KIVAL CALIPHS. 225

the caliph, and resolved, great as was the distance,
to send ambassadors to Bagdad, where reigned Mus-
teazem the Miser, the thirty-seventh of his dynasty.
Now, albeit Moslems were in the habit of paying
great reverence to the caliph as the successor of
Mahomet, he exercised very little substantial power
over the fierce warriors who fought for Islamism.
Nor, indeed, had the history of the caliphate been
such as to add to the sacredness of the office, or to
increase the superstitious veneration with which it
was regarded. For several centuries, the East wit-
nessed the spectacle of rival caliphs, both professing
to be the representatives of the prophet, and each
claiming all the privileges attaching to the character.
The rivals were known as the Fatimites and the
Abassides. The Fatimites claimed the caliphate as
being the heirs of Ali, Mahomet’s son-in-law, and
established their throne at Cairo. The Abassides,
who were Mahomet’s male heirs, maintained their
state at Bagdad. At length, in 1170, the struggle.
for supremacy was terminated by Saladin the Great,
who killed the Caliph of Cairo with his mace, and
rendered the Caliph of Bagdad undisputed chief of
all Moslems; and, from that time, the Abassides,
though sunk in effeminacy, and much given to
sensual indulgences, continued to exercise their vague
privileges and their shadowy authority.
Nevertheless, King Louis, bent on obtaining the
relief of the captive Crusaders, despatched ambassa-
dors to Bagdad to treat with the caliph. The
ambassadors were a Templar, and Bisset the English
knight; and with them, in their train, went Walter