volume one

HISTORY or TUE CRUSADES. 273
every institution that was reasonable in the feudal system.
Palestine was then blessed by the revival of wise laws created
for Europe, but wliich Europe had forgotten amidst the
anarchy of civil wars ; many ameliorations made in feudal
legislation in some of the states of the West, particularly
m the cities of Italv, were consecrated in the new laws of
Jerusalem.
It miist be believed that in this circumstance religion
sometimes mingled her usefid inspirations with those of
human sagacity ; justice and humanity assumed a more
sacred character in the presence of the holy tomb. As all
the subjects of Grodfrey were called upon to defend the cause
of God, the quality of a soldier of Jesus Christ might make
the dignity of man respected. If it be true that the establishment
of the commons, or a second court, was the work
of the Crusaders, we cannot, with truth, assert that these
wars contributed nothing towards the progress of civilization.
The laws which they made, and in which may be plainly seen
the first glimpses of regulated liberty, were a new spectacle
for Asia ; they must likewise have been a subject of surprise
and a means of instruction for Europe itself, where pilgrims
related, on their return, the usages and customs established
by the Pranks in the Holy Land. This code of legislation,
the best, or rather the least imperfect that had existed previous
to that time, and which increased or was modified
under other reigns, was deposited with great pomp in the
church of the Resurrection, and took the name of the Assizes
of Jerusalem, or Letters of the Holy Sepulchre.
After this ceremony, which was performed in the presence
of all the pilgrims, the Latin princes then at Jerusalem
returned to their own states ; Baldwin to Edessa, Bohemond
to his principality of Antioch, and Raymond to Laodicea, of
which he had rendered himself master, and which he governed
in the name of the emperor of Constantinople. Scarcely
had Tancred returned to his principality when he was
attacked by all tlie forces of the sultan of Damascus. Godfrey,
accompanied by his faithful knights and a great number
of pilgrims eager to fight under his command, repaired immediately
into Galilee, defeated the Saracens, and pursued
them to the mountains of Libanus.
As he was returning from this expedition, the emir of