als; and above thirty similar corporations were founded before
the loss of the Holy Land. Another class of subjects, the Syrians,
or Oriental Christians, were oppressed by the zeal of the clergy, and
protected by the toleration of the state. Godfrey listened to their
reasonable prayer, that they might be judged by their own national laws.
A third court was instituted for their use, of limited and domestic
jurisdiction: the sworn members were Syrians, in blood, language, and
religion; but the office of the president (in Arabic, of the _rais_)
was sometimes exercised by the viscount of the city. At an immeasurable
distance below the _nobles_, the _burgesses_, and the _strangers_, the
Assise of Jerusalem condescends to mention the _villains_ and _slaves_,
the peasants of the land and the captives of war, who were almost
equally considered as the objects of property. The relief or protection
of these unhappy men was not esteemed worthy of the care of the
legislator; but he diligently provides for the recovery, though not
indeed for the punishment, of the fugitives. Like hounds, or hawks, who
had strayed from the lawful owner, they might be lost and claimed: the
slave and falcon were of the same value; but three slaves, or twelve
oxen, were accumulated to equal the price of the war-horse; and a sum of
three hundred pieces of gold was fixed, in the age of chivalry, as the
equivalent of the more noble animal.

End of Volume V.

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