he and his house were descendants of Tāhir ibn al-Ḥusayn, and their forefather Taksh was the man who brought the Saljūq state to an end. The Tatars had already overpowered his father, driving him into wandering exile until he died on one of the sea-islands; then they pursued this Jalāl al-Dīn as well, shredding his armies to pieces and scattering them in every direction, so that he was left all alone.

A peasant from a village in the land of Mayyāfarīqīn came upon him and was struck by the jewels and gold he wore and by his horse. He asked, “Who are you?” Jalāl al-Dīn replied, “I am the king of the Khwārazmians.” (The Tatars had earlier killed the peasant’s brother.) The peasant therefore had him dismount and outwardly showed him honour; but when Jalāl al-Dīn fell asleep, the man killed him with an axe he kept at hand and took everything he possessed.

News reached Shihāb al-Dīn Ghāzī (1) ibn al-ʿĀdil, ruler of Mayyāfarīqīn. He summoned the peasant, confiscated the jewels and ornaments he had taken, and seized the horse as well. King al-Ashraf used to say, “He was the barrier between us and the Tatars, just as the rampart is between us and Gog and Magog.”

Then came the year 629 AH. In it the two judges of Damascus—Shams al-Dīn ibn al-Khuwayyī (2) and Shams al-Dīn ibn Sanī al-Dawlah (3)—were dismissed, and the office of Chief Judge was given to ʿImād al-Dīn ibn al-Harastānī (4). In 631 AH he too was removed and Shams al-Dīn ibn Sanī al-Dawlah was reinstated, as will be mentioned.

On the seventeenth of Shawwāl that same year (5) the Caliph al-Mustanṣir dismissed his vizier Muʾayyad al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Qummī (6). He, together with his brother Ḥasan, his son Fakhr al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad al-Qummī, and their associates, was arrested and imprisoned. In his stead the Caliph appointed the court chamberlain Shams al-Dīn Abū al-Azhar Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Nāqid (7), bestowed upon him an ornate robe of honour, and the people rejoiced.

That same year (8) a band of Tatars advanced as far as Shahrizūr. The Caliph therefore commissioned the ruler of Irbil, Muẓaffar al-Dīn Kawkubrī (9) ibn Zayn al-Dīn, reinforced him with troops of his own, and they marched against the Tatars, who fled before them and encamped in