Origins area in
Tabaristan region, modern day northern
Iran.
Hassan-i Sabbah was born in
Qom, ca. 1050, and did his religious studies in
Cairo with the Fatimids. Sabbah's father was a
Qahtanite Arab, said to be a descendant of
Himyaritic kings, having emigrated to Qom from
Kufa. He made his way to Persia where, through subterfuge, he and his followers captured Alamut Castle in 1090. Sabbah adapted the fortress to suit his needs not only for defense from hostile forces, but also for indoctrination of his followers. After laying claim to the fortress at Alamut, Sabbah began expanding his influence outwards to nearby towns and districts, using his agents to gain political favour and to intimidate the local populations. Spending most of his days at Alamut producing religious works and developing doctrines for his order, Sabbah would never again leave his fortress. Shortly after establishing their headquarters at Alamut Castle, the sect captured
Lambsar Castle, to be the largest of the Isma'ili fortresses and confirming the Assassins' power in northern Persia. The estimated date of the capture of Lambsar varies between 1096 and 1102. The castle was taken under the command of
Kiya Buzurg Ummid, later Sabbah's successor, who remained commandant of the fortress for twenty years. No interactions between the Christian forces of the
First Crusade and the Assassins have been noted, with the latter concentrating on the Muslim enemies of the former. Other than a mention of Tancred's 1106 taking of Apamea (see below) in
Gesta Tancredi, One of Sabbah's disciples named Dihdar Bu-Ali from
Qazvin rallied local supporters to deflect the Seljuks. Their attack on Alamut Castle and surrounding areas was canceled upon the death of the sultan. The new sultan
Berkyaruq, son of Malik Shah I, did not continue the direct attack on Alamut, concentrating on securing his position against rivals, including his half-brother
Muhammad I Tapar, who eventually settled for a smaller role, becoming
malik (translated as "king") in
Armenia and
Azerbaijan. Sabbah is reputed to have remarked, "the killing of this devil is the beginning of bliss". Of the 50 assassinations conducted during Sabbah's reign, more than half were Seljuk officials, many of whom supported Muhammad I Tapar. The Assassins seized Persian castles of
Rudkhan and
Gerdkuh in 1096, before turning to Syria. Gerdkuh was re-fortified by Mu'ayyad al-Din Muzaffar ibn Ahmad Mustawfi, a Seljuk who was a secret Isma'ili convert, and his son Sharaf al-Din Muhammad. There they occupied the fortress at
Shaizar held by the
Banu Munqidh, using it to spread terror to
Isfahan, the heart of the Seljuk Empire. A rebellion by the local population drove the Assassins out, but they continued to occupy a smaller fortress at Khalinjan. In 1097, Berkyaruq associate
Bursuq was killed by Assassins. By 1100, Berkyaruq had consolidated his power, and the Assassins increased their presence by infiltrating the sultan's court and army. Day-to-day functions of the court were frequently performed while armored and with weapons. The next year, he tasked his brother
Ahmad Sanjar, then ruler of
Khorasan, to attack Assassin strongholds in
Quhistan. The siege at
Tabas was at first successful, with the walls of the fortress breached, but then was lifted, possibly because the Seljuk commander had been bribed. The subsequent attack was devastating to the Assassins, but the terms granted were generous and they were soon reestablished at both Quhistan and Tabas. In the years following, the Assassins continued their mission against religious and secular leaders. Given these successes, they began expanding their operations into Syria.
Expansion into Syria The first ''da'i'' Hassan-i dispatched to Syria was
al-Hakim al-Munajjim, a Persian known as the physician-astrologer, establishing a cell in
Aleppo in the early 12th century.
Ridwan, the emir of Aleppo, was in search of allies and worked closely with al-Hakim. The alliance was first shown in the assassination in 1103 of
Janah ad-Dawla, emir of Homs and a key opponent of Ridwan. He was murdered by three Assassins at the
Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Homs. Al-Hakim died a few weeks later and was succeeded by
Abu Tahir al-Sa'igh, a Persian known as the goldsmith. While successful in cleaning the Assassins, they remained untouchable in their strongholds in the north. An eight-year war of attrition was initiated by the son of the first Assassin victim. The mission had some successes, negotiating a surrender of Khalinjan with local Assassin leader Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Malik ibn Attāsh, with the occupants allowed to go to
Tabas and
Arrajan. During the siege of Alamut, a famine resulted and Hassan had his wife and daughters sent to the fortress at Gerdkuh. After that time, Assassins never allowed their women to be at their fortresses during military campaigns, both for protection and secrecy. In the end, ibn Attāsh did not fulfill his commitment and was flayed alive, his head delivered to the sultan. In Syria, Abu Tahir al-Sa'igh, Ridwan and
Abu'l Fath of Sarmin conspired in 1106 to send a team of Assassins to murder
Khalaf ibn Mula'ib, emir of Apamea (
Qalaat al-Madiq). Some of Khalaf's sons and guards were also killed and, after the murder, Ridwan became overlord of Apamea and its fortress
Qal'at al-Madiq, with Abu'l Fath as emir. A surviving son of Khalaf escaped and turned to
Tancred, who was at first content to leave the city in the hands of the Isma'ilis and simply collect tribute. Later, he returned and captured the city for
Antioch, as the town's residents overwhelmingly approved of Frankish rule. Abu'l Fath was tortured to death, while Abu Tahir ransomed himself and returned to Aleppo. This encounter, the first between the Crusaders and the Assassins, did not deter the latter from their prime mission against the Seljuks. Not so lucky were Ubayd Allah al-Khatib,
qadi of Isfahan, and a
qadi of
Nishapur, both of whom succumbed to the Assassins' blade. The Assassins wreaked havoc on the Syrian rulers, with their first major kill being that of
Mawdud, atabeg of Mosul, in 1113. Mawdud was felled by Assassins in Damascus while a guest of
Toghtekin, atabeg of Damascus. He was replaced at Mosul by
al-Bursuqi, who himself would be a victim of the Assassins in 1126. Toghtekin's son, the great
Buri, founder of the
Burid dynasty, would fall victim to the Assassins in 1131, dying a year later due to his injuries. Ridwan died in 1113 and was succeeded as ruler of Aleppo by his son
Alp Arslan al-Akhras. Alp Arslan continued his father's conciliatory approach to the Assassins. A warning from Muhammad I Tapar and a prior attempt of the assassination of Abu Harb Isa ibn Zayd, a wealthy Persian merchant, led to a wholescale expulsion of the Assassins from Aleppo in that same year. Led by militia commander Sāʿid ibn Badī, the attack resulted in the execution of Abu Tahir al-Sa'igh and the brother of al-Hakim al-Munajjim, with 200 other Assassins killed or imprisoned, some thrown from the top of the citadel. Many took refuge with the
Banu Munqidh at Shaizar. Revenge was slow but sure, taken out on Sāʿid ibn Badī in 1119. The shiftless Arp Arslan had exiled Sāʿid to
Qalʿat Jaʿbar, where he was murdered along with two of his sons by Assassins. The Assassins struck again in Damascus in 1116. While a guest of Toghtekin's, Kurdish emir Ahmad-Il ibn Ibrāhim ibn Wahsūdān was sitting next to his host when a grieving man approached with a petition he wished be conveyed to Muhammad I Tapar. When Ahmad-Il accepted the document, he was stuck with a dagger, then again and again by a second and third accomplice. It was thought that the real target may have been Toghtekin, but the attackers were discovered to be Assassins, likely after Ahmad-Il, the foster brother of sultan. In 1118, Muhammad I Tapar died and his brother Ahmad Sanjar became Seljuk sultan, and Hassan sent ambassadors to seek peace. When Sanjar rebuffed these ambassadors, Hassan then sent his Assassins to the sultan. Sanjar woke up one morning with a dagger stuck in the ground beside his bed. Alarmed, he kept the matter a secret. A messenger from Hassan arrived and stated, "Did I not wish the sultan well that the dagger which was struck in the hard ground would have been planted on your soft breast". For the next several decades there ensued a ceasefire between the Isma'ilis and the Seljuks. Sanjar himself pensioned the Assassins on taxes collected from the lands they owned, gave them grants and licenses, and even allowed them to collect tolls from travelers. By 1120, the Assassins' position in Aleppo had improved to the point that they demanded the small citadel of Qal'at ash-Sharif from
Ilghazi, then
Artuqid emir of Aleppo. Rather than refuse, he had the citadel demolished. The Assassins' influence in Aleppo came to an end in 1124 when they were expelled by
Belek Ghazi, a successor to Ilghazi. Nevertheless, the
qadi ibn al-Khashahab who had overseen the demolition of Qal'at ash-Sharif was killed by Assassins in 1125. At the same time, the Assassins of
Diyarbakir were set upon by the locals, resulting in hundreds killed. In 1121,
Al-Afdal Shahanshah, the
vizier of the Fatimid Caliphate, was murdered by three Assassins from Aleppo, causing a seven-day celebration among the Isma'ilis and no great mourning among the court of Fatimid caliph
al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah who resented his growing boldness. Al-Afdal Shahanshah was replaced as vizier by
al-Ma'mum al-Bata'ihi who was instructed to prepare a letter of rapprochement between Cairo and Alamut. Upon learning of a plot to kill both al-Amir and al-Ma'mum, such ideas were disbanded, and severe restrictions on dealing with the Assassins were instead put in place.
Post-succession period In 1124, Hassan-i Sabbah died, leaving a legacy that reverberated throughout the Middle East for centuries. He was succeeded at Alamut by
Kiya Buzurg Ummid. The appointment of a new ''da'i'' at Alamut may have led the Seljuks to believe the Assassins were in a weakened position, and Ahmad Sanjar launched an attack on them in 1126. Led by Sanjar's vizier Mu'in ad-Din Kashi, the Seljuks again struck at
Quhistan and
Nishapur in the east, and at
Rudbar to the north. In the east, the Seljuks had minor successes at a village near
Sabzevar, where the population was destroyed, their leader leaping from the mosque's minaret, and at Turaythirth in Nishapur, where the attackers "killed many, took much booty, and then returned." At best, the results were not decisive, but superior to the routing the Seljuks received in the north, with one expedition driven back, losing their previous booty, and another having a Seljuk commander captured. In the end, the Isma'ili position was better than before the offensive. In the guise of a peace offering of two Arabian horses, Assassins gained the confidence of Mu'in ad-Din Kashi and killed him in 1127. At the same time, in Syria, a Persian named
Bahram al-Da'i, the successor to Abu Tahir al-Sa'igh who had been executed in Aleppo in 1113, appeared in Damascus reflecting cooperation between the Assassins and Toghtekin, including a joint operation against the Crusaders. Bahram, a Persian from Asterabad (present-day
Gorgan), had lived in secrecy after the expulsion of the Assassins from Aleppo and was the nephew of the Assassin Abu Ibrahim al-Asterbadi who had been executed by Berkyaruq in 1101. Bahram was most likely behind the murder of
al-Bursuqi in 1126, whose assassination may have been ordered by the Seljuk sultan
Mahmud II. He later established a stronghold near
Banias. During an attack on the Lebanese valley of
Wadi al-Taym, Bahram captured and tortured to death a local chieftain named Baraq ibn Jandal. In retaliation, his brother Dahhak ibn Jandal killed Bahram in 1127. So great was the fear and hatred of the Assassins that the messenger delivering Bahram's head and hands to Cairo was rewarded with a robe of honor. That fear was justified as caliph
al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah was murdered at court in 1130 by ten Assassins. The Isma'ili response to the Seljuk invasion of 1126 was multi-faceted. In Rudbar, a new and powerful fortress was built at Maymundiz and new territories acquired. To the east, the Seljuk stronghold of
Sistan was raided in 1129. That same year, Mahmud II, son of Muhammad I Tapar, and sultan of Isfahan, decided to sue for peace with Alamut. Unfortunately, the Isma'ili envoys to Mahmud II were lynched by an angry mob following their audience with the sultan. The demand by Kiya Buzurg Ummid for punishment of the perpetrators was refused. That prompted an Assassin attack on
Qazvin, resulting in the loss of 400 lives in addition to a Turkish emir. A counterattack on Alamut was inconclusive. In Syria, Assassin leader Bahram was replaced by another mysterious Persian named Isma'il al-'Ajami who, like Bahram, was supported by al-Mazdaghani, the pro-Isma'ili vizier to Toghtekin. After the death of Toghtekin in 1128, his son and successor Taj a-Mulk Buri began working to free Damascus of the Assassins, supported by his military commander
Yusuf ibn Firuz. al-Mazdaghani was murdered and his head publicly displayed. The Damascenes turned on the Assassins, leaving "dogs yelping and quarreling over their limbs and corpses." At least 6000 Assassins died, and the rest, including Isma'il (who had turned Banias over to the Franks), fled to Frankish territory. Isma'il was killed in 1130, temporarily disabling the Assassins' Syrian mission. Nevertheless, Alamut organized a counterstrike, with two Persian Assassins disguised as Turkish soldiers striking down Buri in 1131. The Assassins were hacked to pieces by Buri's guards, but Buri died of his wounds the following year. Mahmud II died in 1131 and his brother
Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud (Mas'ud) was recognized as successor by Abbasid caliph
al-Mustarshid. The succession was contested by Mahmud's son and other brothers, and al-Mustarshid was drawn into the conflict. The caliph al-Mustarshid was taken prisoner by Seljuk forces in 1135 near
Hamadan and pardoned with the proviso that he abdicate. Left in his tent studying the Quran, he was murdered by a large group of Assassins. Some suspected Mas'ud and even Ahmad Sanjar with complicity, but the chronicles of contemporaneous Arab historians
ibn al-Athir and
ibn al-Jawzi do not bear that out. The Isma'ilis commemorated the caliph's death with seven days and nights of celebration. The reign of Buzurg Ummid ended with his death in 1138, showing a relatively small list of assassinations. He was succeeded by his son
Muhammad Buzurg Ummid, sometimes referred to as Kiya Muhammad. The Abbasids' celebration of the death of the Assassin leader Buzurg Ummid was short-lived. The son and successor of the last high-profile victim of the Assassins, al-Mustarshid, was
ar-Rashid. Ar-Rashid was deposed by his uncle
al-Muqtafi in 1136 and, while recovering from an illness in Isfahan, was murdered by Assassins. The addition of a second caliph to the Assassins' so-called "roll of honor" of victims again resulted in a week of celebration at Alamut. Another significant success was the assassination of the son of Mahmud II, Da'ud, who ruled in
Azerbaijan and
Jibal. Da'ud was felled by four Assassins in
Tabriz in 1143, rumored to have been dispatched by
Zengi, atabeg of Mosul.
Expansion in Syria , showing the area controlled by the Assassins around
Masyaf, slightly above the center, in white The decades after the assassination of al-Mustarshid showed an expansion of Assassin castles in
Jabal Bahrā', to the northwest of their Syrian fortresses in
Jabal as-Summaq. In 1132, Saif al-Mulk ibn Amrun, emir of al-Kahf, recovered the fortress of
al-Qadmus from the Franks, known to them as
Bokabeis. He then sold the fortress to the Assassins in 1133. This was followed by the ceding of
al-Kahf Castle itself to Assassin control in 1138 by Saif's son Musa in the midst of a succession struggle. These were followed by the acquisition of the castle at
Masyaf in 1140 and of
Qala'at al-Khawabi, known to the Crusaders as
La Coible, in 1141. Relatively little is recorded concerning Assassin activity during this period until the
Second Crusade. In 1149, an Assassin named Ali ibn-Wafa allied with
Raymond of Poitiers, son of
William IX of Aquitaine, to defend the borders of the Principality of Antioch against
Zengid expansion. The forces met at the
battle of Inab, with Zengi's son and heir
Nur ad-Din defeating the Franks, killing both Raymond and ibn-Wafa. Nur ad-Din would again foil the Assassins in 1158, incorporating a castle at
Shaizar that they had occupied after the
1157 earthquake into his territory. Two assassinations are known from this period. In a revenge attack, Dahhak ibn Jandal, the Wadi al-Taym chieftain who had killed Assassin ''da'i'' Bahram in 1127, died from an Assassin's blade in 1149. A few years later in 1152, possibly in retaliation to the establishment of the
Knights Templar at
Tartus,
Raymond II, count of Tripoli, was killed by Assassins. This marked the first known Christian victim.
Hassan II and Rashid ad-Din Sinan The fourteen known assassinations during the reign of Kiya Muhammad were a far cry from the tally of his predecessors, representing a significant decline in the power of the Isma'ilis. This was exemplified by the governors of Mazandaran and of Rayy who were said to have built towers out of Isma'ili skulls. In the middle of
Ramadan in 559 AH, Hassan II gathered his followers and announced to "
jinn, men and angels" that the
Hidden Imam had freed them "from the burden of the rules of Holy Law". With that, the assembled took part in a ritual violation of Sharia, a banquet with wine, in violation of the Ramadan fast, with their backs turned towards Medina. Observance of Islamic rites (fasting, salat prayer, etc.) was punishable by the utmost severity. (According to Shīʿa hadiths, when the Hidden Imam/mahdi reappears, "he will bring a new religion, a new book and a new law"). Resistance was nonetheless deep, and Hasan was stabbed to death by his own brother-in-law. Hassan II shifted the focus of his followers from the exoteric to the esoteric (
batin). He abrogated the exoteric practice of
Sharia and stressed on the esoteric (
batini) side of the laws. And "while outwardly he was known as the grandson of Buzurgumid", in this esoteric reality, Lewis writes, Hasan claimed "he was the
Imam of the time" (the last Imam of Shia Islam before the end of the world). The impact of these changes on Isma'ili life and politics was vast and continued after Hassan II's death in 1166 by his son
Nūr al-Dīn Muhammad, known as the Imam Muhammad II, who ruled from 1166 to 1210. It is in this context and the changes in the Muslim world brought about by the disintegration of the Seljuk empire that a new chief ''da'i'' of the Assassins was thrust:
Rashid ad-Din Sinan, referred to as Sinān. Rashid ad-Din Sinan, an alchemist and schoolmaster, was dispatched to Syria by Hassan II as a messenger of his Islamic views and to continue the Assassins' mission. Known as the greatest of the Assassin chiefs, Sinān first made headquarters at
al-Kahf Castle and then the fortress of
Masyaf. At al-Kahf, he worked with chief ''da'i'' Abu-Muhammad, who was succeeded at his death by Khwaja Ali ibn Mas'ud without authority from Alamut. Khwaja was murdered by Abu-Muhammad's nephew Abu Mansur, causing Alamut to reassert control. After seven years at al-Kahf, Sinān assumed that role, operating independently of and feared by Alamut, relocating the capital to Masyaf. Among his first tasks were the refurbishing of the fortress of
ar-Rusafa and of
Qala'at al-Khawabi, constructing a tower at the citadel of the latter. Sinān also captured the castle of
al-'Ullaiqah at
Aleika, near Tartus. One of the first orders of business that Sinān confronted was the continuing threat from
Nur ad-Din as well as the Knights Templar's presence at Tartus. In 1173, Sinān proposed to
Amalric of Jerusalem an alliance against Nur ad-Din in exchange for the cancellation of the tribute imposed upon Assassin villages near Tartus. The Assassin envoys to the king were ambushed and slain by a Templar knight named Walter du Mesnil near Tripoli while returning from the negotiations, an act apparently sanctioned by the Templar Grand Master
Odo de Saint Amand. Amalric demanded that the knight be surrendered, but Odo refused, claiming only the pope had the authority to punish du Mesnil. Amalric had du Mesnil kidnapped and imprisoned at Tyre. Sinān accepted the king's apology, assured that justice had been done. The point of the alliance became moot as both Nur ad-Din and Amalric died of natural causes soon thereafter. These developments could not have been better for
Saladin who wished to expand beyond Egypt into Jerusalem and Syria, first taking
Damascus. With the Kingdom of Jerusalem being led by the 13-year old leperous
Baldwin IV and Syria by the 11-year old
as-Salih Ismail al-Malik, son of Nur ad-Din, he continued his
campaign in Syria, moving against Aleppo. While besieging Aleppo in late 1174 or early 1175, the camp of Saladin was infiltrated by Assassins sent by Sinān and As-Salih's regent Gümüshtigin. Nasih al-Din Khumartekin, emir of
Abu Qubays, was killed in the attack which left Saladin unscathed. The next year, after taking
Azaz, the Assassins again struck, wounding Saladin. Gümüshtigin was again believed to be complicit in the assassination attempt. Turning his attention to Aleppo, the city was soon conquered, and Saladin allowed as-Salih and Gümüshtigin to continue to rule, but under his sovereignty. Saladin then turned his attention back to the Assassins, besieging
Masyaf in 1176. Failing to capture the stronghold, he settled for a truce. Accounts of a mystical encounter between Saladin and Sinān have been offered : Saladin had his guards supplied with link lights and had chalk and cinders strewed around his tent outside
Masyaf—which he was besieging—to detect any footsteps by the Assassins. According to this version, one night Saladin's guards noticed a spark glowing down the hill of Masyaf and then vanishing among the Ayyubid tents. Presently, Saladin awoke to find a figure leaving the tent. He saw that the lamps were displaced and beside his bed laid hot scones of the shape peculiar to the Assassins with a note at the top pinned by a poisoned dagger. The note threatened that he would be killed if he did not withdraw from his assault. Saladin gave a loud cry, exclaiming that Sinan himself was the figure that had left the tent. By 1177, the conflict between Sinān and as-Salih continued with the assassination of Shihab ad-Din abu-Salih, vizier to both as-Salih and Nur ad-Din. A letter from as-Salih to Sinān requesting the murder was found to be a forgery by Gümüshtigin, causing his removal. As-Salih seized the village of al-Hajira from the Assassins, and in response Sinān's followers burned the marketplace in Aleppo. In 1190,
Isabella I was Queen of Jerusalem and the
Third Crusade had just begun. The daughter of Amalric, she married her first husband
Conrad of Montferrat, who became king by virtue of marriage, not yet crowned. Conrad was of royal blood, the cousin of Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa and
Louis VII of France. Conrad had been in charge of Tyre during the
siege of Tyre in 1187 launched by Saladin, successfully defending the city.
Guy of Lusignan, married to Isabella's half-sister
Sybilla of Jerusalem, was king of Jerusalem by right of marriage and had been captured by Saladin during the
battle of Hattin in that same year, 1187. When Guy was released in 1188, he was denied entry to Tyre by Conrad and launched the
siege of Acre in 1189. Queen Sybilla died of an epidemic sweeping her husband's military camp in 1190, negating Guy's claim to the throne and resulting in Isabella becoming queen. Assassins disguised as Christian monks had infiltrated the bishopric of Tyre, gaining the confidence of both the archbishop
Joscius and Conrad of Montferrat. There in 1192, they stabbed Conrad to death. The surviving Assassin is reputed to have named
Richard I of England as the instigator, who had much to gain as demonstrated by the rapidity at which the widow married
Henry II of Champagne. That account is disputed by ibn al-Athir who names Saladin in a plot with Sinān to kill both Conrad and Richard. Richard I was captured by
Leopold V, Duke of Austria, and held by
Henry VI, who had become Holy Roman Emperor in 1191, accused of murder. Sinān wrote to Leopold V absolving Richard I of complicity in the plot. Regardless, Richard I was released in 1194 after England paid his ransom and the murder remains unsolved. Adding to the continued cold case is the belief by modern historians that Sinan's letter to Leopold V is a forgery, written by members of Richard I's administration. Conrad was Sinān's last assassination. The great Assassin
Rashid ad-Din Sinan, the Old Man of the Mountain, died in 1193, the same year that claimed Saladin. He died of natural causes at al-Kahf Castle and was buried at
Salamiyah, which had been a secret hub of Isma'ili activity in the 9th and 10th centuries. His successor was Nasr al-'Ajami, under the control of Alamut, who reportedly met with emperor Henry VI in 1194. Later successors through 1227 included Kamāl ad-Din al-Hasan and Majd ad-Din, again under the control of Alamut. Saladin left his
Ayyubid dynasty under his sons
al-Aziz Uthman, sultan of Egypt,
al-Afdal ibn Salah ad-Din, emir of Damascus, and
az-Zahir Ghazi, emir of Aleppo. Al-Aziz died soon thereafter, replaced by Saladin's brother
al-Adil I.
13th century In 1210, Muhammad III died and his son
Jalāl al-Din Hasan (known as Hassan III) became Imam of the Isma'ili State. His first actions included the return to the Islamic orthodoxy by practising
Taqiyyah to ensure safety of the Ismailis in the hostile environment. He claimed allegiance to the
Sunnis to protect himself and his followers from further persecution. He had a Sunni mother and four Sunni wives. Hassan III recognized the Abbasid caliph
al-Nasir who in turn granted a diploma of investiture. The Alamuts had a previous history with al-Nasir, supplying Assassins to attack a Kwarezm representative of shah
Ala ad-Din Tekish, but that was more of an action of convenience than formal alliance. Maintaining ties to western Christian influences, the Alamuts became tributaries to the
Knights Hospitaller beginning at the Isma'ili stronghold
Abu Qubays, near
Margat. The count of Tripoli in 1213 was
Bohemond IV, the fourth
prince of Antioch of that name. That year his 18-year-old son Raymond, namesake of his grandfather, was murdered by the Assassins under Nasr al-'Ajami while at church in
Tartus. Suspecting both Assassin and Hospitaller involvement, Bohemond and the Knights Templar laid siege to
Qala'at al-Khawabi, an Isma'ili stronghold near Tartus. Appealing to the Ayyubids for help, az-Zahir Ghazi dispatched a relief force from Aleppo. His forces were nearly destroyed at Jabal Bahra. Az-Zahir's uncle al-Adil I, emir of Damascus, responded and the Franks ended the siege by 1216. Bohemond IV would again fight the Ayyubids in the
Fifth Crusade. Majd ad-Din was the new chief ''da'i'' in Syria in 1220, assuming that role from Kamāl ad-Din al-Hasan of whom very little is known. At that time the
Seljuk sultanate of Rûm paid an annual tribute to Alamut, and Majd ad-Din notified the sultan
Kayqubad I that henceforth the tribute was to be paid to him. Kayqubad I requested clarification from Hassan III who informed him that the monies had indeed been assigned to Syria. Hassan III died in 1221, likely from poisoning. He was succeeded by his 9-year-old son Imam
'Alā ad-Din Muhammad, known as Muhammad III, and was the penultimate Isma'ili ruler of Alamut before the Mongol conquest. Because of his age, Hassan's vizier served as regent to the young Imam, and put Hassan's wives and sister to death for the suspected poisoning. Muhammad III reversed the Sunni course his father had set, returning to Shi'ite orthodoxy. His attempts to accommodate the advancing Mongols failed. In 1225,
Frederick II was Holy Roman Emperor, a position his father Henry VI had held until 1197. He had committed to prosecuting the
Sixth Crusade and married the heiress to the Kingdom of Jerusalem,
Isabella II. The next year, the once and future king sent envoys to Majd ad-Din with significant gifts for the imam to ensure his safe passage.
Khwarezm had collapsed under the Mongols, but many of the Kwarezmians still operated as mercenaries in northern Iraq. Under the pretense that the road to Alamut was unsafe due to these mercenaries, Majd ad-Din kept the gifts for himself, and provided the safe passage. As a precaution, Majd ad-Din informed
al-Aziz Muhammad, emir of Aleppo and son of az-Zahir Ghazi, of the emperor's embassy. In the end, Frederick did not complete that trip to the Holy Land due to illness, being excommunicated in 1227. The Knights Hospitaller were not as accommodating as Alamut, demanding their share of the tribute. When Majd ad-Din refused, the Hospitallers attacked and carried off the majority of the booty. Majd ad-Din was succeeded by Sirāj ad-Din Muzaffa ibn al-Husain in 1227, serving as chief ''da'i'' until 1239. Taj ad-Din Abu'l-Futūh ibn Muhammad was chief ''da'i
in Syria in 1239, succeeding Sirāj ad-Din Muzaffa. At this point, the Assassins were an integral part of Syrian politics. The Arab historian Ibn Wasil had a friendship with Taj ad-Din and writes of Badr ad-Din, qadi'' of
Sinjar, who sought refuge with Taj ad-Din to escape the wrath of Egyptian Ayyubid ruler
as-Salih Ayyub. Taj ad-Din served until at least 1249 when he was replaced by Radi ad-Din Abu'l-Ma'āli. biographer of the king, who reported the interaction of the monarch with the Assassins. While at Acre, emissaries of Radi ad-Din Abu'l-Ma'āli met with him, demanding a tribute be paid to their chief "as the emperor of Germany, the king of Hungary, the sultan of Egypt and the others because they know well they can only live as long as it please him." Alternately, the king could pay the tribute the Assassins paid the Templars and Hospitallers. Later the king's Arabic interpreter Yves the Breton met personally with Radi ad-Din and discussed the respective beliefs. Afterwards, the chief ''da'i'' went riding, with his valet proclaiming: "Make way before him who bears the death of kings in his hands!" The Egyptian victory at al-Mansurah led to the establishment of the
Mamluk dynasty in Egypt. Muhammad III was murdered in 1255 and replaced by his son
Rukn al-Din Khurshah, the last Imam to rule Alamut. Najm ad-Din later became chief ''da'i'' of the Assassins in Syria, the last to be associated with Alamut. Louis IX returned to north Africa during the
Eighth Crusade where he died of natural causes in Tunis.
Downfall and aftermath The Assassins suffered a significant blow at the hands of the
Mongol Empire during the well-documented invasion of
Khwarazm. A decree was handed over to the Mongol commander
Kitbuqa who began to assault several Assassin fortresses in 1253 before
Hulagu's advance in 1256. During the
siege of Maymun-Diz, the last Ismaili Imam capitulated to the Mongols. The Imam ordered his subordinates to surrender and demolish their fortresses likewise. The subsequent capitulation of the symbolic stronghold of Alamut marked the end of the Nizari state in Persia.
Lambsar fell in 1257,
Masyaf in 1267. The Assassins recaptured and held Alamut for a few months in 1275, but they were crushed and their political power was lost forever.
Rukn al-Din Khurshah was put to death shortly thereafter. Some strongholds continued to resist for many years, notably
Gerdkuh. Though the Mongol massacre at Alamut was widely interpreted to be the end of
Isma'ili influence in the region, various sources say that the Isma'ilis' political influence continued. In 1275, a son of Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah managed to recapture Alamut, though only for a few years. Isma'ili political activity in the region also seems to have continued under the leadership of Sultan Muhammad b. Jahangir and his son, until the latter's execution in 1597. In Syria, the Assassins joined with other Muslim groups to oppose the Mongols and courted the Mamluks and
Baibars. Baibars entered into a truce with the Hospitallers in 1266 and stipulated that the tribute paid by the Assassins be halted. The tribute once paid to the Franks was to come instead to Cairo. As early as 1260, Baibars' biographer
ibn Abd al-Zahir reported that he was granting Assassin lands in ''
iqta''' to his generals, and in 1265 began to tax the "gifts" the Assassins received from various princes that apparently included Louis IX of France,
Rudolph I of Germany,
Alphonso X of Castile, and the
Rasulid sultan of Yemen al-Muzaffar Yusuf. The Syrian branch of the Assassins was taken over by Baibars by 1270, recognizing the threat of an independent force with his sultanate. thwarts an attempt on his life by an Assassin and kills the attacker. The assassin likely was sent by the
Mamluk Sultan
Baibars, in order to remove his opposition to a 10-year truce with the
Christian states at
Jerusalem. 19th-century depiction by
Gustave Doré In 1271, Baibars' forces seized
al-'Ullaiqah and
ar-Rusafa, after taking Masyaf the year before. Later in the year, Shams ad-Din surrendered and was deported to Egypt.
Qala'at al-Khawabi fell that year and within two years
Gerdkuh and all of the Assassin fortresses were held by the sultan. With the Assassins under his control, Baibars was able to use them to counter the forces arriving in the
Ninth Crusade. The sultan threatened Bohemond VI, and the Assassins attacked future king
Edward I of England unsuccessfully, with Edward killing the Assassin. The last known victim of the Assassins was
Philip of Montfort, lord of Tyre, long an enemy of Baibars. Philip helped negotiate the truce following the capture of Damietta by Louis IX and had lost the castle at
Toron to Baibars in 1266. Despite his advanced age, Philip was murdered by Baibars' Assassins in 1270. ==Etymology==