"What they built there-through cunning, negotiation, and fortification-became one of the most remarkable mountain strongholds of the medieval world. In the first two decades of the twelfth century, the Assassins had faced appalling disasters. They had tried to take over some of the most desirable real estate in Syria, and had been killed for their ambition. In Aleppo and Damascus they had been subjected to ruthless massacres that had destroyed their urban bases and devastated their nearby rural communities."
"In Shaizar, they had tried to take over a heavily fortified town on a vibrant river crossing, only to get the same result - their men had been wiped out and their co-religionists in the town and neighbouring villages butchered during the inevitable reprisals. They needed to try something new. Something less ambitious perhaps, but a way to create a 'principality' of their own, where they could be free from persecution by their many enemies."
"Their plan this time was less far reaching, and far less dramatic - but all the more effective as a result. They decided to take over some of the least desirable castles in the region, in some of the most inhospitable places. And they also changed their methodology. They began to use money and charm, as well as violence and manipulation, to make it all happen."
After suffering massacres and failed urban campaigns in Aleppo, Damascus, and Shaizar, the Assassins retreated to the Syrian mountains seeking safety and autonomy. They adopted a pragmatic strategy of occupying remote, inhospitable castles and shifted tactics toward negotiation, bribery, and targeted violence. Between 1130 and 1141 they consolidated a network of highly defensible mountain strongholds across the Jabal Bahra, creating a Nizari principality in Syria. The new approach combined limited territorial aims with fortification, diplomacy, and financial incentives, enabling survival and resilience amid hostile neighbours and transforming marginal castles into a durable medieval mountain polity.
Read at Medievalists.net
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