would retain Iraq, while Sulaymān Shāh would take whatever spoils he might win in Khurāsān. Thereafter the Friday sermon in Baghdad mentioned his name after that of the king Sanjar. He then left the city in Rabīʿ al-Awwal, and battle was joined between him and Sultan Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd ibn Malikshāh. Muḥammad (1) defeated him and routed his army, so he fled (2). The deputy of Quṭb al-Dīn Mawdūd ibn Zankī, lord of Mosul, intercepted him, captured him, and confined him in the citadel of Mosul; yet he honored him and waited upon him throughout his captivity—one of the strangest turns of fate.
In the same year: the Franks seized al-Mahdiyya in the Maghrib after a hard siege.
In the same year: Nūr al-Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Zankī captured the fortress of Tall Ḥārim, wrenching it from the Franks. It had been among the most strongly built and best-defended citadels. This came after fierce fighting and a mighty battle and was counted among the greatest of conquests; the poets (3) praised him on that occasion.
In the same year: King Sanjar escaped [from the captivity of the Ghuzz] (4) and returned to his dominion in Marw, after having been in their hands for roughly five years.
In the same year: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin, ruler of the Maghrib, appointed his sons over his realms, assigning each of them (5) a large province.
[Account of the Siege of Baghdad]
The cause of it was that Sultan Muḥammad ibn Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn Malikshāh sent to the caliph al-Muqtafī bi-Amr Allāh, asking (6) that the Friday sermon in Baghdad be delivered in his name. The caliph refused, so the sultan marched from Hamadhān to Baghdad to besiege it. The populace panicked, and the caliph fortified the city. Sultan Muḥammad arrived and invested Baghdad, taking up his position opposite the Tāj gate of the caliphal palace with a vast host; arrows (7) were shot toward him. The common people fought stoutly at the caliph’s side with naphtha and other means, and the fighting lasted (8) for some time. While matters stood thus, [news reached the sultan that his brother] (9) had remained behind in Hamadhān, so he broke off the siege of Baghdad