Frontier town · The Nizari Ismailis of Alamut · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Lamasar

A fortress, not a town: the great castle west of Alamut, above the Shahrud valley near the village of Razmian, taken about 495 AH (1102) by Kiya Buzurg-Umid, who held it for twenty years before succeeding Hasan-i Sabbah.

Hasan II was murdered here in 561 AH (1166). It guards the western approaches of Rudbar and the road down the Shahrud to Tarum and Gilan.

Who holds it

Title
Castle commander for the imam
Since
not pinned
Confidence
low

Lord in 1200

The imam, through a commander not named for 1200

How things stand that morning

Nizari.

Charter

None in the usual sense: a Nizari town governed for the imam under the regional chief (muhtasham) and the da'is.

Council

Castle commander.

Communities

Nizari garrison and villagers.

Fairs and markets

None recorded.

Militia

Garrison.

Walls and castle

Hilltop castle with cisterns and stores.

Trade and crafts

None of note.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Known fortress; commander in 1200 not named.

Primary sources for Nizaris of Alamut

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
  • History of Tabaristan, Ibn Isfandiyar (Baha al-Din Muhammad ibn Hasan) (begun 1206, extended about 1216; continued anonymously to 1349). The local history of the Caspian province and the only account of the Bavandid kings of Tabaristan: Husam al-Dawla Ardashir (reigned 1173 to 1206) at Sari and Amul, his dealings with the Khwarazmshahs Tekish and Ala al-Din Muhammad, the Nizaris of Alamut, the Eldiguzids and the caliph, and the marriages, feuds and raids of the Daylamite and Gilaki lords. Read online
  • The History of the World Conqueror, Ata-Malik Juvayni (1252 to 1260). Written for the Mongols but with a long retrospective on the powers they destroyed. Read online
  • Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. 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

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia, 'Lambsar Castle'
  2. F. Daftary, The Isma'ilis: Their History and Doctrines (2nd ed., 2007), ch. 6 (the Nizaris of the Alamut period)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.