the valiant Maḥmūd, known as Ibn al-Dimāʿ (14).

He was one of al-ʿĀdil’s companions who used to amuse him, and through that connection he amassed a large fortune. His house lay inside Bab al-Faraj (1); his wife ʿĀʾisha turned it into a madrasa for the Shāfiʿīs (2) and the Ḥanafīs, providing it with generous waqf revenues—may Allah have mercy on her.

The righteous, devout, and ascetic shaykha—leader of the women scholars of Damascus—was nicknamed Dahn al-Lawz (3).

Bint Nūr Nujān (4), the last of her father’s daughters to die, devoted her assets as a waqf to the famous tomb of her sister, Bint al-ʿAṣība (5).

[Then the year 615 AH began.]

It opened while al-ʿĀdil was [encamped] at Marj al-Ṣufr, ready to confront the Franks. He ordered his son al-Muʿaẓẓam to demolish the fortress of al-Ṭūr; al-Muʿaẓẓam did so (6) and removed its siege engines and other equipment to various towns for fear of the Franks.

In Rabīʿ al-Awwal the Franks descended upon Damietta, and at the end of Jumādā al-Ūlā they captured the Chain Tower, a formidable stronghold that was the key to Egypt—surely to Allah we belong and to Him we shall return.

In the same year al-Muʿaẓẓam engaged the Franks at al-Qaymūn (7), routed them, killed many of them, and captured one hundred Templars, whom he led into Jerusalem with their banners lowered.

That year also saw grave upheavals in Mosul after the successive deaths of its rulers, the sons of Qara Arslān. Their father’s mamluk, Badr al-Dīn Luʾluʾ (8)(9), seized control; it is said he had been secretly murdering them to gain power—but Allah knows best.

In the same year the king of the Rūm, Kaykāʾūs ibn Kaykhusraw (10), advanced with the intention of seizing Aleppo, and he was aided in that