A

complished, the personal dignity and liberal alms which the count of Thoulouse derived from the custody of the holy lance, provoked the envy, and awakened the reason, of his rivals. A Norman clerk presumed to sift, with a philosophic spirit, the truth of the legend, the circumstances of the discovery, and the character of the prophet; and the pious Bohemond ascribed their deliverance to the merits and intercession of Christ alone. For a while, the Provincials defended their national palladium with clamours and arms: and new visions condemned to death and hell the profane sceptics, who presumed to scrutinise the truth and merit of the discovery. The prevalence of incredulity compelled the author to submit his life and veracity to the judgment of God. pile of dry faggots, four feet high, and fourteen long, was erected in the midst of the camp; the flames burnt fiercely to the elevation of thirty cubits; and a narrow path of twelve inches was left for the perilous trial. The unfortunate priest of Marseilles traversed the fire with dexterity and speed; but his thighs and belly were scorched by the intense heat; he expired the next day; and the logic of believing minds will pay some regard to his dying protestations of innocence and truth. Some efforts were made by the Provincials to substitute a cross, a ring, or a tabernacle, in the place of the holy lance, which soon vanished in contempt and oblivion, 100 Yet the revelation of Antioch is gravely asserted by succeeding historians; and such is the progress of credulity, that miracles, most doubtful on the spot and at the moment, will be received with implicit faith at a convenient distance of time and space. The prudence or fortune of the the Turks and Franks had delayed their invasion caliphs of Egypt till the decline of the Turkish empire. 101 Under the manly government of the three first sultans, the kingdoms of Asia were united in peace and justice; and the innume. rable armies which they led in person were equal in courage, and superior in discipline, to the barbarians of the West. But at the time of the crusade, the inheritance of Malek Shaw was disputed by his four sons; their private ambition was insensible of the public danger; and, in the vicissitudes of their fortune, the royal vassals were ignorant, or regardless, of the true object of their allegiance. The twenty-eight emirs who marched with the standard of Kerboga, were his rivals or enemies; their hasty levies were drawn from the towns and tents of Mesopotamia and Syria; and the Turkish veterans were employed or consumed in the civil wars beyond the Tigris. The caliph of Egypt embraced this opportunity of weakness and discord, to recover his ancient possessions; and his sultan Aphdal besieged Jerusalem and Tyre, expelled the children of Ortok, and restored in

The state of

100 The two antagonists who express the most intimate knowledge and the strongest conviction of the miracle, and of the fraud, are Raymond des Agiles, and Radulphus Cadomensis, the one attached to the count of Thoulouse, the other to the Norman prince. Fulcherius Carnotensis presumes to say, Audite fraudem et non fraudem! and afterwards, Invenit lanceam, fallaciter occultatam forsitan. The rest of the herd are loud and strenuous.

101 See M. de Guignes (tom. ii. part. ii. p. 223, &c.); and the articles of Barkiarok, Mohammed, Sangiar, in D'Herbelot.

Palestine the civil and ecclesiastical authority of the Fatimites. 102 They heard with astonishment of the vast armies of Christians that had passed from Europe to Asia, and rejoiced in the sieges and battles which broke the power of the Turks, the adversaries of their sect and monarchy. But the same Christians were the enemies of the prophet; and from the overthrow of Nice and Antioch, the motive of their enterprise, which was gradually understood, would urge them farwards to the banks of the Jordan, or perhaps of the Nile. An intercourse of epistles and embassies, which rose and fell with the events of war, was maintained between the throne of Cairo and the camp of the Latins; and their adverse pride was the result of ignorance and enthusiasm. The ministers of Egypt declared in an haughty, or insinuated in a milder, tone, that their sovereign, the true and lawful commander of the faithful, had rescued Jerusalem from the Turkish yoke; and that the pilgrims, if they would divide their numbers, and lay aside their arms, should find a safe and hospitable reception at the sepulchre of Jesus. In the belief of their lost condition, the caliph Mostali despised their arms and imprisoned their deputies; the conquest and victory of Antioch prompted him to solicit those formidable champions with gifts of horses and silk robes, of vases, and purses of gold and silver; and in his estimate of their merit of power, the first place was assigned to Bohe mond, and the second to Godfrey. In either fortune the answer of the crusaders was firm and uniform; they disdained to enquire into the private claims or possessions of the followers of Mahomet: whatsoever was his name or nation, the usurper of Jerusalem was their enemy; and instead of prescribing the mode and terms of their pilgrimage, it was only by a timely sur render of the city and province, their sacred right, that he could deserve their alliance, o deprecate their impending and irresistible attack. 103

Franks, A. D. 108, JulA. D. 19, May.

Yet this attack, when they were Delay of the within the view and reach of their glorious prize, was suspended above ten months after the defeat of Kerboga. The zeal and courage of the crusaders were chilled in the moment of victory; and, instead of marching to improve the consternation, they hastily dispersed to enjoy the luxury, of Syria. The causes of this strange delay may be found in the want of strength and subordination. In the painful and various service of Antioch, the cavalry was annihilated; many thousands of every rank had been lost by famine, sickness, and desertion: the same abuse of plenty had been productive of a third famine; and the alternative of intemperance and distress, had gene rated a pestilence, which swept away above fifty thousand of the pilgrims. Few were able to command, and none were willing to obey: the

102 The emir, or sultan Aphdal, recovered Jerusalem and Tyre, A.H. 489 (Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin. p. 478. De Guignes, tom. i. p. 249. from Abulfeda and Ben Schounah). Jerusalem ante adventum vestrum recuperavimus, Turcos ejecimus, say the Fatimile

ambassadors.

103 See the transactions between the caliph of Egypt and the cra saders, in William of Tyre (1. iv. c. 24. 1. vi. G. 19.) and Albert Aquensis (1. iii. c. 59.), who are more sensible of their importance, than the contemporary writers.

2

C

domestic feuds, which had been stifled by common fear, were again renewed in acts, or at least in sentiments, of hostility; the fortune of Baldwin and Bohemond excited the envy of their companions; the bravest knights were enlisted for the defence of their new principalities; and count Raymond exhausted his troops and treasures in an idle expedition into the heart of Syria. The winter was consumed in discord and disorder; a sense of honour and religion was rekindled in the spring; and the private soldiers, less susceptible of ambition and jealousy, awakened with Their march to angry clamours the indolence of Jerusalem. their chiefs. In the month of May, the relics of this mighty host proceeded from Antioch to Laodicea; about forty thousand Latins, of whom no more than fifteen hundred horse, and twenty thousand foot, were capable of immediate service. Their easy march was continued between Mount Libanus and the sea-shore; their wants were liberally supplied by the coasting traders of Genoa and Pisa; and they drew large contributions from the emirs of Tripoli, Tyre, Sidon, Acre, and Cæsarea, who granted a free passage, and promised to follow the example of Jerusalem. From Cæ

A. D. 1099, May 13June 6.

sarea they advanced into the midland country; their clerks recognised the sacred geography of Lydda, Ramla, Emaus, and Bethlem, and as soon as they descried the holy city, the crusaders forgot their toils and claimed their reward, 104

Siege and conquest of Jerusalem. A. D. 1099. June 7July 15.

Jerusalem has derived some reputation from the number and importance of her memorable sieges. It was not till after a long and obstinate contest that Babylon and Rome could prevail against the obstinacy of the people, the craggy ground that might supersede the necessity of fortifications, and the walls and towers that would have fortified the most accessible #plain. 105 These obstacles were diminished in the age of the crusades. The bulwarks had been completely destroyed and imperfectly restored; the Jews, their nation, and worship, were for ever banished: but nature is less changeable than man, and the site of Jerusalem, though somewhat softened and somewhat removed, was still strong against the assaults of an enemy. By the experience of a recent siege, and a three years' possession, the Saracens of Egypt had been taught to discern, and in some degree to remedy, the defects of a place, which religion as well as honour forbade them to resign. Aladin, or Istikhar, the caliph's lieutenant, was intrusted with the defence: his policy strove to restrain the native Christians by the dread of their own ruin and that of the holy sepulchre; to animate the Moslems by the assurance of temporal and

104 The greatest part of the march of the Franks is traced, and most accurately traced, in Maundrell's Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem (p. 17-67.); un des meilleurs morceaux, sans contredit, qu'on ait dans ce genre (D'Anville, Mémoire sur Jerusalem, p. 27.).

105 See the masterly description of Tacitus (Hist. v. 11, 12, 13.), who supposes, that the Jewish lawgivers had provided for a perpetual state of hostility against the rest of mankind.

106 The lively scepticism of Voltaire is balanced with sense and erudition by the French author of the Esprit des Croisades (tom. iv. p. 386-388.), who observes, that, according to the Arabians, the inhabitants of Jerusalem must have exceeded 200,000; that in the siege of Titus, Josephus collects 1,300,000 Jews; that they are stated by Tacitus himself at 600,000; and that the largest defalcation, that his accepimus can justify, will still leave them more numerous than the Roman army.

107 Maundrell, who diligently perambulated the walls, found a

On the

eternal rewards. His garrison is said to have consisted of forty thousand Turks and Arabians; and if he could muster twenty thousand of the inhabitants, it must be confessed that the besieged were more numerous than the besieging army. 106 Had the diminished strength and numbers of the Latins allowed them to grasp the whole circumference of four thousand yards (about two English miles and an half), 107 to what useful purpose should they have descended into the valley of Ben Himmon and torrent of Cedron, 108 or approached the precipices of the south and east, from whence they had nothing either to hope or fear? Their siege was more reasonably directed against the northern and western sides of the city. Godfrey of Bouillon erected his standard on the first swell of Mount Calvary to the left, as far as St. Stephen's gate, the line of attack was continued by Tancred and the two Roberts; and count Raymond established his quarters from the citadel to the foot of Mount Sion, which was no longer included within the precincts of the city. fifth day, the crusaders made a general assault, in the fanatic hope of battering down the walls without engines, and of scaling them without ladders. By the dint of brutal force, they burst the first barrier, but they were driven back with shame and slaughter to the camp: the influence of vision and prophecy was deadened by the too frequent abuse of those pious stratagems; and time and labour were found to be the only means of victory. The time of the siege was indeed fulfilled in forty days, but they were forty days of calamity and anguish. A repetition of the old complaint of famine may be imputed in some degree to the voracious or disorderly appetite of the Franks; but the stony soil of Jerusalem is almost destitute of water; the scanty springs and hasty torrents were dry in the summer season; nor was the thirst of the besiegers relieved, as in the city, by the artificial supply of cisterns and aqueducts. The circumjacent country is equally destitute of trees for the uses of shade or building: but some large beams were discovered in a cave by the crusaders a wood near Sichem, the enchanted grove of Tasso, 109 was cut down: the necessary timber was transported to the camp by the vigour and dexterity of Tancred; and the engines were framed by some Genoese artists, who had fortunately landed in the harbour of Jaffa. Two moveable turrets were constructed at the expense, and in the stations, of the duke of Lorraine and the count of Thoulouse, and rolled forwards with devout labour, not to the most accessible, but to the most neglected, parts of the fortification. Raymond's tower was re

circuit of 4630 paces, or 4167 English yards (p. 109, 110.): from an authentic plan, D'Anville concludes a measure nearly similar, of 1960 French toises (p. 23–29.), in his scarce and valuable tract. For the topography of Jerusalem, see Reland (Palestina, tom. ii. p. 832 -860.).

108 Jerusalem was possessed only of the torrent of Kedron, dry in summer, and of the little spring or brook of Siloe (Reland, tom. i. p. 294. 300.). Both strangers and natives complained of the want of water, which in time of war was studiously aggravated. Within the city, Tacitus mentions a perennial fountain, an aqueduct, and cisterns for rain water. The aqueduct was conveyed from the rivulet Tekoe or Etham, which is likewise mentioned by Bohadin (in Vit. Saladin. p. 238.). 109 Gierusalemme Liberata, canto xiii. It is pleasant enough to observe how Tasso has copied and embellished the minutest details of the sicge.

duced to ashes by the fire of the besieged, but his colleague was more vigilant and successful; the enemies were driven by his archers from the rampart; the drawbridge was let down; and on a Friday at three in the afternoon, the day and hour of the Passion, Godfrey of Bouillon stood victorious on the walls of Jerusalem. His example was followed on every side by the emulation of valour; and about four hundred and sixty years after the conquest of Omar, the holy city was rescued from the Mahometan yoke. In the pillage of public and private wealth, the adventurers had agreed to respect the exclusive property of the first occupant; and the spoils of the great mosch, seventy lamps and massy vases of gold and silver, rewarded the diligence, and displayed the generosity, of Tancred. A bloody sacrifice was offered by his mistaken votaries to the God of the Christians: resistance might provoke, but neither age nor sex could mollify, their implacable rage: they indulged themselves three days in a promiscuous massacre; 110 and the infection of the dead bodies produced an epidemical disease. After seventy thousand Moslems had been put to the sword, and the harmless Jews had been burnt in their synagogue, they could still reserve a multitude of captives, whom interest or lassitude persuaded them to spare. Of these savage heroes of the cross, Tancred alone betrayed some sentiments of compassion; yet we may praise the more selfish lenity of Raymond, who granted a capitulation and safeconduct to the garrison of the citadel. 111 holy sepulchre was now free; and the bloody victors prepared to accomplish their vow. Bareheaded and barefoot, with contrite hearts, and in an humble posture, they ascended the hill of Calvary, amidst the loud anthems of the clergy; kissed the stone which had covered the Saviour of the world; and bedewed with tears of joy and penitence the monument of their redemption. This union of the fiercest and most tender passions has been variously considered by two philosophers: by the one,112 as easy and natural; by the other,113 as absurd and incredible. Perhaps it is too rigorously applied to the same persons and the same hour: the example of the virtuous Godfrey awakened the piety of his companions; while they cleansed their bodies, they purified their minds; nor shall I believe that the most ardent in slaughter and rapine were the foremost in the procession to the holy sepulchre.

Election and reign of God. frey of Bouillon. A. D. 1099, July 23A. D. 1100, July 18.

The

Eight days after this memorable event, which pope Urban did not live to hear, the Latin chiefs proceeded to the election of a king, to guard and govern their conquests

in Palestine. Hugh the Great, and Stephen of Chartres, had retired with some loss of repu

110 Besides the Latins, who are not ashamed of the massacre, see Elmacin (Hist. Saracen. p. 363.), Abulpharagius (Dynast. p. 243.), and M. de Guignes (tom. il. p. ii. p. 99.), from Aboulmahasen.

111 The old tower Psephina, in the middle ages Neblosa, was named Castellum Pisanum, from the patriarch Daimbert. It is still the citadel, the residence of the Turkish aga, and commands a prospect of the Dead Sea, Judea, and Arabia (Ï'Anville, p. 19-23.). It was likewise called the Tower of David, upyoc tappey Beσraтos.

112 Hume, in his History of England, vol. i. p. 311, 312. octavo edition.

113 Voltaire, in his Essai sur l'Histoire Générale, tom. ii. c. 54. p. 345, 346.

tation, which they strove to regain by a second crusade and an honourable death. Baldwin was established at Edessa, and Bohemond at Antioch; and two Roberts, the duke of Nor mandy 114 and the count of Flanders, preferred their fair inheritance in the West to a doubtful competition or a barren sceptre. The jealousy and ambition of Raymond were condemned by his own followers, and the free, the just, the unanimous voice of the army, proclaimed Godfrey of Bouillon the first and most worthy of the champions of Christendom. His magna nimity accepted a trust as full of danger as of glory; but in a city where his Saviour had been crowned with thorns, the devout pilgrim, rejected the name and ensigns of royalty; and the founder of the kingdom of Jerusalem contented himself with the modest title of Defender and Baron of the Holy Sepulchre. His govern ment of a single year, 115 too short for the public happiness, was interrupted in the first fortnight by a summons to the field, by the approach of the vizir or sultan of Egypt, who had been the slow to prevent, but who was impatient to avenge, the loss of Jerusalem. His total overthrow in the battle of Ascalon sealed the estab lishment of the Latins in Syria, and signalised the valour of the French princes, who in this action bade a long farewell to the holy was Some glory might be derived from the prodigious inequality of numbers, though I shall not count the August myriads of horse and foot on the side of the Fatimites; but, except three thousand Ethiopians or blacks, who were armed with flails or scourges of iron, the barbarians of the South fled on the first onset, and afforded a pleasing comparison between the active valour of the Turks and the sloth and effeminacy of the natives of Egypt. After suspending before the boly

A. I

sepulchre the sword and standard of the sultan, the new king (he deserves the title) embraced his departing companions, and could retain only with the gallant Tancred three hundred knights and two thousand foot-soldiers, for the defence of Palestine. His sovereignty was soon tacked by a new enemy, the only one against whom Godfrey was a coward. Adhemar, bishop of Puy, who excelled both in council and action. had been swept away in the last plague of A tioch: the remaining ecclesiastics preserved only the pride and avarice of their character; and their seditious clamours had required that the choice of a bishop should precede that of a king. The revenue and jurisdiction of the lawful p triarch were usurped by the Latin clergy: exclusion of the Greeks and Syrians was jus tified by the reproach of heresy or schism;116 and, under the iron yoke of their deliverers, the Oriental Christians regretted the tolerating go

the

vernment of the Arabian caliphs. Daimbert, archbishop of Pisa, had long been trained in the secret policy of Rome: he brought a fleet of his countrymen to the succour of the Holy Land, and was installed, without a competitor, the spiritual and temporal head of the church. The new patriarch 117 immediately grasped the sceptre which had been acquired by the toil and blood of the victorious pilgrims; and both Godfrey and Bohemond submitted to receive at his hands the investiture of their feudal possessions. Nor was this sufficient; Daimbert claimed the immediate property of Jerusalem and Jaffa: instead of a firm and generous refusal, the hero negotiated with the priest; a quarter of either city was ceded to the church; and the modest bishop was satisfied with an eventual reversion of the rest, on the death of Godfrey without children, or on the future acquisition of a new seat at Cairo or Damascus.

The kingdom of Jerusalem.

A. D. 1099

Without this indulgence, the conqueror would have almost been strip-1187. ped of his infant kingdom, which consisted only of Jerusalem and Jaffa, with about twenty villages and towns of the adjacent country, 118 Within this narrow verge, the Mahometans were still lodged in some impregnable castles; and the husbandman, the trader, and the pilgrim, were exposed to daily and domestic hostility. By the arms of Godfrey himself, and of the two Baldwins, his brother and cousin, who succeeded to the throne, the Latins breathed with more case and safety; and at length they equalled, in the extent of their dominions, though not in the millions of their subjects, the ancient princes of Judah and Israel. 119 After

the reduction of the maritime cities of Laodicea, Tripoli, Tyre, and Ascalon, 120 which were powerfully assisted by the fleets of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa, and even of Flanders and Norway, 121 the range of sea-coast from Scanderoon to the borders of Egypt was possessed by the Christian pilgrims. If the prince of Antioch disclaimed his supremacy, the counts of Edessa and Tripoli owned themselves the vassals of the king of Jerusalem: the Latins reigned beyond the Euphrates; and the four cities of Hems, Hamah, Damascus, and Aleppo, were the only

117 See the claims of the patriarch Daimbert, in William of Tyre (1. ix. e. 15-18. x. 4. 7. 9.), who asserts with marvellous candour the independence of the conquerors and kings of Jerusalem.

118 Willerm. Tyr. 1. x. 19. The Historia Hierosolymita of Jacobus à Vitriaco (1. i. c. 21-50.), and the Secreta Fidelium Crucis of Marinus Sanutus (1. iii. p. 1.), describe the state and conquests of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem.

119 An actual muster, not including the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, gave David an army of 1,300,000, or 1,574,000 fighting men; which, with the addition of women, children, and slaves, may imply a population of thirteen millions, in a country sixty leagues in length, and thirty broad. The honest and rational Le Clerc (Comment on 24 Samuel xxiv. and 1st Chronicles xxi.) æstuat angusto in limite, and mutters his suspicion of a false transcript; a dangerous suspicion!

120 These sieges are related, each in its proper place, in the great history of William of Tyre, from the ixth to the xviiith book, and more briefly told by Bernardus Thesaurarius (de Acquisitione Terra Sanctæ, c. 89-98. p. 732-710.). Some domestic facts are celebrated in the Chronicles of Pisa, Genoa, and Venice, in the vith, ixth, and xiith tomes of Muratori.

121 Quidam populus de insulis occidentis egressus, et maxime de ea parte que Norvegia dicitur. William of Tyre (l. xi. c. 14. p. 504.) marks their course per Britannicum mare et Calpen to the siege of Sidon.

122 Benelathir, apud de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. part. ii. p. 150, 151. A. D. 127. He must speak of the inland country.

123 Sanut very sensibly descants on the mischiefs of female succession, in a land, hostibus circumdata, ubi cuncta virilia et virtuosa esse deberent. Yet, at the summons, and with the approbation, of her feudal lord, a noble damsel was obliged to choose a husband and champion (Assises de Jerusalem, c. 242, &c.). See in M. de Guignes (tom. 1. p. 441-471.) the accurate and useful tables of these dynasties, which are chiefly drawn from the Ligutges d'Outremer.

relics of the Mahometan conquests in Syria. 122 The laws and language, the manners and titles, of the French nation and Latin church, were introduced into these transmarine colonies. According to the feudal jurisprudence, the principal states and subordinate baronies descended in the line of male and female succession: 13 but the children of the first conquerors, 124 a motley and degenerate race, were dissolved by the luxury of the climate; the arrival of new crusaders from Europe was a doubtful hope and a casual event. The service of the feudal tenures 125 was performed by six hundred and sixty-six knights, who might expect the aid of two hundred more under the banner of the count of Tripoli; and each knight was attended to the field by four squires or archers on horseback. 126 Five thousand and seventy-five serjeants, most probably foot-soldiers, were supplied by the churches and cities; and the whole legal militia of the kingdom could not exceed eleven thousand men, a slender defence against the surrounding myriads of Saracens and Turks. 127 But the firmest bulwark of Jerusalem was founded on the knights of the hospital of St. John, 128 and of the temple of Solomon; 129 on the strange association of a monastic and military life, which fanaticism might suggest, but which policy must approve. The flower of the nobility of Europe aspired to wear the cross, and to profess the vows, of these respectable orders; their spirit and discipline were immortal; and the speedy donation of twenty-eight thousand farms, or manors, 130 enabled them to support a regular force of cavalry and infantry for the defence of Palestine. The austerity of the convent soon evaporated in the exercise of arms: the world was scandalised by the pride, avarice, and corruption of these Christian soldiers; their claims of immunity and jurisdiction disturbed the harmony of the church and state; and the public peace was endangered by their jealous emulation. But in their most dissolute period, the knights of the hospital and temple maintained their fearless and fanatic character: they neglected to live, but they were prepared to die, in the service of Christ; and the spirit of chivalry, the parent and offspring of the crusades, has been transplanted

124 They were called by derision Poullains, Pullani, and their name is never pronounced without contempt (Ducange, Gloss. Latin. tom. v. p. 535.; and Observations sur Joinville, p. 84, 85.; Jacob à Vitriaco, Hist. Hierosol. 1. i. c. 67. 72.; and Sanut, 1. iii. p. viii. c. 2. p. 182.). Illustrium virorum qui ad Terræ Sanctæ liberationem in ipsâ manserunt degeneres filii in deliciis enutriti, molles et effæminati, &c.

125 This authentic detail is extracted from the Assises de Jerusa lem (c. 321. 326-331.). Sanut (1. iii. p. viii. c. 1. p. 174.) reckons only 518 knights, and 5775 followers.

126 The sum total, and the division, ascertain the service of the three great baronies at 100 knights each; and the text of the Assises, which extends the number to 500, can only be justified by this sup position.

127 Yet on great emergencies (says Sanut) the barons brought a voluntary aid; decentem comitivam militum juxta statum suum. 128 William of Tyre (1. xviii. c. 3, 4, 5.) relates the ignoble origin, and early insolence, of the Hospitalers, who soon deserted their humble patron, St. John the Eleemosynary, for the more august character of St. John the Baptist (see the ineffectual straggles of Pagi, Critica, A. D. 1099, No. 14-18.). They assumed the profession of arms about the year 1120; the Hospital was mater; the Temple, filia; the Teutonic order was founded A. D. 1190, at the siege of Acre (Mosheim, Institut. p. 389, 390.).

129 See St. Bernard de Laude Nova Militia Templi, composed A. D. 1132-1136, in Opp. tom. i. pars ii. p. 547-563. edit. Mabillon, Venet. 1750. Such an encomium, which is thrown away on the dead Templars, would be highly valued by the historians of

by this institution from the holy sepulchre to the isle of Malta. 131

Assise of Jerusalem. A. D. 1099 --1369.

The spirit of freedom, which pervades the feudal institutions, was felt in its strongest energy by the volunteers of the cross, who elected for their chief the most deserving of his peers. Amidst the slaves of Asia, unconscious of the lesson or example, a model of political liberty was introduced; and the laws of the French kingdom are derived from the purest source of equality and justice. Of such laws, the first and indispensable condition is the assent of those, whose obedience they require, and for whose benefit they are designed. No sooner had Godfrey of Bouillon accepted the office of supreme magistrate, than he solicited the public and private advice of the Latin pilgrims, who were the best skilled in the statutes and customs of Europe. From these materials, with the counsel and approbation of the patriarch and barons of the clergy and laity, Godfrey composed the ASSISE OF JERUSALEM, 132 a precious monument of feudal jurisprudence. The new code, attested by the seals of the king, the patriarch, and the viscount of Jerusalem, was deposited in the holy sepulchre, enriched with the improvements of succeeding times, and respectfully consulted as often as any doubtful question arose in the tribunals of Palestine. With the kingdom and city, all was lost: 133 the fragments of the written law were preserved by jealous tradition 134 and variable practice till the middle of the thirteenth century: the code was restored by the pen of John d'Ibelin, count of Jaffa, one of the principal feudatories; 135 and the final revision was accomplished in the year thirteen hundred and sixty-nine, for the use of the Latin kingdom of Cyprus, 136

Court of peers.

The justice and freedom of the constitution were maintained by two tribunals of unequal dignity, which were instituted by Godfrey of Bouillon after the conquest of Jerusalem. The king, in person, presided in the upper court, the court of the barons. Of these the four most conspicuous were the prince of Galilee the lord of Sidon and Cæsarea, and the counts of Jaffa and Tripoli, who, perhaps with the constable and marshal, 137 were in a special manner the compeers and judges of each other. But all the nobles, who held their lands immediately of the crown, were entitled and bound to attend the king's court; and each baron exercised a similar jurisdiction in the subordinate assemblies of his own feudatories. The con

131 In the three first books of the Histoire des Chevaliers de Malthe, par l'Abbé de Vertot, the reader may amuse himself with a fair, and sometimes flattering, picture of the order, while it was employed for the defence of Palestine. The subsequent books pursue their emigra

tions to Rhodes and Malta.

132 The Assises de Jerusalem, in old law French, were printed with Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvoisis (Bourges and Paris, 1690, in folio), and illustrated by Gaspard Thaumas de la Thaumassière, with a comment and glossary. An Italian version had been published in 1535, at Venice, for the use of the kingdom of Cyprus.

133 A la terre perdue, tout fut perdů, is the vigorous expression of the Assise (c. 281.). Yet Jerusalem capitulated with Saladin; the queen and the principal Christians departed in peace; and a code so precious and so portable could not provoke the avarice of the conquerors. I have sometimes suspected the existence of this original copy of the Holy Sepulchre, which might be invented to sanctify and authenticate the traditionary customs of the French in Palestine.

134 A noble lawyer, Raoul de Tabarie, denied the prayer of king Amauri (A. D. 1195-1205), that he would commit his knowledge to writing and frankly declared, que de ce qu'il savoit ne feroit-il ja nul borjois son pareill, ne null sage homme lettre (c. 281.).

135 The compiler of this work, Jean d'Ibelin, was count of Jaffa

nection of lord and vassal was honourable and voluntary: reverence was due to the benefactor, protection to the dependent; but they mutually pledged their faith to each other; and the obligation on either side might be suspended by neglect or dissolved by injury. The cognisance of marriages and testaments was blended with religion, and usurped by the clergy; but the civil and criminal causes of the nobles, the inheritance and tenure of their fiefs, formed the proper occupation of the supreme court. Each member was the judge and guardian both of public and private rights. It was his duty to assert with his tongue and sword the lawful claims of the lord: but if an unjust superior presumed to violate the freedom or property of a vassal, the confederate peers stood forth to maintain his quarrel by word and deed. They boldly affirmed his innocence and his wrongs; demanded the restitution of his liberty or his lands; suspended, after a fruitless demand, their own service; rescued their brother from prison; and employed every weapon in his defence, without offering direct violence to the person their lord, which was ever sacred in their eyes. In their pleadings, replies, and rejoinders, the advocates of the court were subtle and copious, but the use of argument and evidence was often superseded by judicial combat: and the Assist of Jerusalem admits in many cases this har barous institution, which has been slowly abo lished by the laws and manners of Europe.

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The trial by battle was estab- Law of judicia lished in all criminal cases, which affected the life, or limb, or honour, of any person; and in all civil transactions, of or above the value of one mark of silver. It appears. that in criminal cases the combat was the privi lege of the accuser, who, except in a charge of treason, avenged his personal injury, or the death of those persons whom he had a right to represent; but wherever, from the nature of the charge, testimony could be obtained, it was ne cessary for him to produce witnesses of the fact. In civil cases, the combat was not allowed a the means of establishing the claim of the de mandant; but he was obliged to produce wit nesses who had, or assumed to have, knowledge of the fact. The combat was then the privilege of the defendant; because he charged the wi ness with an attempt by perjury to take away his right. He came therefore to be in the same situation as the appellant in criminal cases.

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not then as a mode of proof that the combat was received, nor as making negative and Ascalon, lord of Baruth (Berytus) and Rames, and died A. 1266 (Sanut, l. iii. p. 1. c. 5. 8.). The family of Ibelin, which scended from a younger brother of a count of Chartres in Pract long flourished in Palestine and Cyprus (see the Lignages de de Mer, or d'Outremer, c. 6. at the end of the Assises de Jerusalem, an original book, which records the pedigrees of the French adver

turers).

136 By sixteen commissioners, chosen in the states of the is the work was finished the 3d of November, 1369, sealed with seals, and deposited in the cathedral of Nicosia (see the preface to the Assises).

137 The cautious John d'Ibelin argues, rather than affirm, th Tripoli is the fourth barony, and expresses some doubt concerning the

right or pretension of the constable and marshal (c. 325.).

138 Entre seignor et homme ne n'a que la foi; male con que l'homme doit à son seignor reverence en toutes choses (c. 206 as autres et en celle maniere que le seignor mette main on t mettre au cors ou au fié d'aucun d'yaus sans esgard et co sance de court, que tous les autres del vent venir devant le scignor,

(212.). The form of their remonstrances is conceived with the oble

simplicity of freedom.