informing us that he had assumed the sultanate. He declared, “By Allah, he will surely smash the Tatars,” and so it came to pass. (1)

When al-Nāṣir turned back toward Egyptian territory intending to enter it—while most of the Syrian forces actually went in—the emir who had related the story was among those who crossed the frontier. Al-Muẓaffar therefore granted him (2) command over fifty horsemen, thus honoring his promise; this emir was Jamāl al-Dīn al-Barkukhānī. (3)

Ibn al-Athīr said:

He met me in Egypt after he had received his appointment and reminded me (4) of what he had previously told me concerning al-Muẓaffar, so I recalled it. Soon after, the encounter with the Tatars took place, and he routed them, driving them from the land.

It is related of him that when he saw the war banners of the Tatars he said to the emirs and the troops with him, “Do not engage them until the sun has declined, the shadows have lengthened, the winds have begun to blow, and the preachers and the people are praying for us in their supplications.” May Allah Most High have mercy on him.

[ Kutbughanuwin ] (5)

In that same year Kutbughanuwin, Hulagu’s deputy over Syria, perished—may Allah curse him. The term nuwin means (6) “commander of ten thousand.” This wretch had opened the way for his master Hulagu from the farthest reaches of Persia all the way to Syria, and he had even met Chinggis Khan the Great, Hulagu’s grandfather. Kutbugha devised in his wars against the Muslims stratagems that no one before him had attempted. (7)

Whenever he captured a town, he would drive its fighting men to the next settlement and order that town’s inhabitants to take them in. If they complied, his aim was achieved: food and drink became scarce for them, shortening the duration of the siege (8) for him (9) once provisions grew tight. If they refused to shelter them, he would attack them with those very fighters—the people of the town he had just conquered. Should the place then fall, well and good; if not, he had at least weakened those fighters with others until they were spent. If the city still held out, he would assault it with his own troops, who were rested, while the townspeople were exhausted and depleted, and so he would take it swiftly.

He would send word to a fortress, saying:

“Your water supply has diminished. We fear we shall storm you by force, killing every last one of you and taking your women and children captive. What good is life to you after your water is gone? Therefore surrender on terms before we seize you by compulsion.”

They would reply, “Our water is plentiful; we have no need of any from you.”

He would say, “I will not believe you until I dispatch my men to inspect it; if it is indeed abundant, I shall withdraw.”

They would answer, “Send them…”