The History of the Assassins, Derived from Oriental Sources

by Freiherr von Joseph Hammer-Purgstall

Hither came Shemseddin Kurt and Emir Arghun, from Khorassan, offering him its homage, and from hence he sent ambassadors to the princes of the surrounding countries, with this message: “By command of the khan, I am advancing against the Assassins, to destroy them: if ye will support me in this enterprise, your trouble shall be rewarded—your country protected; but if ye conduct yourselves negligently, I will, after having finished this affair, advance against you; so shall ye know it—it is foretold to you.” As soon as the news of the approach of his victorious standard was spread abroad, ambassadors appeared from Rum, from Sultan Rokneddin, Prince of the Seljuks in Fars, from the Atabeg Saad of Irak, Aserbijan, Kurdjistan, and Shirwan, to offer the homage of their masters.

The beginning of the month Silhidje, in the 553rd year of the Hegira, Hulaku crossed the Oxus by a temporary bridge, and amused himself by lion hunting on the hither side. Here winter overtook him, and the cold was so severe, that most of his horses perished. He was compelled to wait till spring, when Arghun Khan appeared at his command in the camp; the political affairs of the latter were conducted by his son Gherai, Ahmed Bitegi, and Khoja Alaeddin Ata-mulk, the vizier, writer of the celebrated historical work Jehan Kusha (Conqueror of the World). Hulaku marched from Shirgan to Khawaf whence being himself attacked with indisposition, he despatched his general, Kayu Kanian, on the conquest of Kuhistan. He went himself to Tus, the native city of the greatest Persian poet, astronomer, and vizier, Ferdusi, Nassireddin, and Nisam-ol-mulk; the renowned burial-place of the Imam Ali Ben Mussa Risa, and established his quarters in a newly-laid out garden of Arghun Aka. From thence he went to Manssuriye, where the wives of Arghun and his lieutenant, Aseddin Taher, gave him a sumptuous banquet. He then sent the Prince Shemseddin Kurt as ambassador to Nassireddin Mohtashem, Rokneddin’s governor in Sertakht. Although an old man, Nassireddin, the first patron of the astronomer of the same name, who has immortalized his memory by his ethical work dedicated to him, nevertheless accompanied the envoy in person, to the camp of Hulaku, who loaded him with marks of distinction.

Hulaku, on arriving on his march at Junushan, commanded the place, which had formerly been destroyed by the Mongols, to be rebuilt, at the public expense; he then returned to Khirkan, where he sent another embassy to Rokneddin Kharshah, the lord of Alamut, summoning him to obedience and submission. Rokneddin had just ascended the throne, still reeking with the blood of his father, and followed in his political conduct the treacherous advice of his vizier, the great astronomer, Nassireddin of Tus. The latter had presented a work to the Khalif Mostrassem: for which, instead of receiving honours and rewards, as he expected, he only gained contempt and insult. Alkami, the khalif’s vizier, jealous of Nassireddin, objected to the work, that, in the dedication, the title of “Vicegerent of God on Earth,” was wanting; and the khalif, who thought it badly written, threw it into the Tigris.[252]

From this moment, the insulted savant swore vengeance against the vizier and the khalif, and fled to Alamut, where the grand-master still clutched his dagger, beneath which more than one vizier and one khalif had already fallen. As the grand-master, however, did not interest himself with sufficient earnestness in Nassireddin’s revenge, or did not expedite it quickly enough, for the approach of Hulaku drew the attention of the order away from the khalif to the consideration of their own defence; and as, according to all probability, the citadel of the Ismailites would, at length, be obliged to succumb to the hosts of the Mongols, Nassireddin immediately changed his plan and designs. He resolved, in the first instance, to deliver up his master, and the castles of the Assassins, to the advancing victor, in order to ensure, by treachery, the means to his ultimate revenge, and to pave the way for the destruction of the khalif’s throne, with the ruins of the order. He thus extended the prospect of his revenge, and his joy at the fall of his foes took a wider compass. The vizier and the khalif would only have bled under the poniards of the Assassins; the burning brands of the Mongols, however, menaced the conflagration of the capital, and the whole edifice of the khalifat. The lust of destruction must have been great in that mind, which could sacrifice the Assassins to its revenge, because they unsheathed their daggers too slowly for his purpose.

By the advice of Nassireddin, Rokneddin Kharshah sent to Baissur Nubin, Hulaku’s general, who had already reached Hamadan, an embassy of submission, and expressing his desire to live in peace with every one. Baissur Nubin answered, that as Hulaku was not far off, Rokneddin would do best to go to him in person. After several messages, it was determined, that Rokneddin should send his brother Shehinshah in Baissur’s suite to Hulaku. Shehinshah addressed himself to Baissur, and the latter gave him his own son, as escort on his way to Hulaku; he himself, however, by command of his lord, entered the district of Alamut, with his army, on the 10th of the month Jemesi-ul-ewel, in the 654th year of the Hegira.[253] The Assassins and the troops of the order occupied a height near Alamut, which they defended obstinately against the Mongols. The rock was steep, and the occupying party numerous. The assailants, compelled to abandon the attack, burned the houses of the Ismailites, and ravaged the fields. While this happened near Alamut, and after Shehinshah had arrived at Hulaku’s quarters, the latter sent an envoy to Rokneddin, with the command as follows:—“Because Rokneddin has sent his brother to us, we pardon him the guilt of his father and his partisans; he himself, who has, during his short reign, as yet proved himself guilty of no crime, shall destroy his castles, and repair to us.”

At the same time, Baissur received orders to suspend the ravaging of the province of Rudbar. After the arrival of these orders, Rokneddin caused some of the battlements of Alamut to be knocked down, and Baissur withdrew his troops from Rudbar. By order of Rokneddin, Sadreddin Sungi, one of the most respectable of the order, went, accompanied by an envoy of Hulaku’s, to the latter’s camp, to announce submissively to him, that the prince of the Assassins had already begun to demolish his castles, and that he was proceeding in the work of destruction; that he, however, dreading the presence of Hulaku, requested the term of a year, after the lapse of which, he would appear at his court. Hulaku sent back Sadreddin, the Ismailite envoy, accompanied by one of his basikakis, or officers, and wrote to the grand-master:—“If Rokneddin’s submission be sincere, let him come to the imperial camp, and cede to Basikaki, the deliverer of this letter, the defence of his country.”

Rokneddin, misled by his evil genius, and the ill advice of Nassireddin, delayed his obedience to this command. He sent the vizier, Shemseddin Keilaki, and his cousin, Seifeddin Sultan Melik Ben Kia Manssur, again, with ambassadors, to Hulaku, to cloak his refusal to appear in person, under bad excuses. He commanded, at the same time, his governors and commanders of Kuhistan and Kirdkuh, to hasten to the Mongol camp, and to proffer their homage.

As soon as Hulaku reached Demawend, which lies immediately on the mountains of the Assassins, he despatched the vizier, Shemseddin Keilaki, to Kirdkuh, to bring the commander of that fortress into the camp, in pursuance of Rokneddin’s command; one of the envoys, who had accompanied the vizier and Rokneddin’s cousin to the camp, was sent, on the same mission, to Kuhistan, and the latter proceeded, with Hulaku’s ambassador, to the castle of Maimundis, where Rokneddin had established his residence, in order to inform him that “the ruler of the world had now advanced as far as Demawend; there was now no longer any time for delay; but if he wished to wait a few days, he might, in the meanwhile, send his son.” These ambassadors arrived at Maimundis the beginning of Ramadan, and gave the intelligence that Hulaku’s victorious standards were floating on the frontiers, and communicated his commands. At this news, Rokneddin and his people fell into stupid astonishment and helpless terror. He answered the ambassador that he was ready to send his son, but then, urged by the persuasion of his wives and short-sighted advisers, he delivered to the envoy the child of a slave, who, being of the same age as his son, was substituted for him, and requested that Hulaku would allow his brother, Shehinshah, who was still at his court, to return. Hulaku, who was already on the confines of Rudbar, easily unmasked the imposture, and, without betraying his discovery, sent back the child, two days after, with the information that, on account of his youth, the khan would not detain him; and that, if he had an elder brother, he might be sent into the camp, in exchange for Shehinshah, who would then be permitted to return.