His son and successor, Anūsha Khān, was still more venturesome. He invaded `Abd el-`Azīz’s territory at the head of a great force, A.H. 1076 (1665), and actually gained possession of the capital during the sovereign’s temporary absence at Kerminé. The latter hastened to his people’s aid. With only forty devoted followers he hewed his way to the citadel, and summoned his subjects to oust the invader. The call was but too eagerly obeyed: all classes rose as a man against the abhorred Khivans. The Sicilian Vespers were repeated, and but few escaped to tell the tale of disaster. This splendid heroism exhausted `Abd el-`Azīz’s stock of mental vigour.[459] He determined to abdicate in favour of his brother Subhān Kulī Khān, and seek the secure refuge which Medīna offered to those oppressed with the carking cares of life. His temperament, indeed, predisposed him in favour of a course which had become traditional in his family. It was a rare mixture of the adventurous and the contemplative. Daring in battle, prompt in action, `Abd el-`Azīz inherited a tendency to asceticism, and was wont to withdraw himself from worldly affairs and remain plunged in prolonged meditation on the ineffable goodness of his Maker. Without regret he laid down his crown and betook himself as a humble pilgrim to the Holy City, which is the goal of every true follower of the Prophet. Subhān Kulī Khān assumed the insignia of royalty on his brother’s departure; but gratified ambition brought with it no accession of happiness. The Astrakhanides, with many virtues, were deficient in filial love, and Subhān Kulī’s heart was wrung by the jealousy and disrespect of his children. His neighbour of Khiva, too, did not take to heart the terrible lesson taught him in the preceding reign. In A.H. 1095 (1683) he invaded Bokhārā, and, though defeated by a loyal chief named Mohammad Bi, he repeated his incursions in the following year. In A.H. 1100 (1688) his successor advanced to the very gates of Bokhārā; but he, too, was soundly beaten by Mohammad Bi, and Khiva fell for a time under Subhān Kulī Khān’s dominion. This age witnessed the apogee of Bokhārā’s greatness in the estimation of the Mohammedan world. Aurangzīb, the narrow-minded zealot who sat on the throne of Akbar, sent thither ambassadors with elephants and other costly gifts; and Ahmad II. of Turkey, whose lust for conquest far exceeded his military genius, did not disdain to address his Bokhāran brother a grandiloquent epistle describing mythical successes against the Frankish unbelievers.[460]