se 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]

[Footnote 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 Thaumassiere, with a
comment and glossary. An Italian version had been published in 1534, at
Venice, for the use of the kingdom of Cyprus. * Note: See Wilken, vol.
i. p. 17, &c.,--M.]

[Footnote 133: A la terre perdue, tout fut perdu, 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.]

[Footnote 134: A noble lawyer, Raoul de Tabarie, denied the prayer of
King Amauri, (A.D. 1195-1205,) that he would commit his knowledged 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.)]

[Footnote 135: The compiler of this work, Jean d'Ibelin, was count of
Jaffa and Ascalon, lord of Baruth (Berytus) and Rames, and die