Meanwhile, the king of the English—may Allah curse him—rode out with his men, fully armed with his weapons and lances ⦗1⦘. He reviewed the entire line, from the Muslims’ right wing to their left, yet not a single horseman advanced to meet him, nor did any valiant champion bar his way ⦗2⦘. At that the Sultan turned back, grieved that he found in the army neither obedience nor even attentive ears ⦗3⦘. “Surely we belong to Allah and to Him we shall return.” Had he possessed real authority over them, he would not have let a single one take even a fals from the public treasury ⦗4⦘.

Not long afterward the English king was struck by a severe illness and sent ⦗5⦘ to the Sultan asking for fruit and ice. The Sultan furnished him with both, out of generosity and kindness, and as a display of strength and magnanimity ⦗6⦘. The king—may Allah curse him—then recovered, and his envoys repeatedly sought peace with the Sultan, driven by his intense longing for his children and homeland and his yearning for the comforts awaiting him there. The Sultan conceded to his request; the king abandoned his claim to Ascalon ⦗7⦘ and accepted the terms laid down by the Sultan. The treaty document ⦗8⦘ was drafted in accordance with the Sultan’s stipulations ⦗9⦘ on the eighteenth ⦗10⦘ of Shaʿbān.

All their kings, bishops, and patriarchs ratified the covenants and oaths, while the Muslim amirs swore and affixed their signatures. From the Sultan a simple verbal declaration sufficed, as is the custom of sovereigns. Both parties rejoiced greatly ⦗11⦘ and displayed abundant happiness. The armistice suspended warfare for thirty years and six months. It confirmed that the Franks should keep the coastal towns already in their hands, that the Muslims should hold the corresponding mountain districts, and that the markets between them be shared; these were divided equally ⦗12⦘. The Sultan then dispatched a hundred demolition engineers under an amir to raze the walls of Ascalon and expel the Franks and Germans inside.

The Sultan returned to the Noble Jerusalem, organized and fortified its affairs ⦗13⦘, set his administration in good order and strengthened it. He enlarged the endowment of the madrasa by adding a market with its shops, along with land and orchards, and he likewise increased the endowment for the Sufis. That year he resolved to perform the pilgrimage,