A History of the Crusades-Vol 2 Read Free Page B

Banu
Muhris of Marqab and Qadmus and the Banu Amrun of Kahf.The upper
Orontes valley was divided between the adventurer Khalaf ibn Mula’ib of Apamea,
a Shiite who therefore acknowledged Fatimid suzerainty, the Munqidhites of
Shaizar, the most important of these petty dynasties, and Janah ad-Daulah of
Homs, a former atabeg of Ridwan of Aleppo, who had quarrelled with his master
and enjoyed virtual independence. Aleppo was still in the hands of Ridwan, who
as a member of the Seldjuk ruling family bore the title of Malik , or
King. The Jezireh, to the east, was mainly occupied by members of the Ortoqid
dynasty, who had retired there on the Fatimid reconquest of Jerusalem in 1097,
and who were considered to be the vassals of Duqaq of Damascus. Duqaq, a Malik like his brother Ridwan, ruled in Damascus.
    These political divisions were made more
unstable by the divergent elements in the population of Syria. The Turks formed
a sparse feudal aristocracy; but the smaller emirs were almost all Arabs. In
northern Syria and in Damascene territory the urban population was largely Christian,
Syrians of the Jacobite church, with Nestorians in the eastern districts and
Armenians infiltrating from the north. The territory of the Banu Ammar was
largely peopled by the Monothelete sect of the Maronites. In the Nosairi
mountains there was the tribe of the Nosairi, a Shiite sect from whom Khalaf
ibn Mula’ib drew his strength. On the slopes of the southern Lebanon there were
the Druzes, Shiites who accepted the divinity of the Caliph Hakim, and who
hated all their Moslem neighbours but who hated the Christians more. The
situation was further complicated by the steady immigration into the cultivated
lands of Arabs from the desert and of Kurds from the northern mountains, and by
the presence of Turcoman companies, ready to hire themselves out to any warring
chieftain that would pay them.
     
    The Rival
Caliphs
    Of Syria’s Moslem neighbours the most powerful
were the Fatimid rulers of Egypt. The Nile valley and the Delta formed the most
thickly populated area in the medieval world. Cairo and Alexandria were great
industrial cities whose factories produced glass, pottery and metalwork, as
well as linens and brocades. The cultivated districts grew vast quantities of
corn; and there were huge sugar-plantations in the Delta. Egypt controlled the
trade of the Sudan, with its gold and its gum-arabic, its ostrich feathers and
ivory. The Far Eastern trade was now carried by ships using the Red Sea route
and therefore reached the Mediterranean through Egyptian ports. The Egyptian
government could put enormous armies into the field; and, though the Egyptians
themselves enjoyed a poor reputation as soldiers, it could afford to hire as
many mercenaries as it pleased. Moreover, alone of the Moslem powers, it
possessed a considerable navy. The Fatimid Caliph himself as a Shia was the
natural protector of the Shia of Syria. But he was traditionally tolerant; and
many of the Sunni Arabs who feared Turkish domination were ready to acknowledge
his suzerainty. The Turkish invasions had curtailed the empire of the Fatimids
in Syria; and the Frankish capture of Jerusalem and victory over the Egyptian
relieving force at Ascalon had damaged their prestige. But Egypt could afford
to lose an army. It was clear that Vizier al-Afdal, who ruled Egypt in the name
of the young Caliph al-Amir and was himself an Armenian born at Acre, would
seek as soon as possible to avenge the defeat and recover Palestine. In the
meantime the Egyptian fleet kept in touch with the Moslem cities of the coast.
    The rival Caliph, the Abbasid al-Mustazhir, was
a shadowy youth, who reigned at Baghdad by the grace of the Seldjuk Sultan. But
the Sultan himself, Barkiyarok, the eldest son of the great Malik Shah, lacked
his father’s power and ability. His brothers continually revolted against him.
He had been obliged to enfeoff the youngest, Sanjar, with Khorassan, and from
1099 onwards he was at war