How Palestine was Liberated: A clash along the Nile
How Egypt became a battleground of conflicting ambitions
Nur ad-Din rendered any expansion eastward practically impossible for the Crusaders, with each attempt proving to be a disaster or a disgrace. But turmoil, division, and infighting in Egypt made the Nile Valley an attractive target. So, in 548 Hijri, the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem marched on Ascalon, a Fatimid stronghold that defied each prior Crusader attempt at conquest.
And the Franj targeted it [Ascalon] and sieged it each year, but they would not find a way to take it. And the Viziers in Egypt were the rulers of the land, and the Caliph held a title with no meaning to it. The Viziers would send supplies, weapons, wealth, and men, who would maintain it, to it [Ascalon] each year. When the Vizier ibn al-Sallar was killed in this year … and the choices differed in Egypt … The Franj seized [on the opportunity of] their distraction from Ascalon, so they gathered and sieged it.
~ ibn al-Athir
With Damascus in his way, Nur ad-Din could not relieve the Egyptian forces; so he decided to remove that obstacle once and for all.
Previous attempts to conquer Damascus by force proved futile. This time, Nur ad-Din resorted to intrigue. He began winning over the trust of Mujir ad-Din, the Emir of Damascus at the time. He then began writing to him, telling him that an emir of Mujir ad-Din’s wrote to him to conspire to surrender Damascus to him. Believing Nur ad-Din’s words, Mujir ad-Din would sack that emir and confiscate his property. Nur ad-Din repeated this until there was no one left that Mujir ad-Din would trust.
Nur ad-Din then wrote to the people of Damascus and incited them to join his cause. He then rode with his army to the city and besieged it.
Mujir ad-Din panicked. He wrote to the Franj, promising them wealth and the fortress of Baalbek, but, by the time his letters reached them, and by the time they had gathered their forces, the city was surrendered to Nur ad-Din. He captured Baalbek a few years later.
With Damascus now under his control, Nur ad-Din turned his focus again toward the Crusader states. He marched on Tel Bashir for the second time and conquered it. Then, he marched on Harem and besieged it. He lifted the siege after half of the environs of Harem were surrendered to him as part of a truce.
In 558 Hijri, Nur ad-Din marched toward Krak des Chevaliers, but an ambush by Crusader forces compelled him to retreat. He gathered his men and sent for reinforcements and supplies, and camped at Qattinah Lake southwest of Homs.
“As for the Franj, they were determined to march on Homs after the defeat [of Nur ad-Din], because it was the closest of lands to them. So when news reached them that Nur ad-Din had camped between it and them, they said, ‘He would not do this unless he had forces to prevent us with.’”
~ ibn al-Athir
With Nur ad-Din’s forces replenished, the Crusaders sought a truce, but Nur ad-Din refused.
An opportune request
As Nur ad-Din was preparing for a grander campaign with a larger force against the Crusaders in 559 Hijri, a message arrived from Egypt.
“As he was preparing for jihad [against the Crusaders], Shawar, the Vizier of al-Adid [the Fatimid Caliph] of Egypt met him in the month of Rabii al-Awal of 559, pleading to him and seeking his aid against Dargham who competed against him for the Vizierate…
“He remained hesitant between doing so or focusing his entire efforts on the Franj. Then his resolve was strengthened and he sent Asad ad-Din Shirkuh ibn Shadi from his camp in [the month of] Jumada al-Awal in [5]59, and he ordered Asad ad-Din to reinstate Shawar to his position.”
~ Kamal al-Din Omar ibn Ahmed
The Fatimid Shia Caliphs became weak as their viziers grew in both influence, strength, and wealth. Ambitious emirs and generals vied for the vizierate of Egypt and all the power it offered. Dargham was one such ambitious emir, and Shawar was willing to do whatever it takes to cling to power; even ally himself with a Sunni ruler.
The decision to support Shawar’s claim on the Vizierate of Egypt and postpone the grand campaign against the crusaders would change the course of history for Egypt, the Levant, and Palestine and would eventually lead to the rise of one Saladin to prominence and power.
Shirkuh was Saladin’s uncle and a reliable commander under Nur ad-Din. He, and the rest of what would later be known as the Ayyubid Dynasty were Kurds who had migrated to Mesopotamia and rose up the ranks under the Zengid Dynasty.
Nur ad-Din ordered Shirkuh to march to Egypt through Crusader-controlled territory and its outskirts with a segment of his army, while Nur ad-Din himself kept the Crusaders busy elsewhere.
After a battle at Bilbeis and Cairo, Shirkuh defeated Dargham’s army and reinstated Shawar as Vizier of Egypt. It was not long, however, before Shawar reneged on the deal he had struck with Nur ad-Din.
To encourage Nur ad-Din to come to his aid, Shawar had offered Nur ad-Din a third of Egypt’s income and his deputy, Shirkuh, would be based in Egypt.
Shirkuh reminded Shawar of his promise, and Shawar remained defiant. Shirkuh sent his deputies and his army to capture Bilbies, which they did successfully.
“And he controlled the eastern cities.”
~ Kamal al-Din Omar ibn Ahmed
Realizing the potential threat he just created by betraying his promise to Nur ad-Din, Shawar sought aid from the Crusaders.
“So Shawar sent to the Franj seeking support and frightening them from Nur ad-Din if he was to take over Egypt.”
~ ibn al-Athir
Fearing a unified Egyptian and Levantine Muslim force under Nur ad-Din, the Crusaders marched toward Egypt to take it for themselves.
The rush for the Nile
Nur ad-Din attacked the outskirts of Crusader-controlled territory to divert the Crusaders from Egypt, but the strategic significance of a victory in Egypt was more attractive than defending skirmishes from the east, so the Crusaders marched on.
The Crusaders marched on Bilbeis and besieged it. Nur ad-Din gathered his forces and commanded his vassals to join him. He marched on Haram and took it. Bohemond III of Antioch and Raymond III of Tripoli were captured in the fighting leading up to the siege and capture of Haram. When news of his victory and his march toward Baniyas reached the Crusaders at Bilbeis, the urgency to defend their main territories heightened and they struck a deal with Shirkuh, who was stuck with the besieged in Bilbeis.
So they sent to Asad ad-Din [Shirkuh] for a truce and a return to the Levant, and [for him to] leave Egypt, and return what he controls to the Egyptians. So he agreed with them to it, for he did not know what Nur ad-Din did in the Levant to the Franj, and the rations and arms decreased.”
~ ibn al-Athir
By the time they reached Baniyas, Nur ad-Din had taken it.
In 561 Hijri, Nur ad-Din marched on the Mouniterah fort near present-day Afqa, Lebanon with a small force and conquered it.
The following year, Nur ad-Din sent Shirkuh to Egypt once again, but this time to place it under his de facto control.
Shirkuh crossed the Sinai, reached Atfih south of Cairo, crossed the Nile, and attacked and conquered Giza and the rest of the western bank of the Nile.
Shawar, once again, sent to the Crusaders seeking their aid. They marched and crossed the Nile. By that time, Shirkuh had reached the el-Sa’eed region, or Upper Egypt. The Crusaders and the Egyptian forces chased him south.
Eventually, Shirkuh and his generals decided to stand their ground and wait for the enemy. He placed his nephew, Salaah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyuub, whose name became Latinized to Saladin, in the center, knowing the enemy would think Shirkuh himself would be in the center, and took to the right wing.
When the combined Egyptian and Crusader force arrived, they charged the center as he expected. He waited for them to tire as the center was losing ground. And as they began to pull back and replenish their attack with fresher troops, he attacked with what remained, creating an impression of a winning army attacking a retreating force. The morale of the Crusaders and Egyptians fell as more of their men were slew and others retreated.
“And this was the strangest that was recorded, that two thousand horsemen defeated the forces of Egypt and the coastal Franj.”
~ ibn al-Athir
Shirkuh went on to conquer Upper Egypt and Alexandria. The Egyptians regrouped at Cairo and marched on Alexandria when it was taken. By then, Shirkuh had left Salaah ad-Din in charge of Alexandria and he left for Upper Egypt.
The Crusader-Egyptian army besieged Alexandria, and the situation became dire. Shirkuh marched toward Alexandria to relieve his forces there. The Crusaders and Egyptians sent to Shirkuh seeking a truce, to which he agreed on the following terms: They paid him fifty thousand dinars, the Crusaders would not remain in Egypt, nor would they own even one village in Egypt, and Alexandria would be returned to the Egyptians.
Shirkuh returned to Damascus.
The Crusaders made their own agreement with Shawar: The Egyptians would pay them one hundred thousand dinars annually, and the gates of Cairo would be controlled by a Crusader garrison.
Nur ad-Din continued his campaign against the Crusaders in the Levant, capturing a number of forts and strongholds.
In 564 Hijri, the Crusader garrison that remained in Egypt enticed those within the Kingdom of Jerusalem to come and take Egypt for themselves.
“Then the Franj coveted Egypt. So they marched to it in 564 Hijri, and they took Bilbeis. And they marched to Cairo and fought it[s people.] Al-Adid sent a request for help to Nur ad-Din…and [promised] that Asad ad-Din [Shirkuh] would reside with them.”
~ Kamal al-Din Omar ibn Ahmed
The Fatimid Caliph wrote a similar plea to Shirkuh himself. Nur ad-Din answered the Shia Caliph’s plea and sent Shirkuh along with a number of commanders, including Salaah ad-Din, to Egypt.
According to the chronicler ibn al-Athir, however, it was not only the Crusader garrison that enticed King Baldwin III to attack Egypt. After the Crusaders reached Bilbeis and took it, and after they massacred the population and took anyone who survived as a prisoner, notables of Egypt who were hostile to Shawar wrote to the Crusaders to take Egypt, promising to support them.
The Crusaders laid siege to Cairo in the tenth of Safar 564 Hijri. In an effort to make a siege on the city as difficult and unwelcoming as possible, Shawar had ordered the burning of the surrounding lands.
“So the fire continued to burn it for fifty-four days.”
~ ibn al-Athir.
Shawar still feared the possibility of losing his de facto reign over Egypt to Nur ad-Din, so he wrote to King Baldwin III, pleading that he withdraw back to Jerusalem, reminding him of their common interests, and promising to continue to pay tribute. The prolonged siege and the approaching Muslim army from the Levant compelled the Crusaders to agree. He also asked that they lift the siege so that he would be able to gather the required tribute, to which they also agreed.
He was required to send a hundred thousand dinars. He could not gather more than five thousand as the conditions, the siege, and the burning of the land stripped the people of much of their wealth.
By the time Shirkuh arrived, the Crusaders had given up and withdrawn.
Conspiracies in Cairo
Shawar’s alliance and friendliness with the Crusaders was not a secret in Egypt, nor was it popular among the people nor the army. When Shirkuh arrived at the invitation of the Fatimid Shia Caliph, change arrived with him.
Shawar’s son, al-Kamel, was also displeased with the alliance Shawar had with the Crusaders and in the numerous attempts when he called for their support against coreligionists, albeit coreligionists of a hostile sect.
Shawar plotted to invite Shirkuh and his men for a meal, and to arrest them all and enlist those who would agree into his army. al-Kamel interjected.
“His son al-Kamel forbade him and said to him: By Allah, if you go on with this, I will inform Shirkuh. His father told him: By Allah, if I do not do this we will all be killed. So he [al-Kamel] said: And for us to be killed while we are Muslims and the lands [under] Islamic [rule] is better than for us to be killed and the Franj having taken it.”
~ ibn al-Athir
Salaah ad-Din and a number of other generals suggested that they kill Shawar, but Shirkuh denied their request.
It wouldn’t be long for them to find a reason to imprison him, however. Shawar was searching for Shirkuh one day when he stumbled upon Shirkuh’s men and asked about his whereabouts. They informed him that he was visiting the grave of the revered Imam al-Shafi’i. When they saw him ride of with a number of his men, Salaah ad-Din and a number of Nur ad-Din’s men rode after him. When they caught up to him, they dragged him off his horse.
“His friends fled from him and he was taken prisoner.”
~ ibn al-Athir
When the Fatimid Caliph heard of this, he wrote to Shirkuh asking for Shawar’s head. He was beheaded and his head sent to al-Adid on the seventeenth of Rabi’i al-Akher. Shirkuh was appointed Vizier of Egypt that day.
Shawar’s son and those who remained of his family took up defense within his father’s palace. When the mob arrived, it was not long before the palace was overrun and all who remained of Shawar’s family were killed.
Shirkuh died a little over two months after being appointed Vizier and was succeeded by his nephew, Salaah ad-Din. Or Saladin as his name would later be Latinized to.
