who was at this moment threatened also with an insurrection in Cairo.  After several bloody battles, Kausun was forced to yield, and Ahmed was proclaimed sultan (January, 1342).  Ahmed, however, preferred a quiet, peaceful life to the dangerous post of sultan, and not until he had received the most solemn oaths of allegiance did he proceed to his capital, where he arrived quite unexpectedly, so that no festivities had been prepared.  After some time, he had all the Syrian emirs arrested by his Mam-luks, because they tried to usurp his powers; he then appointed a regent, and himself returned to Kerak, taking with him everything he had found in the sultan’s palace, and there he remained in spite of the entreaties of the faithful emirs, and lived simply for his own pleasure.

The natural consequence of all this was Ahmed’s deposition in June, 1342.  His brother Ismail, a good-hearted youth of seventeen years, sent troops to Kerak to demand an oath of allegiance from Ahmed, but they could effect nothing, as the fortress was well fortified and provisioned, and, moreover, many of the emirs, both in Syria and Egypt, were still in league with Ahmed.  Not until fresh troops had been sent, and Ahmed himself betrayed, did they succeed in taking the fortress; and Ahmed was put to death in 1344.  Ahmed’s death made such a deep impression upon the weak sultan that he fell into a fit of depression which gradually increased until he died in August of the following year.

[Illustration:  055.jpg Frieze in mosque of sultan Hasan]

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