sent a band of Turkomans, declaring, “Whoever brings Joscelin to me shall have whatever reward he desires.”

They encamped near ʿAyntāb, where Joscelin attacked them, seized from their number a striking young woman, and violated her beneath a tree. The Turkomans then lay in ambush for him and captured him. Nūr al-Dīn rewarded them with 10,000 dinars and took possession of Joscelin’s territories (1).

A harsh famine gripped Iraq at first, but it lifted the following year, during which Ibn Hubayra served as vizier. The coastal Franks broke the truce, so Anur launched raids against them; the Arabs and the Turkomans did the same, until the Franks begged for the armistice to be renewed and for part of the indemnity to be forgiven.

Nūr al-Dīn engaged the Franks, routed them, and killed their commander al-Burnus, one of their foremost champions. Anur fell ill in the Hauran and died; he was buried at al-Muʿayniyya (2).

Al-Ḥāfiẓ, the ruler of Egypt, died; his son al-Ẓāfir succeeded him, with Ibn Maṣāl as vizier. Civil strife then broke out among the Egyptians and many people were killed.

In 545 AH Nūr al-Dīn pressed Damascus hard; the city capitulated, and the khuṭbah was delivered in his name after he had entered it. He invested its ruler with robes of honor, girded him, and sent him back to the city. He then summoned the dignitary Muʾayyad al-Dīn to his camp, conferred a robe of honor upon him as well, and returned him to Aleppo.

In the same year the caravan from Iraq was captured, and few escaped alive. The vizier Ibn Maṣāl was slain, and Ibn al-Sallār prevailed.

Ibn al-Jawzi (3) relates: “In Yemen there fell a rain that was nothing but blood.”