The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - Edward Gibbon [1980]
[Footnote 124: They were called by derision Poullains, Pallani, and their name is never pronounced without contempt, (Ducange, Gloss. Latin. tom. v. p. 535; and Observations sur Joinville, p. 84, 85; Jacob. a Vitriaco Hist. Hierosol. i. c. 67, 72; and Sanut, l. iii. p. viii. c. 2, p. 182.) Illustrium virorum, qui ad Terrae Sanctae .... liberationem in ipsa manserunt, degeneres filii .... in deliciis enutriti, molles et effoe minati, &c.]
[Footnote 125: This authentic detail is extracted from the Assises de Jerusalem (c. 324, 326 - 331.) Sanut (l. iii. p. viii. c. 1, p. 174) reckons only 518 knights, and 5775 followers.]
[Footnote 126: The sum total, and the division, ascertain the service of the three great baronies at 100 knights each; and the text of the Assises, which extends the number to 500, can only be justified by this supposition.]
[Footnote 127: Yet on great emergencies (says Sanut) the barons brought a voluntary aid; decentem comitivam militum juxta statum suum.]
[Footnote 128: William of Tyre (l. xviii. c. 3, 4, 5) relates the ignoble origin and early insolence of the Hospitallers, who soon deserted their humble patron, St. John the Eleemosynary, for the more august character of St. John the Baptist, (see the ineffectual struggles of Pagi, Critica, A. D 1099, No. 14 - 18.) They assumed the profession of arms about the year 1120; the Hospital was mater; the Temple filia; the Teutonic order was founded A.D. 1190, at the siege of Acre, (Mosheim Institut p. 389, 390.)]
[Footnote 129: See St. Bernard de Laude Novae Militiae Templi, composed A.D. 1132 - 1136, in Opp. tom. i. p. ii. p. 547 - 563, edit. Mabillon, Venet. 1750. Such an encomium, which is thrown away on the dead Templars, would be highly valued by the historians of Malta.]
[Footnote 130: Matthew Paris, Hist. Major, p. 544. He assigns to the Hospitallers 19,000, to the Templars 9,000 maneria, word of much higher import (as Ducange has rightly observed) in the English than in the French idiom. Manor is a lordship, manoir a dwelling.]
[Footnote 131: In the three first books of the Histoire de Chevaliers de Malthe par l'Abbe de Vertot, the reader may amuse himself with a fair, and sometimes flattering, picture of the order, while it was employed for the defence of Palestine. The subsequent books pursue their emigration to Rhodes and Malta.]
The spirit of freedom, which pervades the feudal institutions, was felt in its strongest energy by the volunteers of the cross, who elected for their chief the most deserving of his peers. Amidst the slaves of Asia, unconscious of the lesson or example, a model of political liberty was introduced; and the laws of the French kingdom are derived from the purest source of equality and justice. Of such laws, the first and indispensable condition is the assent of those whose obedience they require, and for whose benefit they are designed. No sooner had Godfrey of Bouillon accepted the office of supreme magistrate, than he solicited the public and private advice of the Latin pilgrims, who were the best skilled in the statutes and customs of Europe. From these materials, with the counsel and approbation of the patriarch and barons, of the clergy and laity, Godfrey composed the Assise of Jerusalem, ^132 a precious monument of feudal jurisprudence. The new code, attested by the seals of the king, the patriarch, and the viscount of Jerusalem, was deposited in the holy sepulchre, enriched with the improvements of succeeding times, and respectfully consulted as often as any doubtful question arose in the tribunals of Palestine. With the kingdom and city all was lost: ^133 the fragments of the written law were preserved by jealous tradition ^134 and variable practice till the middle of the thirteenth century: the code was restored by the pen of John d'Ibelin, count of Jaffa, one of the principal feudatories; ^135 and the final revision was accomplished in the year thirteen hundred and sixty-nine, for the use of the Latin kingdom of Cyprus.