Chapter VII.

Keah Mohammed — Murder of the Khalif — Castles gained in Syria — Ismailite Confession of Faith — Mohammed's Son Hassan gives himself out for the promised Imam — His Followers punished — Succession of Hassan — He abolishes the Law — Pretends to be descended from the Prophet — Is murdered.
The policy of the society underwent no alteration on the accession of Mohammed. The dagger still smote its enemies, and as each victim fell, the people who maintained the rights of Ismail, and who were kept in rigid obedience to the positive precepts of the Koran, beheld nothing but the right hand of Heaven' made bare for the punishment of crime and usurpa- tion. The new mountain prince had hardly taken the reins of government into his hands when Rasheed, the successor of the late khalif, eager to avenge the murder of his father, assembled an army and marched against Alamoot. He had reached Isfahan, but there his march terminated. Four Assassins, who had entered his service for the purpose, fell upon him in his tent and stabbed him. When the news was con- veyed to Alamoot great rejoicings were made, and for seven days and seven nights the trumpets and kettle-drums resounded from the towers of the fort- ress, proclaiming the triumph of the dagger to the surrounding country.
The SyTian dominion of the Ismailites was at this time considerably extended. They purchased from Ibn Amroo, their owner, the castles of Cadmos and Kahaf, and took by force that of Massyat fronv ihft
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lords of Sheis6r. This castle, which was situated on the west side of Mount Legam, opposite Antaradus, became henceforth the chief seat of Jsmailite power in Syria. The society had now a line of coast to the north of Tripolis, and their possessions extended in- land to the verge of the Hauran.
The reign of Mohammed presents few events to illustrate the history of the Assassins. It was pro- bably in his time that the following confession of the Ismailite faith was made to the persons whom Sultan Sanjar sent to Alamoot to inquire into it*;
" This is our doctrine," said the heads of the so- ciety. " We believe in the unity of God, and acknow- ledge as the true wisdom and right creed only that which accords with the word of God and the com- mands of the Prophet We hold these as they are delivered in the holy writ, the Koran, and believe in all that the Prophet has taught of ,the creation, and the last things, of rewards and punishments, of the last judgment, and the resurrection. To believe this is necessary, and no one is authorized to judge of the commands of God for himself, or to alter a single letter in them. These are the fundamental doctrines of our sect, and if the sultan does not approve of them, let him send hither one of his learned divines, that we may argue the matter with him."
To this creed no orthodox Mussulman could well make any objection. The only question was, what was the Ismailite system of interpretation, and wliat other doctrines did they deduce from the sacred text ; and the active employment of the dagger of the Fe- davee suggested in tolerably plain terms that there were others, and that something not very compatible with the peace and order of society lay behind the veil. Indeed the circumstance of the Ismailite chiefs
* As Saojar lived to a great age he was contemporary with MFeral of toe Ismailite ^heikhs.
THE ASSASSINS. 9^
professing themselves to be only the ministers and representatives of the invisible imam was in itself highly suspicious; for what was to prevent their en* joining any atrocity which might be for their interest, in the name of their viewless master? They are ignorant indeed of human nature who suppose that a prompt obedience would not be yielded to all such commands by the ignorant and bigoted members of the sect.
The ill leaven of the secret doctrine displayed itself before very long. Keah Mohammed, who ap- pears to have been a weak, inefficient man, was held in little esteem by his followers. They began to attach themselves to his son Hassan, who had the reputation of being a man of prodigious knowledge^ learned in tradition and the text of the Koran, versed in exposition, and well acquainted with the sciences. Hassan, either through vanity or policy, began secretly to disseminate the notion of his beitig himself the imam whose appearance had been pro* mised by Hassan Ben Sabah. Filled with this idea, the more instructed members of the society vied with each other in eagerness to fulfil his commands, and Keah Mohammed, seeing his power gradually slip- ping from him, was at length roused to energy. Assembling the people, he reprobated in strong terms the prevaihng heresy. " Hassan,'* said he, " is my son, and J am not the imam, but only one of his missionaries. Whoever maintains the contrary is an infidel." Then, in true Assassin fashion, he gave effect to his words by executing 250 of his son's ad- herents, and banishing an equal number from the fortress. Hassan himself, in order to save his life, was obliged publicly to curse those who held the new opinions, and to write dissertations condemning their tenets, and defending those of his father. By these means he succeeded in removing suspicion
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from the miud of the old chief; but, as he continued to drink wine in private, and violated several of the other positive precepts of the law. his adherents be- came only the more convinced of his beingthe imam, at whose coming all the precepts of the law were to cease to be of any force.
Hassan was obliged to be cautious and conceal his opinions during the lifetime of his father ; for, whatever their opinion might be of the capacity and intellectual power of the head of their sect, the Assas- sins believed themselves to be bound to obey his orders, as proceeding from the visible representative of the sacred invisible imam ; and, high as their vene- ration for Hassan was, his blood would have flowed un the ground the instant an order to that effect liad passed the lips of his father. But no sooner was Keah Mohammed dead, after a reign of twenty-four years, and the supreme station was come to Hassan himself, than lie resolved to fling away the mask at once, and not only to trample on the law himself, but to authorize and encourage all his people to do the
Accordingly, when the month Ramazan (the Mo- hammedan Lent) of the 559th year of the Hejra (a. n. 1163) was come, he ordered all (he inhabitants of Hoodbar lo assemble on the place of prayer (_Mo- sella), or esplanade, before the castle of Alamoot. Facing the direction of the Keblali* he eansed a pulpit to be erected, at whose four corners were dis- played banners of the different hues familiar to Islam, namely, a white, a red, a yellow, a gi'een, colours adverse to the black of the Abbassides.
On the ITth day of the month the people, in obedience to his commands, appeared in great num- bers beneath the walls of the fortress. Afler a little
• That is, thi: point towards which they turD in prayer, uamely, Mecra.
THE ASSASSINS. 91'
time Hassan came forth and ascended the pulpit. All voices were hushed; expectation waited on the words of the Sheikh-al-Jebal. He commenced his discourse byperplexing- the minds of his auditors by enigmatical and obscure sentences. When he had thus deluded them for same time, he informed them Chat an envoy of the imam (that is, the phantom of a khalif who was still sitting on the throne at Cairo) hod arrived, and had brought him a letter addressed to all Ismai'l- ites, whereby the fundamental tenets of the sect were renewed and confirmed. He proceeded to assure them that, by this letter, the gates of mercy and com- pa-ssiou had been opened for all who would follow and obey him ; that they were the true elect ; that they were freed from all obligations of the law, and deli- vered from the burden of all commands and prohibi- tions ; that he had now conducted them to the day of the resurrectiou, that is, of the revelation of the imam. He then commenced in Arabic the Khoot- beh, or public prayer, which he said he had received from the imam; and an interpreter, who stood at the foot of the pulpit, translated it for them Co the follow- ing eiFect ; —
" Hassan, the son of Mohammed, the son of Bu- zooi^ Oomeid, is our khalif {mceesKOr), dai, and hoojet {proof). All who follow our doctrine must hearken to him in affairs of faith and of the world, and regurd his commands as imperative, his words as impressive. They must not transgress his prohibi- tions, and they must regard his commands as ours. Tiiey should Imow that our lord has had compassion upon them, and has conducted them to the most high God."
When this proclamation was made known Hassan came down from the pulpii, directed tables to be spread, and commanded the people to break the fast, and to gi\e themselves up, as on festival days, to all
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kinds of enjoyment, with music, and various games and sports. " For this," cried he, " this is the day of the resurrection ;" that is, according to the Ismail- ite mode of interpreting the Koran, the day of the manifestation of the imam.
What the orthodox had before only suspected was now confirmed. It was now manifest, beyond doubt, that the Ismailites were heretics who trampled under foot all the most plain and positive precepts of Islam ; for, though they might pretend to justify their prac- tice by their allegorical system of interpretation, it was clearly repugnant to common sense, and might be made the instrument of sanctioning, under the name of religion, every species of enormity. From this time the term Moolahid (impious) b^gan to become the common and familiar appellation of the Ismailites in the mouths of the orthodox Moslems. As to the Ismailites themselves, they rejoiced in what they had done ; they exulted like emancipated bonds- men in the liberty which they had acquired; and they even commenced a new era from the 17th (or, according to some authorities, the 7th) Ramazan of the 559th year, namely, the day of the manifestation of the imam. To the name of Hassan they hence- forth affixed the formula " On his memory be peace ;" which formula, it would appear, was employed by itself to designate him ; for the historian Mirkhond assures us that he had been informed by a credible person that over the door of the library in Alamoot was the following inscription :—
" With the aid of God, the bonds Of the law he took away, The commander of the world, Upon whose name be peace."
The madness of Hassan now attained its climax. He disdained to be regarded, like his predecessors, M8 merely the representative of the imam on earth,
THE ASSASSINS. 99
but asserted himself to be the true and real imam, who was now at length made manifest to the world. He sent letters to all the settlements of the society, requiring them to acknowledge him in his new capa- city. H e was prudent enough, however, to show a regard for the dignity and power of* his different lieutenants in these letters, as appears by the follow- ing specimen, being the letter which was sent to Kuhistan, where the^^is Mozafiar commanded : —
'' I Hassan say unto you that I am the representa- tiye of God upon earth, and mine in Kuhistan is the reis Mozaffar, whom the men of that country are to obey, and to receive his word as mine.'*
The reis erected a pulpit in the castle of Moomina- bad, the place of his residence, and read the letter aloud to the people, the greater part of whom listened to its contents with joy. The tables were covered before the pulpit, the wine was brought forth, the drums and kettle-drums resounded, the notes of the pipe and flute inspired joy, and the day of the abo- lition of the positive precepts of the law was devoted to mirth and festivity. Some few, who were sincere and upright in their obedience to Islam, quitted the region which they now regarded as the abode of infi- delity, and went in search of other abodes ; others, of a less decided character, remained, though shocked at what they were obliged every day to behold. The obedience to the commands of the soi-dUant imam was, however, tolerably general, and, according to Hammer, who can scarcely, however, be supposed to regard the system of Hassan as really more licen- tious than he has elsewhere described that of Ma- homet, " the banner of the freest infidelity, and of the most shameless immorality, now waved on all the castles of Roodbar aild Kuhistan, as the standard pf the new illumination ; and, instead of the name of the Egyptian khalif, resounded from
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all the pulpits that of Ha&san as the true successor of the Prophet.*'
The latter point had presented some difficulty to Hassan ; for, in order to satisfy the people on that head, it was necessary to prove a descent from the Prophet, and this was an honour to which it was well known the family from which he was sprung had never laid claim. He might take upon him to abolish the positive precepts of the law as he pleased, and the people, whose inclinations were thereby gratified, would not perhaps scan very narrowly the authority hy which he acted ; but the attempt to deprive the Fatimite khalif of the honour which he had so long enjoyed, and to assume the rank of God's vicegerent on earth in his room, was likely to give too great a shock to their prejudices, if not cautiously managed.
It was necessary, therefore, that he should prove himself to be of the blood of the Fatimites. He accordingly began to drop some dark hints respecting the truth of the received opinion of his being the son of Keah Mohammed. Our readers will recollect that, when Hassan Sabah was in Egypt, a dispute had taken place respecting the succession to the throne, in which Hassan had nearly lost his life for opposing the powerful commander-in-chief (Emir" al-Jooyoosh), and Nezar, the prince for whom the khalif Mostanser had designed the succession, had been deprived of his right by the influence of that officer. The confidents of Hassan now began to give out that, in about a year afler the death of the khalif Mostanser, a certain person named Aboo-'l- Zeide, who had been high in his confidence, had come to Alamoot, bearing with him a son of Nezar, whom he committed to the care of Hassan Sabah, who, grateful to the memory of the khalif and his son, had received the fugitive with great honour, and assigned a village at the foot of Alamoot for the
THE ASSASSINS. 101
residence of the young imam. When the youth was grown up he married and had a son, whom he named On his Memory be Peace. Just at the time when the imam's wife was confined in the village, the consort of Keah Mohammed lay in at the castle ; and, in order that the descendant of Fatima might come to the temporal power which was his right, a confidential woman undertook and succeeded in the task of secretly changing the children. Others went still further, and did not hesitate to assert that the young imam had intrigued with the wife of Keah Mohammed, and that Hassan was the firuit of their adulterous intercourse. Like a true pupil of ambi- tion, Hassan was willing to defame the memory of his mother, and acknowledge himself to be a bastard, provided he could succeed in persuading the people to believe him a descendant of the Prophet.
These pretensions of Hassan to a Fatimite pedigree gave rise to a further increase of the endless sects into which the votaries of Islam were divided. Those who acknowledged it got the name of Nezori, and by them Hassan was called the Lord of the Resurrection {Kaim-al-Kiamet)^ and they styled themselves the Sect of the Resurrection:
The reign of the vain, inconsiderate Hassan was but short. He had governed the society only four years when he was assassinated by his brother-in-law, Namver, a descendant, we are told, of the family of Buyah, which had governed the khalifs and their dominions before the power passed into the hands of the Turkish house of Seljobk.
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Mohammed II. — AnocdolB of Iha Imam Faltlir-Bd-doan — Noor-ed-deea — Conquest uf Egypt — Attempt on the Life of SalaJin.
The death of Hassan was amply avenged by his son and successor, Mohammed H, Not only was the murderer himself put to death; vengeance, in ita oriental form, extended itself to all his kindred of both seses, and men, women, and children bled be- neath the sword of the executioner. Mohammed, who had been carefully trained up in the study of philosophy and literature, was, like his father, puJed up with vanity and ambiiion, and, far from receding from any of his predecessor's pretensions to the imamat, he carried thetn to even a still greater length that! he had done. At the same time he maintained a high character for knowledr^e and talent among his literary contemporaries, who were numerous, for his reign extended through a period of lorty-sist years, and the modern Persian literature was now fast approaching its climax. Not to nientioa other names, less familiar to our readers, we shall remark, as a proof of what we have said, that this was the period in which Nizamee of Ghenj sang in harmonious numbers the loves of Khosroo and Shireen, and of Mujiioon and Leila (these last the Uomeo and Juliet of tlie east), the crown and flower of the romantic poetry of Persia. Then tno flourished the great
i panegyrist En veree, and a crowdof historians, jurists,
I iind divines.
One of the m, lebrated men of this time was
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the imam Fakhr-ed-deen (.Glory of Religion) Rasi, who g-jve public lectures on the law in his Da^trVe city o(' Rei. It being slanderously reported that he was devoted in secret lo the opinions of the Ismailitea, and was even one of their missionaries, he adopted the ordiiiary expedient of abusing and reviling that sect, and each time he ascended the pulpit to preach lie reprobated and cursed the/mpioiu in no measured terms. Intelligence of what he was abofit was not long' in reaching the eyrie of the Sheikh-al-Jeba!, and a Fedavee received his instructions, and forth- with set out for Rei. He here entered himself as a student of the law, and sedulously attended the lec- tures of the learned imam. During seven months he watched in vain fcir an opportnnity of executing his commission. At len^^th he discovered one day that the attendants of the imam had left him to go to fetch him some ftx)d, and that he was alone in his study. The Fedavee entered, fastened the dours, seized the imam, cast him on the ground, and di- reeled his dagger at his bosom, "What is thy design ?" said the astonished imam. " To rip up thy belly and breast." "And wherefore ?'' " Where- fore? Because thou hast spoken evil of the Ismail- ites ill the pulpit." The imam implored and en- treated, vowing that, if his life was spared, he would never more say aught to offend the sect of Ismail, " I cannot trust thee," cried itie Assassin; " for when I am gone thou wilt return to thy old courses, and, by some ingenious shift or other, contrive to free thyself from the obligation of thy yaih." The imam then, with a most solemn oath, abjured the idea of explaining away bis wor lution for perjury. The Assassin got up from over him, saying, "I h^d no order to slay thee, or I should have put tliee to death without fail. Mohammed, thu Gouef Hassan, greets thee, aud invites thee to honour
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taJm by a visit at his castle. Thou ehalt there have ' unlimited power, and we will all obey thee like trusty servants. We despise, sf) saith the sheikh, the dis- courses of the rabble, which rebound from our ears
. like nuts from a ball; but you should not revile us, since your words impress themselves like the strokes of the graver ia the stoue.'' The imam replied that it was totally out of his power to go to Alamoot, but that in future he should be most careful never to suffer a word to pass his lips to the discredit of the moun- tain prince. Hereupon the Fedavee drew 300 pieces of gold from his girdle, and, laying them down, said, " See ! here is thy annual pension ; and, by a decree o£ the divan, thou shalt every year receive an equal sum through the reis Mozoffer, I also leave thee, for thy attendants, two garmentsfrom Yemen, which the Sheikh-al-Jebal has sent tbee." So saying, the
• Fedavee disappeared. The imam took the money and the clothes, and for some years his pension was paid regularly. A change in hia language now be- came perceptible, for, whereas be was ijsed before, when, on Creating of any controverted point, he had occasion to mention the Isma'ilites, to express himself thus, "Whatever the IsniaTlltes, whom God curse and destroy ! may say,'" — now that he was pensioned he contented himself with merely say- ing, *' Notwithstanding what the Ismuilltes may say." When one of his scholars asked him the cause of this change he made answer, " We cannot curse the Ismailites, they employ such sharp and convincing arguments.'' Tins anecdote is related by several of the Persian historians, and it serves to prove, like the case of sultan Sanjar, related above, that the Ismailites were not so thoroughly ruthless and bloodthirsty as not to prefer rendering an enemy innocuous by gentle means to depriving him of life. historiam record no uthei- event connected with
^f Oie
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eastern establishment of the Ismailife society during the loug reign of Mohammed II. We shall now, therefore, (urn our yiew to the Syrian branch, which attracts attention by the illustrious names which appear in oriental history at that time, and with which the ruler of Massyat come into hostile or friendly relations. The names of Noor-ed-deeo {Light of Religion), Salah-ed-deeu (Integrity of Rdigiov), the Noradin and Saladin of western writers, and the Lion-hearted king of England, will at once awake the attention of the reader.
The celebrated Emod-ed-deen (Pillar of Religioji) Zengi, who gave the Christian power in tiie east its first shock by the conquest of Edessa, perished by the hand of a slave shortly after that aehievement. His power and the title Atabeg. fell to his son Noored- deen, who carried on the war against the Christians with all the activity of his father, and with more of , the gentleness and courtesies which shed a lustre on aeal and valour. Noor-ed-deen was one of the most accomplished characters which the East has exhibited. i]e was generous and just, and strict in the observance of all tlie duties of Islam. Nopomp or mt^nificence surrounded him. He wore neither silk nor gold. With the fifth part of the booty, (vhich was his share as prince, he provided for all his expenses. A zealous Moslem, he was evermore engaged in the combats of the Holy War, — eitlier the greater, which was held to be fought against the world and its temptations by fasting and prayer, Ly study, and the daily practice of the virtues required of him who is placed in au- thority, — or the ksser, which was fought with natural weapons against the foes oflslam. From this union of piety and valour he acquired the titles of Gasi (yictor) and Sheheed (Martyr); for, though he did not fall in the defence of the faith, he was regarded as beiug entitled lo oil the future rewards attendant
1
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on actual martyrtJom. Notwithstanding his being one or the most deudly foes that the ChrisLians ever encountered, their historians did justice to the illus- trious Noor-ed-deen, and the learned William, Arch- bishop of Tyre, says of liim, "' He was a prudent, moderate man, who feared God according to the faith of his people, fortunate, and au augmenter of his paternal inheritance,''
The posaeHsion of Mosauland Aleppo made Noor- ed-deen master of northern Syria ; the southern part of that country was under the Prini^e of Damascus. Twice did the atabeg lay siege, without effect, to that city ; at length the inhabitants, fearing the Crusaders, invited him to take possession of it, and the feeble prince was obliged to retire, accepting Emessa in eitchange for tbe " Queen of Syria." The power of Noor-ed-deen now extended from the Euphrates to . the Holy Land, aud his thoughts were directed towards his grand abject of expelling the Franks from tbe Bast, wtieu an opportunity presented itself of bringing Egypt once more under the spiritual domi- nion of the house of Abbas.
Degeneracy is the inevitable lot of unlimited power. The Fatimile Commanders of the Faithful were now become mere puppets in the hands of their ministers, and the post of vizir was now, as was so often the case with the throne, contended for with arms. A civil w«r was at this time raging in Egypt between Shaver and Dhai^am, rival candidates for the vizir- iate. The former came in person to Damascus, and offered the alabeg Noor-ed-deen a third of the reve- nues of Egypt if he would aid him. to overcome his rival Without hesitation Noor-ed-deen ordered Asad- ed-deen {Lion of Religion) Sheerlioh {Mountain Liori)^, a Koordish chief who oommauiied for him at Emessa, to asaembie an array and march for * The foijnar oS Ibeso oamea ia Arabic, the lultei Puraian.
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Egypt. Sheerkoh obeyed, and sorely against his will, and only at the urgent command of Noor-ed- deen, did his nephew, the then little known, after- wards so justly famous, Saladin, quit the banquets and enjoyments of Damascus, and the other towns of Syria, to accompany his uncle to the toils and the perils of war. Dhargam was victorious in the first action, but he being murdered shortly afterwards by one of his slaves, Shaver ol)tained possession of the dignity which he sought. The new vizir then tried to get rid of his alhes, but such was not the intention of Noor-ed-deen, and Sheerkoh took his post with his troops in the north-eastern part of the kingdom, where he occupied the frontier town of Belbei's, on the most eastern branch of the Nile, under pretext of receiving the third part of the revenue which had been promised to Noor-ed-deen. Shaver, anxious to get rid of such dangerous guests, formed a secret league with Amalric, King of Jerusalem, and engaged to give him 60,000 ducats for his aid against them. Sheerkoh, who had been reinforced, advanced into Upper Egypt, and Saladin took the command of Alexandria, which he gallantly defended for three months against the combined forces of the Christians and Egyptians, and, after some fighting, peace was made on condition of Noor-ed-deen receiving 50,000 ducats, and double that sum being paid annually to the King of Jerusalem.
Shortly afterwards an unprincipled attempt was made on Egypt by Amalric, at the suggestion of the Maslier of the Hospitallers, and Shaver, in his distress, had once more recourse to Noor-ed-deen. The phantom -khalif joined in the supplication, and sent what is the greatest mark of need in the east — locks of the hair of his women, which is as much as to say, " Aid ! aid ! the foe is dragging the women forth by the hair." Belbei's had now been conqiiered^ ojxd
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Cairo was besieged by tlie Cliristians;. Shaver had burnt the old town, und defended liimself and the khalif in the new town, the proper Cairo. Sheerkoh appeared once more in Egypt with a larger array hnn before*, but, ere he reached the beleaguered town. Shaver and Amalric had entered into a compo- sition, and the former had withdrawn on receiving' a sum of 50,000 ducats. Sheerkoh however advanced, and pitched tiis tents before the walls of Cairo. The khalif' Adhad nnd his principal nobles came forth to receive him, and that unhappy prince made his com- plaints of the tyranny and selflslinesa of Shaver, who had brought so ranch misery on him and his kingdom. He concluded by requesting the head of liis vitcir at the hand of the general of Noor-ed-deen. Shaver, aware of the danger which menaced him, invited Sheerkoh, his nephew, and the other chiefs of the urmy, to a banquet, with the intention of destroying them, but his plot was discovered, and his head cast at the feet of the khalif. Sheerkoh was forthwith appointed lo the \aeant dignity, with the honourable title of Melik-el-Mansoor ( Victorious King), but he enjoyed it only for a sliort time, having been carried oft' by death in Uttle more than two montlis after bis elevation. He was succeeded in his rank, and in the
• He was accDmpanied by Saladin, who gin^atliBfollowinB account of bia qwd lepugnance lo Ihe expediiioa: — ''When Noor-ed-deBn ordered me to go to Hgypt with my uncle, after Sheerkoh had said to me in his presence, ' Come Yooasur, make ready foi the jaumey 1' I replied, 'By God, if thou weit to Kiie me Ihu kingdom nf Egypt I would not go, for 1 have (jadurad in Alexandria what 1 shall not forget while I live.' Bui Sheerkoh said to Noor-ed-deen, ' It cannot be but that he Bhoald accompany me.' Whereupon Noor-ed-deen rcpeatud his commaad, but I perabted in my refiual. As Noor-ed-deen also ndiiered to his delermioation, I excused myself by plend- ing the nariowneas of my circumstances. Noor ed-ileen Ihra
,e me all that was requisite for my outfit, l-ut I fi;lt as if 1
'going to death.''' — Abul/eila.
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command of the army, by his nephew Saladin, who now became iti effect master oF Egypt. Noor-ed- (leen, thinking the time was come for establishing the spiritual s vay of the house of Abbas, sent direc- tions to Saladin to fill all the offices which had been occupied by the Sheahs with the orthorlox, and hear prayer celebrated in the name of the Kiialil' of Bag- dad; but this prnHent chief, who knew that (he g'reat majority of the people of Egypt were firmly attached to the belief of tlie Fatimites being the rightful suc- cessors oi the Prophet, hesitated to comply. At length the death of t^ie FatiJiiite khalif occurred most oppor- tunely to free I'iin from embarrassment. Adhad- ladin-Allah. the last of the descendants of Moez-ladin- Alluh, tlie founder of the dynasty, died suddenly — of disease, according to the oriental historians, — by the h&nd of Saladin, according to the rumour wliich ivent amiing the Christians", All obstacles being now removed, public prayer was celebrated in the raosks of Egypt in the name of the Abbasside khalif, and the pinver of tlie western Ismailites, after a continu- ance oF 200 years, brought completely to an end.
Noor-ed-deen, who saw that the power of his lieu- tenant was now too great to be controlled, adopted the prudent plan of soothing him by titles and marks of confidence. The khidif of Bagdad sent him a dress of honour and a letter of thanks for having reduced under his spiritual dominion a province which had been so long rebellious against his house. But the mast important consequence of the timely death of the khalif to Saludiu was the auquisition of the accumulated treasures of the Fatimites, which fell into his hands, and which he employed as the means of securing the fidelity of hia officers and soldiers. As a specimen of oriental esaggeration, we shall give the list of these treasures as they are enumerated by • WilUaiuofTjre wc 12.
110 SECRET SOCIETIES.
eastern writers. There were, we are assured, no less than 700 pearls, each of which was of a size that rendered it inestimable, an emerald a span long, and as thick as the finger, a library consisting of 2,600,000 books, and gold, both coined and in the mass ; aloes, amber, and military arms and weapons past computation. A large portion of this enormous treasure was distributed by Saladin among his sol- diers ; the remainder was applied, during ten suc- cessive years, to defray the expenses of his . wars and buildings. As Saladin's name was Yoossuf (Joseph)^ the same with that of the son of Jacob, the minister of king Pharaoh, it is not an improbable supposition that, in Egyptian tradition, the two Josephs have been confounded, and the works of the latter been ascribed to the former ; for it is the cha- racter of popular tradition to leap over centuries, and even thousands of years, and to form out of several heroes one who is made to perform the actions of them all.
As long as Noor-ed-deen lived, Saladin continued to acknowledge his superiority; and when, on his death, he left his dominions to his son Malek-es- Saleh) the coins of Egypt bore the name of the young prince. As Malek-es-Saleh was a minor, and entirely under the guidance of the eunuch Kameshtegin, great discontent prevailed among the emirs ; and Seif-ed-deen (Sword of Religion), the cousin of the young prince, who was at the head of an army in Mesopotamia, prepared to wrest the dominion from the young Malek-es-Saleh. All eyes were turned to Saladin, as the only person ca- pable of preserving the country. He left Egypt with only 700 horsemen. The governor and people of Damascus cheerfully opened the gates to him. Hems and Hama followed the example of Damascus. Sa- Jadin took the government under the modest title of
THE ASSASSINS. 111.
lieutenant of the youn^ atabeg, whose rights he declared himself ready to maintain on all occasions. He advanced to Aleppo, where Mal^k-es-Saleh was residing ; but the militia of that town, moved by the tears of the young prince, who was probably influ- enced by the eunuch Kameshtegin, who feared to lose his power, marched out and put to flight the small force with which Saladin had approached the town. Having collected a larger army, Saladin laid siege regularly to Aleppo, and Kameshtegin, despair- ing of force, resolved to have recourse to treachery. He sent accordingly to Si nan, the Sheikh of the Assassins, who resided at Massyat, representing to him how dangerous a foe to the Ismailites was the valiant Koord, who was so ardent in his zeal for the house of Abbas, and had put an end to the dynasty of the Fatimites, who had so long given lustre to the maintainers of the rights of Ismail by the possession of extensive temporal power and dignity. He re- minded him that, if Saladin succeeded in his ambi- tious projects in Syria, he would, in all probability, turn his might against the Assassins, and destroy their power in that country. These arguments were enforced by gold, and the sheikh, readily yielding to them, despatched without delay three Fedavees, who lell on Saladin in the camp before Aleppo. The attempt, however, miscarried, and the murderers were seized and put to death. Saladin, incensed at this attempt on his life, and guessing well the quarter whence it came, now pressed on the siege with greater vigour.
Finding the benefit which might be derived from the daggers of the Fedavee, Kameshtegin resolved to employ them against his personal enemies. The vizir of the young prince, and two of the principal emirs, had laid a plot for his destruction. Coming to the knowledge of it, he determined to be beforehand with
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them, and, walcbing the moment when Malek-es- Saleh was about to mount hm horse to go to the chase, be approached him, ret[uesting his signature lo a blank paper, under pretence of its being neces- sary for some affair of urgent importance. The young prince signed his name without suspicion, and Kameshteg^n instantly wrote on the paper a letter to the Sheikh of the Assassins, in which Male k-es- Sale h was made to request liim to send men to put those three emirs out of the way. The Ismailite chief readily complied with the request, as be supposed it to be, of bis young friend and neighbour, and several Fedavees were despatched to execute his wishes. Tvo of these fell on the vizir as he was going out of the eastern gate of a mosk near bis own house. They were cut to pieces on the spot. Soon after three fell on the emir JVluJnbeed as he was on horseback. One of them caught hold of the end of his cloak, in order to make more sure of him, but the emir gave bis horse the spurs, and broke away, leaving his cloak behind. Tbe people seized the Assassins, two of whom were recognized as being acquaintances of the emir's head groom. One of them was crucitied, and along with, him tbe groom as an accomplice : on the breast of tbe latter was placed this inscription, " This is tbe reward of the concealer of Ibe Impious." Tbe others were dragged lo the castle, and beaten on the soles of their feet to make them confess what bad induced tbem to attempt the commission of such a crime. In the midst of his tortures one of tbem cried out, " Thou didst de»re of our lord Sinan the murder of thy slaves, and now thou ilost punish us for per- forming thy wishes." Full of wralh Malek-es-Saieh wrote a letter to the sheikh Sinan filled with the bit- terest reproaches. Tbe sbeikh made no other reply than that of sending him back the letter bearing his
jubscvlptioi
do not tell us what
THE ASSASSINS. 113
the final result was ; and it is also in a great measure uncertain at what time this event occurred.
The Assassins did not give over their attempts upon Saladin, whose power hecame more formidahle to them after he had deprived the family of Noor-ed- deen of their honours and dominions ; and he was again attacked hy them in his camp before the fortress of Ezag. One of them assailed him and wounded him in the head, but the sultan (he had now assumed that title) caught him by the arm and struck him down. A second rushed on — he was cut down by the guards ; a third, a fourth, shared the same fate. Terrified at their obstinate perseverance, the sultan shut himself up in his tent during several days, and ordered all strangers and suspicious persons to quit the camp.
Next year (1176) the sultan, being at peace with his other enemies, resolved to take exemplary ven- geance on those who had so unprovokedly attempted his life. Assembling an army, he entered the moun- tains, wasted with fire and sword the territory of the Ismai'lites, and came and laid siege to Massyat. The power of the Syrian Ismailites would have been now extinguished but for the intercession of the Prince of Hama, the sultan's uncle, who, at the entreaty of Sinan, prevailed on his nephew to grant a peace on condition of no attempt being made at any future time on his life. Sinan gladly assented to these terms, and he honourably kept his engagement, for the great Saladin reigned fifteen years after this time, carried on continual wars, conquered Jeru- salem and the Holy Land, exposed himself to dan- ger in the field and in the camp, but no Assassin was ever again known to approach him with hostile intentions.
s*
S£GRBT 8O0IKTt&S.
I I
IX.
SinuD the Dai-al-Kebir of Syria — OlTais to become a Chriitian — His AmbaBBadnr miirdeteJ by the Templan — Cuduial de Vitry'a Account of the Asa a9 sins— Muider ol the Maj> quii of Montl'eciat — Defence of King Richard.
Thb person who had the chief direction of the affaira of the society in Syria in the time of Saladin was one of the most remarkable characters which appear in the history of ihe Assassins. His name was Rasheed- ed-deen lOrlAodon in Religion) Sinan. Ihe son of Suleiman of Basra. Like so many others of the impostors who hove appeared from time to time in the east, he had the audacity to give himself out for an JDcarnation of the Divinity. No one ever saw him eat, drink, sleep, or even spit. His clothing was of coarse hair-cloth. From the rising to the setting of the sun he stood upon a lofty rock, preaching to the people, who received hia words as those of a superior being. Unfortunately for his credit, his auditors at length discovered that he bad a halt in his gait, caused by a wound which he received from a Blone in the great earthquake of 1 1 57. This did not accord with the popular idea of the perfection which should belong to the corporeal vehicle of Divinity. The credit of Sinan vanished at once, and those who had just been adoring the god now threatened to take the life of the impostor. Sinan lost not'his self-possession ; be calmly entreated them to be patient, descended from his rock, caused food to be brought, invited them to eat, and by the persuasive poirers of his eloquence iuduceA ftwm \»
THB ASSASSINB.
him as their ao\e chief, and all auanimously swore obedience and fidelity to him.
The neg;lect ol' chronolo^ by the oriental histo- rians, or their European translators and followers, is frequently such that we are left in g'reat uncertainty as to the exact time of particular events, and are thus unable to trace them to their real causes and occa- sions. The mention of the earthquake of 1157 would however seem to make it probable that it was about that time that Sinan put forward his claims to divinity; and as, at that very period, Hassan, the son of Ke^h Mohammed, was giving himself out for the promised imam, we may suppose that it was his example which stimulated Sinan to his bold attempt at obtaining independent dominion over the Syrian branch of tlie IsmE^lJtes.
Sinan was, like Hassan, a man of considerable learning. His works are lield in high estimation by the remains of the sect of the Ismailitea still linger- ing among the mountwns of Syria. These works, we are told, consist of a chaotic mixture of mutilated passages of the Gospel and the Koran, of contradic- tory articles of belief, of hymns, prayers, sermons, and regulations, which are unintelligible even to those who receive and venerate (hem.
The sacred books ol the Christians formed, as we see, a part of the studies of the Sheikh of Massyat, and, as it would appear, he thought he might derive Borne advantage from his acquaintance with them. The religio-military society of the Knights of the Temple, whose history we shall soon have to record, had possessions in the neighbourhood of those of the Assassins, and their superior power had enabled them, at what time is uncertain, to render the latter tribu- tary. The tribute was the annual sum of 2,000 duCBts, and Sinan, to whom probably all religions 4ile alike, and who had unbounded power over the
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minds of his people, conceived the idea of releasing; himself from it by prolessinii the same religion with his neighbours. He acci rilingly seni, in tiie year 1IT2, one of his must prudent and eloquent, minislers on a seciet embassy lo Auialric Kiiip; ol Jerusalem, offering, in the mime of liimsel'' und liis peop'e, to etnbriice the Ciiri-tian religion, and receive the rile of baptism, provided the king would enguge to make the Templars renounce the tribute of ^,(J00 ducats, and B^ree to live wiih them henceforward as good neighbours and friends and brethren. Overjoyed at the prospect iif making converts of such importance, the king readily assen.ed to the desires oi the la- ma'ilite chief, and he at the same time assured the Templars that their house should not be a loser, as he would pay them 2,000 ducats annually out of his treasury. The brethren of the Temple made no ob- jection to the arrangement ; and alter the Ismailite ambassador had been delalnid and treated honour- ably Ibr some days by the king, he set out on his Kturn, accompanied by a g'uide and escort sent by the king to conduct him as far as the borders of the Ismailite territory. They passed in safety through the country of Tripolis, and were now in the vicinity of the first castles of the Ismailite^, when suddenly some Templars rushed forth from an ambush, and murdered the ambassador. The Templars were commanded by a knight named Walter du Mesnil, a one-eyed, daring, wicked man, but who, on tliis occa- sion, it would appear, acted by the orders of his supe- riors, who probably did not consider the royal promise good security for the 2,000 ducats ; for, when Amalric, filled with indignation at the base and perfidious action, assembled his barons at Sidon to deliberate on what sliould be done, and by their advice sent two of their number to Ado de St. Amand, the Master of the Temple, to demand satisfaction for the iniqui-
THE ASSASSINS. 117
tous deed, the master contented himself by saying that he had imposed a penance on brother Du Mesnil, and had moreover directed him to proceed to Rome without delay, to know what farther the apostolic father would order him to do, and that, on this ac- count he must, in the name of the pope, prohibit any violence against the aforesaid brother. The king, however, was not regardless of justice and of his own dignity. Shortly afterwards, when the master and several of the Templars were at Sidon, he assembled his council again, and, with their consent, sent and dragged Du Mesnil from the house of the Templars, and threw him into prison, where he would probably have expiated his crime but for the speedy death of the king. All hopes of the conversion of the Ismail- jtes were now at an end.
It is on this occasion that the Archbishop of Tyre gives an account of what he had been able to learn respecting the Assassins. As what we have previously related of them has been exclusively drawn from eastern sources, it will not be useless to insert in this place the accounts of them given by the Cardinal de Vitry, who has followed and enlarged the sketch of the archbishop*.
" Jn the province of Phoenicia, near the borders of the Antaradensian town which is now called Tortosa, dwells a certain people, shut in on all sides by rocks and mountains, who have ten castles, very strong and impregnable, by reason of the narrow ways and inac- cessible rocks, with their suburbs and the valleys, which are most fruitful in all species of fruits and corn, and most delightful for their amenity. The number of these men, who are called Assassins, is said to exceed 40,000t. They set a captain over
* Gesta Dei per Francos, vol. i. pp. 994, 1062. MRTilliam of Tyre makes their number 60,000. He declares hiBinability to give the origin of the name A»&«A!9iuQi»*
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themselves, not by hereditaiy succession, but by the prero^tive (if merit, whom they call the Old Maa (Veterem seu fiewvi), uot so much on account of iiis advanced a^a aa for his pre-emineace in prudence and dig;nity. The first and principal oiftoi of this unhappy religion of theirs, and the place nhere they had their origin and whence they came to Syria, is in the very remote parts of the east, near the city of Ba^itd and the parts of the province of Persia. These people, who do not divide the hoof, nor make a dilference between what is sacred and what is prolane, believe that ail obedience indifferently shown by them towards their superior is meritorious for eternal life. Hence they are bound to their master, whom they call the Old Man, with such a bond of subjection and obe- dience that there is nothing' so diHicuIt or so danger- ous that they would fear to undertake, or which they would not perform with a cheerfiil mind and ardent will, at the command of their lord. The Old Man, their lord, causes boys of this people to be brought up in secret and delightful places, and having: ^'^ them diligently trained and instructed in the difterent kinds of languages, sends them to various provinces with daggers, and orders them to slay the great men of the Christians, as well as of the Saracens, either be- cause he is at enmity with them for some cause or other, or at the request of his friends, or even for the lucre of a large sum of money which has been given him, promising them, for the execution of this com- mand, that they shall have far greater delights, and without end, in paradise, after death, than even those amidst which they had been reared. If they chance to die in this act of obedience they are regarded as martyrs by their companions, and being placed by that people among their saints, are held in the greatest reverenix. Their parents are enriched with mwiy ffUls bj the master, who b caUed ihe Old Man, and
THK ASSASSINS.
if they were slaves they are let gu free ever after. Whence these wretched and misguided youths, who are sent from the convent (convenfu) of the aforesaid brethren to dilTercnt parts of the world, undertake their deadly legation with such joy and delif^ht, and perform it with such dili^nce and solicitude, trans- forming thetnselves in various ways, and assuming the manners and dress of other nations, sometimes concealing themselves under the appearance of mer- chants, ut other times under that of priests and monks, and in an infinity of other modes, that there is hardly any person in the whole world ro cautious
8 to be able to guard against their machinations.
Hiey disdain to plot afrainst an inferior person. The m to whom they are hostile either redeem
lemselves by a lartiv sum of money, or, going armed lad attended by a body of guards, pass their life in lUpicion and in dread of death. They kept the law
f Mahomet and his institutions diligently and straitly kfeyond all other Saracens till the times of a certain
aster of theirs, who, being endowed with natural
mius, and exercised in the study of diHerent writ-
IgB, began with all diligence to read and examine
le law of the Christians and the Gospels of Christ, fdmiring the virtue of the miracles, and the sanctity 1 the doctrine. From a comparison with these he a to abominate the frivolous and irrational doc- 1 of Mahomet, and at length, when he knew the
mth, he studied In recall his subjects by degrees from s of the cursed law. Wherefore he exhorted P%bd commanded them that they should drink wine in moderation and eat the flesh of swine. At teug^h, after many discourses and serious admonitions of tiieir teacher, they all with one consent agreed to re- nounce the perfidy of Mahomet, and, by receiving
f ^ace of baptism, to become Christians."
'e may, from this account, perceive that the Cm-
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SECBET SOCIETIES.
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I
eaders hod a tolerably clear idea of the nature and constitution of llie society of the Assassins. Tlie Cardinal de Vitry plainly describes them as forming a religion, that is, an order under an abbot; and perhaps the resemblance which Hammer traces be- tween them and tlie Templars, which we shall notice when we come to speak of this last society, is not quite so fanciful as it might at first sight appear. It is curious, too, to observe that the Christians also be- lieved that the Sheikh-al-Jebal had some mode of inspiring the Fedavee with a contempt of life and an aspiration after the joys of paradise.
The dagger had not been unsheathed against the Christian princes since, forty-two years before (1 ] 49), Raymond, the young Count of Tripolis, was mur- dered as he knelt at his devotions, and the altar was sprinkled with his blood. A more illustrious vic- tim was now to bleed ; and, as llie question of who was the real author of liis death forms a curious his- torical problem, we shall here discuss it at some length.
Conrad Marquis of Monlferrat, a name celebrated in the history of the third crusade, had just been named King of Jerusalem by Richard Lion-beart King of England. In the latter end of the month of April 1192 the marquis, being at Tyre, went to dine with the Bishop of fieauvais. One writer says that, the marchioness having stayed too long in the bath, anil t)ie marquis being averse to dining alone, he mounted his horse and rode to dine with the Bishop; but, finding that that prelate had already finished his meal, he was returning home to his pa- lace. Aa he passed through a narrow street, and was come near the toll-house, two Assassins, having watched their opportunity, approached him. The one presented a petition, and, while he was engaged reading it, both struck him with their daggers, crying.
THE ASSASSINS. 121
" Thou tha't be neither marquis nor king." One of them was cut down instantly, the other sought refuse in a neighbouring cluuch, and, according to an Am- bian historian, when the woundeil marquis was brought into the same church, he rushed on him anew, and completed his crime. Otiiers relate that the man|uis was carried home to his palace, where he lived long enough to receive the holy sacrament and to give his last instructions to his wife. The two accounts, we may perceive, are by no means repug-
These Assassins, who were both youths, had been for some time — six months it is said — in Tyre, watch- ing for an opportunity to perform the commiHsion which had been given them. They had feigned a conversion from Islam, or, as some say, had assumed the habit of monks, in order to win the confidence of the marquis, and thus procure more ready access to him. One of them, we are told, hafl even entered his service, and the other that of Balian of Ibelin.
The question now comes, at whose instigation was the murder commitledV Here we tind several both oriental and occidental witnesses disposed to lay the guilt on Richard, King of England, those writers who were hia own subjects indignantly repelling the accu- sation, and some indifferent witnesses testifying in his favour. Previous to examining these witnesses we must state that king Richard was at enmity with Philip Augustus, King of France ; that though he had given the crown of Jerusalem to the Marguis of Monticrrat, there was little kind feeling between them, and they had been enemies; and, hnally, that the history of the English monarch eshihits no traits of 'such a generous chivalrous disposition as should put him beyond suspicion of being concerned hi an assassination.
Of the writers who charge king Richard with the
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murder it is to be observed that the only ones that are contemporary are the Arabian historians. The following; passage is quoted from the History of Jerusalem and Hebron, by Hammer, who regards it as quite detisive of the guilt of the English king: — "The marquis went, on the 13th of the month Rebi-al-Ewal, lo visit the Bishop of Tyre. As he was going out he was attacked by two Assassins, who slew him with their daggers. When taken and stretched on the rack, they confessed that they had been employed by the King of England. They died under the torture." Boha-ed-deen, the friend and biographer of Saladin, writes to tlie same ettecl. It is therefore evident that, at the time, it was reported that the marquis had been murdered by persons em- ployed by the King of England ; and Vinisauf and the other English writers assure us that the French party and the friends of the murdered marquis en- deavoured to throw the odium of the deed on king Riehard. As that mode of getting rid of an enemy was far too familiar in the east, it was natural enough [hat the Arabian writers should adopt the report without much inquiry. This consideration alone ought very much to invaJidate (heir testimony. Some German chroniclers also, following the reports which were industriously spread lo the disadvantage of the English king at the time he was a prisoner in Austria, did not hesitate to accuse him of the murder of the marquis; but, as has been justly observed, these, as well .as the preceding, were either partial or at a distance*.
In opposition to these assertions, we have the unaui- mous testimony of all the English writers, such as Viiilsauf (the companion and hisloriiin of king Rich- ard'e crusade), Hoveden, Brompton, William of New-
- RaumGr, Gi-schiciile der HohL-nitaulftn, ii,, p. 490. Wil-