to his brother, and the Muslims grew stronger and fought the Franks on several occasions. Envoys went back and forth in search of a truce, and the Muslims even offered the Franks Jerusalem, Ascalon and a number of other fortresses—everything except al-Karak—but they refused and demanded three hundred thousand dinars in compensation for the demolition of Jerusalem’s walls. The Muslims were therefore forced to resume hostilities.

Provisions then ran short for the Franks, so the Muslims opened the Nile against their camp, leaving them no escape save a single narrow strip of dry ground. Al-Kāmil threw bridges across the river, the troops crossed, seized the bottleneck and the Franks were thrown into confusion. Hunger gripped them; they burned their tents, baggage and mangonels, and resolved to charge the Muslims, but they were powerless and humiliated while the Muslims prevailed over them. They sought safe-conduct from al-Kāmil and agreed to relinquish Damietta. While these negotiations were underway, a great cloud of dust and a tremendous clamour (1) rose from the direction of Damietta. Imagining it to be a Frankish relief force, they were astonished to find that it was al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam arriving with his army. The accursed were dismayed, and they surrendered Damietta in Rajab 618 AH. The Muslims entered the city, though the dogs had spared no effort in fortifying it—praise be to Allah.

Masmūd ibn Ḥamawiyah told me: When the peace terms had been settled, the Sultan took his seat in his pavilion. On his right were the mujāhid Shirkūh, then al-Ashraf, then al-Muʿaẓẓam, followed by the lord of Ḥamāh, then al-Ḥāfiẓ the lord of Jaʿbar, the commander of the Aleppo army, the commander of the Mosul contingent, the Mārdīn contingent, and the commanders of the forces of Irbil and Mayyāfāriqīn. On his left sat the papal legate, the lord of Acre, the ruler of Cyprus, the lord of Tripoli, the lord of Sidon, followed by the castellans, the master of the Templars and the master of the Hospitallers. It was a day long remembered. The Sultan then permitted food to be sold to them, and each day fifty thousand loaves of bread and two hundred