Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/339

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 317 The spirit of freedom, which pervades the feudal institutions, Assise of „' 11 1. r lj Jerusalem. was lelt m its strongest energy by the volunteers oi the cross, a.d. io99-i369 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 approba- tion of the patriarch and barons, of the clergy and laity, Godfrey composed the Assise of Jerusalem, ^*^ 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 improve- ments 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 ; ^*^ the fragments of the viTitten law were preserved by jealous tradition, ^^^ and variable practice, till the middle of the thirteenth centurj' ; the code was restored by the pen of John d'Ibelin, count of Jaffa, one of the principal feudatories ; ^'" and the final revision was accom- i^^The Assises de Jerusalem, in old Law-French, were printed with Beau- manoir's Coutumes de Beauvoisis (Bourgesand Paris, 1690, in folio), and illustrated by Gaspard Thaumas de la Thaumassiere, with a comment and glossary. An Italian version had been published in 1535, at Venice, for the use of the kingdom of Cyprus. [The authoritative edition is that of the Comte de Beugnot : vol. i. Assises de la Haute Cour, 1841 ; vol. ii. .'ssises de la Cour des bourgeois. 1843.] i-*! A la terre perdue, tout fut perdu, is the vigorous expression of the Assise (c. 281 [see Beugnot, vol. i. c. 47 in the Livre de Philippe de Navarre, p. 522 ; la lettre fust perdue — et tout ce fust perdu quant Saladin prist Jerusalem]). 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. [See Appendix 16.] '■*2A 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 nul sage homme lettr^ (c. 281). i-*3The compiler of this work, Jean d'Ibelin, was Count of Jaffa and Ascalon, Lord of Baruth (Berytus) and Rames, and died A.D. 1266 (Sanut, 1. iii. p. xii. c. 5, 8). The family of Ibelin, which descended from a younger brother of a count of Chartres in France, long flourished in Palestine and Cyprus (see the