araj was
collecting troops for the purpose of recovering Syria when domestic
troubles caused him to flee from Egypt, his own brother Abd el-Aziz
heading the insurrection. In the belief that Faraj was dead, Aziz was
proclaimed his successor, but three months later Faraj was restored,
and it was not until 1412 that he was charged with illegal practices and
beheaded, his body being left unburied like that of a common malefactor.
The fact that criminal proceedings were brought against the sultan is
evidence of a great advance in the spirit of civilisation, but the
event must be regarded more as a proof of its possibility than as a
demonstration of its establishment.

[Illustration: 063.jpg MOSQUE OF BERKUK]

The Caliph El-Mustain was then proclaimed sultan, but after some months
he was dethroned and his former prime minister, Sheikh Mahmudi, took
over the reins of government (November, 1412). Although Sheikh had
obtained the throne of Egypt so easily, he experienced great difficulty
in obtaining the recognition of the emirs. Newruz, Governor of Damascus,
in league with the other governors, made a determined resistance, and
he was obliged to send a strong army into Syria to put down the rebels.
Newruz, after suffering one defeat, threw himself into the citadel of
Damascus and capitulated, when Sheikh had sworn to keep the terms of
the capitulation. Newruz's ambassadors, however, had not a sufficient
knowledge of Arabic to perceive that the oath was not binding, and
when Newruz, trusting to this oath, appeared before Sheikh, he was
immediately thrown into chains, and afterwards murdered in prison
because the cadis declared the oath was not binding. In the next year
(1415) Sheikh was obliged to make another expedition against Syria to
re-conquer some of the places of which the smaller princes had taken
possession during the civil war. One of these princes was the Prince
Muhammed of Karaman, who had taken the town of Tarsus. Sheikh was
summoned by Muhammed's own brother to overcome him, which he easily
succeeded in doing. Many other princes were forced to submit, and
finally the town of Malatia, which the Turcoman Husain had stormed, was
recaptured. The war against Husain and the Prince of Karaman was to have
been continued, but Sheikh was forced to return home, owing to a wound
in his foot. As soon as certain misunderstandings between Sheikh and
Kara Yusuf had been cleared up, another army was despatched into Asia
Minor, for