CALIPH (Turk., a successor), the title of Mohammed's successors in temporal and spiritual power, from which the historians of the middle ages designated the Arab empire founded by these princes the CALIPHATE. This empire, for two or three centu ries, exceeded even the Roman empire in extent. As Mohammed died without leaving any sons, a contest arose concerning the inheritance of his poWer, which terminated (632 A.D.) in the triumph of Almbekr (q.v.), one of his fathers-in-law, over Ali, his nephew and son-in-law. Abubekr now assumed the title of Caliphet-Resul-Allah—i.e., representative or deputy of the prophet of God. He sent forth his armies for the exten sion of Mohammedanism, and after several victories over the forces of the Byzantine empire, conquered Syria. He was succeeded in 634 by Otnar, another father-in-law of Mohammed, by whom Egypt and Jerusalem were annexed to the caliphate. He assumed the title of Emir-al-Mumenin—i.e., prince of the faithful—a title which all subsequent caliphs retained. Othman, a son-in-law of the prophet, was the third C., and was elected by six persons appointed by Omar before his death. During his reign (644-56 A.D.), the Arabian empire grew with extraordinary rapidity, being extended into Persia, and westward along the n. coast of Africa as far as Ceuta. The Byzantine emperors recov ered Egypt; but it was wrested from them again at a prodigious expense of blood. The people of Medina elected Ali-ben-Abi-Taleb as C. upon the death of Othman. The Shiites regard him as the first true imam or high-priest, and honor him and his son Hassan almost equally with Mohammed himself. Contests against rivals prevented him from doing much for the extension of the caliphate. Moawijah, the governor of Damascus, having made himself really independent during Ali's life. and having extended his power over Syria, Egypt, and part of Arabia, became C. in 661, and founded the dynasty of the Ommiades, making the caliphate hereditary. He removed the scat of the caliphate to Damascus. His armies ravaged Asia Minor, and laid siege to Constantinople, but could not take it. He made important conquests, however, in Central Asia. The caliphate did not remain long in the family of Moawijah. and it fre quently happened that in one or other of time subject countries a governor raised himself to a temporary independence; and rival caliphs frequently contended for power. Abdal melek (685-705 A.D.) united all the Moslems under his dominion. Under his son, `Valid I., the caliphate reached its zenith of prosperity, the Arabs conquering Turkestan in 707. Galatia in 710, and Spain in 711. Under Hesham, the progress of the Arabs in the west was arrested by Charles Martel at Tours (732 A.D.), and at Narbonne (736 A.D.). The dynasty of the Ommiades in Asia terminated with Merwan II. in 752, giving place to that of the Abbasides. But a branch of the Ommiades founded an independent cal iphate at Cordova, and another founded one in Arabia, which subsisted till the 16th cen tury. Ahul-Abbas (750-54 A.D.), the first Abbaside C., signalized himself by his cruelty
and the torrents of human blood which he shed. His successor, Abu-Jafar, called .A1 Mansur, a patron of the arts, but a persecutor of Christians, founded Bagdad (q.v.), and removed the seat of the caliphate thither'. From the beginning of the 9th c., the Arab empire, which NW suffered much from corruption and internal disorganization under the last caliphs of the Ommiade dynasty, and had never completely recovered, showed increased signs of decay. Even under the C. Iiarun-al-Baschid, whose praises the eastern poets were accustomed so much to celebrate, independent kingdoms were established (800 A.D.) by the Aghlabides in Tunis, and the Edrisidos in Fez. In 821, Taher, the governor of Khorassan, made himself independent, and established a dynasty there, and other governors of provinces followed his example. But under the C. Al Mamun, the Arabians conquered Sicily and Sardinia, the former of which they held till it was taken from them in 1035 by the Normans; and the latter, till it was conquered by the Pisans in 1451. The C. Motassem (833-42 A.D.) was the first to employ Turkish soldiers; but the practice was followed by his successors; and the Turkish body-guard soon became a formidable power in the caliphate, and about the middle of the Oth c. assumed the right of deciding the succession to the throne. Many of the caliphs, mean while, were base voluptuaries, and of the others, some were of little capacity, and their power rapidly declined. Ere the middle of the 10th c., the caliphs themselves exercised a mere nominal sovereignty, whilst the emirs, like the mayors of the palace towards the close of the Merovingian dynasty among the Franks, possessed all real power. The princes of the Fatimide dynasty, which succeeded that of the Aghlabides in Tunis, having made themselves masters of Egypt in 970, assumed the title of C., so that there were now three caliphates—at Bagdad,at Cairo, and at Cordova. In the llth c., the caliphs of Bagdad were still acknowledged as the spiritual chiefs of all the Moslems; but their temporal power scarcely extended beyond the walls of Bagdad. Bagdad itself became the prey of a Mongol horde in 1258, and the representative of the caliphs fled to Egypt, where, under the protection of the Mamelukes, who had made themselves masters of that country in 1250, he retained his title and spiritual power, which be transmitted to his successors, who continued to reside there till the Turks conquered Egypt in 1517, when the last of them was carried to Constantinople; and since that time the Turkish sultans have assumed the title of C., and claimed to be regarded as the spiritual chiefs of all the Moslems, a claim to which little respect has ever been paid except within the limits of their own empire.