The Council of Nablus was a council of ecclesiasic and secular lords in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, held on January 16, 1120. It established the first written laws for the kingdom. This article is about the medieval crusades. ... Official language Latin, French, Italian, and other western languages; Greek and Arabic also widely spoken Capital Jerusalem, later Acre Constitution Various laws, so-called Assizes of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 by the First Crusade. ... January 16 is the 16th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events Welcher of Malvern creates a system of measurement for the earth using degrees, minutes, and seconds of latitude and longitude. ...

History

The council was convened at Nablus by Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. It established twenty-five canons dealing with both religious and secular affairs. It was not quite a church council, but not quite a meeting of the royal court; according to Hans Mayer, due to the religious nature of many of the canons, it could be considered a concordat, similar to the Concordat of Worms two years later. Map of the West Bank, with Nablus in the center north. ... Baldwin of Bourcq (died August 21, 1131) was the second count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and the third king of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. ... Canon law is the term used for the internal ecclesiastical law which governs various churches, most notably the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Anglican Communion of churches. ... A concordat is an agreement between the pope and a government or sovereign on religious matters. ... The Concordat of Worms, sometimes called the Pactum Calixtinum by papal historians, was an agreement between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V on September 23, 1122 near Worms. ...

The council was not mentioned in the chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres, who served in the retinue of Baldwin II and must have been present. This is probably because the nature of the canons, dealing as they do with the crimes and sins of the Latin population, contradicted Fulcher's portrayal of the Kingdom as a Christian utopia. William of Tyre, writing about sixty years later, included a detailed account of the proceedings, but neglected to record any of the canons themselves, which he felt were well-known and could be found in any local church. Fulcher of Chartres (born around 1059 in or near Chartres) was a chronicler of the First Crusade. ... William of Tyre (c. ...

As true as William's statement may have been in his own time, only one copy seemed to survive the Muslim reconquest of the Kingdom, located in a church in Sidon. This copy made its way to Europe where it was in the papal library at Avignon by 1330. It is now located in the Vatican Library, MS Vat. Lat. 1345. , Sidon or Saida, (Arabic صيدا Ṣaydā) is the third-largest city in Lebanon. ... City flag City coat of arms Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région Provence-Alpes-Côte dAzur Département Vaucluse (préfecture) Arrondissement Avignon Canton Chief town of 4 cantons Intercommunality Communauté dagglomération du Grand Avignon Mayor Marie-Josée Roig... Events The Bulgars under Michael III are beaten by the Serbs at Velbuzhd, and large parts of Bulgaria fall to Serbia. ... The Vatican Library (Latin: Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana) is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. ...

A copy was edited in the Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio of Giovanni Domenico Mansi in the 18th century, and more recently a new edition has been published by Benjamin Z. Kedar in Speculum (Vol. 74, 1999). Kedar argues that the canons are largely derived from the Byzantine Ecloga, promulgated by Leo III and Constantine V in 741. Kedar believes that the canons were put into practise in the 12th century, but they were apparently no longer in use by the time the Livre des Assises de la Cour des Bourgeois and other Assizes of Jerusalem were written in the 13th century. Gian (Giovanni) Domenico Mansi (16 February 1692–27 September 1769) was an Italian theologian, scholar and historian, known for his massive works on the Church councils. ... Justinian I depicted on a mosaic in the church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy The Corpus Juris Civilis (Body of Civil Law) is a fundamental work in jurisprudence, issued from 529 to 534 by order of Justinian I, Byzantine Emperor. ... Constantine V Copronymus (The Dung-named) was Byzantine emperor from 741 to 775. ... Events June 18 - Constantine V succeeds Leo III as emperor of the Byzantine Empire. ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ... As Peter Edbury says, one group of sources from the Latin East that have long excited the attention of scholars are the legal treaties often known collectively, if somewhat misleadingly, as the Assises of Jerusalem. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ...

Content

The canons begin with the reasons for calling the council: Jerusalem had been plagued with locusts and mice for the past four years, and the Crusader states in general were suffering from repeated attacks from the Muslims. It was believed that the sins of the people needed to be corrected before Jerusalem could prosper. For other meanings of the word Locust, see Locust (disambiguation). ... Feral mouse A mouse (plural mice) is a rodent that belongs to one of numerous species of small mammals. ... The Crusader states, c. ...

Canons 1-3 deal with tithes to the church. Canon 1 is a promise by King Baldwin to surrender the appropriate tithes to the Patriarch, namely those from his own royal estates in Jerusalem, Nablus and Acre. In canon 2 Baldwin seeks forgiveness for the tithes he had previously withheld, and Warmund absolves him of this sin in canon 3. This shows that the church was able to assert its rights in the Crusader Kingdom, a victory in the Investiture Conflict still raging in Europe. A tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a voluntary contribution or as a tax or levy, usually to support a religious organization. ... A tithe (from Old English teogoþa tenth) is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a (usually) voluntary contribution or as a tax or levy, usually to support a Jewish or Christian religious organization. ... Hebrew יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim) (Standard) Yerushalayim or Yerushalaim Arabic commonly القـُدْس (Al-Quds); officially in Israel أورشليم القدس (Urshalim-Al-Quds) Name Meaning Hebrew: (see below), Arabic: The Holiness Government City District Jerusalem Population 724,000 (2006) Jurisdiction 123,000 dunams (123 km²) Mayor Uri Lupolianski Web Address www. ... Map of the West Bank, with Nablus in the center north. ... The city of Acre [1] is in the Western Galilee district in northern Israel. ... The Investiture Controversy was the most significant conflict between secular and religious powers in medieval Europe. ...

Canons 4-7 deal with adultery. Canon 4 outlines punishments for a man who is suspected of committing adultery with the wife of another man; first, he is to be forbidden from visiting the woman, and if he visits her again, he is to come before the church and be subjected to the ordeal of hot iron to prove his innocence. If he is proven to have committed adultery, canon 5 decrees that "eviretur" - he should have his penis cut off - and then he should be exiled. The punishment for the adulterous woman is mutilation of the nose, a familiar Byzantine punishment, unless her husband takes pity on her, in which case they should both be exiled. Canon 6 deals with a similar situation for clerics: if a man suspects a cleric from visiting his wife, the cleric should firstly be forbidden from visiting her; a second offense should be pointed out to a church magistrate, and a third offense will result in the deordination of the cleric. He will then be subject to the same punishments described in canon 5. Canon 7 forbids a pimp or a prostitute from "corrupting a wife with words" and causing her to become an adulterer. The punishments in canon 5 apply here as well. This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Trial by ordeal is a judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused is determined by subjecting them to a painful task. ...

Canons 8-11 establish punishments for homosexuality, the first appearance of such punishments in medieval law. According to canon 8, an adult homosexual, "tam faciens quam paciens" (both the active and the passive parties), should be burned at the stake. If, however, the passive party is a child or an elderly person, canon 9 says that only the active party should be burned, and if will suffice that the passive party repent, as he is presumed to have sinned against his will. If the sodomy is against his will but he keeps it hidden for whatever reason, canon 10 says that he too will be judged as a sodomite. Canon 11 allows for a homosexual to repent and avoid punishment, but if he is found to have participated in homosexual acts a second time, he will be allowed to repent again but will be exiled from the kingdom. Homosexuality refers to sexual interaction and / or romantic attraction between individuals of the same sex. ...

Canons 12-15 pertain to sexual relations with Muslims, an important question in the Kingdom, where Muslims far outnumbered their Latin overlords. Canon 12 states that a man who willingly has sexual relations with a Muslim woman should be castrated, and she should have her nose mutilated. If a man rapes his own female Muslim slave, according to canon 13 she should be confiscated by the state, and he should be castrated. If he rapes another man's female Muslim slave, canon 14 says that he should be subjected to the punishment for adulterers stated in canon 5, castration. Canon 15 deals with the same subject for Christian women - if a Christian woman willingly has sexual relations with a Muslim man, they should both be subjected to the punishment for adulterers, but if she was raped, then she will not be held accountable and the Muslim will be castrated.

Canon 16 prohibits Muslims from dressing like Christians, which, it was apparently hoped, would lead to fewer opportunities for sexual encounters between Muslims and Christians. This canon foreshadows the similar canon 68 of the Fourth Lateran Council almost one hundred years later in 1215, which would prohibit both Jews and Muslims from adopting Christian dress. Similar laws were promulgated in Spain, where Christians, Jews, and Muslims similarly intermingled. The Fourth Council of the Lateran was summoned by Pope Innocent III with his Bull of April 19, 1213. ... // Events A certified copy of the Magna Carta June 15 - King John of England forced to put his seal to the Magna Carta, outlining the rights of landowning men (nobles and knights) and restricting the kings power. ...

Canons 17-19 deal with bigamy, another important subject, as many crusaders had abandoned their families in Europe. If a man takes a second wife, he should do penance until the first Sunday of Lent, but if he hides his crime and is discovered, his property should be confiscated and he should be exiled. Canon 18 allows for bigamy to go unpunished if a man or woman unknowingly marries someone who is already married, as long as they can prove their ignorance. If a man has taken a second wife and wishes to divorce her, canon 19 states that he must prove that he is already married, either by the ordeal of hot iron, or by bringing witnesses to swear for him. Polygamy, literally many marriages in ancient Greek, is a marital practice in which a person has more than one spouse simultaneously (as opposed to monogamy where each person has a maximum of one spouse at any one time). ... In Western Christianity, Lent is the period (or season) from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. ...

Canons 20-21 deal with clerics. Canon 20 says a cleric should not be held guilty if he takes up arms in self-defense, but he cannot take up arms for any other reason nor can he act like a knight. This was an important concern for the Crusader states; clerics were generally forbidden from participating in warfare in European law, but the Crusaders needed all the manpower they could find, and only one year before, Antioch had been defended by the Patriarch following the Battle of Ager Sanguinis, one of the calamities referred to in the introduction to the canons. Canon 21 says that a monk or canon regular who apostasizes should either return to his order or go into exile. Antioch on the Orontes (Greek: Αντιόχεια η επί Δάφνη, Αντιόχεια η επί Ορόντου or Αντιόχεια η Μεγάλη; Latin: Antiochia ad Orontem, also Antiochia dei Siri), the Great Antioch or Syrian Antioch was an ancient city located on the eastern side (left bank) of the Orontes River about 30 km from the sea and its port, Seleucia Pieria. ... The Latin Patriarch of Antioch was an office established in the aftermath of the First Crusade by Bohemund, the first Prince of Antioch. ... The Battle of Ager Sanguinis, also known as the Battle of the Field of Blood or the Battle of Sarmada, took place between the Crusader Principality of Antioch and the Ortoqid ruler of Aleppo in 1119. ... Munichs city symbol celebrates its founding by Benedictine monks—and the origin of its name A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, the conditioning of mind and body in favor of the spirit. ... A canon (from the Latin form canonicus of tyhe greek kanonikos, regular) is a priest who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to a rule (canon) secular canons A member of the chapter of priests who are responsible for administering a cathedral or certain other... Apostasy (from Greek αποστασία, meaning a defection or revolt , from απο, apo, away, apart, στασις, stasis, standing) is a term generally employed to describe the formal renunciation of ones religion, especially if the motive is deemed unworthy. ...

Canon 22 simply forbids false accusations.

Canons 23-25 pertain to theft. Canon 23 says that anyone convicted of stealing property worth more than one bezant should have either a hand or foot cut off, or an eye removed. If the property was worth less than one bezant, he should be branded on the face and publicly whipped. The stolen goods should be returned, but if they are no longer in the thief's possession, the thief himself becomes the property of his victim. If the thief is caught stealing again, he should either have his other hand, foot, or eye removed, or he should be killed. If the thief was underage, canon 24 says he should be kept in custody and then sent to the royal court, but no further punishment is outlined. Canon 25 states that these punishments also do not apply to the barons, who should be subject only to the judgement of the royal court. Bezants is a medieval name for gold coins. ...

Signatories

Those who signed as witnesses to the canons were mostly ecclesiastics, with a few secular nobles:

• Warmund, Patriarch of Jerusalem
• Baldwin II, King of Jerusalem
• Ebremar, Archbishop of Caesarea
• Bernard, Bishop of Nazareth
• Ansquitinus, Bishop of Bethlehem
• Roger, Bishop of Ramla
• Guildoinus, abbot-elect of St. Mary of the Valley of Josaphat
• Peter, abbot of Mt. Tabor
• Achardus, prior of the Temple
• Arnaldus, prior of Mt. Sion
• Girardus, prior of the Holy Sepulchre
• Pagan, chancellor of Jerusalem
• Eustace Grenier, Lord of Caesarea and Sidon, constable of Jerusalem
• William de Buris
• Barisan, constable of Jaffa
• Baldwin, Lord of Ramla

The signatories appear after the introduction, and before the list of canons begins. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem is the title given to the Latin Rite Roman Catholic Archbishop of Jerusalem. ... Baldwin of Bourcq (died August 21, 1131) was the second count of Edessa from 1100 to 1118, and the third king of Jerusalem from 1118 until his death. ... This is a list of Kings of Jerusalem, from 1099 to 1291, as well as claimants to the title up to the present day. ... The Archbishop of Caesarea was one of the major suffragans of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem during the crusades. ... The Archbishop of Nazareth was one of the major suffragans of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem during the crusades. ... Bethlehem (Arabic بيت لحم   house of meat; Standard Hebrew בית לחם house of bread, Bet léḥem / Bet láḥem; Tiberian Hebrew Bêṯ léḥem / Bêṯ lāḥem; Greek: Βηθλεέμ) is a city in the West Bank under Palestinian Authority considered a central hub of Palestinian cultural and tourism industries. ... Ramla (Hebrew רמלה Ramlāh; Arabic الرملة ar-Ramlah, colloquial Ramleh), is a city in the Center District of Israel in Israel. ... The Temple in Jerusalem or the Holy Temple (Hebrew: בית המקדש, transliterated Bet HaMikdash) was the primary resting place of the Gods presence (shechina) in the physical world according to classical Judaism. ... Dormition Church, situated on the modern Mount Zion Zion (Hebrew: צִיּוֹן, tziyyon; Tiberian vocalization: tsiyyôn; transliterated Zion or Sion) is a term that most often designates the land of Israel and its capital Jerusalem. ... Main Entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, called the Church of the Resurrection (Anastasis in Greek and Surp Harutyun in Armenian) by Eastern Christians, is a Christian church now within the walled Old City of Jerusalem. ... There were six major officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem: constable, marshal, seneschal, chamberlain, butler, and chancellor. ... Eustace Grenier (also Garnier, Granarius, Grenarius) (died June 15, 1123) was an important crusader lord, and constable of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. ... The Crusader state of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, created in 1099, was divided into a number of smaller seigneuries. ... Barisan of Ibelin (died 1150) was an important figure in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, and was the ancestor of the Ibelin family. ...

References

• Mayer, Hans E. "Concordat of Nablus." Journal of Ecclesiastical History 33 (October 1982): 531-543.
• Kedar, Benjamin Z. "On the Origins of the Earliest Laws of Frankish Jerusalem: The Canons of the Council of Nablus, 1120." Speculum 74 (1999): 310–335.