and they agreed to put him to death. Yazdan and another accomplice entered, dragged him off to the bathhouse while he was crying for help, and locked the door on him.

I say: The first to pledge allegiance to al-Mustanjid was his uncle Abū Ṭālib, followed by his brother Abū Jaʿfar, then Ibn Hubayra, and the Chief Judge al-Dāmighānī.

In the year 55, the emirs of Hamadhān arrested Sulaymān Shāh and installed Arslān Shāh in his place. In Egypt al-Fāʾiz bi-Allāh died, and they swore allegiance to al-ʿĀḍid.

In the year 56: in Egypt al-Ṣāliḥ and his vizier were killed and Shāwar seized power; al-Mustanjid went out hunting several times; the ruler of Azerbaijan met the Georgians and, by the grace of Allah, was victorious. Al-Muʾayyad Ay Aba took control of Naysābūr, deputized his mamluk Yanquz over Bistām and Dāmghān, consolidated his position, and routed the armies, though he remained nominally under Sultan Arslān’s authority.

In the same year the Franks defeated Nūr al-Dīn beneath the Fortress of the Kurds; he escaped with difficulty, encamped by Lake Ḥimṣ, and swore that he would not rest under a roof until he had taken revenge. When he encountered them again in 59, he pulverized them, captured their kings, and ten thousand of them were killed at Ḥārim ⦗1⦘. He then dispatched his forces with Asad al-Dīn—Shāwar’s ally—and prevailed, killing his rival Dirghām. Shāwar thereupon sought aid from the Franks; they arrived and besieged Asad al-Dīn at Bilbays. Meanwhile, Nūr al-Dīn captured Ḥārim and Banias. Someone lost a signet ring set with a ruby known as “the Mountain,” but it was eventually found.

Again in that year, the ruler of Constantinople advanced with his army to fight the Seljuk king of Rūm, Kilij Arslān; Allah granted victory, and the Muslims captured several of their fortresses.