The Hassansins is where we get the name assassins. they were lead by a man named Hassan-i Sabbah he is also known as the old man of the mountain. The origins of the Assassins can be traced back to just before the first crusade, around 1080. There has been great difficulty finding out much information about the origins of the Assassins because most early sources are written by enemies of the order, are based on legends, or both. Most sources dealing with the order’s inner workings were destroyed with the capture of Alamut, the Assassins’ headquarters, by the mongols in 1256.
However, it is possible to trace the beginnings of the cult back to its first Grandmaster, Hassan-i Sabbah. Hassan using his fame and popularity to amass followers. After creating the order Hassan searched for a location that would fit the purpose as a headquarters. It is unknown if Hassan built the fortress or he took it over. After obtain the h. q. hassan began expanding his influence to towns and districts he started to gain political favour and to intimidate the local populations. Hassan never left the fortress in this lifetime. Hasan lived for thirty-four years after his acquisition of Alamut.
On only two occasions since then had he even left his room: yet he ruled an invisible empire as great and as fearsome as any man before – or since. He seemed to realize that death was almost upon him, and calmly began to make plans for the perpetual continuance of the Order of the Assassins. The Organization of the Order, under Hasan, called for Missionaries (Dayes), Friends (Rafiq) who were disciples, and Fidavis, devotees. The last group had been added by Hasan to the Ismaili original, and these were the trained killers. Fidavis wore white, with a girdle, cap or boots of red.
In addition to careful coaching in where and when to place the dagger in the victim’s bosom, they were trained in such things as languages, the dress and manners of monks, merchants and soldiers, many of whom they were ready to impersonate in carrying out their missions. The chief was known as Sayedna (Our Prince, Leader), and popularly (because of the mountain stronghold of Alamut), as the Sheikh of the Mountain. This is the figure referred to in Crusaders’ writings as ‘Sydney’, or ‘Senex de Monte’, the first word being a literal translation of the word ‘Pir’: Persian for Ancient, or Sage.
There were three Great Missionaries, who ruled three territories. After the Friends and Fidavis came the Laziks, aspirants who were being trained for membership of the society, but were as yet uninitiated. after the fall of alamut Buzurg-Umid (‘Great Promise’), the second Grand Master, maintained the power of the Assassins on much the same pattern: building new forts, gaining fresh converts, terrorizing those whom he did not want to have killed and using them to further his designs of world conquest.
Sultan Sanjar of Persia, in spite of several expeditions against the Viper’s Nest, as Alamut was now being called, could do little about him. Ambassadors on each side were slain; a notable religious leader was captured by the Assassins, given a mock trial and flung into a furnace. The Grand Master at this time seldom put on the field more than two thousand men at a time: but it must be remembered that they were killers acting under an iron discipline, and more than a match for any organized army that they might ever have to face. Now the Order began to spread in Syria, where the continued contact with the Crusaders was established.
The Assassins were eradicated by the Mongol Empire during the well-documented invasion of Khwarizm. They probably dispatched their assassins to kill Mongke Khan. Thus, a decree was handed over to the Mongol commander Kitbuga who began to assault several Hashashin fortresses in 1253 before Hulagu’s advance in 1256. The Mongols besieged Alamut on December 15, 1256. The Assassins recaptured and held Alamut for a few months in 1275, but they were crushed and their political power was lost forever. The Syrian branch of the Assassins was taken over by the Mamluk Sultan Baibars in 1273.
The Mamluks continued to use the services of the remaining Assassins: Ibn Battuta reported in the 14th century their fixed rate of pay per murder. In exchange, they were allowed to exist. Eventually, they resorted to the act of Tagg’iya (dissimulation), hiding their true identities until their Imams would awaken them. According to the historian Yagut al-Hamawi, the Boszormeny, (Izmaleita or Ismaili/ Nizari) denomination of Muslims who lived in the Kingdom of Hungary from the 10th to the 13th centuries, were employed as mercenaries by the kings of Hungary.
However, following the establishment of the Christian Kingdom of Hungary, their community was vanquished by the end of the 13th century due to the Inquisitions ordered by the Catholic Church during the reign of Coloman, King of Hungary. It is said that the Assassins are the ancestors of those given the surname Hajaly, derived from the word “hajal”, a rare species of bird found in the mountains of Syria near Masyaf. The hajal (bird) was often used as a symbol of the Assassin’s order.
