File:Saladin and the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (1898) (14782182474).jpg

Identifier: saladinfallofkin00lane (find matches)
Title: Saladin and the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Lane-Poole, Stanley, 1854-1931
Subjects: Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, 1137-1193
Publisher: London Putnam
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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ere ofWilliam of Tyre, which Italians corrupted into ourmodern Cairo. It was also known as the city el-Medina, and it wasjounded, in 969, expressly for theresidence of the Caliph and his vast harim and slave-household, with quarters round his palace for theseparate brigades of his army, the vezir and officersof state, and the departments of government. Thespacious enclosure of the castle, guarded by massivewalls and imposing Norman-like gates, was forbiddenground to all but high functionaries of state. Evenambassadors of foreign powers were required to dis-mount outside, and were led to the Caliphs presenceby both their hands in the manner of the old Byzan-tine and the medieval Ottoman courts. The chief buildings were the Great East Palacethe Caliphs personal residence, where he kept hiswomen, children, slaves, eunuchs and servants, esti-mated at from eighteen to thirty thousand in number,and the Lesser West Palace, or pleasure-house,which opened on the spacious garden of Kafur, where
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BAB ZUWEYLA, CAIRO. A FATIMID GATE OF THE 11TH CENTURY. 1171) The Palace of the Caliph. 113 a meydan or hippodrome provided exercise for thecourt. The two were separated by the square called Betwixt the Palaces (Beyn el-Kasreyri) where asmany as ten thousand troops could parade; thename is still preserved in part of the Suk-en-Nah-hasin or Coppersmiths Market. An undergroundpassage connected the two palaces, by which theCaliph could pass without violating that mysteriousseclusion which was part of his sacred character.Hard by were the mausoleum where lay the bones ofhis Fatimid ancestors, brought from far Kayrawan ;and the mosque (el-Azhar) where the Caliph waswont to lead the Friday prayers as Prince and Pre-centor of the Faithful ; and near this, the Arab his-torian remarks, as if it were a common architecturalfeature, was the well into which the Caliph used tothrow the slain. The people believed that some-thing more valuable than corpses of murdered ca-liphs, slaves, or disgraced f

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