Tuman Bay II - Guerrilla Campaign From Giza

Guerrilla Campaign From Giza

SultanTuman bay II had again assumed the offensive. Well supported by Mamluks and Bedouins, he had taken up a threatening attitude there, and stopped the supplies from Upper Egypt. At the last, however, wearied with the continued struggle, he made advances, and offered to recognize Selim I’s supremacy if the invaders would retire. Selim thereupon commissioned the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil III with the four Qadis to accompany a Turkish deputation for the purpose of arranging terms; but the Caliph disliking the duty sent his Deputy instead. When Tuman bay II heard the conditions offered, he would gladly have accepted them; but was overruled by his Emirs, who distrusting Selim I, slew the Turkish members of the Embassy with one of the Qadis, and thus stopped negotiations.Selim I upon this revenged himself by the equally savage act of putting to death the Emirs imprisoned in the Citadel to the number of 57.

Sultan Tuman bay II who had still a considerable following now returned to Giza ; and Selim I, finding difficulty in the passage of his troops, was obliged to build a bridge of boats across the Nile. Tuman bay II gathered his forces under the Pyramids of Giza, and there, towards the end of March, the two armies met. Though well supported by his General Shadi Baig he was, after two days' fighting, beaten, and sought refuge with a Bedouin Chief whose life he once had saved, but who now ungratefully betrayed him into Turkish hands. He was carried in fetters into Selim I's presence, who upbraided him for his obstinate hostility and the murder of his messengers.