The Mamlūk empire contributed decisively to the crushing of the Copt element in Egypt. Nevertheless, the public offices and the offices of the management of the estates of the emirs, were full of Coptic scribes, who often drew upon themselves the hatred of the population, and became the scapegoats when popular passions ran high. The Jihād spirit of the closing stages of the struggle against the Crusader and the Mongols also played its part in creating agitation against the Christians. It is instructive to find that after about 1250 the tide of theological polemical literature against Christians and Christianity rose to its highest. These movements were fostered with the express purpose of whipping up popular antagonism. Speeches, pamphlets, fatwas were used to stir the people in the struggle against the Copts, and in particular those holding office.