On the following Saturday, letters arrived from the sentries ⦗1⦘ stationed around the city stating that the Franks had fallen into dispute among themselves [over besieging Jerusalem] ⦗2⦘.

The king of the French said, “We have come from distant lands and spent enormous sums to deliver the Holy City and restore it to ourselves, and now only a single day’s march separates us from it.”

The English replied, “This city is hard ⦗3⦘ for us to besiege, for all the surrounding water has vanished; by the time ⦗4⦘ water can reach us from so far away, the siege will be ⦗5⦘ stalled ⦗6⦘ and the army destroyed.”

They therefore agreed to submit the matter to three hundred of their own number; those three hundred referred ⦗7⦘ it to twelve, and the twelve to three. The three deliberated through the night, and by dawn they had ruled that the host must withdraw. None could oppose their decision, so the army pulled back—may Allah curse them all—marching until they encamped at Ramla, worn down by long exile and heavy burdens.

This occurred on the morning of the twenty-first of Jumada al-Akhirah; [they returned with a ruinous bargain and utter loss in this world and the next] ⦗8⦘.

The Sultan then advanced with his troops out ⦗9⦘ of Jerusalem toward them, fearing ⦗10⦘ they might move on Egypt ⦗11⦘ because of the great ⦗12⦘ amount of mounts and wealth they possessed. The English king had often voiced that intention, but Allah thwarted them ⦗13⦘.

Envoys ⦗14⦘ from the English went repeatedly to the Sultan, seeking a truce ⦗15⦘ and a cessation of hostilities between him ⦗16⦘ and them for three years [and six months] ⦗17⦘, on condition that he restore ⦗18⦘ Ascalon to them, grant them the church ⦗19⦘ of Jerusalem—namely the Holy Sepulchre—and allow Christian pilgrims to visit it and perform their rites without