iz8 A HISTORY OFTHE CRUSADES I 
 
followers to follow his example. The circumstances of this episode are obscure,
but it is certainly connected with the policies of the caliph an-Nãsir,
the last ' Abbãsid to pursue an independent line. He was himself known
as a ShIcite sympathizer, and sought whatever allies he could find in his
struggle against the Mongols and 
other enemies.4~ 
 The "reform" seems to have had little permanent effect on the religious
beliefs of the Ismã9lites in either Persia or Alamut, though it may
have affected their practice. It is striking that in Syria, in the presence
of the enemies of Islam, no further assassinations of Moslems are recorded,
though several Christians were still to fall. The first of these was Raymond,
son of Bohemond IV of Antioch, who was killed in the church in Tortosa in
1213. His father, thirsting for vengeance, led an expedition against the
Ismã9lite fortress of al-Khawãbi. The Ismã~ilites, who
were now clearly on good terms with the Aiyubids, appealed for help to Aleppo,
the ruler of which, al-Malik a~-Zãhir, sent a force to relieve them.
Az-Zãhir's forces suffered a set-back at the hands of the Franks,
and he appealed to al-Malik al~cAdil in Damascus, who sent an army which
compelled the Franks to raise the siege and withdraw in 1215/1216.44 
 About this time the Assassins became tributary to the Knights of the Hospital.
In the year 1226/1227, according to the author of the Ta'rikh al-Man?üri,
the chief daci Majd-ad-DIn received envoys from the emperor Frederick II,
bringing gifts worth almost 8o,ooo dinars. On the pretext that the road to
Alamut was too dangerous because of the rampages of the Khorezmians, Majd-ad-Din
kept the gifts in Syria and himself gave the emperor the safe-conduct he
required. In the same year the Hospitallers demanded tribute from the Assassins,
who refused, saying: "Your king the emperor gives to us; will you then take
from us ?" The Hospitallers then attacked them and carried off much booty.
The 
 
~ Sib~ Ibn-al-Jauzi, p. 363; abU-Shamah, Tarã/im rijalal-qarnain (ed.
MuliammadZãhid, 
Cairo, 1947), pp. 78, 8i; al-Juvaini, Ta'rikh-i-Jahän-Gusha', vol. III
(e4. Mirzã Mubammad 
Qazvini, Leyden and London, 3937), 243—248; Bar Hebraeus, p. 366; Defrémery,
"Ismaéliens 
de Sync," op. cit., V, 38—40; J. von Hammer, History of the Assassins,
pp. 141ff.; van 
Berchem, "Epigraphie des Assassins," p. 27, note i, z8 (cited from a reprint).

 ~ Defrémery, "Ismaéliens de Syrie,", op. cit., V, 40—45;
Cahen, La Syrie du nord, pp. 6zo to 6zi. This version of the Frankish withdrawal
from al-Khawãbi is based on Kamãl-ad-Din, MS. 235v.—236r
(Blochet, ROL, V [1897], 48—49). A somewhat different version is given
by 
Ibn-al-FurAt (Quatremére, "Notice historique sur les Ismaëliens,"
p. 358), according to which 
al-Malik a~-Zãhir himself led his army to relieve the Ismã'ilites.
The Franks raised the siege on hearing of his approach. A~-Zãhir then
reinforced al-Khawabi, and warned the Franks against attacking the Isma9lites.
This version is also to be found in the manuscript of IbnWã~il, Mufarrij
al-kurüb fi akhbãr Bani-Aiyüb (Cambridge, Or. 1079, pp.
538—539), with 
whom it probably originates.