The army of Godfrey of Bouillon, the duke of Lower Lorraine, in response to the call by Pope Urban II to both liberate Jerusalem from Muslim forces and protect the Byzantine Empire from similar attacks. Godfrey and his army,[1] one of several Frankish forces deployed during the First Crusade, was among the first to arrive in Constantinople.[2] The army was unique in that it included among its warriors the first three kings of Jerusalem, although Godfrey preferred the title Defender of the Holy Sepulchre, Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri, as he believed that the true King of Jerusalem was Christ. This article focuses on the members of the army rather that its exploits which are described in detail in Godfrey’s biography as well as numerous sources listed below.[3]
The family and household of Godfrey include the following. Note that Godfrey’s older brother Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, may have accompanied his brother but more likely traveled with Robert Curthose’s army.
Godfrey was definitely accompanied by his younger brother Baldwin (later Baldwin I, King of Jerusalem) and his wife Godevere, daughter of Raoul II of Tosny. Baldwin’s secretary Gerard was captured by the soldiers of the Turkmen under Ilghazi and beheaded.
Fulcher of Chartres, originally with the army of Stephen of Blois, joined Baldwin as chaplin in 1097.
Members of Godfrey’s household that travelled with him included: Ruthard, his butler, Baldric, the seneschal (sent as an emissary to the King of Hungary), Stabelo, the chamberlain (killed in the second battle of Ramia in 1102), Heribrand, Castellan of Bouillon, and his relative Walter of Bouillon. Additional members of the household included chamberlains Adelolf and Gerard, the seneschal Matthew, and Miles of Clermont-sous-Huy.
Winrich of Flanders, who originally travelled with Robert II of Flanders, became the butler of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1100
The household also included Wicker Alemannus of Swabia, a ministerialis of the abbey of Fulda. who died of fever at Jaffa in 1101.
Baldwin II of Mons, Count of Hainaut (geographically removed but still allied with Godfrey as opposed to Robert II of Flanders). He was accompanied by his vassals Gerard of Avesnes-sur-Helpe (killed in the second battle of Ramia in 1102) and Giselbert of Couvin.
A third element of the exercitus of Godfrey were from Upper Lotharingia.
The duke, Theoderic I, Count of Bar and Montbéliard, was unable to participate in the Crusades due to illness, but was represented by his eldest son Louis, Count of Mousson, and a knight who belonged to Godfrey’s household named Ralph of Mouton.
Peter of Dampierre-le-Château, Count of Astenois (known as Peter of Stenay) and his brother Rainald III, Count of Toul (reputed to be relatives of Godfrey). They were sons of Frederick I, Count of Astenois, and Gertrude, daughter of Rainald III, Count of Toul.
Peter and Renauld were accompanied by Louis, Archdeacon of Toul, and six lords from the diocese: Rambert, son of Fraimer of Lironville, Bencelin, Aldo of Fontenoy-sur-Moselle, and Lanfric with his son Olric and brother Hugh.
Baldwin of Le Bourg (a member of the House of Montlhéry and the third King of Jerusalem). He was accompanied by his squire (name unrecorded) who executed a Turkish captive, and by a vassal known as Hugh of Bourcq.
Adalbero of Luxembourg, son of Conrad I, Count of Luxembourg. Archdeacon of Metz. After the capture of Antioch, Adelbero and a companion were captured outside the gates by the Turks and beheaded, their heads then catapulted into the city.
For a variety of reasons, primarily political, several notable lords and counts chose not to join, either personally or via family, in Godfrey’s army. These included:
Arnold I, Count of Chiny. Arnold’s descendant Louis V, Count of Chiny, apparently fabricated the story that Arnold sent his sons Otto and Louis on the Crusade with Godfrey to gain favor with the royalty participating in the Tournament of Chauvency.[6] In fact, his daughter Hadvide was the only participant from the family.
After the capture of Jerusalem, Raymond of Toulouse refused the crown, and Godfrey became ruler of Jerusalem, known only as Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri.
Murray, Alan V., The Army of Godfrey of Bouillon, 1096–1099: Structure and Dynamics of a Contingent on the First Crusade (available in PDF), Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, 70 (2): 301–29. 1992
A Database of Crusaders to the Holy Land, 1095-1149 (on-line)
Runciman, Steven, A History of the Crusades, Volume One: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Cambridge University Press, London, 1951
Riley-Smith, Jonathan, The First Crusaders, 1095-1131, Cambridge University Press, London, 1997
Bury, J. B., Editor, The Cambridge Medieval History, Volume III: Germany and the Western Empire, Cambridge University Press, London, 1922
Arlette Laret-Kayser, Entre Bar et Luxembourg : Le Comté de Chiny des Origines à 1300, Bruxelles (éditions du Crédit Communal, Collection Histoire, série in-8°, n° 72), 1986
