The pact between Imam Jalaluddin Hasan and the Mongols, as hinted by Juvaini and explicitly described by Rashiduddin, became impaired afterwards. In 635/1238, Alauddin Muhammad dispatched an embassy, in cooperation with the Abbasid caliph al-Mustansir (d. 640/1242) to Louis IX (d. 1270), the king of France, and Henry III (d. 1272), the king of England, to report the incoming stormy inroads of the Mongols, and to evaluate possibility of an alliance with the Christian West against the Mongols. Mathew Paris (d. 1259) has written in his 'Chronica Majora' (ed. by Henry R. Luard, London, 1876, 3rd vol., pp. 487-9) the account of this embassy in England. The Bishop of Winchester, who was present at the audience, interrupted the envoy's appeal with harsh words, reflecting the hostile policy of the church against the Muslims.
Ismaili History 638 - Muslim delegation in Mongolia
After this rebuff by the West, the Ismailis made their final approach to the Mongol's court. In summer of 643/1246, on the enthronment of Guyuk (1246-1248), the next new Mongol's chief; Alauddin Muhammad, along with the Abbasid caliph al-Mustasim (640-656/1242-1258) and many other Muslim rulers, sent a mission in the Khangai mountains in Central Mongolia. The Ismaili ambassadors, Shihabuddin and Shamsuddin, the former governors of Kohistan delivered a memorandum to Guyuk. Neither they nor the Abbasid ambassador were well received, and on that juncture, the Mongol demonstrated a negative attitude towards the Muslim rules.
Ismaili History 639 - Beginning of the Mongol operations
Soon afterwards, Guyuk dispatched Eligidei to Iran at the head of reinforcements for the Mongol armies already stationing there, with instructions to assume supreme command in reducing the Muslim holds, beginning with Alamut. Guyuk intended to follow after, but his death prevented the operations, which was charged some six years later, to his nephew and successor Mongke (1251-1259), who appointed his brother Halagu (1256-1265) to command an army to Iran, Iraq and Egypt according to the resolution of the Mongol National Assembly (quriltai) held in 649/1251. Halagu did not reach Iran before the beginning of 654/1256, but had dispatched an advance army of 12,000 men from Mongolia in 650/1252 in command of Ket-Buqa to join with the Mongol garrison already camping in Iran. Ket-Buqa crossed the Oxus in 651/1253 and soon afterwards, attacked the Ismaili strongholds in Kohistan. His troops drove off the cattle of the people of Tun, Turshiz and Zir-kuh and slaughtered and pillaged throughout that region. The towns of Tun and Turshiz were however captured, but the Ismailis recovered Tun very soon. Ket-Buqa also reached at the foot of Girdkuh with 5,000 men, where he constructed elaborate siegeworks, digging a trench around the castle, and erecting a wall around the trench. The men then formed a ring behind that wall, and a second wall and a trench were constructed around the men, so that they were apparently left secure in the middle with no possibility of attack from either side.
Leaving his officer, Buri with the charge of siege at Girdkuh, Ket-Buqa proceeded to attack the castle of Mihrin, near Girdkuh and Shahdiz. In Shawal, 651/December, 1253, the Ismaili garrison of Girdkuh made a valiant nocturnal assault on the Mongols, killing a hundred of them, including Buri. The siege however continued and in the interim, the disease of cholera broke out in the summer of 652/1254. It was reported to Alamut that most of the garrisons were perishing and the castle was on the verge of falling. Alauddin Muhammad immediately supplied reinforcements, including his three officers at the head of 110 men, each carrying a load of two maunds of henna (Latin Lawsonia inermis, Arabic hinna, the shrub) and three maunds of salt. The garrison's stock of salt had been exhausted, and as for the henna, we are told by the author of 'Jamiut Tawarikh', himself a physician, that there had not been prescribed in the books of medicine that henna was a drug against cholera. The people of Girdkuh had an experience however that once water being scarce, some of them had drunk that henna water and were cured. It was for this reason that they had asked for henna from Alamut. The 110 men forced their way through the ranks of the besiegers, suffering only a single causalty; one of them fell into the trench and dislocated his leg; his comrades lifted him on to their shoulders and carried him into the castle. The garrison, thus restored to its full strength, and continued its resistance until 659/1270.
Halagu was yet in Samarkand and was about to cross Oxus on the eve of the death of Alauddin Muhammad, who, according to Peter Brent, might have been strong enough to resist for a long time against the Mongols, vide 'The Mongol Empire' (London, 1976, p. 135)
Ismaili History 640 - Construction of Maimundiz
According to 'Jamiut Tawarikh' (p. 122), the construction of the fortress of Maimundiz began in 490/1097, but Kashani (d. 738/1338) determines in 497/1103 in his 'Zubdat al-Tawarikh' (p. 144). Juvaini (2nd vol., p. 627) however writes that it had been built in the time of Alauddin Muhammad. It seems that the location had been selected earlier, where a small fortress was built, known as Maimundiz. In the time of Alauddin Muhammad, the site had been freshly chosen and projected for a stronghold. His officers and ministers had surveyed the heights and summits of the mountains during 12 years until they chose a lofty peak, and built there a castle, and provided it with ample supply of water.
The site of Maimundiz, located to the north of presently village of Shams Kilaya and westward from Alamut. Because of the great altitude, the cold was so extreme as to make it impossible for beasts to find a home or live in that location from the beginning of autumn until the middle of spring. The family of Alauddin Muhammad and his attendants were shifted from Alamut to Maimundiz.
The site of Maimundiz was identified in 1960 by an expeditionary party organised at Oxford University for exploring the Ismaili castles of northern Iran, vide 'The Castles of the Assassins' (London, 1963) by Peter Willey. Dr. M. Sutude in 'Qila-i Ismailiyya' (Tehran, 1966, pp. 108-122), who is well grounded with the geographical area, rejected the identification of Maimundiz made by Peter Willey's expedition.
Shamsuddin bin Ahmad al-Tayyibi (592-652/1195-1254) was an eminent Ismaili poet in Syria. He travelled excessively in Iran and visited Alamut during the period of Alauddin Muhammad, where he served as a court-poet. His poetical works are not accessible. He left Alamut most probably after the death of Alauddin Muhammad, and returned to Syria, where he died.
Alauddin Muhammad's rule was long and prosperous. It was a period of both intellectual and political activity. The glory of his rule was the patronage of science and learning, attracted a bulk of scholars from outside. He was fond of shepherding and used to visit the villages to help the people in their dairy products, and the cattle breedings. His old enemies conspired through his close advisor, Hasan Mazandaran, who killed the Imam on 29th Shawal, 653/December 1, 1255. His body was found at midnight in a wooden hut, near his sheep-fold in the village of Shirkuh in the western part of the district of Alamut. Alauddin Muhammad had many son's whose detail is not accessible. It is however known from Juvaini that Shahanshah, Shiranshah and Iranshah were his sons, and the elder one was Ruknuddin Khurshah, who was consigned the office of Imamate.
