CALIPH 



813 



feared, to renounce the succession which had been 

 designed for them by Motawackel. Montasser died, 

 soon after, of a fever, caused by the goadings of re- 

 morse (A.D. 862, Heg. 248). The Turks then elected 

 Mostain Billah, a grandson of the caliph Motassem. 

 Two of the Alides became competitors with him for 

 the caliphate. One of them, at Cufa, was defeated 

 and put to death ; but the other founded an independ- 

 ent empire in Tabristan, which subsisted half a cen- 

 tury. The discord of the Turkish soldiers completed 

 the dismemberment of the empire. One party raised 

 to the throne Motaz, second son of Motawackel, and 

 compelled Mostain to abdicate. Motaz Billah soon 

 found means to get rid of him, as well as of his own 

 brother, Muwiad. He then meditated the removal of 

 the Turkish soldiers ; but, before he found courage to 

 execute his projects, they rebelled on account of their 

 pay being in arrear, and forced him to resign the 

 government. He soon after died (A.D. 869, Heg. 

 255). They conferred the caliphate on Mohadi Bil- 

 lah, son of the caliph Vathek, but deposed this excel- 

 lent prince, eleven months after, because he attempted 

 to improve their military discipline. 



Under MotawackePs third son, the sensual Motam- 

 cd Billah, whom they next called to the caliphate, his 

 prudent and courageous fourth brother, Muaffek, 

 succeeded in overcoming the dangerous preponder- 

 ance of these Turks. Motamed transferred the seat 

 of the caliphate from Samara back to Bagdad, in the 

 year 873 (Heg. 259), where it afterwards continued. 

 In the same year, owing to a revolution in the inde- 

 pendent government or Chorasan, the dynasty of the 

 Thaherides gave place to that of the Soffarides, who, 

 eventually, extended their dominion over Tabristan 

 and Segestan. The governor of Egypt and Syria, 

 Achmet Ben Tulun, also made himself independent 

 (A.D. 877, Heg. 263), from whom are descended the 

 Tulunides. The brave Muaffek annihilated, indeed, 

 the empire of the Zinghians, in Cufa and Bassora, ten 

 years after its formation (A.D. 881, Heg. 268) ; but 

 he was unable to save the caliphate from the ruin to 

 which it was continually hastening. 



Motamed died soon after him (A.D. 892, Heg. 279), 

 and was succeeded by Muaffek's son, Mothadad Bil- 

 lah. He contended unsuccessfully with a new sect 

 that had arisen in Irak the Carmathians (A.D. 899, 

 Heg. 286) against whom his son, Moktaphi Billah 

 (A.D. 902, Heg. 289), was more fortunate. He was 

 still more successful in a war against the Tulunides, 

 as he again reduced Egypt and Syria, in 905 (Heg. 

 292). Under his brother, Moktadar Billah, who suc- 

 ceeded him at the age of thirteen years (A.D. 909, 

 Heg. 296), rebellions and bloody quarrels about the 

 sovereignty disturbed the government ot the empire. 

 He was several times deposed and reinstated, and 

 finally murdered (A. D. 931, Heg. 319). During his 

 reign, Abu Mohammed Obeidallah rose in Africa, 

 who, pretending to be descended from Fatima, daugh- 

 ter of the prophet (therefore from Ali), overthrew the 

 dynasty of the Agladides in Tunis, and founded that 

 of the Fatimites (A. D. 910, Heg. 298). Not satis- 

 fied with reigning independent of the caliph, this 

 party, as descendants of the prophet, asserted them- 

 selves to be the only lawful caliphs. 



Shortly afterwards, the dynasty of the Bouides, in 

 Persia, rose to authority and power (A. D. 925, Heg. 

 315). Chorasan was still independent. The only 

 change was, that the Samanides had taken the place 

 of the Soffarides. In a part of Arabia the heretic 

 Cnrmathians ruled; in Mesopotamia, the Hamada- 

 mites. In Egypt, which had just been recovered, 

 Akschid, from a governor, was called to be a sove- 

 reign. From him descended the Akschidites. Kaher 

 Billah, Mothadad's third son, merited his fate, on ac- 

 count of his malice and cruelty. The Turkish sol- 



diers, having recovered their power, drove him from 

 the throne into exile (A. D. 934, Heg. 322), in which 

 he perished five years afterwards. Rhadi Billah, his 

 brother, bore the dignity of an emir al omra (captain 

 of the captains), with which the exercise of absolute 

 power, in the name of the caliph, was united ; and 

 thus the caliph was more and more thrown into the 

 back ground. The first who was invested with this 

 dignity was Raik ; but it was soon torn from him by 

 the Turk Jakan, by force of arms, in the year 939 

 (Heg. 327). Jakan extended the power of the office 

 to such a degree as to leave the caliph nothing but 

 the name of his temporal sway, and even assumed the 

 right of determining the succession to the throne. 

 Raik was indemnified by receiving Cufa, Bassora and 

 Irak Arabi, as an independent government. 



The next caliph, Motaki Billah, Moktader's son, 

 made an effort to regain his independence by the 

 murder of Jakun ; but he was soon compelled, by the 

 Turkish soldiers, to appoint Tozun, another of their 

 countrymen, emir, who made this office hereditary. 

 He formally devised it to a certain Schirzad, but it 

 soon came into the possession of the Persian royal 

 house of the Bouides, whose aid the succeeding caliph, 

 Mostaki Billah, solicited against the tyranny of Schir- 

 zad. The first Bouide emir, Moezeddulat, left it as 

 an inheritance to his posterity. Not the caliph, but 

 the emir, now reigned in Bagdad, though over only a 

 small territory. In every remote province, there were 

 independent princes. 



To continue the catalogue of the names of those 

 who were henceforward caliphs, would be superfluous, 

 for these Mussulman popes had not by any means the 

 power of the Christian. It would be too tedious to 

 pursue the branches into which the history of the 

 caliphate is now divided ; but we must briefly show 

 the great changes which the different states and their 

 dynasties have undergone, and which gave rise to the 

 dominion of the Ottoman Porte. 



During the minority of the Akschidite Ali, the Fa- 

 timite Morz Ledinillah, at that time caliph in Tunis, 

 subjugated Egypt in 969 (Heg. 358), and founded 

 Cairo, which he made the seat of his caliphate. There 

 were, consequently, at this time, three caliphs at 

 Bagdad, Cairo and Cordova each of which declared 

 the others heretics. But the Fatimites, as well as the 

 Abbassides, fell under the power of their viziers, and, 

 like them, the Ommiades in Cordova were deprived 

 of all power by the division of Spain into many small 

 sovereignties, till they were entirely subverted by the 

 Morabethun. See Spain. 



Ilkan, king of Turkestan, having conquered Chora- 

 san, and overthrown the Samanides, was expelled 

 again by Mahmud, prince of Gazna, who founded 

 there the dominion of the Gaznevides, in 998 (Heg. 

 388), who were soon, however, overthrown, in turn 

 by the Seldjook Turks, under Togrul Beg, in 1030 

 (Heg. 421). This leader conquered also Charasm, 

 Georgia, and the Persian Irak. Called to the assist- 

 ance of the caliph Kajem Bemeillah, at Bagdad, 

 against the tyranny of the Bouide emirs, he proceed- 

 ed to Bagdad, and became emir himself in 1055 (Heg. 

 448), by which means the dominion of the Turks was 

 firmly established over all the Mussulmans. To his 

 nephew, Alp Arslan (who defeated and took prisoner 

 the Greek emperor Romanus Diogenes), he left this 

 dignity, with so great power, that these Turkish emirs 

 al omra were frequently called the sultans of Bagdad. 

 Turkish princes, who aspired to be sovereigns in the 

 other provinces, were, at first, satisfied with the title 

 of attbek (father, teacher), such as the atabeks of Irak 

 and Syria, of Adherbidschan, Farsistan (Persia) and 

 Laristan. It was the atabeks of Syria and Irak, with 

 whom the crusaders had principally to contend. The 

 first was called Omadeddin Zenghi; by the Franks, 



