The Holy Land in the Era of the Crusades by Helena Schrader;

Author:Helena Schrader;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Middle East / Israel & Palestine
Publisher: Casemate Publishers & Book Distributors, LLC

The concept of all knights being equal can be traced back to the reign of Amalric I. In a move to increase royal power over the magnates, King Amalric I introduced the ‘Assise sur la ligece’, which required the so-called rear vassals, the vassals of the prominent ‘tenants-in-chief’, to do ‘liege-homage’ to the king in addition to the homage they gave to their direct overlord. ‘Assise sur la ligece’ also gave the king the right to demand fealty from the rear vassals and effectively force them to abandon their direct overlord in the event of disputes between the king and his great vassals. However, it also had the collateral effect of making rear vassals peers of the realm, entitled to sit on the High Court and raise issues directly before the king.

Legal scholars agree that the High Courts of Jerusalem and later Cyprus were more powerful than the parliament in England during this period. La Monte summarised the High Court’s powers as follows:

It included within its sphere of activity the modern departments of executive, legislative, and judiciary. Its word was law … and the king who endeavored to act without the advice of, or contrary to the decisions of, his High Court found himself confronted with a legalized rebellion on the part of his subjects.4

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