Godfrey+of+Bouillon

The most religious of the Crusaders? This page should be used to create a biography of the man who would later come to rule Jerusalem. It should explain his life prior to the Crusade, his involvement in the journey as well as his crucial role in the establishment of the Crusader state of Jerusalem. Quotes are an essential part of this page.

__ESSAY PLAN__

//Paragraph 1-Birth, early life prior to the crusade, life with family as the second son and the titles he held, the provinces he controlled. (DONE BY HS) Paragraph 2-Calling to the first crusade, the preparations to leave, his motives behind the decision to join the crusade. (DONE BY JY) Paragraph 3-His journey to Constantinople, made without the other crusader princes, his attitude to the oath of fealty. -// (//DONE BY MB)// //Paragraph 4-Siege of Nicaea -// **Mitchell Cocker** //Paragraph 5-Battle of Dorylaeum Paragraph 6-Siege of Antioch- **Alex Carling** Paragraph 7-Siege of Jerusalem.-// **__Jonathan tsim__** //Paragraph 8-Reign of Godfrey as "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre". Paragraph 9-Death//

Godfrey of Bouillon was born around 1060 either in Boulogne-sure-mer in France or Baisy, a city in the region of Belgium. He was the second son of Count Eustace II of Boulougne and Ida of Lorraine. As a second son, fewer opportunities were presented to him, compared to his older brother. It seemed apparent that he was destined to become another minor knight in service to a rich landlord noblemen. Luckily though, his uncle, Godfrey the Hunchback, died childless and named him as his heir and subsequently next in line to his duchy in Lower Lorraine. This territory was important at one time, serving as a buffer between the kingdom of France and the German lands. Through many struggles, Godfrey managed to keep hold of these precious lands however he would have never attained as much much power in Europe had it not been for the coming of the crusades.

When he heard of the possibility of a Crusade after Pope Urban II's letter Godfrey fancied the idea and as a result began to make preparations for the journey. He went as a far as selling much of his land and estates in order to raise funds for his journey. Religion was a very important factor in Godfrey making this decision. This is highlighted by the fact that it was Godfrey who was the first of the Crusading Princes to take the Cross, along with his brothers, from Pope Urban II. However, it would be naive to believe that Godfrey was not looking to expand his possessions in some way, but the overriding factor was his religious drive.


 * Godfrey's Journey to Constantinople:**

Godfrey chose not to travel with the main body of the army to Constantinople, but to travel through Hungary. in order to raid money for the traveling of the crusade, he started to blackmail Jews, because he was struggling with money at the time. Due to his wish to return straight after the crusade, he did not aim to conquer lands for personal gain, so he opted to travel through Hungary. However, the King of Hungary was quite skeptical of allowing the crusaders through because the last crusading army to pass through Hungary left their path in ruins. In order to counter this, Godfrey offered his brother Baldwin as a hostage for his army's safe conduct. After passing Hungary, the crusaders received news that Hugh was being held hostage by the Bulgarians. Therefore Godfrey pillaged areas of Bulgaria for 8 days until he was ok before travelling to Constantinople.


 * Godfrey's attitude to the oath of fealty**:

Godfrey refused the emperors invitation for him to join Alexius, feeling out of his depth. Alexius was furious, and shut off the supplies to Godfrey’s troops. Baldwin capitalized upon Godfrey’s hesitation and ravaged the suburbs. Alexius again reduced supplies and the crusaders made daily raids upon neighboring villages. They captured the Petcheneg troops that policed the district. Encouraged by this, Godfrey decided to attack the city of Constantinople. The archers on the wall were ordered to fire over his heads and make demonstrations upon the enemy. The crusaders stopped pressing their attack. Hugh went out to remonstrate, but was humiliated by so quickly accepting vassaldom. Alexius decided to finish the affair and flung in more of his men to meet the crusading attack. The crusaders were no match for the imperial soldiers and turned and fled. The significance of this was that Godfrey finally saw his weakness. He then took the oath of allegiance. Baldwin followed suit. They swore to acknowledge the Emperor as overlord of any conquests they might make, and to hand over to the Emperor’s officials any land that had previously belonged to the Emperor. (MB)


 * Siege Of Nicaea**

Godfrey was the first to arrive at Nicaea which was controlled by Killij Arslan. However, following the easier defeat of the people's Crusade, the Seljuks felt confident that they could defeat any Christian force. As a consequence, upon their arrival Killij Arslan had left the city, leaving his family and treasury behind and so the Crusaders began to prepare for a siege. The Crusaders however were in difficulties, with little supplies made available. Godfrey was camped out on the East. The rest of the Crusading force soon arrived and they defeated the sultan. On June 19th after a succesful siege the Turks surreneded Nicaea to the Crusaders and Godfrey left along with Baldwin of Boulogne, Stephen, and Hugh of Vermandois for the next part of the Crusade.

Bohemund was surrounded and outnumbered by a large Turkish army under Kilij Arslan. When Duke Godfrey arrived on the scene, he found the Turks crowded in to a small area around Bohemond's camp. He was thus able to charge a mass of Turks, doing great damage to the Turkish left and centre. The morale of the Turkish army broke at this unexpected turn, and the mass of the Turkish army fled the field. The second column had arrived just in time to prevent really heavy casualties amongst Bohemond's column, and Kilij Arslan was unable to challenge the Crusaders again, allowing them free passage across Anatolia. Even better, they managed to capture the Turkish camp intact, and for a brief period were free of supply problems. [EF]
 * Battle of Dorylaeum**


 * __Siege of Antioch__**

On arrival at Antioch, Godfrey, Bohemond of Taranto and Raymond of Toulouse all disagreed about what course of action to follow. The decision was made to lay siege to the city but the Crusaders lacked the man power to surround the whole city, so the southern and eastern gates were left unblockaded. The Crusaders were reinforced by troops under the command of Tancred in November 1097. However, as the siege dragged on, they faced starvation, but in March 1098, additional men and supplies arrived which allowed the Crusaders to surround the whole city and this improved the conditions in the siege camps. After the Crusaders received news that a large army commanded by Kerbogha was approaching the city, they knew that they had to take the city or face destruction by Kerbogha's army. So, after bribing an Armenian named Firouz, the gates were opened and the Crusaders rushed in to take over the city. After consolidating their power in Antioch, the Crusading forces temporarily left Antioch to face Kerbogha and his considerable forces. They annihilated Kerbogha's army and saved their newly captured city.[AC]


 * __Siege of jerusalem__**

The siege of Jerusalem was many led by 3 main leaders, raymond of Toulouse, Bohemond and Godfrey. Godfrey seiged the north wall. As Raymond's popularity nose dived, many crusaders migrated to Godfrey's camped instead. During the siege Godfrey and his knights were one of the first to get inside the city. This was followed by the masacre in Jerusalem. Godfrey did not play the most eventful or interesting part of the siege of Jerusalem, but he was seen by many crusaders as a faithful, loyal and good man. on the 22nd July, Godfrey was named protector of the holy sepulchre after Raymond passed his opportunity of being king. [JT]


 * __'Defender of the Holy Sepulchre'__**

After Raymond of Tolousse had refused to be crowned king of Jerusalem, Godfrey of Bouillonslightly the more popular of the two payed no damage to his own piety and accepted the leadership of Jerusalem. However like Raymond he did not wish to be named King in the city where Christ had died but instead named himself //Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri,// 'defender of the Holy Sepulchre'. In his short reign as King he defended the region against theFatimids of Egypt (at the battle of Ascalon), also overcame pressures from Dagobert of Pisa and the Patriarch of Jerusalem who were allied to Tancred. At the same time expanded the terrortories of Kingdom. (EC)


 * __Death__**

There were many rumours surrounding the death of Godfrey of Bouillon. The Arab scholar, al-Qalanisi reported that as Godfrey was besieging the city of Acre he was struck by an arrow. However, Christian chronicles make no mention of this, instead, reporting that he contracted an illness in the city of Caesarea in June 1100. It was later believed that the Emir of Caesarea poisoned Godfrey, yet there is no basis for this as well as the rumour that he died after eating a poisoned apple. In any case, Godfrey died in Jerusalem in 1100 after a prolonged illness.