The Caliph El-Mustain was then proclaimed sultan, but after some months he was dethroned and his former prime minister, Sheikh Mahmudi, took over the reins of government (November, 1412). Although Sheikh had obtained the throne of Egypt so easily, he experienced great difficulty in obtaining the recognition of the emirs. Newruz, Governor of Damascus, in league with the other governors, made a determined resistance, and he was obliged to send a strong army into Syria to put down the rebels. Newruz, after suffering one defeat, threw himself into the citadel of Damascus and capitulated, when Sheikh had sworn to keep the terms of the capitulation. Newruz’s ambassadors, however, had not a sufficient knowledge of Arabic to perceive that the oath was not binding, and when Newruz, trusting to this oath, appeared before Sheikh, he was immediately thrown into chains, and afterwards murdered in prison because the cadis declared the oath was not binding. In the next year (1415) Sheikh was obliged to make another expedition against Syria to re-conquer some of the places of which the smaller princes had taken possession during the civil war. One of these princes was the Prince Muhammed of Karaman, who had taken the town of Tarsus. Sheikh was summoned by Muhammed’s own brother to overcome him, which he easily succeeded in doing. Many other princes were forced to submit, and finally the town of Malatia, which the Turcoman Husain had stormed, was recaptured. The war against Husain and the Prince of Karaman was to have been continued, but Sheikh was forced to return home, owing to a wound in his foot. As soon as certain misunderstandings between Sheikh and Kara Yusuf had been cleared up, another army was despatched into Asia Minor, for Tarsus had been recaptured by the Prince of Karaman, who had driven out the Prince of Albustan, whom Sheikh had installed. Ibrahim, the sultan’s son, took command of this army, and occupied Caasarea, Nigdeh, and Kara-man. Whilst he was occupied in the interior of Asia Minor, the Governor of Damascus had defeated Mustapha, son of the Prince of Karaman, and the Prince Ibrahim of Ramadhan, near Adana, which latter town, as well as Tarsus, he had re-conquered.
The Prince of Karaman, who now advanced against Caasarea, suffered a total defeat. Mustapha remained on the field of battle, but his father was taken prisoner and sent to Cairo, where he lingered in confinement until after the death of the sultan.
Once again was Syria threatened by Kara Yusuf, but he was soon forced to return to Irak by the conspiracy of his own son, Shah Muhammed, who lived in Baghdad. As soon as this insurrection was put down, Kara Yusuf was obliged to give his whole attention to Shah Roch, the son of Tamerlane, who had raised himself to the highest power in Persia, and was now attempting to re-conquer the province of Aderbaijan. Kara Yusuf placed himself at the head of an army to protect this province, but suddenly died (November, 1420) on the way to Sultania, and his possessions were divided among his four sons, Shah Muhammed, Iskander, Ispahan, and Jihan Shah, who all, just as the descendants of Tamerlane had done, immediately began to quarrel among themselves.
The sultan was already very ill when the news of Kara Yusufs death reached him. The death of Ibrahim, his son, whom he had caused to be poisoned, on his return from Asia Minor, weighed heavily upon him and hastened his death, which took place on January 13, 1421. He left immense riches behind him, but could not obtain a proper burial; everything was at once seized by the emirs, who did not trouble themselves in the least about his corpse. He had been by no means a good sultan; he had brought much misery upon the people, and had oppressed the emirs. But in spite of all he had many admirers who overlooked his misdeeds and cruelty, because he was a pious Moslem; that is, he did not openly transgress against the decrees of Islam, favoured the theologians, and distinguished himself as an orator and poet; he also founded a splendid mosque, a hospital, and a school for theology. His whole life abounds in contrasts. After he had broken his oath to Newruz, he spent several days in a cloister to make atonement for this crime, and was present at all the religious ceremonies and dances. Although he shed streams of blood to satisfy his avarice, he wore a woollen garment, and bade the preachers, when they mentioned his name after that of Muhammed, to descend a step on the staircase of the chancel. Under a religious sultan of this stamp, the position of the non-Muhammedans was by no means an enviable one. The Jews and Christians had to pay enormous taxes and the old decrees against them were renewed. Not only were they forced to wear special colours, but the length of their sleeves and head-bands was also decreed, and even the women were obliged to wear a distinctive costume.
Sheikh appointed his son Ahmed, one year old, as his successor, and named the emirs who were to act as regents until he became of age. Tatar, the most cunning and unscrupulous of these emirs, soon succeeded in obtaining the supreme power and demanded homage as sultan (August 29, 1421); but he soon fell ill and died after a reign of about three months. He, too, appointed a young son as his successor and named the regents, but Bursbai also soon grasped the supreme power and ascended the throne in 1422. He had of course many insurrections to quell, but was not obliged to leave Egypt. As soon as peace was restored in Syria, Bursbai turned his attention to the European pirates, who had long been harassing the coasts of Syria and Egypt. They were partly Cypriots and partly Catalonians and Genoese, who started from Cyprus and landed their booty on this island. Bursbai resolved first to conquer this island. He despatched several ships with this object in view; they landed at Limasol, and, having burnt the ships in the harbour and plundered the town, they returned home. The favourable result of this expedition much encouraged the sultan, and in the following year he sent out a large fleet from Alexandria which landed in Famagosta. This town soon surrendered and the troops proceeded to plunder the neighbouring places, and defeated all the troops which Prince Henry of Lusignan sent out against them. When they had advanced as far as Limasol, the Egyptian commander, hearing that Janos, the King of Cyprus, was advancing with a large army against him, determined to return to Egypt to bring his enormous booty into safety. In July, 1426, a strong Egyptian fleet set out for the third time, landed east of Limasol, and took this fortress after a few days’ fighting. The Moslem army was, however, forced to retreat. But the Cypriots scattered instead of pursuing the enemy, and the Mamluks, seeing this, renewed their attack, slew many Christians and took the king prisoner. The capital, Nicosia, then capitulated, whereupon the Egyptian troops returned to Egypt with the captive king and were received with great jubilation. The King of Cyprus, after submitting to the greatest humiliations, was asked what ransom he could pay. He replied that he possessed nothing but his life, and stuck to this answer, although threatened with death. Meanwhile, Venetian and other European merchants negotiated for the ransom money, and the sultan finally contented himself with two hundred thousand dinars (about $500,000). Janos, however, was not set at liberty, but sent to Cyprus as the sultan’s vassal. After the death of Janos in 1432, his son, John II., still continued to pay tribute to Egypt, and when he died (1458) and his daughter Charlotte became Queen of Cyprus, James II., the natural son of John II., fled to Egypt and found a friendly reception at the sultan’s court.