numerous fiefs. (1) The Sultan kept setting them against one another until he wiped them out completely and took possession of their lands (2).

[In that same year]: On the twenty-sixth of Rabiʿ al-Awwal a mourning ceremony was held for the Sultan al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn al-ʿAziz Muhammad ibn al-Zahir Ghazi ibn al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf (3) ibn Ayyub ibn Shadhi, the conqueror of Jerusalem. The ceremony was conducted in the Citadel of the Mountain in Egypt (4) by order of Sultan al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars, after word reached them that Hulagu, the Tatar king, had killed him. He had in fact been in Hulagu’s custody for some time (5).

When Hulagu learned that his forces had been defeated (6) at ʿAyn Jalut, he summoned him and said, “It was you who sent word to the armies in Egypt so that they came, fought the Mongols (7), and routed them.” He then ordered that he be put to death. Some report that al-Nasir sought to excuse himself (8), explaining that the Egyptians were his enemies and that there was longstanding hostility and warfare between them. Hulagu pardoned him, but his rank was thereafter diminished, even though he had formerly been honored in Hulagu’s service and had been promised the governorship of Syria should Egypt be conquered.

However, when the battle of Homs occurred in the present year and Hulagu’s troops, together with their commander Baydara, were slain (9), Hulagu flew into a rage and said, “Those men of yours—the ʿAziziyya, the emirs of your father, and the Nasiriyya, your own followers—killed our soldiers,” after which he ordered his execution (10).

They relate that Hulagu killed him by shooting an arrow at him (11) while he was standing before him pleading for mercy; Hulagu did not spare him but slew him, and also killed his full brother, [al-Malik] al-Zahir ʿAli (12).

He nevertheless released their two sons—al-ʿAziz Muhammad, son of al-Nasir, and Zubalah, son of al-Zahir. Both were young and counted among the most handsome of mankind. Al-ʿAziz died there in Tatar captivity, whereas Zubalah made his way to Egypt, where he was reckoned the most handsome person in the land. Their mother was a concubine called Wajh al-Qamar (“Moon Face”); after the death of her former master [just mentioned] she married one of the emirs (13).

It is said that when Hulagu resolved to kill al-Nasir he ordered four trees that stood some distance apart from one another (14),