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Discounting the historical Assassins, in medieval Western Eurasia (Europe+Sunni Islamic world) how were spies and assassins trained?

Was it just "hire somebody to poison X" or "pay off chancellor Y to pass us stuff" or were there systematic attempts to create/train groups of espionage-capable people? I guess something like a medieval analogue of our modern espionage services?

If there wasn't, why not? If there was, can you suggest some reading about it?
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