791 AH, 17/08
When the caliph went up to the citadel again and reported Minṭāsh’s reply al-Nāṣirī with all his mamlūks and companions mounted and went down with a mighty force to give battle to Minṭāsh, drawing up his armies in battle array opposite the Gate of the Chain. Minṭāsh likewise led his followers forward; the two parties clashed and fought bitterly, but each side held its ground firmly. Al-Nāṣirī was then deserted by amir ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, son of the former ʾatābak Mankalībughā al-Shamsī (who was related by marriage (ṣihr) to al-malik al-Ẓāhir Barqūq) with his mamlūks, and by amir Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Muḥammad, son of Tankiz the governor of Damascus (who also had been one of the intimates (khawāṣṣ) of al-malik al-Ẓāhir Barqūq); and when Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn took to Minṭāsh five loads of arrows, eighty loads of food, and ten thousand dirhams, al-Nāṣirī and his followers retreated and ascended the Gate of the Chains.
There he rallied his forces and was joined by his remaining comrades among the yalbughāwīya, of whom he sent a number to renew the battle against Minṭāsh, namely, ʾAḥmad ibn Yalbughā, amir of the council, Qarā Damurdāsh al-ʾAḥmadī, amir of the arms, ʾAlṭunbughā, master architect (al-muʿallim), and Maʾmūr al-Qalamṭāwī, great chamberlain. They led a large force of soldiers in a violent charge against Minṭāsh, while those fighting in the citadel defended their rear by shooting down upon Minṭāsh and his followers. The latter returned the fire with arrows and naphta bombs (al-nafṭ) from the top of the madrasa, and the battle raged both above and below. Al-Nāṣirī’s army then broke again, and retreated in flight back to the Gate of the Chain.