• Acta Via Serica
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.7-27
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• 2017

The present study aims to do a documental study of the Mongol invasion and the fall of Baghdad (the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate) in 1258 CE. It is a case study on a document and two comments on it, which were originally recovered from the burial shroud of a person killed during $H{\ddot{u}}leg{\ddot{u}}^{\prime}s$ conquest of Baghdad. This document was later inserted by someone (possibly by one of its two commentators) in a section of a primary manuscript of Kitab al-Wara'a (written in 1147 CE). Then Osman ibn ${\dot{G}}{\bar{a}}nim$ al-Hiti and Ṭahir ibn '$Abd-All{\bar{a}}h$ ibn Ibrahim ibn Aḥmad, as commentators, wrote their comments about the document. Although these documents are in the form of fragmentary notes, they are rare primary sources that depict the events and the conditions of the siege, the conquest of Baghdad and the collapse of Abbasid Caliphate. This article, while providing images, revised texts, and translations of the documents, aims to introduce them and to explore the civil factors contributing to the fall of Baghdad.