E G Y P T. 
fnfpicion of falfehood and difhonour. Richard em¬ 
barked for Europe to feek a premature grave ; and the 
fpace of a few months concluded the life and glories of 
Saladin. The orientals delcribe his death, which hap¬ 
pened at Damafcus,' March 4, 1193 ; but they feem igno¬ 
rant of the.equal diftribution of his alms among the three 
religions, or of the'difplay of a fliroud, inftead of a ftand- 
ard, to admonifh the call of the i niiabil ity of human great- 
nefs. The unity of empire was dijfolved by his death ; 
Iris fons were opprtfred by the ftronger arm of their uncle 
Saphadin ; the hofttle interefts of the fultans of Egypt, 
Damafcus, and Aleppo, were revived; and the Franks 
or Latins gained (Length in their fortreflM along the Sy¬ 
rian coaft. 
The nobleft monument of the fultan’s fame, and of the 
terror which he iofpired, is the Saladine tenth, a general 
tax which was firft impofed on the laity, and even the 
clergy, of the Latin church for the fervice of the Floly 
War. The pradtice was too lucrative to expire with the 
occafion; and this tribute became the foundation of all 
the tithes and tenths on ecclefiaftical benefices, which 
have been granted by the Roman pontiffs to catholic fove- 
reigns, or referved for the immediate ufe of the apof- 
tolic fee. This pecuniary emolument mult have tended 
to increafe the intereft of the popes in the recovery of 
Paleltine; fo that after the death of Saladin they preached 
the necefiity of the crufades -by their epiftles, their le¬ 
gates, and their nvitfipnaries. 
The fultan Saladin was only fifty-feven years old when 
he died, leaving (ixleen fons and a daughter. His exten- 
five dominions were divided among his children, and fplit 
into various petty hates and principalities ; but none of 
the fons were found to poffefs either the genius or virtues 
of their father. Afdhal, the eldeft, inherited the king¬ 
dom of Damafcus and Samofata; and Malek-el-Aziz, the 
fec'ond, became foldan or fultan of Egypt. But no fooner 
had the young Egyptian monarch feated himfelf firmly 
on the throne, than he began to wage war with his elder 
brother, reduced him to the narrow limits of Samofata, 
and feized on Damafcus for himfelf. The unwarlike 
Afdhal made little oppofition, but quietly retired to the 
principality allowed him. Aziz reigned only five years, 
and was fucceeded by his fon Malek-el-Manfur, A. D. 
1x98; who being but nine years of age, his uncle Afdhal, 
prince of Samofata, was deputed by the emirs to rule the 
empire during the minority, by the title of Atabek of 
Egypt and Damafcus; but from the fupinenefs of Afdhal, 
and the want of authority in the young fultan, the fove- 
reign authority was ufurped, A D. 1200, by Adel-Seif, 
brother to Manfur ; who at the head of the Arabs, feized 
upon Pelufinm, and, advancing to Cairo, feated himfelf 
on the Egyptian throne without difficulty or oppofition. 
During the reign of Adel-Seif, the Franks penetrated in¬ 
to Egypt ; but were quickly obliged to retire, though 
not without laying wafte part of the country, and carry¬ 
ing off confiderable booty. In the year 1218, Malek-el- 
Kamel, the fon of Adel-Seif, fucceeded to the throne of 
the Egyptian fultans, and maintained a vigorous war 
again ft the Franks. The fourth crufade was diverted 
from Syria and Paleftine, by being fent againft Conftanti- 
nople. Tn the fifth, two hundred thoufand Franks were 
landed at the eaftern mouth of the Nile. They reafon- 
ably hoped, from the diforders of the Modems, that Pa¬ 
leftine would be fubdued in Egypt, the feat and ftore- 
houfe of the fultan ; and, after a liege of fixteen months, 
the Modems had to deplore the lofs of Damietta. But 
the Chri tian army was ruined by the pride and infolence 
of the legate Pelagius, who, in the pope’s name, affumed 
the character of general: the fickly Franks were encont- 
palfed by the waters of the Nile and the Oriental forces; 
and it was by the evacuation of Damietta, after a conflift 
of three years, from A. D. 1218 to 1221, that they ob¬ 
tained a fate retreat, fome conceffions for the pilgrims, 
and-the reftitution of the relic of the true crofs. The 
failure of the Chriftians may in fome meafure be afcribed 
- Vol. VI. No. 353. 
to (he abufe and multiplication of the crufades, which 
were preached at the fame time not only againft the Sara¬ 
cens and Turks, but againft the Pagans of Livonia, the 
Moors of Spain, the Alhigeois of France, and the kings 
cf Sicily of the imperial family. 
In 122S, another army of crufaders arrived, under the 
command of Frederic the Second, emperor of Germany ; 
who, after various fuccefles, finally obtained from the 
fultan the reftitution of Jerusalem, of Bethlem and Naza¬ 
reth, of Tyre and Sidon: the Latins were alfo allowed to 
inhabit and fortify the city; an equal code of civil and 
religious freedom was ratified for the fedtaries of Chrift, 
and thofe of Mahomet ; and, while the former worfhip- 
ped at the holy fepulchre, the latter might pray and 
preach in the. mofque of the temple. The Chriftian 
clergy deplored this fcandalous toleration ; and the weaker 
Moflems were gradually expelled ; but every rational 
object of the crufades was by this mode accompliftied 
without bloodlhed ; the churches were reftored, the mo- 
nafteries were replenifhed; and in the fpace of fifteen 
years, the Latins of Jerufalem exceeded the number of 
fix thoufand. This peace and profperity was interrupted 
by the irruptions of the favage hords of Carizmians. 
Flying from the arms of the Moguls, thofe Ihepherds of 
the Cafpian rolled headlong on Syria ; and the union of 
the Franks with the fultans of Aleppo, Henis, and Da¬ 
mafcus, was infufficient to Hem the violence of the tor¬ 
rent. Whatever flood againft them, was cut off ,bv the 
fword, or dragged into captivity ; the military orders 
were almoft exterminated in a (ingle battle; and in the 
pillage of the city, in tlie profanation of the holy fepul¬ 
chre, the Latins confefs the greater modefty of the Turks 
and Saracens. 
In the year 1239, Malek-el-Kamcl died, and was fuc¬ 
ceeded by his fon Malek-Adel ; but after reigning only 
one (ingle year, this prince was fupplanted by his brother 
Malek-Salah, who entered Egypt with a confiderable 
force, and driving out Adel, caufed himfelf to be pro¬ 
claimed fultan, in Cairo and Alexandria, A. D. 1240. 
He reigned nine years; in the latter part of‘which, Egypt 
was again invaded by the Franks. The two laft crufades 
were undertaken by Louis IX. of France ; who loft his 
liberty in Egypt, and his life on the coaft of Africa. In 
him was united the virtues of a king, an hero, and a man; 
his martial fpirit was tempered by tlie love of private 
and public juftice ; and he was at once the father of his 
people, the friend of the Chriftians, and the terror of the 
infidels. For the invafion of Egypt, Louis covered the 
fea of Cyprus with eighteen hundred fails, and fifty thou¬ 
fand men ; and, if we might trull his own confeffion, he 
difembarked nine thoufand five hundred horfe, and one 
hundred and thirty thoufand foot, who performed their 
pilgrimage under the (liadow of his power. 
In complete armour, A. D. 1249, Louis, emulating 
Richard Plantagenet of England, leaped foremoft on the 
beach ; and the ftrong city of Damietta, which had coft 
his predecelfor a liege of fixteen months, was abandoned 
on the firft affaulf, by the trembling Egyptians. But 
Damietta was the firft and the laft of his conquefts; and 
in the fifth and lixth crufades, the fame caufes, almoft 
on the fame ground, were produftive of fimilar calami¬ 
ties. After a ruinous delay, which introduced into the 
camp the feeds of an epidemical difeafe, the Franks be¬ 
gan to advance from the fea-coaft towards the capital of 
Egypt, and drove to furmount the unbounded inunda¬ 
tion of the Nile, which oppofed their progrefs. In this 
interval the fultan Malek Salah died, and was fucceeded 
by his fon Tour.m Shah, who loft no time in providing 
for the fafety of Cairo, by oppoling a numerous army to 
the front of the approaching Chriftian troops. But under 
the eye of their intrepid monarch, the barons and knights 
of France dilplayed their invincible contempt of danger 
and difcipline : iiis brother, the count Artois, ftormed 
the town of Maffoura; and the carrier pigeons announced 
to the native inhabitants of Cairo, that all was loft. But 
4 O a loldier, 
