Editing Order of Assassins (section)

===Downfall and aftermath===
[[File:Siege of Alamut (1256).jpeg|thumb|upright|View of the city of Alamut being besieged. 1438 depiction by the [[Tarikh-i Jahangushay]]]]
The Assassins suffered a significant blow at the hands of the [[Mongol Empire]] during the well-documented invasion of [[Khwarazm]]. A decree was handed over to the Mongol commander [[Kitbuqa]] who began to assault several Assassin fortresses in 1253 before [[Hulagu Khan|Hulagu's]] advance in 1256. During the [[siege of Maymun-Diz]], the last Ismaili Imam capitulated to the Mongols. The Imam ordered his subordinates to surrender and demolish their fortresses likewise. The subsequent capitulation of the symbolic stronghold of Alamut marked the end of the Nizari state in Persia. [[Lambsar Castle|Lambsar]] fell in 1257, [[Masyaf Castle|Masyaf]] in 1267. The Assassins recaptured and held Alamut for a few months in 1275, but they were crushed and their political power was lost forever. [[Rukn al-Din Khurshah]] was put to death shortly thereafter.<ref name="ReferenceA">Lewis (2003), pp.&nbsp;121–122</ref> Some strongholds continued to resist for many years, notably [[Gerdkuh]].

Though the Mongol massacre at Alamut was widely interpreted to be the end of [[Isma'ilism|Isma'ili]] influence in the region, various sources say that the Isma'ilis' political influence continued. In 1275, a son of Imam Rukn al-Din Khurshah managed to recapture Alamut, though only for a few years. Isma'ili political activity in the region also seems to have continued under the leadership of Sultan Muhammad b. Jahangir and his son, until the latter's execution in 1597.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Virani|first=Shafique|title=The Eagle Returns: Evidence of Continued Isma'ili Activity at Alamut and in the South Caspian Region following the Mongol Conquests|url=https://www.academia.edu/37219410|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|year=2003|volume=123|issue=2|pages=351–370|doi=10.2307/3217688|jstor=3217688|access-date=2020-11-19|archive-date=2022-09-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922162139/https://www.academia.edu/37219410|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Syria, the Assassins joined with other Muslim groups to oppose the Mongols and courted the Mamluks and [[Baibars]]. Baibars entered into a truce with the Hospitallers in 1266 and stipulated that the tribute paid by the Assassins be halted. The tribute once paid to the Franks was to come instead to Cairo. As early as 1260, Baibars' biographer [[ibn Abd al-Zahir]] reported that he was granting Assassin lands in ''[[iqta']]'' to his generals, and in 1265 began to tax the "gifts" the Assassins received from various princes that apparently included Louis IX of France, [[Rudolf I of Germany|Rudolph I of Germany]], [[Alfonso X of Castile|Alphonso X of Castile]], and the [[Rasulid dynasty|Rasulid]] sultan of Yemen<ref>''The New Islamic Dynasties: A Chronological and Genealogical Manual,'' p.&nbsp;108</ref> al-Muzaffar Yusuf. The Syrian branch of the Assassins was taken over by Baibars by 1270, recognizing the threat of an independent force with his sultanate.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Najm ad-Din was replaced by Baibars' son-in-law Sarim al-Din Mubarak, governor of al-'Ullaiqah in 1270. Sarim was soon deposed and sent as a prisoner to Cairo, and Najm ad-Din was restored at chief ''da'i'' at Masyaf. His son Shams ad-Din joined him in service, but owing a tribute to the sultan. The next year, in the midst of the [[Siege of Tripoli (1271)|siege of Tripoli]], two Assassins were sent by [[Bohemond VI of Antioch]], then Count of Tripoli, to murder his attacker Baibars. Shams ad-Din was arrested in the plot, but released when his father argued his case. The Isma'ili leaders were eventually implicated and agreed to surrender their castles and live at Baibars' court. Najm ad-Din died in Cairo in 1274.<ref>Lewis (2003), p.&nbsp;122</ref>
[[File:Gustave Dore Crusades Edward I kills his attempted assassin.jpg|thumb|[[Edward I of England|Edward I, King of England]] thwarts an attempt on his life by an Assassin and kills the attacker. The assassin likely was sent by the [[Mamluk Sultanate|Mamluk]] Sultan [[Baibars]], in order to remove his opposition to a 10-year truce with the [[Christianity in the Middle Ages|Christian states]] at [[Jerusalem]]. 19th-century depiction by [[Gustave Doré]]]]
In 1271, Baibars' forces seized [[Aleika Castle|al-'Ullaiqah]] and [[Al-Rusafa, Syria|ar-Rusafa]], after taking Masyaf the year before. Later in the year, Shams ad-Din surrendered and was deported to Egypt. [[Khawabi|Qala'at al-Khawabi]] fell that year and within two years [[Gerdkuh]] and all of the Assassin fortresses were held by the sultan. With the Assassins under his control, Baibars was able to use them to counter the forces arriving in the [[Lord Edward's crusade|Ninth Crusade]]. The sultan threatened Bohemond VI, and the Assassins attacked future king [[Edward I of England]] unsuccessfully with Edward killing the Assassin.<ref name="The Assassins pg. 123">Lewis (2003), p.&nbsp;123</ref>

The last known victim of the Assassins was [[Philip of Montfort, Lord of Tyre|Philip of Montfort]], lord of Tyre, long an enemy of Baibars. Philip helped negotiate the truce following the capture of Damietta by Louis IX and had lost the castle at [[Toron]] to Baibars in 1266. Despite his advanced age, Philip was murdered by Baibars' Assassins in 1270.<ref name="The Assassins pg. 123"/>

The last of the Assassin strongholds was [[Al-Kahf Castle|al-Kahf]] in the [[Syrian Coastal Mountain Range|Syrian coastal mountains]] in 1273. The [[Mamluk Sultanate|Mamluks]] reportedly continued to use the services of the remaining Assassins, and the 14th-century scholar [[ibn Battuta]] reported their fixed rate of pay per murder, with his children getting the fee if the Assassin did not survive the attack. There are, nevertheless, no recorded instances of Assassin activity after the later 13th century. They unremarkably settled near [[Salamiyah]], with a still-large Isma'ili population that recognizes the [[Aga Khan]] as their Imam.<ref>Lewis (2003), pp.&nbsp;123–124</ref>