independent Iran.
He consulted his commanders, and then decided to enter Islam and become
King. His apostasy was followed by the instant conversion of his hundred
thousand men, who, with the true spirit of Tartar soldiers, followed
their leader into the pale of Islam, and soon became the active
supporters of the faith which they had so suddenly embraced. We can
imagine the triumphant joy of the proselytizing priests as they passed
down the crowded ranks of the time-hardened, weather-proof warrior sons
of the bow and spear, who on June 17, 1265, paraded at Firozkoh, where
the Tartar host was then encamped, to repeat the Mohammedan confession
of faith. To them the learning of the Arabic words must have been the
severest exercise they had ever been called upon to practise, and it is
easy to think of the muttered swearing among the puzzled veterans that
what was good enough for their leader was good enough for them, and that
they were ready to do as he had done, without further talk or ceremony.
Islam was then most actively aggressive, extending by the argument of
smooth speech or sharp sword, as occasion demanded, and the Moullas must
have regarded with enthusiastic pride the glorious reinforcement they
had brought to its armies by the consecration of such a splendid warrior
host to the service of their Church.

Ghazan Khan was the first of this race of kings from the line of Chengiz
who threw off all allegiance to Tartary by directing that the name of
the monarch of that empire should not in future be put on the Persian
coins. On the coins which he struck, the Mohammedan creed, 'There is no
God but God, and Mohammed is His Prophet,' was inscribed instead of the
name and titles of the Khakan. He had not the courage of his heart's
desire to strike his wife's name on the coins, as Jehangir did, but he
was differently placed, in that, as a fresh convert and a new King by
the favour of Islam, he felt himself unable to put aside the priests who
had bribed him with a crown. Malcolm, in remarking on Ghazan Khan's
accession to the throne of Persia, says that Henry IV. of France
similarly changed his creed to secure the crown.

Ghazan Khan reigned about the middle of the thirteenth century, and was
known in Europe for his supposed readiness to assist in re-establishing
the Christians in the Holy Land. He was deemed a wise and just Prince,
and it is believed that his policy led him to seek the aid of the States
of Europe in order