home, received the last rites, and urged Isabella to give the city over only to Richard or his representative, but that deathbed scene is open to doubt. He was buried in Tyre, in the Church of the Hospitallers. "[T]he Frankish marquis, the ruler of Tyre, and the greatest devil of all the Franks, Conrad of Montferrat—God damn him!—was killed," wrote Ibn al-Athir. Certainly, the loss of a potentially formidable king was a blow to the kingdom. The murder remains unsolved. Under torture, the surviving Assassin claimed that Richard was behind the killing, but that is impossible to prove. A less likely suspect was Humphrey IV of Toron, Isabella's first husband. Saladin's involvement has also been alleged, as Conrad was in the middle of negotiations with him, but this also seems unlikely as Saladin himself apparently had no love for the Hashshashin. In 1970, Patrick A. Williams argued a plausible case for Henry of Champagne's guilt, but if so, it is difficult to imagine him taking such a bold step without his uncle Richard's approval. Later, while returning from the crusade in disguise, King Richard was first recognized by Meinhard II of Görz and then imprisoned by Conrad's cousin, Leopold V of Austria. Conrad's murder was one of the charges against him. Richard requested for the Assassins to vindicate him, and in a letter, allegedly from their leader, Rashid al-Din Sinan, they appeared to do so. The letter claimed that in 1191, Conrad had captured an Assassin ship that had sought refuge in Tyre during a storm. He killed the captain, imprisoned the crew, and stripped the ship of its treasure. When Rashid al-Din Sinan requested for the ship's crew and treasure to be returned, he was rebuffed and so a death sentence was issued for Conrad of Montferrat. However, the letter is believed to have been forged. Sinan was already dead, and apart from that letter and the chronicle entries based upon it, there is no other evidence for the Assassins being involved in shipping. The timing of the murder and its consequences (the pregnant Isabella was married off to Henry of Champagne only seven days later, much to the disgust of Muslim commentators) suggest that the chief motive may be sought in Frankish politics. Family Conrad's brother Boniface was the leader of the Fourth Crusade and a notable patron of troubadours, as was their sister Azalaïs, Marchioness of Saluzzo.