Defeat and capture of Khwarazmshah by the Khita, and his escape, 604

هزيمة خوارزم شاه وأَسره عند الخطا وخلاصه سنة 604

c. 1207 CE · 604 AH

In 604 Khwarazmshah Muhammad b. Tekish marched with his armies against the Khita, who mustered and met him; the Muslims were routed and a group captured — among them the sultan himself, and the land fell into disorder. An amir was taken with him; the Khwarazmshah passed himself off as that amir's mamluk, and when the amir asked to send a man with a letter home for his ransom, he sent his 'mamluk' — the Khwarazmshah — who escaped by the ruse and reached safety. The Khitai then told the amir: 'your sultan is gone'; 'do you not know him?' — 'no' — 'he is the one I told you was my mamluk'; 'he knew me not, yet I was his servant and rode to his kingdom with him, happy in him' ¹.