The Old Man of the Mountain

Who he is

Name

Probably Nasr al-Ajami, the Persian da'i sent from Alamut after Sinan's death (not pinned for 1 January 1200; some accounts give Sinan's successor as Abu Mansur ibn Muhammad)

Title

Chief missionary (da'i) of the Nizaris in Syria

Since

After 1193 (exact year not pinned)

Born

Not known

Family

Not known; appointee of the imam Nur al-Din Muhammad II at Alamut

Confidence

low

The Wikipedia account of the Syrian chief da'is (after Daftary) has Nasr al-Ajami succeed Sinan under Alamut's control, and still associates him with the murder of Raymond, son of Bohemond IV, at Tortosa in 1213; Kamal al-Din al-Hasan followed him, then Majd al-Din (1220-1227).

Overlord

The Nizari imam at Alamut, Nur al-Din Muhammad II (1166-1210).

What it holds

• Masyaf (chief seat)
• al-Kahf
• al-Qadmus
• al-Khawabi
• al-Ullayqa
• al-Maniqa
• al-Qulay'a
• al-Rusafa

How it was acquired

Purchase and conquest, 1133-1141, and Sinan's additions (1160s-1193).

Allies and rivals

Rivals and neighbours: the Hospitallers of Margat and Krak; the Templars of Tortosa, to whom the sect's villages near Tortosa paid tribute in Sinan's time (about 1173); al-Mansur of Hama; the Banu al-Daya of Shayzar and Abu Qubays; the Nusayri villagers of the same mountains.

How things stand that morning

In quiet possession of the castles on 1 January 1200; no fighting recorded that winter.

Wealth

Mountain agriculture and the dues of the sect's villages; payments for protection.

Military

Castle garrisons and the fida'is. No figures.

Threats

• The military orders
• The Ayyubid princes
• Nusayri and Kurdish rivals

Places of note

• Masyaf: Chief castle and seat.
• al-Kahf: Sinan's residence and place of death (1193).
• al-Qadmus: Bought in 1133.
• al-Khawabi: Castle facing the Templars of Tortosa.
• al-Ullayqa: Castle above Margat and Valania; coordinates approximate.
• al-Maniqa: Castle above Jabala; coordinates approximate.
• al-Qulay'a: Castle south-west of Masyaf (identified with the al-Shaykh Dib castle).
• al-Rusafa: Castle near Masyaf refortified by Sinan; coordinates approximate.

Where the sources disagree

• Abu Qubays, often listed among the Nizari castles, belonged at Saladin's death to Sabiq al-Din Uthman ibn al-Daya, lord of Shayzar (Abu'l-Fida, RHC Or. I, p. 152); in 1188 Abu'l-Fida calls Nasir al-Din Mankurus its lord. It is drawn with Shayzar, not with the Nizaris.

Evidence: Few Nizari or Arabic notices for the years after Sinan; the castle list is secure, the leaders and commanders are not.

On the map: The block is drawn round the castles; Nizari, Nusayri and Frankish-dependent villages interlocked.

Primary sources for The Nizaris

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
• The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, Benjamin of Tudela (about 1173). A generation before 1200 but the only survey of its kind: the Jewish communities and their heads from Navarre through Provence, Italy, Constantinople and the Aegean, Antioch, Tyre, Jerusalem, Damascus, Mosul and Baghdad to the Persian Gulf, with notes on rulers, trades, the exilarch at Baghdad, the Assassins of Syria and Persia, and hearsay on India, Ceylon and China. Read online