and granted them generous fiefs, and he did the same (1) for the sons of the ruler of Mosul, assigning them (2) adequate stipends.

That same year (3) Hūlāgū dispatched a detachment of about (4) ten thousand troops; they laid siege to Mosul, set up twenty-four mangonels against it, and provisions inside the city grew scarce.

In that year as well, al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl ibn Luʾluʾ (5) sent word to al-Barlī (6) seeking his help. He arrived, and at first the Tatars were routed, but they rallied, engaged him (7), and since he had only nine hundred (8) fighting men they defeated and wounded him. He withdrew to al-Bīrah (9), where most of his companions deserted him and entered the Egyptian domains (10). He himself then went to al-Malik (11) al-Ẓāhir, who bestowed favours upon him, treated him kindly, and granted him a fief sufficient to maintain seventy (12) horsemen.

The Tatars, however, returned to Mosul and persisted until they persuaded its ruler, al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ, to come out to them. They proclaimed amnesty in the city so that the populace felt secure; then they turned on them and massacred them for nine days, killing al-Malik al-Ṣāliḥ Ismāʿīl and his son ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn (13). They destroyed the city walls, left it a desolate wasteland, and then withdrew—may Allah debase them all (14).

That year also witnessed a rift between Hūlāgū and Sultan Berke Khan, his cousin. Berke sent to demand from him a share of the territories he had conquered, in keeping with the custom (15) of their kings; Hūlāgū killed his envoys, whereupon Berke’s anger flared, and he corresponded with al-Ẓāhir so that they might unite against Hūlāgū (16).