Al-Nasir ʿAbd al-Rahman, the brother of the above-mentioned al-Muẓaffar and popularly called Shanshul (1), took charge of the government during the reign of al-Muʾayyad biʾllah. He turned haughty and rebellious, plunged into vice and open immorality, and kept pressuring al-Muʾayyad until the latter, against his will, abdicated the caliphate and entrusted it to Shanshul in Jumada II, 399 AH.

One of the stories told about Shanshul—some pronounce the name Shanjul, which is more accurate—is this: His father al-Manṣūr undertook the campaign of al-Barrat, a narrow pass between two mountains through which horsemen can ride only single-file. There he met the Christians. He dismounted, ordered the tents struck and permanent dwellings and a wall to be built, and even marked out a palace for himself. He then wrote to his son and to his freedman Wadiḥ, who was acting as his deputy in the land, saying:
“When I beheld the land of Aragon, I judged the caliphs short-sighted for leaving so great a kingdom untaken.”

When the Christians learned of his resolve they sought to placate him by resuming payment of tribute, but he would accept nothing unless they gave him the daughter of their king, a descendant of Heraclius. They replied, “That would be a disgrace.”

They therefore confronted him in the heart of their territory with innumerable hosts, while he had only twenty thousand horsemen. The Muslims at first gave ground, but al-Manṣūr, his two sons, his secretary Ibn Bard, the judge Ibn Dhakwān, and a party of companions stood firm. He ordered a tent pitched for himself; when the Muslims saw it they rallied, and Allah routed the unbelievers and granted victory.

Afterward he besieged one of their cities, and when he was on the point of conquering it they offered him the king’s daughter. She was of surpassing beauty and intellect. As the grandees of her realm accompanied her on her departure they begged her to remember them with kindness and care. She answered, “Prestige is gained not by women’s thighs but by men’s spears.” She bore al-Manṣūr this Shanshul, the nickname having belonged to her own father and passing to the child.

Among al-Manṣūr’s proud exploits is that, when he returned from one of his campaigns, a woman accosted him at—