236 ISLAM AT WAR
Seljuqs in Iran. After learning who had perpetrated this attack, the Seljuqs
attempted to reduce the Eagle’s Nest but failed.
This particular assassination went into legend, and its horror was en-
hanced by the declaration that Nizam and Hasan had studied together,
along with the poet Omar Khayyam, under the learned Muwaffaq of Nis-
hapur. The legend goes that these two had sworn an oath to aid each other
throughout life, which in the eyes of Islam made the assassination all the
more terrible.
So successful was Hasan that he expanded his influence into Syria. Here
he established several “lodges” eventually centered near the Syrian coastal
fortress of Banyas.
By the time of the Crusades the Assassins found ready allies in the
Franks. The Assassins were quite willing to work with the crusaders,
whom they considered no more odious than their Sunni Muslim foes. The
crusaders of Antioch profited from the murder of the Emir of Apamea, so
their alliance with the Assassins may well have begun as early asA.D.
- The Assassins were on friendly terms with Tancred, the great Nor-
man warlord who became Prince of Antioch.
It is certainly true that the Assassins made miserable allies. It is difficult
to reproduce the mindset of a ruler who would accept as friend those who
make political murder a practice. Buzurg-Ummed, one of the earliest As-
sassin grand masters, was welcomed by Emir Toghtekin, the ruler of Da-
mascus. In that city, the cult became prominent but also aroused the
antipathy of the local populace—they were Sunni Muslims, and the As-
sassins were Shia. Buzurg appealed to the Emir, who, in 1126 granted
him the fortress of Banyas.
This clever move on Toghtekin’s part gave his ally a base secure from
the sophisticated and hostile Damascenes, but it also put Buzurg square
in the path of a likely advance by the Christian Crusader states. In this
way Emir Toghtekin would have solved two problems at once—he would
honor his word and at the same time secure a dangerous frontier. Assassin
leader Buzurg had other ideas. After renewing his fortifications, he im-
mediately began terrorizing the local population and made plans to murder
his benefactor.
In the event, Toghtekin died without Buzurg’s assistance, and Buzurg
himself alienated one local tribesman too many. He was killed in a border
skirmish with a tribe whose leader he had ordered killed. But the hostilities
and animosity did not die with the principals. As was so often the case
with medieval societies, the struggle became hereditary.
Buzurg’s grandson Hasan eventually took power and declared himself
theIsmail—or promised Imam and Caliph of God. He took the name
Ismail, and went about the normal business of the assassins.