Damascus wasn’t in good shape in 1132. Assassins had just killed the king. The new king, Isma’il, was paranoid, greedy, and prone to violence—even brutally executing his own half-brother. Then, in a move that violates kingship’s most basic tenets, Isma’il planned to give Damascus away to the enemy. Enter Khatun Zumurrud, Isma’il’s mother. She was not about to let that happen. In 1135, she had her own son assassinated and his body dragged through the streets. Zumurrud wasn’t the only woman you didn’t want to mess with in the medieval…
