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Ch. IV THE ISMA'!LITES AND THE ASSASSINS 127 
Islam, under the rule of the imams of the house of Nizãr. Though Sinãn
may have permitted himself some deviations from this ideal, and though some
of the murders may have been arranged with the temporary allies of the sect,
it is in the highest degree unlikely that in this period of their prime the
daggers of the fida'is were for hire. Even when murders were politically
or otherwise arranged, it is still more unlikely that the actual murderers
would know the identity of the instigator or ally concerned. But the Assassin
setting forth on a mission might well have been given what in modern parlance
would be called a "cover story", implicating the likeliest character on the
scene. This would have the additional advantage of sowing mistrust and suspicion
in the opposing camp. The murders of Ibn-al-'AjamI and of Conrad of Montferrat
are good examples of this. The suspicion thrown on Gumushtigin inAleppo and
on Richard among the Franks must have served a useful purpose in confusing
the issues and creating discord. 
 The murder of Conrad was Sinan's last achievement. In 1192/ 1193 or 1193/1194
the redoubtable Old Man of the Mountain himself died, and was succeeded by
a Persian called Na~r.41 With the new chief the authority of Alamut seems
to have been restored, and remained unshaken until after the Mongol conquest.
The names of several of the chief dacis at different dates are known to us
from literary sources and from inscriptions in the Isma'ilite centers in
Syria; most of them are specifically referred to as delegates of Alamut.
They are, with the dates of mention: 
Kamã1.~ad-Din al-Hasan ibn-Mas~üd (after 1221/1222); Majd-adDin
(1226/1227); Sirãj-ad-Din Mu~aifar ibn-ai-Ilusain (1227 and 1238);
Tãj-ad-DIn abU-l-Futüli ibn-Muliammad (1239/1240 and 
1249); RadI-ad-Din abfl-l-Ma'ãii (1256 if.).42 
 About [211 the sources record a curious episode that is worth considering.
In that year, the Persian sources tell us, the grand master of Alamut, Jalal-ad-Din
al-Ilasan III, decreed a return to orthodoxy. He renounced the heretical
teachings of his predecessors, burnt their books, restored orthodox religious
practices, and, most significant of all, recognized the ' Abbãsid
caliph anNãsir, from whom he received a diploma of investiture. Because
of these changes he received the Persian sobriquet Nau-Musulman, New Moslem.
The Syrian historians also report these events, and add that he sent messengers
to Syria, ordering his Syrian 
 4' Bustãn, p. i~i; Sibt Ibn-aI-Jauzi, p. 269; Bar Hebraeus, p.343;
Lewis, "Three Biographies," pp. 338—339;Defrémery, "Ismaéliens
de Syrie," op. cit., V, 33. 
 42 Van Berchem, "Epigraphie des Assassins," passim.