Fatimid Cairo Erupts in Civil War

1062

The simmering rivalry between Turkish and Sudanese-Berber military factions in Cairo exploded into open warfare that would rage for five years. Soldiers who were supposed to defend the caliphate instead looted its palaces, burned its neighborhoods, and extorted its merchants. Al-Mustansir, nominally the most powerful Ismaili ruler in the world, watched helplessly as his capital devoured itself from within.