Baisy, near Genappe, Belgium, 1061 - Jerusalem, 1100.
The Duke of Lower Lorraine, Marquis of Antwerp then Duke of Bouillon, was for a very long time considered the very type of the perfect Christian knight, model crusader, inspirer, leader and hero of the first crusade. He owes this usurped reputation to the chroniclers Albert d'Aix and Guibert de Nogent, who confused in this case, it seems, biography and panegyric.
Godefroid de Bouillon appears, in fact, today as a brave, loyal character, very pious indeed, but often hesitant in character. Son of Eustache II, Count of Boulogne, grandson through the maternal line of Godfrey II of Lower Lorraine (whom he succeeded), this noble faithfully served his suzerain, the Emperor of Germany, both against the Saxons and in Italy. Pope Urban II not having the possibility of preaching on the lands of the Empire, it seems that monks of the order of Cluny (very influential in Lower Lorraine) encouraged Godefroid to cross paths. Followed by Flemish, Brabant, Walloon, Lorraine and Rhenish knights, the Duke of Bouillon crossed southern Germany in August 1096, Hungary, the Balkans, experienced some difficulties with the Byzantines at the beginning of 1097 and arrived in Anatolia, where Nicaea finally capitulated in June. Two years later, on July 15, 1099, Godfrey witnessed the crowning achievement of his enterprise, the capture of Jerusalem.
Following the withdrawal of Raymond de Toulouse, the Duke of Bouillon was appointed by his peers on July 22 to exercise supreme authority. But the chosen one refuses the title of king and is content with that of attorney of the Holy Sepulchre, that is to say "defender". The clerics believe, in fact, that the Holy Places belong to the Church and that they must constitute a sort of ecclesiastical lordship of which the crusaders are only the lay defenders. If so, the new "advocate" is trustworthy since his troops triumph over the Egyptians at Ascalon in August.
In December Daimbert of Pisa arrives in the Holy Land, presenting himself as papal legate. He had himself elected patriarch of Jerusalem and demanded an oath of vassalage from Godefroid. He gets it. But thereafter, Daimbert was no longer satisfied with nominal power and aspired to full sovereignty over Jerusalem and Jaffa.
The question remains open when Godefroid died on July 18, 1100. Some chronicles note the suspicious nature of this death and mention poisoning.