslems, seeing them in this state, and being told by the Turks that they were going to act as slaves to the Christians because they had in- sulted the Cross, stopped them at the entrance of the Umayyad Mosque, and loosed their bonds without opposition from the soldiers. Entering the Mosque they deliberated for a short time, after which they left the building, one of them shouting at the top of his voice, " Help, help, Mohammed's Religion; the Cause of the Faith; the Cause of God against the Unbelieving Nazarenes! " The cry went from mouth to mouth, the people became infuriated, and the Moslem rabble rushed from every quarter upon the Christian quarter like ravening wolves, eager to slake their fury by spilling Christian blood. This, then, was the beginning of the terrible massacre. While rushing upon the Christian quarter the riot- ers said to each other, " Fear not that the Govern- ment will intervene or that the soldiers will oppose our holy enterprise, but slaughter the Christians to a man this day; make their homes the food of the flame, and let their woman taste the bitterness of dis- honour; rid yourselves after such long endurance of these Nazarene unbelievers." By order of the Gover- [462] APPENDIX nor a blank discharge was fired at the Greek Ortho- dox Church ; it set some matting alight, and when the rioters saw the flame they began to kindle fires on all sides of the Christian quarter, and entering the houses began to slay and pillage. The Turkish soldiers opened the doors to the invaders and prevented the Christians from escaping; before midday the whole quarter was a sheet of flame, and in the following night its appearance might have whitened an infant's hair. There were wretched creatures trying to escape from the jaws of the fire, when the walls fell down with them, and they were left to die In indescribable torment. When day dawned and the rioters saw that there was nothing left to plunder, they employed their weapons upon all who had escaped from the fire, slaughtering every Christian whom they could find, sparing neither young nor old; they cut down the mothers and violated the daughters; they com- mitted every form of atrocity. The blood of the vic- tims flowed in the streets in rills. Destruction was everywhere; nothing could be seen in the Christian quarter except heads on which bullets were raining from the Turkish rifles, chests trampled by horse- hoofs, corpses partly devoured by flames and turned into ashes or charcoal blacker than night. The cry of women and children rose to heaven and the blood of the slain flowed in the streets imploring succour. To the spectator it seemed as though not a Christian soul remained alive except some who had been spared by some of the ruffians for evil purposes, and who were begging for death, and welcomed it after the [463] APPENDIX terrors that they had witnessed. Six thousand inno- cent persons perished after enduring unspeakable agonies. Still, even in that gloomy time there were not wanting noble men, a remnant of whom are always to be found surviving, however savage the majority may be. Among the savage murderers there was found a man of high station, noble worth, lofty aspirations and attachment to Islamic virtues, high-born and of high repute, a master with the sword and a master with the pen, a hero and a champion, familiar with war and its terrors, wherein he had played the man. In the days of his power his enemies had been Chris- tians, whom he had fought courageously; when for- tune had played him false and his sovereignty had come to an end, he had resolved on retiring to Da- mascus, there to pass the remainder of his days in such courses as pleased God. He detested the treacherous murder of the weak, and tried to restrain others from such acts as are forbidden by the Moslem religion. Among these debased mobs he shone like a gem in dull black stone; his spirit rose superior to the intrigues of the Turks and the machinations of the mischief-makers, and the deeds of the savages. This person was the unique Emir Abd al-Kadir of Algiers, whose memory God render fragrant, and on whom may He confer a thousand mercies; and may He make many like to him among the sons of Adam. He it was who showed himself brave and manly among the herd of evil-doers, cowards, dastards, villains, and traitors. [464] APPENDIX Having perceived on men's faces the signs of un- holy intentions, and having inferred from the negli- gence of the authorities in repressing the rioters that the authorities either had a hand in the business them- selves or were actually the instigators of the atrocities, when one day he met a number of the chief Moslems in the presence of Ahmad Pasha, after a long dis- cussion he persuaded them that such treachery to- wards a feeble community that did not amount to a tenth of the population of Damascus — exclusive of the army, and exclusive of the fact that the Christians were utterly unaccustomed to fighting — could only be regarded as an infamous piece of cowardice, bring- ing disgrace on him who was guilty of it; and that an attack on " the people of the Covenant " — the legal name for tolerated sects living under Moslem rule — so long as they remained obedient to the Moslem government, was a violation of the Sacred Code, and was not permitted by any religious system. The Governor, being unable to refuse his assent to these propositions, agreed to take joint steps to allay the excitement and to protect the Christians. Hence, when Abd al-Kadir learned of the dispatch of the regiment to the Christian quarter shortly before the butchery, his apprehensions were appeased, and he supposed that he had done his duty and succeeded in carrying out his noble purpose. The Turkish Gov- ernor, however, and his satellites had no thought about honour nor about any code save that of their passion for blood and plunder, whence, overriding all laws, they perpetrated those acts which have been [465] APPENDIX narrated. But when Abd al-Kadir heard of this, he sent his followers at night-time to every quarter of Damascus to search everywhere for Christians and bring them, wherever found, to the Emir's palace, protecting them on the way from the rioters. The whole of the night and the following day Abd al- Kadir kept gathering these poor wretches into his house where he provided them with food and drink at his own expense and did his best to console them, allay their fears and promise them an alleviation of their trials. No nobler conduct has ever been heard of. Many a time he went out himself and passed through the streets in which the butchery was going on, and with his own hand kept the murderer off his prey. Going to the booths, churches and consulates, where refugees were gathered by the hundred and thousand, he took them under his protection and led them off to his own house, whence he returned to de- liver a fresh batch. He also encouraged his own servants to do the same, and begged them to exert themselves therein. Finally, when he had got round him 12,000 refugees, his palace was too small to hold them, and he requested the brutal Governor, Ahmad Pasha, to order that they should be received in the Citadel, after having obtained from the Turk the most solemn promise that he would do them no harm. The unfortunate people were in consequence placed in the Citadel where they remained days and weeks without clothing, shelter or food, and where they en- dured every kind of misery after the trials that they had undergone. God alone knows the anguish of [466] APPENDIX these refugees over the dear ones whom they had lost; over their personal losses and over the miserable plight to which they had come; especially as most of them believed the Citadel was going to turn out a death-trap like the Palace of Hasibiyya or Dair al- Kamar or Rashiyya, and that one day the Governor would open the gates and order the Druzes and Turks to massacre them to a man, as had happened to their brethren. This apprehension was strength- ened one day when an officer was sent by the Gover- nor with orders to separate the women from the men for a purpose that was not then explained; the refu- gees gave up all hope and made ready for death, imploring mercy for those whom they were preced- ing to Eternity and who had still some chance of abiding in the vale of tears. Fortunately this fear was not realised — chiefly through the efforts of the brave and philanthropic Abd al-Kadir. The efforts of the Consuls were of no avail, for the authorities regarded them as enemies and wished to attack them with the rest. When the number of refugees assembled in Abd al-Kadir's house became very great — in addition to those who had been sent to the Citadel — the rioters wished to kill them also to a man, and resented the conduct of the Emir Abd al-Kadir in helping the Christians. Gathering round his house in masses they began to shout and cry and demand the im- mediate surrender of the Christians, failing which they threatened to burn his house and destroy him with his proteges; thinking that Abd al-Kadir was a [467] APPENDIX coward like the rest, who would be moved by threats and menaces. Hearing this, the hero ordered his followers to gather round his castle ; they were picked champions, whose prowess had been tried on battle- fields, as when under their heroic leader they had won a victory over the Sultan of Morocco at Mulaya, being 2500 against 60,000. These troops maintained their allegiance to their prince, and such of them as survived the wars had come with him to Damascus. When, therefore, he summoned them on that terrible day, they surrounded him on every side, and the rioters seeing their valiant appearance, took to their heels; whereupon the Emir advanced by himself into the middle of the cowardly rioters and addressed them to the following effect: " Avaunt, ye Moslem dogs, ye scum of mankind! Is it thus that ye honour your Prophet and obey his holy ordinances, ye vilest of unbelievers? Did God's Apostle bid ye deal thus with the people of the Covenant who were to be safe under your shadow? Is it this which Arabian cour- age nerves ye to do? Plague on ye for cowardly traitors, who murder the Christians who are fewer and w^eaker than yourselves, and reckon this to be valour, when it is disgrace itself. Go back at once or I will not sheathe this sword till I have saturated it with your blood, and will command my men to fall upon you, until not a single coward remain to tell what has happened to his brethren. And be well assured that ye shall repent in dust and ashes when the Franks shall come to avenge these injured Chris- tians, and shall turn your mosques into churches, and [468] APPENDIX make of you an example to them that will be warned. Go back, cease from your folly, or I will make this hour the last of your lives, and will take retribution from you for the evil which you have committed." The mighty man's words terrified the hearts of the dastards, and they went back dismayed, and so 12,000 lives were saved through the instrumentality of one hero. His name shall last so long as honour lasts or courage is remembered. [There follows a list of other eminent Moslems who aided the efforts of Abd al-Kadir.] This is the substance of the terrible story. We narrate it here and leave the reader to say to himself what he pleases. The number of the slain in Damas- cus and its suburbs was 6000, and of those slain else- where about the same. The whole of this happened in the month of June of the Black Year (i860) . The number of persons left homeless and destitute was more than 150,000; the number of w^omen and chil- dren that became widows and orphans was not less than 20,000; the number of houses belonging to inno- cent Christians that were burned down was about 7000; the number of persons who died in this month of the effects of fright, grief, anxiety and sudden poverty was not less than 14,000; and the amount of money pillaged and looted was not less than £3,000,000. Consider these matters — God guard you — and pray God that He will deliver the earth from the evil- doers. [469] GLOSSARY Abbasid: descended from the Prophet's uncle Abbas. Name of the third Mohammedan dynasty, whose capital was ordinarily Baghdad. Abd: slave of. As an element in proper names prefixed to names of God. Abu : father of. A form of name taken by Arabs, called kunyah. Agha: master, commander, or chief (Turkish.) Ayyubid: descended from Ayyub (Job), father of Saladin. Azhar: brilliant, masculine of Zahra, a title of the Prophet's daughter Fatimah. Bab: door, gate. Bahr: sea, great river, used for the Nile. Bahri: of the Nile, name given to first Mameluke dynasty, be- cause of their barracks on an island in the Nile. Bait: house, room. Bey: prince or noble. Turkish title. Birket: pool (of), pond (of). BuRji: of the Castle, name given to second series of Mameluke dynasties, from their barracks on the Citadel. Caliph: successor, ordinarily of the Prophet, in the sovereignty of the Moslems. Caravanserai : inn for the lodging of caravans. DiKKAH : bench. Diwan : bureau, public office, council. Efendi : Turkish title, corresponding with our " esquire," usually confined to Moslems, but now not exclusively. Emir: governor, name given to high officials at the Mameluke court. Fatimide: descended from Fatimah, the Prophet's daughter and [471] GLOSSARY her husband All, the Prophet's cousin. Name taken by the Eg5'ptian Caliphs, who, rightly or wrongly, claimed such descent. Gharbiyyah: western (fem.) Harah : street. HiSN : fort, fortress. Ibn ; son of. Ikhshid: title used in Farghanah for sovereign. Imam: leader, usually in prayer. Iwan: see liwan. Kadi: judge. Kan : title of Mongol rulers of Baghdad. Karafah : cemetery. Ka'ah : saloon, large room. Ketkhuda: steward. Khan: sovereign (in Turkey) ; noble (in Persia) ; storehouse for merchandise (chiefly in Syria). Khanagah: hospice. Khedive: king or prince. Persian title, given the Egytian ruler. KiBLAH : niche marking direction of prayer in a mosque. KuBBAH : cupola. Liwan: word employed by writers on Egyptian architecture for an arched hall, usually with one side open towards a court; aisle of a mosque. Madanah: minaret. Madanat: minaret of. Madrasah : school, college, place of instruction. Maktab: elementary school. Maksurah: portion of a mosque marked off for the use of the sovereign or governor. Mashhad: grave of a saint. Malik: king. Title taken by Egyptian rulers, and sometimes by their ministers. Mameluke: slave. Mihrab : see Kiblah. Minaret: tower adjoining a mosque, with one or more galleries whence the call to prayer is chanted. [472] GLOSSARY Minbar: pulpit of a mosque. Mosque: ]\Iohammedan place of worship. Mueddin: official whose business it is to chant the call to prayer. Muristan: hospital. Pasha: title given to very high officials in the Turkish Empire. Ribat: small monastery. Sayyid, f em. Sayyidah : title given to descendants of the Prophet. Sebil: public drinking fountain. Sheik: head of a tribe; doctor of theology. Shi'ah : partisans of Ali, as opposed to orthodox Moslems. SiDi : abbreviation of Sayyidi, my lord, used of Egyptian princes. Sufi: Mohammedan mystic or ascetic. Sultan: title assumed by Mohammedan sovereigns, who ruled under the nominal suzerainty of the Caliph. In the Ottoman Empire the two titles are combined. Sunni: orthodox Moslem, opposed to Shi'i. Takiyyah: monastery. Ukalah or Wakalah : building for the storage or merchandise. Zahir : title taken by Sultans, signifying victorious. Zawiyah : cell, small monastery. [473] University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. :e 50m-3.'08 (I19'242Brf ) 9 iS2 3 1205 00458 0" 1^ UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 241 196 5