He also arranged the wedding of his daughter to the Caliph⦗1⦘.

In 483 AH the forces of al-Mustansir advanced and laid siege to Acre and Tyre⦗2⦘.

The Commander of the Armies, Badr al-Jamālī, governor of Egypt, died⦗3⦘. He had risen to an exalted station, and after him his son Shāhan Shāh Aḥmad⦗4⦘ assumed his father’s post. Some reported, however, that he did not die until shortly after al-Mustansir.

During the reign of the latter al-Mustansir the aforementioned famine struck, caused by the desiccation of the Nile—a catastrophe the like of which Egypt had not witnessed since the days of the Prophet Joseph, peace be upon him. It dragged on for years, to the point that al-Mustansir’s mother and daughters left Egypt for fear of starvation⦗5⦘.

The crisis reached such extremes that not a single beast of burden remained in the land; the ruler himself had only one horse left to ride. He needed another mount for the bearer of the al-jitr (ceremonial sunshade)⦗6⦘ to ride behind him on the day of ʿĪd, but nothing could be found except the mule belonging to Ibn Hiba, the confidential secretary. The animal was brought to the palace gate, whereupon the riffraff⦗7⦘ swarmed over it, slaughtered it, and ate it on the spot. The authorities seized them and they were hanged, and by morning only their bones were left dangling from the gallows—for they too had been eaten during the night⦗8⦘.

Al-Mustansir died in Dhū al-Ḥijjah of the year 487 AH, and he had