four hundred poor people. He had also restrained his mamluks from oppression, and on one occasion he entered the shrine of Abu Ḥanīfah, shut the door behind himself, and spent the time in prayer and supplication.
It is said that he left behind, in minted gold, eleven million dinars.
That same year the ruler of Constantinople and the lord of Jerusalem, Baldwin—may Allah curse them both—also died.
He fought the Ismāʿīlīs, annihilated many of them, seized from them the fortress of Isfahan, and killed Ibn Ghattāsh, their king (1). Afterward he languished for a while and died at the end of 511 AH in Isfahan. He was buried in a large madrasa that he had built and left behind riches beyond calculation. The caliph al-Muqtafi later married his daughter Fāṭimah (2). He lived thirty-eight years, and after him the sultanate passed to his son Maḥmūd.
294 – Commander of the Armies al-Afdal Shāhanshāh ibn Badr al-Jamālī*
King al-Afdal, Abū al-Qāsim Shāhanshāh, son of King, Commander of the Armies Badr al-Jamālī, the Armenian.
…he summoned the revenue officer, forced him to return the people’s money together with the exorbitant surcharge, and punished him severely so that others would desist from similar misconduct. Afterwards he would remark, “I have felt immense regret for not attending their court session myself; had I done so, others would have followed my example and no one would have stayed away from the hearing or from giving people their due.” He added that, once the amirs learned of his procedure, none of them dared commit injustice and they all refrained.
(1) Al-Kamil fi al-tarikh, 10/430-434.
(2) Ibn Khallikan, 5/73: The official who accepted the marriage contract on the bride’s behalf was the vizier Sharaf al-Din Abu al-Qasim Ali b. Turad al-Zaynabi; this took place in 531/1137, with her brother Masud present. She was transferred to the caliphal palace for the wedding in 534/1139. It is said she could read and write and possessed sound judgement. She died while still in his wedlock on Saturday, 22 Rabi al-Akhir 542/1147.
(*) Further references to those who obtained the vizierate: p. 57; Ibn al-Qalanisi, p. 323; al-Kamil fi al-tarikh.