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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 315 the counts of Edessa and Tripoli o^vned 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 I'elics of the Mahometan conquests in Syria, i-^*^ 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 ; ^^^ but the children of the first conquerors,^"- a motley and degenerate race, were dissolved by 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 ^'^'^ 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. ^-^"^ Five thousand and seventy-five serjcan/s, most probably foot- soldiers, were supplied by the churches and the 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. ^'^^ But the firmest bulwark of Jerusalem was founded on the knights of the Hospital of St. Johnj^^*^ and of 1^ Benelathir, apud de Guignes, Hist, des Huns, torn. ii. part ii. p. 150, 151, A.D. IT27. He must speak of the inland country. !■■' 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 obhged to choose a husband and champion (Assises de Jerusalem, c. 242, &c.). See in M. de Guignes (torn. i. p. 441-471) the accurate and useful tables of these dynasties, which are chiefly drawn from the Lignnges d'Outrcmer. I-'- They were called by derision Poullains, Pullani, and their name is never pronounced without contempt (Ducange, Gloss. Latin, torn. v. p. 535; and Observations sur Joinville, p. 84, 8^; Jacob, a Vitriaco, Hist. Hierosol. 1. i. c. 67, 72 ; and Sanut, 1. iii. p. viii. c. 2, p. 182). Illustrium virorum qui ad Terrse Sanctse. . . liberationem in ipsa manserunt degeneres filii ... in deliciis enutriti, molles et effoeminati, &c. [The n ord does not necessarily imply mixture of blood; it is "used loosely as we use tlie word Creole" (Bishop Stubbs in Glossary to Itin. Regis Ricardi, p. 455).] i"3'rhis authentic detail is extracted from the Assises de Jerusalem (c. 324, 326- 331). Sanut (1. iii. p. viii. c. i. p. 174) reckons only 518 knights and 5775 followers. ••'■^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 supposition. 1^3 Yet on great emergencies (says Sanut) the barons brought a voluntary aid ; decentera comitivam militum juxta statum suum. i^*" William of Tyre (1. xviii. c. 3, 4, 5) relates the ignoble origin and early in- solence of the Hospitalers, who soon deserted their humble patron, St. John the