the army, and he hanged a number of men who had fled from the Franks, reproaching them for failing to stand firm a little longer so as to strike terror into the enemy of Allah and their own foe. The Sultan’s illness then grew severe and increased greatly, and on the night of the middle of Shaʿbān he passed away—may Allah’s mercy be upon him—at al-Mansurah.

His slave-girl, the mother of his [son] Khalil, called Shajar al-Durr, concealed his death and declared that he was dangerously ill and could not be visited, while she continued to issue directives in his name with his usual sign. She informed the leading emirs, who dispatched to his son al-Malik al-Muʿaẓẓam Turanshah, then at Ḥiṣn Kayfa, and they brought him quickly, at the counsel of the senior emirs, among them Fakhr al-Din Ibn al-Shaykh (1). When he arrived they enthroned him and all swore allegiance to him (2). He then mounted with the royal battalions, fought the Franks, routed them, and—praise be to Allah—killed thirty thousand of them. This was at the beginning of the incoming year.

Two months after his accession they put him to death. One of the emirs, ʿIzz al-Din Aybak the Turkmen, struck him, [he struck his hand, severing some of his fingers] (3). Turanshah fled to a wooden pavilion in the camp; they besieged it and set it ablaze over him. He came out seeking the protection of the caliph’s envoy, but they refused. He fled to the Nile, plunged into it, then emerged and was swiftly killed in the worst manner; they trampled him underfoot and buried him like a carcass. Indeed, we belong to Allah and to Him we return. Among those who struck him was al-Bunduqdari, who hit his shoulder so that the sword emerged beneath the opposite armpit (4), while Turanshah cried for help but none came.

[Among those killed in this year] was Fakhr al-Din Yusuf ibn al-Shaykh ibn Hamuwiyah (5). He was learned, devout, awe-inspiring, and dignified—worthy of kingship. The emirs venerated him greatly, and had he called them to pledge allegiance to him after al-Ṣāliḥ (6) not two of them would have differed; but he refused, wishing to safeguard the Ayyubid house. The Templars (7) among the Franks slew him as a martyr before al-Muʿaẓẓam Turanshah reached Egypt, in Dhu al-Qaʿdah, and his money, stores, and horses were plundered,