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[ See St. Bernard de Laude Novae Militiae Templi, composed 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 historians of Malta.]
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[ Matthew Paris, Hist. Major, p. 544. He assigns to the Hospitallers 19,000, to the Templars 9,000 maneria, 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.]
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[ In the three first books of the Histoire de Chevaliers de Malthe par l’Abbe de Vertot, the reader may amuse himself with a fair, and sometimes flattering, picture of the order, while it was employed for the defence of Palestine. The subsequent books pursue their emigration to Rhodes and Malta.]
The spirit of freedom, which pervades the feudal institutions, was felt in its strongest energy by the volunteers of the cross, 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 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]
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[ 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.]
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[ 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.]