The patriarchate in the 15th century was at Al Qush, not far from Mosul, but persecution growing more persistent, and many being forced into the Catholic ranks, the existing patriarch Mar Elias was ignored by the orthodox Chaldeans farther east, and the patriarch Mar Shimun at Julamark was elected, whose descendants, always bearing the name Shimun, are still the leaders of the now almost extinct old Chaldean Church. In the 16th century the Roman Catholics having by the means employed sufficiently subdued the Chaldeans nominally Catholic, nominated a patriarch, and founded thus a patriarchal line in the name of Yusif, whom they established at Diarbekr, placing him over the Catholic Chaldeans without in any way consulting their wishes. While this Catholic Chaldean section continued, by the exertions of missionaries, to enlist more recruits from the Chaldeans of the plains, the orthodox party in the mountains was gaining strength and confidence. Among the rough and fierce Kurds they became, too, warlike. Adopting Kurdish dress and habits it was almost impossible to tell them from the hereditary mountaineers, with whom they lived upon the best of terms. Inaccessible as were their villages and castles, the Turks were forced to leave them independent, though they nominally admitted the Sultan as lord of the soil they inhabited. It was not till 1839 that the Turkish Government officials encouraged the revengeful spirit of Nurullah Bey, a Hakkiari Kurd, who was at blood-feud with some Chaldeans, and Badar Khan Bey, who was better remembered than the greater man. A very significant fact in support of the assertion that the Kurds were incited to rise, is the treatment of Badar Khan Bey, when, after the repeated protests and considerable pressure from Europe, the Sultan was forced to capture him. The officer deputed to this task, one Osman Pasha, made such lenient terms with the Kurdish chief as made it practically certain that he had not been acting without the acquiescence of the Turks. Nor was any part of the Kurdish territory invaded, except in the expedition against Badar Khan Bey, after which the troops were withdrawn. The opinions of contemporary Chaldeans, as expressed in some old letters I saw at Mosul, confirm these views, and state that the Kurds, although ever alive to the supposed wealth of the Chaldeans, had been always on fairly good terms with them; indeed, as we have seen, for over four hundred years they had lived side by side without any disturbances occurring.