The Bailliage

Abstract

EVEN before John of Beirut had tried to make use of the Assise sur la ligece in 1232 another legal and constitutional issue, the powers that could be exercised by a bailli, had begun to attract the attention of the leading vassals. In the Kingdom of Jerusalem the title of bailli was given to many who held executive powers, including minor officials in the royal domain and the lordships, administrators in the Military Orders and particularly those who presided over the administration in the absence of the king. But it was not a very accurate term even when used of the last of these groups, because it was given indiscriminately to those chosen to rule in times of minority or when the heir to the throne had not come to Palestine to be crowned, and to those whom established kings and regents appointed to take their places temporarily while they were out of the country. A differentiation can be made by referring to members of the first class as regents and to members of the second as lieutenants. Practical necessity forced the jurists to consider the powers of both these types of men: in the 1230s the vassals were engaged in a conflict with Frederick II over them; and there was in fact a resident or properly crowned monarch in Palestine for only eleven of the first seventy years of the thirteenth century.