Rashid ad-Din Sinan

Rashad ad-Din Sinan was the grandmaster of the Hashashin, or Assassins, during the time of the Third Crusade. Little is known about him as his autobiography was partially destroyed. Rashad first received assassin training and was sent to Syria in 1162 by assassin grand master Hassan II. Rashad set up his base in the mountain fortress of Maysaf, and took control of parts of Northern Syria. Rashad's main enemy was the Syrian ruler at the time, Saladin, whom was the target of two assassination attempts on Rashad's orders. In 1176, Saladin tried to lay siege to Maysaf, but was intimidated into lifting the siege and aligning himself with the Hashashim after the he received a death threat from Rashad. According to some accounts, Saladin awoke to see a figure leaving his tent and find a threatening note stuck into a plate of scones with a poisoned dagger. Rashad ordered a number of other assassinations during his time as grand master, the last in the last year of his life, in 1192, when he ordered the assassination of Conrad of Montferrat, King of Jerusalem. In is widely speculated that Rashad conspired with either Saladin or Richard the Lionheart in this assassination, as both had reasons to want Conrad dead. Later that year, Rashad died in Al Khaf Castle in Syria.