Three months after the death of Jelal ud din, people in general knew not whether he had been killed, or was hiding, or had gone to another country. Azerbaidjan was now seized by the Mongols. Their leader fixed his camp near Tebriz and summoned that city to surrender. It offered a large sum of money, many fabrics, wine and [[174]]other products. The chief judge and the mayor with the principal people went to the Mongol commander, who ordered to send out to him weavers since he wished to have certain stuffs made for his sovereign. They obeyed and the citizens paid for those costly fabrics. He asked also a tent for his master. One was made for him of a kind that had never been equalled in that city. It was covered with silk embroidered in gold and ornamented with sable and beaver. Tebriz agreed to an annual tribute in stuffs and in silver.
The Mongols were sacking the lands of Erbil, a fief of the Kalif, Mostansir, who had summoned to assist him Mohammedan sovereigns as well as the Arabs. Kamil, Sultan of Egypt, whose dominions beyond the Euphrates were also threatened, had set out from Cairo at the head of an army and arrived at Damascus whence he moved eastward very promptly. His army being numerous, took various roads in crossing the desert. Since water was lacking, many horses died on that journey, and many men also. On learning at Harran that the Mongols had gone out of Khelat, Kamil besieged Amid. The capture of this place, which belonged to a grandson of Ortok, was the real cause of his coming from Egypt. With him was Ashraf, his brother, who had persuaded him to make the expedition. The Eyubite princes and the Sultan of Rūm marched also with Kamil.
The siege lasted five days altogether. Prince Massud, a weakling and a man enamoured of pleasure, surrendered his capital to Kamil, who gave it as an appanage (1232) to his faithless son Salih, who previously had wished to dethrone him. Massud received certain lands lying in Egypt; to those lands he went and settled down ignominiously as became him. Master of Amid Kamil attacked Hóssn-Keifa, which yielded also. He had now gained his object.
Mongol troops under Chormagun’s orders, and after that general’s death, under Baidju, continued during two entire decades to slaughter, rob, pillage and devastate lands west of Persia. They ruined whole regions, and cut down the people in wantonness and by thousands. In 1236–7 they made a second invasion of the districts near Erbil, and advanced to the Tigris. Next they took Erbil and found there rich booty. They burned a great number of houses, but could not take the fortress where the inhabitants had [[175]]rallied, and though perishing from thirst fought with a marvelous valor. At the end of forty days the Mongols retired on receipt of large sums in gold from the people.
They ravaged after that the north edge of Arabian Irak as far as Zenk Abad and Sermenraï, which they pillaged. The Kalif made Bagdad defensible and in 1237 in his wish to rouse every Moslem, he asked the Ulema: “Which gives more merit, a pilgrimage to Mecca, or a war on the infidel?” “The holy war,” answered all as one person. The war was proclaimed then. Great persons, men of law, common people, all went out daily to learn the art of wielding weapons. The Kalif himself wished to march with the forces, but prudent advisers dissuaded him. His troops met the enemy at Jebel Hamrin north of Tacrit, on the bank of the Tigris, put them to flight, cut down many, and freed all the captives seized at Dakuka and Erbil a short time before. In 1238 fifteen thousand Mongols invaded the territory of Bagdad, and advanced to Jaferiye, but retired at approach of the forces of the Kalif made up of Turks and Arabs.
That same year, Arabian Irak was reëntered by Mongols from ten to fifteen thousand in number. They advanced to Khanekin, a place some leagues south of Heulvan. The Kalif sent seven thousand horsemen against them under orders of Jemal ud din Beïlek. The Mongols, employing their old stratagem successfully, lured on the forces of Bagdad and attacked them from ambush. They put to the sword nearly all the detachment. Beïlek, their leader, disappeared without tidings.
In 1235 the Mongols took Gandja the capital of Arran, giving the city to flames and the people to slaughter. The year following, 1236, Chormagun left Mugan and swept through Armenia, Albania and Georgia, sacking all the best cities. Georgia had so recently been plundered by Jelal ud din that unable to defend themselves against the Mongol invaders, the princes and people sought refuge in the mountains. Queen Rusudan, a woman famous for her beauty and her lack of virtue, chose as asylum the impregnable fortress of Usaneth in Imeretia.
Chormagun seized the country between the Araxes and the Cyrus. One of his generals, Gadagan, took Kedapagu and Varsanashod. Another one, Mular, seized Shamkar and every stronghold around it. Chormagun’s brother Jela took the fortress [[176]]of Katchen. Jelal, the master of the place, fled to Khok Castle near Kandzassar. When summoned to surrender he gave the Grand Khan allegiance with tribute and military service. Jagatai, another leader of Mongols, took Lori which belonged to Shah in Shah, prince of Ani, sacked the city and slaughtered the people. Next after this, and in 1239, the Mongols burst into Georgia and captured Tiflis with many other places. When Jagatai had made all his circuits through the country with terror in front of him and ruin behind, he swept again through Armenia, besieging now the old capital Ani. When the ancient city was summoned to yield, the authorities answered that without Shah in Shah they could not surrender, since he was prince of that region. The envoy was returning with this statement when the populace grew furious and killed him. Chormagun laid siege immediately to Ani. Not having supplies, the people learned soon the full meaning of famine. To escape from it many went out and surrendered. Chormagun met all those people with kindness, and gave them provisions; this enticed others till more than one half had gone out of Ani. After that those men, captured thus by their stomachs and Chormagun’s cunning, were drawn up in companies and delivered to warriors, who cut them down to the very last person. Ani could not defend itself longer, so pillage and fire destroyed the old city.
On hearing of the dread destruction which had fallen upon Ani, and the slaughter of all who had lived in it, the inhabitants of Kars fearing the doom which, as they thought, would meet them unless they could avert it, carried the keys of their city to the Mongol commander. Notwithstanding this voluntary submission and surrender, a dreadful massacre followed, for Chormagun gave direction to put all to the sword except children, desirable women, and artisans of skill, who were needed by the Mongols.
When Kars had been ruined the invaders returned to the plains of Mugan, which abounded in rich winter pastures.