CHAP. III.]

ST. JOHN . OF JERUSALEM.

165

where were buried the ancestry of Israel, and wasanointed and crowned king at Bethlehem by thePatriarch; not following Godfrey’s example in thisquite, yet surely in part, since he was crowned atBethlehem, not exactly in the city, where hisSaviour was crowned with thorns. 1 Even so, whatBaldwin took at Bethlehem was like no mortalcrown, hut in some degree resembled Christ’s,and a pious action, full of danger, misery, andself-sacrifice. 2 The spot where his coronationtook place was in a most neglected state years ago,and worse now. 3 Baldwin the First’s next act wasto hold a court and council of all the grandees atJerusalem, in Solomon’s palace, 4 as well as puttinginto effect his brother’s compilation, the assize ofJerusalem, by a solemn establishment of the benchof judicature. Any difficulties were quickly over-come by the cital of Godfrey, whose very name hada sanctified authority inappealable. Again, in 1101,upon a military advance beyond Jordan, an actof sweet and noble charity merited the oath of aMussulman never to forget the generosity ofBaldwin.

1 Hallam: Middle Ages, i., 26. Note 1.

2 Michaud: Hist., ii. 18.

3 Id.: Corr. d’Orient, iv. 215.