particularism, the Hansa, our people upon the sea, alone remained
faithful to the German spirit and to German tradition."





MAMELUKES USURP POWER IN EGYPT

A.D. 1250

SIR WILLIAM MUIR



From A.D. 969 to 1171 the Arabian dynasty of caliphs called
Fatimites--because they professed to trace their descent
from Fatima, the daughter of Mahomet--reigned in Egypt.
Their downfall was due to their own decline into imbecility,
through which they fell into the hands of Turkish viziers
who, keeping their nominal masters in subserviency,
themselves assumed the actual rule.

For several generations the caliphs of Bagdad, under whose
sway the Fatimites were now reduced, had attracted to their
capital slaves from Turcoman and Mongol hordes. These slaves
they used both as bodyguards and as contingents to offset
the dominating influence of the Arab soldiery in their
affairs. In the end the slaves superseded the Arab soldiers
altogether, and from bondmen became masters of the court.