The Franks and the Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs in the Early Crusade Period

Abstract

This article analyses political and diplomatic relations between the Franks and the Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs from 500/1106 to 570/1174. In the first part, I examine four Frankish-Nizārī encounters based on a close reading of Arabic and Latin primary texts. I argue that the Franks and the Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs did not form political alliances before 544/1149. The Nizārīs became a powerful player on the Syrian political map after they founded a permanent “state” in the 530s/1140s in the Jabal Bahrāʾ. The Nizārī polity then posed a greater threat to the Franks, and by implication, could offer greater military support as an ally. In the second part of the article, I argue that European descriptions of the Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs developed as a result of diplomatic and political encounters in the mid- to late-sixth/twelfth century. Furthermore, the earliest Frankish descriptions of the “Assessini” indicate a genuine interest on the part of their authors in obtaining accurate information on the Nizārī Ismāʿīlīs.