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Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_Part_3 · Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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  Speaker 1: A specified in which it was the inevitable result of
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  Speaker 1: the challenge. If a faithful vassal gave the lead to
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  Speaker 1: his compeer who unjustly claimed any portion of their lord's demensis,
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  Speaker 1: or if an unsuccessful suitor presumed to impeach the judgment
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  Speaker 1: and veracity of the court, he might impeach them, but
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  Speaker 1: the terms were severe and perilous. In the same day
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  Speaker 1: he successively fought all the members of the tribunal, even
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  Speaker 1: those who had been absent. A single defeat was followed
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  Speaker 1: by death and infamy, And where none could hope for victory,
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  Speaker 1: it is highly probable that none would adventure the trial.
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  Speaker 1: In the Aussisse of Jerusalem. The legal subtlety of the
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  Speaker 1: Count of Chaffa is more laudably employed to elude than
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  Speaker 1: to facilitate the judicial combat, which he derives from a
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  Speaker 1: principle of honour rather than of superstition. Among the causes
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  Speaker 1: which enfranchised the Plebeians from the yoke of feudal tyranny,
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  Speaker 1: the institution of cities and corporations is one of the
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  Speaker 1: most powerful, and if those of Palestine are coeval with
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  Speaker 1: the First Crusade, they may be ranked with the most
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  Speaker 1: ancient of the Latin world. Many of the pilgrims had
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  Speaker 1: escaped from their lords under the banner of the Cross,
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  Speaker 1: and it was the policy of the French princes to
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  Speaker 1: tempt their stay by the assurance of the rights and
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  Speaker 1: privileges of free men. It is expressly declared in the
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  Speaker 1: Assisse of Jerusalem that, after instituting for his knights and
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  Speaker 1: barons the court of peers, in which he presided himself,
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  Speaker 1: Godfrey of Boullion established a second tribunal, in which his
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  Speaker 1: person was represented by his viscount. The jurisdiction of this
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  Speaker 1: inferior court extended over the burgess of the kingdom, and
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  Speaker 1: it was composed of a select number of the most
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  Speaker 1: discreet and worthy citizens, who were sworn to judge according
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  Speaker 1: to the laws of the actions and fortunes of their equals.
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  Speaker 1: In the contest and settlement of new cities, the example
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  Speaker 1: of Jerusalem was imitated by the kings and their great vassals,
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  Speaker 1: and above thirty similar corporations were founded before the loss
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  Speaker 1: of the Holy Land. Another class of subjects, the Syrians
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  Speaker 1: or Oriental Christians, were oppressed by the zeal of the
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  Speaker 1: clergy and protected by the toleration of the state Godfrey
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  Speaker 1: listened to their reasonable prayer that they might be judged
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  Speaker 1: by their own national laws. A third court was instituted
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  Speaker 1: for their use of limited and domestic jurisdiction. The sworn
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  Speaker 1: members were Syrians in blood, language and religion, but the
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  Speaker 1: office of the president in Arabic of the race was
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  Speaker 1: sometimes exercised by the viscount of the city at an
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  Speaker 1: immeasurable distance below the nobles, the burgess, and the strangers.
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  Speaker 1: The Aussi Say of Jerusalem condescends to mention the villains
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  Speaker 1: and slaves, the peasants of the land, and the captives
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  Speaker 1: of war, who were almost equally considered as the objects
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  Speaker 1: of property. The relief or protection of these unhappy men
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  Speaker 1: was not esteemed worthy of the care of the legislator,
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  Speaker 1: but he diligently provides for the recovery, though not indeed
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  Speaker 1: for the punishment of the fugitives, like hounds or hawks,
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  Speaker 1: who had strayed from the lawful owner. They might be
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  Speaker 1: lost and claimed. The slave and falcon were of the
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  Speaker 1: same value, but three slaves or twelve oxen were accumulated
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  Speaker 1: to equal the price of the war horse, and a
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  Speaker 1: sum of three hundred pieces of gold was fixed in
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  Speaker 1: the age of chivalry as the equivalent of the more
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  Speaker 1: noble animal,