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Godfrey of Bouillon

Godfrey of Bouillon (French: Godefroy, Dutch: Godfried, German: Gottfried, Latin: Godefridus Bullionensis; 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a preeminent leader of the First Crusade, and the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100. Although initially reluctant to take the title of king, he agreed to rule as prince (princeps) under the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri, or Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre.[1][2][3]

Godfrey of Bouillon

22 July 1099 – 18 July 1100

Baldwin I (as King of Jerusalem)

1089–1096

Conrad

Henry I

c. 1060
Boulogne, County of Flanders

18 July 1100 (aged 39–40)
Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

House of Flanders

Eustace II of Boulogne

Ida of Lorraine

Roman Catholicism

He was the second son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne in France. He received an inheritance from his mother's family in 1076 when he became Lord of Bouillon, which is now in Belgium. In 1087 Emperor Henry IV also confirmed him as Duke of Lower Lorraine, in reward for his support during the Great Saxon Revolt.


Along with his brothers Eustace III and Baldwin of Boulogne, Godfrey joined the First Crusade in 1096. He took part in actions at Nicaea, Dorylaeum, and Antioch, before playing a key role during the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. When Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse declined the offer to become ruler of the new kingdom, Godfrey accepted the role and secured his kingdom by defeating the Fatimids at Ascalon a month later, bringing the First Crusade to an end. He died in July 1100 and was succeeded by his brother Baldwin as King of Jerusalem.

Early life[edit]

Godfrey of Bouillon was born around 1060, second son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne and Ida, daughter of the Lotharingian duke Godfrey the Bearded and his first wife, Doda.[4] He was probably born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, although one 13th-century chronicler cites Baisy, a town in what is now Walloon Brabant, Belgium.[5] As second son, he had fewer opportunities than his older brother. However his maternal uncle, Godfrey the Hunchback, died childless and named his nephew, Godfrey of Bouillon, as his heir and next in line to his Duchy of Lower Lorraine.[6] This duchy was an important one at the time, serving as a buffer between the French kingdom and the German lands.


In fact, Lower Lorraine was so important to the Holy Roman Empire that in 1076 Henry IV (reigned 1056–1105), then King of the Romans and future emperor, decided to place it in the hands of his own son and give Godfrey only Bouillon and the Margraviate of Antwerp, allegedly as a test of his loyalty. Godfrey supported Henry even during his struggle with Pope Gregory VII during the Investiture Controversy. Godfrey fought alongside Henry and his forces against Rudolf of Swabia and in Italy when Henry captured Rome itself.


A major test of Godfrey's leadership skills was shown in his battles to defend his inheritance against a significant array of enemies. In 1076 he had succeeded as designated heir to the Lotharingian lands of his uncle, Godfrey the Hunchback, and Godfrey was struggling to maintain control over the lands that Henry IV had not taken away from him. Claims were raised by his aunt Margravine Matilda of Tuscany, cousin Count Albert III of Namur, and Count Theoderic of Veluwe. This coalition was joined by Bishop Theoderic of Verdun, and two minor counts attempting to share in the spoils, Waleran I of Limburg and Arnold I of Chiny.


As these enemies tried to take away portions of his land, Godfrey's brothers, Eustace and Baldwin, both came to his aid. Following these long struggles and proving that he was a loyal vassal to Henry IV, Godfrey finally gained Lower Lorraine in 1087.

In the segment of his Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri sees the spirit of Godfrey, together with Roland's, in the Heaven of Mars with the other "warriors of the faith".

Paradiso

's Genealogie de Godefroi de Buillon, completed in 1499, gives a complete history of the Crusades, starting with the birth of the Chevalier au Cygne (Knight of the Swan), the ancestor of Godfrey, and ending after the accession of Philip IV of France (1268–1314). At least six editions are preserved from the 16th century, published between 1504 and 1580.[28][29]

Pierre Desrey

made Godfrey, as "Goffredo di Buglione", the hero of his epic poem Jerusalem Delivered.

Torquato Tasso

A Spanish play entitled "La conquista de Jerusalén por Godofre de Bullón" was written in the mid 1580s and known to have been performed in 1586. The play was discovered in the late 1980s by Stefano Arata. It is attributed to and is now widely accepted to have been written by . It is an adaptation of Tasso's poem and features Godfrey as an ideal of Christian kingship, possibly as a critical parallel to King Philip II of Spain (1556–98).

Miguel de Cervantes

Godfrey is depicted in 's opera Rinaldo (1711) as Tasso's "Goffredo".

Georg Friedrich Händel

Stephen R. Lawhead

Godfrey's sword is given satirical mention in 's The Innocents Abroad (1869).

Mark Twain

(2004). The First Crusade: A New History. Oxford. ISBN 0-19-517823-8.

Asbridge, Thomas

Asbridge, Thomas (2012). . Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1849837705.

The Crusades: The War for the Holy Land

; Burns, Paul (2000). Butler's Lives of the Saints. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-86012-253-0.

Butler, Alban

Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1998). . Cambridge. ISBN 0-521-64603-0.

The First Crusaders, 1095–1131

(1951). A History of the Crusades: Volume 1, The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-34770-9. (abridged version: The First Crusade, Cambridge (1980), ISBN 0-521-23255-4)

Runciman, Steven

Andressohn, John Carl (1947). . Indiana University publications. Social science series, no.5. Indiana University Publications, Social Science Series 5.

The Ancestry and Life of Godfrey of Bouillon

Murray, Alan V., , Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 70 (2), 1992

"The Army of Godfrey of Bouillon, 1096–1099: Structure and Dynamics of a Contingent on the First Crusade" (PDF)

John, Simon (2017). . Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-12630-0.

Godfrey of Bouillon: Duke of Lower Lotharingia, Ruler of Latin Jerusalem, c. 1060–1100

Barker, Ernest (1911). "". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 12. (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 172–173.

Godfrey of Bouillon

Bréhier, Louis René (1909). "". In Catholic Encyclopedia. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Godfrey of Bouillon

Eidelberg, Schlomo (1996). The Jews and the Crusaders: The Hebrew Chronicles of the First and Second Crusades. KTAV Publishing House, Inc.  978-0-88125-541-6.

ISBN

France, John (1983). "The Election and Title of Godfrey de Bouillon". Canadian Journal of History. 18 (3): 321–329. :10.3138/cjh.18.3.321.

doi

. Internet Medieval Sourcebook: The Crusaders at Constantinople: Collected Accounts. Retrieved 2014-05-18.

"Godfrey of Bouillon"

Golb, Norman (1998). The Jews in Medieval Normandy: A Social and Intellectual History. Cambridge University Press.  978-0-521-58032-8.

ISBN

Holböck, Ferdinand (2002). . Translated by Miller, Michael J. Ignatius Press. ISBN 0-89870-843-5. Retrieved 4 May 2020.

Married Saints and Blesseds: Through the Centuries

Ibn al-Qalanisi (1932). . University of London historical series, no. 5. Translated by Gibbs, H.V. Luzac.

The Damascus chronicle of the Crusades

John, Simon (2018). . Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN 978-1472458964.

Godfrey of Bouillon

John, Simon (2022). "The Long shadow of the First Crusade". History Today. 72 (5): 72–83.

Murray, Alan (1990). "The Title of Godfrey of Bouillon as Ruler of Jerusalem". Collegium Medievale. 3: 163–178.

Murray, Alan (2000). The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History 1099–1125. Unit for Prosopographical Research, Linacre College.  978-1900934039.

ISBN

Porter, Whitworth (2013). A History of the Knights of Malta. . ISBN 978-1108066228.

Cambridge University Press

Riley-Smith, Jonathan (1979). "The Title of Godfrey of Bouillon". Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research. 52 (125): 83–86. :10.1111/j.1468-2281.1979.tb02085.x.

doi

Rubenstein, Jay (2008). Gabriele, Matthew; Stuckey, Jace (eds.). How Carolingian Kingship Trumped Millenniarism at the End of the First Crusade in 'The legend of Charlemagne in the Middle Ages: power, faith, and crusade'. Palgrave Macmillan.  978-0-230-61544-1.

ISBN

(fl. 1100), Historia Ierosolimitana, History of the Journey to Jerusalem, ed. and tr. Susan B. Edgington. Oxford: Oxford Medieval Texts, 2007. The principal source for Godfrey's march to Jerusalem.

Albert of Aachen

, ed. and tr. Rosalind Hill, Gesta Francorum et aliorum Hierosolimitanorum. Oxford, 1967.

Gesta Francorum

Gesta Tancredi, ed. Bernard S. Bachrach and David S. Bachrach, The Gesta Tancredi of Ralph of Caen: A History of the Normans on the First Crusade. Ashgate Publishing, 2005.

Ralph of Caen

Chronicle, ed. Harold S. Fink and tr. Francis Rita Ryan, Fulcher of Chartres, A History of the Expedition to Jerusalem, 1095–1127. Knoxville: Univ. of Tennessy Press, 1969.

Fulcher of Chartres

Historia Francorum qui ceperunt Iherusalem, tr. John Hugh Hill and Laurita L. Hill. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1968.

Raymond of Aguilers

(d. 1126), tr. W. Pflüger, Die Chronik des Ekkehard von Aura. Leipzig, 1893.

Ekkehard of Aura

(d. 1186), Historia, ed. R. B. C. Huygens, Willemi Tyrensis Archiepiscopi Chronicon. Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Medievalis 38. Turnholt: Brepols, 1986; tr. E. A. Babcock and A. C. Krey, William of Tyre, A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea. Columbia University Press, 1943.

William of Tyre

(1928). Alexiad. Medieval Sourcebook. Translated by Elizabeth S. Dawes. Fordham University.

Comnena, Anna

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