A truly astonishing and extraordinary affair:
Then, on Tuesday, the twenty-eighth of Rabīʿ al-Awwal in the year 750 AH, a dispute arose between the Damascene army and the amir Sayf al-Dīn Uljībughā, the viceroy of Tripoli—the same man who, as already related, had seized the viceroy of Damascus, the amir Sayf al-Dīn Arghūn Shāh al-Nāṣirī, on the night of Thursday and killed him on Friday.
Uljībughā took up position on the Green Maydān, seizing Arghūn Shāh’s funds and revenues and gathering them to himself. The senior amirs objected, ordering him to convey the money to the Sultan’s Citadel; when he refused, they grew suspicious, doubting the authenticity of the letter he bore authorizing the arrest and execution. They therefore mounted in full armor beneath the Citadel and at the gates of the parade-grounds, while he mounted with fewer than one hundred men—some said between seventy and ninety.
They charged the army with the desperation of men resolved to die, while the troops merely fended them off, wishing to avoid bloodshed, for they possessed no royal warrant to kill or fight them. For this reason most of the soldiers turned and fled. A number of troopers—and even some of the leading amirs—went out against them; among them was the great amir Sayf al-Dīn Uljībughā al-ʿĀdilī, whose right hand was cut off when he was nearly ninety years old. Others from the ḥalqa cavalry and the household retainers were slain.
The matter ended with Uljībughā al-Muẓaffarī taking from Arghūn Shāh’s stables whatever horses he wished. He then withdrew toward the district of al-Mizzah, humbled and in retreat, carrying with him the monies he had collected from Arghūn Shāh’s estates, and went on his way; none of the army pursued him. Accompanying him was the amir Fakhr al-Dīn Iyās, who had served as chamberlain and had acted as viceroy of Aleppo the previous year. Together with their party they made for Tripoli.
The Syrian amirs wrote to the Sultan informing him of what had occurred. A courier returned with word that the Sultan had absolutely no knowledge of the affair and that the letter produced by Uljībughā was a forgery. An order was issued for four thousand men of the Syrian army to set out after him and arrest him; the viceroy of Ṣafad was added to them as overall commander. They departed during the first ten days of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir.
On Wednesday, the sixth of Rabīʿ al-Ākhir, the troops set out in pursuit of Sayf al-Dīn Uljībughā al-ʿĀdilī, who was one of the foremost amirs of a thousand. On the night of Thursday, the seventh, a proclamation was made throughout the city, summoning all nearby troopers and forbidding anyone to stay behind the next day. They mustered with great speed, and in the city a deputy was appointed for the absent viceroy: the amir Badr al-Dīn ibn Khaṭīr⦗1⦘, who governed the Dār al-Saʿādah in the customary manner of viceroys.
On Saturday night, between the two evening prayers, the sixteenth of the month, the army that had gone after Uljībughā al-Muẓaffarī returned, bringing him captive—humbled and miserable—and Fakhr Iyās the chamberlain likewise captive. They were both lodged in the Citadel in disgrace, brought in over the Jisr Bāb al-Naṣr opposite the Dār al-Saʿādah, in the presence of the acting deputy amir Badr al-Dīn ibn Khaṭīr. The populace rejoiced greatly at this; all praise and thanks belong to Allah.