LVIII. 130 2 CHAP. knights of the hofpital of St. John 128, and of the temple of Solomon 129 ; on the ftrange affociation of a monaftic and military life, which fanaticism might fuggeft, but which policy muft approve. The flower of the nobility of Europe afpired to wear the cross, and to profefs the vows, of these respectable orders; their spirit and discipline were immortal; and the speedy donation of twenty-eight thousand farms, or manors enabled them to fupport a regular force of cavalry and infantry for the defence of Palestine. The aufterity of the convent foon evaporated in the exercife of arms: the world was fcandalifed by the pride, avarice, and corruption of these Chriftian foldiers; their claims of immunity and jurifdiction disturbed the harmony of the church and ftate; and the public peace was endangered by their jealous emulation. But in their most dif 128 William of Tyre (l. xviii. c. 3, 4, 5.) relates the ignoble origin, and early infolence, of the Hofpitalers, who foon deserted their humble patron, St. John the Eleemofynary, for the more auguft character of St. John the Baptist (see the ineffectual ftruggles of Pagi, Critica, A. D. 1099, No 14—18.). They affumed the profeffion of arms about the year 1120; the Hofpital was mater, the Temple, filia; the Teutonic order was founded A. D. 1190, at the fiege of Acre (Mofheim, Inftitut. p. 389, 390.). 129 See St. Bernard de Laude Nova Militiæ Templi, compo fed A. D. 1132—1136, in Opp. tom. i. p. 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 hiftorians of Malta. 130 Matthew Paris, Hift. Major, p. 544. He affigns to the Hofpitalers 19,000, to the Templars 9,000 maneria, a word of much higher import (as Ducange has rightly observed) in the English than in the French idiom. Manor is a lordship, manoir a dwelling. folute folute period, the knights of the hofpital and CHA P. temple maintained their fearless and fanatic cha 134 racter: they neglected to live, but they were prepared to die, in the service of Chrift; and the fpirit of chivalry, the parent and offspring of the crufades, has been tranfplanted by this inftitution from the holy fepulchre to the isle of Malta "3. The fpirit of freedom, which pervades the feudal inftitutions, was felt in its strongest energy by the volunteers of the crofs, who elected for their chief the most deserving of his peers. Amidft the flaves of Afia, unconscious of the leffon or example, a model of political liberty was introduced: and the laws of the French kingdom are derived from the pureft fource of equality and juftice. Of fuch laws, the firft and indifpenfable condition is the affent of those, whofe obedience they require, and for whose benefit they are defigned. No fooner had Godfrey of Bouillon accepted the office of fupreme magistrate, than he folicited the public and private advice of the Latin pilgrims, who were the best skilled in the ftatutes and cuftoms of Europe. From thefe materials, with the counfel and approbation of the patriarch and barons, of the clergy and laity, Godfrey compofed the ASSISE OF JERUSALEM "32, a pre 131 In the three firft books of the Hiftoire des Chevaliers de Malthe, par l'Abbé de Vertot, the reader may amufe himself with a fair, and sometimes flattering, picture of the order, while it was employed for the defence of Palestine. The fubfequent books pursue their emigrations to Rhodes and Malta. 132 The Affifes de Jerufalem, in old law French, were printed with Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvoisis (Bourges and Paris, 1690, 17 LVIII. Affife of 1099 1369. LVIII. CHAP. a precious monument of feudal jurifprudence. The new code, attefted by the feals of the king, the patriarch, and the viscount of Jerufalem, was depofited in the holy fepulchre, enriched with the improvements of fucceeding times, and refpectfully confulted as often as any doubtful queftion arofe in the tribunals of Palestine. With the kingdom and city, all was loft 133, the fragments of the written law were preferved by jealous tradition 134 and variable practice till the middle of the thirteenth century: the code was reftored by the pen of John d' Ibelin, count of Jaffa, one of the principal feudatories '35; ; and the final revision was accomplished in the year 1690, in folio), and illuftrated by Gafpard Thaumas de la Thaumaffiere, with a comment and gloffary. An Italian verfion had been published in 1535, at Venice, for the use of the kingdom of Cyprus. 133 A la terre perdue, tout fut perdû, is the vigorous expreffion of the Affife (c. 281.). Yet Jerufalem capitulated with Saladin; the queen and the principal Chriftians departed in peace; and a code fo precious and fo portable could not provoke the avarice of the conquerors. I have fometimes suspected the existence of this original copy of the Holy Sepulchre, which might be invented to fanctify 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 favoit ne feroit-il ja nul borjois fon pareill, ne null fage homme lettré (c. 281.). 135 The compiler of this work, Jean 1'Ibelin, was count of Jaffa and Afcalon, lord of Baruth (Berytus) and Rames, and died A. D. 1266. (Sanut, 1. iii. p. ii. c. 5. 8.). The family of Ibelin, which defcended from a younger brother of a count of Chartres in France, long flourished in Paleftine and Cyprus (fee the Lignages de deça Mer, or d'Outremer, c. 6. at the end of the Affifes de Jerufalem, an original book, which records the pedigrees of the French adventurers). thirteen 95 thirteen hundred and fixty-nine, for the ufe of CHA P. the Latin kingdom of Cyprus 136 LVIII. The juftice and freedom of the conftitution Court of were maintained by two tribunals of unequal peers. dignity, which were inftituted by Godfrey of Bouillon after the conqueft of Jerufalem. The king, in person, prefided in the upper-court, the court of the barons. Of thefe the four moft confpicuous were the prince of Galilee, the lord of Sidon and Cæfarea, and the counts of Jaffa. and Tripoli, who, perhaps with the conftable and marfhal 37, were in a fpecial 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 exercifed a fimilar jurifdiction in the fubordinate affemblies of his own feudatories. The connection of lord and vaffal 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 fide might be fufpended by neglect or diffolved by injury. The cognizance of marriages and testaments was blended with religion, and ufurped by the clergy; but the civil and criminal caufes of the nobles, the inheritance and tenure of their 136 By fixteen commiffioners chofen in the ftates of the island: the work was finished the 3d of November 1369, fealed with four feals, and depofited in the cathedral of Nicofia (fee the preface to the Affifes). 137 The cautious John d'Ibelin argues, rather than affirms, that Tripoly is the fourth barony, and expreffes. fome doubt concerning the right or pretenfion of the conftable and marshal (c. 323.). LVIII. CHAP. fiefs, formed the proper occupation of the fu prème court. Each member was the judge and guardian both of public and private rights. It was his duty to affert with his tongue and fword the lawful claims of the lord; but if an unjust fuperior prefumed to violate the freedom or property of a vaffal, the confederate peers ftood forth to maintain his quarrel by word and deed. They boldly affirmed his innocence and his wrongs; demanded the reftitution of his liberty or his lands; fufpended, after a fruitlefs demand, their own fervice; rescued their brother from prison; and employed every weapon in his defence, without offering direct violence to the person of their lord, which was ever facred in their eyes 138. In their pleadings, replies, and rejoinders, the advocates of the court were fubtile and copious; but the use of argument and evidence was often fuperfeded by judicial combat; and the Affife of Jerufalem admits in many cafes this barbarous inftitution, which has been flowly abolished by the laws and manners of Europe. Law of judicial combats. The trial by battle was established in all criminal cafes, which affected the life, or limb, or honour, of any perfon; and in all civil transactions, of or above the value of one mark of 138 Entre feignor et homme ne n'a que la foi;.... mais tant que l'homme doit à son seignor reverence en toutes chofes (c. 206.). Tous les hommes dudit royaume font par ladite Affife tenus les uns as autres.... et en celle maniere que le feignor mette main ou facè mettre au cors ou au fié d'aucun d'yaus fans efgard et fans connoiffance de court, que tous les autres doivent venir devant le feignor, &c. (212.). The form of their remonftrances is conceived with the noble fimplicity of freedom. filver. |