left by Herz I say "partly" because my researches have been mainly confined to the northern enclosure and I feel that I cannot do better than dedicate them to the distinguished Arabic scholar whose previous study has made my archæological supplement possible.

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.

Egypt had lost all her possessions in Palestine by 1153 and aş-Şâliḥ Telâye had failed to form a coalition against the Crusaders, with the object of regaining territory. The Khalif Fâïz had died in July 1160 at the age of eleven, and aş-Şâliḥ Telaye's choice of al-'Âdid (1160-1171), a boy of nine, led to intrigues ending in the murder of the Wazîr. His son, who apparently became Wazir in his place, was murdered by Shawar, the Arab governor of Upper Egypt, in 1163, and the latter in turn was driven out by Dirghâm. Shawar therefore fled to Nûr ad-Din to seek his assistance, promising him one third of the revenue of Egypt if he were re-instated (1).

Before Nûr ad-Din could make up his mind, Amaury, the new King of Jerusalem, having failed to receive the usual tribute (2) from Dirghâm, invaded the country, but withdrew after having got as far as Bilbeis. Dirghâm, hearing of Shawar's intrigues, now sought an alliance with his recent adversary, and Nûr ad-Din, seeing the danger, decided to strike at once. Before Amaury could be won over by Dirghâm, Shâwar was on the march for Egypt (April 1164), with a force of Turkomans under Shîrikûh (3) and the latter's nephew Şalaḥ ad-Din, the famous Saladin of Crusading history. A victory at Bilbeis

(LANE-POOLE, Saladin, p. 81, and his History of Egypt, pp. 175-176. The Khalif appears to have been a passive witness, in fact Behâ adDin speaking of these events says: "It was the custom, when anyone successfully raised the standard of revolt against a vizier, to submit to the victor, and establish him with full authority in the office for which he fought. Indeed, the whole power of the government lay in the vizier's army, and the vizier had the title of Sultan. They (the Khalifs) took care not to look

into matters too closely, and had followed this. policy from the first establishment of their dominion. See his Saladin, translated in the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, vol. XIII, p. 47.

(3) It would appear that the later Fatimides. had hitherto escaped invasion by a prudent application of subsidies or a fixed annual tribute, the annuam tributi pensionem, of William of Tyre (XIX, 5). See LANE-POOLE, Saladin, p. 79.

(3) For this spelling, see CASANOVA, in the M. I. F. A. O., tome IV, p. xI.

was followed by the capture of Fusțâț, and Dirghâm, deserted, first by the people and then by the Khalif and the Army, was assassinated as Shawar was entering by the Bab al-Qantara.

The latter, restored once more to power, repudiated his promises and refused to pay an indemnity. Shirikûh therefore sent Saladin to occupy Bilbeis and the Eastern Provinces, while Shawar, appealed to Amaury, who came and besieged Saladin at Bilbeis for three months. Events had happened in Syria which rendered urgent the return of both Amaury and Shìrikûh; an armistice was therefore arranged (October 1164) and Shirikûh withdrew with his army. But just as the expedition of Cyrus and the Retreat of the Ten Thousand had shown the Greeks the weakness of the Persian Empire at that time, so had this expedition revealed the wealth and the weakness of Egypt. The cautious Nûr ad-Din was won over; the orthodox Khalif, eager to see his rival deposed, had readily granted his blessing and Shîrikûh started for Egypt on 12th Rabi I, 562 (6th January 1 167), with 2000 picked horsemen. Making a great detour he reached the Nile at Atfiḥ, 40 miles south of Cairo, and crossed to the west bank without being molested, but scarcely had he done so when Amaury, who had hurried from Palestine, arrived on the east bank. The two armies then followed the opposite banks to Cairo, Amaury pitching his camp at Fusțâț whilst Shirikùh occupied Gîza (1).

Amaury now sought a treaty, ratified by the Fâțimide Khalif in person, and it was proposed that 200,000 gold pieces should be paid to Amaury forthwith and 200,000 when the enemy had been driven out of the country. This being agreed to, Amaury suddenly crossed the Nile, and Shirikûh, taken by surprise, marched south, pursued by Amaury, who came up with him 10 miles south of Minya, where a pitched battle took place on April 18th, 1167. Shirikûh was victorious by a narrow margin, and not feeling strong enough to march on Cairo, went north by a desert route (2), and entered Alexandria without opposition.

(LANE-POOLE, Life of Saladin, pp. 81-85, and his History of Egypt, pp. 177-179.

(2) He probably marched via the Fayyûm to the Wâdy Natrûn, skirting Giza on the way, and from the Wâdy Natrûn to Alexandria, a route

still much used by the Arabs of the Western Desert. This route, which passes through a gravelly and not a sandy region, would be sufficiently green in April to provide grazing.

Saladin was left there as Governor and Shirikûh started once more for

Upper Egypt. The Crusaders and the Egyptians invested Alexandria and Saladin was hard pressed, but the return of Shirikûh so raised the courage of the besieged and depressed that of the besiegers, that a treaty was signed under which Shirikûh and Amaury both agreed to leave Egypt. The latter however left a garrison in Cairo and Fusțâț.

Amaury, urged on by his advisers, once more invaded the country in November 1168, and signalled his arrival by massacring the whole population of Bilbeis. Shawar now took desperate measures; Fustât, although densely populated, was by his orders set on fire, lest it should again give shelter to the invaders, and the whole population deserted it en masse. It was", says Maqrizi, an impetuous flood; it seemed as though men were leaving their graves for the Judgment; fathers did not concern themselves with their children, brothers did not trouble about each other. The hire of a mount from Mișr to Cairo rose to 20 dinars. A pack animal was let for 30 dinars. Then Shawar sent to Misr 20,000 barrels of naphtha and 10,000 torches. The whole was scattered about the town and the flames and the smoke of the burning rose to heaven. It was a frightful spectacle. The fire continued amongst the houses of Misr during 54 complete days, as well as the pillage organized by the slaves, men from the fleet, and others. . . . .

From this moment Miṣr and Fusțâț became the ruin known to-day as the Mounds of Misr (Kimán Mișr) (1).»

On the 17th December 1168 Nûr ad-Dìn, this time at the urgent request of the Fâţimide Khalif, sent a third expedition of 8000 men to Egypt, and effected a junction with the Egyptian army on the 8th January, after evading the forces sent by the Franks to intercept it. Amaury then returned to Palestine, but Shawar took no steps to perform his engagements to his deliverers, on the contrary he actually made plans to arrest Shîrikûh at a friendly banquet. He was therefore seized by Saladin, who almost immediately afterwards received orders from the Khalif to send him his head. Al-'Âdid then appointed Shirikûh as Wazir in his place 17 Rabi II, 564 (18th January

MAQRîzi, Khitat, I, pp. 338-339 (Casanova's transl., III, pp. 286-287), and BAHGAT and GABRIEL, Fouilles d'al Foustat, pp. 13-14.

1169), but the latter, dying two months later, was succeeded by his nephew Saladin, on 22nd Gumâdâ II, 564 (23rd March 1169).

It was two years later that he commenced the first of his military works. Ibn Abi Tay says: «In this year [566=1170/1] the Sultan, that is to say Ṣalaḥ ad-Din, commenced the reconstruction of the Wall of Cairo, because the greater part of it had been destroyed, and it had become an open road stopping neither entries nor departures". The reconstruction in question must refer to the East Wall of Cairo between the Darb al-Maḥrûq and the Bâb al-Wazìr. This work formed part of a scheme which was dropped later for a much more ambitious one (2).

Saladin was not to remain a Wazîr for long. In a very short time the whole country was completely under his control, and the authority of the Khalif was almost negligible. This being so, Nûr ad-Din wrote to Saladin ordering him to cease to recite the Friday prayer in the name of the Fâțimide Khalif and to substitute that of al-Mustaḍy, the 'Abbasid Khalif of Baghdad. Saladin hesitated to do this. Fearing that Nûr ad-Din might one day attack him, he thought that his position would be stronger, if he could pose before the Egyptians as the Wazir of the Fâțimide Khalif, than it would be if he were governing the country in the name of the 'Abbâsids. However, Nûr ad-Din insisted and Saladin, being merely his Lieutenant, foresaw that he might have to give way, but still hesitated. At this moment a stranger from Moşûl called al-Amir al-'Âlim, the learned Amir", appeared and, seeing that everybody feared to substitute the name of al-Mustaḍy said : «I will be the first to do SO", and on the first Friday in Muharram 567 (10th September 1171) he mounted the pulpit and prayed for the 'Abbasid Khalif, without encountering any opposition (3). The following Friday (17th September 1171) Saladin ordered the preachers of Fusțâț and Cairo to cease delivering the khutba in the name of al-'Âḍid and to recite it in the name of al-Mustaḍy. Al-'Âdid, however, had

died on the 13th.

(1) BEHA AD-DIN, Saladin, loc. cit., pp. 54-55; LANE-POOLE, Saladin, pp. 95-97, and his History, pp. 185-186.

(2) See CASANOVA, Citadelle, loc. cit., pp. 535538; and my Brief Chronology of the Muḥammadan

Monuments of Egypt, B.I.F. A. O., XVI, pp. 54 ff. (3) Ibn el-Athir, in the Historiens orientaux des Croisades, I, p. 578 ff., quoted by CASANOVA, Les derniers Fatimides, M. M. A. F. C., VI, pp. 415416. Also as-Suyuti, Jarrett's transl., pp. 470-471.

Behâ ad-Dîn, whose account appears more reliable, does not mention the story about the stranger from Moşul, and says that Saladin himself gave the order in the first place, and that it was shortly before the death of al- ́Âḍid, which both agree took place 10th Muharram 567 (13th September 1171) (1). On the death of the Khalif, Saladin took possession of the vast Fâțimide qasr, and no less than 18,000 persons were turned out, of whom the only males were those of the Khalif's family consisting of 252 persons. The two sexes were isolated so that the race might become extinct. Maqrîzî says that they were distributed as follows (2):

In the house of al-Muzaffar...

Iwân of the Eastern Palace...
Western Palace....

31

55

166

252

Of all the vast treasures that he found in the Palaces, Saladin kept nothing for himself; some he presented to his suzerain Nûr ad-Dîn, some he gave to his Emîrs; the great library of 120,000 volumes was handed over to his Chancellor, the Qâdy al-Fâḍil. He himself continued to live in the Dâr alWazirât (3).

In the following year (568-1172/3) Saladin led an expedition to Kerak and Shaubak. He besieged both places and engaged in many skirmishes with the Crusaders, but returned to Egypt without having gained any advantage ("). In his absence the partisans of the Fâțimides, apparently led by the Arab poet 'Omâra, had seized the opportunity to hatch a great conspiracy. They had even chosen a Khalif and a Wazîr and appear to have been in league with the Crusaders and Sinân, the Grand Master of the Assassins, but the conspiracy was discovered in time and failed (5).

(See his Saladin, loc. cit., pp. 61-62. Ibn al-Athìr died in 1210 and Behâ ad-Din joined Saladin as his Secretary in 1188. It is therefore difficult to decide whose authority has greater weight.

(2) CASANOVA, Les derniers Fatimides, loc. cit., pp. 435, 437 and 444.

(3) LANE-POOLE, op. cit., p. 193.

(4) BEHA AD-DIN, Saladin, loc. cit., pp. 62-63. (5) CASANOVA, op. cit., pp. 422-423.