So he laid siege to it and compelled⦗1⦘ the townspeople to fill in its moat. The Tatars⦗2⦘ would bring the mosque pulpits and the quarter-volume copies of the Qur’an, throw them into the moat, and pack it tight with them; they then forced their way in after ten days and slaughtered all who were inside. He next returned to the city, confiscated the merchants’ wealth for himself, and turned the rest over to his soldiers⦗3⦘. They killed a number of inhabitants known only to Allah—exalted be He—, took the children and women captive, and perpetrated vile acts with them⦗4⦘ in the very sight of their families. Some fought in defense of their womenfolk and were cut down; others were captured and subjected to every kind of torture, while the cries and wailing of women, children, and men filled the town.

The Tatars then set fire to the houses of Bukhara, along with its madrasahs and mosques, burning them until they became desolate ruins with their roofs collapsed. After that they wheeled away, heading for Samarqand⦗5⦘; what befell that city will be related under the events of the coming year⦗6⦘.

At the very outset of this year the wall of Jerusalem—may Allah keep it thriving through His remembrance—was dismantled on the orders of the Sultan, al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam ʿIsa ibn al-ʿAdil⦗7⦘. He acted out of fear that the Franks might seize it, having consulted those who urged him to do so—among them his brother al-ʿAziz ʿUthman ibn al-ʿAdil and his chief steward ʿIzz al-Din Aibak—who argued that the Franks could occupy it during his absence, entrench themselves, and use it as a springboard to conquer all of Syria⦗8⦘.

Demolition of the wall began on the first day of Muharram of this year⦗9⦘. Its inhabitants fled, afraid the Franks would attack them by day or night, abandoning their property and household goods⦗10⦘ and scattering in every direction, until it was said that a quintar of oil sold for ten dirhams⦗11⦘ and a pound of copper for half a dirham⦗12⦘. The people raised cries and supplications to Allah at the Rock and at al-Aqsa. This, too, was a heinous deed on al-Muʿaẓẓam’s part, added to the indecencies he had displayed the previous year, and someone composed satirical verses against him over it⦗13⦘⦗14⦘:

[Verse in rajaz metre follows.]