Born in 593 AH, he listened to ḥadith, devoted himself to history, gathered material and authored works, though he was neither a ḥāfiẓ nor a rigorously precise verifier. Ibn al-Najjar (1), upon his death, appointed him his legatee. He composed a “Comprehensive History,” of which I possess the greater part (2), in addition to other useful compilations (3). The last of his writings was a book on the ascetics (4), on the margin of which Zakī al-Dīn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ḥabīb al-Kātib wrote:
[al-sarīʿ metre]
Tāj al-Dīn, through all his days,
steadfastly hastened on his way,
seeking knowledge, setting it down—
his labor, profit without harm.
High he rose by his compositions;
this work crowns the good he wrought.
[Then came the year 675 AH]
On the thirteenth of Muḥarram the sultan entered Damascus, having outstripped the troops on the road to the lands of Aleppo. When all the forces had joined him, he sent Badr al-Dīn al-Atābakī (5) ahead with one thousand horsemen to al-Balastīn (6). There they encountered a contingent of Byzantine soldiers, who rode up to him and brought supplies. Some of them asked leave to enter the lands of Islam, and he permitted them; among those admitted were Bijar (7) and Ibn al-Khaṭīr. He ordered them to proceed to Cairo, where al-Malik al-Saʿīd received them. The sultan then returned from Aleppo to Cairo, entering it on the twelfth of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir.
On the fifth of Jumādā al-Ūlā (8) the sultan celebrated the wedding of his son al-Malik al-Saʿīd to Qalāwūn’s daughter with splendid festivities. The army rode in the parade ground for five days, jousting, pursuing one another, and some of them bore—