ABSTRACT
This chapter illustrates several features of the Christian experience under Fatimid, Ayyubid and especially Mamluk rule, particularly in Egypt. Between 969 and 1517, Egypt's heads of state were drawn in succession from two dynasties, the Fatimids and the Ayyubids, and then from two regiments of emancipated slave soldiers, the Bahri Mamluks and the Burji Mamluks. Apart from the persecution instigated by al-Hakim, the Fatimids are usually judged to have treated their Christian subjects better than any other regimes considered there. Christians were not permitted under the Pact of 'Umar to build new churches or monasteries or to repair old ones, but the Fatimids and some Ayyubids usually implemented a more lenient policy. The arrival of the Ayyubids with their undisciplined troops led immediately to church destruction – with local Muslims joining in the looting – and later to the confiscation of lands endowed by the Fatimids.
