The Rise and Fall of the Assassin Terrorist State
Article "The Nizari State of the Assassins" we talked about Sunnis, Shiites, Ismailis and Nizaris, as well as about Hasan ibn Sabbah, who managed to create a kind of state, whose fedai kept the rulers and high officials of neighboring countries in fear. Today we will continue this story.
Assassins and Elders of the Mountain
The rulers of the Nizari state are often referred to as the "Old Men of the Mountain". There is reason to believe that this "title" was invented by the crusaders, who called so only the Syrian Nizari sheikhs they knew. They knew little about their Persian counterparts - at best they had heard that they existed. Moreover, the title "Elder" itself was formed by the Europeans who arrived in Palestine, as a literal translation of the word "sheikh" - an elder.
For example, the Spanish Rabbi Benjamin of Tudel, who visited Syria in 1167, writes about the leader of the Syrian Nizari:
"Sheikh al-Hashishin is known as their elder, the elder."
Of course, the locals immediately reported to the crusaders about the terrible fedai of the Nizari, adding colorful fiction to the truth. And the crusaders themselves, returning to Europe, did not see anything wrong in adding something from themselves, finding extremely grateful listeners at home.
The incredible devotion of the Fedais to their “Elder” is narrated in the story that has become incredibly popular in Europe about the visit of Henri Champagne to the fortress of the Syrian sheikh of the Nizari either in 1193 or in 1194. Its first source is considered to be the continuation of the chronicle of Guillaume of Tire. Then, at a signal from the leader of the Nizari, several people allegedly jumped from the walls of the fortress into the abyss in front of the guest.
Assassin jumping into the abyss in one of the modern illustrations
Many modern researchers believe that this is a reworking of the ancient legend about Alexander the Great, in which there is a similar story. The legend about the “Garden of Eden”, “Gurias” and Khashshishins, which was described in the previous article, was widely spread among the local Muslim population and was not ignored.
The crusaders who came to Palestine distorted the word "hashshishin", which began to sound like assassins. In French (and in some other languages), it entered as a synonym for a hired killer - and became a "false friend of translators."
You probably remember that in the film "Angels and Demons", based on the novel by Dan Brown, there is an assassin who comes from out of nowhere. In fact, this character has nothing to do with the Sabbahites, who have long remained in the past - he is just a highly qualified "killer" hired by the film's anti-hero.
The word assassins came to our country from France, having changed, according to the rules of the Russian language, where there can be no repetition of double consonants in one word - it turned out “assassins”.
Rumors about the formidable fedayeen of the "Old Men of the Mountain" turned out to be weapons even more terrible than the Sabbachites themselves. Many Islamic rulers, and after them the rulers of the crusader states, began to pay tribute to the Nizari sheikhs in order to protect themselves from the killer's dagger, which could be anyone. It is known that the Nizari envoy came to the French king Louis IX (Saint) who arrived in Acre, who suggested that he, “following the example of other sovereigns”, make a gift to the “Old Man of the Mountain”. It can be concluded that the practice of such “gifts” was common at that time, and therefore this visit did not surprise anyone. Marco Polo says:
“I’ll tell you the truth, many kings and barons, out of fear, paid tribute to the Elder and were friends with him.”
The first victim of Hasan's fedai, as we remember, was the vizier of the Seljuk Sultanate Nizam al-Mulk, who was killed in the village of Sakhna, located south of modern Tehran. The name of the killer has been preserved - Bu Tahir Arrani, who approached the vizier under the guise of a Sufi dervish.
The assassination of Nizam al-Mulk by the Ismaili fedai. Miniature of a XNUMXth-century manuscript
By the way, there is a legend known as "History about three comrades. It tells about three friends who, in their youth, studied in Nishapur under the same teacher. Their names are Omar Khayyam, Nizam al-Mulk and ... Hasan ibn Sabbah. They supposedly swore that the first person to succeed in life would help the rest. Such was Nizam al-Mulk, who became the vizier of the Seljuk Sultanate. He appointed a "stipend" to Omar, but his further relations with Hasan did not work out.
In fact, Nizam al-Mulk was the principal enemy of the Ismailis, and back in the 1080s. ordered the arrest of Hasan ibn Sabbah.
After the reprisal against this vizier during the life of Hasan, his fedai, as we remember, killed 49 more people. But, perhaps, the list of potential victims was longer, it was just that the Sabbahits did not manage to get to one of the "condemned" ones.
Successors of Hasan ibn Sabbah
The founder of the Nizari state died in 1124. He transferred power not to one of his sons, but to a council of four closest associates. However, after a few years, only Kiya Buzurg-umid remained alive, whose power became hereditary.
The policy of terror was continued, and already on the orders of other Nizari sheikhs, three caliphs, six viziers, several dozen governors of regions and rulers of cities, as well as clergymen authoritative among Muslims and the great Persian scholar Abu al-Mahasin were killed. However, gradually the Nizari state, created by Hassan ibn Sabbah, from an independent political force with its own ideas and principles, turned into a lair of banal racketeers and mercenaries. The services of the Nizari fedai were actively used by both Muslims and Christians of the crusader states.
The Nizari sheikhs tried, unsuccessfully, to kill the famous Salah ad-Din and immediately took money from this sultan for the elimination of his opponents. It is believed that it was on his order that Margrave Konrad of Tire was killed.
In 1192, the ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem Conrad, the eighth Marquis of Montferrat, the cousin of Frederick Barbarossa, the French king Louis VII and Leopold V of Austria, was also killed by the Nizari fedai (currently Montferrat is part of the Italian province of Piedmont).
Conrad was attacked by two assassins in the street. The guards killed one of the attackers, the second was taken alive, but he died under torture without saying a word. According to one version, Konrad died on the spot. According to another, he was wounded, but survived, but one of the assassins managed to escape. Learning that Conrad had survived, the fedayeen made his way to the palace at night, finished off the king, and then calmly surrendered to the guards.
This is what Conrad of Montferrat looks like in the portrait of Pico (painted in 1843), which can be seen in the Hall of the Crusaders in Versailles
It is curious that Richard the Lionheart, detained in Germany, among other things, was accused of having links with the Assassins, who allegedly killed Konrad on his order. The fact is that Leopold of Austria was an ally of Conrad of Montferrat. And Richard the Lionheart, as a pretender to the throne, supported Guy de Lusignan, his vassal in possessions in Poitou. And Conrad was killed just 4 days after the official election as king of Jerusalem, which, indeed, looks very suspicious.
quoted by us in first article William of Newburgh assures that the “Old Man of the Mountain”, having learned that Richard was accused of the murder of Conrad, sent letters to the crusader states with the following content:
“Since we have heard that the murder of the Marquis of Montferrat is attributed by many to King Richard of England, as if we put him to death by his machinations… we declare the truth of this affair… Therefore, we write to you all… that the Marquis did not in any way obtain his death by the king’s design , but in fact, since he offended us, and being warned, could not correct himself, he died in justice, at the hands of our scouts, according to our will and by our order.
But it is hardly possible to recognize the English canon as an impartial witness in the case of the English king.
The German Emperor Frederick II Hohenstaufen was also accused of having links with the Assassins, this was one of the reasons for his excommunication from the Church (one of three).
In 1214, the son of the prince of Antioch, Raymond, was also killed by the Fedayeen.
But there was a force in Palestine that even the heirs of Hasan ibn Sabbah did not risk confronting. Jacques de Vitry, a French historian, participant in the XNUMXth crusade, bishop of Acre, and later a cardinal, wrote:
"The Assassins were at that time indebted to the Templars, paying them two thousand bezants annually so that the Templars would not attack their lands."
The English canon chronicler William of Newburgh, familiar to us, explains why the Fedai, who are terrible for everyone else, turned out to be powerless in this case:
“The elder of the mountain knew that he would achieve nothing by killing any master of this order - after all, the Templars would immediately choose another and would cruelly avenge the murdered.”
The rules established by Hassan ibn Sabbah began to erode and collapse under the grandson of his successor (Buzurg-umida) - Hasan, who officially abolished many Sharia provisions in the territory subject to him, including the five daily prayers, declared fasting optional, allowed the use of wine, music lessons, songs and dances. He declared himself a descendant of Nizar, the son of al-Mustansir, that is, in fact, a hidden imam. The original asceticism remained in the past, the Nizari sheikhs were mired in luxury. The state created by Hassan ibn Sabbah was losing the last vestiges of its former ideology and was declining.
Ala ad-Din Muhammad, who was the head of the Nazarites in 1221-1255, moved the main residence from impregnable Alamut to the more habitable, but at the same time well-fortified Maimun-Diz (Maimundiz), built between 1097-1103.
The fall of the Nizari state of the "Elders of the Mountain"
At first, the Mongol campaigns did not affect the fortresses of the Nizari, since they were located away from large cities and trade routes. However, the Nizari themselves attracted attention when their ambassadors in Karakorum delivered some impudent letter to the elected Great Khan Guyuk. But Guyuk soon died, and therefore the temnik Eljigei, who had received an order to attack the Nizari fortresses, did not have time to do anything against them.
But the bandit state of the successors of Hassan ibn Sabbah was already so tired of everyone that the inhabitants of Kuhistan (“Mountainous Country”, the region of the Iranian Highlands between the deserts of Deshte-Kevir and Deshte-Lut) complained about the Nizari to the new Great Khan - Munk. He ordered to sort out the situation, and in March 1253 a detachment of the temnik Keith-Boogie came here. His forces were too small to storm the well-fortified fortresses. Before the approach of the main army, he managed to capture two cities (Tun and Turshiz) and two fortresses (Mizrin and Kemal). But on December 1, 1255, the Nizari imam Ala ad-Din was killed by conspirators. Rukn ad-Din, who replaced him, soon capitulated, giving up his state to the Mongols with little or no resistance.
So, in 1256, the main forces of the army of the grandson of Genghis Khan Hulagu entered Kuhulistan.
Hulagu at the head of an army in a medieval Persian miniature
On November 15, 1256, the assault on the residence of the last imam of the Nizari Rukn ad-din Khurshah began, which lasted 4 days. The Mongols suffered heavy losses, but they could not take the fortress.
Siege of Alamut by Hulagu's army
Hulagu's war with the Nizari could have dragged on for years, if not decades, if on November 19 Rukn al-Din himself had not cowardly surrendered the Meimundiz fortress to the Mongols. Moreover, he sent messengers to other strongholds with orders to surrender. 40 fortresses then submitted to the Mongols without a fight, but Lamasar, Girdkuh and Alamut continued to resist. The Mongols managed to take Lamasar only a year later, and Girdkuh held out for 20 years. Can you imagine how the Mongols would have “bogged down” in this war if the other 40 Nizari fortresses had also resisted?
As for Alamut, the outstanding astronomer, mathematician and philosopher Nasir al-Din at-Tusi, who wrote a number of scientific works in this fortress, has been in it for a long time. It was he who contributed to the surrender of Alamut to the Mongols - already on December 19, 1256. After that, he became an adviser and astrologer to Khan Hulagu.
An extensive library was found in Alamut, the books of which were studied by the Persian historian Juvaini, who accompanied Hulagu. Among others, a manuscript of Serguzasht-i seyidna was found, which described the life of Hasan ibn Sabbah. It became one of the main sources of his own works on the history of the Nizari state.
Some manuscripts dealing with Ismaili dogmas and the teachings of the Nizari were deemed so harmful that they were burned. Probably, this can serve as evidence of the high quality of these works and their great danger as propaganda materials.
Looking ahead, let's say that under the Safavids, Alamut served as a place of exile for the opponents of these shahs, then it was abandoned, and in 2004 it was almost destroyed by an earthquake.
Ruins of Alamut. It is unlikely that there would be a place for a "Garden of Eden" with the notorious "houris"
The last ruler of the Nizari state, Rukn ad-din Khurshah, was sent to the court of the great Khan Mongke in Karakorum. However, Hulagu was soon informed about what “kingdom of horror” he had destroyed, and the Khan sent nukers after the caravan with Hurgah, who finished off this imam of the Assassins.
But in the hands of the Nizari there were still fortresses in Syria, which the Mongols could not conquer. And in June 1272, one of the last assassins attacked the English prince Edward Long-legged in Acre, but he himself was killed in the fight against him. Nevertheless, he managed to wound Edward in the arm, the wound festered and the prince was ill for a long time.
Prince Edward fights an assassin. Drawing by G. Dore
But in 1273, the troops of the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, Baibars, captured the last fortress of the Nizari.
The terrible state created by Hasan ibn Sabbah ceased to exist, but the Ismailis and Nizari did not disappear and did not dissipate like smoke.
Part of the Ismailis moved to India - mainly to Bombay, where they formed the Bohra communities, headed by an imam with the title of Aga Khan. Currently, the head of the Ismailis of India is considered one of the richest people in the world. The Nizarites formed the Khoja community, from which the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, came from. The Khoja community also includes the influential Pakistani Bhutto family, which gave the country its first female prime minister.
Since the XNUMXth century, Ismailism has been recognized as a variety of Shiism in Iran as well.
Quite large Ismaili and Nizari communities appeared in Kenya, Tanzania, the historical region of Badakhshan, which is now divided between Tajikistan and Afghanistan, and in about 20 other countries in Asia and Africa. And now they live already in Europe.
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