872

[126] The assise, prompted by a debate that followed the death of Henri le Buffle [Henricus Bubalus] leaving 3 daughters, was apparently decided on the advice on usage in France given by Count Stephen of Sancerre, named Stephen of Blois by Philip of Novara – understandably, since he was of the family of the counts of Champagne and Blois. Although the evidence for Stephen’s contribution dates from almost a century later, his word would have carried weight, first because he was offered the hand of Sibylla of Jerusalem by King Amalric and secondly because he brought to the East part of the proceeds of a tax imposed by King Louis VII of France for the needs of the Holy Land. He reached Palestine shortly before King Amalric came back from a visit to Constantinople in the late summer of 1171. He stayed for only a few months. William of Tyre, p. 947. See also Kedar, ‘The general tax’, p. 343.