[The Assises de
Jerusalem were the digest of feudal law, composed by Godfrey of
Boulogne, for the government of the Latin kingdom of Palestine,
when reconquered from the Saracens. "It was composed with advice
of the patriarch and barons, the clergy and laity, and is," says
the historian Gibbon, "a precious monument of feudatory
jurisprudence, founded upon those principles of freedom which
were essential to the system."] A king should tread freely,
Grand Master, and should not be controlled by here a ditch, and
there a fence-here a feudal privilege, and there a mail-clad
baron with his sword in his hand to maintain it. To sum the
whole, I am aware that Guy de Lusignan's claims to the throne
would be preferred to mine, if Richard recovers, and has aught to
say in the choice."
"Enough," said the Grand Master; "thou hast indeed convinced me
of thy sincerity. Others may hold the same opinions, but few,
save Conrade of Montserrat, dared frankly avow that he desires
not the restitution of the kingdom of Jerusalem, but rather
prefers being master of a portion of its fragments--like the
barbarous islanders, who labour not for the deliverance of a
goodly vessel from the billows, expecting rather to enrich
themselves at the expense of the wreck.
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