However, it is generally accepted by most modern historians that, once Godfrey was selected to be leader, he declined to be crowned king instead taking the titles of prince (princeps) and advocate or defender of the Holy Sepulchre (advocatus Sancti Sepulchri).
[6] The beginning of the First Crusade is generally marked by the Council of Clermont held from 17–27 November 1095 by Urban II, and resulted in the mobilization of Western Europe to go to the Holy Land.
[9] Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, worried about the advances of the Seljuks into his territory, also had asked the pope for aid against the invading Turks and was expected to take a major role in the expedition.
John the Oxite was reinstated as Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch by Adhemar who wished to keep good relations with the Byzantines, especially as Bohemond planning to claim the city for himself.
[30] For example, at the Council of Clermont, Fulcher of Chartres, writing in his Gesta Francorum Iherusalem Peregrinantium, reported that Urban II said:[31] For the Turks, a Persian people, have attacked them, as many of you already know, and have advanced as far into the Roman territory as that part of the Mediterranean which is called the Arm of St. George; and, by seizing more and more of the lands of the Christians, they have already often conquered them in battle, have killed and captured many, have destroyed the churches, and have devastated the kingdom of God.
[44] Benedictine historian Guibert of Nogent wrote in his Dei gesta per Francos (God's deeds through the Franks): And he [King Godefrid] is buried, as a testimony of his faith and life which he had merited eternal redemption, near the place of the Sunday Passion itself; in it he obtained by right in every way the monument which had been excavated, and which he had defended against the trampling and intrusion of the Gentiles.
Being promoted, for the sake of humility, with a golden crown, in the manner of kings, he did not want to be marked in the holy city, being content with it and showing him reverence as the restorer of the human race, in the same place He carried a thorn even to the gallows of the cross, for our salvation.
(...ibi ad laudem eius qui spinet gestare serta pro salutae hominum dignatus est, diadema ferre et rex Ierusalem pro terrore gentili congominari ecclesiastica electione compulsai est)[57]Historian Anna Komnene, the daughter of Alexios I, wrote in her Alexiad around 1148: When they had brought all into subjection and no one resisted them, they invested Godfrey with supreme authority by unanimous consent, and called him 'king.
[59] It states: [T]hen, Godfrey, that brilliant mirror of Christian nobility, in which, as in a splendid ceiling, the lustre of every virtue was reflected, was chosen king; all, in lively hope, agreeing, that they could in no wise better consult the advantage of the church; deferring, in the meantime, the election of a patriarch, who was to be appointed by the determination of the Roman Pontiff.
[60]A different title is given to Godfrey of Bouillon by Bartolf of Nangis, by Peter Tudebode, and by Fulcher of Chartres, the latter two of whom (at least) took part in the First Crusade, as well as Albert of Aachen who had good sources among the participants.
[61] Bartolf of Nangis described Godfrey as follows in the Gesta Francorum Iherusalem Expugnantium: After the princes and the people had taken a little rest, they all by common consent made Godefrid the duke king and ruler (regem ac principem civitatis) of the city Jerusalem and the whole region they raised the canons.
[72] The letter it titled Epistula (Dagoberti) Pisani archiepiscopi et Godefridi ducis et Raimundi de S. Aegidii et uniuerei exercitus in terra Israel ad papam et omnes Christi fideles, and is identified as the official summary of the Crusade from 19 June 1097 – 12 August 1099.
(Porro dux Godefridus ...pro Lothariorum ducata rengum Sanctae Urbis a Deo promoruit quamvis ipse numquam se regem sed advocatum eius passus sit appellari.
[84] Some examples include: Writing later, William of Tyre referred to Amalric I of Jerusalem, king from 1173–1174, as follows: rex Ierosolimorum, loco rum penerabilium dominice passionis et resurrectionis defensor et advocatus.
His magnanimty accepted a trust as full of danger as of glory; but in a city where his Saviour had been crowned with thorns, the devout pilgrim rejected the name and ensigns of royalty; and the founder of the kingdom of Jerusalem contented himself with the modest title of Defender and Baron of the Holy Sepulchre.
The meddling priests confessed the propriety of electing a king but declared that precedence should accompany rank, and that as spiritual things were more worthy than those of a temporal nature, the choice of a patriarch should take place before that of a monarch.
The princes conducted him in religious and stately order to the church which covered the tomb of Christ; but he refused to wear a diadem in a city where his Saviour had worn a crown of thorns; and modestly avowed, that the honour of becoming the defender and advocate of the Holy Sepulchre was all that he aspired to.
"[98]German historian Bernhard von Kugler wrote in his Geschichte der Kreuzzüge (1880): The clergymen in the army demanded that not a secular lord but a patriarch should be set over Jerusalem and thus a new church state.
He also wrote a history called The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (1897) the described the events surrounding the election of Godfrey of Bouillon as: Robert of Flanders spoke as a true knight before the Council, asking his peers to lay aside ambition and envy, and to choose from among themselves the best and strongest, the wisest and most just.
His seminal work on the Crusades was Geschichte der Kreuzzüge im Umriss (1898) where he wrote of Godfrey of Bouillon: The question of who should actually be master of the holy city, which had already been raised before the capture, was discussed again at a princely assembly (July 22nd); the clergy demanded the election of a clergyman, but this was flatly refused.
Gottfried was now elected, but he did not accept the title of king, so as not to be surpassed in Christian humility by Raymund, but always called himself duke, prince, protector of the holy grave, undoubtedly worthy of such an award; for he "was happier in word and deed and purer in faith and heart than all the rest".
)[102]American historian Dana Carleton Munro wrote in his A History of the Middle Ages (1902): After conquering Jerusalem the crusaders elected Godfrey “Baron and Defender of the Holy Sepulcher.”[103]Belgian historian Charles Moeller wrote in his Godefroid de Bouillon et Godefroid de Bouillon et l'Avouerie du Saint-Sépulcre (1908):[104] Instead of being awarded the royal crown, the newly elected lent to one of the ceremonies which, in feudal law, had the force of a legal commitment.
He was solemnly led to the Holy Sepulchre; there he bowed his forehead on the stone of the tomb, and, by this symbolic gesture, dedicated himself to the perpetual service of the Church, identified with this emblematic relic.
[105]Louis R. Bréhier writing in the article Crusades published in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1908): ...the knights chose as lord of the new conquest Godfrey of Bouillon, who called himself "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre".
[106]Ernest Barker writing in the article Crusades published in the 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911): ...and Godfrey accordingly became—not king, but “advocate of the Holy Sepulchre,”[107]Anglo-Irish historian J.
Godfrey de Bouillon was then offered the government of the city as "Advocate," a position which recognized the claims of the church while conceding practical power to the lay authority.
Raymond of Toulouse, once the crusade's prospective leader, had lost so much support because of the débâcle at Arqa and his continued patronage of the widely discredited Holy Lance that he was now eclipsed by Godfrey of Bouillon.
On 22 July a compromise was reached: Godfrey was elected ruler, but rather than styling himself as outright king, he adopted the less assertive title of ‘Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre’, implying a position of protector, subordinate to the Church.
After apparently refusing an offer to accept the crown of Jerusalem, perhaps on clerical prompting, he saw instead his latest chief rival, Godfrey of Bouillon, the only other main leader willing to remain in the east, elected as secular ruler, or Advocate (the title implying ecclesiastical authority).
[122]The Routledge Companion to the Crusades was written by British historian Peter Lock and states: [Godfrey] was elected the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem on 22 July 1099, but refused to be crowned as such preferring instead the title of advocate (avoué) or protector of the Holy Sepulchre.