and he was formidable, inspiring awe and every inch suited for rule. He put a number of emirs to death, ordered amputations and hangings, and disciplined the principalities of the Jazīrah. People spoke of him with exaggeration and called him “the Golden Scepter.” He devoted great effort to investigating the affairs of his subjects. He lived nearly ninety years; his face kept its rosy hue and his stature remained handsome, so that whoever saw him thought him still a man in his prime.
He used to celebrate Palm Sunday—some vestige of his family’s old religion—by laying out an exceptionally lavish banquet, bringing in singing girls, and, amid all of that, vessels of wine. In his delight he would scatter gold from the citadel and men would scramble for it. For reviving Christian customs he was despised, and it was said of him:
He magnifies the Christians’ feasts in fond devotion,
And claims that God is Jesus, Mary’s son.
Should noble Arab pride ever rouse him toward high renown,
His Armenian blood replies: “Lie back and sleep.”
It is also reported that he went to serve Hulagu, courted his favor, and presented splendid gifts, among them a matchless gem. He asked permission to place it in Hulagu’s ear; Hulagu reclined, whereupon he rubbed the ear and inserted the ring. He then returned to his lands as Hulagu’s governor, obliged to remit a fixed tribute.
He died (1) in Mosul on the third of Shaʿbān, 657 AH.
When he died, his son al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl succeeded him and married Hulagu’s daughter, but he angered her and stirred her jealousy. The Tatars marched against Mosul; the siege lasted ten months, after which the city was taken. Al-Ṣāliḥ came out to them under a guarantee of safety, but they betrayed him and sacked Mosul—surely we belong to Allah and to Him we return.
Badr al-Dīn had lived past eighty. That same year, his son al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl had travelled to Egypt seeking aid from the Muslims. He returned, met the enemy at Nisibis, routed them, and killed their commander Īlkā. Hulagu, enraged, sent Sandāghu