hostile. The priests and bishops they brought with them did some peaceful missionary work among the schismatics. So from the time of the Crusades we date the first beginning of restored relations between the Christian East and West, the first intercourse of friendly letters between the various Eastern Patriarchs and the Pope, and the beginning of Uniate Churches. The Copts made no advances of this kind ; but Nicholas I, Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria,[1] corresponded with the Popes Innocent III (1198-1216) in 1210 and Honorius III (1216-1227) in 1223.[2] His very submissive letters are one of the many examples of attempted reunion, leading up to the formation of Uniate Churches. It was the upheaval of the Crusades which eventually destroyed the Shi'ah Fatimid rule in Egypt, restored the country to Sunni Islam, to a nominal dependence on the Khalif of Bagdad and practical independence under its own Sultan. The man who wrought this revolution was the famous Saladin.
5. Saladin and his Successors (1171-1250)
Almalik annāṣir, Abu-lMuẓaffar, Ṣalāḥu-ddunyā wa-ddīn, Yūsuf ibn Aiyūb,[3] called by Europeans Saladin, was a Kurd, son of a chief at Mosul. He was a Sunni Moslem, holding a commission from the Abbasid Khalif. A mighty warrior, on the whole a just ruler, he made his fortune by fighting against the Crusaders, inspired them with great respect for his valour and chivalry, and left his name that of the Moslem hero most famous throughout Europe.[4] First he asserted the Abbasid authority in Syria; then for a time he accepted office under Al-'Āḍid (1160-1171), the last Fatimid Khalif in Egypt, causing prayers to be said for both Khalifs in the mosques. In 1171, when Al-'Āḍid died,
- ↑ His exact dates are unknown. He was reigning in 1210, and in 1223.
- ↑ Lequien: Or. Christ. ii. 490-491; Neale: Hist. of the Holy Eastern Church, ii. 278-280.
- ↑ "The victorious king, father of 'Him to whom victory is given' (AlMuẓaffar, his son's name), Honour of the State and of Religion, Joseph, son of Job." Saladin is for Ṣalāḥu-ddīn (Honour of Religion). The Europeanized form is too well known to be changed.
- ↑ See Stanley Lane-Poole: Saladin, in the series: Heroes of the Nations (Putnam, 1890).
