ABSTRACT
The period which began with the First Crusade and the foundation of the Frankish states saw increasingly close relations between the Muslim rulers in the Near East and Christendom. The basic concept of Islamic international law, the division of the world into two warring communities, the Muslims in dār al-Islām and the infidels in dār al-ḥarb, while never abandoned in theory, was sufficiently modified in practice to allow of peaceful contacts and diplomatic relations. The history of relations between the Frankish and Muslim states provides many examples of peaceful coexistence, and indeed of more or less formal alliances against local rivals. Nevertheless in spite of occasional tension, military, political and commercial interests continued to link the Mamluk sultanate with the Byzantine empire and the Golden Horde. The emperor, as before, was anxious to be on good terms with the sultan and with the rival Mongol rulers.
