Thereupon they advanced with every man and weapon they could muster; (1) al-Malik al-ʿĀdil Abū Bakr met them on the Plain of Acre, routed them, carried off their booty, and took Jaffa by storm—praise and bounty belong to Allah alone. Earlier they had written to the German king, urging him to march and seize Jerusalem, but Allah decreed his swift demise; abundant praise be to Allah.

That same year the Franks captured Beirut from its deputy ʿIzz al-Dīn Sāmah (2) without the least skirmish, prompting a poet to say of the amīr Sāmah: (3)

“Hand over the fortress—no blame shall touch you;
None is reproached who seeks peace and safety.
For yielding strongholds without a fight (4)
Is a custom Sāmah founded at Beirut.”

In this year as well the Frankish king Kundaharī fell from a great height and died, leaving the Franks like sheep without a shepherd. They therefore set the lord of Cyprus over themselves and married him to the queen, Kundaharī’s widow. Many encounters then took place between them and al-ʿĀdil Abū Bakr ibn Ayyūb (5); in every one he gained the upper hand, smashed their forces, and slew great numbers of their fighting men—praise be to Allah. They remained in that state until they sued for peace and a truce; he concluded a treaty with them in the following year, as will be related.

(6) Sayf al-Islām Tughtikīn ibn Ayyūb, brother of Sultan Saladin:

In this same year (7) the ruler of Yemen, Sayf al-Islām Tughtikīn ibn Ayyūb (8) died in Zabīd. He had amassed vast wealth, casting gold into ingots the size of millstones and storing them away. After him, his son Ismāʿīl assumed power—a rash man of little discernment. Out of ignorance he claimed to be a Qurashi Umayyad and adopted the title “al-Hādī.” His uncle al-ʿĀdil wrote to forbid him, to expose the folly of his claim, and to threaten him on account of it, but he took no heed. He persisted instead, misgoverning both emirs and subjects, until he was killed and authority passed to one of his father’s mamlūks.