rom carrying on a foreign war. El-Ashraf was murdered in
1294, whilst hunting, by the regent Baidara, whom he had threatend to
turn out of his office. Kara Sonkor, Lajin, El-Mansuri, and some of the
other emirs had conspired with Baidara in the hope that, when once the
deed was accomplished, all the chiefs in the kingdom would applaud their
action, since El-Ashraf had slain and imprisoned many influential emirs,
and was generally denounced as an irreligious man, who transgressed
not only against the laws of Islam, but also against those of nature.
Baidara, however, immediately proceeded to mount the throne, and a
strong party, with the Emir Ketboga at its head, was formed against him.
Ketboga called upon El-Ashraf's Mamluks to take vengeance, pursued the
rebels, and killed Baidara. He then returned to Cairo, and, after long
negotiations with the governor of the capital, Muhammed, a younger
brother of El-Ashraf, was proclaimed sultan, with the title of El-Malik
en-Nasir.

Muhammed en-Nasir occupies such an important place in the history of
these times that the other Moslem princes may easily be grouped around
him. He was only nine years old when he was summoned to be ruler of the
kingdom of the Mamluks. Naturally he was the sultan only in name, and
the real power lay in the hands of Ketboga and Vizier Shujai. These two
lived in perfect harmony so long as they were merely occupied with
the pursuit of their rivals,--not only the friends and followers of
El-Ashraf's murderer, but also the innocent ex-vizier of El-Ashraf,
because he had treated them with contempt and was in possession of
riches for which they were greedy. He shared the fate of the king's
assassins, for, in spite of the intercession of the ladies of the royal
harem, he ended his life on the gallows. But as soon as the two rulers
had got rid of their enemies and appeased their own avarice, their
peaceful union was at an end, for each wished to have complete control
over the sultan. Shujai had the Mamluks of the late sultan on his side;
while Ketboga, who was a Mongol by birth, had with him all the Mongols
and Kurds who had settled in the kingdom during Beybars' reign. A Mongol
warned Ketboga against Shujai, who had made all necessary preparations
to throw his rival into prison, and he immediately was attacked by
Ketboga and defeated after several attempts.

Ketboga's ambition was not yet fulfilled, although he was now supreme
ruler. He first demanded homage a