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_UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE DIFFUSION OF USEFUL
KNOWLEDGE._
THE LIBRARY
OF
ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE.
SECRET SOCIETIES
OF THE
MIDDLE AGES.
COMMITTEE.
_Chairman._--The Right Hon. LORD BROUGHAM, F.R.S., Member of the
National Institute of France.
_Vice-Chairman._--JOHN WOOD, Esq.
_Treasurer._--WILLIAM TOOKE, Esq., M.P., F.R.S.
W. Allen. Esq., F.R. and R.A.S.
Capt. F. Beaufort, R.N., F.R. and R.A.S., Hydrographer to the
Admiralty.
G. Burrows, M.D.
Peter Stafford Carey, Esq., A.M.
William Coulson, Esq.
R. D. Craig, Esq.
J. Frederick Daniell, Esq., F.R.S.
J. F. Davis, Esq., F.R.S.
H. T. Delabeche, Esq., F.R.S.
The Rt. Hon. Lord Denman.
Samuel Duckworth, Esq.
B. F. Dupfca, Esq.
The Right Rev. the Bishop of Durham, D.D.
The Rt. Hon. Visc. Ebrington, M.P.
Sir Henry Ellis, F.R.S., Prin. Lib. Brit. Mus.
T. F. Ellis, Esq., A.M., F.R.A.S.
John Elliotson, M.D., F.R.S.
Thomas Falconer, Esq.
I. L. Goldsmid, Esq., F.R., and R.A.S.
B. Gompertz, Esq., F.R., and R.A.S.
G. B. Greenough, Esq., F.R., and L.S.
M.D. Hill, Esq.
Rowland Hill, Esq., F.R.A.S.
The Rt. Hon. Sir J.C. Hobhouse, Bart., M.P.
David Jardine, Esq., A.M.
Henry B. Ker, Esq.
Thos. Hewitt Key, Esq., A.M.
J. T. Leader, Esq., M.P.
George C. Lewis, Esq., A.M.
Thomas Henry Lister, Esq.
James Loch, Esq., M.P., F.G.S.
George Long, Esq., A.M.
J. W. Lubbock, Esq., A.M., F.R., R.A., and L.S.S.
Sir Fred. Madden, K.C.H.
H. Malden, Esq., A.M.
A. T. Malkin, Esq., A.M.
James Manning, Esq.
J. Herman Merivale, Esq., A.M., F.A.S.
Sir William Molesworth, Bart., M.P.
The Right Hon. Lord Nugent.
W. H. Ord, Esq., M.P.
The Right Hon. Sir H. Parnell, Bt., M.P.
Dr. Roget, Sec. R.S., F.R.A.S.
Edw. Romilly, Esq., A.M.
Right Hon. Lord J. Russell, M.P.
Sir M. A. Shee, P.R.A., F.R.S.
John Abel Smith, Esq., M.P.
The Right Hon. Earl Spencer.
John Taylor, Esq., F.R.S.
Dr. A. T. Thompson, F.L.S.
Thomas Vardon, Esq.
H. Waymouth, Esq.
J. Whishaw, Esq., A.M., F.R.S.
John Wrottesley, Esq., A.M., F.R.A.S.
Thomas Wyse, Esq., M.P.
J. A. Yates, Esq.
THOMAS COATES, Esq., _Secretary_, No. 59, Lincoln's Inn Fields.
_THE LIBRARY OF ENTERTAINING KNOWLEDGE._
[Keightley (Thomas) handwritten]
SECRET SOCIETIES
OF THE
MIDDLE AGES.
LONDON:
CHARLES KNIGHT & Co., LUDGATE-STREET.
MDCCCXXXVII.
LONDON:
Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS,
Stamford Street.
CONTENTS.
Page
Introduction 1
THE ASSASSINS.
CHAPTER I.
State of the World in the Seventh Century--Western
Empire--Eastern Empire--Persia--Arabia--Mohammed--His
probable Motives--Character of his Religion--The
Koran 13
CHAPTER II.
Origin of the Khalifat--The first Khalifs--Extent of the
Arabian Empire--Schism among the Mohammedans--Soonees
and Sheaehs--Sects of the latter--The Keissanee--The
Zeidites--The Ghoollat--The Imamee--Sects
of the Imamee--Their political Character--The
Carmathites--Origin of the Fatimite Khalifs--Secret
Society at Cairo--Doctrines taught in it--Its Decline 24
CHAPTER III.
Ali of Rei--His son Hassan Sabah--Hassan sent to
study at Nishaboor--Meets there Omar Khiam and
Nizam-al-Moolk--Agreement made by them--Hassan
introduced by Nizam to Sultan Malek Shah--Obliged
to leave the Court--Anecdote of him--His own account
of his Conversion--Goes to Egypt--Returns to
Persia--Makes himself Master of Alamoot 43
CHAPTER IV.
Description of Alamoot--Fruitless attempts to recover
it--Extension of the Ismailite Power--The Ismailites
in Syria--Attempt on the Life of Aboo-Hard Issa--Treaty
made with Sultan Sanjar--Death of Hassan--His
Character 56
CHAPTER V.
Organization of the Society--Names given to the
Ismailites--Origin of the name Assassin--Marco Polo's
description of the Paradise of the Old Man of the
Mountain--Description of it given by Arabian
writers--Instances of the obedience of the Fedavee 66
CHAPTER VI.
Keaeh Buzoorg Oomeid--Affairs of the Society in Persia--They
acquire the Castle of Banias in Syria--Attempt
to betray Damascus to the Crusaders--Murders committed
during the reign of Keaeh Buzoorg 84
CHAPTER VII.
Keaeh Mohammed--Murder of the Khalif--Castles gained
in Syria--Ismailite Confession of Faith--Mohammed's
Son Hassan gives himself out for the promised Imam--His
followers punished--Succession of Hassan--He
abolishes the Law--Pretends to be descended from the
Prophet--Is murdered 93
CHAPTER VIII.
Mohammed II.--Anecdote of the Imam
Fakhr-ed-deen--Noor-ed-deen--Conquest
of Egypt--Attempt on the Life of Saladin 102
CHAPTER X.
Jellal-ed-deen--Restoration of Religion--His Harem
makes the Pilgrimage to Mecca--Marries the Princess of
Ghilan--Geography of the Country between Roodbar and
the Caspian--Persian Romance--Zohak and
Feridoon--Kei Kaoos and Roostem--Ferdoosee's Description
of Mazanderan--History of the Shah Nameh--Proof of the
Antiquity of the Tales contained in it. 131
CHAPTER XI.
Death of Jellal-ed-deen--Character of Ala-ed-deen,
his successor--The Sheikh Jemal-ed-deen--The Astronomer
Nasir-ed-deen--The Vizir Sheref-al-Moolk--Death of
Ala-ed-deen--Succession of Rukn-ed-deen, the last
Sheikh-al-Jebal 148
CHAPTER XII.
The Mongols--Hoolagoo sent against the
Ismailites--Rukn-ed-deen submits--Capture of
Alamoot--Destruction of the Library--Fate of
Rukn-ed-deen--Massacre of the Ismailites--St. Louis
and the Assassins--Mission for the Conversion of the
People of Kuhistan--Conclusion 156
THE TEMPLARS.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction--The Crusades--Wrong Ideas respecting
their Origin--True Causes of them--Pilgrimage--Pilgrimage
of Frotmond--Of the Count of Anjou--Striking
Difference between the Christianity of the
East and that of the West--Causes of their different
Characters--Feudalism--The Extent and Force of this
Principle 169
CHAPTER II.
First Hospital at Jerusalem--Church of Santa Maria de
Latina--Hospital of St. John--The Hospitallers--Origin
of the Templars--Their original Poverty--They
acquire Consideration--St. Bernard--His Character
of the Templars--The Order approved of and
confirmed by the Council of Troyes--Proofs of the
Esteem in which they were held 185
CHAPTER III.
Return of the Templars to the East--Exoneration and
Refutation of the Charge of a Connection with the
Ismailites--Actions of the Templars--Crusade of
Louis VII.--Siege of Ascalon--Sale of
Nassir-ed-deen--Corruption of the Hospitallers--The
Bull, _Omne Datum Optimum_--Refusal of the Templars to
march against Egypt--Murder of the Ismailite Envoy 199
CHAPTER IV.
Heroism of the Templars and Hospitallers--Battle of
Hittin--Crusade of Richard of England and Philip of
France--Corruption of the Order--Pope Innocent III.
writes a Letter of Censure--Frederic II.--Great
Slaughter of the Templars--Henry III. of England
and the Templars--Power of the Templars in
Moravia--Slaughter of them by the Hospitallers--Fall
of Acre 210
CHAPTER V.
Classes of the Templars--The Knights--Their
Qualifications--Mode of Reception--Dress and Arms of
the Knight--Mode of Burial--The Chaplains--Mode of
Reception--Dress--Duties and Privileges--The
Serving-Brethren--Mode of Reception--Their Duties--The
Affiliated--Causes and Advantages of Affiliation--The
Donates and Oblates 221
CHAPTER VI.
Provinces of the Order--Eastern Provinces--Jerusalem--Houses
of this Province--Tripolis--Antioch--Cyprus--Western
Provinces--Portugal--Castile and Leon--Aragon--France and
Auvergne--Normandy--Aquitaine--Provence--England--Germany--Upper
and Central Italy--Apulia and Sicily 242
CHAPTER VII.
Officers of the Order--The Master--Mode of Election--His
Rights and Privileges--Restraints on him--The
Seneschal--The Marshal--The Treasurer--The Draper--The
Turcopilar--Great-Priors--Commanders--Visitors--Sub-
Marshal--Standard-bearer 253
CHAPTER VIII.
Chapters--Mode of holding them--Templars' Mode of
Living--Amusements--Conduct in War 266
CHAPTER IX.
Molay elected Master--Last attempt of the Christians in
Syria--Conduct of the Three Military Orders--Philip
the Fair and Pope Boniface VIII.--Seizure of the
Pope--Election of Clement V.--The Papal See removed
to France--Causes of Philip's enmity to the Templars--Arrival
of Molay in France--His interviews with the
Pope--Charges made against the Templars--Seizure
of the Knights--Proceedings in England--Nature of
the Charges against the Order 276
CHAPTER X.
Examination of the captive Knights--Different kinds of
Torture--Causes of Confession--What Confessions
were made--Templars brought before the Pope--Their
Declarations--Papal Commission--Molay brought before
it--Ponsard de Gisi--Defenders of the Order--Act
of Accusation--Heads of Defence--Witnesses
against the Order--Fifty-four Templars committed to
the Flames at Paris--Remarkable words of Aymeric
de Villars-le-Duc--Templars burnt in other places--Further
Examinations--The Head worshipped by the
Templars--John de Pollincourt--Peter de la Palu 293
CHAPTER XI.
Examinations in England--Germany--Spain--Italy--Naples
and Provence--Sicily--Cyprus--Meeting of the
Council of Vienne--Suppression of the Order--Fate
of its Members--Death of Molay 317
THE SECRET TRIBUNALS OF WESTPHALIA.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction--The Original Westphalia--Conquest of
the Saxons by Charlemagne--His Regulations--Dukes
of Saxony--State of Germany--Henry the Lion--His
Outlawry--Consequences of it--Origin of German
Towns--Origin of the Fehm-gerichte, or Secret
Tribunals--Theories of their Origin--Origin of their
Name--Synonymous Terms 332
CHAPTER II.
The Tribunal-Lord--The Count--The Schoeppen--The
Messengers--The Public Court--The Secret Tribunal--Extent
of its Jurisdiction--Places of holding the
Courts--Time of holding them--Proceedings in them--Process
where the Criminal was caught in the fact--Inquisitorial
Process 346
CHAPTER III.
Accusatorial Process--Persons liable to it--Mode of
Citation--Mode of Procedure--Right of Appeal 360
CHAPTER IV.
The General Chapter--Rights of the Emperor--Of his
Lieutenant--Of the Stuhlherrn, or Tribunal-Lords 372
CHAPTER V.
Fehm-courts at Celle--At Brunswick--Tribunal of the
Knowing in the Tyrol--The Castle of Baden--African
Purrahs 377
CHAPTER VI.
The Emperor Lewis the
Bavarian--Charles IV.--Wenceslaus--Rupertian
Reformation--Encroachments of
the Fehm-courts--Case of Nickel Weller and the
Town of Goerlitz--Of the City of Dantzig--Of Hans
David and the Teutonic Knights--Other instances of
the presumption of the Free-counts--Citation of the
Emperor Frederic III.--Case of the Count of Teckenburg 385
CHAPTER VII.
Cause of the degeneracy of the Fehm-courts--Attempts
at reformation--Causes of their high reputation--Case
of the Duke of Wuertemberg--Of Kerstian Kerkerink--Causes
of the Decline of the Fehm-jurisdiction 398
SECRET SOCIETIES
OF
THE MIDDLE AGES.
INTRODUCTION.
If we had the means of investigating historically the origin of Secret
Societies, we should probably find that they began to be formed almost
as soon as any knowledge had been accumulated by particular individuals
beyond what constituted the common stock. The same thing has happened to
knowledge that has happened to all other human possessions,--its actual
holders have striven to keep it to themselves. It is true that in this
case the possessor of the advantage does not seem to have the same
reason for being averse to share it with others which naturally operates
in regard to many good things of a different kind; he does not, by
imparting it to those around him, diminish his own store. This is true,
in so far as regards the possession of knowledge considered in its
character of a real good; the owner of the treasure does not impoverish
himself by giving it away, as he would by giving away his money, but
remains as rich as ever, even after he has made ever so many others as
rich as himself. But still there is one thing that he loses, and a thing
upon which the human mind is apt to set a very high value; he loses the
distinction which he derived from his knowledge. This distinction really
serves, in many respects, the same purpose that money itself does. Like
money, it brings observation and worship. Like money, it is the dearest
of all things, power. Knowledge, however held, is indeed essentially
power; to _ken_, that is, to know, is the same word and the same thing
with to _can_, that is, to be able. But there is an additional and a
different species of power conferred by knowledge when it exists as the
distinction of a few individuals in the midst of general ignorance. Here
it is power not only to do those things the methods of doing which it
teaches; it is, besides, the power of governing other men through your
comparative strength and their weakness.
So strong is the motive thus prompting the possessor of knowledge to the
exclusive retention of his acquisitions, that unless it had been met by
another motive appealing in like manner directly to our self-interest,
it appears probable that scarcely any general dissemination of knowledge
would ever have taken place. The powerful counteracting motive in
question is derived from the consideration that in most cases one of the
most effective ways which the possessor of knowledge can take of
exciting the admiration of others, is to communicate what he knows. The
light must give itself forth, and illuminate the world, even that it may
be itself seen and admired. In the very darkest times, the scholar or
philosopher may find his ambition sufficiently gratified by the mere
reputation of superior attainments, and the stupid wonder, or it may be
superstitious terror, of the uninquiring multitude. But as soon as any
thing like a spirit of intelligence or of curiosity has sprung up in the
general mind, all who aspire to fame or consideration from their
learning, their discoveries, or their intellectual powers, address
themselves to awaken the admiration of their fellow-men, not by
concealing, but by displaying their knowledge--not by sealing up the
precious fountain, but by allowing its waters to flow freely forth, that
all who choose may drink of them. From this time science ceases almost
to have any secrets; and, all the influences to which it is exposed
acting in the same direction, the tendency of knowledge becomes wholly
diffusive.
But in the preceding state of things the case was altogether the
reverse. Then there was little or no inducement to the communication of
knowledge, and every motive for those who were in possession of it to
keep it to themselves. There was not intelligence enough abroad to
appreciate, or even to understand, the truths of philosophy if they had
been announced in their simplicity, and explained according to their
principles; all that was cared for, all that was capable of arousing the
vulgar attention, was some display, made as surprising and mysterious as
possible, of their practical application. It would even have been
attended with danger in many cases to attempt to teach true philosophy
openly, or to make open profession of it; it was too much in opposition
to some of the strongest prejudices which everywhere held sway. It is
not, then, to be wondered at, that its cultivators should have sought to
guard and preserve it by means of secret associations, which, besides
excluding the multitude from a participation in the thing thus fenced
round and hidden, answered also divers other convenient purposes. They
afforded opportunities of free conference, which could not otherwise
have been obtained. There was much in the very forms of mystery and
concealment thus adopted calculated to impress the popular imagination,
and to excite its reverence and awe. Finally, the veil which they drew
around their proceedings enabled the members of these secret societies
to combine their efforts, and arrange their plans, in security and
without interruption, whenever they cherished any designs of political
innovation, or other projects, the open avowal and prosecution of which
the established authorities would not have tolerated.
The facilities afforded by the system of secret association, and it may
even be said the temptations which it presents, to the pursuit of
political objects forbidden by the laws, are so great as to justify all
governments in prohibiting it, under whatever pretence it may be
attempted to be introduced. It is nothing to the purpose to argue that
under bad governments valuable political reforms have sometimes been
effected by such secret associations which would not otherwise have been
attained. The same mode of proceeding, in the nature of the thing, is
equally efficacious for the overthrow of a good government. Bad men are
as likely to combine in the dark for their objects as good men are for
theirs. In any circumstances, a secret association is an _imperium in
imperio_, a power separate from, and independent of, that which is
recognized as the supreme power in the state, and therefore something
essentially disorganizing, and which it is contrary to the first
principles of all government for any state to tolerate. In the case of a
bad government, indeed, all means are fairly available for its overthrow
which are not morally objectionable, the simple rule for their
application being that it shall be directed by considerations of
prudence and discretion. In such a case a secret association of the
friends of reform may sometimes be found to supply the most effective
means for accomplishing the desired end; but that end, however desirable
it may be, is not one which the constitution of the state itself can
rationally contemplate. The constitution cannot be founded upon the
supposition that even necessary alterations of it are to be brought
about through agencies out of itself, and forming no part of its
regular mechanism. Whenever such agencies are successfully brought into
operation, there is a revolution, and the constitution is at an end.
Even the amendment of the constitution so effected is its destruction.
Yet most of the more remarkable secret associations which have existed
in different ages and countries have probably either been originally
formed to accomplish some political end, or have come to contemplate
such an object as their chief design. Even when nothing more than a
reformation of the national religion has been, as far as can be
discovered, the direct aim of the association, it may still be fairly
considered as of a political character, from the manner in which
religion has been mixed up in almost every country with the civil
institutions of the state. The effect which it was desired to produce
upon the government may in many cases have been very far from extending
to its complete abolition, and the substitution of another form of
polity; an alteration in some one particular may have been all that was
sought, or the object of the association may even have been to support
some original principle of the constitution against the influence of
circumstances which threatened its subversion or modification. Whether
directed to the alteration or to the maintenance of the existing order
of things, the irregular and dangerous action of secret combinations is,
as we have said, a species of force which no state can reasonably be
expected to recognize. But it may nevertheless have happened at
particular emergencies, and during times of very imperfect civilization,
that valuable service has been rendered by such combinations to some of
the most important interests of society, and that they have to a
considerable extent supplied the defects of the rude and imperfect
arrangements of the ordinary government.
The system of secret association is, indeed, the natural resource of the
friends of political reform, in times when the general mind is not
sufficiently enlightened to appreciate or to support their schemes for
the improvement of the existing institutions and order of things. To
proclaim their views openly in such circumstances would be of no more
use than haranguing to the desert. They might even expose themselves to
destruction by the attempt. But, united in a secret association, and
availing themselves of all the advantages at once of their superior
knowledge and intelligence, and of their opportunities of acting in
concert, a very few individuals may work with an effect altogether out
of proportion to their number. They may force in a wedge which in time
shall even split and shiver into fragments the strength of the existing
social system, no matter by how many ages of barbarism it may be
consolidated. Or, in the absence of a more regular law and police, they
may maintain the empire of justice by stretching forth the arm of their
own authority in substitution for that of the state, which lies
paralysed and powerless, and turning to account even the superstitions
and terrors of the popular imagination by making these, as excited by
their dark organization and mysterious forms of procedure, the chain
whereby to secure the popular obedience.
On the whole, the system of secret association for political objects,
even when there is no dispute about the desirableness of the ends sought
to be accomplished, may be pronounced to be a corrective of which good
men will avail themselves only in times of general ignorance, or under
governments that sin against the first principles of all good
government, by endeavouring to put a stop to the advancement of society
through the prohibition of the open expression of opinion; but, in
countries where the liberty of discussion exists, and where the public
mind is tolerably enlightened, as entirely unsuited to the circumstances
of the case as it is opposed to the rules and maxims on which every
government must take its stand that would provide for its own
preservation. In these happier circumstances the course for the friends
of social improvement to follow is to come forward into the full light
of day as the only place worthy of their mission, and to seek the
realization of their views by directly appealing to the understandings
of their fellow-citizens.
One evil to which secret societies are always exposed is the chance of
the objects and principles of their members being misrepresented by
those interested in resisting their power and influence. As the wakeful
eyes of the government, and of those concerned in the maintenance of the
actual system, will be ever upon them, they must strictly confine the
knowledge of their real views and proceedings to the initiated, and as
their meetings must for the same reason be held in retired places, and
frequently by night, an opportunity, which is rarely neglected, is
afforded to their enemies of spreading the most calumnious reports of
their secret practices, which, though conscious of innocence, they may
not venture openly to confute. By arts of this kind the suspicions and
aversion of the people are excited, and they are often thus made to
persecute their best friends, and still to bow beneath the yoke of their
real foes. The similarity of the accusations made against secret
associations in all parts of the world is a sufficient proof of their
falsehood, and we should always listen to them with the utmost
suspicion, recollecting the quarter from which they proceed. Of the
spotless purity of the Christian religion when first promulgated through
the Roman world no one can entertain a doubt; yet when persecution
obliged its professors to form as it were a secret society, the same
charges of Thyestian banquets, and of the promiscuous intercourse of the
sexes, were made against them, which they themselves afterwards brought,
and with probably as little truth, against the various sects of the
Gnostic heresy. Wherever there is secrecy there will be suspicion, and
charges of something unable to bear the light of day will be made.
The ancient world presents one secret society of a professedly political
character--that of the Pythagoreans. Of religious ones it might be
expected to yield a rich harvest to the inquirer, when we call to mind
all that has been written in ancient and modern times concerning the
celebrated mysteries. But the original Grecian mysteries, such as those
of Eleusis, appear to have been nothing more than public services of the
gods, with some peculiar ceremonies performed at the charge of the
state, and presided over by the magistrates, in which there were no
secrets communicated to the initiated, no revelation of knowledge beyond
that which was generally attainable. The _private_ mysteries, namely,
the Orphic, Isiac, and Mithraic, which were introduced from the East,
were merely modes employed by cunning and profligate impostors for
taking advantage of the weakness and credulity of the sinful and the
superstitious, by persuading them that by secret and peculiar rites, and
the invocation of strange deities, the apprehended punishment of sin
might be averted. The nocturnal assemblies for the celebration of these
mysteries were but too often scenes of vice and debauchery, and they
were discountenanced by all good governments. It is to these last, and
not to the Eleusinian mysteries, that the severe strictures of the
fathers of the church apply[1].
[Footnote 1: See Lobeck's excellent work "Aglaophamus."]
The history of Pythagoras and his doctrines is extremely obscure. The
accounts of this sage which have come down to us were not written till
many centuries after his death, and but little reliance is to be placed
on their details. Pythagoras was a Samian by birth; he flourished in the
sixth century before Christ, at the time when Egypt exercised so much
influence over Greece, and its sages sought the banks of the Nile in
search of wisdom. There is, therefore, no improbability in the tradition
of Pythagoras also having visited that land of mystery, and perhaps
other parts of the East, and marked the tranquil order of things where
those who were esteemed the wise ruled over the ignorant people. He may
therefore have conceived the idea of uniting this sacerdotal system with
the rigid morals and aristocratic constitution of the Dorian states of
Greece. His native isle, which was then under the tyranny of Polycrates,
not appearing to him suited for the introduction of his new system of
government, he turned his eyes to the towns of Magna Graecia, or Southern
Italy, which were at that time in a highly flourishing condition, whose
inhabitants were eager in the pursuit of knowledge, and some of which
already possessed written codes of law. He fixed his view on Croton, one
of the wealthiest and most distinguished of those towns.
Aristocracy was the soul of the Dorian political constitutions, and the
towns of Magna Graecia were all Dorian colonies; but in consequence of
their extensive commerce the tendency of the people was at that time
towards democracy. To preserve the aristocratic principle was the object
of Pythagoras; but he wished to make the aristocracy not merely one of
birth; he desired that, like the sacerdotal castes of the East, it
should also have the supremacy in knowledge. As his system was contrary
to the general feeling, Pythagoras saw that it was only by gaining the
veneration of the people that he could carry it into effect; and by his
personal advantages of beauty of form, skill in gymnastic exercises,
eloquence, and dignity, he drew to himself the popular favour by casting
the mantle of mystery over his doctrines. He thus at once inspired the
people with awe for them, and the nobles with zeal to become initiated
in his secrets.
The most perfect success, we are told, attended the project of the
philosopher. A total change of manners took place in Croton; the
constitution became nearly Spartan; a body of 300 nobles, rendered by
the lessons of the sage as superior to the people in knowledge of every
kind as they were in birth, ruled over it. The nobles of the other
states flocked to Croton to learn how to govern by wisdom; Pythagorean
missionaries went about everywhere preaching the new political creed;
they inculcated on the people religion, humility, and obedience; such of
the nobles as were deemed capable were initiated in the wisdom of the
order, and taught its maxims and principles; a golden age, in which
power was united with wisdom and virtue, seemed to have begun upon
earth.
But, like every thing which struggles against the spirit of the age,
such a political system was not fated to endure. While Croton was the
chief seat of Pythagoreanism, luxury had fixed her throne in the
neighbouring city of Sybaris. The towns were rivals: one or the other
must fall. It was little more than thirty years after the arrival of
Pythagoras in Croton that a furious war broke out between them. Led by
Milo and other Pythagoreans, who were as expert in military affairs as
skilled in philosophy, the Crotoniates utterly annihilated the power of
their rivals, and Sybaris sank to rise no more. But with her sank the
power of the Pythagoreans. They judged it inexpedient to give a large
share of the booty to the people; the popular discontent rose; Cylon, a
man who had been refused admittance into the order, took advantage of
it, and urged the people on; the Pythagoreans were all massacred, and a
democracy established. All the other towns took example by Croton, a
general persecution of the order commenced, and Pythagoras himself was
obliged to seek safety in flight, and died far away from the town which
once had received him as a prophet. The Pythagoreans never made any
further attempts at attaining political power, but became a mere sect of
mystic philosophers, distinguished by peculiarities of food and dress.
Ancient times present us with no other society of any importance to
which we can properly apply the term _secret_.
The different sects of the Gnostics, who are by the fathers of the
church styled heretics, were to a certain extent secret societies, as
they did not propound their doctrines openly and publicly; but their
history is so scanty, and so devoid of interest, that an examination of
it would offer little to detain ordinary readers.
The present volume is devoted to the history of three celebrated
societies which flourished during the middle ages, and of which, as far
as we know, no full and satisfactory account is to be found in English
literature. These are the Assassins, or Ismailites, of the East, whose
name has become in all the languages of Europe synonymous with murderer,
who _were_ a secret society, and of whom we have in general such vague
and indistinct conceptions; the military order of the Knights Templars,
who were most barbarously persecuted under the pretext of their holding
a secret doctrine, and against whom the charge has been renewed at the
present day; and, finally, the Secret Tribunals of Westphalia, in
Germany, concerning which all our information has hitherto been derived
from the incorrect statements of dramatists and romancers[2].
[Footnote 2: Since the present work was prepared, a translation of Von
Hammer's History of the Assassins has been published by Dr. Oswald
Charles Wood.]
It is the simplicity of truth, and not the excitement of romance, that
the reader is to expect to find in the following pages,--pictures of
manners and modes of thinking different from our own,--knowledge, not
_mere_ entertainment, yet as large an infusion of the latter as is
consistent with truth and instruction.
THE ASSASSINS[3].
[Footnote 3: Hammer's _Geschichte der Assassinen_ (History of the
Assassins), and the same writer's _Fundgruben des Orients_ (Mines of the
East), M. Jourdain's _Extrait de l'Ouvrage de Mirkhond sur la Dynastie
des Ismaelites_, and Malcolm's History of Persia, are the principal
authorities for the following account of the Assassins.]
CHAPTER I.
State of the World in the 7th Century--Western Empire--Eastern
Empire--Persia--Arabia--Mohammed--His probable Motives--Character
of his Religion--The Koran.
At the commencement of the 7th century of the Christian era a new
character was about to be impressed on a large portion of the world.
During the two centuries which preceded, the Goths, Vandals, Huns, and
other martial tribes of the Germanic race, had succeeded in beating down
the barriers opposed to them, and in conquering and dismembering the
Western Empire. They brought with them and retained their love of
freedom and spirit of dauntless valour, but abandoned their ancient and
ferocious superstitions, and embraced the corrupt system which then
degraded the name of Christianity. This system, hardened, as it were, by
ideas retained and transferred from the original faith of its new
disciples, which ideas were fostered by those passages of the books of
the Hebrew Scriptures which accorded with their natural sentiments,
afterwards, when allied with feudalism, engendered the spirit which
poured the hosts of Western Europe over the mountains and plains of Asia
for the conquest of the Holy Land.
A different picture was at this time presented by the empire of the
East. It still retained the extent assigned to it by Theodosius; and all
the countries from the Danube, round the east and south coasts of the
Mediterranean, to the straits of Gades, yielded a more or less perfect
obedience to the successors of Constantine. But a despotism more
degrading, though less ferocious, than those of Asia paralyzed the
patriotism and the energy of their subjects; and the acuteness, the
contentiousness, and the imagination of the Greeks, combined with
mysticism and the wild fancy of the Asiatics to transform the simplicity
of the religion of Christ into a revolting system of intricate
metaphysics and gross idolatry, which aided the influence of their
political condition in chilling the martial ardour of the people. The
various provinces of the empire were held together by the loosest and
feeblest connexion, and it was apparent that a vigorous shock would
suffice to dissolve the union.
The mountains of Armenia and the course of the Euphrates separated the
Eastern Empire from that of Persia. This country had been under the
dominion of the people named Parthians at the time when the eagles of
the Roman republic first appeared on the Euphrates, and defeat had more
than once attended the Roman armies which attempted to enter their
confines. Like every dominion not founded on the freedom of the people,
that of the Arsacides (the Parthian royal line) grew feeble with time,
and after a continuance of nearly five centuries the sceptre of Arsaces
passed from the weak hand of the last monarch of his line to that of
Ardeshir Babegan (that is the son of Babec), a valiant officer of the
royal army, and a pretended descendant of the ancient monarchs of
Persia. Ardeshir, to accomplish this revolution, availed himself of the
religious prejudices of the Persian people. The Parthian monarchs had
inclined to the manners and the religion of the Greeks, and the
Light-religion--the original faith of Persia, and one of the purest and
most spiritual of those to which a divine origin may not be
assigned--had been held in slight estimation, and its priests unvisited
by royal favour. It was the pride and the policy of Ardeshir to restore
the ancient religion to the dignity which it had enjoyed under the
descendants of Cyrus, and Religion, in return, lent her powerful aid to
his plans of restoring the royal dignity to its pristine vigour, and of
infusing into the breast of the people the love of country and the
ardour for extending the Persian dominion to what it had been of old;
and for 400 years the Sassanides[4] were the most formidable enemies of
the Roman empire. But their dominion had, at the period of which we
write, nearly attained the greatest limit allotted to Oriental
dynasties; and though Noosheerwan the Just had attained great warlike
fame, and governed with a vigour and justice that have made his name
proverbial in the East, and Khoosroo Purveez displayed a magnificence
which is still the theme of Persian poetry and romance, and carried his
victorious arms over Syria and Egypt, and further along the African
coast than even those of Darius I. had been able to advance, yet defeat
from the gallant Emperor Heraclius clouded his latter days, and the
thirteenth year after his death, by showing the Persian armies in
flight, and the palladium of the empire, the jewel-set apron of the
blacksmith Kawah, in the hands of the rovers of the deserts, revealed
the secret that her strength was departed from Persia. The brilliancy
of the early part of the reign of Khoosroo Purveez had been but the
flash before death which at times is displayed in empires as in
individuals. The vigour was gone which was requisite to stem the torrent
of fanatic valour about to burst forth from the wilds of Arabia.
[Footnote 4: The name given to the dynasty founded by Ardeshir, from his
pretended ancestor Sassan, a grandson of Isfundear, a hero greatly
celebrated in the ancient history of Persia. Isfundear was the son of
Gushtasp, who is supposed to be the Darius Hystaspes of the Greek
historians. Sir John Malcolm has endeavoured to identify Isfundear with
the Xerxes of the Greeks.]
It is the boast of Arabia that it has never been conquered. This
immunity from subjugation has, however, been only partial, and is owing
to the nature of the country; for although the barren sands of the Hejaz
and Nejed have always baffled the efforts of hostile armies, yet the
more inviting region of Yemen, the Happy Arabia of the ancients, has
more than once allured a conqueror, and submitted to his sway. The
inhabitants of this country have been the same in blood and in manners
from the dawn of history. Brave, but not sanguinary, robbers, but kind
and hospitable, of lively and acute intellect, we find the Arabs, from
the days of Abraham to the present times, leading the pastoral and
nomadic life in the desert, agriculturists in Yemen, traders on the
coasts and on the confines of Syria and Egypt. Their foreign military
operations had hitherto been confined to plundering expeditions into the
last-mentioned countries, unless they were the Hycsos, or Shepherd
Kings, who, according to tradition, once made the conquest of Egypt.
Arabia forming a kind of world in itself, its various tribes were in
ceaseless hostility with each other; but it was apparent that if its
brave and skilful horsemen could be united under one head, and animated
by motives which would inspire constancy and rouse valour, they might
present a force capable of giving a fatal shock to the empires of Persia
and of Rome.
It is impossible, on taking a survey of the history of the world, not to
recognize a great predisposing cause, which appoints the time and
circumstances of every event which is to produce any considerable change
in the state of human affairs. The agency of this overruling providence
is nowhere more perceptible than in the present instance. The time was
come for the Arabs to leave their deserts and march to the conquest of
the world, and the man was born who was to inspire them with the
necessary motives.
Mohammed (_Illustrious_[5]) was the son of Abd-Allah (_Servant of God_),
a noble Arab of the tribe of Koreish, which had the guardianship of the
Kaaba (_Square House of Mecca_), the _Black Stone_ contained in which
(probably an aerolite) had been for ages an object of religious
veneration to the tribes of Arabia. His mother was Amineh, the daughter
of a chief of princely rank. He was early left an orphan, with the
slender patrimony of five camels and a female AEthiopian slave. His
uncle, Aboo Talib, brought him up. At an early age the young Mohammed
accompanied his uncle to the fair of Bozra, on the verge of Syria, and
in his 18th year he signalized his valour in an engagement between the
Koreish and a hostile tribe. At the age of 25 he entered the service of
Khadijah, a wealthy widow, with whose merchandise he visited one of the
great fairs of Syria. Mohammed, though poor, was noble, handsome, acute,
and brave; Khadijah, who was fifteen years his senior, was inspired with
love; her passion was returned; and the gift of her hand and wealth
gave the nephew of Aboo Talib affluence and consideration.
[Footnote 5: The Oriental proper names being mostly all significant, we
shall translate them when we first employ them. As, however, it is not
always that it can be discovered what the original Arabic characters are
of an eastern word which we meet in Roman letters, we shall be sometimes
obliged to leave names unexplained, and at other times to hazard
conjectural explanations. In the last case, we shall affix a mark of
doubt.]
Mohammed's original turn of mind appears to have been serious, and it is
not unlikely that the great truth of the Unity of the Deity had been
early impressed on his mind by his mother or his Jewish kindred. The
Koreish and the rest of his countrymen were idolaters; Christianity was
now corrupted by the intermixture of many superstitions; the
fire-worship of the Persians was a worshipping of the Deity under a
material form; the Mosaic religion had been debased by the dreams and
absurd distinctions of the Rabbis. A simpler form than any of these
seemed wanted for man. God, moreover, was believed to have at sundry
times sent prophets into the world for its reformation, and might do so
again; the Jews still looked for their promised Messiah; many Christians
held that the Paraclete was yet to come. Who can take upon him to assert
that Mohammed may not have believed himself to be set apart to the
service of God, and appointed by the divine decree to be the preacher of
a purer faith than any which he then saw existing? Who will say that in
his annual seclusions of fifteen days in the cave of Hira he may not
have fallen into ecstatic visions, and that in one of these waking
dreams the angel Gabriel may not have appeared to his distempered fancy
to descend to nominate him to the office of a prophet of God, and
present to him, in a visible form, that portion of his future law which
had probably already passed through his mind[6]? A certain portion of
self-delusion is always mingled with successful imposture; the impostor,
as it were, makes his first experiment on himself. It is much more
reasonable to conclude that Mohammed had at first no other object than
the dissemination of truth by persuasion, and that he may have beguiled
himself into a belief of his being the instrument selected for that
purpose, than that the citizen of a town in the secluded region of
Arabia beheld in ambitious vision from his mountain-cave his victorious
banners waving on the banks of the Oxus and the Ebro, and his name
saluted as that of the Prophet of God by a fourth part of the human
race. Still we must not pass by another, and perhaps a truer
supposition, namely, that, in the mind of Mohammed, as in that of so
many others, the end justified the means, and that he deemed it lawful
to feign a vision and a commission from God in order to procure from men
a hearing for the truth.
[Footnote 6: The Kubla Khan of Coleridge (Poetical Works, vol. i. p.
266) is a fine instance of this power of the mind, withdrawn from the
contemplation of material objects. The reader will probably recollect
the sign given from heaven to Lord Herbert of Cherbury, on the occasion
of his work written against revealed religion. The writer has lately
heard an instance of a lady of fortune, to whom, as she reclined one day
on a sofa, a voice seemed to come from heaven, announcing to her that
she was selected as the instrument for accomplishing a great work in the
hands of God; and giving, as a sign, that, for a certain number of
months, she should be unable to leave the sofa on which she was lying.
Such is the power of imagination, that the supposed intimation in regard
to the sign actually took effect; she believed herself to have lost the
power of motion, and therefore did in reality lose it.]
Whatever the ideas and projects of Mohammed may originally have been, he
waited till he had attained his fortieth year (the age at which Moses
showed himself first to the Israelites), and then revealed his divine
commission to his wife Khadijah, his slave Zeid, his cousin Ali, the son
of Aboo Talib, and his friend, the virtuous and wealthy Aboo Bekr. It is
difficult to conceive any motive but conviction to have operated on the
minds of these different persons, who at once acknowledged his claim to
the prophetic office; and it speaks not a little for the purity of the
previous life of the new Prophet, that he could venture to claim the
faith of those who were most intimately acquainted with him. The voice
of wisdom has assured us that a prophet has no honour in his own country
and among his own kindred, and the example of Mohammed testified the
truth of the declaration. During thirteen years the new religion made
but slow and painful progress in the town of Mecca; but the people of
Yathreb, a town afterwards dignified with the appellation of the City of
the Prophet (_Medinat-en-Nabi_), were more susceptive of faith; and
when, on the death of Aboo Talib, who protected his nephew, though he
rejected his claims, his celebrated Flight (_Hejra_) brought him to
Yathreb, the people of that town took arms in his defence against the
Koreish. It was probably now that new views opened to the mind of the
Prophet. Prince of Yathreb, he might hope to extend his sway over the
ungrateful Mecca; and those who had scoffed at his arguments and
persuasions might be taught lessons of wisdom by the sword. These
anticipations were correct, and in less than ten years after the battle
of Bedr (the first he fought) he saw his temporal power and his
prophetic character acknowledged by the whole of the Arabian peninsula.
It commonly happens that, when a new form of religion is proposed for
the acceptance of mankind, it surpasses in purity that which it is
intended to supersede. The Arabs of the days of Mohammed were idolaters;
300 is said to have been the number of the images which claimed their
adoration in the Caaba. A gross licentiousness prevailed among them;
their polygamy had no limits assigned to it[7]. For this the Prophet
substituted the worship of One God, and placed a check on the sensual
propensities of his people. His religion contained descriptions of the
future state of rewards and punishments, by which he allured to
obedience and terrified from contumacy or opposition. The pains of hell
which he menaced were such as were most offensive to the body and its
organs; the joys of Paradise were verdant meads, shady trees, murmuring
brooks, gentle airs, precious wines in cups of gold and silver, stately
tents, and splendid sofas; the melody of the songs of angels was to
ravish the souls of the blessed; the black-eyed Hoories were to be the
ever-blooming brides of the faithful servants of God. Yet, though
sensual bliss was to be his ultimate reward, the votary was taught that
its attainment demanded self-denial on earth; and it has been justly
observed that "a devout Mussulman exhibits more of the Stoical than of
the Epicurean character[8]." As the Prophet had resolved that the sword
should be unsparingly employed for the diffusion of the truth, the
highest degree of the future bliss was pronounced to be the portion of
the martyrs, i. e., of those who fell in the holy wars waged for the
dissemination of the faith. "Paradise," says the Prophet, "is beneath
the shadow of swords." At the day of judgment the wounds of the fallen
warrior were to be resplendent as vermilion, and odoriferous as musk;
and the wings of angels were to supply the loss of limbs. The religion
of Mohammed was entitled Islam (_resignation_), whence its votaries were
called by the Arabs Moslems, and in Persian Mussulmans. Its articles of
belief were five--belief in God, in his angels, in his Prophet, in the
last day, and in predestination. Its positive duties were also
five--purification, prayer, fasting, alms, and the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Various rites and observances which the Arabs had hitherto practised
were retained by the Prophet, either out of regard for the prejudices of
his followers, or because he did not, or could not, divest his own mind
of respect for usages in which he had been reared up from infancy.
[Footnote 7: See, in Sir J. Malcolm's History of Persia, the dialogue
between the Persian king Yezdijird and the Arab envoy. "Whatever," said
the latter, "thou hast said regarding the former condition of the Arabs
is true. Their food was green lizards; they buried their infant
daughters alive; nay, some of them feasted on dead carcasses and drank
blood, while others slew their relations, and thought themselves great
and valiant when, by such an act, they became possessed of more
property. They were clothed with hair garments, knew not good from evil,
and made no distinction between that which is lawful and that which is
unlawful. Such was our state. But God in his mercy has sent us by a holy
prophet a sacred volume, which teaches us the true faith," &c.]
[Footnote 8: Hallam, Middle Ages, ii. 165.]
Such is a slight sketch of the religion which Mohammed substituted for
the idolatry of Arabia. It contained little that was original; all its
details of the future state were borrowed from Judaism or from the
Magian system of Persia. The book which contains it, entitled the Koran
(_reading_), was composed in detached pieces, during a long series of
years, by the _illiterate_ Prophet, and taken down from his lips by his
scribes. His own account of its origin was that each Sura, or
revelation, was brought to him from heaven by the angel Gabriel. It is
regarded by the Mohammedan East, and by most European Orientalists, as
the masterpiece of Arabian literature; and when we make due allowance
for the difference of European and Arabian models and taste, and
consider that the rhyme[9] which in prose is insufferable to the former,
may to the latter sound grateful, we may allow that the praises lavished
on it are not unmerited. Though tedious and often childish legends, and
long and tiresome civil regulations, occupy the greater part of it, it
is pervaded by a fine strain of fervid piety and humble resignation to
the will of God, not unworthy of the inspired seers of Israel; and the
sublime doctrine of the Unity of God runs like a vein of pure gold
through each portion of the mass, giving lustre and dignity to all.
Might we not venture to say that Christianity itself has derived
advantage from the imposture of Mohammed, and that the clear and open
profession of the Divine Unity by their Mohammedan enemies kept the
Christians of the dark ages from smothering it beneath the mass of
superstition and fable by which they corrupted and deformed so much of
the majestic simplicity of the Gospel? No one, certainly, would dream of
comparing the son of Abd-Allah with the Son of God, of setting darkness
by the side of light; but still we may confess him to have been an agent
in the hands of the Almighty, and admit that his assumption of the
prophetic office was productive of good as well as of evil.
[Footnote 9: The Hebrews, as appears from the poetic parts of the
Scriptures, had the same delight in the clang of rhyme as the Arabs. See
particularly Isaiah in the original.]
The Mohammedan religion is so intimately connected with history, law,
manners, and opinions, in the part of the East of which we are about to
write, that this brief view of its origin and nature was indispensable.
We now proceed to our history.
CHAPTER II.
Origin of the Khalifat--The first Khalifs--Extent of the Arabian
Empire--Schism among the Mohammedans--Soonees and Sheaehs--Sects of
the latter--The Keissanee--The Zeidites--The Ghoollat--The
Imamee--Sects of the Imamee--Their political Character--The
Carmathites--Origin of the Fatimite Khalifs--Secret Society at
Cairo--Doctrines taught in it--Its Decline.
The civil and ecclesiastical dignities were united in the person of
Mohammed. As Emir (_prince_) he administered justice and led his
followers to battle; as Imam (_director_) he on every Friday (the
Mohammedan sabbath) taught the principles and duties of religion from
his pulpit. Though his wives were numerous, the Prophet had no male
issue surviving at the time when he felt the approaches of death; but
his daughter Fatima was married to his cousin Ali, his early and
faithful disciple, and it was naturally to be expected that the expiring
voice of the Prophet would nominate him as his Khalif (_successor_) over
the followers of his faith. But Ayesha, the daughter of Aboo Bekr,
Mohammed's youthful and best beloved wife, was vehemently hostile to the
son of Aboo Talib, and she may have exerted all the influence of a
revengeful woman over the mind of the dying Prophet. Or perhaps
Mohammed, like Alexander, perplexed with the extent of dominion to which
he had attained, and aware that only a vigour of character similar to
his own would avail to retain and enlarge it, and, it may be, thinking
himself answerable to God for the choice he should make, deemed it the
safest course to leave the matter to the free decision of his surviving
followers. His appointing Aboo Bekr, a few days before his death, to
officiate in his pulpit, might seem to indicate an intention of
conferring the khalifat on him; and he is said to have at one time
declared that the strength of character displayed by his distinguished
follower, Omar, evinced his possession of the virtues of a prophet and a
khalif. Tradition records no equally strong declaration respecting the
mild and virtuous Ali.
At all events the Prophet expired without having named a successor, and
the choice devolving on his companions dissension was ready to break
out, when Omar, abandoning his own claims, gave his voice for Aboo Bekr.
All opposition was thus silenced, and the father of Ayesha reigned for
two years over the faithful. Ali at first refused obedience, but he
finally acknowledged the successor of the Prophet. When dying, Aboo Bekr
bequeathed the sceptre to Omar, as the worthiest, and when, twelve years
afterwards, Omar perished by the dagger of an assassin, six electors
conferred the vacant dignity on Othman, who had been the secretary of
the Prophet. Age having enfeebled the powers of Othman, the reins of
authority were slackened, and a spirit of discord pervaded all Arabia,
illustrative of the Prophet's declaration of vigour being essential to a
khalif. A numerous body of rebels besieged the aged Othman in Medina,
and he was slain, holding the Koran in his lap, by a band of murderers,
headed by the brother of Ayesha, who, the firebrand of Islam, it is
probable had been secretly active in exciting the rebellion.
The popular choice now fell upon Ali, but the implacable Ayesha
stimulated to revolt against his authority two powerful Arab chiefs,
named Telha and Zobeir, who raised their standards in the province of
Arabian Irak. Ayesha, mounted on a camel, appeared in the thickest of
the battle, in which the rebel chiefs were defeated and slain. The
generous Ali sent her to dwell at the tomb of the Prophet, where she
passed in tranquillity the remainder of her days. The khalif himself was
less fortunate. Moawiya, the Governor of Syria, son of Aboo Sofian, the
most violent of the opponents of the Prophet, assumed the office of the
avenger of Othman, whose death he charged on Ali and his party, and,
declaring himself to be the rightful khalif, roused Syria to arms
against the Prophet's son-in-law. In the war success was on the side of
Ali, till the superstition of his troops obliged him to agree to a
treaty; and shortly afterwards he was murdered by a fanatic in the mosk
of Coofa. His son Hassan was induced by Moawiya to resign his claims and
retire to the city of Medina; but his more high-spirited brother,
Hussein, took arms against the khalif Yezid, the son of Moawiya; and the
narrative of his death is one of the most pathetic and best related
incidents of Oriental history[10]. The sisters and children of Hussein
were spared by the clemency of the victorious Yezid, and from them
descend a numerous race, glorying in the blood of Ali and the Prophet.
[Footnote 10: See Ockley's History of the Saracens.]
The Arabian empire was now of immense extent. Egypt, Syria, and Persia
had been conquered in the reign of Omar. Under the first khalifs of the
dynasty of the Ommiades (so called from Ommiyah, the great-grandfather
of Moawiya), the conquest of Africa and Spain was achieved, and the
later princes of this family ruled over the most extensive empire of the
world.
The great schism of the Mohammedan church (we must be permitted to
employ this term, the only one our language affords) commences with the
accession of the house of Ommiyah. The Mohammedans have, as is generally
known, been from that time to the present day divided into two great
sects, the Soonees and the Sheaehs, the orthodox and the dissenters, as
we might venture to call them, whose opposite doctrines, like those of
the Catholics and the Protestants of the Christian church, are each the
established faith of great and independent nations. The Ottoman and the
Usbeg Turks hold the Soonee faith; the Persians are violent Sheaehs; and
national and religious animosity concur in making them the determined
and inveterate foes of each other.
The Soonees hold that the first four khalifs were all legitimate
successors of the Prophet; but as their order was determined by their
degree of sanctity, they assign the lowest rank to Ali. The Sheaehs, on
the contrary, maintain that the dignity of the Prophet rightfully
descended to the son of his uncle and the husband of his daughter. They
therefore regard Aboo Bekr, Omar, and Othman, as usurpers, and curse and
revile their memory, more especially that of the rigid Omar, whose
murderer they venerate as a saint. It must be steadily kept in mind, in
every discussion respecting the Mohammedan religion, that Mohammed and
his successors succeeded in establishing what the lofty and capacious
mind of Gregory VII. attempted in vain--the union of the civil and
ecclesiastical powers in the same person. Unlike the schisms of the
eastern and western, of the Catholic and Protestant churches, which
originated in difference of opinion on points of discipline or matters
of doctrine, that of the Mohammedans arose solely from ambition and the
struggle for temporal power. The sceptre of the greatest empire of the
world was to be the reward of the party who could gain the greatest
number of believers in his right to grasp the staff and ascend the
pulpit of the Prophet of God. Afterwards, when the learning of the
Greeks and the Persians became familiar to the Arabs, theological and
metaphysical niceties and distinctions were introduced, and the two
great stems of religion threw out numerous sectarian branches. The
Soonees are divided into four main sects, all of which are, however,
regarded as orthodox, for they agree in the main points, though they
differ in subordinate ones. The division of the Sheaehs is also into four
sects, the point of agreement being the assertion of the right of Ali
and his descendants to the imamat, or supreme ecclesiastical dignity;
the point of difference being the nature of the proof on which his
rights are founded, and the order of succession among his descendants.
These four sects and their opinions are as follows:--
I. The first and most innocuous of the sects which maintained the rights
of the family of Ali were the Keissanee, so named from Keissan, one of
his freed-men. These, who were subdivided into several branches, held
that Ali's rights descended, not to Hassan or Hussein, but to their
brother, Mohammed-ben-Hanfee. One of these branch-sects maintained that
the imamat _remained_[11] in the person of this Mohammed, who had never
died, but had since appeared, from time to time, on earth, under various
names. Another branch, named the Hashemites, held that the imamat
descended from Mohammed-ben-Hanfee to his son Aboo-Hashem, who
transmitted it to Mohammed, of the family of Abbas, from whom it
descended to Saffah, the founder of the Abbasside dynasty of
khalifs[12]. It is quite evident that the object of this sect was to
give a colour to the claims of the family of Abbas, who stigmatized the
family of Ommiyah as usurpers, and insisted that the khalifat belonged
of right to themselves. Aboo-Moslem, the great general who first gave
dominion to the family of Abbas, was a real or pretended maintainer of
the tenets of this sect, the only branch, by the way, of the Sheaehs
which supported the house of Abbas.
[Footnote 11: Hence they were named the Standing (_Wakfiyah_).]
[Footnote 12: Abbas, the ancestor of this family, was one of the uncles
of the Prophet. They obtained possession of the khalifat A.D. 750, and
retained it through an hereditary succession of princes for 500 years.
Al-Mansoor, the second khalif of this dynasty, transferred the royal
residence from Damascus, where the Ommiades had dwelt, to Bagdad, which
he founded on the banks of the Tigris. This city, also named the City of
Peace, the Vale of Peace, the House of Peace, has acquired, beyond what
any other town can claim, a degree of romantic celebrity by means of the
inimitable Thousand and One Nights. Such is the ennobling power of
genius!]
II. A second branch of the Sheaehs was named Zeidites. These held that
the imamat descended through Hassan and Hussein to Zein-al-Abedeen, the
son of this last, and thence passed to Zeid (whence their name), the son
of Zein; whereas most other Sheaehs regarded Mohammed Bakir, the brother
of Zeid, as the lawful imam. The Zeidites differed from the other Sheaehs
in acknowledging the three first khalifs to have been legitimate
successors of the Prophet. Edris, who wrested a part of Africa from the
Abbasside khalifs, and founded the kingdom of Fez, was a real or
pretended descendant of Zeid.
III. The Ghoollat (_Ultras_), so named from the extravagance of their
doctrines, which, passing all bounds of common sense, were held in equal
abomination by the other Sheaehs and by the Soonees. This sect is said to
have existed as early as the time of Ali himself, who is related to have
burnt some of them on account of their impious and extravagant
opinions. They held, as we are told, that there was but one imam, and
they ascribed the qualities of divinity to Ali. Some maintained that
there were two natures (the divine and the human) in him, others that
the last alone was his. Some again said that this perfect nature of Ali
passed by transmigration through his descendants, and would continue so
to do till the end of all things; others that the transmission stopped
with Mohammed Bakir, the son of Zein-al-Abedeen, who still abode on
earth, but unseen, like Khizer, the Guardian of the Well of Life,
according to the beautiful eastern legend[13]. Others, still more bold,
denied the transmission, and asserted that the divine Ali sat enthroned
in the clouds, where the thunder was the voice and the lightning the
scourge wherewith he terrified and chastised the wicked. This sect
presents the first (though a very early) instance of the introduction
into Islam of that mysticism which appears to have had its original
birth-place in the dreamy groves of India. As a political party the
Ghoollat never seem to have been formidable.
[Footnote 13: Khizer, by some supposed, but perhaps erroneously, to be
the prophet Elias, is regarded by the Mohammedans in the light of a
beneficent genius. He is the giver of youth to the animal and the
vegetable world. He is clad in garments of the most brilliant green, and
he stands as keeper of the Well of Life in the Land of Darkness.
According to the romances of the East, Iskander, that is, Alexander the
Great, resolved to march into the West, to the Land of Darkness, that he
might drink of the water of immortality. During seven entire days he and
his followers journeyed through dark and dismal deserts. At length they
faintly discerned in the distance the green light which shone from the
raiment of Khizer. As they advanced it became more and more resplendent,
like the brightest and purest emeralds. As the monarch approached,
Khizer dipped a cup in the verdant Water of Life, and reached it to him;
but the impatience of Iskander was so great that he spilt the contents
of the cup, and the law of fate did not permit the guardian of the fount
to fill it for him again. The moral of this tale is evident. Its
historic foundation is the journey of the Macedonian to the temple of
Ammon.]
IV. Such, however, was not the case with the Imamee, the most dangerous
enemies of the house of Abbas. Agreeing with the Ghoollat in the
doctrine of an _invisible_ imam, they maintained that there had been a
series of _visible_ imams antecedent to him, who had vanished. One
branch of this sect (thence called the Seveners--_Sebiin_) closed the
series with Ismail, the grandson of Mohammed Bakir, the _seventh_ imam,
reckoning Ali himself the first. These were also called Ismailites, from
Ismail. The other branch, called Imamites, continued the series from
Ismail, through his brother Moosa Casim, down to Askeree, the twelfth
imam. These were hence called the Twelvers (_Esnaashree_). They believed
that the imam Askeree had vanished in a cavern at Hilla, on the banks of
the Euphrates, where he would remain invisible till the end of the
world, when he would again appear under the name of the Guide (_Mehdee_)
to lead mankind into the truth. The Imamee, wherever they might stop in
the series of the visible imams, saw that, for their political purposes,
it was necessary to acknowledge a kind of _locum tenentes_ imams; but,
while the Zeidites, who agreed with them in this point, required in
these princes the royal virtues of valour, generosity, justice,
knowledge, the Imamee declared themselves satisfied if they possessed
the saintly ones of the practice of prayer, fasting, and alms-giving.
Hence artful and ambitious men could set up any puppet who was said to
be descended from the last of the visible imams, and aspire to govern
the Mohammedan world in his name.
The Twelvers were very near obtaining possession of the khalifat in the
time of the first Abbassides; for the celebrated Haroon Er-Rasheed's
son, Al-Mamoon, the eighth khalif of that house, moved either by the
strength or preponderance which the Sheaeh party had arrived at, or, as
the eastern historians tell us, yielding to the suggestions of his
vizir, who was devoted to that sect, named Ali Riza, the eighth imam, to
be his successor on the throne. He even laid aside the black habiliments
peculiar to his family, and wore green, the colour of Ali and the
Prophet. But the family of Abbas, which now numbered 30,000 persons,
refused their assent to this renunciation of the rights of their line.
They rose in arms, and proclaimed as khalif Al-Mamoon's uncle Ibrahim.
The obnoxious vizir perished, and the opportune death of Ali Riza (by
poison, as was said) relieved the son of Haroon Er-Rasheed from
embarrassment. Ali Riza was interred at Meshed, in the province of
Khorasan; and his tomb is, to the present day, a place of pilgrimage for
devout Persians[14].
[Footnote 14: See Frazer's Khorasan.]
The Ismailites were more successful in their attempts at obtaining
temporal power; and, as we shall presently see, a considerable portion
of their dominions was wrested from the house of Abbas.
Religion has, in all ages, and in all parts of the world, been made the
mask of ambition, for which its powerful influence over the minds of the
ignorant so well qualifies it. But the political influence of religion
among the calmer and more reasoning nations of Europe is slight compared
with its power over the more ardent and susceptible natives of Asia.
Owing to the effects of this principle the despotism of the East has
never been of that still, undisturbed nature which we might suppose to
be its character. To say nothing of the bloody wars and massacres which
have taken place under the pretext of religion in the countries from
Japan to the Indus, the Mohammedan portion of the East has been, almost
without ceasing, the theatre of sanguinary dramas, where ambition, under
the disguise of religion, sought for empire; and our own days have seen,
in the case of the Wahabees, a bold though unsuccessful attempt of
fanaticism to achieve a revolution in a part of the Ottoman empire. It
was this union of religion with policy which placed the Suffavee family
on the throne of Persia in the fifteenth century; and it was this also
which, at a much earlier period, established the dominion of the
Fatimite khalifs of Egypt. The progress of this last event is thus
traced by oriental historians[15]:--
[Footnote 15: Lari and Macrisi, quoted by Hammer.]
The encouragement given to literature and science by the enlightened
Al-Mamoon had diffused a degree of boldness of speculation and inquiry
hitherto unknown in the empire of the Arabs. The subtile philosophy of
the Greeks was now brought into contact with the sublime but corrupted
theology of the Persians, and the mysticism of India secretly mingled
itself with the mass of knowledge. We are not, perhaps, to give credit
to the assertion of the Arab historian that it was the secret and
settled plan of the Persians to undermine and corrupt the religion, and
thus sap the empire, of those who had overcome them in the field; but it
is not a little remarkable that, as the transformation of the Mosaic
religion into Judaism may be traced to Persia, and as the same country
sent forth the monstrous opinions which corrupted the simplicity of the
Gospel, so it is in Persia that we find the origin of most of the sects
which have sprung up in Islam. Without agreeing with those who would
derive all knowledge from India, it may be held not improbable that the
intricate metaphysics and mysticism of that country have been the source
of much of the corruption of the various religions which have prevailed
in Cis-Indian Asia. It is at least remarkable that the north-east of
Persia, the part nearest to India, has been the place where many of the
impostors who pretended to intercourse with the Deity made their
appearance. It was here that Mani (_Manes_), the head of the Manichaeans,
displayed his arts, and it was in Khorasan (_Sun-land_) that Hakem, who
gave himself out for an incarnation of the Deity, raised the standard of
revolt against the house of Abbas. But, be this as it may, on surveying
the early centuries of Islam, we may observe that all the rebellions
which agitated the empire of the khalifs arose from a union of the
claims of the family of Ali with the philosophical doctrines current in
Persia.
We are told that, in the ninth century of the Christian era, Abdallah, a
man of Persian lineage, residing at Ahwaz, in the south of Persia,
conceived the design of overturning the empire of the khalifs by
secretly introducing into Islam a system of atheism and impiety. Not to
shock deep-rooted prejudices in favour of the established religion and
government, he resolved to communicate his doctrines gradually, and he
fixed on the mystic number seven as that of the degrees through which
his disciples should pass to the grand revelation of the vanity of all
religions and the indifference of all actions. The political cloak of
his system was the assertion of the claims of the descendants of
Mohammed, the son of Ismail, to the imamat, and his missionaries
(_dais_) engaged with activity in the task of making proselytes
throughout the empire of the khalifs. Abdallah afterwards removed to
Syria, where he died. His son and grandsons followed up his plans, and
in their time a convert was made who speedily brought the system into
active operation[16].
[Footnote 16: Macrisi is Hammer's authority for the preceding account of
Abdallah. It is to be observed that this Abdallah is unnoticed by
Herbelot.]
The name of this person was Carmath, a native of the district of Koofa,
and from him the sect was called Carmathites. He made great alterations
in the original system of Abdallah; and as the sect was now grown
numerous and powerful, he resolved to venture on putting the claims of
the descendants of Ismail to the test of the sword. He maintained that
the indefeasible right to earthly dominion lay with what he styled the
imam Maaessoom (_spotless_), a sort of ideal of a perfect prince, like
the wise man of the Stoics; consequently all the reigning princes were
usurpers, by reason of their vices and imperfections; and the warriors
of the perfect prince were to precipitate them all, without distinction,
from their thrones. Carmath also taught his disciples to understand the
precepts and observances of Islam in a figurative sense. Prayer
signified obedience to the imam Maaessoom, alms-giving was paying the
tithe due to him (that is, augmenting the funds of the society), fasting
was keeping the political secrets relating to the imam and his service.
It was not the tenseel, or outward word of the Koran, which was to be
attended to; the taweel, or exposition, was alone worthy of note. Like
those of Mokanna, and other opponents of the house of Abbas, the
followers of Carmath distinguished themselves by wearing white raiment
to mark their hostility to the reigning khalifs, whose garments and
standards retained the black hue which they had displayed against the
white banners of the house of Ommiyah. A bloody war was renewed at
various periods during an entire century between the followers of
Carmath and the troops of the khalifs, with varying success. In the
course of this war the holy city of Mecca was taken by the sectaries (as
it has been of late years by the Wahabees), after the fall of 30,000
Moslems in its defence. The celebrated black stone was taken and
conveyed in triumph to Hajar, where it remained for two-and-twenty
years, till it was redeemed for 50,000 ducats by the emir of Irak, and
replaced in its original seat. Finally, like so many of their
predecessors, the Carmathites were vanquished by the yet vigorous power
of the empire, and their name, though not their principles, was
extinguished.
During this period of contest between the house of Abbas and the
Carmathites, a dai (_missionary_) of the latter, named Abdallah,
contrived to liberate from the prison into which he had been thrown by
the khalif Motadhad a real or pretended descendant of Fatima, named
Obeid-Allah[17], whom he conveyed to Africa, and, proclaiming him to be
the promised Mehdi (_guide_), succeeded in establishing for him a
dominion on the north coast of that country. The gratitude of
Obeid-Allah was shown by his putting to death him to whom he was
indebted for his power; but talent and valour can exist without the
presence of virtue, and Obeid-Allah and his two next descendants
extended their sway to the shores of the Atlantic. Moez-ladin-Allah, his
great-grandson, having achieved the conquest of Egypt and Syria, wisely
abandoned his former more distant dominions along the coast of the
Mediterranean, his eye being fixed on the more valuable Asiatic empire
of the Abbassides. This dynasty of Fatimite khalifs, as they were
called, reigned during two centuries at Cairo, on the Nile, the foes and
rivals of those who sat in Bagdad, on the banks of the Tigris. Like
every other eastern dynasty, they gradually sank into impotence and
imbecility, and their throne was finally occupied by the renowned Koord
Saladin.
[Footnote 17: The genuineness of the descent of Obeid-Allah has been a
great subject of dispute among the eastern historians and jurists. Those
in the interests of the house of Abbas strained every nerve to make him
out an impostor.]
Obeid-Allah derived his pedigree from Ismail, the seventh imam. His
house, therefore, looked to the support of the whole sect of the
Seveners, or Ismailites, in their projects for extending their sway over
the Mohammedan world; and it was evidently their interest to increase
the numbers and power of that sect as much as possible. We are
accordingly justified in giving credit to the assurances of the eastern
historians, that there was a secret institution at Cairo, at the head of
which was the Fatimite khalif, and of which the object was the
dissemination of the doctrines of the sect of the Ismailites, though we
may be allowed to hesitate as to the correctness of some of the details.
This society, we are told, comprised both men and women, who met in
separate assemblies, for the common supposition of the insignificance of
the latter sex in the east is erroneous. It was presided over by the
chief missionary (Dai-al-Doat[18]), who was always a person of
importance in the state, and not unfrequently supreme judge
(_Kadhi-al-kodhat_[19]). Their assemblies, called Societies of Wisdom
(_Mejalis-al-hicmet_), were held twice a-week, on Mondays and
Wednesdays. All the members appeared clad in white. The president,
having first waited on the khalif, and read to him the intended lecture,
or, if that could not be done, having gotten his signature on the back
of it, proceeded to the assembly and delivered a written discourse. At
the conclusion of it those present kissed his hand and reverently
touched with their forehead the hand-writing of the khalif. In this
state the society continued till the reign of that extraordinary madman
the khalif Hakem-bi-emr-illah (_Judge by the command of God_), who
determined to place it on a splendid footing. He erected for it a
stately edifice, styled the House of Wisdom (_Dar-al-hicmet_),
abundantly furnished with books and mathematical instruments. Its doors
were open to all, and paper, pens, and ink were profusely supplied for
the use of those who chose to frequent it. Professors of law,
mathematics, logic, and medicine were appointed to give instructions;
and at the learned disputations which were frequently held in presence
of the khalif, these professors appeared in their state caftans
(_Khalaae_), which, it is said, exactly resembled the robes worn at the
English universities. The income assigned to this establishment, by the
munificence of the khalif, was 257,000 ducats annually, arising from the
tenths paid to the crown.
[Footnote 18: That is, _Missionary of Missionaries_.]
[Footnote 19: _Cadhi of Cadhis._]
The course of instruction in this university proceeded, according to
Macrisi, by the following nine degrees:--1. The object of the first,
which was long and tedious, was to infuse doubts and difficulties into
the mind of the aspirant, and to lead him to repose a blind confidence
in the knowledge and wisdom of his teacher. To this end he was perplexed
with captious questions; the absurdities of the literal sense of the
Koran, and its repugnance to reason, were studiously pointed out, and
dark hints were given that beneath this shell lay a kernel sweet to the
taste and nutritive to the soul. But all further information was most
rigorously withheld till he had consented to bind himself by a most
solemn oath to absolute faith and blind obedience to his instructor. 2.
When he had taken the oath he was admitted to the second degree, which
inculcated the acknowledgment of the imams appointed by God as the
sources of all knowledge. 3. The third degree informed him what was the
number of these blessed and holy imams; and this was the mystic seven;
for, as God had made seven heavens, seven earths, seas, planets, metals,
tones, and colours, so seven was the number of these noblest of God's
creatures. 4. In the fourth degree the pupil learned that God had sent
_seven_ lawgivers into the world, each of whom was commissioned to alter
and improve the system of his predecessor; that each of these had
_seven_ helpers, who appeared in the interval between him and his
successor; these helpers, as they did not appear as public teachers,
were called the mute (_samit_), in contradistinction to the _speaking_
lawgivers. The seven lawgivers were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus,
Mohammed, and Ismail, the son of Jaaffer; the seven principal helpers,
called Seats (_soos_), were Seth, Shem, Ishmael (the son of Abraham),
Aaron, Simon, Ali, and Mohammed, the son of Ismail. It is justly
observed[20] that, as this last personage was not more than a century
dead, the teacher had it in his power to fix on whom he would as the
mute prophet of the present time, and inculcate the belief in, and
obedience to, him of all who had not got beyond this degree. 5. The
fifth degree taught that each of the seven mute prophets had twelve
apostles for the dissemination of his faith. The suitableness of this
number was also proved by analogy. There are twelve signs of the zodiac,
twelve months, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve joints in the four
fingers of each hand, and so forth. 6. The pupil being led thus far, and
having shown no symptoms of restiveness, the precepts of the Koran were
once more brought under consideration, and he was told that all the
positive portions of religion must be subordinate to philosophy. He was
consequently instructed in the systems of Plato and Aristotle during a
long space of time; and (7), when esteemed fully qualified, he was
admitted to the seventh degree, when instruction was communicated in
that mystic Pantheism which is held and taught by the sect of the
Soofees. 8. The positive precepts of religion were again considered, the
veil was torn from the eyes of the aspirant, all that had preceded was
now declared to have been merely scaffolding to raise the edifice of
knowledge, and was to be flung down. Prophets and teachers, heaven and
hell, all were nothing; future bliss and misery were idle dreams; all
actions were permitted. 9. The ninth degree had only to inculcate that
nought was to be believed, everything might be done[21].
[Footnote 20: Hammer, p. 54.]
[Footnote 21: Mr. De Sacy (_Journal des Savans_, an 1818) is of opinion
that the Arabic words _Taleel_ and _Ibahat_ will not bear the strong
sense which Hammer gives them. The former, he says, only signifies that
Deism which regards the Deity as merely a speculative being, and
annihilates the moral relations between him and the creature; the latter
only denotes emancipation from the positive precepts of laws, such as
fasting, prayer, &c., but not from moral obligations.]
In perusing the accounts of secret societies, their rules, regulations,
degrees, and the quantity or nature of the knowledge communicated in
them, a difficulty must always present itself. Secrecy being of the very
essence of everything connected with them, what means had writers, who
were generally hostile to them, of learning their internal constitution
and the exact nature of their maxims and tenets? In the present case our
authority for this account of a society which chiefly flourished in the
tenth and eleventh centuries is Macrisi, a writer of the fifteenth
century. His authorities were doubtless of more ancient date, but we
know not who they were or whence they derived their information. Perhaps
our safest course in this, as in similar cases, would be to admit the
general truth of the statement, but to suffer our minds to remain in a
certain degree of suspense as to the accuracy of the details. We can
thus at once assent to the fact of the existence of the college at
Cairo, and of the mystic tenets of Soofeeism being taught in it, as also
to that of the rights of the Fatimites to the khalifat being inculcated
on the minds of the pupils, and missionaries being thence sent over the
east, without yielding implicit credence to the tale of the nine degrees
through which the aspirant had to pass, or admitting that the course of
instruction terminated in a doctrine subversive of all religion and of
all morality.
As we have seen, the Dai-al-doat, or chief missionary, resided at Cairo,
to direct the operations of the society, while the subordinate dais
pervaded all parts of the dominions of the house of Abbas, making
converts to the claims of Ali. The dais were attended by companions
(_Refeek_), who were persons who had been instructed up to a certain
point in the secret doctrines, but who were neither to presume to teach
nor to seek to make converts, that honour being reserved to the dais. By
the activity of the dais the society spread so widely that in the year
1058 the emir Bessassiri, who belonged to it, made himself master of
Bagdad, and kept possession of it during an entire year, and had money
struck, and prayer made, in the name of the Egyptian khalif. The emir,
however, fell by the sword of Toghrul the Turk, whose aid the feeble
Abbasside implored, and these two distinguishing acts of Mohammedan
sovereignty were again performed by the house of Abbas. Soon afterwards
the society at Cairo seems to have declined along with the power of the
Fatimite khalifs. In 1123 the powerful vizir Afdhal, on occasion of some
disturbance caused by them, shut up the Dar-al-hicmet, or, as it would
appear, destroyed it. His successor Mamoon permitted the society to hold
their meetings in a building erected in another situation, and it
lingered on till the fall of the khalifat of Egypt. The policy of Afdhal
is perhaps best to be explained by a reference to the state of the East
at that time. The khalif of Bagdad was become a mere pageant devoid of
all real power; the former dominions of the house of Abbas were in the
hands of the Seljookian Turks; the Franks were masters of a great part
of Syria, and threatened Egypt, where the khalifs were also fallen into
incapacity, and the real power had passed to the vizir. As this last
could aspire to nothing beyond preserving Egypt, a society instituted
for the purpose of gaining partisans to the claims of the Fatimites must
have been rather an impediment to him than otherwise. He must therefore
have been inclined to suppress it, especially as the society of the
Assassins, a branch of it, had now been instituted, which, heedless of
the claims of the Fatimites, sought dominion for itself alone. To the
history of that remarkable association we now proceed.
CHAPTER III.
Ali of Rei--His son Hassan Sabah--Hassan sent to study at
Nishaboor--Meets there Omar Khiam and Nizam-al-Moolk--Agreement
made by them--Hassan introduced by Nizam to Sultan Malek
Shah--Obliged to leave the Court--Anecdote of him--His own account
of his Conversion--Goes to Egypt--Returns to Persia--Makes himself
Master of Alamoot.
There was a man named Ali, who resided in the city of Rei, in Persia. He
was a strenuous Sheaeh, and maintained that his family had originally
come from Koofa, in Arabia; but the people of Khorasan asserted that his
family had always dwelt in one of the villages near Toos, in that
province, and that consequently his pretensions to an Arabian extraction
were false. Ali, it would appear, was anxious to conceal his opinions,
and employed the strongest asseverations to convince the governor of the
province, a rigid Soonite, of his orthodoxy, and finally retired into a
monastery to pass the remainder of his days in meditation. As a further
means of clearing himself from the charge of heresy he sent his only son
Hassan Sabah[22] to Nishaboor to be instructed by the celebrated imam
Mowafek, who resided at that place. What lessons he may have given the
young Hassan previously to parting with him, and what communication he
may have afterwards kept up with him, are points on which history is
silent.
[Footnote 22: Or Hassan-ben-Sabah (_son of Sabah_), so named from Sabah
Homairi, one of his pretended Arabian ancestors.]
The fame of the imam Mowafek was great over all Persia, and it was
currently believed that those who had the good fortune to study the
Koran and the Soonna[23] under him were secure of their fortune in
after-life. His school was consequently thronged by youths ambitious of
knowledge and future distinction; and here Hassan met, and formed a
strict intimacy with, Omar Khiam, afterwards so distinguished as a poet
and an astronomer, and with Nizam-al-Moolk (_Regulation of the Realm_),
who became vizir to the monarchs of the house of Seljook. This last, in
a history which he wrote of himself and his times, relates the following
instance of the early development of the ambition of Hassan. As these
three, who were the most distinguished pupils of the imam, were one day
together, "It is the general opinion," said Hassan, "that the pupils of
the imam are certain of being fortunate. This opinion may be verified in
one of us. So come, let us pledge ourselves to one another that he who
shall be successful will make the other two sharers in his good
fortune." His two companions readily assented, and the promise was
mutually given and received.
[Footnote 23: The Soonna is the body of traditions, answering to the
Mishua of the Jews, held by the orthodox Mussulmans.]
Nizam-al-Moolk entered the path of politics, where his talents and his
noble qualities had free course, and he rose through the various
gradations of office, till at length he attained the highest post in the
realm, the viziriate, under Alp Arslan (_Strong Lion_), the second
monarch of the house of Seljook. When thus exalted he forgot not his
former friends; and calling to mind the promise which he had made, he
received with great kindness Omar Khiam, who waited on him to
congratulate him on his elevation; and he offered at once to employ all
his interest to procure him a post under the government. But Omar, who
was devoted to Epicurean indulgences, and averse from toil and care,
thanking his friend, declined his proffered services; and all that the
vizir could prevail on him to accept was an annual pension of 1,200
ducats on the revenues of Nishaboor, whither he retired to spend his
days in ease and tranquillity.
The case was different with Hassan. During the ten years' reign of Alp
Arslan he kept aloof from the vizir, living in obscurity, and probably
maturing his plans for the future. But when the young prince Malek Shah
(_King King_) mounted the throne he saw that his time was come. He
suddenly appeared at the court of the new monarch, and waited on the
powerful vizir. The story is thus told by the vizir himself in his work
entitled Wasaya (_Political Institutes_), whence it is given by
Mirkhond.
"He came to me at Nishaboor in the year that Malek Shah, having got rid
of Kaward, had quieted the troubles which his rebellion had caused. I
received him with the greatest honours, and performed, on my part, all
that could be expected from a man who is a faithful observer of his
oaths, and a slave to the engagements which he has contracted. Each day
I gave him a new proof of my friendship, and I endeavoured to satisfy
his desires. He said to me once, 'Khojah (_master_), you are of the
number of the learned and the virtuous; you know that the goods of this
world are but an enjoyment of little duration. Do you then think that
you will be permitted to fail in your engagements by letting yourself be
seduced by the attractions of greatness and the love of the world? and
will you be of the number of _those who violate the contract made with
God_?' 'Heaven keep me from it!' replied I. 'Though you heap honours
upon me,' continued he, 'and though you pour upon me benefits without
number, you cannot be ignorant that that is not the way to perform what
we once pledged ourselves to respecting each other.' 'You are right,'
said I; 'and I am ready to satisfy you in what I promised. All that I
possess of honour and power, received from my fathers or acquired by
myself, belongs to you in common with me.' I then introduced him into
the society of the sultan, I assigned him a rank and suitable titles,
and I related to the prince all that had formerly passed between him and
me. I spoke in terms of such praise of the extent of his knowledge, of
his excellent qualities, and his good morals, that he obtained the rank
of minister and of a confidential man. But he was, like his father, an
impostor, a hypocrite, one who knew how to impose, and a wretch. He so
well possessed the art of covering himself with an exterior of probity
and virtue that in a little time he completely gained the mind of the
sultan, and inspired him with such confidence that that prince blindly
followed his advice in most of those affairs of a greater and more
important nature which required good faith and sincerity, and he was
always decided by his opinion. I have said all this to let it be seen
that it was I who had raised him to this fortune, and yet, by an effect
of his bad character, there came quarrels between the sultan and me, the
unpleasant result of which had like to have been that the good
reputation and favour which I had enjoyed for so many years were near
going into dust and being annihilated; for at last his malignity broke
out on a sudden, and the effects of his jealousy showed themselves in
the most terrible manner in his actions and in his words."
In fact, Hassan played the part of a treacherous friend. Everything that
occurred in the divan was carefully reported to the sultan, and the
worst construction put upon it, and hints of the incapacity and
dishonesty of the vizir were thrown out on the fitting occasions. The
vizir himself has left us an account of what he considered the worst
trick which his old schoolfellow attempted to play him. The sultan, it
seems, wishing to see a clear and regular balance-sheet of the revenues
and expenditure of his empire, directed Nizam-al-Moolk to prepare it.
The vizir required a space of more than a year for the accomplishment of
the task. Hassan deemed this a good opportunity for distinguishing
himself, and boldly offered to do what the sultan demanded in forty
days, not more than one-tenth of the time required by the vizir. All the
clerks in the finance department were immediately placed at the disposal
of Hassan; and the vizir himself confesses that at the end of the forty
days the accounts were ready to be laid before the sultan. But, just
when we might expect to see Hassan in triumph, and enjoying the highest
favour of the monarch, we find him leaving the court in disgrace and
vowing revenge on the sultan and his minister. This circumstance is left
unexplained by the Ornament of the Realm, who however acknowledges, with
great _naivete_, that, if Hassan had not been obliged to fly, he should
have left the court himself. But other historians inform us that the
vizir, apprehensive of the consequences, had recourse to art, and
contrived to have some of Hassan's papers stolen, so that, when the
latter presented himself before the sultan, full of hope and pride, and
commenced his statement, he found himself obliged to stop for want of
some of his most important documents. As he could not account for this
confusion, the sultan became enraged at the apparent attempt to deceive
him, and Hassan was forthwith obliged to retire from court with
precipitation.
Nizam-al-Moolk determined to keep no measures with a man who had thus
sought his ruin, and he resolved to destroy him. Hassan fled to Rei,
but, not thinking himself safe there, he went further south, and took
refuge with his friend the reis[24] Aboo-'l-Fazl (_Father of
Excellence_), at Isfahan. What his plans may have hitherto been is
uncertain; but now they seem to have assumed a definite form, and he
unceasingly meditated on the means of avenging himself on the sultan and
his minister. In consultation one day with Aboo-'l-Fazl, who appears to
have adopted his speculative tenets, after he had poured out his
complaints against the vizir and his master, he concluded by
passionately saying, "Oh that I had but two faithful friends at my
devotion! soon should I overthrow the Turk and the peasant," meaning the
sultan and the vizir. Aboo-'l-Fazl, who was one of the most clear-headed
men of his time, and who still did not comprehend the long-sighted views
of Hassan, began to fancy that disappointment had deranged the intellect
of his friend, and, believing that reasoning would in such a case be
useless, commenced giving him at his meals aromatic drinks and dishes
prepared with saffron, in order to relieve his brain. Hassan perceived
what his kind host was about, and resolved to leave him. Aboo-'l-Fazl in
vain employed all his eloquence to induce him to prolong his visit;
Hassan departed, and shortly afterwards set out for Egypt.
[Footnote 24: _Reis_, from the Arabic Ras (_the head_), answers in some
respects to _captain_, a word of similar origin. Thus the master of a
shin is called the Reis. Sir John Malcolm says, "it is equivalent to
_esquire_, as it was originally understood. It implies in Persia the
possession of landed estates and some magisterial power. The reis is in
general the hereditary head of a village."]
Twenty years afterwards, when Hassan had accomplished all he had
projected, when the sultan and the vizir were both dead, and the society
of the Assassins was fully organized, the reis Aboo-'l-Fazl, who was one
of his most zealous partisans, visited him at his hill-fort of Alamoot.
"Well, reis," said Hassan, "which of us was the madman? did you or I
stand most in need of the aromatic drinks and the dishes prepared with
saffron which you used to have served up at Isfahan? You see that I kept
my word as soon as I had found two trusty friends."
When Hassan left Isfahan, in the year 1078, the khalif Mostanser, a man
of some energy, occupied the throne of Egypt, and considerable exertions
were made by the missionaries of the society at Cairo to gain proselytes
throughout Asia. Among these proselytes was Hassan Sabah, and the
following account of his conversion, which has fortunately been
preserved in his own words, is interesting, as affording a proof that,
like Cromwell, and, as we have supposed, Mohammed, and all who have
attained to temporal power by means of religion, he commenced in
sincerity, and was deceived himself before he deceived others.
"From my childhood," says he, "even from the age of seven years, my sole
endeavour was to acquire knowledge and capacity. I had been reared up,
like my fathers, in the doctrine of the twelve imams, and I made
acquaintance with an Ismailite companion (_Refeek_), named Emir Dhareb,
with whom I knit fast the bonds of friendship. My opinion was that the
tenets of the Ismailites resembled those of the Philosophers, and that
the ruler of Egypt was a man who was initiated in them. As often,
therefore, as Emir said anything in favour of these doctrines I fell
into strife with him, and many controversies on points of faith ensued
between him and me. I gave not in to anything that Emir said in
disparagement of our sect, though it left a strong impression on my
mind. Meanwhile Emir parted from me, and I fell into a severe fit of
sickness, during which I reproached myself, saying, that the doctrine of
the Ismailites was assuredly the true one, and that yet out of obstinacy
I had not gone over to it, and that should death (which God avert!)
overtake me, I should die without having attained to the truth. At
length I recovered of that sickness, and I now met with another
Ismailite, named Aboo Nejm Zaraj, of whom I inquired touching the truth
of his doctrine. Aboo Nejm explained it to me in the fullest manner, so
that I saw quite through the depths of it. Finally I met a dai, named
Moomin, to whom the sheikh Abd-al-Melik (_Servant of the King_, i. e.
_of God_) Ben Attash, the director of the missions of Irak, had given
permission to exercise this office. I besought that he would accept my
homage (in the name of the Fatimite khalif), but this he at the first
refused to do, because I had been in higher dignities than he; but when
I pressed him thereto beyond all measure, he yielded his consent. When
now the sheikh Abd-al-Melik came to Rei, and through intercourse learned
to know me, my behaviour was pleasing unto him, and he bestowed on me
the office of a dai. He said unto me, 'Thou must go unto Egypt, to be a
sharer in the felicity of serving the imam Mostander.' When the sheikh
Abd-al-Melik went from Rei to Isfahan I set forth for Egypt[25]."
[Footnote 25: Mirkhond.]
There is something highly interesting in this account of his thoughts
and feelings given by Hassan Sabah, particularly when we recollect that
this was the man who afterwards organized the society of the Assassins,
so long the scourge of the East. We here find him, according to his own
statement, dreading the idea of dying without having openly made
profession of the truth, yet afterwards, if we are to credit the
Oriental historians, he inculcated the doctrine of the indifference of
all human actions. Unfortunately this declension from virtue to vice has
been too often exhibited to allow of our doubting that it may have
happened in the case of Hassan Sabah. A further reflection which
presents itself is this: Can anything be more absurd than those points
which have split the Moslems into sects? and yet how deeply has
conscience been engaged in them, and with what sincerity have they not
been embraced and maintained! Will not this apply in some measure to the
dissensions among Christians, who divide into parties, not for the
essential doctrines of their religion, but for some merely accessory
parts?
Hassan, on his arrival in Egypt, whither his fame had preceded him, was
received with every demonstration of respect. His known talents, and the
knowledge of the high favour and consideration which he had enjoyed at
the court of Malek Shah, made the khalif esteem him a most important
acquisition to the cause of the Ismailites, and no means were omitted to
soothe and flatter him. He was met on the frontiers by the Dai-al-Doat,
the sherif Taher Casvini, and several other persons of high
consideration; the great officers of state and court waited on him as
soon as he had entered Cairo, where the khalif assigned him a suitable
abode, and loaded him with honours and tokens of favour. But such was
the state of seclusion which the Fatimite khalifs had adopted, that
during the eighteen months which Hassan is said to have passed at Cairo
he never once beheld the face of Mostanser, though that monarch always
evinced the utmost solicitude about him, and never spoke of him but in
terms of the highest praise.
While Hassan abode in Egypt the question of the succession to the throne
(always a matter of dispute in Oriental monarchies) became a subject of
dissension and angry debate at court. The khalif had declared his eldest
son, Nesar, to be his legitimate successor; but Bedr-al-Jemali, the
Emir-al-Juyoosh, or commander-in-chief of the army, who enjoyed almost
unlimited power under the Fatimites, asserted the superior right of
Musteaeli, the khalif's second son, which right his power afterwards made
good. Hassan Sabah, not very wisely, as it would seem, took the side of
Prince Nesar, and thereby drew on himself the hostility of
Bedr-al-Jemali, who resolved on his destruction. In vain the reluctant
khalif struggled against the might of the powerful Emir-al-Juyoosh; he
was obliged to surrender Hassan to his vengeance, and to issue an order
for committing him to close custody in the castle of Damietta.
While Hassan lay in confinement at Damietta one of the towers of that
city fell down without any apparent cause. This being looked upon in the
light of a miracle by the partisans of Hassan and the khalif, his
enemies, to prevent his deriving any advantage from it, hurried him on
board of a ship which was on the point of sailing for Africa. Scarcely
had the vessel put to sea when a violent tempest came on. The sea rolled
mountains high, the thunder roared, and the lightning flamed. Terror
laid hold on all who were aboard, save Hassan Sabah, who looked calm and
undisturbed on the commotion of the elements, while others gazed with
agony on the prospect of instant death. On being asked the cause of his
tranquillity he made answer, in imitation probably of St. Paul, "Our
Lord (_Seydna_) has promised me that no evil shall befall me." Shortly
afterwards the storm fell and the sea grew calm. The crew and passengers
now regarded him as a man under the especial favour of Heaven, and when
a strong west wind sprung up, and drove them to the coast of Syria, they
offered no opposition to his leaving the vessel and going on shore.
Hassan proceeded to Aleppo, where he staid some time, and thence
directed his course to Bagdad. Leaving that city he entered Persia,
traversed the province of Khuzistan, and, visiting the cities of
Isfahan and Yezd, went on to the eastern province of Kerman, everywhere
making proselytes to his opinions. He then returned to Isfahan, where he
made a stay of four months. He next spent three months in Khuzistan.
Having fixed his view on Damaghan and the surrounding country in Irak as
a district well calculated to be the seat of the power which he
meditated establishing, he devoted three entire years to the task of
gaining disciples among its inhabitants. For this purpose he employed
the most eloquent dais he could find, and directed them to win over by
all means the inhabitants of the numerous hill-forts which were in that
region. While his dais were thus engaged he himself traversed the more
northerly districts of Jorjan and Dilem, and when he deemed the time fit
returned to the province of Irak, where Hussein Kaini, one of the most
zealous of his missionaries, had been long since engaged in persuading
the people of the strong hill-fort of Alamoot to swear obedience to the
khalif Mostanser. The arguments of the dai had proved convincing to the
great majority of the inhabitants, but the governor, Ali Mehdi, an
upright and worthy man, whose ancestors had built the fort, remained,
with a few others, faithful to his duty, and would acknowledge no
spiritual head but the Abbasside khalif of Bagdad; no temporal chief but
the Seljookian Malek Shah. Mehdi, when he first perceived the progress
of Ismailism among his people, expelled those who had embraced it, but
afterwards permitted them to return. Sure of the aid of a strong party
within the fort, Hassan is said to have employed against the governor
the same artifice by which Dido is related to have deceived the
Lybians[26]. He offered him 3,000 ducats for as much ground as he could
compass with an ox-hide. The guileless Mehdi consented, and Hassan
instantly cutting the hide into thongs surrounded with it the fortress
of Alamoot. Mehdi, seeing himself thus tricked, refused to stand to the
agreement. Hassan appealed to justice, and to the arms of his partisans
within the fortress, and by their aid compelled the governor to depart
from Alamoot. As Mehdi was setting out for Damaghan, whither he proposed
to retire, Hassan placed in his hand an order on the reis Mozaffer, the
governor of the castle of Kirdkoo, couched in these terms: "Let the reis
Mozaffer pay to Mehdi, the descendant of Ali, 3,000 ducats, as the price
of the fortress of Alamoot. Peace be upon the Prophet and his family!
God, the best of directors, sufficeth us." Mehdi could hardly believe
that a man of the consequence of the reis Mozaffer, who held an
important government under the Seljookian sultans, would pay the
slightest attention to the order of a mere adventurer like Hassan Sabah;
he, however, resolved, out of curiosity, or rather, as we are told,
pressed by his want of the money, to try how he would act. He
accordingly presented the order, and, to his infinite surprise, was
forthwith paid the 3,000 ducats. The reis had in fact been long in
secret one of the most zealous disciples of Hassan Sabah.
[Footnote 26: Sir J. Malcolm says that the person with whom he read this
portion of history in Persia observed to him that the English were well
acquainted with this stratagem, as it was by means of it that they got
Calcutta from the poor Emperor of Delhi.]
Historians are careful to inform us that it was on the night of
Wednesday, the sixth of the month Rejeb, in the 483d year of the Hejra,
that Hassan Sabah made himself master of Alamoot, which was to become
the chief seat of the power of the sect of the Ismailites. This year
answers to the year 1090 of the Christian era, and thus the dominion of
the Assassins was founded only nine years before the Christians of the
west established their empire in the Holy Land.
[Illustration: Hill Fort.]
CHAPTER IV.
Description of Alamoot--Fruitless Attempts to recover it--Extension
of the Ismailite Power--The Ismailites in Syria--Attempt on the
Life of Aboo-Hard Issa--Treaty made with Sultan Sanjar--Death of
Hassan--His Character.
Alamoot, a name so famous in the history of the East, signifies the
Vulture's Nest, an appellation derived from its lofty site. It was built
in the year 860, on the summit of a hill, which bears a fancied
resemblance to a lion couching with his nose to the ground, situated,
according to Hammer, in 50-1/2 deg. E. long. and 36 deg. N. lat. It was regarded
as the strongest of 50 fortresses of the same kind, which were scattered
over the district of Roodbar (_River-land_), the mountainous region
which forms the border between Persian Irak and the more northerly
provinces of Dilem and Taberistan, and is watered by the stream called
the King's River (_Shahrood_). As soon as Hassan saw himself master of
this important place he directed his thoughts to the means of increasing
its strength. He repaired the original walls, and added new ones; he
sunk wells, and dug a canal, which conveyed water from a considerable
distance to the foot of the fortress. As the possession of Alamoot made
him master of the surrounding country, he learned to regard the
inhabitants as his subjects, and he stimulated them to agriculture, and
made large plantations of fruit-trees around the eminence on which the
fortress stood.
But before Hassan had time to commence, much less complete these plans
of improvement, he saw himself in danger of losing all the fruits of
his toil. It was not to be expected that the emir, on whom the sultan
had bestowed the province of Roodbar, would calmly view its strongest
fort in the possession of the foe of the house of Seljook. Hassan,
therefore, had not had time to collect stores and provisions when he
found all access to the place cut off by the troops of the emir. The
inhabitants were about to quit Alamoot, but Hassan exerted the usual
influence of a commanding spirit over their minds, and confidently
assured them that that was the place in which fortune would favour them.
They yielded faith to his words and staid; and at length their
perseverance wore out the patience of the emir, and Alamoot thence
obtained the title of the Abode of Fortune. The sultan, who had at first
viewed the progress of his ex-minister with contempt, began soon to grow
apprehensive of his ultimate designs, and in 1092 he issued orders to
the emir Arslantash (_Lion-stone_) to destroy Hassan and his adherents.
Arslantash advanced against Alamoot. Hassan, though he had but 70 men
with him, and was scantily supplied with provisions, defended himself
courageously till Aboo Ali, the governor of Casveen, who was in secret
one of his dais, sent 300 men to his aid. These fell suddenly, during
the night, on the troops of the emir; the little garrison made at the
same time a sortie; the sultan's troops took to flight, and Alamoot
remained in the possession of the Ismailites. Much about the same time
Malek Shah sent troops against Hussein Kaini, who was actively engaged
in the cause of Hassan Sabah in Kuhistan. Hussein threw himself into
Moominabad, a fortress nearly as strong as that of Alamoot, and the
troops of the sultan assailed him in vain. It was now that Hassan began
to display the system which we shall presently unveil. The aged vizir,
the great and good Nizam-al-Moolk, perished by the daggers of his
emissaries, and the sultan himself speedily followed his minister to the
tomb, not without suspicion of poison.
Circumstances were now particularly favourable to the plans of Hassan
Sabah. On the death of sultan Malek Shah a civil war broke out among his
sons for the succession. All the military chiefs and persons of eminence
were engaged on one side or the other, and none had leisure or
inclination to attend to the progress of the Ismailites. These,
therefore, went on gradually extending their power, and fortress after
fortress fell into their hands. In the course of ten years they saw
themselves masters of the principal hill-forts of Persian Irak; they
held that of Shahdorr[27] (_King's pearl_), and two other fortresses,
close to Isfahan; that of Khalankhan, on the borders of Fars and
Kuhistan; Damaghan, Kirdkoo, and Firoozkoo, in the district of Komis;
and Lamseer and several others in Kuhistan. It was in vain that the most
distinguished imams and doctors of the law issued their _fetuas_ against
the sect of the Ismailites, and condemned them to future perdition; in
vain they called on the orthodox to employ the sword of justice in
freeing the earth from this godless and abominable race. The sect,
strong in its secret bond of unity and determination of purpose, went on
and prospered; the dagger avenged the fate of those who perished by the
sword, and, as the Orientalized European historian of the society
expresses it[28], "heads fell like an abundant harvest beneath the
twofold sickle of the sword of justice and the dagger of murder."
[Footnote 27: This castle was built by sultan Malek Shah. The following
was its origin:--As Malek Shah, who was a great lover of the chase, was
out one day a hunting, one of the hounds went astray on the nearly
inaccessible rock on which the castle was afterwards erected. The
ambassador of the Byzantine emperor, who was of the party, observed to
the sultan, that in his master's dominions so advantageous a situation
would not be left unoccupied, but would long since have been crowned
with a castle. The sultan followed the ambassador's advice, and erected
the castle of the King's Pearl on this lofty rock. When the castle fell
into the hands of the Ismailites, pious Moslems remarked that it could
not have better luck, since its site had been pointed out by a dog (an
unclean beast in their eyes), and its erection advised by an infidel.]
[Footnote 28: Hammer, 97.]
The appearance of the Ismailites, under their new form of organization,
in Syria, happened at the same time with that of the crusaders in the
Holy Land. The Siljookian Turks had made the conquest of that country,
and the different chiefs who ruled Damascus, Aleppo, and the other towns
and their districts, some of whom were of Turkish, others of Syrian
extraction, were in a constant state of enmity with each other. Such
powerful auxiliaries as the followers of Hassan Sabah were not to be
neglected; Risvan, Prince of Aleppo, so celebrated in the history of the
crusades, was their declared favourer and protector, and an Ismailite
agent always resided with him. The first who occupied this post was an
astrologer, and on his death the office fell to a Persian goldsmith,
named Aboo Taher Essaigh. The enemies of Risvan felt the effects of his
alliance with the Ismailites. The Prince of Emessa, for example, fell by
their daggers, as he was about to relieve the castle of the Koords, to
which Raymond, Count of Toulouse, had laid siege.
Risvan put the strong castle of Sarmin, which lay about a day's journey
south of Aleppo, into the hands of Aboo-'l-Fettah, the nephew of Hassan
Sabah, and his Dai-el-Kebir (_Great Missionary_) for the province of
Syria. The governor of this fortress was Aboo Taher Essaigh. A few years
afterwards (1107) the people of Apamea invoked the aid of Aboo Taher
against Khalaf, their Egyptian governor. Aboo Taher took possession of
the town in the name of Risvan, but Tancred, who was at war with that
prince, having come and attacked it, it was forced to surrender. Aboo
Taher stipulated for free egress for himself; but Tancred, in violation
of the treaty, brought him to Antioch, where he remained till his ransom
was paid. Aboo-'l-Fettah and the other Ismailites were given up to the
vengeance of the sons of Khalaf. Tancred took from them at the same time
another strong fortress, named Kefrlana. This is to be noted as the
first collision between the Crusaders and the Assassins, as we shall now
begin to call them. The origin of this name shall presently be
explained.
On the return of Aboo Taher to Aleppo a very remarkable attempt at
assassination took place. There was a wealthy merchant, named Aboo-Hard
Issa,[29] a sworn foe to the Ismailites, and who had spent large sums of
money in his efforts to injure them. He was now arrived from the borders
of Toorkistan with a richly laden caravan of 500 camels. An Ismailite,
named Ahmed, a native of Rei, had secretly accompanied him from the time
he left Khorasan, with the design of avenging the death of his father,
who had fallen under the blows of Aboo-Hard's people. The Ismailite, on
arriving at Aleppo, immediately communicated with Aboo Taher and Risvan.
Revenge, and the hope of gaining the wealth of the hostile merchant,
made them yield assent at once to the project of assassination. Aboo
Taher gave Ahmed a sufficient number of assistants; Risvan promised the
aid of his guards; and one day, as the merchant was in the midst of his
slaves, counting his camels, the murderers fell on him. But the faithful
slaves valiantly defended their master, and the Ismailites expiated
their guilt with their lives. The princes of Syria heaped reproaches on
Risvan for this scandalous violation of the rights of hospitality, and
he vainly endeavoured to justify himself by pretending ignorance of the
fact. Aboo Taher, as the increasing hatred of the people of Aleppo to
the sect made that town an unsafe abode, returned to Persia, his native
country, leaving his son, Aboo-'l-Fettah, to manage the affairs of the
society in his stead.
[Footnote 29: That is, Jesus. It may be here observed that the proper
names of the Old Testament are still used in the East. Ibrahim, Ismael,
Yahya, Joossuf, Moossa, Daood, Suleiman, Issa, are Abraham, Ishmael,
Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, and Joshua, or Jesus.]
The acquisition of castles and other places of strength was now the open
and avowed object of the society, whose aim was evidently at the empire
of Asia, and no mean was left unemployed for the effecting of this
design. In the year 1108 they made a bold attempt at making themselves
masters of the strong castle of Khizar, also in Syria, which belonged to
the family of Monkad. The festival of Easter being come, when the
Mussulman garrison was in the habit of going down into the town to
partake in the festivities of the Christians, during their absence the
Ismailites entered the castle, and barred the gates. When the garrison
returned towards night, they found themselves excluded; but the
Ismailites, in their reliance on the strength of the place, being
negligent, the women drew up their husbands by cords at the windows, and
the intruders were speedily expelled.
In the year 1113, as Mevdood, Prince of Mosul, was walking up and down,
on a festival day, in the mosk of Damascus, with the celebrated
Togteghin, he was fallen on and slain by an Ismailite. The murderer was
cut to pieces on the spot.
This year was, however, near proving fatal to the society in Syria.
Risvan, their great protector, died; and the eunuch Looloo, the guardian
of his young son, was their sworn enemy. An order for their
indiscriminate destruction was forthwith issued, and, in consequence,
more than 300 men, women, and children were massacred, while 200 more
were thrown into prison. Aboo-'l-Fettah was put to death with torture;
his body was cut to pieces and burnt at the gate looking towards Irak,
and his head sent through all Syria. They did not, however, fall totally
unavenged; the daggers of the society were directed against the
governors and men in power, many of whom became their victims. Thus, in
the year 1115, as the Attabeg Togteghin was receiving an audience at the
court of the khalif of Bagdad, the governor of Khorasan was fallen upon
by three Ismailites, who probably mistook him for the Attabeg, and he
and they perished. In 1119 as Bedii, the governor of Aleppo, was
journeying with his sons to the court of the emir Il-Ghazi, they were
fallen upon by two assassins; Bedii and one of his sons fell by their
blows; his other sons cut the murderers down; but a third then sprang
forth, and gave the finishing stroke to one of the young men, who was
already wounded. The murderer was taken, and brought before Togteghin
and Il-Ghazi, who only ordered him to be put in prison; but he drowned
himself to escape their vengeance, from which he had, perhaps, nothing
to apprehend.
In fact at this time the dread of the followers of Hassan Sabah had sunk
deep into the hearts of all the princes of the East, for there was no
security against their daggers. Accordingly, when the next year (1120)
Aboo Mohammed, the head of them at Aleppo, where they had re-established
themselves, sent to the powerful Il-Ghazi to demand of him possession
of the castle of Sherif, near that town, he feared to refuse; but the
people of Aleppo, at the persuasion of one of their fellow-citizens (who
speedily paid for his advice with his blood), rose _en masse_, levelled
the walls, filled up the ditches, and united the castle to the town.
Even the great Noor-ed-deen (_Lamp of Religion_) was some years
afterwards obliged to have recourse to the same artifice to save the
castle of Beitlaha from becoming one of their strong-holds.
The same system was pursued in Persia, where sultan Sanjar, the son of
Malek Shah, had united under his sceptre the greater part of the
dominions of his father and Fakhr-al-Moolk (_Fame of the Realm_). The
son and successor of Nizam-al-Moolk and Chakar Beg, the great uncle of
the sultan, perished by the daggers of the emissaries of Hassan Sabah.
Sultan Sanjar was himself on his march, intending to lay siege to
Alamoot, and the other strong-holds of the Ismailites, when one morning,
on awaking, he found a dagger struck in the ground close to his pillow.
The sultan was dismayed, but he concealed his terror, and a few days
afterwards there came a brief note from Alamoot, containing these words:
"Were we not well affected towards the sultan, the dagger had been
struck in his bosom, not in the ground." Sanjar recollected that his
brother Mohammed, who had laid siege to the castles of Lamseer and
Alamoot, had died suddenly just as they were on the point of
surrendering--an event so opportune for the society, that it was but
natural to ascribe it to their agency--and he deemed it the safest
course to proceed gently with such dangerous opponents. He accordingly
hearkened to proposals of peace, which was concluded on the following
conditions: 1. That the Ismailites should add no new works to their
castles; 2. That they should purchase no arms or military machines; 3.
That they should make no more proselytes. The sultan, on his part,
released the Ismailites from all tolls and taxes in the district of
Kirdkoh, and assigned them a part of the revenue of the territory of
Komis by way of annual pension. To apprehend clearly what the power of
the society was, we must recollect that sultan Sanjar was the most
powerful monarch of the East, that his mandate was obeyed from Cashgar
to Antioch, from the Caspian to the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb.
Thirty-four years had now elapsed since the acquisition of Alamoot, and
the first establishment of the power of Hassan Sabah. In all that time
he had never been seen out of the castle of Alamoot, and had been even
known but twice to leave his chamber, and to make his appearance on the
terrace. In silence and in solitude he pondered the means of extending
the power of the society of which he was the head, and he drew up, with
his own hand, the rules and precepts which were to govern it. He had
outlived most of his old companions and early disciples, and he was now
childless, for he had put to death his two only sons, the elder for
having been concerned in the murder of his faithful adherent Hussein
Kaini; the younger for having violated the precept of the Koran against
drinking wine. Feeling the approaches of death, he summoned to Alamoot
Keaeh Buzoorg Oomeid (_Keaeh of Good Hope_), who was residing at Lamseer,
which he had conquered twenty years before, and Aboo Ali, of Casveen,
and committed the direction of the society to them, appointing the
former to be its proper spiritual head and director, and placing in the
hands of the latter the administration of the civil and external
affairs. He then calmly expired, apparently unconscious of or
indifferent to the fact of having, by the organization of his pernicious
society, rendered his name an object of execration, a by-word and a
proverb among the nations.
Dimly as we may discern the character of Hassan Sabah through the medium
of prejudice and hatred through which the scanty notices of it have
reached us, we cannot refuse him a place among the higher order of
minds. The founder of an empire or of a powerful society is almost
always a great man; but Hassan seems to have had this advantage over
Loyola and other founders of societies, that he saw clearly from the
commencement what might be done, and formed all his plans with a view to
one ultimate object. He surely had no ordinary mind who could ask but
two devoted adherents to shake the throne of the house of Seljook, then
at the acme of its power.
CHAPTER V.
Organization of the Society--Names given to the Ismailites--Origin
of the name Assassin--Marco Polo's description of the Paradise of
the Old Man of the Mountain--Description of it given by Arabian
writers--Instances of the obedience of the Fedavee.
Having traced thus far the history of this celebrated society, having
shown its origin, and how it grew out of the claims of the descendants
of Ali to the khalifat, mixed with the mystic tenets which seem to have
been ultimately derived from India, we proceed to describe its
organization, and its secret doctrines, as they are related by oriental
historians.
Hassan Sabah clearly perceived that the plan of the society at Cairo was
defective as a mean of acquiring temporal power. The Dais might exert
themselves, and proselytes might be gained; but till possession was
obtained of some strongholds, and a mode of striking terror into princes
devised, nothing effectual could be achieved. He first, therefore, as we
have seen, made himself master of Alamoot and the other strong places,
and then added to the Dais and the Refeek another class, named Fedavee
(_Devoted_), whose task it was to yield implicit obedience to the
mandate of their chief, and, without inquiry or hesitation, plunge their
daggers into the bosom of whatever victim was pointed out to them, even
though their own lives should be the immediate sacrifice. The ordinary
dress of the Fedavee was (like that of all the sects opposed to the
house of Abbas) white; their caps, girdles, or boots, were red. Hence
they were named the White (_Mubeiyazah_), and the Red (_Muhammere_[30]);
but they could with ease assume any guise, even that of the Christian
monk, to accomplish their murderous designs.
[Footnote 30: Ahmar, fem. Hamra, is _red_ in Arabic; hence the
celebrated Moorish palace at Granada was called Alhambra (_Al-Hamra_),
_i. e._ the Red.]
The gradations in the society were these. At the head of it stood Hassan
himself and his successors, with the title of Seydna, or Sidna[31] (_Our
Lord_), and Sheikh-al-Jebal (_Mountain Chief_), a name derived from that
of the territory which was the chief seat of the power of the society.
This last, owing to the ambiguity of the word _sheikh_ (which, like
_seigneur_ and _signore_, signifies either an _elder_ or _chief_), has
been ridiculously translated by the early European historians _Old Man
of the Mountain_. Under him were the Dai-'l-Kebir (_Great
Missionaries_), of which there were three, for the three provinces of
Jebal, Kuhistan, and Syria[32]. Then came the Dais, next the Refeek,
then the Fedavee, and lastly the Lazik, or aspirants.
[Footnote 31: Hence the Spanish _Cid_.]
[Footnote 32: Hammer, book ii.]
Hassan was perfectly aware that without the compressing power of
positive religion no society can well be held together. Whatever,
therefore, his private opinions may have been, he resolved to impose on
the bulk of his followers the most rigid obedience to the positive
precepts of Islam, and, as we have seen, actually put his own son to
death for a breach of one of them.
Hassan is said to have rejected two of the degrees of the Ismailite
society at Cairo, and to have reduced them to seven, the original number
in the plan of Abdallah Maimoon, the first projector of this secret
society. Besides these seven degrees, through which the aspirants
gradually rose to knowledge, Hassan, in what Hammer terms the breviary
of the order, drew up seven regulations or rules for the conduct of the
teachers in his society. 1. The first of these, named Ashinai-Risk
(_Knowledge of duty_), inculcated the requisite knowledge of human
nature for selecting fit persons for admission. To this belonged the
proverbial expressions said to have been current among the Dais, similar
to those used by the ancient Pythagoreans, such as _Sow not on barren
ground_ (that is, Waste not your labour on incapable persons). _Speak
not in a house where there is a lamp_, (that is, Be silent in the
presence of a lawyer). 2. The second rule was called Teenis (_Gaining of
confidence_), and taught to win the candidates by flattering their
passions and inclinations. 3. The third, of which the name is not given,
taught to involve them in doubts and difficulties by pointing out the
absurdities of the Koran, and of positive religion. 4. When the aspirant
had gone thus far, the solemn oath of silence and obedience, and of
communicating his doubts to his teacher alone, was to be imposed on the
disciple; and then (5.) he was to be informed that the doctrines and
opinions of the society were those of the greatest men in church and
state. 6. The Tessees (_Confirmation_) directed to put the pupil again
through all he had learned, and to confirm him in it. And, (7.) finally,
the Teevil (_Instruction in allegory_) gave the allegorical mode of
interpreting the Koran, and drawing whatever sense might suit their
purposes from its pages. Any one who had gone through this course of
instruction, and was thus become perfectly imbued with the spirit of the
society, was regarded as an accomplished Dai, and employed in the
important office of making proselytes and extending its influence.
We must again express our opinion that the minute accounts which are
given to us by some writers, respecting the rules and doctrines of
secret associations, should be received with a considerable degree of
hesitation, owing to the character and the means of information of those
from whom we receive them. In the present case our authority is a very
suspicious one. We are told that when Alamoot was taken by Hoolekoo
Khan, the Mongol prince, he gave his vizir, the learned Ata-Melek
(_King's father_) Jowani, permission to examine the library, and to
select such books as were worthy of being preserved. The vizir took out
the Korans and some other books of value in his eyes; the rest, among
which are said to have been the archives and the secret rules and
doctrines of the society, he committed, after looking cursorily through
them, to the flames. In an historical work of his own he gave the result
of his discoveries in those books, and he is the authority from which
Mirkhond and other writers have derived the accounts which they have
transmitted to us. It is quite clear, therefore, that the vizir of
Hoolakoo was at liberty to invent what atrocities he pleased of the sect
which was destroyed by his master, and that his testimony is
consequently to be received with suspicion. On the other hand it
receives some confirmation from its agreement with the account of the
society at Cairo given by Macrisi, and is not repugnant to the spirit of
Soofeism.
This last doctrine, which is a kind of mystic Pantheism, viewing God in
all and all in God, may produce, like fatalism, piety or its opposite.
In the eyes of one who thus views God, all the distinctions between vice
and virtue become fleeting and uncertain, and crime may gradually lose
its atrocity, and be regarded as only a mean for the production of a
good end. That the Ismailite Fedavee murdered innocent persons without
compunction, when ordered so to do by his superiors, is an undoubted
fact, and there is no absurdity in supposing that he and they may have
thought that in so doing they were acting right, and promoting the cause
of truth. Such sanctifying of crime is not confined to the East; the
maxim that the end sanctions the means is of too convenient a nature not
to have prevailed in all parts of the world; and the assassins of Henry
III. and Henry IV. of France displayed all the sincerity and constancy
of the Ismailite Fedavees. Without, therefore, regarding the heads of
the Ismailites, with Hammer, mere ruthless and impious murderers, who
trampled under foot religion and morals with all their obligations, we
may assent to the opinion of their leading doctrine being Soofeism
carried to its worst consequences.
The followers of Hassan Sabah were called the Eastern Ismailites, to
distinguish them from those of Africa. They were also named the
Batiniyeh (_Internal or Secret_), from the secret meaning which they
drew from the text of the Koran, and Moolhad, or Moolahid (_Impious_) on
account of the imputed impiety of their doctrines,--names common to them
with most of the preceding sects. It is under this last appellation that
they were known to Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller. The name,
however, by which they are best known in Europe, and which we shall
henceforth chiefly employ, is that of Assassins. This name is very
generally derived from that of the founder of their society; but M. De
Sacy has made it probable that the oriental term Hashisheen, of which
the Crusaders made Assassins, comes from Hashish, a species of hemp,
from which intoxicating opiates were made, which the Fedavee were in the
habit of taking previously to engaging in their daring enterprises, or
employed as a medium of procuring delicious visions of the paradise
promised to them by the Sheikh-al-Jebal.
It is a curious question how Hassan Sabah contrived to infuse into the
Fedavee the recklessness of life, joined with the spirit of implicit
obedience to the commands of their superiors, which they so invariably
displayed. We are told[33] that the system adopted for this purpose was
to obtain, by purchase or otherwise, from their parents, stout and
healthy children. These were reared up in implicit obedience to the will
of the Sheikh, and, to fit them for their future office, carefully
instructed in various languages. The most agreeable spots were selected
for their abode, they were indulged in the gratification of their
senses, and, in the midst of their enjoyments, some persons were
directed to inflame their imaginations by glowing descriptions of the
far superior delights laid up in the celestial paradise for those who
should be admitted to repose in its bowers; a happiness only to be
attained by a glorious death met in obedience to the commands of the
Sheikh. When such ideas had been impressed on their minds, the glorious
visions ever floated before their eyes, the impression was kept up by
the use of the opiate above-mentioned, and the young enthusiast panted
for the hour when death, obtained in obeying the order of the Sheikh,
should open to him the gates of paradise to admit him to the enjoyment
of bliss never to end.
[Footnote 33: Wilken, Geschichte der Kreuzzuege, vol. ii.]
The celebrated Venetian, Marco Polo, who traversed the most remote parts
of the East in the 13th century, gave on his return to Europe an account
of the regions which he had visited, which filled the minds of men with
wonder and amazement. As is usual in such cases this was followed or
accompanied by unbelief, and it is only by the inquiries and discoveries
of modern travellers that the veracity of Marco Polo, like that of
Herodotus, has been established and placed beyond doubt.
Among other wonderful narratives which we meet in the travels of Marco
Polo is the account which he gives of the people whom he calls
Mulehetites (that is, Moolahid), and their prince the Old Man of the
Mountain. He describes correctly the nature of this society, and gives
the following romantic narrative of the mode employed by that prince to
infuse the principle of implicit obedience into the minds of his
followers[34].
[Footnote 34: Marsden's Translation.]
"In a beautiful valley," says he, "enclosed between two lofty mountains,
he had formed a luxurious garden, stored with every delicious fruit and
every fragrant shrub that could be procured. Palaces of various sizes
and forms were erected in different parts of the grounds, ornamented
with works of gold, with paintings, and with furniture of rich silks. By
means of small conduits contained in these buildings streams of wine,
milk, honey, and some of pure water, were seen to flow in every
direction. The inhabitants of these palaces were elegant and beautiful
damsels, accomplished in the arts of singing, playing upon all sorts of
musical instruments, dancing, and especially those of dalliance and
amorous allurement. Clothed in rich dresses, they were seen continually
sporting and amusing themselves in the garden and pavilions, their
female guardians being confined within doors, and never suffered to
appear. The object which the chief had in view in forming a garden of
this fascinating kind was this: that Mahomet having promised to those
who should obey his will the enjoyments of paradise, where every species
of sensual gratification should be found in the society of beautiful
nymphs, he was desirous of its being understood by his followers that he
also was a prophet, and a compeer of Mahomet, and had the power of
admitting to paradise such as he should choose to favour. In order that
none without his licence should find their way into this delicious
valley, he caused a strong and inexpugnable castle to be erected at the
opening of it, through which the entry was by a secret passage. At his
court, likewise, this chief entertained a number of youths, from the age
of twelve to twenty years, selected from the inhabitants of the
surrounding mountains, who showed a disposition for martial exercises,
and appeared to possess the quality of daring courage. To them he was in
the daily practice of discoursing on the subject of the paradise
announced by the Prophet and of his own, of granting admission, and at
certain times he caused draughts of a soporific nature to be
administered to ten or a dozen of the youths, and when half dead with
sleep he had them conveyed to the several apartments of the palaces in
the garden. Upon awakening from this state of lethargy their senses were
struck with all the delightful objects that have been described, and
each perceived himself surrounded by lovely damsels, singing, playing,
and attracting his regards by the most fascinating caresses, serving him
also with delicious viands and exquisite wines, until, intoxicated with
excess of enjoyment, amidst actual rivers of milk and wine, he believed
himself assuredly in paradise, and felt an unwillingness to relinquish
its delights. When four or five days had thus been passed, they were
thrown once more into a state of somnolency and carried out of the
garden. Upon their being introduced to his presence, and questioned by
him as to where they had been, their answer was, 'In paradise, through
the favour of your highness;' and then, before the whole court, who
listened to them with eager curiosity and astonishment, they gave a
circumstantial account of the scenes to which they had been witnesses.
The chief thereupon addressing them said, 'We have the assurance of our
Prophet that he who defends his lord shall inherit paradise, and if you
show yourselves devoted to the obedience of my orders, that happy lot
awaits you.' Animated to enthusiasm by words of this nature all deemed
themselves happy to receive the commands of their master, and were
forward to die in his service."
This romantic narrative, more suited to a place among the wonders of the
"Thousand and One Nights" than to admission into sober history, has been
very generally rejected by judicious inquirers such as De Sacy and
Wilkin, the able historians of the Crusades; but it has found credence
with Hammer, to whose work we are indebted for the far greater part of
the present details on the subject of the Assassins. This industrious
scholar has, as he thinks, found a proof of its truth in the
circumstance of similar narratives occurring in the works of some
Arabian writers which treat of the settlements of the society in Syria,
forgetting that a fabulous legend is often more widely diffused than
sober truth. All, therefore, that can be safely inferred from this
collection of authorities is that the same marvellous tale which the
Venetian traveller heard in the north of Persia was also current in
Syria and Egypt. Its truth must be established by a different species of
proof.
In the Siret-al-Hakem (_Memoirs of Hakem_), a species of Arabian
historic romance, the following account of the gardens at Massyat, the
chief seat of the Assassins in Syria, was discovered by Hammer[35]:--
[Footnote 35: Fundgruben des Orients, vol. iii.]
"Our narrative now returns to Ismail the chief of the Ismailites. He
took with him his people laden with gold, silver, pearls, and other
effects, taken away from the inhabitants of the coasts, and which he had
received in the island of Cyprus, and on the part of the king of Egypt,
Dhaher, the son of Hakem-biemr-Illah. Having bidden farewell to the
sultan of Egypt at Tripolis, they proceeded to Massyat, when the
inhabitants of the castles and fortresses assembled to enjoy themselves,
along with the chief Ismail and his people. They put on the rich dresses
with which the sultan had supplied them, and adorned the castle of
Massyat with everything that was good and fine. Ismail made his entry
into Massyat with the Devoted (_Fedavee_), as no one has ever done at
Massyat before him or after him. He stopped there some time to take into
his service some more persons whom he might make Devoted both in heart
and body.
"With this view he had caused to be made a vast garden, into which he
had water conducted. In the middle of this garden he built a kiosk
raised to the height of four stories. On each of the four sides were
richly-ornamented windows joined by four arches, in which were painted
stars of gold and silver. He put into it roses, porcelain, glasses, and
drinking-vessels of gold and silver. He had with him Mamlooks (_i. e._
slaves), ten males and ten females, who were come with him from the
region of the Nile, and who had scarcely attained the age of puberty. He
clothed them in silks and in the finest stuffs, and he gave unto them
bracelets of gold and of silver. The columns were overlaid with musk and
with amber, and in the four arches of the windows he set four caskets,
in which was the purest musk. The columns were polished, and this place
was the retreat of the slaves. He divided the garden into four parts. In
the first of these were pear-trees, apple-trees, vines, cherries,
mulberries, plums, and other kinds of fruit-trees. In the second were
oranges, lemons, olives, pomegranates, and other fruits. In the third
were cucumbers, melons, leguminous plants, &c. In the fourth were roses,
jessamine, tamarinds, narcissi, violets, lilies, anemonies, &c. &c.
"The garden was divided by canals of water, and the kiosk was surrounded
with ponds and reservoirs. There were groves in which were seen
antelopes, ostriches, asses, and wild cows. Issuing from the ponds, one
met ducks, geese, partridges, quails, hares, foxes, and other animals.
Around the kiosk the chief Ismail planted walks of tall trees,
terminating in the different parts of the garden. He built there a great
house, divided into two apartments, the upper and the lower. From the
latter covered walks led out into the garden, which was all enclosed
with walls, so that no one could see into it, for these walks and
buildings were all void of inhabitants. He made a gallery of coolness,
which ran from this apartment to the cellar, which was behind. This
apartment served as a place of assembly for the men. Having placed
himself on a sofa there opposite the door, the chief made his men sit
down, and gave them to eat and to drink during the whole length of the
day until evening. At nightfall he looked around him, and, selecting
those whose firmness pleased him, said to them, 'Ho! such-a-one, come
and seat thyself near me.' It is thus that Ismail made those whom he had
chosen sit near him on the sofa and drink. He then spoke to them of the
great and excellent qualities of the imam Ali, of his bravery, his
nobleness, and his generosity, until they fell asleep, overcome by the
power of the _benjeh_[36] which he had given them, and which never
failed to produce its effects in less than a quarter of an hour, so that
they fell down as if they were inanimate. As soon as the man had fallen
the chief Ismail arose, and, taking him up, brought him into a
dormitory, and then, shutting the door, carried him on his shoulders
into the gallery of coolness, which was in the garden, and thence into
the kiosk, where he committed him to the care of the male and female
slaves, directing them to comply with all the desires of the candidate,
on whom they flung vinegar till he awoke. When he was come to himself
the youths and maidens said to him, 'We are only waiting for thy death,
for this place is destined for thee. This is one of the pavilions of
paradise, and we are the hoories and the children of paradise. If thou
wert dead thou wouldest be for ever with us, but thou art only dreaming,
and wilt soon awake.' Meanwhile the chief Ismail had returned to the
company as soon as he had witnessed the awakening of the candidate, who
now perceived nothing but youths and maidens of the greatest beauty, and
adorned in the most magnificent manner.
[Footnote 36: The Arabic name of the hyoscyamus, or henbane. Hammer
conjectures that the word _benge_, or, with the Coptic article
in the plural, _ni-benje_, is the same with the nepenthe of the
ancients.--Fundgruben des Orients, iii. 202.]
"He looked round the place, inhaled the fragrance of musk and
frankincense, and drew near to the garden, where he saw the beasts and
the birds, the running water, and the trees. He gazed on the beauty of
the kiosk, and the vases of gold and silver, while the youths and
maidens kept him in converse. In this way he remained confounded, not
knowing whether he was awake or only dreaming. When two hours of the
night had gone by, the chief Ismail returned to the dormitory, closed
the door, and thence proceeded to the garden, where his slaves came
around him and rose before him. When the candidate perceived him he said
unto him, 'O chief Ismail, do I dream, or am I awake?' The chief Ismail
then made answer to him, 'O such-a-one, beware of relating this vision
to any one who is a stranger to this place! Know that the Lord Ali has
shown thee the place which is destined for thee in paradise. Know that
at this moment the Lord Ali and I have been sitting together in the
regions of the empyrean. So do not hesitate a moment in the service of
the imam who has given thee to know his felicity.' Then the chief Ismail
ordered supper to be served. It was brought in vessels of gold and of
silver, and consisted of boiled meats and roast meats, with other
dishes. While the candidate ate he was sprinkled with rose-water; when
he called for drink there were brought to him vessels of gold and silver
filled with delicious liquors, in which also had been mingled some
_benjeh_. When he had fallen asleep, Ismail carried him through the
gallery back to the dormitory, and, leaving him there, returned to his
company. After a little time he went back, threw vinegar on his face,
and then, bringing him out, ordered one of the Mamlooks to shake him. On
awaking, and finding himself in the same place among the guests, he
said, 'There is no god but God, and Mohammed is the Prophet of God!' The
chief Ismail then drew near and caressed him, and he remained, as it
were, immersed in intoxication, wholly devoted to the service of the
chief, who then said unto him, 'O such-a-one, know that what thou hast
seen was not a dream, but one of the miracles of the imam Ali. Know that
he has written thy name among those of his friends. If thou keep the
secret thou art certain of thy felicity, but if thou speak of it thou
wilt incur the resentment of the imam. If thou die thou art a martyr;
but beware of relating this to any person whatever. Thou hast entered by
one of the gates to the friendship of the imam, and art become one of
his family; but if thou betray the secret, thou wilt become one of his
enemies, and be driven from his house.' Thus this man became one of the
servants of the chief Ismail, who in this manner surrounded himself with
trusty men, until his reputation was established. This is what is
related of the chief Ismail and his Devoted."
To these romantic tales of the paradise of the Old Man of the Mountain
we must add a third of a still more juggling character, furnished by the
learned and venerable Sheikh Abd-ur-Rahman (_Servant of the
Compassionate_, i. e., _of God_) Ben Ebubekr Al-Jeriri of Damascus, in
the twenty-fourth chapter of his work entitled "A Choice Book for
discovering the Secrets of the Art of Imposture[37]."
[Footnote 37: Fundgruben des Orients, vol. iv.]
After giving some account of Sinan, the chief of the Syrian Assassins,
whom we shall presently have occasion to mention, the sheikh proceeds to
narrate the artifice which he employed to deceive his followers:--
"There was near the sofa on which he sat a hole in the ground
sufficiently deep for a man to sit down in it. This he covered with a
thin piece of wood, leaving only so much of it open as would contain the
neck of a man. He placed on this cover of wood a disk of bronze with a
hole in the middle of it, and put in it two doors. Then taking one of
his disciples, to whom he had given a considerable sum of money to
obtain his consent, he placed the perforated disk round his neck, and
kept it down by weights, so that nothing appeared but the neck of the
man; and he put warm blood upon it, so that it looked as if he had just
cut off his head. He then called in his companions, and showed them the
plate, on which they beheld the head of their comrade. 'Tell thy
comrades,' said the master to the head, 'what thou hast seen, and what
has been said unto thee.' The man then answered as he had been
previously instructed. 'Which wouldest thou prefer,' said the master,
'to return to the world and thy friends, or to dwell in paradise?' 'What
need have I,' replied the head, 'to return to the world after having
seen my pavilion in paradise, and the hoories, and all that God has
prepared for me? Comrades, salute my family, and take care not to
disobey this prophet, who is the lord of the prophets in the state of
time, as God has said unto me. Farewell.' These words strengthened the
faith of the others; but when they were gone the master took the man up
out of the hole, and cut off his head in right earnest. It was by such
means as this that he made himself obeyed by his people."
The preceding accounts, whatever may be thought of their truth, serve to
testify a general belief throughout the East of some extraordinary means
being employed by the mountain chief to acquire the power which he was
known to possess over the minds of his Fedavee. And, in fact, there is
no great improbability in the supposition of some artifice of that
nature having been occasionally employed by him; for, when we recollect
that an Asiatic imagination is coarse, especially among the lower
orders, and that in the East men rarely see any females but those of
their own family, the chief might find no great difficulty in persuading
a youth, whom he had transported in a state of stupor into an apartment
filled with young girls, of his having been in the actual paradise
promised to the faithful.
But, laying aside supposition, we may observe that the very power over
the minds of their followers ascribed to Hassan Sabah and his successors
has been actually exercised in our own days by the chief of the
Wahabees. Sir John Malcolm[38] informs us, from a Persian manuscript,
that a few years ago one of that sect, who had stabbed an Arab chief
near Bussora, when taken, not only refused to do anything towards saving
his life, but, on the contrary, seemed anxiously to court death. He was
observed to grasp something firmly in his hand, which he appeared to
prize beyond life itself. On its being taken from him and examined, it
proved to be an order from the Wahabee chief for an emerald palace and a
number of beautiful female slaves in the blissful paradise of the
Prophet. This story, however, it must be confessed, appears to be little
consistent with the principles of the sect of the Wahabees, and we may
suspect that it has originated in some misapprehension.
[Footnote 38: History of Persia, vol. i.]
The following instance of the implicit obedience of the Fedavee to the
orders of Hassan Sabah is given by a respectable oriental historian[39].
An ambassador from the Sultan Malek Shah having come to Alamoot to
demand the submission and obedience of the sheikh, Hassan received him
in a hall in which he had assembled several of his followers. Making a
sign to one youth, he said, "Kill thyself!" Instantly the young man's
dagger was plunged into his own bosom, and he lay a corpse upon the
ground. To another he said, "Fling thyself down from the wall." In an
instant his shattered limbs were lying in the castle ditch. Then turning
to the terrified envoy, "I have seventy thousand followers who obey me
after this fashion. This be my answer to thy master."
[Footnote 39: Elmacin, Historia Saracenica, l. iii. p. 286.]
Very nearly the same tale is told of the Assassins of Syria by a western
writer[40]. As Henry Count of Champagne was journeying, in the year
1194, from Palestine to Armenia[41], his road lay through the confines
of the territory of the Ismailites. The chief sent some persons to
salute him, and to beg that, on his return, he would stop at, and
partake of the hospitality of his castle. The count accepted the
invitation. As he returned the Dai-al-Kebir advanced to meet him, showed
him every mark of honour, and led him to view his castles and
fortresses. Having passed through several, they came at length to one
the towers of which rose to an exceeding height. On each tower stood two
sentinels clad in white. "These," said the chief, pointing to them,
"obey me far better than the subjects of you Christians obey their
lords;" and at a given signal two of them flung themselves down, and
were dashed to pieces. "If you wish," said he to the astonished count,
"all my white ones shall do the same." The benevolent count shrank from
the proposal, and candidly avowed that no Christian prince could presume
to look for such obedience from his subjects. When he was departing,
with many valuable presents, the chief said to him significantly, "By
means of these trusty servants I get rid of the enemies of our society."
[Footnote 40: Marinus Sanutus, l. iii. p. x. c. 8.]
[Footnote 41: This was the Armenia in Cilicia.]
In oriental, and also in occidental history, the same anecdote is often
told of different persons, a circumstance which might induce us to doubt
of its truth altogether, or at least of its truth in any particular
case. The present anecdote, for instance, with a slight variation in the
details, is told of Aboo Taher, a celebrated leader of the Carmathites.
This chief, after his expedition to Mecca, in which he had slain 30,000
of the inhabitants, filled the hallowed well Zemzem with the bodies of
dead men, and carried off the sacred black stone in triumph, had the
hardihood to approach Bagdad, the residence of the khalif, with only 500
horsemen. The pontiff of Islam, enraged at the insult, ordered his
general Aboo Saj to take 30,000 men, and make him a prisoner. The
latter, having collected his forces, sent a man off to Aboo Taher to
tell him on his part that out of regard for him, who had been his old
friend, he advised him, as he had so few troops with him, either to
yield himself at once to the khalif or to see about making his escape.
Aboo Taher asked of the envoy how many men Aboo Saj had with him. The
envoy replied, "Thirty thousand." "He still wants three like mine," said
Aboo Taher; and calling to him three of his men, he ordered one of them
to stab himself, another to throw himself into the Tigris, a third to
fling himself down from a precipice. His commands were at once obeyed.
Then turning to the envoy, "He who has such troops fears not the number
of his enemies. I give thyself quarter; but know that I shall soon let
thee see thy general Aboo Saj chained among my dogs." In fact, that very
night he attacked and routed the troops of the khalif, and Aboo Saj,
happening to fall into his hands, soon appeared chained among the
mastiffs of the Carmathite chief[42].
[Footnote 42: D'Herbelot, _titre_ Carmath.]
The preceding details on the paradise of the Sheikh-al-Jebal, and his
power over the minds of his followers, will at least help to illustrate
the manners and modes of thinking of the orientals. We now resume the
thread of our narrative, and proceed to narrate the deeds of the
Assassins, as we shall henceforth designate them.
CHAPTER VI.
Keaeh Buzoorg Oomeid--Affairs of the Society in Persia--They acquire
the Castle of Banias, in Syria--Attempt to betray Damascus to the
Crusaders--Murders committed during the reign of Keaeh Buzoorg.
Keaeh Buzoorg Oomeid trod faithfully in the footprints of his
predecessor. He built the strong fortress of Maimoondees, and he made
the enemies of the society feel that it was still animated by the spirit
of Hassan Sabah. Sultan Sanjar, who, on account of the favourable terms
on which he had made peace with the Assassins, was regarded by the
rigidly orthodox as a secret follower of their doctrine, declared
himself once more their open enemy, and sent an army to ravage Kirdkoh.
These troops were defeated by those which Keaeh sent against them; but
the following year Sanjar put to the sword a great number of the members
of the sect. The dagger, as usual, retaliated. Mahmood, the successor of
Sanjar, having first tried in vain the effect of arms, sent his grand
falconer Berenkesh to Alamoot, to desire that an envoy might be sent to
him to treat of peace. The Khojah (_Master_) Mohammed Nassihi
accompanied Berenkesh back to court, and kissed the hand of the sultan,
who spoke to him a few words about the peace; but as the Khojah was
going out of the palace, he and his followers were fallen upon and
massacred by the people.
When the sultan sent an ambassador to Alamoot to exculpate himself from
the guilt of participation in this violation of the laws of nations,
Keaeh made answer, "Go back to the sultan, and tell him, in my name,
Mohammed Nassihi trusted to your perfidious assurances, and repaired to
your court; if you speak truly, deliver up the murderers to justice; if
not, expect my vengeance." On the refusal of the sultan to surrender the
murderers, a corps of Assassins appeared at the gates of Casveen, slew
400 men, and led away 3,000 sheep, 200 horses, and 200 oxen. Next year
the sultan took, and retained for a short time, the fortress of Alamoot;
but a body of 2,000 men which he sent against Lamseer fled, without
drawing a sword, when they heard that the Refeek (_Companions_) of the
society were marching against them. Shortly afterwards the sultan died,
and the Assassins made another incursion into the district of Casveen,
where they carried off booty and prisoners.
The mountain chief would tolerate no rival near his throne. Hearing that
one Aboo Hashem, a descendant of Ali, had arrogated to himself the
dignity of imam in the province of Ghilan, which lies north of Kuhistan,
and had issued letters calling on the people to acknowledge him, Keaeh
wrote to him to desist from his pretensions. The self-appointed imam
only replied by reviling the odious tenets of the Ismailites. The sheikh
forthwith sent a body of his troops against him, took him prisoner, and,
after trying him by a court-martial, committed him to the flames.
Though, as we have seen, the settlements of the Assassins were in the
mountainous region of Irak, in the north-west of Persia, their power was
of such a nature that no distance was a security against it. A Fedavee
could speedily traverse the intervening regions to plant his dagger in
the bosom of any prince or minister who had incurred the vengeance of
the Sheikh-al-Jebal. Accordingly we find the shah (_King_) of Khaurism,
between which and Irak lies the extensive province of Khorasan, coming
to Sultan Massood, the successor of Mahmood, to concert with him a plan
for the destruction of these formidable foes to princes. The shah of
Khaurism had been formerly rather disposed to favour the Ismailites, but
his eyes were now opened, and he was become their most inveterate enemy.
Sultan Massood, we know not for what reason, bestowed on him the lands
which Berenkesh, the grand falconer, had held of the sultan. Berenkesh,
mortally offended at this unworthy treatment, retired, with his family,
to the territory of the Ismailites, and sought the protection of Keaeh,
whose open enemy he had hitherto been. Policy, or a regard to good faith
and humanity, made the Assassin prince grant the protection which was
required; and when the shah of Khaurism wrote, reminding Keaeh of his own
former friendship, and the bitter hostility of Berenkesh, and requesting
him, on that plea, to give up the fugitive, the sheikh replied, "The
shah of Khaurism speaks true, but we will never give up our suppliants."
Long and bloody enmity between the sheikh and the shah was the
consequence of this refusal to violate the rights of hospitality.
The Syrian branch of the society begins at this time to attract rather
more attention than that of Persia, chiefly on account of its connexion
with the Crusaders, who had succeeded in establishing an empire
extending from the frontiers of Egypt to those of Armenia. A Persian
Ismailite, named Behram of Astrabad, who is said to have commenced his
career by the murder of his own father, gained the confidence of the
vizir of the prince of Damascus, who gave him the castle of Banias, or
Panias (the ancient Balanea), for the use of the society. This place,
which became the nucleus of the power of the Assassins in Syria, lies in
a fertile, well-watered plain, about 4,000 paces from the sea. The
valley whence the numerous streams which fructify it issue is called the
Wadi-al-Jinn (_Valley of Demons_), "a place," observes Hammer, whom no
casual coincidence escapes, "from its very name worthy of becoming a
settlement of the Assassins." From Banias they extended their power over
the neighbouring castles and fortresses, until, twelve years afterwards,
the seat of dominion was transferred thence to Massyat.
Behram fell shortly afterwards in an engagement against the people of
the valley of Taim, the brother of whose chief had perished by the
daggers of the Assassins. His successor was Ismail, a Persian, who
continued the bond of amity with the vizir of Damascus, whither he sent,
by way of resident, a man named, rather inappropriately as it would
appear, Aboo-'l-Wefa (_Father of Fidelity_). This man so won the favour
of the vizir and prince that he was appointed to the office of Hakem, or
supreme judge; and having thus acquired power and influence, he
immediately turned his thoughts to the best mode of employing them for
the advantage of the society, an object always near the heart of a true
Ismailite. A place of strength on the sea-coast would, he conceived, be
of the utmost importance to them; so he fixed his eyes upon Tyre, and
fell upon the following expedient to obtain possession of it.
The Franks had been now upwards of thirty years established in the East.
Their daring and enthusiastic valour was at once the dread and the
admiration of their Mussulman foes, and feats almost surpassing the
fables of the romances of chivalry had been performed by their gallant
warriors. These were the auxiliaries to whom Aboo-'l-Wefa directed his
attention; for we are to observe that as yet the fanatic spirit had not
united all the Moslems in enmity against the followers of the Cross,
and the princes of Aleppo, Damascus, and the other districts of Syria,
had been more than once in alliance with the Christian realms of
Jerusalem and Antioch. Aboo-'l-Wefa sent therefore and concluded a
secret treaty with Baldwin II., king of Jerusalem, in which he engaged,
if the Christian warriors would secretly march and appear before
Damascus on a Friday, when the emir and his officers would be at the
mosk, to give them possession of the gates of the town. The king was in
return to put Tyre into the hands of the Ismailites.
The Christian army was assembled; all the barons of the kingdom appeared
in arms; the king in person led the host; the newly-formed military
order of the Templars displayed for the first time in the field their
striped banner _Beauseant_, afterwards so well known in many a bloody
fray. Prince Bernard of Antioch, Count Pontius of Tripolis, the brave
Joscelin of Edessa, led their knights and footmen to share in the
capture of the wealthy city of Damascus. The mountains which environ
Lake Tiberias were left behind, and the host joyfully emerged into the
plain watered by the streams Abana and Pharpar. But here defeat awaited
them. Taj-al-Molook (_Diadem of Kings_) Boozi, the emir of Damascus, had
in time discovered the plot of his hakem. He had put him and the vizir
to death, and had ordered a general massacre of the Ismailites in the
city[43]. The Christian army was now at a place named Marj Safar, and
the footmen had begun to plunder the villages for food, when a small
body of gallant Damascene warriors rushed from the town and fell upon
them. The defenceless Christians sank beneath their blows, incapable of
resistance. The rest of the army advanced to aid or avenge their
brethren, when suddenly[44] the sky became overcast, thick darkness
enveloped all objects, the thunder roared, the lightning flashed, the
rain poured down in torrents, and, by a rapid transition, peculiar to
Eastern climates, the rain and waters turned into snow and ice, and
augmented the horrors of the day. The superstitious and
conscience-stricken Crusaders viewed in this awful phenomenon the
immediate agency of heaven, and deemed it to be sent as a punishment for
their sins; and, recollecting that on that very spot but four years
before King Baldwin had gained, with a handful of men, a victory over an
army of the Damascenes, they were plunged into grief and humiliation.
The only advantage which they derived from this expedition was the
acquisition of the castle of Banias, which the Ismailite governor put
into their hands, that under their protection he might escape the fate
of his brethren.
[Footnote 43: The number slain was 6,000.]
[Footnote 44: It was the month of December.]
Banias was given up to the Christians in the same year in which Alamoot
was taken by the Seljookian sultan, and thus the power of the Assassins
seemed to be almost gone. But it had in it a conservative principle,
and, hydra-like, it grew by its wounds. Alamoot was speedily recovered,
and three years afterwards Banias was once more the seat of a
Dai-al-Kebir. At the same time the dagger raged with unwonted fury
against all of whom the society stood in apprehension, and the annals of
the reign of Keaeh Buzoorg Oomeid furnish a list of illustrious victims.
The first of these was the celebrated Aksunkur, Prince of Mossul, a
warrior equally dreaded by the Christians and by the Assassins. As this
prince, on his return from Maaerra Mesrin, where the Moslem and Christian
hosts had parted without venturing to engage, entered the mosk at Mossul
to perform his devotions, he was attacked at the moment when he was
about to take his usual seat by eight assassins, disguised as dervishes.
Three of them fell beneath the blows of the valiant emir, but ere his
people could come to his aid he had received his death-wound and
expired. The remainder of the murderers became victims to the vengeance
of the people; one youth only escaped. The Arabian historian,
Kemal-ed-Deen, relates on this occasion a curious trait of the
fanaticism and Spartan spirit which animated the members of the sect of
the Ismailites. When the mother of the youth above-mentioned heard that
the formidable Aksunkur had been slain, she painted her face and put on
her gayest raiment and ornaments, rejoicing that her son had been found
worthy to die the glorious death of a martyr in the cause of the Imam.
But when she saw him return alive and unscathed, she cut off her hair
and blackened her countenance, and would not be comforted.
In the following year (1127) fell Moin-ed-deen, the vizir of Sultan
Sanjar. In this case the Assassin had engaged himself as a groom in the
service of the vizir. As Moin-ed-deen went one day into the stable to
look at his horses the Assassin appeared before him, stripped, and
holding one of the horses by the bridle. As the vizir, unsuspicious of
danger, came near where he was, the false groom made the horse rear,
and, under the pretence of soothing and pacifying the restive animal, he
took out a small dagger which he had concealed in the horse's mane, and
plunged it into the bosom of the vizir.
The slaughter of the Ismailites by the Prince of Damascus was not
forgotten, and two years afterwards he received two dagger wounds, one
of which proved mortal. Their vengeance was not appeased by his blood,
and his son and successor, Shems-al-Molook (_Sun of Kings_), perished by
a conspiracy with the guilt of which the Assassins were charged. In the
catalogue of the victims of this period appear also the names of the
Judges of the East and of the West, of the Mufti of Casveen, of the Reis
of Isfahan, and the Reis of Tebreez.
The East has been at all times prolific of crime; human life is not
there held to be of the value at which it is estimated in Europe; and
the dagger and poison are freely employed to remove objects of
apprehension, to put obstacles out of the way of ambition, or to satiate
the thirst of vengeance. We are not, therefore, lightly to give credit
to every charge made against the Assassins, and to believe them guilty
of murders from which they had no advantage to derive. Thus, when at
this time the Fatimite Khalif Amir bi-ahkami-llah (_Commander of the
observance of the laws of God_) fell by the hands of murderers, the
probability is that he was not a victim to the vengeance of the
Ismailite society, whom he had never injured, but rather to that of the
family of the powerful vizir Afdal, who had been assassinated some time
before by the khalif's order, as we have every reason to suppose.
With a greater show of reason may the murder of Mostarshed, the Khalif
of Bagdad, be imputed to the policy of the mountain chief. The
Seljookian princes, the predecessors of Massood, had been satisfied to
exercise all real power in the empire which had once obeyed the house of
Abbas, leaving to that feeble _Shadow of God upon Earth_ the
unsubstantial privilege of having the coin of the realm struck and
prayers offered on Friday in the mosk in his name. But Massood arrogated
even these rights to himself, and the helpless successor of the Prophet
was obliged to submit to the indignity which he could not prevent. At
length some discontented military chiefs passed with their troops over
to the khalif, and persuaded him that by one bold effort he might
overthrow the might of the Turkish sultan, and recover all his rights.
The khalif listened to their arguments, and, placing himself at the head
of an army, marched against Sultan Massood. But fortune proved adverse
to him. At the first shock the greater part of the troops of Bagdad
abandoned him, and he remained a captive in the hands of the sultan, who
brought him with him a prisoner to Maragha. Here a treaty was concluded
between them, and the khalif bound himself not to go any more outside of
the walls of Bagdad, and annually to pay a sum of money. This treaty
appears to have been displeasing to the Assassins; and, watching their
opportunity, when Massood was gone to meet the ambassadors of Sultan
Sanjar, a party of them fell upon and massacred the khalif and his
train. The lifeless body of the Commander of the Faithful was mangled by
them in the most scandalous manner.
After a blood-stained reign of fourteen years and three days Keaeh
Buzoorg Oomeid died. Departing from the maxims of Hassan Sabah, who it
is probable wished to imitate the conduct of the Prophet, and leave the
supreme dignity elective, he appointed his own son, Keaeh Mohammed, to be
his successor, induced either by paternal partiality, or believing him
to be the person best qualified for the office.
CHAPTER VII.
Keaeh Mohammed--Murder of the Khalif--Castles gained in
Syria--Ismailite Confession of Faith--Mohammed's Son Hassan gives
himself out for the promised Imam--His Followers
punished--Succession of Hassan--He abolishes the Law--Pretends to
be descended from the Prophet--Is murdered.
The policy of the society underwent no alteration on the accession of
Mohammed. The dagger still smote its enemies, and as each victim fell,
the people who maintained the rights of Ismail, and who were kept in
rigid obedience to the positive precepts of the Koran, beheld nothing
but the right hand of Heaven made bare for the punishment of crime and
usurpation. The new mountain prince had hardly taken the reins of
government into his hands when Rasheed, the successor of the late
khalif, eager to avenge the murder of his father, assembled an army and
marched against Alamoot. He had reached Isfahan, but there his march
terminated. Four Assassins, who had entered his service for the purpose,
fell upon him in his tent and stabbed him. When the news was conveyed to
Alamoot great rejoicings were made, and for seven days and seven nights
the trumpets and kettle-drums resounded from the towers of the fortress,
proclaiming the triumph of the dagger to the surrounding country.
The Syrian dominion of the Ismailites was at this time considerably
extended. They purchased from Ibn Amroo, their owner, the castles of
Cadmos and Kahaf, and took by force that of Massyat from the lords of
Sheiser. This castle, which was situated on the west side of Mount
Legam, opposite Antaradus, became henceforth the chief seat of Ismailite
power in Syria. The society had now a line of coast to the north of
Tripolis, and their possessions extended inland to the verge of the
Hauran.
The reign of Mohammed presents few events to illustrate the history of
the Assassins. It was probably in his time that the following confession
of the Ismailite faith was made to the persons whom Sultan Sanjar sent
to Alamoot to inquire into it[45]:
[Footnote 45: As Sanjar lived to a great age he was contemporary with
several of the Ismailite sheikhs.]
"This is our doctrine," said the heads of the society. "We believe in
the unity of God, and acknowledge as the true wisdom and right creed
only that which accords with the word of God and the commands of the
Prophet. We hold these as they are delivered in the holy writ, the
Koran, and believe in all that the Prophet has taught of the creation,
and the last things, of rewards and punishments, of the last judgment,
and the resurrection. To believe this is necessary, and no one is
authorized to judge of the commands of God for himself, or to alter a
single letter in them. These are the fundamental doctrines of our sect,
and if the sultan does not approve of them, let him send hither one of
his learned divines, that we may argue the matter with him."
To this creed no orthodox Mussulman could well make any objection. The
only question was, what was the Ismailite system of interpretation, and
what other doctrines did they deduce from the sacred text; and the
active employment of the dagger of the Fedavee suggested in tolerably
plain terms that there were others, and that something not very
compatible with the peace and order of society lay behind the veil.
Indeed the circumstance of the Ismailite chiefs professing themselves
to be only the ministers and representatives of the invisible imam was
in itself highly suspicious; for what was to prevent their enjoining any
atrocity which might be for their interest, in the name of their
viewless master? They are ignorant indeed of human nature who suppose
that a prompt obedience would not be yielded to all such commands by the
ignorant and bigoted members of the sect.
The ill leaven of the secret doctrine displayed itself before very long.
Keaeh Mohammed, who appears to have been a weak, inefficient man, was
held in little esteem by his followers. They began to attach themselves
to his son Hassan, who had the reputation of being a man of prodigious
knowledge, learned in tradition and the text of the Koran, versed in
exposition, and well acquainted with the sciences. Hassan, either
through vanity or policy, began secretly to disseminate the notion of
his being himself the imam whose appearance had been promised by Hassan
Ben Sabah. Filled with this idea, the more instructed members of the
society vied with each other in eagerness to fulfil his commands, and
Keaeh Mohammed, seeing his power gradually slipping from him, was at
length roused to energy. Assembling the people, he reprobated in strong
terms the prevailing heresy. "Hassan," said he, "is my son, and I am not
the imam, but only one of his missionaries. Whoever maintains the
contrary is an infidel." Then, in true Assassin fashion, he gave effect
to his words by executing 250 of his son's adherents, and banishing an
equal number from the fortress. Hassan himself, in order to save his
life, was obliged publicly to curse those who held the new opinions, and
to write dissertations condemning their tenets, and defending those of
his father. By these means he succeeded in removing suspicion from the
mind of the old chief; but, as he continued to drink wine in private,
and violated several of the other positive precepts of the law, his
adherents became only the more convinced of his being the imam, at whose
coming all the precepts of the law were to cease to be of any force.
Hassan was obliged to be cautious and conceal his opinions during the
lifetime of his father; for, whatever their opinion might be of the
capacity and intellectual power of the head of their sect, the Assassins
believed themselves to be bound to obey his orders, as proceeding from
the visible representative of the sacred invisible imam; and, high as
their veneration for Hassan was, his blood would have flowed on the
ground the instant an order to that effect had passed the lips of his
father. But no sooner was Keaeh Mohammed dead, after a reign of
twenty-four years, and the supreme station was come to Hassan himself,
than he resolved to fling away the mask at once, and not only to trample
on the law himself, but to authorize and encourage all his people to do
the same.
Accordingly, when the month Ramazan (the Mohammedan Lent) of the 559th
year of the Hejra (A.D. 1163) was come, he ordered all the inhabitants
of Roodbar to assemble on the place of prayer (_Mosella_), or esplanade,
before the castle of Alamoot. Facing the direction of the Keblah[46] he
caused a pulpit to be erected, at whose four corners were displayed
banners of the different hues familiar to Islam, namely, a white, a red,
a yellow, a green, colours adverse to the black of the Abbassides.
[Footnote 46: That is, the point towards which they turn in prayer,
namely, Mecca.]
On the 17th day of the month the people, in obedience to his commands,
appeared in great numbers beneath the walls of the fortress. After a
little time Hassan came forth and ascended the pulpit. All voices were
hushed; expectation waited on the words of the Sheikh-al-Jebal. He
commenced his discourse by perplexing the minds of his auditors by
enigmatical and obscure sentences. When he had thus deluded them for
some time, he informed them that an envoy of the imam (that is, the
phantom of a khalif who was still sitting on the throne at Cairo) had
arrived, and had brought him a letter addressed to all Ismailites,
whereby the fundamental tenets of the sect were renewed and confirmed.
He proceeded to assure them that, by this letter, the gates of mercy and
compassion had been opened for all who would follow and obey him; that
they were the true elect; that they were freed from all obligations of
the law, and delivered from the burden of all commands and prohibitions;
that he had now conducted them to the day of the resurrection, that is,
of the revelation of the imam. He then commenced in Arabic the Khootbeh,
or public prayer, which he said he had received from the imam; and an
interpreter, who stood at the foot of the pulpit, translated it for them
to the following effect:--
"Hassan, the son of Mohammed, the son of Buzoorg Oomeid, is our khalif
(_successor_), dai, and hoojet (_proof_). All who follow our doctrine
must hearken to him in affairs of faith and of the world, and regard his
commands as imperative, his words as impressive. They must not
transgress his prohibitions, and they must regard his commands as ours.
They should know that our lord has had compassion upon them, and has
conducted them to the most high God."
When this proclamation was made known Hassan came down from the pulpit,
directed tables to be spread, and commanded the people to break the
fast, and to give themselves up, as on festival days, to all kinds of
enjoyment, with music, and various games and sports. "For this," cried
he, "this is the day of the resurrection;" that is, according to the
Ismailite mode of interpreting the Koran, the day of the manifestation
of the imam.
What the orthodox had before only suspected was now confirmed. It was
now manifest, beyond doubt, that the Ismailites were heretics who
trampled under foot all the most plain and positive precepts of Islam;
for, though they might pretend to justify their practice by their
allegorical system of interpretation, it was clearly repugnant to common
sense, and might be made the instrument of sanctioning, under the name
of religion, every species of enormity. From this time the term Moolahid
(_impious_) began to become the common and familiar appellation of the
Ismailites in the mouths of the orthodox Moslems. As to the Ismailites
themselves, they rejoiced in what they had done; they exalted like
emancipated bondsmen in the liberty which they had acquired; and they
even commenced a new era from the 17th (or, according to some
authorities, the 7th) Ramazan of the 559th year, namely, the day of the
manifestation of the imam. To the name of Hassan they henceforth affixed
the formula "_On his memory be peace_;" which formula, it would appear,
was employed by itself to designate him; for the historian Mirkhond
assures us that he had been informed by a credible person that over the
door of the library in Alamoot was the following inscription:--
"With the aid of God, the bonds
Of the law he took away,
The commander of the world,
Upon whose name be peace."
The madness of Hassan now attained its climax. He disdained to be
regarded, like his predecessors, as merely the representative of the
imam on earth, but asserted himself to be the true and real imam, who
was now at length made manifest to the world. He sent letters to all the
settlements of the society, requiring them to acknowledge him in his new
capacity. He was prudent enough, however, to show a regard for the
dignity and power of his different lieutenants in these letters, as
appears by the following specimen, being the letter which was sent to
Kuhistan, where the reis Mozaffar commanded:--
"I Hassan say unto you that I am the representative of God upon earth,
and mine in Kuhistan is the reis Mozaffar, whom the men of that country
are to obey, and to receive his word as mine."
The reis erected a pulpit in the castle of Moominabad, the place of his
residence, and read the letter aloud to the people, the greater part of
whom listened to its contents with joy. The tables were covered before
the pulpit, the wine was brought forth, the drums and kettle-drums
resounded, the notes of the pipe and flute inspired joy, and the day of
the abolition of the positive precepts of the law was devoted to mirth
and festivity. Some few, who were sincere and upright in their obedience
to Islam, quitted the region which they now regarded as the abode of
infidelity, and went in search of other abodes; others, of a less
decided character, remained, though shocked at what they were obliged
every day to behold. The obedience to the commands of the _soi-disant_
imam was, however, tolerably general, and, according to Hammer, who can
scarcely, however, be supposed to regard the system of Hassan as really
more licentious than he has elsewhere described that of Mahomet, "the
banner of the freest infidelity, and of the most shameless immorality,
now waved on all the castles of Roodbar and Kuhistan, as the standard of
the new illumination; and, instead of the name of the Egyptian khalif,
resounded from all the pulpits that of Hassan as the true successor of
the Prophet."
The latter point had presented some difficulty to Hassan; for, in order
to satisfy the people on that head, it was necessary to prove a descent
from the Prophet, and this was an honour to which it was well known the
family from which he was sprung had never laid claim. He might take upon
him to abolish the positive precepts of the law as he pleased, and the
people, whose inclinations were thereby gratified, would not perhaps
scan very narrowly the authority by which he acted; but the attempt to
deprive the Fatimite khalif of the honour which he had so long enjoyed,
and to assume the rank of God's viceregent on earth in his room, was
likely to give too great a shock to their prejudices, if not cautiously
managed.
It was necessary, therefore, that he should prove himself to be of the
blood of the Fatimites. He accordingly began to drop some dark hints
respecting the truth of the received opinion of his being the son of
Keaeh Mohammed. Our readers will recollect that, when Hassan Sabah was in
Egypt, a dispute had taken place respecting the succession to the
throne, in which Hassan had nearly lost his life for opposing the
powerful commander-in-chief (_Emir-al-Jooyoosh_), and Nezar, the prince
for whom the khalif Mostanser had designed the succession, had been
deprived of his right by the influence of that officer. The confidents
of Hassan now began to give out that, in about a year after the death of
the khalif Mostanser, a certain person named Aboo-'l-Zeide, who had been
high in his confidence, had come to Alamoot, bearing with him a son of
Nezar, whom he committed to the care of Hassan Sabah, who, grateful to
the memory of the khalif and his son, had received the fugitive with
great honour, and assigned a village at the foot of Alamoot for the
residence of the young imam. When the youth was grown up he married and
had a son, whom he named _On his Memory be Peace_. Just at the time when
the imam's wife was confined in the village, the consort of Keaeh
Mohammed lay in at the castle; and, in order that the descendant of
Fatima might come to the temporal power which was his right, a
confidential woman undertook and succeeded in the task of secretly
changing the children. Others went still further, and did not hesitate
to assert that the young imam had intrigued with the wife of Keaeh
Mohammed, and that Hassan was the fruit of their adulterous intercourse.
Like a true pupil of ambition, Hassan was willing to defame the memory
of his mother, and acknowledge himself to be a bastard, provided he
could succeed in persuading the people to believe him a descendant of
the Prophet.
These pretensions of Hassan to a Fatimite pedigree gave rise to a
further increase of the endless sects into which the votaries of Islam
were divided. Those who acknowledged it got the name of Nezori, and by
them Hassan was called the Lord of the Resurrection (_Kaim-al-Kiamet_),
and they styled themselves the Sect of the Resurrection.
The reign of the vain, inconsiderate Hassan was but short. He had
governed the society only four years when he was assassinated by his
brother-in-law, Namver, a descendant, we are told, of the family of
Buyah, which had governed the khalifs and their dominions before the
power passed into the hands of the Turkish house of Seljook.
CHAPTER VIII.
Mohammed II.--Anecdote of the Imam
Fakhr-ed-deen--Noor-ed-deen--Conquest of Egypt--Attempt on the Life
of Saladin.
The death of Hassan was amply avenged by his son and successor, Mohammed
II. Not only was the murderer himself put to death; vengeance, in its
oriental form, extended itself to all his kindred of both sexes, and
men, women, and children bled beneath the sword of the executioner.
Mohammed, who had been carefully trained up in the study of philosophy
and literature, was, like his father, puffed up with vanity and
ambition, and, far from receding from any of his predecessor's
pretensions to the imamat, he carried them to even a still greater
length than he had done. At the same time he maintained a high character
for knowledge and talent among his literary contemporaries, who were
numerous, for his reign extended through a period of forty-six years,
and the modern Persian literature was now fast approaching its climax.
Not to mention other names, less familiar to our readers, we shall
remark, as a proof of what we have said, that this was the period in
which Nizamee of Ghenj sang in harmonious numbers the loves of Khosroo
and Shireen, and of Mujnoon and Leila (these last the Romeo and Juliet
of the east), the crown and flower of the romantic poetry of Persia.
Then too flourished the great panegyrist Enveree, and a crowd of
historians, jurists, and divines.
One of the most celebrated men of this time was the imam Fakhr-ed-deen
(_Glory of Religion_) Rasi, who gave public lectures on the law in his
native city of Rei. It being slanderously reported that he was devoted
in secret to the opinions of the Ismailites, and was even one of their
missionaries, he adopted the ordinary expedient of abusing and reviling
that sect, and each time he ascended the pulpit to preach he reprobated
and cursed the _Impious_ in no measured terms. Intelligence of what he
was about was not long in reaching the eyrie of the Sheikh-al-Jebal, and
a Fedavee received his instructions, and forthwith set out for Rei. He
here entered himself as a student of the law, and sedulously attended
the lectures of the learned imam. During seven months he watched in vain
for an opportunity of executing his commission. At length he discovered
one day that the attendants of the imam had left him to go to fetch him
some food, and that he was alone in his study. The Fedavee entered,
fastened the doors, seized the imam, cast him on the ground, and
directed his dagger at his bosom. "What is thy design?" said the
astonished imam. "To rip up thy belly and breast." "And wherefore?"
"Wherefore? Because thou hast spoken evil of the Ismailites in the
pulpit." The imam implored and entreated, vowing that, if his life was
spared, he would never more say aught to offend the sect of Ismail. "I
cannot trust thee," cried the Assassin; "for when I am gone thou wilt
return to thy old courses, and, by some ingenious shift or other,
contrive to free thyself from the obligation of thy oath." The imam
then, with a most solemn oath, abjured the idea of explaining away his
words, or seeking absolution for perjury. The Assassin got up from over
him, saying, "I had no order to slay thee, or I should have put thee to
death without fail. Mohammed, the son of Hassan, greets thee, and
invites thee to honour him by a visit at his castle. Thou shalt there
have unlimited power, and we will all obey thee like trusty servants. We
despise, so saith the sheikh, the discourses of the rabble, which
rebound from our ears like nuts from a ball; but _you_ should not revile
us, since your words impress themselves like the strokes of the graver
in the stone." The imam replied that it was totally out of his power to
go to Alamoot, but that in future he should be most careful never to
suffer a word to pass his lips to the discredit of the mountain prince.
Hereupon the Fedavee drew 300 pieces of gold from his girdle, and,
laying them down, said, "See! here is thy annual pension; and, by a
decree of the divan, thou shalt every year receive an equal sum through
the reis Mozaffer. I also leave thee, for thy attendants, two garments
from Yemen, which the Sheikh-al-Jebal has sent thee." So saying, the
Fedavee disappeared. The imam took the money and the clothes, and for
some years his pension was paid regularly. A change in his language now
became perceptible, for, whereas he was used before, when, on treating
of any controverted point, he had occasion to mention the Ismailites, to
express himself thus, "Whatever the Ismailites, whom God curse and
destroy! may say,"--now that he was pensioned he contented himself with
merely saying, "Notwithstanding what the Ismailites may say." When one
of his scholars asked him the cause of this change he made answer, "We
cannot curse the Ismailites, they employ such _sharp_ and _convincing_
arguments." This anecdote is related by several of the Persian
historians, and it serves to prove, like the case of sultan Sanjar,
related above, that the Ismailites were not so thoroughly ruthless and
bloodthirsty as not to prefer rendering an enemy innocuous by gentle
means to depriving him of life.
Historians record no other event connected with the eastern
establishment of the Ismailite society during the long-reign of Mohammed
II. We shall now, therefore, turn our view to the Syrian branch, which
attracts attention by the illustrious names which appear in oriental
history at that time, and with which the ruler of Massyat came into
hostile or friendly relations. The names of Noor-ed-deen (_Light of
Religion_), Salah-ed-deen (_Integrity of Religion_), the Noradin and
Saladin of western writers, and the Lion-hearted king of England, will
at once awake the attention of the reader.
The celebrated Emod-ed-deen (_Pillar of Religion_) Zengi, who gave the
Christian power in the east its first shock by the conquest of Edessa,
perished by the hand of a slave shortly after that achievement. His
power and the title Atabeg fell to his son Noor-ed-deen, who carried on
the war against the Christians with all the activity of his father, and
with more of the gentleness and courtesies which shed a lustre on zeal
and valour. Noor-ed-deen was one of the most accomplished characters
which the East has exhibited. He was generous and just, and strict in
the observance of all the duties of Islam. No pomp or magnificence
surrounded him. He wore neither silk nor gold. With the fifth part of
the booty, which was his share as prince, he provided for all his
expenses. A zealous Moslem, he was evermore engaged in the combats of
the Holy War,--either the _greater_, which was held to be fought against
the world and its temptations by fasting and prayer, by study, and the
daily practice of the virtues required of him who is placed in
authority,--or the _lesser_, which was fought with natural weapons
against the foes of Islam. From this union of piety and valour he
acquired the titles of Gasi (_Victor_) and Sheheed (_Martyr_); for,
though he did not fall in the defence of the faith, he was regarded as
being entitled to all the future rewards attendant on actual martyrdom.
Notwithstanding his being one of the most deadly foes that the
Christians ever encountered, their historians did justice to the
illustrious Noor-ed-deen, and the learned William, Archbishop of Tyre,
says of him, "He was a prudent, moderate man, who feared God according
to the faith of his people, fortunate, and an augmenter of his paternal
inheritance."
The possession of Mossul and Aleppo made Noor-ed-deen master of northern
Syria; the southern part of that country was under the Prince of
Damascus. Twice did the atabeg lay siege, without effect, to that city;
at length the inhabitants, fearing the Crusaders, invited him to take
possession of it, and the feeble prince was obliged to retire, accepting
Emessa in exchange for the "Queen of Syria." The power of Noor-ed-deen
now extended from the Euphrates to the Holy Land, and his thoughts were
directed towards his grand object of expelling the Franks from the East,
when an opportunity presented itself of bringing Egypt once more under
the spiritual dominion of the house of Abbas.
Degeneracy is the inevitable lot of unlimited power. The Fatimite
Commanders of the Faithful were now become mere puppets in the hands of
their ministers, and the post of vizir was now, as was so often the case
with the throne, contended for with arms. A civil war was at this time
raging in Egypt between Shaver and Dhargam, rival candidates for the
viziriate. The former came in person to Damascus, and offered the atabeg
Noor-ed-deen a third of the revenues of Egypt if he would aid him to
overcome his rival. Without hesitation Noor-ed-deen ordered Asad-ed-deen
(_Lion of Religion_) Sheerkoh (_Mountain Lion_)[47], a Koordish chief
who commanded for him at Emessa, to assemble an army and march for
Egypt. Sheerkoh obeyed, and sorely against his will, and only at the
urgent command of Noor-ed-deen, did his nephew, the then little known,
afterwards so justly famous, Saladin, quit the banquets and enjoyments
of Damascus, and the other towns of Syria, to accompany his uncle to the
toils and the perils of war. Dhargam was victorious in the first action,
but he being murdered shortly afterwards by one of his slaves, Shaver
obtained possession of the dignity which he sought. The new vizir then
tried to get rid of his allies, but such was not the intention of
Noor-ed-deen, and Sheerkoh took his post with his troops in the
north-eastern part of the kingdom, where he occupied the frontier town
of Belbeis, on the most eastern branch of the Nile, under pretext of
receiving the third part of the revenue which had been promised to
Noor-ed-deen. Shaver, anxious to get rid of such dangerous guests,
formed a secret league with Amalric, King of Jerusalem, and engaged to
give him 60,000 ducats for his aid against them. Sheerkoh, who had been
reinforced, advanced into Upper Egypt, and Saladin took the command of
Alexandria, which he gallantly defended for three months against the
combined forces of the Christians and Egyptians, and, after some
fighting, peace was made on condition of Noor-ed-deen receiving 50,000
ducats, and double that sum being paid annually to the King of
Jerusalem.
[Footnote 47: The former of these names is Arabic, the latter Persian.]
Shortly afterwards an unprincipled attempt was made on Egypt by Amalric,
at the suggestion of the Master of the Hospitallers, and Shaver, in his
distress, had once more recourse to Noor-ed-deen. The phantom-khalif
joined in the supplication, and sent what is the greatest mark of need
in the east--locks of the hair of his women, which is as much as to say,
"Aid! aid! the foe is dragging the women forth by the hair." Belbeis had
now been conquered, and Cairo was besieged by the Christians. Shaver
had burnt the old town, and defended himself and the khalif in the new
town, the proper Cairo. Sheerkoh appeared once more in Egypt with a
larger army than before[48], but, ere he reached the beleaguered town,
Shaver and Amalric had entered into a composition, and the former had
withdrawn on receiving a sum of 50,000 ducats. Sheerkoh however
advanced, and pitched his tents before the walls of Cairo. The khalif
Adhad and his principal nobles came forth to receive him, and that
unhappy prince made his complaints of the tyranny and selfishness of
Shaver, who had brought so much misery on him and his kingdom. He
concluded by requesting the head of his vizir at the hand of the general
of Noor-ed-deen. Shaver, aware of the danger which menaced him, invited
Sheerkoh, his nephew, and the other chiefs of the army, to a banquet,
with the intention of destroying them, but his plot was discovered, and
his head cast at the feet of the khalif. Sheerkoh was forthwith
appointed to the vacant dignity, with the honourable title of
Melik-el-Mansoor (Victorious King), but he enjoyed it only for a short
time, having been carried off by death in little more than two months
after his elevation. He was succeeded in his rank, and in the command
of the army, by his nephew Saladin, who now became in effect master of
Egypt. Noor-ed-deen, thinking the time was come for establishing the
spiritual sway of the house of Abbas, sent directions to Saladin to fill
all the offices which had been occupied by the Sheaehs with the orthodox,
and hear prayer celebrated in the name of the Khalif of Bagdad; but this
prudent chief, who knew that the great majority of the people of Egypt
were firmly attached to the belief of the Fatimites being the rightful
successors of the Prophet, hesitated to comply. At length the death of
the Fatimite khalif occurred most opportunely to free him from
embarrassment. Adhad-ladin-Allah, the last of the descendants of
Moez-ladin-Allah, the founder of the dynasty, died suddenly--of disease,
according to the oriental historians,--by the hand of Saladin, according
to the rumour which went among the Christians[49]. All obstacles being
now removed, public prayer was celebrated in the mosks of Egypt in the
name of the Abbasside khalif, and the power of the western Ismailites,
after a continuance of 200 years, brought completely to an end.
[Footnote 48: He was accompanied by Saladin, who gives the following
account of his own repugnance to the expedition:--"When Noor-ed-deen
ordered me to go to Egypt with my uncle, after Sheerkoh had said to me
in his presence, 'Come Yoossuf, make ready for the journey!' I replied,
'By God, if thou wert to give me the kingdom of Egypt I would not go,
for I have endured in Alexandria what I shall not forget while I live.'
But Sheerkoh said to Noor-ed-deen, 'It cannot be but that he should
accompany me.' Whereupon Noor-ed-deen repeated his command, but I
persisted in my refusal. As Noor-ed-deen also adhered to his
determination, I excused myself by pleading the narrowness of my
circumstances. Noor-ed-deen then gave me all that was requisite for my
outfit, but I felt as if I was going to death."--_Abulfeda._]
[Footnote 49: William of Tyre xx. 12.]
Noor-ed-deen, who saw that the power of his lieutenant was now too great
to be controlled, adopted the prudent plan of soothing him by titles and
marks of confidence. The khalif of Bagdad sent him a dress of honour and
a letter of thanks for having reduced under his spiritual dominion a
province which had been so long rebellious against his house. But the
most important consequence of the timely death of the khalif to Saladin
was the acquisition of the accumulated treasures of the Fatimites, which
fell into his hands, and which he employed as the means of securing the
fidelity of his officers and soldiers. As a specimen of oriental
exaggeration, we shall give the list of these treasures as they are
enumerated by eastern writers. There were, we are assured, no less than
700 pearls, each of which was of a size that rendered it inestimable, an
emerald a span long, and as thick as the finger, a library consisting of
2,600,000 books, and gold, both coined and in the mass; aloes, amber,
and military arms and weapons past computation. A large portion of this
enormous treasure was distributed by Saladin among his soldiers; the
remainder was applied, during ten successive years, to defray the
expenses of his wars and buildings. As Saladin's name was Yoossuf
(_Joseph_), the same with that of the son of Jacob, the minister of king
Pharaoh, it is not an improbable supposition that, in Egyptian
tradition, the two Josephs have been confounded, and the works of the
latter been ascribed to the former; for it is the character of popular
tradition to leap over centuries, and even thousands of years, and to
form out of several heroes one who is made to perform the actions of
them all.
As long as Noor-ed-deen lived, Saladin continued to acknowledge his
superiority; and when, on his death, he left his dominions to his son
Malek-es-Saleh, the coins of Egypt bore the name of the young prince. As
Malek-es-Saleh was a minor, and entirely under the guidance of the
eunuch Kameshtegin, great discontent prevailed among the emirs; and
Seif-ed-deen (_Sword of Religion_), the cousin of the young prince, who
was at the head of an army in Mesopotamia, prepared to wrest the
dominion from the young Malek-es-Saleh. All eyes were turned to Saladin,
as the only person capable of preserving the country. He left Egypt with
only 700 horsemen. The governor and people of Damascus cheerfully opened
the gates to him. Hems and Hama followed the example of Damascus.
Saladin took the government under the modest title of lieutenant of the
young atabeg, whose rights he declared himself ready to maintain on all
occasions. He advanced to Aleppo, where Malek-es-Saleh was residing; but
the militia of that town, moved by the tears of the young prince, who
was probably influenced by the eunuch Kameshtegin, who feared to lose
his power, marched out and put to flight the small force with which
Saladin had approached the town. Having collected a larger army, Saladin
laid siege regularly to Aleppo, and Kameshtegin, despairing of force,
resolved to have recourse to treachery. He sent accordingly to Sinan,
the Sheikh of the Assassins, who resided at Massyat, representing to him
how dangerous a foe to the Ismailites was the valiant Koord, who was so
ardent in his zeal for the house of Abbas, and had put an end to the
dynasty of the Fatimites, who had so long given lustre to the
maintainers of the rights of Ismail by the possession of extensive
temporal power and dignity. He reminded him that, if Saladin succeeded
in his ambitious projects in Syria, he would, in all probability, turn
his might against the Assassins, and destroy their power in that
country. These arguments were enforced by gold, and the sheikh, readily
yielding to them, despatched without delay three Fedavees, who fell on
Saladin in the camp before Aleppo. The attempt, however, miscarried, and
the murderers were seized and put to death. Saladin, incensed at this
attempt on his life, and guessing well the quarter whence it came, now
pressed on the siege with greater vigour.
Finding the benefit which might be derived from the daggers of the
Fedavee, Kameshtegin resolved to employ them against his personal
enemies. The vizir of the young prince, and two of the principal emirs,
had laid a plot for his destruction. Coming to the knowledge of it, he
determined to be beforehand with them, and, watching the moment when
Malek-es-Saleh was about to mount his horse to go to the chase, he
approached him, requesting his signature to a blank paper, under
pretence of its being necessary for some affair of urgent importance.
The young prince signed his name without suspicion, and Kameshtegin
instantly wrote on the paper a letter to the Sheikh of the Assassins, in
which Malek-es-Saleh was made to request him to send men to put those
three emirs out of the way. The Ismailite chief readily complied with
the request, as he supposed it to be, of his young friend and neighbour,
and several Fedavees were despatched to execute his wishes. Two of these
fell on the vizir as he was going out of the eastern gate of a mosk near
his own house. They were cut to pieces on the spot. Soon after three
fell on the emir Mujaheed as he was on horseback. One of them caught
hold of the end of his cloak, in order to make more sure of him, but the
emir gave his horse the spurs, and broke away, leaving his cloak behind.
The people seized the Assassins, two of whom were recognized as being
acquaintances of the emir's head groom. One of them was crucified, and
along with him the groom as an accomplice: on the breast of the latter
was placed this inscription, "This is the reward of the concealer of the
Impious." The others were dragged to the castle, and beaten on the soles
of their feet to make them confess what had induced them to attempt the
commission of such a crime. In the midst of his tortures one of them
cried out, "Thou didst desire of our lord Sinan the murder of thy
slaves, and now thou dost punish us for performing thy wishes.". Full of
wrath Malek-es-Saleh wrote a letter to the sheikh Sinan filled with the
bitterest reproaches. The sheikh made no other reply than that of
sending him back the letter bearing his own subscription. Historians do
not tell us what the final result was; and it is also in a great
measure uncertain at what time this event occurred.
The Assassins did not give over their attempts upon Saladin, whose power
became more formidable to them after he had deprived the family of
Noor-ed-deen of their honours and dominions; and he was again attacked
by them in his camp before the fortress of Ezag. One of them assailed
him and wounded him in the head, but the sultan (he had now assumed that
title) caught him by the arm and struck him down. A second rushed on--he
was cut down by the guards; a third, a fourth, shared the same fate.
Terrified at their obstinate perseverance, the sultan shut himself up in
his tent during several days, and ordered all strangers and suspicious
persons to quit the camp.
Next year (1176) the sultan, being at peace with his other enemies,
resolved to take exemplary vengeance on those who had so unprovokedly
attempted his life. Assembling an army, he entered the mountains, wasted
with fire and sword the territory of the Ismailites, and came and laid
siege to Massyat. The power of the Syrian Ismailites would have been now
extinguished but for the intercession of the Prince of Hama, the
sultan's uncle, who, at the entreaty of Sinan, prevailed on his nephew
to grant a peace on condition of no attempt being made at any future
time on his life. Sinan gladly assented to these terms, and he
honourably kept his engagement, for the great Saladin reigned fifteen
years after this time, carried on continual wars, conquered Jerusalem
and the Holy Land, exposed himself to danger in the field and in the
camp, but no Assassin was ever again known to approach him with hostile
intentions.
CHAPTER IX.
Sinan the Dai-al-Kebir of Syria--Offers to become a Christian--His
Ambassador murdered by the Templars--Cardinal de Vitry's Account of
the Assassins--Murder of the Marquis of Montferrat--Defence of King
Richard.
The person who had the chief direction of the affairs of the society in
Syria in the time of Saladin was one of the most remarkable characters
which appear in the history of the Assassins. His name was
Rasheed-ed-deen (_Orthodox in Religion_) Sinan, the son of Suleiman of
Basra. Like so many others of the impostors who have appeared from time
to time in the east, he had the audacity to give himself out for an
incarnation of the Divinity. No one ever saw him eat, drink, sleep, or
even spit. His clothing was of coarse hair-cloth. From the rising to the
setting of the sun he stood upon a lofty rock, preaching to the people,
who received his words as those of a superior being. Unfortunately for
his credit, his auditors at length discovered that he had a halt in his
gait, caused by a wound which he received from a stone in the great
earthquake of 1157. This did not accord with the popular idea of the
perfection which should belong to the corporeal vehicle of Divinity. The
credit of Sinan vanished at once, and those who had just been adoring
the god now threatened to take the life of the impostor. Sinan lost not
his self-possession; he calmly entreated them to be patient, descended
from his rock, caused food to be brought, invited them to eat, and by
the persuasive powers of his eloquence induced them to recognise him as
their sole chief, and all unanimously swore obedience and fidelity to
him.
The neglect of chronology by the oriental historians, or their European
translators and followers, is frequently such that we are left in great
uncertainty as to the exact time of particular events, and are thus
unable to trace them to their real causes and occasions. The mention of
the earthquake of 1157 would however seem to make it probable that it
was about that time that Sinan put forward his claims to divinity; and
as, at that very period, Hassan, the son of Keaeh Mohammed, was giving
himself out for the promised imam, we may suppose that it was his
example which stimulated Sinan to his bold attempt at obtaining
independent dominion over the Syrian branch of the Ismailites.
Sinan was, like Hassan, a man of considerable learning. His works are
held in high estimation by the remains of the sect of the Ismailites
still lingering among the mountains of Syria. These works, we are told,
consist of a chaotic mixture of mutilated passages of the Gospel and the
Koran, of contradictory articles of belief, of hymns, prayers, sermons,
and regulations, which are unintelligible even to those who receive and
venerate them.
The sacred books of the Christians formed, as we see, a part of the
studies of the Sheikh of Massyat, and, as it would appear, he thought he
might derive some advantage from his acquaintance with them. The
religio-military society of the Knights of the Temple, whose history we
shall soon have to record, had possessions in the neighbourhood of those
of the Assassins, and their superior power had enabled them, at what
time is uncertain, to render the latter tributary. The tribute was the
annual sum of 2,000 ducats, and Sinan, to whom probably all religions
were alike, and who had unbounded power over the minds of his people,
conceived the idea of releasing himself from it by professing the same
religion with his neighbours. He accordingly sent, in the year 1172, one
of his most prudent and eloquent ministers on a secret embassy to
Amalric King of Jerusalem, offering, in the name of himself and his
people, to embrace the Christian religion, and receive the rite of
baptism, provided the king would engage to make the Templars renounce
the tribute of 2,000 ducats, and agree to live with them henceforward as
good neighbours and friends and brethren. Overjoyed at the prospect of
making converts of such importance, the king readily assented to the
desires of the Ismailite chief, and he at the same time assured the
Templars that their house should not be a loser, as he would pay them
2,000 ducats annually out of his treasury. The brethren of the Temple
made no objection to the arrangement: and after the Ismailite ambassador
had been detained and treated honourably for some days by the king, he
set out on his return, accompanied by a guide and escort sent by the
king to conduct him as far as the borders of the Ismailite territory.
They passed in safety through the country of Tripolis, and were now in
the vicinity of the first castles of the Ismailites, when suddenly some
Templars rushed forth from an ambush, and murdered the ambassador. The
Templars were commanded by a knight named Walter du Mesnil, a one-eyed,
daring, wicked man, but who, on this occasion, it would appear, acted by
the orders of his superiors, who probably did not consider the royal
promise good security for the 2,000 ducats; for, when Amalric, filled
with indignation at the base and perfidious action, assembled his barons
at Sidon to deliberate on what should be done, and by their advice sent
two of their number to Ado de St. Amand, the Master of the Temple, to
demand satisfaction for the iniquitous deed, the master contented
himself by saying that he had imposed a penance on brother Du Mesnil,
and had moreover directed him to proceed to Rome without delay, to know
what farther the apostolic father would order him to do, and that, on
this account he must, in the name of the pope, prohibit any violence
against the aforesaid brother. The king, however, was not regardless of
justice and of his own dignity. Shortly afterwards, when the master and
several of the Templars were at Sidon, he assembled his council again,
and, with their consent, sent and dragged Du Mesnil from the house of
the Templars, and threw him into prison, where he would probably have
expiated his crime but for the speedy death of the king. All hopes of
the conversion of the Ismailites were now at an end.
It is on this occasion that the Archbishop of Tyre gives an account of
what he had been able to learn respecting the Assassins. As what we have
previously related of them has been exclusively drawn from eastern
sources, it will not be useless to insert in this place the accounts of
them given by the Cardinal de Vitry, who has followed and enlarged the
sketch of the archbishop[50].
[Footnote 50: Gesta Dei per Francos, vol. i. pp. 994, 1062.]
"In the province of Phoenicia, near the borders of the Antaradensian
town which is now called Tortosa, dwells a certain people, shut in on
all sides by rocks and mountains, who have ten castles, very strong and
impregnable, by reason of the narrow ways and inaccessible rocks, with
their suburbs and the valleys, which are most fruitful in all species of
fruits and corn, and most delightful for their amenity. The number of
these men, who are called Assassins, is said to exceed 40,000[51]. They
set a captain over themselves, not by hereditary succession, but by the
prerogative of merit, whom they call the Old Man (_Veterem seu Senem_),
not so much on account of his advanced age as for his pre-eminence in
prudence and dignity. The first and principal _abbot_ of this unhappy
_religion_ of theirs, and the place where they had their origin and
whence they came to Syria, is in the very remote parts of the east, near
the city of Bagdad and the parts of the province of Persia. These
people, who do not divide the hoof, nor make a difference between what
is sacred and what is profane, believe that all obedience indifferently
shown by them towards their superior is meritorious for eternal life.
Hence they are bound to their master, whom they call the Old Man, with
such a bond of subjection and obedience that there is nothing so
difficult or so dangerous that they would fear to undertake, or which
they would not perform with a cheerful mind and ardent will, at the
command of their lord. The Old Man, their lord, causes boys of this
people to be brought up in secret and delightful places, and having had
them diligently trained and instructed in the different kinds of
languages, sends them to various provinces with daggers, and orders them
to slay the great men of the Christians, as well as of the Saracens,
either because he is at enmity with them for some cause or other, or at
the request of his friends, or even for the lucre of a large sum of
money which has been given him, promising them, for the execution of
this command, that they shall have far greater delights, and without
end, in paradise, after death, than even those amidst which they had
been reared. If they chance to die in this act of obedience they are
regarded as martyrs by their companions, and being placed by that people
among their saints, are held in the greatest reverence. Their parents
are enriched with many gifts by the master, who is called the Old Man,
and if they were slaves they are let go free ever after. Whence these
wretched and misguided youths, who are sent from the convent
(_conventu_) of the aforesaid brethren to different parts of the world,
undertake their deadly legation with such joy and delight, and perform
it with such diligence and solicitude, transforming themselves in
various ways, and assuming the manners and dress of other nations,
sometimes concealing themselves under the appearance of merchants, at
other times under that of priests and monks, and in an infinity of other
modes, that there is hardly any person in the whole world so cautious as
to be able to guard against their machinations. They disdain to plot
against an inferior person. The great men to whom they are hostile
either redeem themselves by a large sum of money, or, going armed and
attended by a body of guards, pass their life in suspicion and in dread
of death. They kept the law of Mahomet and his institutions diligently
and straitly beyond all other Saracens till the times of a certain
master of theirs, who, being endowed with natural genius, and exercised
in the study of different writings, began with all diligence to read and
examine the law of the Christians and the Gospels of Christ, admiring
the virtue of the miracles, and the sanctity of the doctrine. From a
comparison with these he began to abominate the frivolous and irrational
doctrine of Mahomet, and at length, when he knew the truth, he studied
to recall his subjects by degrees from the rites of the cursed law.
Wherefore he exhorted and commanded them that they should drink wine in
moderation and eat the flesh of swine. At length, after many discourses
and serious admonitions of their teacher, they all with one consent
agreed to renounce the perfidy of Mahomet, and, by receiving the grace
of baptism, to become Christians."
[Footnote 51: William of Tyre makes their number 60,000. He declares his
inability to give the origin of the name Assassins.]
We may, from this account, perceive that the Crusaders had a tolerably
clear idea of the nature and constitution of the society of the
Assassins. The Cardinal de Vitry plainly describes them as forming a
_religion_, that is, an order under an abbot; and perhaps the
resemblance which Hammer traces between them and the Templars, which we
shall notice when we come to speak of this last society, is not quite so
fanciful as it might at first sight appear. It is curious, too, to
observe that the Christians also believed that the Sheikh-al-Jebal had
some mode of inspiring the Fedavee with a contempt of life and an
aspiration after the joys of paradise.
The dagger had not been unsheathed against the Christian princes since,
forty-two years before (1149), Raymond, the young Count of Tripolis, was
murdered as he knelt at his devotions, and the altar was sprinkled with
his blood. A more illustrious victim was now to bleed; and, as the
question of who was the real author of his death forms a curious
historical problem, we shall here discuss it at some length.
Conrad Marquis of Montferrat, a name celebrated in the history of the
third crusade, had just been named King of Jerusalem by Richard
Lion-heart King of England. In the latter end of the month of April 1192
the marquis, being at Tyre, went to dine with the Bishop of Beauvais.
One writer says that, the marchioness having stayed too long in the
bath, and the marquis being averse to dining alone, he mounted his horse
and rode to dine with the Bishop; but, finding that that prelate had
already finished his meal, he was returning home to his palace. As he
passed through a narrow street, and was come near the toll-house, two
Assassins, having watched their opportunity, approached him. The one
presented a petition, and, while he was engaged reading it, both struck
him with their daggers, crying, "Thou shalt be neither marquis nor
king." One of them was cut down instantly, the other sought refuge in a
neighbouring church, and, according to an Arabian historian, when the
wounded marquis was brought into the same church, he rushed on him anew,
and completed his crime. Others relate that the marquis was carried home
to his palace, where he lived long enough to receive the holy sacrament
and to give his last instructions to his wife. The two accounts, we may
perceive, are by no means repugnant.
These Assassins, who were both youths, had been for some time--six
months it is said--in Tyre, watching for an opportunity to perform the
commission which had been given them. They had feigned a conversion from
Islam, or, as some say, had assumed the habit of monks, in order to win
the confidence of the marquis, and thus procure more ready access to
him. One of them, we are told, had even entered his service, and the
other that of Balian of Ibelin.
The question now comes, at whose instigation was the murder committed?
Here we find several both oriental and occidental witnesses disposed to
lay the guilt on Richard, King of England, those writers who were his
own subjects indignantly repelling the accusation, and some indifferent
witnesses testifying in his favour. Previous to examining these
witnesses we must state that king Richard was at enmity with Philip
Augustus, King of France; that though he had given the crown of
Jerusalem to the Marquis of Montferrat, there was little kind feeling
between them, and they had been enemies; and, finally, that the history
of the English monarch exhibits no traits of such a generous chivalrous
disposition as should put him beyond suspicion of being concerned in an
assassination.
Of the writers who charge king Richard with the murder it is to be
observed that the only ones that are contemporary are the Arabian
historians. The following passage is quoted from the History of
Jerusalem and Hebron, by Hammer, who regards it as quite decisive of the
guilt of the English king:--"The marquis went, on the 13th of the month
Rebi-al-Ewal, to visit the Bishop of Tyre. As he was going out he was
attacked by two Assassins, who slew him with their daggers. When taken
and stretched on the rack, they confessed that they had been employed by
the King of England. They died under the torture." Boha-ed-deen, the
friend and biographer of Saladin, writes to the same effect. It is
therefore evident that, at the time, it was reported that the marquis
had been murdered by persons employed by the King of England; and
Vinisauf and the other English writers assure us that the French party
and the friends of the murdered marquis endeavoured to throw the odium
of the deed on king Richard. As that mode of getting rid of an enemy was
far too familiar in the east, it was natural enough that the Arabian
writers should adopt the report without much inquiry. This consideration
alone ought very much to invalidate their testimony. Some German
chroniclers also, following the reports which were industriously spread
to the disadvantage of the English king at the time he was a prisoner in
Austria, did not hesitate to accuse him of the murder of the marquis;
but, as has been justly observed, these, as well as the preceding, were
either partial or at a distance[52].
[Footnote 52: Raumer, Geschichte der Hohenstauffen, ii., p. 490. Wilken,
Geschichte der Kreuzzuege, iv., 489.]
In opposition to these assertions, we have the unanimous testimony of
all the English writers, such as Vinisauf (the companion and historian
of king Richard's crusade), Hoveden, Brompton, William of Newbridge.
The Syrian bishop, Aboo-'l-Faraj, mentions the report of the Assassin
who was put to the rack having laid the guilt on king Richard, but adds
that the truth came afterwards to light. Hugo Plagon, a judicious and
impartial writer, so far from imputing the death of the marquis to king
Richard, assigns the cause which moved the Assassin prince to order the
death of the marquis, namely, the same which we shall presently see
stated in the letter ascribed to the Old Man of the Mountain. Rigord,
who wrote the history of Philip Augustus, does not by any means impute
the murder of the marquis to king Richard, though he says that while
Philip was at Pontoise letters were brought to him from beyond sea,
warning him to be on his guard, as Assassins (_Arsacidae_) had been sent,
at the suggestion and command of the King of England, to kill him, "for
at that time they had slain the king's kinsman, the marquis." Philip, in
real, but more probably feigned alarm, immediately surrounded his person
with a guard of serjeants-at-mace. The Arabic historian, Ebn-el-Athir,
the friend of Saladin, says that the sultan had agreed with the Old Man
of the Mountain, for a sum of 10,000 pieces of gold, to deliver him of
both king Richard and the marquis, but that Sinan, not thinking it to be
for his interest to relieve the sultan of the English king, had taken
the money and only put the marquis out of the way. This narrative is
wholly improbable, for treachery was surely no part of the character of
Saladin; but it serves to prove the impartiality which is so justly
ascribed to the Arabic writers in general. The testimony of Abulfeda is
as follows: "And in it (the year of the Hejra 588, or A.D. 1192,) was
slain the Marquis, Lord of Soor (or Tyre); may God, whose name be
exalted, curse him! A Batinee, or Assassin (in one copy Batinees), who
had entered Soor in the disguise of a monk, slew him[53]."
[Footnote 53: Annales Muslemici, tom. iv., pp. 122, 123. Hafniae, 1792.]
We thus see that the evidence in favour of the King of England greatly
preponderates, not a single writer who was on the spot laying the murder
to his charge; on the contrary, those who had the best means of being
informed treated the imputation with contempt, as a base calumny devised
by the French party. But there is a still more illustrious witness in
his behalf, if the testimony ascribed to him be genuine--the Old Man of
the Mountain himself. Brompton gives two letters purporting to have been
written by this personage, the one to the Duke of Austria, the other to
the princes and people of Europe in general. The latter is also given by
William of Newbridge, with some variation. Both have been admitted by
Rymer into his Foedera. Gibbon, who seems to have known only the last,
pronounces it to be an "absurd and palpable forgery." Hammer, whose
arguments we shall presently consider, undertakes to demonstrate that
these epistles are forgeries. Raumer, more prudently, only says that
this last is not genuine in its present form.
The following are translations of these documents:--
"The Old Man of the Mountain to Limpold, Duke of Austria, greeting.
Since several kings and princes beyond sea accuse Richard, King of
England, and lord, of the death of the marquis, I swear by the God who
reigneth for ever, and by the law which we hold, that he had no guilt in
his death; for the cause of the death of the marquis was as follows.
"One of our brethren was coming in a ship from Satelia (_Salteleya_) to
our parts, and a tempest chancing to drive him to Tyre the marquis had
him taken and slain, and seized a large sum of money which he had with
him. But we sent our messengers to the marquis, requiring him to restore
to us the money of our brother, and to satisfy us respecting the death
of our brother, which he laid upon Reginald, the Lord of Sidon, and we
exerted ourselves through our friends till we knew of a truth that it
was he himself who had had him put to death, and had seized his money.
"And again we sent to him another of our messengers, named Eurisus, whom
he was minded to fling into the sea; but our friends made him depart
with speed out of Tyre, and he came to us quickly and told us these
things. From that very hour we were desirous to slay the marquis; then
also we sent two brethren to Tyre, who slew him openly, and as it were
before all the people of Tyre.
"This, then, was the cause of the death of the marquis; and we say to
you in truth that the lord Richard, King of England, had no guilt in
this death of the marquis, and these who on account of this have done
evil to the lord King of England have done it unjustly and without
cause.
"Know for certain that we kill no man in this world for any hire or
money, unless he has first done us evil.
"And know that we have executed these letters in our house at our castle
of Messiat, in the middle of September. In the year from Alexander M. D.
& V."
* * * * *
"The Old Man of the Mountain to the princes of Europe and all the
Christian people, greeting.
"We would not that the innocence of any one should suffer by reason of
what we have done, since we never do evil to any innocent and guiltless
person; but those who have transgressed against us we do not, with God
to aid, long suffer to rejoice in the injuries done to our simplicity.
"We therefore signify to the whole of you, testifying by him through
whom we hope to be saved, that that Marquis of Montferrat was slain by
no machination of the King of England, but he justly perished, by our
will and command, by our satellites, for that act in which he
transgressed against us, and which, when admonished, he had neglected to
amend. For it is our custom first to admonish those who have acted
injuriously in anything to us or our friends to give us satisfaction,
which if they despise, we take care to take vengeance with severity by
our ministers, who obey us with such devotion that they do not doubt but
that they shall be gloriously rewarded by God if they die in executing
our command.
"We have also heard that it is bruited about of that king that he has
induced us, as being less upright and consistent (_minus integros et
constantes_), to send some of our people to plot against the King of
France, which, beyond doubt, is a false fiction, and of the vainest
suspicion, when neither he, God is witness, has hitherto attempted
anything against us, nor would we, in respect to our honour, permit any
undeserved evil to be planned against any man. Farewell."
* * * * *
We will not undertake to maintain the genuineness of these two epistles,
but we may be permitted to point out the futility of some of the
objections made to them. Hammer pronounces the first of them to be an
undoubted forgery because it commences with swearing by the law, and
ends by being dated from the era of the Seleucides. Both, he says, were
equally strange to the Ismailites, who precisely at this time had begun
to trample the law under foot, and had abandoned the Hejra, the only era
known in Mohammedan countries, for a new one commencing with the reign
of Hassan II. He further sees, in the circumstance of a letter from the
Old Man of the Mountain (_Sheikh-al-Jebal_) being dated from Massyat, a
proof of the ignorance of the Crusaders respecting the true head and
seat of the Ismailite power. These objections are regarded by Wilken as
conclusive. They will, however, lose much of their force if we bear in
mind that the letters are manifestly translations, and that the chief of
Massyat at that time was Sinan, who some years before had offered to
become a Christian, and who does not seem at all to have adopted the
innovations of Hassan the Illuminator. Sinan might easily have been
induced by the friends of the King of England, one of the most steady of
whom was Henry of Champagne[54], who succeeded Conrad of Montferrat in
the kingdom, to write those letters in his justification, and it is very
probable that the translations were made in Syria, where the Arabic
language was of course better understood than in Europe, and sent either
alone or with the originals. The translator might have rendered the
title which Sinan gave himself by _Senex de Monte_, which would be
better understood in the west, and he may also have given the
corresponding year of the era of the Seleucides (the one in use among
the Syrian Christians) for the year of the Hejra used by the Ismailite
chief, or indeed Sinan may have employed that era himself. In this case
there would remain little to object to the genuineness of the letter to
the Duke of Austria. Hammer regards the expression _our simplicity_
(_simplicitas nostra_) as being conclusive against the genuineness of
the second letter. We must confess that we can see no force in the
objection. Sinan might wish to represent himself as a very plain,
simple, innocent sort of person. It might further be doubted if a
European forger would venture to represent the prince of the
Assassins--the formidable Old Man of the Mountain--in such a respectable
light as he appears in these two epistles[55].
[Footnote 54: An instance of Henry's intimacy with the Assassins has
been given in p. 81.]
[Footnote 55: Sir J. Mackintosh (History of England, i. 187) seems to
regard the letters as genuine.]
But there is another account of the death of the Marquis of Montferrat,
which is probably much better known to the generality of readers than
any of the preceding ones. The far-famed author of "Waverley" has, in
his romantic tale of the "Talisman," made Conrad to be wounded and
vanquished in the lists by the son of the King of Scotland, the champion
of king Richard, and afterwards slain by the dagger, not of the
Assassins, but of his confederate in villany the Master of the Temple,
to prevent his making confession of their common guilt!
Yielding to none in rational admiration of the genius of Sir W. Scott,
we cannot avoid expressing a wish that he had ceased to write when he
had exhausted that rich field of national feelings and manners with
which he was alone familiar, and from which he drew the exquisite
delineations of "Waverley" and its Scottish brethren. All his later
works, no doubt, exhibit occasional scenes far beyond the power of any
of his imitators; but when his muse quits her native soil, she takes
leave of nature, truth, and simplicity. Even the genius of a Scott is
inadequate to painting manners he never witnessed, scenery he never
beheld.
The tale of the "Talisman" is a flagrant instance. Topography,
chronology, historic truth, oriental manners, and individual character,
are all treated with a most magnanimous neglect, indeed, even, we might
say, with contempt; for, careless, from "security to please," as the
author is known to have been, his vagaries must sometimes have proceeded
from mere wilfulness and caprice. It would, we apprehend, perplex our
oriental travellers and geographers to point out the site of the
fountain named the Diamond of the Desert, not far from the Dead Sea, and
yet lying half-way between the camp of the Saracens and that of the
Crusaders, which last, we are told, lay between Acre and Ascalon, that
is, on the sea-coast, or to show the interminable sandy desert which
stretches between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. As to historic
truth, we may boldly say that there is hardly a single circumstance of
the romance in strict accordance with history; and as to the truth of
individual character, what are we to say to the grave, serious,
religious Saladin, but the very year before his death, being in the
flower of his age, rambling alone through the desert, like an errant
knight, singing hymns to the Devil, and coming disguised as a physician
to the Christian camp, to cure the malady of the English monarch, whom
he never, in reality, did or would see[56]? We might enumerate many
additional instances of the violation of every kind of unity and
propriety in this single tale[57].
[Footnote 56: May it not be said that real historic characters should
not be misrepresented? Sir W. Scott was at full liberty to make his
Varneys and his Bois Gilberts as accomplished villains as he pleased; he
might do as he pleased with his own; but what warrant had he from
history for painting Conrad of Montferrat and the then Master of the
Templars under such odious colours as he does?]
[Footnote 57: The author invariably writes _Montserrat_ for
_Montferrat_. The former is in Spain, and never was a marquisate. As it
were to show that it was no error of the press, it is said, "The shield
of the marquis bore, in reference to his title, a serrated and rocky
mountain." We also find _naphtha_ and _bitumen_ confounded, the former
being described as the solid, the latter as the liquid substance.]
Let not any deem it superfluous thus to point out the errors of an
illustrious writer. The impressions made by his splendid pages on the
youthful mind are permanent and ineffaceable, and, if not corrected,
may lead to errors of a graver kind. The "Talisman" moreover affects a
delusive show of truth and accuracy; for, in a note in one part of it,
the author (ironically, no doubt) affects to correct the historians on a
point of history. The natural inference, then, is that he has himself
made profound researches, and adhered to truth; and we accordingly find
another novelist, in what he terms a history of chivalry, declaring the
"Talisman" to be a faithful picture of the manners of the age. Sir W.
Scott, however, has himself informed us, in the preface to "Ivanhoe," of
his secret for describing the manners of the times of Richard Coeur de
Lion. With the chronicles of the time he joined that of Froissart, so
rich in splendid pictures of chivalric life. Few readers of these
romances perhaps are aware that this was the same in kind, though not in
degree, as if, in his tales of the days of Elizabeth and James I., he
had had recourse to the manner-painting pages of Henry Fielding; for the
distance in point of time between the reign of Richard I. and that of
Richard II., in which last Froissart wrote, is as great as that between
the reigns of Elizabeth and George II.; and, in both, manners underwent
a proportional change. But we are in the habit of regarding the middle
ages as one single period of unvarying manners and institutions, and we
are too apt to fancy that the descriptions of Froissart and his
successors are equally applicable to all parts of it.
CHAPTER X.
Jellal-ed-deen--Restoration of Religion--His Harem makes the
Pilgrimage to Mecca--Marries the Princess of Ghilan--Geography of
the Country between Roodbar and the Caspian--Persian Romance--Zohak
and Feridoon--Kei Kaoos and Roostem--Ferdoosee's Description of
Mazanderan--History of the Shah Nameh--Proof of the Antiquity of
the Tales contained in it.
The unhallowed rule of Mohammed II. lasted for the long space of
thirty-five years, during which time all the practices of Islam were
neglected by the Ismailites. The mosks were closed, the fast of Ramazan
neglected, the solemn seasons of prayer despised. But such a state can
never last; man must have religion; it is as essential to him as his
food; and those pseudo-philosophers who have endeavoured to deprive him
of it have only displayed in the attempt their ignorance and folly. The
purification of the popular faith is the appropriate task of the true
philanthropist.
We may often observe the son to exhibit a character the diametrically
opposite of that of his father, either led by nature or struck by the
ill effects of his father's conduct. This common appearance was now
exhibited among the Assassins. Mohammed disregarded all the observances
of the ceremonial law; his son and successor, Jellal-ed-deen (_Glory of
Religion_) Hassan, distinguished himself, from his early years, by a
zeal for the ordinances of Islam. The avowal of his sentiments caused
considerable enmity and suspicion between him and Mohammed; the father
feared the son, and the son the father. On the days of public audience,
at which Jellal-ed-deen was expected to appear, the old sheikh used the
precaution of wearing a shirt of mail under his clothes, and of
increasing the number of his guards. His death, which occurred when his
son had attained his twenty-fifth year, is ascribed by several
historians, though apparently without any sufficient reason, to poison
administered to him by his successor.
The succession of Jellal-ed-deen was uncontested. He immediately set
about placing all things on the footing which they had been on previous
to the time of _On his Memory be Peace_. The mosks were repaired and
reopened; the call to prayer sounded as heretofore from the minarets;
and the solemn assemblies for worship and instruction were held once
more on every Friday. Imams, Koran-readers, preachers, and teachers of
all kinds, were invited to Alamoot, where they were honourably
entertained and richly rewarded. Jellal-ed-deen wrote to his lieutenants
in Kusistan and Syria, informing them of what he had done, and inviting
them to follow his example. He also wrote to the khalif, to the powerful
Shah of Khaurism, and to all the princes of Persia, to assure them of
the purity of his faith. His ambassadors were everywhere received with
honour, and the khalif and all the princes gave to Jellal-ed-deen, in
the letters which they wrote in reply, the title of prince, which had
never been conceded to any of his predecessors. The imams, and the men
learned in the law, loudly upheld the orthodoxy of the faith of the
mountain-chief, on whom they bestowed the name of Nev (_New_) Musulman.
When the people of Casveen, who had always been at enmity with the
Ismailites, doubted of his orthodoxy, Jellal-ed-deen condescended to ask
of them to send some persons of respectability to Alamoot, that he might
have an opportunity of convincing them. They came, and in their
presence he committed to the flames a pile of books which he said were
the writings of Hassan Sabah, and contained the secret rules and
ordinances of the society. He cursed the memory of Hassan and his
successors, and the envoys returned to Casveen, fully convinced of his
sincerity.
In the second year of his reign Jellal-ed-deen gave a further proof of
the purity of his religious faith by permitting, or, perhaps, directing,
his harem, that is, his mother, his wife, and a long train of their
female attendants, to undertake the pilgrimage to the holy city of
Mecca, to worship at the tomb of the Prophet. The sacred banner was,
according to custom, borne before the caravan of the pilgrims from
Alamoot, and the Tesbeel, or distribution of water to the pilgrims,
usual on such occasions[58], was performed by the harem of the
mountain-prince on such a scale of magnificence and liberality as far
eclipsed that of the great Shah of Khaurism, whose caravan reached
Bagdad at the same time on its way to Mecca. The khalif
Nassir-ladin-Illah even gave precedence to the banner of the pilgrims
from Alamoot, and this mark of partiality drew on him the wrath of the
potent prince of Khaurism. Twice did the latter afterwards collect an
army to make war on the successor of the Prophet. With the first,
consisting of nearly 300,000 men, he marched against Bagdad, and had
reached Hamadan and Holuan, when a violent snow-storm obliged him to
retire. He had collected his forces a second time, when the hordes of
Chinghis Khan burst into his dominions. His son and successor resumed
his plans, and reached Hamadan, when again a snow-storm came to avert
destruction from the City of Peace. As the power of the Mongol conqueror
was now great and formidable, the prudent prince of Alamoot sent in
secret ambassadors to assure him of his submission, and to tender his
homage.
[Footnote 58: "Sebil, in Arabic 'the way,' means generally the road, and
the traveller is hence called _Ibn-es-sebil_, the son of the road; but
it more particularly signifies the way of piety and good works, which
leads to Paradise. Whatever meritorious work the Moslem undertakes, he
does _Fi sebil Allah_, on the way of God, or for the love of God; and
the most meritorious which he can undertake is the holy war, or the
fight for his faith and his country, _on God's way_. But since pious
women can have no immediate share in the contest, every thing which they
can contribute to the nursing of the wounded, and the refreshment of the
exhausted, is imputed to them as equally meritorious as if they had
fought themselves. The distribution of water to the exhausted and
wounded warriors is the highest female merit in the holy war on God's
way."--_Hammer's History of the Assassins_, Wood's translation, p. 144.]
Jellal-ed-deen took a more active part in the politics of his neighbours
than his predecessors had done. He formed an alliance with the Atabeg
Mozaffer-ed-deen (_Causing the Religion to be victorious_), the governor
of Azerbeijan, against the governor of Irak, who was their common enemy.
He even visited the Atabeg at his residence, where he was received with
the utmost magnificence, and each day the Atabeg sent 1,000 dinars for
the expenses of his table. The two princes sent to the khalif for aid;
their request was granted; and they marched against, defeated, and slew
the governor of Irak, and appointed another in his place. After an
absence of eighteen months Jellal-ed-deen returned to Alamoot, having in
the mean time, by his prudent conduct, greatly augmented the fame of his
orthodoxy. He now ventured to aspire to a connexion with one of the
ancient princely houses of the country, and asked in marriage the
daughter of Ky Kaoos, the prince of Ghilan. The latter having expressed
his readiness to give his consent, provided that of the khalif could be
obtained, envoys were despatched to Bagdad, who speedily returned with
the approbation of Nassir-ladin-Illah, and the princess of Ghilan was
sent to Alamoot.
The mention of Ghilan and of Ky Kaoos presents an opportunity, which we
are not willing to let pass, of diversifying our narrative by an
excursion into the regions of Persian geography and romance, which may
cast a gleam of the sunshine of poetry over the concluding portion of
our history of the dark and secret deeds of the Ismailites.
The mountain range named Demavend, on the south side of which Roodbar,
the territory of the Ismailites, lies, is the northern termination of
the province of Irak Ajemee, or Persian Irak. Beyond it stretches to the
Caspian Sea a fertile region, partly hilly, partly plain[59]. This
country is divided into five districts, which were in those times
distinct from and independent of each other. At the foot of the
mountains lay Taberistan and Dilem, the former to the east, the latter
to the west. Dilem is celebrated as having been the native country of
the family of Buyah, which, rising from the humblest station, exercised
under the khalifs, and with the title of Ameer-al-Omra (_Prince of the
Princes_), a power nearly regal over Persia during a century and a
half[60]. North of Dilem lay Ghilan, and north of Taberistan Mazenderan,
the ancient Hyrcania. In the midst of these four provinces lay Ruyan
and Rostemdar, remarkable for having been governed for a space of 800
years by one family of princes, while dynasty after dynasty rose and
fell in the neighbouring states. In these provinces the names of the
royal lines recall to our mind the ancient history, both true and
fabulous, of Iran (Persia), as we find it in the poem of Ferdoosee, the
Homer of that country. The family of Kawpara, which governed Ruyan and
Rostemdar, affected to derive their lineage from the celebrated
blacksmith Gavah, who raised his apron as the standard of revolt against
the Assyrian tyrant Zohak; and the family of Bavend, which ruled for
nearly seven centuries, with but two interruptions, over Mazenderan and
Taberistan, were descended from the elder brother of Noosheerwan the
Just, the most celebrated monarch of the house of Sassan.
[Footnote 59: This part of Persia also acquires interest from the
circumstance of Russia being believed to be looking forward to obtaining
it, one day or other, by conquest or cession.]
[Footnote 60: Azed-ud-dowlah, one of the most celebrated of these
princes, had a dyke constructed across the river Kur, in the plain of
Murdasht, near the ruins of Persepolis, to confine the water, and permit
of its being distributed over the country. It was called the Bund-Ameer
(_Prince's Dyke_), and travellers ignorant of the Persian language have
given this name to the river itself. We must not, therefore, be
surprised to find in "Lalla Rookh" a lady singing,
"There's a bower of roses by Bendameer's _stream_;"
and asking,
"Do the roses still bloom by the _calm_ Bendameer?"
Calm and still, beyond doubt, is the Bendameer. ]
This region is the classic land of Persia. When, as their romantic
history relates, Jemsheed, the third monarch of Iran after Cayamars, the
first who ruled over men, had long reigned in happiness and prosperity,
his head was lifted up with pride, and God withdrew from him his favour.
His dominions were invaded by Zohak, the prince of the Tauzees
(Assyrians or Arabs); his subjects fell away from him, and, after
lurking for a hundred years in secret places, he fell into the hands of
the victor, who cut him asunder with a saw. A child was born of the race
of Jemsheed, named Feridoon, whom, as soon as he came to the light (in
the village of Wereghi, in Taberistan), his mother Faranuk gave to a
herdsman to rear, and his nourishment was the milk of a female buffalo,
whose name was Poormayeh. Zohak meantime had a dream, in which he beheld
two warriors, who led up to him a third, armed with a club which
terminated in the head of a cow. The warrior struck him on the head with
his club, and took him and chained him in the cavern of a mountain. He
awoke with a loud cry, and called all the priests, and astrologers, and
wise men, to interpret his dream. They feared to speak. At last they
told him of the birth and nurture of Feridoon, who was destined to
overcome him. Zohak fell speechless from his throne at the intelligence.
On recovering, he sent persons in all directions to search for and put
to death the fatal child; but the maternal anxiety of Faranuk was on the
watch, and she removed the young Feridoon to the celebrated mountain
Elburz, where she committed him to the care of a pious anchorite. Zohak,
after a long search, discovered the place where Feridoon had been first
placed by his mother, and in his rage he killed the beautiful and
innocent cow Poormayeh.
Zohak is represented as a most execrable tyrant. Acting under the
counsel of the Devil, he had murdered his own father to get his throne.
His infernal adviser afterwards assumed the form of a young man, and
became his cook. He prepared for him all manner of curious and
high-seasoned dishes; for hitherto the food of mankind had been rude and
plain. As a reward, he only asked permission to kiss the shoulders of
the king. Zohak readily granted this apparently moderate request; but
from the spots where the Devil impressed his lips grew forth two black
snakes. In vain every art was employed to remove them, in vain they were
cut away, they grew again like plants. The physicians were in
perplexity. At length the Devil himself came in the shape of a
physician, and said that the only mode of keeping them quiet was to feed
them with human brains. His object, we are told, was gradually in this
way to destroy the whole race of man.
The design of the Devil seemed likely to be accomplished. Each day two
human beings were slain, and the serpents fed with their brains. At
length two of the tyrant's cooks discovered that the brain of a man
mixed with that of a ram satisfied the monsters, and, of the two men who
were given to be killed each day, they always secretly let go one, and
those who were thus delivered became the progenitors of the Koords who
dwell in the mountains west of Persia. Among those unfortunate persons
who were condemned to be food for the serpents was the son of a
blacksmith named Gavah. The afflicted father went boldly before the
tyrant, and remonstrated with him on the injustice of his conduct. Zohak
heard him with patience and released his son. He also made him bearer of
a letter addressed to all the provinces of the empire, vaunting his
goodness, and calling on all to support him against the youthful
pretender to his throne. But Gavah, instead of executing the mandate,
tore the tyrant's letter, and, raising his leathern apron on a lance by
way of standard, called on all the inhabitants of Iran to arise and take
arms in support of Feridoon, the rightful heir to the throne of
Jemsheed.
[Illustration: From the Shah Nameh, illuminated Persian MS.]
Meantime Feridoon, who had attained the age of twice eight years, came
down from Elburz, and, going to his mother, besought her to tell him
from whom he derived his birth. Faranuk related to him his whole
history, when the young hero, in great emotion, vowed to attack the
tyrant, and avenge on him the death of his father; but his mother
sought, by representing the great power of Zohak, to divert him from his
purpose, and exhorted him to abandon all such thoughts, and to enjoy in
quiet the good things of this life. But a numerous army, led by Gavah in
search of the true heir to the throne, now came in sight. Feridoon,
joyfully advancing to meet them, adorned with gold and precious stones
the leathern banner, placed upon it the orb of the moon, and, naming it
Direfsh-e-Gavanee (_Gavah's Apron_), selected it for the banner of the
empire of Iran. Each succeeding prince, we are told, at his accession,
added jewels to it, and Direfsh-e-Gavanee blazed in the front of battle
like a sun. Feridoon, then calling for smiths, drew for them in the sand
the form of a club, with a cow's head at the end of it, and when they
had made it he named it Gawpeigor (_Cow-face_), in honour of his nurse.
Taking leave of his mother, he marches against the tyrant; an angel
comes from heaven to aid the rightful cause; Zohak is deserted by his
troops; he falls into the hands of Feridoon, who, by the direction of
the angel, imprisons him in a cavern of the mountain Demavend. Feridoon,
on ascending the throne of his forefathers, governed with such mildness,
firmness, and justice, that his name is to the present day in Persia
significative of the ideal of a perfect monarch[61].
[Footnote 61: Four lines, quoted by Sir J. Malcolm from the Gulistan of
Saadi, may be thus _literally_ rendered in the measure of the
original:--
The blest Feridoon an angel was not;
Of musk or of amber he formed was not;
By justice and mercy good ends gained he;
Be just and merciful, thou'lt a Feridoon be.]
Mazenderan is not less celebrated in Persian romance than the region at
the foot of Demavend. It was the scene of the dangers of the
light-minded Kej Kaoos (supposed to be the Cyaxares of the Greeks), and
of the marvellous adventures called the Seven Fables or Stages of the
Hero Roostem, the Hercules of Persia, who came to his aid. When Kej
Kaoos mounted the throne of Iran, he exulted in his wealth and in his
power. A deev (_Demon_), desirous of luring him to his destruction,
assumed the guise of a wandering minstrel, and, coming to his court,
sought to be permitted to sing before the padisha (_Emperor_). His
request was acceded to,--his theme was the praises of Mazenderan, and he
sang to this effect:--
"Mazenderan deserves that the shah should think on it; the rose blooms
evermore in its gardens, its hills are arrayed with tulips and
jessamines, mild is the air, the earth is bright of hue, neither cold
nor heat oppresses the lovely land, spring abides there evermore, the
nightingale sings without ceasing in the gardens, and the deer bound
joyously through the woods. The earth is never weary of pouring forth
fruits, the air is evermore filled with fragrance, like unto rose-water
are the streams, the tulip glows unceasingly on the meads, pure are the
rivers, and their banks are smiling: ever mayest thou behold the falcon
at the chase. All its districts are adorned with abundance of food,
beyond measure are the treasures which are there piled up, the flowers
bend in worship before the throne, and around it stand the men of renown
richly girded with gold. Who dwelleth not there knoweth no pleasure, as
joy and luxuriant pastime are to him unknown."
Kej Kaoos was beguiled by the tempter, and, eager to get possession of
so rich a land, he led a large army into it. The Shah of Mazenderan was
aided by a potent demon or enchanter named the Deev Seffeed (_White
Deev_), who, by his magic arts, cast a profound darkness over the
Iranian monarch and his host, in which they would have all been
destroyed but for the timely arrival of Roostem, who, after surmounting
all the impediments that magic could throw in his way, slew the Deev
Seffeed, and delivered his sovereign.
Kej Kaoos, we are afterwards told by the poet, formed the insane project
of ascending to heaven, which he attempted in the following manner. A
stage was constructed on which a throne was set for the monarch; four
javelins were placed at the corners, with pieces of goat's flesh on
them, and four hungry eagles were tied at the bottom, who, by their
efforts to reach the meat, raised the stage aloft into the air; but when
the strength of the birds was exhausted the whole fell with the royal
aeronaut in the desert, where he was found by Roostem and the other
chiefs.
[Illustration: From the Same.]
The history of the Shah-nameh (_King-book_), in which these legends are
contained, is one of the most curious in literature. The fanaticism of
the Arabs, who conquered Persia, raged with indiscriminate fury against
the literature, as well as the religion, of that country; and when, in
the time of Al-Mansoor and his successors Haroon-er-Rasheed and
Al-Mamoon, the Arabs themselves began to devote their attention to
literature and science, it was the science of Greece and the poetry of
their native language that they cultivated. The Persian literature
meantime languished in obscurity, and the traditional, heroic, and
legendary tales of the nation were fading fast from memory, when a
governor of a province, zealous, as it would appear, for the honour of
the Persian nation, made a collection of them, and formed from them a
continuous narrative in prose. The book thus formed was called the
Bostan-nameh (_Garden-book_). It was in great repute in the northern
part of Persia, where, at a distance from the court of the khalifs, the
Persian manners, language, and nationality were better preserved; and
when the Turkish family of the Samenee founded an empire in that part of
Persia, sultan Mansoor I., of that race, gave orders to a poet named
Dakeekee to turn the Bastan-nameh into Persian verse. The poet undertook
the task, but he had not made more than a thousand verses when he
perished by assassination. There being no one supposed capable of
continuing his work, it was suspended till twenty years afterwards, when
the celebrated Mahmood of Ghizni, the conqueror of India, meeting with
the Bastan-nameh, gave portions of it to three of the most renowned
poets of the time to versify. The palm of excellence was adjudged to
Anseri, who versified the tale of Sohrab slain by his own father
Roostem, one of the most pathetic and affecting narratives in any
language. The sultan made him Prince of the Poets, and directed him to
versify the entire work; but, diffident of his powers, Anseri shrank
from the task, and having some time afterwards met a poet of Toos in
Khorasan, named Isaac, the son of Sheriff-Shah, surnamed Ferdoosee
(_Paradisal_[62]), either from his father's employment as a gardener, or
from the beauty of his verses, he introduced him to the sultan, who
gladly committed the task to him. Ferdoosee laboured with enthusiasm in
the celebration of the ancient glories of his country; and in the space
of thirty or, as some assert, of only eight years, he brought the poem
to within two thousand lines of its termination, which lines were added
by another poet after his death.
[Footnote 62: Paradise, we are to recollect, is a word of Persian
origin, adopted by the Greeks, from whom we have received it. A Paradise
was a place planted with trees, a park, garden, or pleasure-ground, as
we may term it.]
The Shah-nameh is, beyond comparison, the finest poem of the Mohammedan
east. It consists of 60,000 rhymed couplets, and embraces the history of
Persia, from the beginning of the world to the period of its conquest by
the Arabs. The verses move on with spirit and rapidity, resembling more
the flow of our lyrical, than that of our common heroic, lines[63].
[Footnote 63: Hammer has, in his "Belles Lettres of Persia" (_Schoene
Redekunst Persians_), and in the "Mines de l'Orient," translated a
considerable portion of the Shah-nameh in the measure of the original.
MM. Campion and Atkinson have rendered a part of it into English heroic
verse. Goerres has epitomised it, as far as to the death of Roostem, in
German prose, under the title of "Das Heldenbuch von Iran." An epitome
of the poem in English prose, by Mr. Atkinson, has also lately
appeared.]
Ferdoosee wrote his poem in the early part of the eleventh century from
a book which had been in existence a long time before, for he always
calls it an _old book_. No proof therefore is needed that he did not
invent the tales which compose the Shah-nameh, and they have every
appearance of having been the ancient traditionary legends of the
Persian nation. But we are able to show that these legends were popular
in Persia nearly six centuries before his time; and it was chiefly with
a view to establishing this curious point that we related the tale of
Zohak and Feridoon.
Moses of Choren, the Armenian historian, who wrote about the year 440,
thus addresses the person to whom his work is dedicated. "How should the
vain and empty fables about Byrasp Astyages gain any portion of thy
favour, or why shouldest thou impose on us the fatigue of elucidating
the absurd, tasteless, senseless legends of the Persians about him? to
wit, of his first injurious benefit of the demoniac powers which were
subject to him, and how he could not deceive him who was deception and
falsehood itself. Then, of the kiss on the shoulders, whence the dragons
came, and how thenceforward the growth of vice destroyed mankind by the
pampering of the belly, until at last a certain Rhodones bound him with
chains of brass, and brought him to the mountain which is called
Demavend; how Byraspes then dragged to a hill Rhodones, when he fell
asleep on the way, but this last, awaking out of his sleep, brought him
to a cavern of the mountain, where he chained him fast, and set an image
opposite to him, so that, terrified by it, and held by the chains, he
might never more escape to destroy the world."
Here we have evidently the whole story of Zohak and Feridoon current in
Persia in the fifth century; and any one who has reflected on the nature
of tradition must be well aware that it must have existed there for
centuries before. The very names are nearly the same. Taking the first
syllable from Feridoon, it becomes nearly Rodon, and Biyraspi Aidahaki
(the words of the Armenian text) signify the dragon Byrasp: Zohak is
evidently nearly the same with the last word. This fable could hardly
have been invented in the time of the Sassanian dynasty, who had not
then been more than two centuries on the throne, much less during the
period of the dominion of the Parthian Arsacides, who were adverse to
everything Persian. We are therefore carried back to the times of the
Kejanians, the Achaemenides of the Greeks; and it is by no means
impossible that the tale of Zohak and Feridoon was known even to the
host which Xerxes led to the subjugation of Greece.
It is well known to those versed in oriental history that, when the
founder of the house of Sassan mounted the throne of Persia in the year
226, he determined to bring back everything, as far as was possible, to
its state in the time of the Kejanians, from whom he affected to be
descended, and that his successors trod in his footsteps. But, as Persia
had been for five centuries and a half under the dominion of the Greeks
and Parthians, there was probably no authentic record of the ancient
state of things remaining. Recourse was therefore had to the traditional
tales of the country; and, as the legend of Zohak and Feridoon was, as
we have seen, one of the most remarkable of these tales, it was at once
adopted as a genuine portion of the national history, and a banner
formed to represent the Apron of Gavah, which was, as the poet describes
it, adorned with additional jewels by each monarch of the house of
Sassan at his accession. This hypothesis will very simply explain the
circumstance of this banner being unnoticed by the Greek writers, while
it is an undoubted fact that it was captured by the Arabs at the battle
of Kadiseaeh, which broke the power of Persia,--a circumstance which has
perplexed Sir John Malcolm.
We will finally observe that the historian just alluded to, as well as
some others, thinks that the darkness cast by the magic art of the White
Deev over Ky Kaoos and his army in Mazanderan coincides with the eclipse
of the sun predicted by Thales, and which, according to Herodotus,
parted the armies of the Medians and the Lydians when engaged in
conflict. Little stress is however, we apprehend, to be laid on such
coincidences. Tradition does not usually retain the memory of facts of
this nature, though fiction is apt enough to invent them. The only
circumstances which we have observed in the early part of the Shah-nameh
agreeing with Grecian history, are some relating to the youthful days of
Kei Khoosroo, which are very like what Herodotus relates of Cyrus.
We now return to the history of the Assassins.
CHAPTER XI.
Death of Jellal-ed-deen--Character of Ala-ed-deen, his
successor--The Sheikh Jemal-ed-deen--The Astronomer
Nasir-ed-deen--The Vizir Sheref-al-Moolk--Death of
Ala-ed-deen--Succession of Rukn-ed-deen, the last Sheikh-al-Jebal.
The reign of Jellal-ed-deen, which, unfortunately for the society,
lasted but twelve years, was unstained by blood; and we see no reason to
doubt the judgment of the oriental historians, who consider his faith in
Islam as being sincere and pure. It was probably his virtue that caused
his death, for his life, it was suspected, was terminated by poison
administered by his own kindred. His son Ala-ed-deen[64] (_Eminence of
Religion_), who succeeded him, was but nine years old; but as, according
to the maxims of the Ismailites, the visible representative of the imam
was, to a certain extent, exempted from the ordinary imperfections of
humanity, and his commands were to be regarded as those of him whose
authority he bore, the young Ala-ed-deen was obeyed as implicitly as any
of his predecessors. At his mandate the blood was shed of all among his
relatives who were suspected of having participated in the murder of his
father.
[Footnote 64: This is the name which, in the form of Aladdin, is so
familiar to us from the story of the Wonderful Lamp.]
Ala-ed-deen proved to be a weak, inefficient ruler. His delight was in
the breeding and tending of sheep, and he spent his days in the cotes
among the herdsmen, while the affairs of the society were allowed to run
into disorder. All the restraints imposed by his father were removed,
and every one was left to do what was right in his own eyes. The
weakness of this prince's intellect is ascribed to his having, in the
fifth year of his reign, had himself most copiously bled without the
knowledge of his physician, the consequence of which was an extreme
degree of debility and a deep melancholy, which never afterwards left
him. From that time no one could venture to offer him advice respecting
either his health or the state of the affairs of the society, without
being rewarded for it by the rack or by instant death. Everything was
therefore kept concealed from him, and he had neither friend nor
adviser.
Yet Ala-ed-deen was not without some estimable qualities. He had a
respect and esteem for learning and learned men. For the sheikh
Jemal-ed-deen Ghili, who dwelt at Casveen, he testified on all occasions
the utmost reverence, and sent him annually 500 dinars to defray the
expenses of his household. When the people of Casveen reproached the
learned sheikh with living on the bounty of the Impious, he made answer,
"The imams pronounce it lawful to execute the Ismailites, and to
confiscate their goods; how much more lawful is it for a man to make use
of their property and their money when they give them voluntarily!"
Ala-ed-deen, who probably heard of the reproaches directed against his
friend, sent to assure the people of Casveen that it was solely on
account of the sheikh that he spared them, or else he would put the
earth of Casveen into bags, hang the bags about the necks of the
inhabitants, and bring them to Alamoot. The following instance of his
respect for the sheikh is also related. A messenger coming with a letter
to him from the sheikh was so imprudent as to deliver it to him when he
was drunk. Ala-ed-deen ordered him to have a hundred blows of the
bastinade, at the same time crying out to him, "O foolish and
thoughtless man, to give me a letter from the sheikh at the time when I
was drunk! Thou shouldest have waited till I was come out of the bath,
and was come to my senses."
The celebrated astronomer Nasir-ed-deen (_Victory of Religion_) had also
gained the consideration of Ala-ed-deen, who was anxious to enjoy the
pleasure of his society. But the philosopher, who resided at Bokhara,
testified little inclination to accept of the favour intended him.
Ala-ed-deen therefore sent orders to the Dai-al-Kebir of Kuhistan to
convey the uncourteous sage to Alamoot. As Nasir-ed-deen was one day
recreating himself in the gardens about Bokhara, he found himself
suddenly surrounded by some men, who, showing him a horse, directed him
to mount, telling him he had nothing to fear if he conducted himself
quietly. It was in vain that he argued and remonstrated; he was far on
the road to Kuhistan, which was 600 miles distant, before his friends
knew he was gone. The governor made every apology for what he had been
obliged to do. The philosopher was sent on to Alamoot to be the
companion of Ala-ed-deen, and it was while he was there that he wrote
his great work called the Morals of Nasir (_Akhlaak-Nasiree_).[65]
[Footnote 65: Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. i. In the clever work
called "Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry," which is the best
picture ever given of the language, manners, and modes of thinking of
that class, there is an amusing account (and an undoubtedly true one) of
the "Abduction of Mat Kavanagh," one of that curious order of men called
in that country hedge-schoolmasters, which, as indicative of a passion
for knowledge, may be placed in comparison with this anecdote of
Ala-ed-deen.]
It was during the administration of Ala-ed-deen that the following
event, so strongly illustrative of the modes of procedure of the
Assassins, took place. The sultan Jellal-ed-deen, the last ruler of
Khaurism, so well known for his heroic resistance to Chingis Khan, had
appointed the emir Arkhan governor of Nishaboor, which bordered closely
on the Ismailite territory of Kuhistan. Arkhan being obliged to attend
the sultan, the deputy whom he left in his stead made several
destructive incursions into Kuhistan, and laid waste the Ismailite
districts of Teem and Kain. The Ismailites sent to demand satisfaction,
but the only reply made to their complaints and menaces by the
deputy-governor was one of those symbolical proceedings so common in the
east. He came to receive the Ismailite envoy with his girdle stuck full
of daggers, which he flung on the ground before him, to signify either
his disregard for the daggers of the society, or to intimate that he
could play at that game as well as they. The Ismailites were not,
however, persons to be provoked with impunity, and shortly afterwards
three Fedavees were despatched to Kunja, where Arkhan was residing at
the court of the sultan. They watched till the emir came without the
walls of the town, and then fell upon and murdered him. They then
hastened to the house of Sheref-al-Moolk (_Nobleness of the Realm_), the
vizir, and penetrated into his divan. Fortunately he was at that time
engaged with the sultan, and they missed him; but they wounded severely
one of his servants, and then, sallying forth, paraded the streets,
proclaiming aloud that they were Assassins. They did not however escape
the penalty of their temerity, for the people assembled and stoned them
to death.
An envoy of the Ismailites, named Bedr-ed-deen (_Full Moon of Religion_)
Ahmed, was meantime on his way to the court of the sultan. He stopped
short on hearing what had occurred, and sent to the vizir to know
whether he should go on or return. Sheref-al-Moolk, who feared to
irritate the Assassins, directed him to continue his journey, and, when
he was arrived, showed him every mark of honour. The object of
Bedr-ed-deen's mission was to obtain satisfaction for the ravages
committed on the Ismailite territory and the cession of the fortress of
Damaghan. The vizir promised the former demand without a moment's
hesitation, and he made as little difficulty with regard to the second.
An instrument was drawn out assigning to the Ismailites the fortress
which they craved, on condition of their remitting annually to the royal
treasury the sum of 30,000 pieces of gold.
When this affair was arranged the sultan set out for Azerbeijan, and the
Ismailite ambassador remained the guest of the vizir. One day, after a
splendid banquet, when the wine, which they had been drinking in
violation of the law, had mounted into their heads, the ambassador told
the vizir, by way of confidence, that there were several Ismailites
among the pages, grooms, guards, and other persons who were immediately
about the sultan. The vizir, dismayed, and at the same time curious to
know who these dangerous attendants were, besought the ambassador to
point them out to him, giving him his napkin as a pledge that nothing
evil should happen to them. Instantly, at a sign from the envoy, five of
the persons who were attendants of the chamber stepped forth, avowing
themselves to be concealed Assassins. "On such a day, and at such an
hour," said one of them, an Indian, to the vizir, "I might have slain
thee without being seen or punished; and, if I did not do so, it was
only because I had no orders from my superiors." The vizir, timid by
nature, and rendered still more so by the effects of the wine, stripped
himself to his shirt, and, sitting down before the five Assassins,
conjured them by their lives to spare him, protesting that he was as
devotedly the slave of the sheikh Ala-ed-deen as of the sultan
Jellal-ed-deen.
As soon as the sultan heard of the meanness and cowardice of his vizir,
he sent a messenger to him with the keenest reproaches, and an order to
burn alive the five Ismailites without an instant's delay. The vizir,
though loth, was obliged to comply, and, in violation of his promise,
the five chamberlains were cast on the flaming pyre, where they died
exulting at being found worthy to suffer in the service of the great
Sheikh-al-Jebal. The master of the pages was also put to death for
having admitted Ismailites among them. The sultan then set out for Irak,
leaving the vizir in Azerbeijan. While he was there an envoy arrived
from Alamoot, who, on being admitted to an audience, thus spake, "Thou
hast given five Ismailites to the flames; to redeem thy head, pay 10,000
pieces of gold for each of these unfortunate men." The vizir heaped
honours on the envoy, and directed his secretary to draw out a deed in
the usual forms, by which he bound himself to pay the Ismailites the
annual sum of 10,000 pieces of gold, besides paying for them the 30,000
which went to the treasury of the sultan. Sheref-al-Moolk was then
assured that he had nothing to apprehend.
The preceding very characteristic anecdote rests on good authority, for
it is related by Aboo-'l-Fetah Nissavee, the vizir's secretary, in his
life of sultan Jellal-ed-deen.
The astronomer Nasir-ed-deen was not the only involuntary captive of
Alamoot. Ala-ed-deen sent once to Farsistan to the atabeg
Mozaffer-ed-deen, to request that he would send him an able physician.
Requests from Alamoot were not lightly to be disregarded, and the atabeg
despatched the imam Beha-ed-deen, one of the most renowned physicians of
the time, to the mountains of Jebal. The skill of the imam proved of
great benefit to the prince, but when the physician applied for leave to
return to his family he found that he was destined to pass the
remainder of his days in Alamoot, unless he should outlive his patient.
The imam's release, however, was more speedy than he expected.
Ala-ed-deen, who had several children, had nominated the eldest of them,
Rukn-ed-deen (_Support of Religion_), while he was yet a child, to be
his successor. As Rukn-ed-deen grew up the people began to hold him in
equal respect with his father, and to consider his commands as equally
binding on them. Ala-ed-deen took offence, and declared that he would
give the succession to another of his children; but, as this directly
contravened one of the Ismailite maxims, namely, that the first
nomination was always the true one, it was little heeded. Rukn-ed-deen,
in apprehension for his life, which his father threatened, retired to a
strong castle to wait there the time when he should be called to the
succession. Meantime the tyranny and caprice of Ala-ed-deen had given
many of the principal persons about him cause to be apprehensive for
their lives, and they resolved to anticipate him. There was a man at
Alamoot named Hassan, a native of Mazenderan, who, though no Ismailite,
was of a vile and profligate character. He was the object of the doating
attachment of Ala-ed-deen, and consequently had free and constant access
to him. Him they fixed upon as their agent, and they found no difficulty
in gaining him. Ala-ed-deen, whose fondness for breeding and tending
sheep had never diminished, had built for himself a wooden house close
by his sheep-cotes, whither he was wont to retire, and where he indulged
himself in all the excesses in which he delighted. Hassan of Mazenderan
seized the moment when Ala-ed-deen was lying drunk in this house, and
shot him through the neck with an arrow. Rukn-ed-deen, who is said to
have been engaged in the conspiracy, assuming the part of the avenger
of blood, the murderer and all his family were put to death, and their
bodies committed to the flames; but this act of seeming justice did not
free Rukn-ed-deen from suspicion, and the bitter reproaches of his
mother were poured forth on him as a parricide.
The termination of the power of the Ismailites was now at hand.
Rukn-ed-deen had hardly ascended the throne of his murdered father when
he learned that an enemy was approaching against whom all attempts at
resistance would be vain.
Chapter XI.
The Mongols--Hoolagoo sent against the Ismailites--Rukn-ed-deen
submits--Capture of Alamoot--Destruction of the Library--Fate
of Rukn-ed-deen--Massacre of the Ismailites--St. Louis and
the Assassins--Mission for the Conversion of the People of
Kuhistan--Conclusion.
Half a century had now elapsed since the voice of the Mongol seer on the
banks of the Selinga had announced to the tribes of that race that he
had seen in a vision the Great God sitting on his throne and giving
sentence that Temujeen, one of their chiefs, should be Chingis Khan
(_Great Khan_), and the obedient tribes had, under the leading of
Temujeen, commenced that career of conquest which extended from the
eastern extremity of Asia to the confines of Egypt and of Germany. At
this time the chief power over the Mongols was in the hands of Mangoo,
the grandson of Chingis, a prince advantageously made known to Europe by
the long abode of the celebrated Venetian Marco Polo at his court. The
Mongols had not yet invaded Persia, though they had, under Chingis
himself, overthrown and stripped of his dominions the powerful sultan of
Khaurism. It was however evident that that country could not long escape
the fate of so many extensive and powerful states, and that a pretext
would soon be found for pouring over it the hordes of the Mongols.
We are told, though it seems scarcely credible, that ambassadors came
from the Khalif of Bagdad to Nevian, the Mongol general who commanded on
the northern frontier of Persia, requiring safe conduct to the court of
Mangoo. The object of their mission was to implore the great khan to
send his invincible troops to destroy those pests of society the bands
of the Ismailites. The prayer of the envoys of the successor of the
Prophet was supported by the Judge of Casveen, who happened to be at
that time at the court of Mangoo, where he appeared in a coat of mail,
to secure himself, as he professed, from the daggers of the Assassins.
The khan gave orders to assemble an army; his brother Hoolagoo was
appointed to command it, and, as he was setting forth, Mangoo thus
addressed him:--
"With heavy cavalry and a mighty host I send thee from Tooran to Iran,
the land of mighty princes. It behoves thee now strictly to observe,
both in great and in small things, the laws and regulations of Chinghis
Khan, and to take possession of the countries from the Oxus to the Nile.
Draw closer unto thee by favour and rewards the obedient and the
submissive; tread the refractory and the rebellious, with their wives
and children, into the dust of contempt and misery. When thou hast done
with the Assassins begin the conquest of Irak. If the Khalif of Bagdad
comes forward ready to serve thee, thou shalt do him no injury; if he
refuses, let him share the fate of the rest."
The army of Hoolagoo was reinforced by a thousand families of Chinese
firemen to manage the battering machines and fling the flaming naphtha,
known in Europe under the name of Greek fire. He set forward in the
month Ramazan of the 651st year of the Hejra (A.D. 1253). His march was
so slow that he did not cross the Oxus till two years afterwards. On the
farther bank of this river he took the diversion of lion-hunting, but
the cold came on so intense that the greater part of his horses
perished, and he was obliged to wait for the ensuing spring before he
could advance. All the princes of the menaced countries sent embassies
to the Mongol camp announcing their submission and obedience. The
head-quarters of Hoolagoo were now in Khorassan, whence he sent envoys
to Rukn-ed-deen, the Ismailite chief, requiring his submission. By the
advice of the astronomer Nasir-ed-deen, who was his counsellor and
minister, Rukn-ed-deen sent to Baissoor Noobeen, one of Hoolagoo's
generals, who had advanced to Hamadan, declaring his obedience and his
wish to live in peace with every one. The Mongol general recommended
that, as Hoolagoo himself was approaching, Rukn-ed-deen should wait on
him in person. After some delay, the latter agreed to send his brother
Shahinshah, who accompanied the son of Baissoor to the quarters of the
Mongol prince. Meantime Baissoor, by the orders of Hoolagoo, entered the
Ismailite territory and drew near to Alamoot. The troops of the
Assassins occupied a steep hill near that place. The Mongols attacked
them, but were repelled each time they attempted the ascent. Being
forced to give over the attack, they contented themselves with burning
the houses and ravaging the country round.
When Shahinshah reached the camp of Hoolagoo and notified the submission
of his brother, orders to the following effect were transmitted to the
mountain-chief:--"Since Rukn-ed-deen has sent his brother unto us, we
forgive him the offences of his father and his followers. He shall
himself, as, during his short reign, he has been guilty of no crime,
demolish his castles and come to us." Orders were sent at the same time
to Baissoor to give over ravaging the district of Roodbar. Rukn-ed-deen
began casting down some of the battlements of Alamoot, and at the same
time sent to beg the delay of a year before appearing in the presence of
Hoolagoo. But the orders of the Mongol were imperative; he was required
to appear at once, and to commit the defence of his territory to the
Mongol officer who was the bearer of Hoolagoo's commands. Rukn-ed-deen
hesitated. He sent again to make excuses and ask more time; and, as a
proof of his obedience, he directed the governors of Kuhistan and
Kirdkoh to repair to the Mongol camp. The banners of Hoolagoo were now
floating at the foot of Demavend, close to the Ismailite territory, and
once more orders came to Maimoondees, where Rukn-ed-deen and his family
had taken refuge:--"The Ruler of the World is now arrived at Demavend,
and it is no longer time to delay. If Rukn-ed-deen wishes to wait a few
days he may in the mean time send his son." The affrighted chief
declared his readiness to send his son, but, at the persuasion of his
women and advisers, instead of his own, he sent the son of a slave, who
was of the same age, requesting that his brother might be restored to
him. Hoolagoo was soon informed of the imposition, but disdained to
notice it otherwise than by sending back the child, saying he was too
young, and requiring that his elder brother, if he had one, should be
sent in place of Shahinshah. He at the same time dismissed Shahinshah
with these words:--"Tell thy brother to demolish Maimoondees and come to
me; if he does not come, the eternal God knows the consequences."
The Mongol troops now covered all the hills and valleys, and Hoolagoo in
person appeared before Maimoondees. The Assassins fought bravely, but
Rukn-ed-deen had not spirit to hold out. He sent his other brother, his
son, his vizir Nasir-ed-deen, and the principal persons of the society,
bearing rich presents to the Mongol prince. Nasir-ed-deen was directed
to magnify the strength of the Ismailite fortresses in order to gain
good terms for his master; but, instead of so doing, he told Hoolagoo
not to regard them, assuring him that the conjunction of the stars
announced the downfall of the Ismailites, and that the sun of their
power was hastening to its setting. It was agreed that the castle should
be surrendered on condition of free egress. Rukn-ed-deen, his ministers,
and his friends, entered the Mongol camp on the first day of the month
Zoo-l-Kaadeh. His wealth was divided among the Mongol troops. Hoolagoo
took compassion on himself, and spoke kindly to him, and treated him as
his guest. Nasir-ed-deen became the vizir of the conqueror, who
afterwards built for him the observatory of Meragha.
Mongol officers were now dispatched to all the castles of the Ismailites
in Kuhistan, Roodbar, and even in Syria, with orders from Rukn-ed-deen
to the governors to surrender or demolish them. The number of these
strong castles was upwards of one hundred, of which there were forty
demolished in Roodbar alone. Three of the strongest castles in this
province, namely, Alamoot, Lamseer, and Kirdkoh, hesitated to submit,
their governors replying to the summons that they would wait till
Hoolagoo should appear in person before them. In a few days the Mongol
prince and his captive were at the foot of Alamoot. Rukn-ed-deen was led
under the walls, and he ordered the governor to surrender. His command
was disregarded, and Hoolagoo, not to waste time, removed his camp to
Lamseer, leaving a corps to blockade Alamoot. The people of Lamseer came
forth immediately with their homage, and a few days afterwards envoys
arrived from Alamoot entreating Rukn-ed-deen to intercede for the
inhabitants with the brother of Mangoo. The conqueror was moderate; he
allowed them free egress, and gave them three days to collect and remove
their families and property. On the third day the Mongol troops
received permission to enter and plunder the fortress. They rushed,
eager for prey, into the hitherto invincible, now deserted, Vulture's
Nest, and rifled it of all that remained in it. As they hurried through
its subterrane recesses in search of treasure they frequently, to their
amazement, found themselves immersed in honey, or swimming in wine; for
there were large receptacles of wine, honey, and corn, hewn into the
solid rock, the nature of which was such that, though, as we are told,
they had been filled in the time of Hassan Sabah, the corn was perfectly
sound, and the wine had not soured. This extraordinary circumstance was
regarded by the Ismailites as a miracle wrought by that founder of their
society.
When Alamoot fell into the hands of the Mongols Ata-Melek
(_King's-father_) Jowainee, a celebrated vizir and historian, craved
permission of Hoolagoo to inspect the celebrated library of that place,
which had been founded by Hassan Sabah and increased by his successors,
and to select from it such works as might be worthy of a place in that
of the khan. The permission was readily granted, and he commenced his
survey of the books. But Ata-Melek was too orthodox a Mussulman, or too
lazy an examiner, to make the best use of his opportunity; for all he
did was to take the short method of selecting the Koran and a few other
books which he deemed of value out of the collection, and to commit the
remainder, with all the philosophical instruments, to the flames, as
being impious and heretical. All the archives of the society were thus
destroyed, and our only source of information respecting its doctrines,
regulations, and history, is derived from what Ata-Melek has related in
his own history as the result of his search among the archives and books
of the library of Alamoot, previous to his making an _auto da fe_ of
them.
The fate of the last of a dynasty, however worthless and insignificant
his character may be, is always interesting from the circumstance alone
of his being the last, and thus, as it were, embodying in himself the
history of his predecessors. We shall therefore pause to relate the
remainder of the story of the feeble Rukn-ed-deen.
When Hoolagoo, after the conclusion of his campaign against Roodbar,
retired to Hamadan, where he had left his children, he took with him
Rukn-ed-deen, whom he continued to treat with kindness. Here the
Assassin prince became enamoured of a Mongol maiden of the very lowest
class. He asked permission of Hoolagoo to espouse her, and, by the
directions of that prince, the wedding was celebrated with great
solemnity. He next craved to be sent to the court of Mangoo Khan.
Hoolagoo, though surprised at this request, acceded to it also, and gave
him a corps of Mongols as an escort. He at the same time directed him to
order on his way the garrison of Kirdkoh, who still held out, to
surrender, and demolish the fortress. Rukn-ed-deen, as he passed by
Kirdkoh, did as directed, but sent at the same time a private message to
the governor to hold out as long as possible. Arrived at Kara-Kooroom,
the residence of the khan, he was not admitted to an audience, but the
following message was delivered to him:--"Thus saith Mangoo: Since thou
affectest to be obedient to us, wherefore has not the castle of Kirdkoh
been delivered up? Go back, and demolish all the castles which remain;
then mayest thou be partaker of the honour of viewing our imperial
countenance." Rukn-ed-deen was obliged to return, and, soon after he had
crossed the Oxus, his escort, making him dismount under pretext of an
entertainment, ran him through with their swords.
Mangoo Khan was determined to exterminate the whole race of the
Ismailites, and orders to that effect had already reached Hoolagoo, who
was only waiting to execute them till Kirdkoh should have surrendered.
As the garrison of that place continued obstinate, he no longer ventured
to delay. Orders for indiscriminate massacre were issued, and 12,000
Ismailites soon fell as victims. The process was short; wherever a
member of the society was met he was, without any trial, ordered to
kneel down, and his head instantly rolled on the ground. Hoolagoo sent
one of his vizirs to Casveen, where the family of Rukn-ed-deen were
residing, and the whole of them were put to death, except two (females
it is said), who were reserved to glut the vengeance of the princess
Boolghan Khaloon, whose father Jagatai had perished by the daggers of
the Assassins.
The siege of Kirdkoh was committed by Hoolagoo (who was now on his march
to Bagdad to put an end to the empire of the khalifs) to the princes of
Mazenderan and Ruyan. The castle held out for three years, and the siege
was rendered remarkable by the following curious occurrence:--It was in
the beginning of the spring when a poet named Koorbee of Ruyan came to
the camp. He began to sing, in the dialect of Taberistan, a celebrated
popular song of the spring, beginning with these lines:--
When the sun from the fish to the ram doth return,
Spring's banner waves high on the breeze of the morn.[66]
[Footnote 66:
"And Day, with his _banner_ of radiance _unfurled_,
Shines in through the mountainous portal that opes
Sublime from that valley of bliss to the world,"
says Mr. Moore in his "Lalla Rookh," undoubtedly without any knowledge
of the eastern song. His original was perhaps Campbell's
"Andes, giant of the western star,
His meteor _standard_ to the winds _unfurled_,
Looks from his throne of clouds o'er half the _world_;"
which was again, in all probability, suggested, like Gray's
"Loose his beard, and hoary hair
Stream'd like a _meteor_ to the troubled air,"
by Milton's
"Imperial _ensign_, which, full high advanced,
Shone like a _meteor_ streaming to the wind."
It is thus that the particles of poetry, like those of matter, are in
eternal circulation, and forming new combinations.]
The song awoke in the minds of princes and soldiers the recollection of
the vernal delights they had left behind them; an invincible longing
after them seized the whole army; and, without reflecting on the
consequences, they broke up the siege, and set forth to enjoy the season
of flowers in the fragrant gardens of Mazenderan. Hoolagoo was greatly
incensed when he heard of their conduct, and sent a body of troops
against them, but forgave them on their making due apologies and
submissions.
The Ismailite power in Persia was now completely at an end; the
khalifat, whose destruction had been its great object, was also involved
in its ruin, and the power of the Mongols established over the whole of
Iran. The Mongol troops failed in their attempts on the Ismailite
castles in Syria; but, at the end of fourteen years, what they could not
effect was achieved by the great Beibars, the Circassian Mamlook sultan
of Egypt, who reduced all the strongholds of the Assassins in the Syrian
mountains, and extinguished their power in that region.
The last intercourse of the Assassins with the western Christians which
we read of was that with St. Louis. William of Nangis relates--but the
tale is evidently apocryphal--that in the year 1250 two of the
_Arsacidae_ were sent to France to murder that prince, who was then only
twenty-two years of age. The _Senex de Monte_ however repented, and sent
others to warn the French monarch. These arriving in time, the former
were discovered, on which the king loaded them all with presents, and
dismissed them with rich gifts for their master.
Rejecting this idle legend, we may safely credit the account of
Joinville, that in 1250, when St. Louis was residing at Acre, after his
captivity in Egypt, he was waited on by an embassy from the Old Man of
the Mountain, the object of which was to procure, through his means, a
remission of the tribute which he paid to the Templars and the
Hospitallers. As if to obviate the answer which might naturally be made,
the ambassador said that his master considered that it would be quite
useless to sacrifice the lives of his people by murdering the masters of
these orders, as men as good as they would be immediately appointed to
succeed them. It being then morning, the king desired them to return in
the evening. When they appeared again, he had with him the masters of
the Temple and the Hospital, who, on the propositions being repeated,
declared them to be most extravagant, and assured the ambassadors that,
were it not for the sacredness of their character, and their regard for
the word of the king, they would fling them into the sea. They were
directed to go back, and to bring within fifteen days a satisfactory
letter to the king. They departed, and, returning at the appointed time,
said to the king that their chief, as the highest mark of friendship,
had sent him his own shirt and his gold ring. They also brought him
draught and chess-boards, adorned with amber, an elephant and a giraffe
(_orafle_) of crystal. The king, not to be outdone in generosity, sent
an embassy to Massyat with presents of scarlet robes, gold cups, and
silver vases, for the Ismailite chief.
Speculative tenets will continue and be propagated long after the sect
or society which holds them may have lost all temporal influence and
consideration. Accordingly, seventy years after the destruction of
Alamoot, in the reign of Aboo-Zeid, the eighth successor of Hoolagoo, it
was found that nearly all the people of Kuhistan were devoted to the
Ismailite opinions. The monarch, who was an orthodox Soonnee, advised
with the governor of the province, and it was resolved to send a
mission, composed of learned and zealous divines, for the conversion of
the heretics. At the head of the mission was placed the pious and
orthodox sheikh Emad-ed-deen of Bokhara; the other members of it were
the sheikh's two sons and four other learned ulemas (_Doctors of law_),
in all seven persons. Full of enthusiasm and zeal for the good cause
which they had in hand, the missionaries set forth. They arrived at
Kain, the chief place of the province, and found with grief and
indignation none of the ordinary testimonies of Moslem devotion. The
mosks were in ruins, no morning or evening call to prayer was to be
heard, no school or hospital was to be seen. Emad-ed-deen resolved to
commence his mission by the solemn call to prayer. Adopting the
precaution of arraying themselves in armour, he and his companions
ascended the terrace of the castle, and all at once from its different
sides shouted forth, "Say God is great! There is no god but God, and
Mohammed is his prophet. Up to prayer; to good works!" The inhabitants,
to whom these sounds were unusual and offensive, ran together,
determined to bestow the crown of martyrdom on the missionaries; but
these good men, whose zeal was of a prudent complexion, did not, though
armed, abide the encounter. They took refuge in an aqueduct, where they
concealed themselves till the people had dispersed, when they came forth
once more, ascended the terrace, and gave the call to prayer. The people
collected again, and again the missionaries sought their retreat. By
perseverance, however, and the powerful support of the governor of the
province, they gradually accustomed the ears of the people to the forms
of orthodoxy. Many years afterwards sultan Shahrokh, the son of Timoor,
resolved to send a commission to ascertain the state of religion in
Kohistan. At the head of it he placed Jelalee of Kain, the grandson of
Emad-ed-deen, a man of learning and talent and a distinguished writer.
Jelalee deemed himself especially selected by heaven for this purpose,
as his grandsire had headed the former mission, and the Prophet had
appeared to himself in a dream, and given to him a broom to sweep the
land, which he interpreted to be a commission to sweep away the impurity
of infidelity out of the country. He therefore entered on his office
with joy, and, after a peregrination of eleven months, reported
favourably of the faith of the people of Kohistan, with the exception of
some dervishes and others, who were addicted to _Soofeeism_.
At the present day, nearly six centuries after the destruction of the
Ismailite power, the sect is still in existence both in Persia and in
Syria. But, like that of the Anabaptists, it has lost its terrors, and
the Ismailite doctrine is now merely one of the speculative heresies of
Islam. The Syrian Ismailites dwell in eighteen villages around Massyat,
and pay an annual sum of 16,500 piastres to the governor of Hama, who
nominates their sheikh or emir. They are divided into two sects or
parties, the Sooweidanee, so named from one of their former sheikhs, and
the Khisrewee, so called on account of their great reverence for Khiser,
the guardian of the Well of Life. They are all externally rigid
observers of the precepts of Islam, but they are said to believe in the
divinity of Ali, in the uncreated light as the origin of all things, and
in the sheikh Rasheed-eddeen Sinan as the last representative of God
upon earth.
The Persian Ismailites dwell chiefly in Roodbar, but they are to be met
all over the east, and even appear as traders on the banks of the
Ganges. Their imam, whose pedigree they trace up to Ismail, the son of
Jaaffer-es-Sadik, resides, under the protection of the Shah of Persia,
at the village of Khekh, in the district of Koom. As, according to their
doctrine, he is an incarnate ray of the Divinity, they hold him in the
utmost veneration, and make pilgrimages from the most distant places to
obtain his blessing.
We have thus traced the origin, the growth, and the decline of this
formidable society, only to be paralleled by that of the Jesuits in
extent of power and unity of plan and purpose. Unlike this last,
however, its object was purely evil, and its career was one of blood: it
has therefore left no deeds to which its apologists might appeal in its
defence. Its history, notwithstanding, will always form a curious and
instructive chapter in that of the human race.
THE TEMPLARS.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction--The Crusades--Wrong Ideas respecting their
Origin--True Causes of them--Pilgrimage--Pilgrimage of Frotmond--Of
the Count of Anjou--Striking Difference between the Christianity of
the East and that of the West--Causes of their different
Characters--Feudalism--The Extent and Force of this Principle.
Among the many extraordinary phenomena which the middle ages present,
none is more deserving of attention, or more characteristic of the times
and the state of society and opinion, than the institution of the
religio-military orders of the Hospitallers, the Templars, and the
Teutonic Knights. Of these orders, all of which owed their origin to the
Crusades, and commenced in the 12th century, the last, after the final
loss of the Holy Land, transferring the scene of their activity to the
north of Germany, and directing their arms against the heathens who
still occupied the south coast of the Baltic, became the founders, in a
great measure, of the Prussian power; while the first, planting their
standard on the Isle of Rhodes, long gallantly withstood the forces of
the Ottoman Turks, and, when at length obliged to resign that island,
took their station on the rock of Malta, where they bravely repelled the
troops of the greatest of the Ottoman sultans, and maintained at least a
nominal independence till the close of the 18th century. A less
glorious fate attended the Knights of the Temple. They became the
victims of the unprincipled rapacity of a merciless prince; their
property was seized and confiscated; their noblest members perished in
the flames; their memory was traduced and maligned; the foulest crimes
were laid to their charge; and a secret doctrine, subversive of social
tranquillity and national independence, was asserted to have animated
their councils. Though many able defenders of these injured knights have
arisen, the charges against them have been reiterated even in the
present day; and a distinguished Orientalist (Von Hammer) has recently
even attempted to bring forward additional and novel proofs of their
secret guilt.[67] To add one more to the number of their defenders, to
trace the origin, develope the internal constitution of their society,
narrate their actions, examine the history of their condemnation and
suppression, and show how absurd and frivolous were the charges against
them, are the objects of the present writer, who, though he is
persuaded, and hopes to prove, that they held no secret doctrine, yet
places them among the secret societies of the middle ages, because it is
by many confidently maintained that they were such.
[Footnote 67: The principal works on the subject of the Templars are
Raynouard Monumens historiques relatifs a la Condamnation des Templiers;
Dupuy Histoire de la Condamnation des Templiers; Muenter Statutenbuch des
Ordens der Tempelherren; and Wilike Geschichte des Tempelherrenordens.
There is scarcely anything on the subject in English.]
As the society of the Templars was indebted for its origin to the
Crusades, we will, before entering on our narrative, endeavour to
correct some erroneous notions respecting the causes and nature of these
celebrated expeditions.
The opinion of the Crusades having been an emanation of the spirit of
chivalry is one of the most erroneous that can be conceived, yet it is
one most widely spread. Romancers, and those who write history as if it
were romance, exert all their power to keep up the illusion, and the
very sound of the word Crusade conjures up in most minds the ideas of
waving plumes, gaudy surcoats, emblazoned shields, with lady's love,
knightly honour, and courteous feats of arms. A vast deal of this
perversion of truth is no doubt to be ascribed to the illustrious writer
of the splendid epic whose subject is the first Crusade. Tasso, who,
living at the time when the last faint gleam of expiring chivalry was
fitfully glowing through the moral and political gloom which was
overspreading the former abodes of freedom and industry in Italy, may be
excused if, young and unversed in the philosophy of history, he mistook
the character of European society six centuries before his time, or
deemed himself at liberty to minister to the taste of a court which
loved the fancied image of former times, and stimulate it to a generous
emulation by representing the heroes of the first Crusade as animated
with the spirit and the virtues of the ideal chivalry. But the same
excuse is not to be made for those who, writing at the present day,
confound chivalry and the Crusades, give an epitome of the history of
the latter under the title of that of the former, and venture to assert
that the valiant Tancred was the _beau ideal_ of chivalry, and that the
"Talisman" contains a faithful picture of the spirit and character of
the Crusades.[68]
[Footnote 68: On the subject of chivalry see Ste. Palaye Memoires sur la
Chevalerie, Sir W. Scott's Essay on the same subject, and Mills's and
James's histories of chivalry. We do not recollect that any of these
writers has fairly proved that the chivalry which they describe ever
existed as an institution, and we must demur to the principle which they
all assume of romances like Perceforest being good authority for the
manners of the age in which they were composed.]
We venture to assert that the Crusades did _not_ originate in chivalry,
and that the first Crusade, the most important of them, and that which
gave the tone and character to all the succeeding ones, does not present
a single vestige of what is usually understood by the term chivalry, not
a trace of what the imagination rather than the knowledge of Burke
described as embodying "the generous loyalty to rank and sex, the proud
submission, the dignified obedience, and that subordination of the heart
which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted
freedom--that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honour, which
felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated
ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice
itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness." Little surely
does he know of the 11th century and its spirit who can suppose any part
of the foregoing description to apply to those who marched in arms to
Asia to free the sepulchre of Christ; slightly must he have perused the
_Gesta Tancredi_ of Radulphus Cadomens, who can conceive that gallant
warrior, as he undoubtedly was, to have been the mirror of chivalry.
Chivalry and the Crusades commenced in the same century, and drew their
origin from the same source. One was not the cause of the other, but
both were effects of the same cause, and that cause was _feudalism_.
This inculcated "the proud submission, the dignified obedience," &c.,
&c., which were gradually idealised into chivalry; it impressed on the
mind of the vassal those principles of regard to the rights and property
of his lord which seemed to justify and sanction the Holy War.
Previously, however, to explaining the manner in which this motive
acted, we must stop to notice another concurring cause of the Crusades,
without which it would perhaps never have begun to operate.
Man has at all periods been led by a strong impulse of his nature to
visit those spots which have been distinguished as the scenes of great
and celebrated actions, or the abode of distinguished personages. The
operation of this natural feeling is still stronger when it is combined
with religion, and there arises a conviction that the object of his
worship is gratified by this act of attention, and his favour thereby
secured to the votary. Hence we find _pilgrimage_, or the practice of
taking distant journeys to celebrated temples, and other places of
devotion, to have prevailed in all ages of the world. In the most remote
periods of the mythic history of Greece, where historic truth is not to
be sought, and only manners and modes of thinking are to be discerned,
we constantly meet the _theoria_, or pilgrimage to Delphi, mentioned in
the history of the heroes, whence we may with certainty collect that it
formed at all times a portion of the manners of the Greeks. India, at
the present day, witnesses annually the pilgrimage of myriads to the
temple of Juggernaut, and Jerusalem has been for thousands of years the
resort of pious Israelites.
The country which had witnessed the life and death of their Lord
naturally acquired importance in the eyes of the early Christians, many
of whom, moreover, were Jews by birth, and had always viewed Jerusalem
with feelings of veneration. All, too, confounded--as has unfortunately
been too much the case in later times--the old and the new law, and saw
not that the former was but "beggarly elements" in comparison with the
latter, and deemed that the political and economical precepts designed
for a single nation, inhabiting one small region, were obligatory on the
church of Christ, which was intended to comprise the whole human race.
Many of the practices of Judaism were therefore observed by the
Christians, and to this principle we are perhaps in a great measure to
ascribe the rapid progress of the practice, and the belief in the
efficacy, of pilgrimage to the Holy City.
The abuses of pilgrimage were early discerned, and some of the more
pious Fathers of the Church preached and wrote against the practice. But
piety and eloquence were vain, and could little avail to stem the
torrent when men believed that the waters of Jordan had efficacy to wash
every sin, though unattended by sincere repentance. The Church, as she
advanced in corruption, improved in worldly wisdom, and, taking
pilgrimage under her protection, made it a part of her penal discipline.
The sinner was now ordered a journey to the Holy Land as a means of
freeing his soul from the guilt of his perhaps manifold enormities. Each
year saw the number of the pilgrims augment, while the growing
veneration for relics, of which those which came from the Holy Land were
esteemed the most efficacious, stimulated pilgrimage by adding the
incentive of profit, as a small stock of money laid out in the purchase
of the generally counterfeit relics always on sale at Jerusalem would
produce perhaps a thousand per cent. on the return of the pilgrim to his
native country. A pilgrim was also held in respect and veneration
wherever he came, as an especial favourite of the Divinity, having been
admitted by him to the high privilege of visiting the sacred places, a
portion of whose sanctity it would be supposed might still adhere to
him.
The 11th century was the great season of pilgrimage. A strange
misconception of the meaning of a portion of Scripture had led men to
fancy that the year 1000 was to be that of the advent of Christ, to
judge the world. As the valley of Jehoshaphat was believed to be the
spot on which this awful event would take place, the same feeling which
leads people at the present day to lay a flattering unction to their
souls by supposing that death-bed repentance will prove equivalent in
the sight of God to a life passed in obedience to his will and in the
exercise of virtue, impelled numbers to journey to the Holy Land, in the
belief that this officiousness, as it were, of hitherto negligent
servants would be well taken by their Lord, and procure them an
indulgent hearing before his judgment-seat. Pilgrimage, therefore,
increased greatly; the failure of their expectations, the appointed time
having passed away without the Son of Man coming in the clouds of
Heaven, gave it no check, but, on the contrary, rather an additional
impulse; and during this century the caravans of pilgrims attained to
such magnitude and strength as to be deserving of the appellation of
_The armies of the Lord_--precursive of the first and greatest Crusade.
In truth the belief in the merit and even the obligation of a
pilgrimage, to Jerusalem, in the sight of God, was now as firmly
impressed on the mind of every Christian, be his rank what it might, as
that of the necessity and advantage of one to the Kaaba of Mecca is in
the apprehension of the followers of Mohammed; and in the degraded state
of the human intellect at that period a pilgrimage was deemed adequate
to the removal of all sin. As a proof of this we shall narrate the
pilgrimages of two distinguished personages of those times. The first
occurred in the 9th, the second in the 11th century.
In the reign of Lothaire, son of Louis the Debonnaire, a nobleman of
Brittany, named Frotmond, who had murdered his uncle and his youngest
brother, began to feel remorse for his crimes. Arrayed in the habit of a
penitent, he presented himself before the monarch and an assembly of his
prelates, and made confession of his guilty deeds. The king and bishops
had him straitly bound in chains of iron, and then commanded him, in
expiation of his guilt, to set forth for the East, and visit all the
holy places, clad in hair-cloth, and his forehead marked with ashes.
Accompanied by his servants and the partners of his crime, the Breton
lord directed his course to Palestine, which he reached in safety.
Having, in obedience to the mandates of his sovereign and of the church,
visited all the holy places, he crossed the Arabian desert, which had
been the scene of the wanderings of Israel, and entered Egypt. He thence
traversed a part of Africa, and went as far as Carthage, whence he
sailed for Rome. Here the Pope, on being consulted, advised him to make
a second pilgrimage, in order to complete his penance, and obtain the
perfect remission of his sins. Frotmond accordingly set forth once more,
and having performed the requisite duties at the Holy City, proceeded to
the shore of the Red Sea, and there took up his abode for three years on
Mount Sinai, after which time he made a journey to Armenia, and visited
the mountain on which the ark of Noah had rested. His crimes being now,
according to the ideas of those times, expiated, he returned to his
native country, where he was received as a saint, and taking up his
abode in the convent of Redon, passed there the remainder of his days,
and died deeply regretted by his brethren.[69]
[Footnote 69: Michaud, Histoire des Croisades, I., p. 59.]
Fulk de Nerra, Count of Anjou, had spilt much innocent blood; he had had
his first wife burnt alive, and forced his second wife to seek refuge
from his barbarity in the Holy Land. The public odium pursued him, and
conscience asserting her rights presented to his disturbed imagination
the forms of those who had perished by him issuing from their tombs, and
reproaching him with his crimes. Anxious to escape from his invisible
tormentors, the count put on him the habit of a pilgrim, and set forth
for Palestine. The tempests which he encountered in the Syrian seas
seemed to his guilty soul the instruments of divine vengeance, and
augmented the fervour of his repentance. Having reached Jerusalem in
safety, he set heartily about the work of penance. He traversed the
streets of the Holy City with a cord about his neck, and beaten with
rods by his servants, while he repeated these words, _Lord, have mercy
on a faithless and perjured Christian, on a sinner wandering far from
his home_. During his abode in Jerusalem he gave abundant alms,
relieving the wants of the pilgrims, and leaving numerous monuments of
his piety and munificence.
Deep as was the penitence of the Count of Anjou, it did not stand in the
way of the exercise of a little pious fraud. By an ingenious device he
deceived the impious malignity of the profane Saracens, who would have
made him defile the holy sepulchre; and the chroniclers tell us that as
he lay prostrate before the sacred tomb he contrived to detach from it a
precious stone, which he carried back with him to the West. On his
return to his duchy he built, at the castle of Loches, a church after
the model of that of the Resurrection at Jerusalem, and here he every
day implored with tears the divine forgiveness. His mind, however, could
not yet rest; he was still haunted by the same horrid images; and he
once more visited the Holy Land, and edified the faithful by the
austerity of his penance. Returning home by the way of Italy, he
delivered the supreme pontiff from a formidable enemy who was ravaging
his territory, and the grateful pope conferred on him in return the full
absolution of all his sins. Fulk brought with him to Anjou a great
quantity of relics, with which he adorned the churches of Loches and
Angers; and his chief occupation thenceforward was the building of
towns and monasteries, whence he acquired the name of _The Great
Builder_. His people, who blessed heaven for his conversion, honoured
and loved him; the guilt of his sins had been removed by the means which
were then deemed of sovereign efficacy; yet still the monitor placed by
God in the human breast, and which in a noble mind no power can reduce
to perfect silence, did not rest; and the Holy Land beheld, for the
third time, the Count of Anjou watering the sepulchre of Christ with his
tears, and groaning afresh over his transgressions. He quitted Jerusalem
for the last time, recommending his soul to the prayers of the pious
brethren whose office it was to receive the pilgrims, and turned his
face homewards. But Anjou he was never more to behold; death surprised
him at Metz. His body was transferred to Loches, and buried in his
church of the Holy Sepulchre.
These instances may suffice to show what the opinion of the efficacy and
merit of pilgrimage to the Holy Land was at the time of which we write.
We here find convincing proof that in the minds of princes and prelates,
the highest and most enlightened order of society, it was confidently
believed to avail to remove the guilt of crimes of the deepest die. And
let not any one say that the clergy took advantage of the ignorance of
the people, and made it the instrument of extending their own power and
influence; for such an assertion would evince ignorance both of human
nature in general and of the temper and conduct of the Romish hierarchy
at that, and we might almost say at all periods of its existence.
However profligate the lives of many of the clergy may have been, they
never called in question the truth of the dogmas of their religion. Even
the great and daring Gregory VII., in the midst of what appear to us his
arrogant and almost impious assumptions, never for a moment doubted of
the course which he was pursuing being the right one, and agreeable to
heaven. The clergy, as well as the laity, were firmly persuaded of the
efficacy of pilgrimage, and in both the persuasion was naturally
stronger in proportion to the ignorance of the believer. We accordingly
find that vast numbers of all ranks, and both sexes, clergy as well as
laity, annually repaired to the tomb of Christ.
It remains to be explained what the principle was which gave origin to
the idea of the right and justice of recovering the Holy Land, which was
now in the hands of the fanatic Turks, instead of those of the tolerant
Saracens. This cause was, as we have above asserted, the feudal spirit,
that is, the spirit of the age, and not that emanation of it termed
chivalry.
Religion, whatever its original nature and character, will always take a
tinge from the manners and temper of those who adopt it. Nothing can be
more illustrative of the truth of this observation than the history of
the Christian religion. Any one who opens the Gospel, and reads it
without preconception or prejudice, cannot fail at once to recognise the
rational and fervent piety, the active benevolence, the pure morality,
the noble freedom from the trammels of the world, joined with the
zealous discharge of all the social duties, which every page of it
inculcates. Yet we find this religion in the East degenerating into
abject grovelling superstition and metaphysical quibbling, pursued with
all the rancour of the _odium theologicum_, while in the West it assumed
a fiery fanatic character, and deemed the sword an instrument of
conversion superior to reason and argument. This difference, apparently
so strange, arose from the difference of the social state and political
institutions of the people of the East and of the West at the time when
they embraced Christianity.
The free spirit had long since fled from Greece when the first
Christian missionaries preached the faith among its people. But the
temper of the Greek was still lively, and his reasoning powers acute.
Moreover, he had still the same leaning towards a sensible and material
religion which has at all times distinguished him, and the increasing
despotism of the empire depressed and enfeebled more and more every day
the martial spirit which he had displayed in the days of his freedom. No
field remained for his mental activity but that of philosophy and
religion. The former, which had long been his delight, he had contrived
to subtilize into an almost unintelligible mysticism; and in this form
it speedily spread its infection through his new faith, which was
besides further metamorphosed and changed in character by an infusion
from the dualistic system of Persia. Meantime the ascetic spirit which
had come from the East joined with the timidity engendered by the
pressure of despotism to make him mistake the spirit of the Gospel, and
convert Christianity into a crouching cowardly superstition. When the
emperor Nicephorus Phocas sought to infuse a martial and fanatic spirit
into his subjects, and to rouse them to vigorous exertion against the
Saracens, his bishops replied to his exhortations by citing a canon of
St. Basil, which directed that he who had slain an enemy in battle
should abstain during three years from participation in the holy
sacraments. The priest of a little town in Cilicia was engaged one day
in saying mass when a band of Saracens burst in, and began to plunder
the town. Without waiting to take off his sacerdotal vestments, he
seized the hammer, which in the churches of the East frequently serves
the purpose of a bell, and, flying among the infidels, plied his weapon
to such effect that he forced them to a precipitate flight, and saved
the town. What was the reward of the gallant priest? He was censured by
his diocesan, interdicted the exercise of his ghostly functions, and so
ill-treated in other respects, that he flung off his robes and joined
the Saracens, whose more martial and energetic creed accorded better
with his manly sentiments. When the pilgrims of the first Crusade began
to arrive in such terrific numbers at Constantinople, the Greek emperor
and his subjects could hardly persuade themselves of the possibility of
religion being the actuating cause of such a portentous movement--so
little did religion and deeds of arms accord in their minds!
But with the nations of the West the case was different. In these the
ruling portion, that which gave tone to the whole, were of the Gothic
and Germanic races, whose hardy bands had dashed to pieces the worn-out
fabric of the Western empire. Worshippers in their native forests of
Thor and Odin, and the other deities of Valhalla, who admitted none but
the valiant dead to share in the celestial pork and mead which each day
crowned the board in their lucid abode, their manners, their sentiments,
their whole being was martial, and they infused this spirit into the
religion which they adopted from their Roman subjects. In making this
change in its tone they derived aid from the Jewish portion of the
sacred volume, which has been in all ages abused, by men ignorant of its
character and original use, to purposes of fanaticism and persecution;
and the religion of Christian Europe, from the fifth century downwards,
became of a martial and conquering character. By the sword Charlemagne
converted the pagan Saxons; his successors employed the sword against
the heathen Vends; and by fire and sword Olof Triggva-son spread
Christianity throughout the North. In former times this mode of
conversion had been in a great degree foreign to the Western church; and
persuasion had been chiefly employed in the dissemination of the faith
among the heathen nations.
The religion of the West we thus see was martial; but this spirit alone
would not have sufficed to produce the Crusade which was to interest and
appear as a duty to all orders of men. Here the feudal principle came
into operation, and gave the requisite impulse.
In the 11th century the feudal system was completely developed in France
and Germany, and the modes of thinking, speaking, and acting derived
from it pervaded all the relations of life. From the top to the bottom
of society the mutual obligations of lords and vassals were recognised
and acted upon, and each vassal deemed it a most sacred duty to defend
by arms the honour and property of his superior lord. There was also a
kind of supreme temporal chief of the Christian world acknowledged in
the person of the Emperor of Germany, who was viewed as the successor of
Charlemagne, and the representative of the Roman emperors. The feudal
ideas extended even to the hierarchy, which now put forth such
exorbitant claims to supremacy over the temporal power. The head of the
church was an acknowledged vicegerent of Him who was styled in scripture
Lord of all the kingdoms of the earth. Jesus Christ was, therefore, the
apex of the pyramid of feudal society; he was the great suzerain and
lord paramount of all princes and peoples, and all were equally under
obligation to defend his rights and honour. Such were evidently the
sentiments of the age.
It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that the religion of the
period which we treat of was of a gross and material character, and that
the passions and infirmities of human nature were freely bestowed on the
glorified Son of God. He was deemed to take a peculiar interest in the
spot of land where he had sojourned when on earth, and more especially
in the tomb in which his body had been deposited, and with grief and
indignation to see them in the hands of those who contemptuously derided
his divinity, and treated with insult and cruelty those of his faithful
vassals who underwent the toils and dangers of a distant journey to
offer their homage at his tomb. Nothing could, therefore, be more
grateful to his feelings than to behold the sacred soil of Palestine
free from heathen pollution, and occupied and defended by his faithful
vassals, and no true son of the church could hesitate a moment to
believe that it was his bounden duty to arm himself in the cause of his
lord, and help to reinstate him in his heritage. Here, then, without
having recourse to the romantic principle of chivalry, we have an
adequate solution of the phenomenon of the first Crusade. Here we have a
motive calculated to operate on the minds of all orders, equally
effectual with men of piety, virtue, and wealth, like Godfrey of
Bouillon and Stephen of Chartres, who looked for no temporal advantages,
as with the meanest and most superstitious of the vassals and serfs who
might be supposed to have only sought a refuge from misery and
oppression by assuming the cross. We would not by any means be supposed
to deny that many other causes and motives were in operation at the same
time; but this we deem the grand one. This was the motive which gave
dignity to and hallowed all others, and which affected the mind of every
Crusader, be his rank or station in society what it might.
Pilgrimage then was esteemed a duty, and a powerful mean of removing
guilt and appeasing the wrath of the Almighty; the spirit of the age was
martial, and its religion, tinged by the ancient system of the North of
Europe, was of the same character; the feudal principle was in its
vigour, and extended even to the relations of man with the deity; the
rude and barbarous Turks had usurped the heritage, the very crown-lands,
as we may say, of Jesus Christ, and insulted his servants, whose duty it
plainly was to punish them, and free the tomb of their lord;--the
natural result of such a state of circumstances and opinion was the
first Crusade.