Eibeg, a Mameluk chief, was elected commander. Shejer ud dur now married Eibeg and when three months had passed she resigned in his favor. In mounting the throne the new Sultan took the title Moizz, and chose as associate El Ashraf, an Eyubite prince six years old, the great-grandson of Kamil the Sultan. This revolution, which placed a Mameluk chief on the throne of the Eyubites, shows how powerful these warriors had become then in Egypt. Saladin, on gaining power in 1169, had disbanded the troops of the Fatimid Kalifs. Those troops were negro slaves, Egyptians, and Arabs, and he put Kurds and Turks in their places. This new force was formed of twelve thousand horsemen. Saladin, and the Sultans who followed him, were fond of buying young Turks, whom they reared very carefully to military service, but Salih, ruling sixth after Saladin, preferred Mameluks to others. Before coming to power this prince had tested the Mameluks and esteemed them; when Sultan he increased the number of them greatly, by purchase. These new men were brought from regions north of the Caucasus and the Caspian, from those tribes known in the Orient as Kipchak, and as Polovtsi by the Russians. At first it was difficult to obtain them, but after the Mongol invasion of Russia young prisoners were sold in large numbers into Egypt and Syria. Salih had a thousand, whom he lodged in the fortress of Randhat, on an island in front of Cairo; he called them the Bahriye, or men of the river. These young slaves were brought up in the practice of arms, and in the religion of Islam. The guard of the Sultan was composed wholly of Mameluks. Salih chose from their chiefs the great officers of his household, and his most trusted advisers. They attained the highest military offices, enjoyed the richest fiefs, and received the best revenues; they saved Egypt at Mansura, and did most to destroy the French army; their power lay in esprit de corps and ambition. Their chiefs rose to dominion in Egypt, and then put a check on the Mongols.