al-ʿAlqami⦗1⦘—a scourge upon himself and upon the people of Baghdad, the man who failed to safeguard al-Mustaʿṣim during his tenure. He was no true vizier, nor was his conduct acceptable, for it was he who lent aid against the Muslims in the affair of Hūlāgū⦗3⦘ and his army—may Allah disgrace him and them. Before attaining the vizierate Ibn al-ʿAlqami had been Ustādh Dār al-Khilāfa (master of the caliphal palace). When Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad⦗4⦘ ibn al-Nāqid⦗5⦘ died, Ibn al-ʿAlqami was raised to the vizierate, while his former post was given to Shaykh Muḥyī al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Abī al-Faraj ibn al-Jawzī, a man of outstanding virtue and the founder of the Jawziyyah endowment in the Nashshābīn quarter of Damascus—may Allah accept it from him⦗6⦘.

In this same year: The caliph appointed Shaykh Shams al-Dīn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Nayyār⦗7⦘—the caliph’s tutor—to the office of Shaykh al-Shuyūkh in Baghdad, investing him with robes of honour. He likewise granted ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn al-Muṭahhar⦗8⦘ unrestricted authority as his agent and conferred robes of honour upon him as well.

Also in this year: A major engagement took place with the Khwārazmians, whom al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb, ruler of Egypt, had summoned to aid him against al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl Abū al-Ḥasan, lord of Damascus. The Khwārazmians encamped at Gaza, and al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb sent them robes of honour, money, textiles⦗9⦘, and troops. In response, al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl, al-Nāṣir Dāwūd lord of al-Karak, and al-Manṣūr lord of Ḥimṣ joined forces with the Franks and fought the Khwārazmians in fierce combat. The Khwārazmians routed them, inflicting a grievous and appalling defeat: the Franks, with their crosses and lofty banners, were overthrown before the Muslim ranks. Goblets of wine were passing among the armies, but cups of death⦗10⦘ replaced the goblets of sparkling drink⦗11⦘. In a single day more than thirty thousand Franks were slain⦗12⦘, and many of their kings, priests, and bishops⦗13⦘ were captured, together with a number of Muslim amirs. The prisoners were sent on to al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb in Egypt. It was, by Allah’s grace, a day long remembered and widely praised.

One of the Muslim commanders remarked, “I knew, when we stood beneath the crosses of the Franks, that we would never prosper.” The Khwārazmians took vast spoils from the Franks and their allies. Al-Ṣāliḥ Ayyūb then dispatched forces to besiege Damascus, but al-Ṣāliḥ fortified the city