#207 - Mongol 16: Assassin's Creed

<p>Following the destruction of the Khwarazmian Empire in 1221, the Mongol Empire's appetite for conquest to the west is whetted. It will take a few Great Khans to kick it off, but with the accession of Möngke to the throne in 1251, the way will be laid bare - to be led by his brother Hülegü Khan.</p><p>The only thing standing between him and the beating heart of Islam is a ragged band of heretics scattered across the mountain fortresses of northern Persia - a group known as the Nizari Isma'ili... or more infamously: the Assassins.</p><br><p>Time Period Covered:</p><p>765-1257 CE</p><br><p>Major Historical Figures:</p><p>Mongol Empire:</p><p>Möngke Khaghan [r. 1251-1259]</p><p>Hülegü Ilkhan [r. 1251-1265]</p><p>General Ket-Buqa (Noyan) [d. 1260]</p><br><p>Nizari Isma'ili:</p><p>Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq [702-765]</p><p>Hassan-i Sabbah [1050-1124]</p><p>Imam Jalal al-Din Hassan [1187-1221]</p><p>Imam Ala al-Din Muhammad III [1211-1255]</p><p>Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah [1230-1256]</p><br><p>Other:</p><p>Brother Matthew of Paris [1200-1259]</p><p>Friar William of Rubruck [1220-1293]</p><p>Ata-Malik Juvayni [1226-1283]</p><p>Rashid al-Din Hamadani [1247-1318]</p><br><p>Major Sources Cited:</p><p>Al-Din, Rashid (tr. John Andrew Boyle). The Successors of Genghis Khan.</p><p>Daftary, Farhad. The Isma’ilis: Their History and Doctrines.</p><p>Hillenbrand, Robert. “Propaganda in the Mongol ‘World History’” in British Academy Review, issue 17 (March 2011).</p><p>Hodgson, M. G. S. “The Isma’ili State” in The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. 5: The Saljuq and Mongol Periods.</p><p>Jamal, Nadia Eboo. Surviving the Mongols: Nizari Quhistani and the Continuity of Ismaili Tradition in Persia.</p><p>Marozzi, Justin. Baghdad: City of Peace, City of Blood.</p><p>Paris, Matthew of (tr. John Allen Giles). Chronica Majora (Matthew Paris’s English History From the Year 1235 to 1273, Volume 1).</p><p>Saunders, J.J. The History of the Mongol Conquests.</p><p>van Ruysbroeck, Willem (tr. W. W. Rockhill &amp; Peter Jackson). The journey of William