Templars Did NOT Systemically Fight the Assassins

There are two versions of Templar/Assassins myth. The first one claims that during the Crusades Templars were actively fighting the Assassins; the latter claims exactly the opposite – that the former used the latter as killers-for-hire for political assassinations. Some even claim that Guillaume de Nogaret, Philip IV and Pope Clement V were murdered by the Assassins hired by escaped Templars.

The latter might be true as the Assassins did kill (Philip of Montfort, lord of Tyre) or attempted to kill (future king Edward I of England) Christian rulers. True, the order of Assassins officially ceased to exist in 1275 but (it happened and happens all the time) some of its members very likely “went into private practice” (creating dynasties of killers) and offered their lethal services to a highest bidder.

However, there is no evidence that Templars ever hired the Assassins to do the “wet job” for them… and the three criminals (let’s call a spade a spade) who destroyed the order of Templars might have died from natural causes.

The claim of a permanent armed conflict between the Templars and the Assassins is… well, a myth. The Order of Assassins or simply the Assassins were a Nizari Isma’ili (the second largest branch of Shia Islam) order that existed between 1090 and 1275 AD, founded by Hasan al-Sabbah (king Hasan I of Alamut).

Although the Assassins did kill (or attempted to kill) several Christian leaders, its main adversaries (not surprisingly) were the Sunni Muslim leaders of Fatimid, Abbasid, and Seljuk dynasties.

It is true that the first known Christian victim of the Assassins (Raymond II, count of Tripoli) was killed most likely in retaliation to the establishment of the Knights Templar at Tartus… however, there is no record of any retaliation by Templars.

It is also true that Assassin envoys to the king Amalric of Jerusalem were ambushed and slain by a Templar knight while returning from the negotiations, an act apparently sanctioned by the Templar Grand Master Odo de Saint Amand.

In 1213, in retaliation for the murder of Raymond of Antioch, count of Tripoli Bohemond IV and the Templars laid (ultimately unsuccessful) siege to Qala’at al-Khawabi, an Isma’ili (and thus the Assassins) stronghold near Tartus. However, all these were isolated incidents; there is no evidence of an ongoing, decades-long war between Knights Templar and the Assassins.

Hence, the narrative of the Assassins and Templars being sworn enemies popularized by various forms of media, including video games like the ‘Assassin’s Creed’ series is… well, a myth. In reality, there was no direct, systematic conflict between the two.