The Crusades: Assassins vs Templars

·47 min·4 clips

Dan Snow explores how the Assassins and Templars, two small medieval orders, created a myth of invincibility to survive.

Dan Snow hosts historian Steve Tibble to analyze the Assassins and Templars, focusing on their roles in the Crusades. The episode begins by framing them as legendary rivals with myths of invincibility. Tibble explains the Assassins were Nizari Ismailis, a heretical Shiite sect that originated in Egypt and moved to Persia and Syria. They survived as a tiny group by using targeted assassinations, leveraging fear over military might. The Templars, founded around the same time, were warrior monks funded internationally to defend the Holy Land. Both orders developed similar strategies of projecting power through branding and psychological warfare. They often interacted, with Templars extorting money from Assassins and even attacking their diplomats to prevent alliances. The conversation details specific events, such as multiple assassination attempts on Saladin by the Assassins, including one where 13 assassins nearly reached him in a siege camp. Tibble describes how these attempts, even when unsuccessful, created an atmosphere of fear. The Templars are highlighted for their military discipline, like at the Battle of Montgisard where 84 Templars charged Saladin's standard. The decline of both orders is discussed: the Assassins were destroyed by the Mongols in Persia and later subjugated by the Mamluk sultan Baibars in Syria, while the Templars were disbanded by King Philip IV of France after the loss of the Holy Land, accused of heresy for financial gain. Throughout, the episode emphasizes how these groups used myth and reputation to survive in a chaotic political landscape.

As heard by us

A brisk look at how religious orders used targeted violence and reputation to build lasting power.

The medieval struggle between the Assassins and the Templars is framed as a story about political weakness, durable institutions, and the force of a terrifying reputation.

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Why you'd press play

Press play when warrior monks in white mantles and mountain-fortress assassins sound like the strangest power struggle in the medieval world.

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