Assassin's paradise
The Assassin's Paradise is a historical novel by the German author Peter Berling , published in 2007 by Gustav Lübbe Verlag .
action
The everyday dreariness at the poor Montmor Castle comes to an abrupt end when the hustle and bustle of the immediately neighboring Masyaf fortress sets in. The notorious assassins have returned to their castle after their “age of the mountains” emerged from obscurity. After becoming friends with the young assassin Sayf, Victor and his sister Melou decide to escape the tyranny of their embittered father and the resentment of their brothers by joining the assassins. While Melou becomes a huriat in the harem of the old man from the mountain, Victor and Sayf strive to be accepted into the ranks of the fida'is , the sect's self- sacrificing assassins.
Meanwhile, the assassins in the Sultan Saladin grows into a deadly enemy, against whom they want to enter into an alliance with the Christians of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem . But an alliance with Christians is proving difficult to realize because troublemakers are pursuing their own selfish plans within their own ranks. While the young King Baldwin IV, suffering from leprosy, has to fight his sister's ambition and the machinations of the robber baron Reynald de Châtillon, Victor and Sayf have become hostile to the unscrupulous vizier Husain ad-Din Marzuban, whose ambitious plans for power they are in the Have put away. And besides that, the Christian orders of knights still pursue their own policy. Unnoticed by everyone, a mysterious secret society is still manipulating the political powers from out of sight. The so-called "Priory of St. Magdalena" includes influential actors from both Christians and Muslims who are pursuing the establishment of a completely new state in the Levant.
Remarks
The novel plot spans almost three decades without any chronological information being given. For orientation purposes, some key data on historical events that are part of the narrative are listed here.
The action begins in 1162 when the "old man from the mountains" Rashid ad-Din Sinan took over the leadership of the Syrian branch of the Shiite denomination of the Nizarites , who became known in Christian historiography as the "assassins" . The daʿwa mentioned , which causes unrest among the Syrian assassins , was proclaimed in 1164 by Imam Hassan II in Alamut . With it the eschatological "resurrection" (qiyāmāh) was proclaimed, in which the belief of the Nizarites in Allah found its way back to its original paradisiacal state, with simultaneous repeal of the previously valid outer coverings of the Islamic religion (Sharia, prayer, fasting, pilgrimage). In contrast to the depiction in the novel, Sinan was actually a close confidante and follower of the Imam and implemented his preaching in the Syrian community without criticism. The alliance negotiations between the Assassins and King Amalrich I of Jerusalem and the subsequent attack by the Templars against their negotiator took place in 1173. The assassin attempt on Saladin off Aleppo occurred in December 1174. Châtillon undertook the robbery on the Red Sea in 1182, Kerak's wedding took place in November 1183, and the Battle of Hattin on July 4th, 1187. The battle of Acre at the beginning of the third crusade took place on October 4, 1189. The story ends shortly thereafter.
The supposed willingness of the assassins to want to convert to Christianity was mentioned by Wilhelm von Tire († 1186) on the occasion of the alliance negotiations with King Amalrich in 1173. Historians regard this offer, if it has actually been made, as a tactical maneuver that never again played any role in the relationship between the “Franks” and the assassins.
As in his series of novels The Children of the Grail (1991-2005), Peter Berling has now incorporated myths and legends recognized as ahistorically into his description of the assassins. In particular those descriptions conveyed by Marco Polo about the initiation practices of the sacrificial Fida'i, who would willingly sacrifice their lives in the promise of entry into heavenly paradise. The "Flight of the Eagle" is also based on the stories of various authors of the "death leap" of the assassins, who jumped blindly into the abyss on the orders of their master. The description of the architecture of Masyaf Castle does not entirely correspond to its real model, in which the existence of a paradise garden could not be archaeologically proven either here or on any other Assassin castle.
For background research for the novel, Berling used the works of Steven Runciman ( A History of the Crusades, 1951–1954) and Bernard Lewis ( The Assassins: A Radical Sect in Islam, 1967), among others .
Dramatis personae
- Victor du Ferbac, alias al-Mansur , youngest son of the monk.
- Sayf, alias Knight Seyfert von Daula .
- Kira, alias Knight Kyr du Lac , younger daughter of the envoy.
- Melusine "Melou" du Ferbac, Victor's younger sister.
- Xenia, her daughter.
- An-Nasir ad-Daula "the Eunch", uncle and adoptive father of Sayf, overseer of the harem of Masyaf.
- Husain ad-Din Marzuban "the envoy", vizier of Masyaf.
- Thamar, his wife and mother of his daughters.
- Shirin, her older daughter.
- Timdal "the Moor", servant of the Tamar.
- Jaluddin, juggler and armorer.
- Sheik Sinan Rashid al-Din "the old man from the mountain", head of the assassins.
- Saladin , Sultan of Syria and Egypt.
- Roger du Ferbac "the monk", lord of Montmor.
- Aziza, his wife and mother of his children.
- Valerian and Gernot, twins and the older sons of the monk, Johanniter one and Templar the other.
- Baldwin IV , King of Jerusalem.
- Princess Sibylle , his sister.
- Reynald de Châtillon , Prince of Oultre-Jourdain.
- Gerard de Ridfort , Grand Master of the Templars.
- Raimund , Count of Tripoli .
- Plivano , Herr von Botrun .
- Titus de la Porta, papal legate in the Holy Land.
u. v. a.
literature
- Heinz Halm : The Assassins. History of an Islamic secret society. Beck'sche Reihe, 2868. CH Beck, Munich 2017.