238 ISLAM AT WAR
roused from their slumbers and quickly made themselves separate from the
main branch of the order. InA.D. 1173 Rashid sent to the Christian warlord
Amalric a note suggesting that they form a close alliance aimed against
both Saladin and Nur al-Din. He subtly suggested that he and his flock were
considering conversion to Christianity. He also sought to have cancelled
the tribute paid by various Assassin villages to the Templars at Tortosa.
The Templars, however, unwilling to accept this loss of income, acted.
Walter of Mesnil, acting on the orders of his grand master, ambushed the
envoys and murdered them near Tripoli. King Amalric was horrified and
sent troops to deal with the situation. He had Walter kidnapped and thrown
into prison in Tyre. The Assassins were assured that justice would be done
and accepted the apology. Relations between the Assassins and the Chris-
tian crusaders stabilized.
The following year both Amalric and Nur al-Din died and the Assassins
concentrated their focus on the elimination of Saladin. They made several
unsuccessful attempts. During the first attempt all the Assassins were
killed—one of them actually succeeded in penetrating Saladin’s tent. In
the second attempt, only a small mail cap saved Saladin’s life from an
Assassin’s dagger. Threefedaisinvolved in the plot had succeeded in
enrolling in his personal bodyguard.
Saladin became convinced that action was required, and inA.D. 1176
he marched into the Nosairi Mountains and attacked the Assassin’s inter-
ests in that region, laying waste to the territory and besieging their main
fortress at Masyaf. The new Assassin grand master, Sheikh Sinan, was
away when the attack began. He hurried home and some “mysterious
power” prevented Saladin’s men from capturing him. Saladin began hav-
ing terrible dreams. One morning he awoke to find on his bed some hot
cakes of the type that only the Assassins baked. With them was a poison
dagger and a piece of paper with a threatening verse. Saladin believed that
the Old Man of the Mountains had personally been in the tent. Saladin’s
nerves failed and he sent a messenger to Sinan requesting forgiveness for
his sins and promising, in return for a safe-conduct, to leave the Assassins
undisturbed. Sinan accepted the proposal and a treaty was made between
them. It is interesting that the Assassins had such good intelligence that
they could not only penetrate Saladin’s defenses, but that they also knew
that he was of more use to them alive. This story, by the way, sounds
unlike Saladin.
For a period the Assassins were certainly neutral, if not tacitly on the
Muslim side of the Crusades. InA.D. 1192 Conrad of Montferrat was
murdered by the Assassins at the orders of Sinan, just before he was to
become king of Jerusalem.