Al-Mustanṣir (1036-1094) made an Armenian, Badr alǴamāli (probably a Christian, at least in secret), his Wazīr. Badr governed the land wisely and well for twenty-two years (1073-1094). Many of his fellow-countrymen came to Egypt. Although the Armenians have always held rather aloof from other Monophysites (see p. 414), there is no particular reason why they should do so. They agree practically in faith with the others. An Armenian bishop Gregory, one of the many claimants to their Patriarchate, came to Egypt; he and the Coptic Patriarch found that their faiths agreed, so they joined in communion with one another; Cyril II was able to proclaim this union as a triumph for Monophysism. Since then there have been various lines of Armenian bishops in Egypt, who kept irregularly friendly relations with the Copts. It is specially mentioned of this Cyril that he took pains to learn Arabic — a sign of the gradual dying out of the Coptic language.
During the time of Cyril's successor, Michael IV (1092-1102), occurred the first Crusade. It was preached at the Council of Clermont in 1096; the Crusaders took Jerusalem in 1099. Since we are so much concerned with Moslem cruelty towards Christians, we must not forget on the other side the ghastly massacre of Moslems by which the Christians began their reign in the Holy City.[1] The episode of the Crusades now fills the history of the Levant for two centuries, till the last possession of the Christians (Acre) fell in 1292. From several points of view the Crusades affect our story. The Crusaders were fighting against both Khalifs — of Cairo and Bagdad. The Fatimids in the eleventh century held Syria, but were constantly attacked and driven out of cities by Sunni Turks, who fought for the Abbasid Khalif at Bagdad. This disunion among the Moslems was the great opportunity of the Crusaders.[2] Then when Saladin overturned the Fatimids and ruled Egypt and Syria under the Abbasid, the Crusaders turned their arms against Egypt. The Crusades further brought the Eastern schismatical Churches into relation
