Assize of Jerusalem

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The Assises of Jerusalem is a collection of private legal texts from the Kingdom of Jerusalem , which were written between 1197 and 1291.

history

The history of the legal texts of the Kingdom of Jerusalem is difficult to trace, especially for the years after the establishment of the Kingdom up to the year 1187. This is because there are no existing legal texts for this time. Due to tradition and individual assists , one can only partially reconstruct the laws from this time. During this period the assises were summarized in the "Lettres dou Sepulcre". Their existence is controversial. Its specific content is also unknown. In the 13th century, a real surge of private legal texts began, which were primarily created by the nobles . They tried to enforce their rights against the weak king in their works. For this reason, these works do not necessarily reflect the true circumstances, but often represent the "wishes" of the feudal barons . For this reason, the works should be viewed with caution. The works have only survived in the Kingdom of Cyprus , where they were copied and used. Most of the copies date from the 14th century. This poses a problem because it cannot be ruled out that certain articles from Cyprus have been interpolated.

Brief overview of legal history

1099
Conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders ; Founding of the Haute Cour and the Cour des Bourgeois by Gottfried von Bouillon
1100
Creation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem; Creation of the Lettres dou Sepulcre
1120
Synod and Assize of Nablus; Foundation of the Knights Templar
1170
Assise sur la Ligece (King Amalrich I )
1187
Loss of Jerusalem, Acre becomes the new capital
1200-1291
Creation of the Kingdom's Law Books
1229-1244
Jerusalem again owned by the Crusaders
1291
Loss of recent crusader holdings on the Middle Eastern mainland

The Legal Assemblies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

Les Lettres du Sepulcre

This is a historically no longer comprehensible collection of assistants from the 12th century. It is scientifically controversial whether it even existed. It was stored in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. She had to be brought out when making decisions. The letters of the writing were made of gold. It disappeared when Saladin conquered Jerusalem in 1187.

Le livre au roi

The work consisted of 52 articles and dealt exclusively with the rights of the king. It was created around 1197–1203 under King Amalrich II.

Le livre des assises des bourgeois

This work contains the rights of the Frankish bourgeoisie and consists of 297 or 298 articles. It is the only work in the Kingdom of Jerusalem that is almost exclusively dedicated to the Frankish citizens. It is partly based on the old French text of Lo Codi, from the south of France. Beugnot believed it originated in the 12th century, whereas Maurice Grandclaude believed it originated in Acre around 1240. Marwan Nader assumes that it developed in phases, so that it includes parts from the 12th and 13th centuries and continued until around 1250. Venice officially translated the text into Italian in 1531. It officially came into force in 1534.

Le livre de Philippe de Novare (Le livre de forme de plait)

This private work was created by Philipp von Novara around 1252–1257. It contains 94 items. He was a follower of Jean d'Ibelin , the greatest feudal lawyer in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Le livre de Jean d'Ibelin

This private work contains 239 articles and was written between 1264 and 1266. It was written by Jean d'Ibelin, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon, the most powerful feudal lord of his time. It is the largest work written in the Middle East and Europe at the time. It was officially translated into Italian by Venice in 1531.

Le livre de Jacques d'Ibelin

Jean d'Ibelin's son, Jacques d'Ibelin, wrote this work. It comprises 69 articles and was created between 1270 and 1291.

Le livre de Geoffrey le Tort

The book contains "only" 32 articles and was written between 1269 and 1288 by Geoffrey le Tort.

La clef des assises

The work comprises 290 short articles and was written in 1286–1291. The author is unknown. This is a process book.

Les livres du plédeant et du plaidoyer (Abrége du livre des Assises des bourgeois)

This book contains about 55 articles and was written in Cyprus around the middle of the 14th century. It is a summary or abridged version of "Le livre des assises des bourgeois". Whereby the prevailing Cypriot law was written down there and not that of Jerusalem.

Further Franconian legal texts from the Middle East

Assises d'Antioche

This is the only legal source that has been preserved from another Frankish state (Principality of Antioch) in the Middle East at the time of the Crusades that does not come from the Kingdom of Jerusalem. The text is an Armenian translation of the Assises of Antioch from 1265. It contains the rights of the nobles and the bourgeoisie. Sempad wrote it. He was the brother of King Hethum I of Lesser Armenia . It is apparently a shortened version of the Assises of Antioch. This legal text is not officially counted among the Assizes of Jerusalem because it did not originate in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and was only scientifically accessible after Beugnot's work.

Important editions from the 19th to 20th centuries

Sources in the 19th century.

Flexion difficulty
It is a complete edition of all works (without the Assises d'Antioche), but in which the work of Jean d'Ibelin and the Le livre des assises des bourgeois have not been properly researched.
Kausler (Munich CG 51)
Today it is considered the most authentic version of "Le livre des assises des bourgeois".
Foucher (Venice)
Generally considered too watered down. It contains the Italian translation of Le livre des assises des bourgeois

Sources in the 20th century.

Greilsammer
Edition of the Livre au Roi

Sources in the 21st century

Edbury
  • Complete edition of Jean d'Ibelin's work
  • Le livre de forme de plait, a new edition of the book by Philippe de Novarra by Peter Edbury.

Nicholas Coureas
It is the English translation of Le livre des assises des bourgeois, based on two Greek texts.

Edition texts

  • M. Le Comte Beugnot, ed., Recueil des Historiens des Croisades. Lois, tome premier. Paris: Académie Royal des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1841.
  • M. Le Comte Beugnot, ed., Recueil des Historiens des Croisades. Lois, tome deuxième. Paris: Académie Royal des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1843.
  • Eduard Heinrich von Kausler, Les Livres des Assises et des Usages dou Reaume de Jerusalem: sive leges et instituta regni Hierosolymitani: primum integra ex genuinis depromta codicibus mss. adjecta lectionum varietate cum glossarin et indicibus, 1839.
  • Victor Voucher, Assises du royaume de Jérusalem: (textes français et Italien) conférées entre-elles, ainsi qu'avec les lois des Francs, les capitulaires, les établissements de St. Louis et le droit romain, suivies d'un précis historique et d'un glossaire / publiées sur un manuscr. tiré de la Bibliothèque de Saint-Marc de Venise par Victor Foucher, Rennes, 1839–1841.
  • Nicholas Coureas, trans., The Assizes of the Lusignan Kingdom of Cyprus. Nicosia: Cyprus Research Center, 2002.
  • Philip of Novara, Le Livre de forme de plait, ed. And trans. Peter W. Edbury. Nicosia: Cyprus Research Center, 2009.
  • John of Ibelin, Le Livre des Assises, ed. Peter W. Edbury. Leiden: Brill, 2003.
  • Myriam Greilsammer, ed., Le Livre au Roi. Paris: Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 1995.
  • Assises d'Antioche: réproduites en français et publiées au sixième centenaire de la mort de Sempad le connétable, leur ancien traducteur arménien: dédiées à l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres de France par la Société mekhithariste de Saint-Lazare, Impr. arménienne medaillée, 1876.

literature

  • Peter W. Edbury: Law and Custom in the Latin East: Les Letres dou Sepulcre. Mediterranean Historical Review 10 (1995).
  • Maurice Grandclaude: List des assises remontant au premier royaume de Jérusalem (1099-1187). in Mélanges Paul Fournier. Paris: Société d'Histoire du Droit, 1929.
  • Joshua Prawer: Crusader Institutions. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1980.
  • Marwan Nader: Burgesses and Burgess law in the Latin Kingdoms of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1099-1325). Hampshire, 2006.