The Book of James of Ibelin
Introduction
The Book (Livre) of James of Ibelin is a legal treatise composed in crusader Cyprus in the later thirteenth century. Its author was a member of the powerful Ibelin dynasty, most likely the son of the most famous Frankish jurist John of Ibelin, the count of Jaffa of Ascalon (d. 1266). Like his father John and the earlier jurist Philip of Novara, James was concerned with the feudal law of the kingdom's High Court (Haut Cour), the law the pertained to nobles and knights in their dealings with each other and with the crown. Other legal traditions also existed in the crusader states which were dealt in separate works by other authors, such as the law of the town and merchant courts.
James himself did not provide an introduction or prologue explaining the contents and purpose of his work, as had John of Ibelin and Philip of Novara; the short prologue below was added by a later copyist. A note added at the beginning of a different manuscript claims that James wrote his Book on his deathbed in 1276. According to the author of this introduction, the assizes are presented "purely", without all the lengthy digressions on court procedure and pleading that are found in John's lengthier treatise, and without the personal commentary that is characteristic of Philip's work. While we cannot be certain as to the intended function of James's Book, from its contents it would seem that he wanted to provide a reference guide to what he saw as the most important elements of feudal law. Often, it seems like James is trying to suggest the best ways for a litigant before the High Court to avoid harm in the legal process (for instance by avoiding or otherwise mitigating a dangerous trial by battle).
James himself did not provide an introduction or prologue explaining the contents and purpose of his work, as had John of Ibelin and Philip of Novara; the short prologue below was added by a later copyist. A note added at the beginning of a different manuscript claims that James wrote his Book on his deathbed in 1276. According to the author of this introduction, the assizes are presented "purely", without all the lengthy digressions on court procedure and pleading that are found in John's lengthier treatise, and without the personal commentary that is characteristic of Philip's work. While we cannot be certain as to the intended function of James's Book, from its contents it would seem that he wanted to provide a reference guide to what he saw as the most important elements of feudal law. Often, it seems like James is trying to suggest the best ways for a litigant before the High Court to avoid harm in the legal process (for instance by avoiding or otherwise mitigating a dangerous trial by battle).
Note on translation
The translation here was made from the Old French text of John's Book edited by Auguste-Arthur Beugnot for the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres in the Lois volume of the Recueil des historians des croisades (Paris, 1841), 454-468.
A team of scholars translated this work collaboratively using FromThePage platform. A side-by-side comparison of the translation with the Old French text and annotations can be consulted at the text's FromthePage site.
Translators: Laura Morreale, Thomas O'Donnell, Brian Reilly, Adam Bishop, Mark Cruse, Nicholas Paul
A team of scholars translated this work collaboratively using FromThePage platform. A side-by-side comparison of the translation with the Old French text and annotations can be consulted at the text's FromthePage site.
Translators: Laura Morreale, Thomas O'Donnell, Brian Reilly, Adam Bishop, Mark Cruse, Nicholas Paul
The Book of James of Ibelin
Prologue
You have heard and understood so far the rulings and the practices for pleading in the kingdom of Jerusalem and now you can hear them plainly, without instructions about the manner of pleading; those are the assises made by my lord James of Ibelin: may God have true mercy on his soul.
According to that which I have long seen and heard and which I surely understand to be the good practices and the good customs of the kingdom of Jerusalem. I will divide them up for you to be recorded by chapters, just as will be written down hereafter. And so I will begin with the first matter.
According to that which I have long seen and heard and which I surely understand to be the good practices and the good customs of the kingdom of Jerusalem. I will divide them up for you to be recorded by chapters, just as will be written down hereafter. And so I will begin with the first matter.
Chapter 1
When the kingdom of Jerusalem escheats to any man who might be the rightful heir of the said kingdom, he should assemble the greater part of the best of the liege men of the said kingdom, and should let them know how the kingdom has escheated to him, and tell them how and for what reason, because perhaps there might be someone who did know about it before he heard it from him. And then he should require them collectively that they do for him as to a lord and to the rightful heir that which they should do on account of their fiefs, their sworn allegiances, and their other dues, and afterwards on account of the services, according to what each one owes. And he should offer first and foremost to do for them whatever the lord should do when he enters and receives such a lordship; and those men then ought to go all together to one side and make known what the lord has requested of them and offered. And if they are certain that he is the rightful heir, as he claims to be, they should immediately come before the lord and say to him: “Lord, we acknowledge that you are the one as you have said, and we are ready and prepared to do what you have requested without delay, provided that you do first and foremost what you should do for us, just as you have offered. Then the Gospels should be brought out, and the lord should kneel and place his right palm upon them, and one of the men should speak in the following manner and say: “Lord, you swear on the holy Gospels of the Lord, as a Christian, that you will guard, and preserve, and maintain, and defend with all of your rightful (leau) power the holy church and the widows and the orphans throughout the kingdom in their rights. And furthermore, by your said oath, you will hold and cause to be held and to be fulfilled by all your rightful (leal) power the good uz and the good costumes and the assises which were established (ordenées) and made in the said kingdom, that is as [they are] understood through the whole kingdom. And furthermore, by your said oath, to hold and to maintain and to preserve the grants and the privileges which your ancestors have given and made in that kingdom; and if there is any disagreement about the grants and privileges that they [i.e., the ancestors] have made, that you will promise to pass judgment on those disagreements by the esgart or by the conoissance of your court. And furthermore as you are bound, by your sworn oath, to hold and to maintain and to cause to be held and to be fulfilled, by that is in your rightful (leau) power, justice. And after the above said things have been carried out, the lord should sit down; and the men one after the other should come before him, and each one, in making his homage, should kneel and place his hands together within those of the lord; and another of the men should say: “You make liege homage to my lord the king, on account of the fief that you have and you hold, which you should hold from him; and you promise to guard him and to protect him as you liege lord against all who may live and die. And he receives you in God’s faith and in his own as his liege man, he will safeguard your rights as his own.” And each of the parties should confirm what has been said and say “Yes”, and then they should kiss one another in [good] faith. And all the liege men who are in the kingdom or who will be there should have either made or offered to make, within the forty days, their homage to the lord. And then the said men should, at the request of their lord, make fealty, namely to swear on the holy Gospels of the Lord to guard and the protect and defend against anyone the body of the lord and his towns (villes) and castles (chastiaus) and his kingdom for him and, after him, for his rightful heirs.
Chapter 2
And the liege men [who are] knights, who owe service of the body for their fief, should serve the lord with their arms and with one horse and with two additional mounts; and furthermore [such a liege man] should be prepared to come to carry out commands, especially to be at the court of pleas and of requests, and to go to the counsel of anyone to whom the lord has given him by the commandment of the lord; and [he should] carry out the judgments (esgarts) and the decisions (conoissances) and the securities (recors) that the court has made, and report them; and go to see the crimes or the murders that the malefactors have done; and summon any person, if the lord orders it; and, when men are in conflict, make division or partition of the water and the land; and to see evidence at the designated place; and to make inquiries; and to maintain a field for champions; and, in the company of his men, he should serve with one horse and two other mounts. And the man is bound to the lord by homage and the promise that he has made, as has been laid out above with regard to homage; and it should be understood that this [the homage and the promise] is to protect and safeguard and defend and maintain his body and his possessions (honors), and he should not himself cause nor tolerate nor allow anyone to bring him either into shame or belittlement. And the lord is held to his man on the faith that he has received him and by the confirmation of the kiss, when he has done homage to him, to guard him and to protect him as his man, and neither to attempt himself nor to consent that anyone should bring him into dishonour nor harm him where he has it in his power.
Chapter 3
The man should perform homage to the lord when he comes into his lordship, or offer to perform it for him, for the fief that he holds from him, within the forty days (all as has already been said). And if he is excused, he should make known to the lord his excuse within the said term, and if he does not do it and the term has passed, the lord can have if he wishes, by the court, his fief, and hold it and enjoy the benefits of it until that [man] comes and either does homage to him or offers to do it: and as for the excuse, one should present it just as other excuses are presented in other cases. And the one who happens not to be in the kingdom, but is in the land on this side of the sea, he should have a postponement, in addition to the forty days, of three weeks, which is seventeen days, if it is summer; and if it is winter, three months; and if he is across the sea (outremer), a year and a day. And if the men of the men who owe allegiance to the chief lord, following the assise, have not made or have not offered to make the said liege homage to the chief lord within a year and a day, and the lord wishes to pursue, it by the court; he should lose all advantage and all profit which he would have in it if he had made or offered to make the said liege homage. This profit is determined in the judgment (assise) which was made when the disagreement arose between King Amalric and Lord Gerard of Sidon (i.e. the Assise sur la ligece).
Chapter 4
And the lord is obliged to have his liegeman settle arguments, whatever they might be, that exist or that may come to pass between him and his man, or from one man with regard to the other of some man which he is, to offer judgment to his man by the esgart of his court, if he or another require from him the esgart. And he [the lord] should not place his hand on his [the man’s] body nor on his fief nor on his possessions if the court has not recognized in advance that he has the power to do so.
Chapter 5
And the lord should receive acts of homage from men of his kingdom –those who ought to perform them at the time when they are prepared for it, such as when the fief is owed to them. And if [the lord] does not do it [i.e. receive the act of homage] or does not give the reason why he ought not receive it, for instance that the court judges or recognizes that he has a right to refuse it, and if [the man] tries more than once, and one year and one day pass, the man does not owe homage any more. Nor must he offer it as long as he lives; and so he ought to have his fief in its entirety until the said term, without service. And whichever one [i.e. the lord or the man] dies earlier, the arrangement persists; and nothing whatsoever is lost for that man: he is a peer among the other liege men. And the man should make or offer to make homage to his lord such as he owes for the fief; and if he does not, and a year and a day passes, the lord should have his fief as long as he lives, and whichever one dies earlier, the arrangement persists.
Chapter 6
And if anyone who owes liege homage following the assise offers to perform it for the lord just as he should, and one year and one day passes without [the lord] receiving either it or a worthwhile explanation why he has not received it, the lord loses all the advantage which he would have had over him if he had received the said liege homage. This is all just as the advantage is set out in the peace which was made when there was the disagreement between King Amalric and Gerard of Sidon [i.e. the assise sur la ligece]. And the man does not lose anything of the advantages, nor of the profits that were stipulated that he ought to have in the said assise.