bjj belt system

It is a common misconception that women in the Middle Ages lacked fundamental rights and were nothing but “chattels.” I’ve written about this in various forums in the past. Today I want to take a closer look at the rights Frankish women enjoyed (or didn’t) before the High Courts of Jerusalem and Cyprus based on the writings of two of the most important 13th-century jurists, Philip de Novare, and John d’Ibelin of Jaffa. First, let me explain exactly what "the High Court" was. The High Court of both Jerusalem and Cyprus was composed of all the vassals — from 1162 including “rear-vassals,” i.e. men who owed their fief to another vassal — of the king. It ruled on all matters pertaining to relations between the King and his vassals and between members of this feudal upper class. A series of other courts (e.g. the Court of the Bourgeois, the Court of the Chain, canonical courts, manorial courts) regulated the affairs of the merchant class, commercial disputes, matters governed ...

Balian, the Lord of Beirut’s eldest son and heir, was the head of the Ibelin family in the fourth generation of the House.  He was a grandson of that Balian d’Ibelin who defended Jerusalem against Saladin in 1187, and the eldest son and heir of the leader of the baronial opposition to Frederick II, the “Old Lord” of Beirut. Yet according to his close friend and “compeer” Philip de Novare, he was a man of decidedly different temperament and personality from his more famous forefathers. Today I conclude my biographical sketch of Balian d’Ibelin II.   Philip de Novare tells us that when making his testament, the “Old Lord” of Beirut “gave many fiefs to his children and ordered that they should hold them of their eldest brother and be his vassals.” [i] In short, Balian was to the senior and greatest beneficiary of his father’s estate.   Clearly, Balian had been fully forgiven of any transgressions against his father. He assumed the leadership of the family. Yet we should ...

  Balian, the Lord of Beirut’s eldest son and heir, was a close friend and “compeer” of Philip de Novare. He, therefore, figures comparatively prominently in Novare’s autobiographical account of the civil wars.  He was an ardent supporter of his father’s struggle for the Rule of Law in Outremer and took over as the leader of the baronial opposition to Hohenstaufen rule in the crusader states at his father’s death in 1236. Yet, based on Novare’s account (who knew both men well), he had a decidedly different temperament and personality from his father. I provide a biography in two parts.   Balian first enters the historical record on the (unnamed) day of his knighting. Interestingly, Novare notes that he and his younger brother Baldwin were knighted jointly, suggesting that either Balian’s knighting was delayed or his brother’s was moved forward — or both. The knighting of a lord’s eldest son was always celebrated more or less lavishly, and a lord was often allowed to le...