Years 589 629 1193 1231

The Chronicle of Ibn al-Athir (1160-1233AD), entitled al-Kamil fi'l-Ta'rikh, is one of the outstanding sources for the history of the mediaeval world. It covers the whole sweep of Islamic history almost up to the death of its author; events in Iraq, Iran and further East run in counterpoint with those involving North Africa and Spain. From the time of the arrival of the Crusaders in the Levant, their activities and the Muslim response become the focus of the work. A focus of this third part is the internal rivalries of Saladin's Ayyubid successors, their changing relations with the Crusader states, the Damietta Crusade, and the first incursions of the Mongols.