Officials of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

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In the kingdom of Jerusalem , there were six major offices: the constable , the marshal , the steward , the eunuchs , the butler and the Chancellor . The first four formed the major offices. At times there were still baillis, vice counts, and castellans . Essentially, these offices came from the north French feudalism of the 11th century , the home of the Crusader nobility of Outremer . While they continued to develop in France and England at the same time, they did not in the Kingdom of Jerusalem, where their development almost came to a standstill. Therefore, the content and functions of the offices soon differed from those of the countries of origin of the crusaders, whereby the office structure of the crusader state appeared archaic compared to the more modern European monarchies.

The following list is not complete, especially since the names and dates of the officers are partly unknown.

Constable

The constable commanded the army, paid mercenaries and judged legal cases involving the military. He was the most important official in an empire that was almost constantly at war.

Marshal

The marshal was subordinate to the constable and obviously also his vassal . He led the mercenaries and looked after the army's horses (the stables ) and distributed the booty from a victorious battle. The office was of little importance.

Seneschal

The Seneschal was less important in Jerusalem than in Europe. The Seneschal hosted the coronation ceremony and watched the Haute Cour in the king's absence. He oversaw the royal castles and organized the royal finances. He also collected the royal taxes.

Chamberlain

The chamberlain was in charge of the royal household and its servants, and had other honorable duties, such as taking vows. He had his own fiefdom from which he drew his salary.

  • Strabulon (around 1099)
  • Gottfried (around 1099)
  • Gerhard (1108–1115)
  • Johann (1119–1128)
  • Ralph (1129-1130)
  • Joscelin (around 1138)
  • Miles (around 1138)
  • Nicholas (1150–1152)
  • Gauvain of La Roche (around 1156)
  • Gerhard von Pugi (around 1169)
  • Amalrich of Lusignan (1175–1178)
  • Johann (around 1179)
  • Raimund (around 1184)
  • Balian of Jaffa (1183–1185)
  • Thomas (1190-1197)
  • Heinrich von Canelli (around 1192)
  • Johann (around 1194)
  • Rohard of Caiaphas (1201-1220)
  • Rainald of Caiaphas (1229-1232)
  • Johann von Cossie (1232-1250)
  • Philip of Cossie (1250-1269)

Cupbearer

The duties of the cupbearer are not known; it even seems to be the case that the office did not survive the move from Jerusalem to Acre.

  • Winrich (around 1099)
  • Gervais (around 1107)
  • Pagan (around 1120–1136)
  • Robert Crispin (1145–1146)
  • Odo of St. Amand (1164–1167)
  • Miles (1185-1186)

Chancellor

The office is an interesting example of the petrification of office in the 11th century. It consisted of only a few secretaries and clerks and never became a large administration, as in Europe. Chancellors were often clerics, often became bishops or archbishops, sometimes maintaining their office as chancellor. The comparatively insignificance of the chancellor reflects the relative decentralization of royal authority compared to states like France or England, which at the same time developed more and more central authority.

Bailli

The bailiff (or bailiff ) administered the kingdom in the absence of the king or his minority with the powers of a regent, for example during the captivity of Baldwin II and the youth and illness of Baldwin IV. In the 13th century , the bailli essentially ruled himself as one King and was the most powerful man in the empire, especially as the kings were usually foreign monarchs who did not live permanently in the Middle East.

Vice counts and castellans

The two offices were sometimes held by one person, sometimes by two. Sometimes, however, one or both positions were vacant. They were appointed by the king and lived in the Tower of David , but their duties are not exactly known. The vice count was responsible for the jurisdiction, administration and economic use of the entire crown domain, while the castellan was responsible for administrative tasks in the city fortress of Jerusalem - presumably with a military focus. With the increasing distribution of the lands of the Crown Domain as fiefs to vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , the office of Vice Count lost its importance and apparently eventually disappeared. The post of castellan of Jerusalem became superfluous after the city was lost to the Muslims in 1187 and was never again occupied.

  • Anselm (castellan, around 1110)
  • Pisellus (Vice Count, 1109–1115)
  • Anchetinus (Vice Count, 1120–1132)
  • Rohard the Elder (both ?, 1135–1152)
  • Arnold (Vice Count, 1155–1181?)
  • Odo of St. Amand (both, around 1160)
  • Rohard the Younger (both, 1163–1177)
  • Peter of Creseto (castellan, around 1173?)
  • Balian of Jaffa (castellan, around April / May 1178)
  • Peter of Creseto (castellan, around November 1178)
  • Rohard the Younger (castellan, around 1179)
  • Peter of Creseto (castellan, around 1181)

literature

  • Charles du Cange : Les Familles d'outre-mer. Publiées par Emmanuel-Guillaume Rey. Imprimerie Impériale, Paris 1869, digitized .
  • Johann L. La Monte: Feudal Monarchy in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem 1100 to 1291 (= The Mediaeval Academy of America. Publication. 11, ISSN  0076-583X = Monographs of the Mediaeval Academy of America. 4). The Medieval Academy of America, Cambridge MA 1932.
  • Hans Eberhard Mayer : The Crusades. 2nd edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1965.
  • Joshua Prawer: The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. European Colonialism in the Middle Ages. Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London 1972, ISBN 0-297-99397-6 .
  • Hans Eberhard Mayer: The crusader rule Montréal (Šōbak). Jordan in the 12th century (= treatises of the German Palestine Association. Vol. 14). Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-447-02988-9 .
  • Hans Eberhard Mayer: The chancellery of the Latin kings of Jerusalem (= writings of the Monumenta Germaniae historica. Vol. 40). 2 volumes. Hahn, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5440-4 .