ISLAM AND THE CRUSADES 45Shirkuh’s army was out of position, and the first Frankish attack was
successful at capturing Bilbeis. But the massacre that followed, in which
both Christian and Muslim inhabitants were slaughtered with equal indif-
ference, so horrified the Egyptians, that for the first time a universal re-
action emerged against everything Frankish. The wily caliph invited the
Syrians into Cairo, and the country was saved.
Although it had been Nur-al-Din’s Syrian army, led by his Kurdish
general Shirkuh, that had so far thwarted the crusaders’ plans in Syria and
Egypt, the young Saladin had been present, gaining experience as a mili-
tary leader. Indeed, Saladin personally resolved the problems in Egypt by
murdering the fickle Egyptian Caliph Shawar, on January 18, 1169. This
hard act completed the destruction of the pro-Frankish element in Egyp-
tian politics. The young man’s great chance came only two months after
the occupation of Cairo. Shirkuh ate himself to death, and Nur-al-Din
appointed the relative of Ayyub in his place.
By the end of 1169 Nur-al-Din held Syria as one unified nation, and
his vassal Saladin held Egypt. This combination should have set the stage
for the destruction of the crusader kingdoms. However, the recurring
themes of medieval warlordism and Muslim disunity were stronger than
the bonds between the two men. It is true that Nur-al-Din had made Sal-
adin king of Egypt. It was also true that Saladin was the ruler, and Egypt
was every bit as powerful a nation as Syria. The vassal had become the
equal of his master, and thus, in the end, his own master. This came to a
head in 1171, when the Syrian ruler, a Sunni, demanded that his “vassal”
remove the Shia underpinnings of the Egyptian state. Saladin refused, for
to do so would not only cause great distress to his subjects, it would also
define him as the lesser of two equals. The situation became tense enough
that King Amalric of the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem felt comfortable
in offering Saladin an alliance against his Syrian overlord. Fortunately,
the last Egyptian Shia caliph soon died and the question became moot.
Syria and Egypt did not go to war, and Saladin did not ally with Amalric.
Still, the two great Muslim kings were not close allies.
In 1171 and again in 1173 there was talk of a Syrian expedition against
Egypt, but nothing came of it. In 1174, Nur-al-Din died and the way was
clear for the once vassal Saladin to acquire his master’s lands. By the end
of 1174, against little opposition from Nur-al-Din’s eleven-year-old son,
Saladin was the ruler of both Egypt and most of Syria. In 1183 he would
enter Aleppo, in northern Syria, completing the conquest. For the first
time since the crusaders had arrived, the Muslim world had a united and
very astute ruler.
Saladin was a skillful ruler indeed. Schooled in war by Shirkuh, and
with politics in his blood, the new king of Egypt and Syria was a thought-