uthority, he, after some futile attempts to free himself of them, under
the pretext of pilgrimage to Mecca, retired in March 1309 to Kerak,
whence he sent his abdication to Cairo; in consequence of which, on the
5th of April 1309, _Bibars Jashengir_ was proclaimed sultan, with the
title _Malik al-Mozaffar_. This prince was originally a freedman of
Kala'un, and was the first Circassian who ascended the throne of Egypt.
Before the year was out the new sultan had been rendered unpopular by
the occurrence of a famine, and Malik al-Nasir was easily able to induce
the Syrian amirs to return to his allegiance, in consequence of which
Bibars in his turn abdicated, and Malik al-Nasir re-entered Cairo as
sovereign on the 5th of March 1310. He soon found the means to execute
both Bibars and Salar, while other amirs who had been eminent under the
former regime fled to the Mongols. The relations between their Ilkhan
and the Egyptian sultan continued strained, and the 8th Ilkhan Oeljeitu
(1304-1316) addressed letters to Philip the Fair and the English king
Edward I. (answered by Edward II. in 1307), desiring aid against Malik
al-Nasir; and for many years the courts of the sultan and the Ilkhan
continued to be the refuge of malcontents from the other kingdom.
Finally in 1322 terms of peace and alliance were agreed on between the
sultan and Abu Sa'id the 9th Ilkhan. The sultan also entered into
relations with the Mongols of the Golden Horde and in 1319 married a
daughter of the reigning prince Uzbeg Khan (see MONGOLS: _Golden
Horde_). Much of Malik al-Nasir's third administration was spent in
raids into Nubia, where he endeavoured to set up a creature of his own
as sovereign, in attempts at bringing the Bedouins of south-eastern
Egypt into subordination, and in persecuting the Nosairis, whose heresy
became formidable about this time. Like other Egyptian sultans he made
considerable use of the Assassins, 124 of whom were sent by him into
Persia to execute Kara Sonkor, at one time governor of Damascus, and one
of the murderers of Malik al-Ashraf; but they were all outwitted by the
exile, who was finally poisoned by the Ilkhan in recompense for a
similar service rendered by the Egyptian sultan. For a time Malik
al-Nasir was recognized as suzerain in north Africa, the Arabian Irak,
and Asia Minor, but he was unable to make any permanent conquests in any
of these countries. He brought Medina, which had previously been
governed by independent