Editing Order of Assassins (section)

===The next generation===

In 1124, Hassan-i Sabbah died, leaving a legacy that reverberated throughout the Middle East for centuries. He was succeeded at Alamut by [[Kiya Buzurg Ummid]].

The appointment of a new ''da'i'' at Alamut may have led the Seljuks to believe the Assassins were in a weakened position, and Ahmad Sanjar launched an attack on them in 1126. Led by Sanjar's vizier Mu'in ad-Din Kashi, the Seljuks again struck at [[Quhistan]] and also [[Nishapur]] in the east, and at [[Rudbar]] to the north. In the east, the Seljuks had minor successes at a village near [[Sabzevar]], where the population was destroyed, their leader leaping from the mosque's minaret, and at Turaythirth in Nishapur, where the attackers "killed many, took much booty, and then returned." At best, the results were not decisive, but superior to the routing the Seljuks received in the north, with one expedition driven back, losing their previous booty, and another having a Seljuk commander captured. In the end, the Isma'ili position was better than before the offensive. In the guise of a peace offering of two Arabian horses, Assassins gained the confidence of Mu'in ad-Din Kashi and killed him in 1127.<ref>Lewis (2003), pp. 64–65</ref>

At the same time, in Syria, a Persian named [[Bahram al-Da'i]], the successor to Abu Tahir al-Sa’igh who had been executed in Aleppo in 1113, appeared in Damascus reflecting cooperation between the Assassins and Toghtekin, including a joint operation against the Crusaders. Bahram, a Persian from Asterabad (present-day [[Gorgan]]), had lived in secrecy after the expulsion of the Assassins from Aleppo and was the nephew of the Assassin Abu Ibrahim al-Asterbadi who had been executed by Berkyaruq in 1101.<ref>Lewis (2003), pp. 52–53</ref> Bahram was most likely behind the murder of [[Aqsunqur al-Bursuqi|al-Bursuqi]] in 1126, whose assassination may have been ordered by the Seljuk sultan [[Mahmud II (Seljuq sultan)|Mahmud II]]. He later established a stronghold near [[Banias]]. During an attack on the Lebanese valley of [[Wadi al-Taym]], Bahram captured and tortured to death a local chieftain named Baraq ibn Jandal. In retaliation, his brother Dahhak ibn Jandal killed Bahram in 1127.<ref>{{cite book|title=A History of the Crusades, Volume Two: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187|last=Runciman|first=Steven|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1952|pages=178–179}}</ref> So great was the fear and hatred of the Assassins that the messenger delivering Bahram's head and hands to Cairo was rewarded with a robe of honor. That fear was justified as caliph [[al-Amir bi-Ahkam Allah]] was murdered at court in 1130 by ten Assassins.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|pp=118–119}}

The Isma'ili response to the Seljuk invasion of 1126 was multi-faceted. In Rudbar, a new and powerful fortress was built at Maymundiz and new territories acquired. To the east, the Seljuk stronghold of [[Sistan]] was raided in 1129.<ref>Lewis (2003), p. 65</ref> That same year, Mahmud II, son of Muhammad I Tapar, and sultan of Isfahan, decided to sue for peace with Alamut.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of the Crusades: Volume One, The First Hundred Years|last=Baldwin, Marshall W., and Setton, Kenneth M|publisher=The University of Wisconsin Press|year=1969|page=175}}</ref> Unfortunately, the Isma'ili envoys to Mahmud II were lynched by an angry mob following their audience with the sultan. The demand by Kiya Buzurg Ummid for punishment of the perpetrators was refused. That prompted an Assassin attack on [[Qazvin]], resulting in the loss of 400 lives in addition to a Turkish emir. A counterattack on Alamut was inconclusive.<ref>Lewis (2003), pp. 65–66</ref>

In Syria, Assassin leader Bahram was replaced by another mysterious Persian named Isma'il al-'Ajami who, like Bahram, was supported by al-Mazdaghani, the pro-Isma'ili vizier to Toghtekin. After the death of Toghtekin in 1128, his son and successor Taj a-Mulk Buri began working to free Damascus of the Assassins, supported by his military commander [[Yusuf ibn Firuz]]. al-Mazdaghani was murdered and his head publicly displayed. The Damascenes turned on the Assassins, leaving "dogs yelping and quarreling over their limbs and corpses." At least 6000 Assassins died, and the rest, including Isma'il (who had turned Banias over to the Franks), fled to Frankish territory. Isma'il was killed in 1130, temporarily disabling the Assassins' Syrian mission. Nevertheless, Alamut organized a counterstrike, with two Persian Assassins disguised as Turkish soldiers striking down Buri in 1131. The Assassins were hacked to pieces by Buri's guards, but Buri died of his wounds the following year.<ref>''A History of the Crusades, Volume Two:  The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East, 1100–1187'', p. 179</ref><ref>Lewis (2003), pp. 106–107</ref>

Mahmud II died in 1131 and his brother [[Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud]] (Mas'ud) was recognized as successor by Abbasid caliph [[al-Mustarshid]].<ref>A History of the Crusades:  The First Hundred Years, p. 456</ref> The succession was contested by Mahmud's son and other brothers, and al-Mustarshid was drawn into the conflict. The caliph al-Mustarshid was taken prisoner by Seljuk forces in 1135 near [[Hamadan]] and pardoned with the proviso that he abdicate. Left in his tent studying the Quran, he was murdered by a large group of Assassins. Some suspected Mas'ud and even Ahmad Sanjar with complicity, but the chronicles of contemporaneous Arab historians [[Ali ibn al-Athir|ibn al-Athir]] and [[ibn al-Jawzi]] do not bear that out. The Isma'ilis commemorated the caliph's death with seven days and nights of celebration.<ref>Lewis (2003), p. 66</ref>

The reign of Buzurg Ummid ended with his death in 1138, showing a relatively small list of assassinations.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|p=108}} He was succeeded by his son [[Muhammad Buzurg Ummid]], sometimes referred to as Kiya Muhammad.<ref>Lewis (2003), pp. 67–68</ref>

The Abbasids' celebration of the death of the Assassin leader Buzurg Ummid was short-lived. The son and successor of the last high-profile victim of the Assassins, al-Mustarshid, was [[Ar-Rashid (1109–1138)|ar-Rashid]]. Ar-Rashid was deposed by his uncle [[al-Muqtafi]] in 1136 and, while recovering from an illness in Isfahan, was murdered by Assassins. The addition of a second caliph to the Assassins' so-called "role of honor" of victims again resulted in a week of celebration at Alamut. Another significant success was the assassination of the son of Mahmud II, Da'ud, who ruled in [[Azerbaijan]] and [[Jibal]]. Da'ud was felled by four Assassins in [[Tabriz]] in 1143, rumored to have been dispatched by [[Imad ad-Din Zengi|Zengi]], atabeg of Mosul.<ref>Lewis (2003), p. 68</ref><ref>''A History of the Crusades: The First Hundred Years'', pp. 168–169</ref>

The decades after the assassination of al-Mustarshid showed an expansion of Assassin castles in [[Syrian Coastal Mountain Range|Jabal Bahrā']], to the northwest of their Syrian fortresses in [[Harim Mountains|Jabal as-Summaq]]. In 1132, Saif al-Mulk ibn Amrun, emir of al-Kahf, recovered the fortress of [[al-Qadmus]] from the Franks, known to them as ''Bokabeis.'' He then sold the fortress to the Assassins in 1133. This was followed by the ceding of [[al-Kahf Castle]] itself to Assassin control in 1138 by Saif's son Musa in the midst of a succession struggle. These were followed by the acquisition of the castle at [[Masyaf Castle|Masyaf]] in 1140 and of [[Khawabi|Qala'at al-Khawabi]], known to the Crusaders as ''La Coible'', in 1141.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|p=119}}

Relatively little is recorded concerning Assassin activity during this period until the [[Second Crusade]]. In 1149, an Assassin named Ali ibn-Wafa allied with [[Raymond of Poitiers]], son of [[William IX, Duke of Aquitaine|William IX of Aquitaine]], to defend the borders of the Principality of Antioch against [[Zengid dynasty|Zengid]] expansion. The forces met at the [[battle of Inab]], with Zengi's son and heir [[Nur ad-Din (died 1174)|Nur ad-Din]] defeating the Franks, killing both Raymond and ibn-Wafa.<ref>{{Cite book|title=God's War: A New History of the Crusades|last=Tyerman|first=Christopher|author-link =Christopher Tyerman| publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2006|page=344}}</ref> Nur ad-Din would again foil the Assassins in 1158, incorporating a castle at [[Shaizar#Hashashin, Zengid and Mamluk periods (1158-1260)|Shaizar]] that they had occupied after the [[1157 Hama earthquake|1157 earthquake]] into his territory. Two assassinations are known from this period. In a revenge attack, Dahhak ibn Jandal, the Wadi al-Taym chieftain who had killed Assassin ''da'i'' Bahram in 1127, died from an Assassin's blade in 1149. A few years later in 1152, possibly in retaliation to the establishment of the [[Knights Templar]] at [[Tartus]], [[Raymond II, Count of Tripoli|Raymond II]], count of Tripoli, was killed by Assassins. This marked the first known Christian victim.{{sfn|Lewis|1969|p=120}}