The fate of both Christians and Jews had been painful and bitter under Abbasid dominion. Favor and solace now came from the Mongols. The invaders cared no more at that time for Christians than for the followers of Mohammed, but when attacking new lands it was to their interest to win populations which were hostile to the dominant nation. The protection of the conquerors, and the shattered condition of Islam, weakened by such dire devastation, had roused hopes among Christians to dominate those who had trampled them for centuries. Upon the choice which the conqueror would make between the religions their fate was depending, and the issue of that struggle to win the Mongols was for some time uncertain, but surely momentous. Christians of the Orient, as well as Crusaders, were rejoiced to see Hulagu [[257]]making ready to march upon Syria, and to them it seemed sure that they saw in advance the destruction of Islam in regions where Christian blood had been shed so abundantly.
On the eve of this Mongol invasion Syria was ruled by Salih, a descendant of Saladin, but Saladin’s grand-nephews had lost Egypt a little before that. While the army of Saint Louis was in Damietta the Sultan, Salih, died (1249). His death was kept secret till his son Moazzam Turan Shah should arrive from his appanage between the two rivers, that is the Euphrates and Tigris. The French army was ruined, and Saint Louis was captured. Three weeks later on Turan Shah fell by the daggers of men who had been Mameluk chiefs in the reign of his father. He had wished to replace these by friends of his own, so they slew him. After this deed the chiefs gave allegiance to Shejer ud dur, the late Sultan’s slave girl and concubine. She had enjoyed his full confidence, and was governing till Turan Shah might reach Cairo.
Eibeg, a Mameluk chief, was elected commander. Shejer ud dur now married Eibeg and when three months had passed she resigned in his favor. In mounting the throne the new Sultan took the title Moizz, and chose as associate El Ashraf, an Eyubite prince six years old, the great-grandson of Kamil the Sultan. This revolution, which placed a Mameluk chief on the throne of the Eyubites, shows how powerful these warriors had become then in Egypt. Saladin, on gaining power in 1169, had disbanded the troops of the Fatimid Kalifs. Those troops were negro slaves, Egyptians, and Arabs, and he put Kurds and Turks in their places. This new force was formed of twelve thousand horsemen. Saladin, and the Sultans who followed him, were fond of buying young Turks, whom they reared very carefully to military service, but Salih, ruling sixth after Saladin, preferred Mameluks to others. Before coming to power this prince had tested the Mameluks and esteemed them; when Sultan he increased the number of them greatly, by purchase. These new men were brought from regions north of the Caucasus and the Caspian, from those tribes known in the Orient as Kipchak, and as Polovtsi by the Russians. At first it was difficult to obtain them, but after the Mongol invasion of Russia young prisoners were sold in large numbers into Egypt and Syria. Salih had a thousand, whom he lodged in the fortress of Randhat, on an island in front of Cairo; he called them the [[258]]Bahriye, or men of the river. These young slaves were brought up in the practice of arms, and in the religion of Islam. The guard of the Sultan was composed wholly of Mameluks. Salih chose from their chiefs the great officers of his household, and his most trusted advisers. They attained the highest military offices, enjoyed the richest fiefs, and received the best revenues; they saved Egypt at Mansura, and did most to destroy the French army; their power lay in esprit de corps and ambition. Their chiefs rose to dominion in Egypt, and then put a check on the Mongols.
Syria belonged now to Nassir Salah ud din Yusseif, who from his father, Aziz, a grandson of Saladin, inherited the principality of Aleppo in 1236, and took in 1250, after the slaying of Turan Shah, the principality of Damascus, which belonged to the Sultan of Egypt. Master now of the best part of Syria, Nassir Salih undertook to drive from the throne of Egypt the Turkish freedman, who had recently usurped it, but he was beaten by Eibeg, and an envoy of the Kalif proposed mediation; peace was made, and Nassir 1251 ceded to the Sultan Jerusalem, Gaza and the coast up to Nablus. Faris ud din Aktai, a great chief among Mameluks, was assassinated at command of Eibeg, whom he had offended. Seven hundred troopers of this chief and some Bahriye officers fled, among others Beibars and Kelavun, both of whom occupied the Egyptian throne later on. They left Cairo in the night, went to Syria, and obtained of Prince Nassir permission to appear at his court. They received money, robes of honor, and then they advised him to march on Cairo. Nassir was distrustful of these men, against whom Eibeg had roused his suspicions by letter, but he made use of the incident to demand back the lands which he had ceded to Egypt, because the Mameluks who had received them as fiefs were now in his service.
Eibeg gave back the lands, and Nassir confirmed the Mameluks in the use of them. But those river Mameluks did not remain faithful to Nassir, since they thought him too feeble for their projects. They went to another Eyubite, Mogith Omar, Prince of Karak, and asked him to aid in the attack upon Eibeg, alleging falsely that they had been called to that action by generals in Cairo.
Mogith, a son of the Sultan Adil, had been confined by Turan Shah in the castle of Shubek, when Turan had been [[259]]slain Mogith was set free by the castle commandant. In 1251 this same Mogith became sovereign of Karak and also of Shubek. Circumstances seemed to favor a descent upon Egypt. The Prince of Karak marched against Egypt, but was beaten by Kutuz, Eibeg’s general, who seized many Bahriye chiefs captive and cut their heads off immediately.
Some years before his defeat by Eibeg Prince Nassir had sent to Hulagu his vizir, Zein ud din el Hafizzi, who brought back with him letters of safety to his master. The immense progress of Hulagu’s arms and his menacing plans disturbed Nassir, who grieved now that he had not sent homage earlier to the conquering Mongol. In 1258 he despatched his son, Aziz, still a boy, with his vizir, a general, and some officers, giving also a letter to Bedr ud din Lulu, the aged and crafty Mosul prince, whom we know as having pulled Hulagu’s ears at an audience.
When Nassir’s envoys were received by Hulagu, he inquired why their master had not come with them. “The Prince of Syria fears,” said they, “that should he absent himself his neighbors, the Franks, who are also his enemies, would invade his possessions, hence he has sent his own son to represent him.” Hulagu feigned to accept this false answer. The envoys, it is said, requested Mongol aid to save Egypt from the Mameluks. Hulagu detained Aziz some months, and when at last he permitted the boy to take leave and return to his father, the vizir received a message for Nassir, which was in substance as follows: “Know thou, Prince Nassir, and know all commanders and warriors in Syria, that we are God’s army on earth. He has taken from our hearts every pity. Woe to those who oppose us, they must flee, we must hunt them. By what road can they save themselves, what land will protect them? Our steeds rush like lightning, our swords cut like thunderbolts, our warriors in number are like sands on the seashore. Whoso resists us meets terror; he who implores us finds safety. Receive our law, yours and ours will then be in common. If ye resist, blame yourselves for the things which will follow. Choose the safe way. Answer quickly, or your country will be changed to a desert. Ye yourselves will find no refuge. The angel of death may then say of you: ‘Is there one among them who shows the least sign of life, or whose [[260]]voice gives out the slightest of murmurs?’ We are honest, hence give you this warning.”
Since Nassir had no hope of aid to fight Hulagu he chose to make common cause with every Mohammedan, and sent back a brave answer. These are some words of it: “Ye say that God has removed from your hearts every pity. That is the condition of devils, not sovereigns. But is it not strange to threaten lions with bruises, tigers with hyenas, and heroes with clodhoppers? Resistance to you is obedience to the Highest. If we slay you our prayers have been answered; if ye slay us we go into paradise. We will not flee from death to exist in opprobrium. If we survive we are happy; if we die we are martyrs. Ye demand that obedience which we render the vicar of the Prophet, ye shall not have it; we would rather go to the place in which he is. Tell the man[2] who indited your message that we care no more for his words than for the buzz of a fly or the squeak of a Persian fiddle.”
Hulagu gave command to his army to march into Syria. He summoned Bedr ud din Lulu, who, excused because of great age, had to send his son, Melik Salih Ismail, with the troops of Mosul. When this young man arrived at the camp of the Mongols Hulagu made him marry a daughter of Jelal ud din, the last Shah of Kwaresm. Kita Buga went with the vanguard, Sinkur, a descendant of Kassar, and Baidju led the right wing, the left was commanded by Sunjak. Hulagu set out with the center, September 12, 1259. He passed Hakkar, where all Kurds whom they met were cut down by the sword, not one man being spared. On entering Diarbekr Hulagu took Jeziret on the Tigris, and sent his son Yshmut with Montai Noyon to take Mayafarkin, an old and famous town northeast of Diarbekr, whose Eyubite prince, Kamil Nasir ud din Mohammed, he wished to punish for hostility to the Mongols. He was all the more angry since this man had been received well years before that by Mangu the Grand Khan, and given letters which put his lands under that sovereign’s protection. Hulagu accused Kamil now of crucifying a Syrian priest, who had come to his court with the Grand Khan’s safe-conduct; with having expelled Mongol prefects, and with having sent a corps of troops to help Bagdad at demand of the Kalif—[[261]]these troops when they had gone half the distance turned back on learning that the capital had fallen. To finish all, Kamil had been in Damascus asking Prince Nassir to march on the Mongols. It was at this time that Hulagu sent his son to punish Prince Kamil, who had barely returned with vain promises when he found himself sealed in at Mayafarkin securely.