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GODFREY OF BOUILLON (c. ro6o-11oo)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 173 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GODFREY OF See also:BOUILLON (c. ro6o-11oo)  , a See also:leader in the First Crusade, was the second son of Eustace II., See also:count of See also:Boulogne, by his See also:marriage with See also:Ida, daughter of See also:Duke See also:Godfrey II. of See also:Lower See also:Lorraine . He was designated by Duke Godfrey as his successor; but the See also:emperor See also:Henry IV. gave him only the See also:mark of See also:Antwerp, in which the lordship of See also:Bouillon was included (1076) . He fought for Henry, however, both on the See also:Elster and in the See also:siege of See also:Rome; and he was invested in 1082 with the duchy of Lower Lorraine . Lorraine had been penetrated by Cluniac influences, and Godfrey would seem to have been a See also:man of notable piety . Accordingly, though he had himself served as an imperialist, and though the Germans in See also:general had little sympathy with the Crusaders (subsannabant . . . quasi delirantes), Romances.—Godfrey was the See also:principal See also:hero of two See also:French chansons de geste dealing with the Crusade, the Chanson d' A ntioche (ed . P . See also:Paris, 2 vols., 1848) and the Chanson de See also:Jerusalem (ed . C . Hippeau, 1868), and other poems, containing less See also:historical i An " See also:advocate " was a layman who had been invested with See also:part of an ecclesiastic See also:estate, on See also:condition that he defended the See also:rest, and exercised the See also:blood-See also:ban in lieu of the ecclesiastical owner (see ADVOCATE, sec . Advocatus ecclesiae) . Godfrey, nevertheless, when the See also:call came " to follow See also:Christ;" almost literally sold all that he had, and followed .

Along with his See also:

brothers Eustace and See also:Baldwin (the future Baldwin I. of Jerusalem) he led a See also:German contingent, some 40,000 strong, along`"See also:Charlemagne's road," through See also:Hungary to See also:Constantinople, starting in See also:August Io96, and arriving at Constantinople, after some difficulties in Hungary, in See also:November . He was the first of the crusading princes to arrive, and on him See also:fell the See also:duty of deciding what the relations of the princes to the eastern emperor Alexius were to be . Eventually, after several disputes and some fighting, he did See also:homage to Alexius in See also:January 1097; and his example was followed by the other princes . From this See also:time until the beginning of 1099 Godfrey appears as one of the See also:minor princes, plodding onwards, and steadily fighting, while men like See also:Bohemund and See also:Raymund, Baldwin and See also:Tancred were determining the course of events . In Io99 he came once more to the front . The See also:mass of the crusaders became weary of the See also:political factions which divided some of their leaders; and Godfrey, who was more of a See also:pilgrim than a politician, becomes the natural representative of this feeling . He was thus able to force the reluctant Raymund to See also:march southward to Jerusalem; and he took a prominent part in the siege, his See also:division being the first to enter when the See also:city was captured . It was natural therefore that, when Raymund of See also:Provence refused the offered dignity, Godfrey should be elected ruler of Jerusalem (See also:July 22, 1099) . He assumed the See also:title not of See also:king, but of " advocate " I of the See also:Holy See also:Sepulchre . The new dignity proved still more onerous than See also:honourable; and during his See also:short reign of a See also:year Godfrey had to combat the See also:Arabs of See also:Egypt, and the opposition of Raymund and the See also:patriarch Dagobert . He was successful in repelling the See also:Egyptian attack at the See also:battle of See also:Ascalon (August Io99); but he failed, owing to Raymund's obstinacy and greed, to acquire the See also:town of Ascalon after the battle . See also:Left alone, at the end of the autumn, with an See also:army of some 2000 men, Godfrey was yet able, in the See also:spring of I Too, probably with the aid of new pilgrims, to exact See also:tribute from towns like See also:Acre, Ascalon, See also:Arsuf and Caesarea .

But already, at the end of 1099 Dagobert, See also:

archbishop of See also:Pisa, had been substituted as patriarch for See also:Arnulf (who had been acting as See also:vicar) by the See also:influence of Bohemund; and Dagobert, whose See also:vassal Godfrey had at once piously acknowledged himself, seems to have forced him to an agreement in See also:April I roo, by which he promised Jerusalem and Jaffa to the patriarch, in See also:case he should acquire in their See also:place See also:Cairo or some other town, or should See also:die without issue . Thus were the See also:foundations of a See also:theocracy laid in Jerusalem; and when Godfrey died (July 'too) he left the question to be decided, whether a theocracy or a See also:monarchy should be the See also:government of the Holy See also:Land . Because he had been the first ruler in Jerusalem Godfrey was idolized in later See also:saga . He was depicted as the leader of the See also:crusades, the king of Jerusalem, the legislator who laid down the assizes of Jerusalem . He was none of these things . Bohemund was the leader of the crusades; Baldwin was first king; the assizes were the result of a See also:gradual development . In still other ways was the figure of Godfrey idealized by the grateful tradition of later days; but in reality he would seem to have been a quiet, pious, hard-fighting See also:knight, who was chosen to See also:rule in Jerusalem because he had no dangerous qualities, and no obvious defects . material, were subsequently added . In addition the parentage and See also:early exploits of Godfrey were made the subject of See also:legend . His grandfather was said to be Helias, knight of the See also:Swan, one of the brothers whose adventures are well known, though with some variation, in the See also:familiar See also:fairy See also:tale of "The Seven Swans." Helias, See also:drawn by the swan, one See also:day disembarked at See also:Nijmwegen, and reconquered her territory for the duchess of Bouillon . Marrying her daughter he exacted a promise that his wife should not inquire into his origin . The tale, which is almost identical with the See also:Lohengrin legend, belongs to the class of the See also:Cupid and See also:Psyche narratives .

See LOHENGRIN . See also C . Hippeau, Le See also:

Chevalier au cygne (Paris, 2 vols., 1874–1877); H . Pigeonneau, Le See also:Cycle de la croisade et de la famille de Bouillon (1877) ; W . Golther, " Lohengrin," in See also:Roman . Forsch . (vol. v., 1889); Hist. lift. de la See also:France, vol. xxii. pp . 350-402; the See also:English See also:romance of Helyas, Knyghte of the Swanne.was printed by W . See also:Copland about 1550 .

End of Article: GODFREY OF BOUILLON (c. ro6o-11oo)
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