Early Middle Ages and Crusades
Saladin abolishes the Fatimid caliphate
1171·Le Caire
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extraordinary levies raised on the communities of Egypt
Saladin deposed the last Fatimid caliph and brought Egypt under the Abbasid caliphate. The change of dynasty was accompanied, as was customary, by extraordinary contributions levied on the communities to finance the war against the Franks.
The Jews of Egypt were not persecuted on that account: Saladin maintained them in their protected status, and it was under his reign that Maïmonide, a refugee in Cairo after fleeing Spain and Morocco, became physician to the Ayyubid court and recognized leader of the country's communities. There he completed the *Guide des égarés*.
Saladin's retaking of Jerusalem moreover allowed the Jews to return there, something the Latin Kingdom had forbidden them. Families from Ascalon and the Maghreb resettled there, and Juda al-Harizi found them there a generation later.
- Period :
- Early Middle Ages and Crusades
- Type :
- Massacre
- Region :
- Egypt and Maghreb
- Country :
- Égypte
Documents de la guéniza du Caire ; Maïmonide, correspondance ; chroniques ayyoubides.