His brother and successor, Shaban, was an utter profligate, cruel, faithless, avaricious, immoral, and pleasure-loving. Gladiators played an important part at his court, and he often took part in their contests. Horse-racing, cock-fights, and such like amusements occupied him much more than state affairs, and the whole court followed his example. As long as Shaban did not offend the emirs, he was at liberty to commit any atrocities he pleased, but, as soon as he seized their riches and imprisoned and tortured them, his downfall was certain. Ilbogha, Governor of Damascus, supported by the other Syrian emirs, sent him a list of his crimes and summoned him to abdicate. Meanwhile an insurrection had broken out in Cairo, and, although Shaban expressed his willingness to abdicate, he was murdered by the rebels in September, 1346. His brother Haji met with a similar fate after a reign of fifteen months, though some accounts affirm that he was not murdered but only exiled.
Haji was succeeded by his brother Hasan, who was still a minor; the emirs who ruled in his name competed for the highest posts until Baibagharus and his brother Menjik carried off the victory. These two ruled supreme for a time. The so-called “black death” was ravaging Egypt; many families were decimated, and their riches fell to the state. The disease, which differed from the ordinary pest in the blood-spitting and internal heat, raged in Europe and Asia, and spread the greatest consternation even amongst the Moslems, who generally regarded disease with a certain amount of indifference, as being a divine decree. According to Arabic sources, the black death had broken out in China and from there had spread over the Tatar-land of Kipjak; from here it took its course towards Constantinople, Asia Minor, and Syria on the one hand, and towards Greece, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany on the other, and was probably brought to Egypt from Syria. Not only men, but beasts and even plants were attacked. The ravages were nowhere so fearful as in Egypt; in the capital alone in a few days as many as fifteen or twenty thousand people were stricken. As the disease continued to rage for two years, there was soon a lack of men to plough the fields and carry on the necessary trades; and to increase the general distress, incursions were made by the tribes of Turcomans and Bedouins, who plundered the towns and villages. Scarcely had this desperate state of affairs begun to improve when court intrigues sprang up afresh, and only ended with the deposition of the sultan in August, 1351. He was recalled after three years, during which his brother had reigned, and he was subsequently deposed and put to death in March, 1361. Finally the descendants of Nasir, instead of his sons, began to rule. First came Muhammed Ibn Haji, who, as soon as he began to show signs of independence, was declared to be of unsound mind by his chief emir, Ilbogha; then Shaban, the son of Husain (May, 1363), who was strangled in March, 1377; and finally Husain’s eight-year-old son Ali. After repeated contests, Berkuk and Berekeh, two Circassian slaves, placed themselves at the head of the government. Berkuk, however, wished to be absolute, and soon put his co-regent out of the way (1389). He contented himself at first with being simply regent, and, even when Ali died, he declared his six-year-old brother Haji, sultan. The following year, when he discovered a conspiracy of the Mamluks against him, and when many of the older emirs were dead, he declared that it was for the good of the state that no longer a child, but a man capable of directing internal affairs and leading an army against the enemy, should take over the government. The assembly, whom he had bribed beforehand, supported him, and he was appointed sultan in November, 1382.
The external history of Egypt during this time is but scanty. She suffered several defeats at the hands of the Turcomans in the north of Syria, lost her supremacy in Mecca through the influence of the princes of South Arabia, and both Alexandria and several other coast towns were attacked and plundered by European fleets. This last event occurred in Shaban’s reign in 1365. Peter of Lusignan, King of Cyprus, had, in league with the Genoese, the Venetians, and Knights of Rhodes, placed himself at the head of a new Crusade, and since his expedition was a secret even in Europe,—for he was thought to be advancing against the Turks,—it was easy for him to take the Egyptians by surprise, and all the more so because the Governor of Alexandria happened to be absent at the time. The militia tried in vain to prevent their landing, and the small garrison held out for but a short time, so that the prosperous and wealthy town was completely sacked and many prisoners were taken before the troops arrived from Cairo.
The Christians living in Egypt suffered from this attack of the King of Cyprus. They had to find ransom money for the Moslem prisoners and to provide means for fitting out a new fleet. All negotiations with Cyprus, Genoa, and Venice were immediately broken off. This event, however, had the effect of reconciling the Italian traders again with Egypt, and an embassy came both from Genoa and Venice, expressing regret at what had happened, with the assurance that the government had had no hint of the intentions of the King of Cyprus. Genoa also sent back sixty prisoners who had fallen to them as their share of the Alexandrian booty. As Egypt’s trade would also be at a standstill if they had no further negotiations with the Franks, who imported wood, metal, arms, oil, coral, wool, manufacturing and crystal wares in exchange for spices, cotton, and sugar, the former trade relations were re-established. The war with Cyprus continued, however; Alexandria was again threatened and Tripoli was surprised by the Cyprian fleet, whereupon a number of European merchants in Egypt were arrested. In the year 1370, after the death of Peter of Lusignan, peace and an exchange of prisoners were finally brought about. After this peace the Egyptians were able to concentrate their whole force against Leo VI., Prince of Smaller Armenia, who was brought as a prisoner to Cairo; and with him the supremacy of the Christians in this land was at an end: henceforth Egypt was ruled by Egyptian governors.
Faraj, Berkuk’s son and successor, had to suffer for his father’s political mistakes. He had scarcely ascended the throne when the Ottomans seized Derenda, Albustan, and Malatia. Preparations for war were made, but given up again when it was seen that Bayazid could not advance any farther south. Faraj was only thirteen years old, and all the old intrigues amongst the emirs broke out again. In Cairo they fought in the streets for the post of regent; anarchy and confusion reigned in the Egyptian provinces, and the Syrians wished to revolt against the sultan. When at last peace was re-established in Egypt, and Syria was reduced, the latter country was again attacked by the hordes of Tamerlane.
Tamerlane conquered the two important cities of Aleppo and Hemessa, and Faraj’s forces returned to Egypt. When the sultan’s ally, Bayazid, was defeated, Faraj concluded a peace with Tamerlane, at the price of the surrender of certain lands. In 1405 Tamerlane died, and Faraj was collecting troops for the purpose of recovering Syria when domestic troubles caused him to flee from Egypt, his own brother Abd el-Aziz heading the insurrection. In the belief that Faraj was dead, Aziz was proclaimed his successor, but three months later Faraj was restored, and it was not until 1412 that he was charged with illegal practices and beheaded, his body being left unburied like that of a common malefactor. The fact that criminal proceedings were brought against the sultan is evidence of a great advance in the spirit of civilisation, but the event must be regarded more as a proof of its possibility than as a demonstration of its establishment.
