Saladin’s kinsmen, known as the Ayyubid dynasty, ruled Egypt for over half a century after the death of their great leader.  First his politic brother, Adil Seyf-ed-din ("Saphadin”) carried on his fine tradition for a quarter of a century, and then from 1218 to 1238 Seyf-ed-din’s able son Kamil, who had long been the ruler of Egypt during his father’s frequent absences, followed in his steps.  The futile efforts of the discredited Crusaders disturbed their peace.  John of Brienne’s seizure of Damietta was a serious menace, and it took all Kamil’s energy to defeat the “Franks” at Mansura (1219) and drive them out of the country.

On the other hand, he cultivated very friendly relations with the Emperor Frederic II., who concluded a singular defensive alliance with him in 1229, to the indignation of the Pope.  He was tolerant to Christians, and listened to the preaching of St. Francis of Assisi; he granted trading concessions to the Venetians and Pisans, who established a consulate at Alexandria.  At the same time he notably encouraged Moslem learning, built colleges, and developed the resources of the kingdom in every way.  What had happened to the dynasties of Tulun, Ikhshid, and the Fatimides, was repeated on the death of Kamil.  Two sons kept the throne successively till 1249, and then, in the midst of Louis IX’s crusade, the salvation of Egypt devolved on the famous Mamluks, or white slaves, who had formed the corps d’elite of Saladin’s army.

V.—­The Mamluks

Political women have played a great role in Egypt from Hatshepsut and Cleopatra to the Christian wife of Aziz, the princess royal who engineered the downfall of Hakim, and the black mother who dominated Mustansir; and it was a woman who was the first queen of the Mamluks.  Sheger-ed-durr ("Tree of Pearls"), widow of Salih, the last reigning Ayyubid of Egypt, was the brain of the army which broke the chivalry of France.

At the second battle of Mansura in 1249, she took Louis prisoner.  Then she married a leading Mamluk emir, to conciliate Moslem prejudice against a woman’s rule, and thenceforth for more than two centuries and a half one Mamluk after another seized the throne, held it as long as he could, and sometimes transmitted it to his son.  When it is noted that forty-eight sultans (twenty-five Bahri Mamluks, or “white slaves of the river,” so called from the barracks on an island in the Nile, and twenty-three Burgis, named after the burg, or citadel, where their quarters originally were), succeeded one another from 1250 to 1517, it will be seen that their average reign was but three and a half years.  The throne, in fact, belonged to the man with the longest sword.

The bravest and richest generals and court officials surrounded themselves with bands of warrior slaves, and reached a power almost equal to the reigning sultan, who was, in fact, only primus inter pares, and on his death—­usually by assassination—­they fought for his title.  All were alike slaves by origin, but this term implied no degradation.  Any slave with courage and address had the chance of becoming a freedman, rising to influence, and climbing into his master’s seat.  Every man was every other man’s equal—­if he could prove it; but the process of proving it often turned Cairo into a shambles.