I. p. 35), was
the brother, not the uncle, of Arghun. On the death of the latter there
were three claimants, viz., his son Ghazan, his brother Kaikhatu, and his
cousin Baidu, the son of Tarakai, one of Hulaku's sons. The party of
Kaikhatu was strongest, and he was raised to the throne at Akhlath, 23rd
July 1291. He took as wives out of the Royal Tents of Arghun the Ladies
Bulughan (the 2nd, not her named in the Prologue) and Uruk. All the
writers speak of Kaikhatu's character in the same way. Hayton calls him "a
man without law or faith, of no valour or experience in arms, but
altogether given up to lechery and vice, living like a brute beast,
glutting all his disordered appetites; for his dissolute life hated by his
own people, and lightly regarded by foreigners." (Ram. II. ch. xxiv.)
The continuator of Abulfaraj, and Abulfeda in his Annals, speak in like
terms. (Assem. III. Pt. 2nd, 119-120; Reiske, Ann. Abulf. III. 101.)
Baidu rose against him; most of his chiefs abandoned him, and he was put
to death in March-April, 1295. He reigned therefore nearly four years, not
two as the text says.
[1] Frer carnaus (I. p. 187).
CHAPTER XIX.
HOW BAIDU SEIZED THE SOVEREIGNTY AFTER THE DEATH OF KIACATU.
When Kiacatu was dead, BAIDU, who was his uncle, and was a Christian,
seized the throne.[NOTE 1] This was in the year 1294 of Christ's
Incarnation.
