Assizes of Jerusalem

Assizes of Jerusalem, a law code based on a series of customs and practices that developed in the Latin crusader kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century. It stands as one of the most complete monuments of feudal law.

The basis for the assizes was laid by Godfrey of Bouillon (d. 1100), first ruler of the kingdom. He asked his leading men to query crusaders regarding customs and practices prevalent in the West. The customs that were adopted were primarily French and were intended to govern and guard a population surrounded by enemies and dependent upon military service to maintain itself. Deposited in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the code was referred to as Lettres du Sepulchre (“Letters of the Sepulchre”).

The assizes provided for such things as the king’s officers, administration of justice, collection of taxes, granting of fiefs, provisions for military service, and regulation of trade. The original Lettres du Sepulchre perished at the capture of Jerusalem in 1187, but another compilation was made in the 13th century by a group of lawyers in the kingdom of Cyprus, where remnants of Frankish society in the Latin East settled after the Muslim reconquest of the Holy Land. Though the assizes were revised over the subsequent 300 years, they still elucidate the nature of the feudal state in the European Middle Ages.