Then the year 513 AH began.

In it: (1) Fierce fighting broke out between Sultan Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn Malikshāh and his uncle, Sultan Sanjar ibn Malikshāh. Victory went to Sanjar, so on the sixteenth of Jumādā I of this year the Friday khuṭba in Baghdad was delivered in his name, and the mention of Sultan Maḥmūd was dropped. A truce was later concluded between them, and Sultan Sanjar ordered that the khuṭba (2) be given for his nephew Maḥmūd (3) in all his territories thereafter (4).

Also in this year: the Franks marched against the city of Aleppo, stormed it, seized it, and killed great numbers of its people (5). The lord of Mardin, Ilghāzī ibn Artuq, set out against them with a large army (6), drove them from the city, pursued them to a mountain where they had taken refuge, and there inflicted upon them a massive slaughter (7)—praise and gratitude belong to Allah. Only a few escaped (8); from their leading men he captured a little over seventy (9)(10). Among the slain was Sarjal, ruler of Antioch (11); his head was borne off—may Allah curse him. On that occasion a poet, indulging in extreme hyperbole, recited:

[from the kāmil metre]
Say what you will—your every word is welcomed,
and after the Creator, on you we rely.

The Qur’an rejoiced when you secured its triumph,
while the Gospel wept for the loss of its men (12).

And still in this year: the amir Mankubars, shihna of Baghdad, was put to death. A tyrannical, brutal man of evil conduct, he was executed as a captive before King Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn Malikshāh (13) for several reasons, one of them being that he had married his father’s concubine before her waiting period had elapsed—an outrageous deed.