This man bore a considerable number of titles during his lifetime. He was the Count of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine and one of the leaders of the First Crusade. There, in the Holy Land, Gottfried received a new title - "Protector of the Holy Sepulcher", and at the same time became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. But Boulogne has one more curious feature. When Belgium became independent in 1830, she urgently needed her national hero. And certainly great, with titles. But, as it turned out, all the epic characters from the Middle Ages turned out to be either French or even Germans. The newly minted Belgians dug in historical documents, archives and chronicles, and their persistence was rewarded. There was still a hero - Gottfried of Bouillon. He was attributed to Belgium. And then they put on the Royal Square in Brussels an equestrian statue of a man who made history at the end of the eleventh century and did not know that centuries later he would be the national hero of the new country.
Great legacy
Gottfried's exact date of birth is unknown. It is believed that he was born in approximately 1060 in Lower Lorraine. It must be said that this very Lower Lorraine separated from the upper one in about the middle of the tenth century. At that time in Europe, there was just a protracted process of fragmentation of lands, which were claimed by numerous monarchs (or who considered themselves to be such) persons. It is worth saying that in our time, Lower Lorraine, namely the valley of the Meuse River, is divided between Belgium, France and the Netherlands. This is what the Belgian historians have clung to. But back to the eleventh century.
Gottfried belonged to the family of the Counts of Boulogne, who (in their opinion) are most directly related to the Carolingians. At least on his mother - Ida - he is definitely connected with Charlemagne. As for his father - Eustachius II of Boulogne (mustache) - he was a relative of the English king Edward the Confessor and took a direct part in the Norman conquest of Foggy Albion. Nevertheless, Gottfried inherited his title of Duke of Lower Lorraine from his uncle, Ida's brother, who, by the way, was also called Gottfried. Here is Duke Gottfried and gave the title to his nephew.
At first, relations with the church towards Gottfried of Bouillon were very tense. The fact is that he got into the confrontation between the King of Germany, and then the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire Henry IV with Pope Gregory VII. Moreover, Gottfried was on the side of the first. And in that struggle, he first demonstrated his impressive qualities of a leader and military leader.
But his main deeds fell on the last ten years of his life. Pope Urban II's call to go on the Crusade, he gladly accepted. Nevertheless, it was not his army that was the first to go to the Holy Land, but the army of the peasants. That event went down in history as the "Peasant Crusade". Since the army was made up, for the most part, the poor without the proper weapons and skills, their attempt to recapture the Holy Sepulcher, naturally, failed. When this became known in Europe, Gottfried, together with his brothers (Baldwin and Estache), set about collecting their troops. Soon they led the army of the Crusaders, consisting of soldiers of Lorraine, Rei and Weimar lands. Here's what is interesting: when recruiting troops, Gottfried acted cleverly and subtly. He accepted into it both the supporters of the pope and the followers of the emperor. Thus, he made both those in power loyally treat himself. And the backbone of Christ's army was made up of well-trained and armed Walloons. How many soldiers Gottfried had is unknown. According to the testimony of the Byzantine princess and the eldest daughter of Emperor Alexei I Comnenus Anna, who was one of the first women historians, the Count of Bouillon gathered about ten thousand horsemen and seventy thousand infantrymen. And in order to equip and maintain such an impressive army, he had to spend almost all the funds, including even selling his castle, and at the same time the entire county of Bouillon. Actually, it is clear that he did not even think to come back.
First crusaders
The Crusaders made it to Hungary without much trouble. And then an obstacle awaited them - the local king, remembering how many troubles the poor had brought to his lands, refused to let them pass. People were also aggressive towards the crusaders. But Gottfried still managed to agree.
Another interesting thing: on the way, Gottfried met with the ambassadors of the Byzantine sovereign Alexei Comnenus. The negotiations were successful for both sides. The Byzantines agreed to supply the crusaders with provisions, and they in turn pledged to protect them. And this continued until the soldiers of Christ approached Selimbria (the modern city of Silivri, Turkey) - a city on the shores of the Sea of Marmara. The crusaders suddenly attacked and plundered it. It is not known what prompted them to do this, but the fact remains. The Byzantine emperor was terrified. He only recently somehow got rid of the greedy, cruel and uncontrollable crowd of poor people who called themselves "crusaders" and suddenly - a repetition of the plot. Only now a much stronger army approached the capital. Alexei Komnenus ordered Gottfried to come to Constantinople and explain the situation, and at the same time swear allegiance. But the Count of Bouillon was a loyal knight of the German emperor, so he simply ignored the call of the Byzantine monarch. True, he was surprised, because he was sure that the Crusade was a common cause of all Christians, and not the help of Byzantium in the confrontation with the infidels. And at the end of December 1096, Gottfried's army stood under the walls of Constantinople. Naturally, Alexei Komnin was furious. And so he ordered to stop the supply of provisions to the crusaders. This decision, of course, was thoughtless and hasty. As soon as the soldiers were left on a starvation ration, they instantly found a way out - they began to plunder neighboring villages and cities. The emperor of Byzantium could not do anything about it, so he soon decided to make peace with Gottfried. The crusaders began to receive provisions. But the peace did not last long.
Gottfried still did not agree to an audience with Alexei, and setting up camp in the area of Pera and Galata, waited for the rest of the crusader troops to come from Europe. Naturally, the Byzantine sovereign was very nervous. He absolutely did not trust his "European partners" and thought that Gottfried was about to seize Constantinople. And then Alexei Komnenus invited a couple of noble knights from the crusader army. They agreed, and arrived in Constantinople in secret, without informing Gottfried. When the Count of Bouillon found out about this, he decided that Alexei had captured them. The crusader got angry, burned the camp and went with the army to the capital. Gottfried was determined. Bloody clashes broke out between Europeans and Byzantines. Not without a full-fledged battle, in which Gottfried was defeated. Alexei decided that this would be enough to change the position of the Count of Bouillon. But I was wrong. Gottfried still did not want to meet with the emperor and swear allegiance to him. Even Duke Hugh de Vermandois, who lived at the court of Alexei as a guest of honor, did not help. But then there was another fight. Gottfried lost again. And only after that he agreed to Alexey's proposal. The count swore allegiance to him and vowed to give all the conquered lands to one of the commanders of Comnenus.
Meanwhile, the rest of the participants in the Crusade also approached Constantinople. And Gottfried's army went to Nicaea. It happened in May 1097. Guillaume of Tire in his "History of Acts in the Overseas Lands" wrote about the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate as follows: who intended to besiege the city. Further, the city had a large and warlike population; thick walls, high towers, located very close to each other, interconnected by strong fortifications, gave the city the glory of an impregnable fortress."
It was impossible to take the city from a swoop. The crusaders began to prepare for a long and painful siege. Until then, a few words in Nicaea. In general, this city originally belonged to Byzantium. But in the late seventies of the eleventh century, it was conquered by the Seljuks. And soon they made the capital of their sultanate. The peasants who were the first to go on the Crusade in 1096 had no idea who they were going to fight with. Therefore, they could only plunder the vicinity of Nicaea, after which they were destroyed by the Seljuk army. But Sultan Kylych-Arslan I after these events did not behave like an intelligent and far-sighted statesman. Having defeated the exhausted and weak peasants, he decided that all the crusaders were like that. Therefore, he did not worry about them and went to the conquest of Melitena in Eastern Anatolia. At the same time, he left both the treasury and the family in Nicaea.
Another interesting thing: on the way to the capital of the Seljuks, Gottfried's army was replenished with small detachments consisting of surviving peasants. They did not break down and decided to fight the infidels to the end.
In May 1097, Gottfried laid siege to Nicaea from the north. Soon the rest of the military leaders approached the city. For example, Raimund of Toulouse with his army. He blocked the settlement from the south. But still, they failed to take the capital into a tight ring. The crusaders controlled the roads leading to Nicaea, but they failed to cut the city off from the lake.
At the end of May, the Seljuks tried to attack the Crusaders in order to lift the siege. Since the intelligence worked out frankly failed, they decided to strike the main blow from the south, since they were sure that there were no Europeans there. But … quite unexpectedly, the Seljuks "buried themselves" in the Count of Toulouse. And soon several more armies came to his aid, including Gottfried himself. The battle was fierce. And the victory went to the Europeans. It is known that the crusaders lost about three thousand people, and the Saracens - about four thousand. After the losers retreated, Christians decided to strike a blow at the psychological state of the defenders of the capital. Tirsky wrote that they "loaded the throwing machines with a large number of heads of the slain enemies and threw them into the city."
The siege dragged on. Several weeks have passed since the blockade of the city. Throughout this time, the crusaders tried several times to take Nicaea by storm. But they didn't succeed. Even the ballistae and the siege tower, which were built under the leadership of the Count of Toulouse, did not help. Here is what Guillaume of Thirsky wrote about military vehicles: “This machine was made of oak beams interconnected by powerful crossbars, and gave refuge to twenty strong knights, who were placed there to dig under the walls, so that they seemed protected from all arrows and all kinds of projectiles, even the largest rocks."
The crusaders were able to find out that the most vulnerable tower of the city was Gonat. It was badly damaged even during the reign of Emperor Basil II and was only partially restored. After some time, the attackers managed to tilt it and install wooden beams instead of stones. And then they were set on fire. But the Seljuks managed to repel the attack, and moreover, they managed to destroy the siege tower. Having failed, the Crusaders, however, did not despair. They continued the siege, hoping that someday their efforts would be rewarded. True, this "someday" had completely abstract boundaries, since the besieged received provisions and weapons from ships plying freely on the Askan Lake.
The crusaders were in a quandary. They could not take control of the reservoir in any way. And then Alexey Komnin came to their aid. By his order, a fleet and an army were sent to Nicaea, led by Manuel Vutumit and Tatikiy. Interestingly, the ships were delivered to the city by carts. Then they were collected and launched into the water. And only after that Nicaea found herself in a dense ring of the besiegers. Inspired by the crusaders, they rushed to a new assault. A fierce battle ensued, in which neither side could in any way tip the scales in their favor.
And the Byzantine generals, meanwhile, began to play a double game. In secret from the crusaders, they agreed with the residents about the surrender of the city. Alexei did not believe Gottfried's oath. He believed that as soon as he took Nicaea, he would forget about this promise and would not give it to Wutumit.
On June 19, the Crusaders and Byzantines struck together. And … the besieged suddenly surrendered to the mercy of Vutumita and Tatikia. Naturally, the appearance was created that it was thanks to the Byzantine commanders that they managed to capture the city.
The crusaders were furious. It turned out that the captured Nicaea automatically passed to Byzantium and was under the protection of the emperor. And if so, then it could no longer be plundered. And what went against the plans of the Europeans, who, at the expense of the Suldzhuk capital, hoped to get rich and replenish food supplies. Guillaume Triercius wrote: “… the people of pilgrims and all ordinary soldiers who worked with such zeal throughout the siege hoped to receive the property of the captives as trophies, thereby reimbursing the costs and numerous losses that they experienced. They also hoped to appropriate for themselves everything that they would find within the city and, seeing that no one was providing them with appropriate compensation for their hardships, that the emperor took into his treasury everything that should have belonged to them according to the treaty, they were enraged by all this. to such an extent that they have already begun to regret the work done during the trip and the expenditure of so many sums of money, because, in their opinion, they did not derive any benefit from all this."
The Byzantines understood that the crusaders might not resist the temptation, so Vutumit ordered to let only small groups of Europeans into Nicaea - no more than ten people. As for the family of the hapless Kylych-Arslan, they were sent to Constantinople as hostages.
We must pay tribute to Alexei Komnenus. He understood that the Crusaders were a powder keg ready to explode at any moment, so he decided to make a gesture of imperial generosity. The sovereign ordered to reward them for military valor with money and horses. But this act did not fundamentally correct the situation. The crusaders were very unhappy and believed that the Byzantines had deliberately stolen their rich booty from them.
Capture of Jerusalem
After the capture of Nicaea, the crusaders headed for Antioch. Together with the armies of the Europeans, Tatikiy also took part in that campaign, whom Alexei Komnin ordered to monitor compliance with the treaty.
In spite of the meager loot, in the opinion of the crusaders, their morale was in perfect order. The capture of Nicaea instilled in them self-confidence. One of the leaders of the army - Stephen of Bloinsky - wrote that he soon hoped to be under the camps of Jerusalem.
The campaign was going well for the crusaders. They managed to finally defeat the troops of Kylych-Arslan in the battle of Doriley and in the fall reached Antioch. It was not possible to take the well-fortified city from a swoop. And the siege dragged on for eight months. And therefore, the crusaders approached Jerusalem only at the beginning of June 1099. How many soldiers at that time Gottfried had is unknown for sure. According to some sources, about forty thousand people, according to others - no more than twenty thousand.
The crusaders saw the city at dawn when the sun had just appeared. Most of Gottfried's soldiers immediately fell to their knees and prayed. They reached the Holy City for which they spent several years on the road and in battles. It must be said that Jerusalem at that time did not belong to the Seljuks, but to the Fitimid Caliph, who managed to annex the Holy City to his possessions. Emir Iftikar ad-Daula, when he learned about the appearance of the crusaders, decided to try to get rid of them, as they say, with little blood. He sent delegates to the Europeans, who informed that the Caliph was not against making a pilgrimage to holy places. But a number of conditions had to be met. For example, only small and unarmed groups were allowed to visit the shrines. Naturally, Gottfried and the rest of the leaders refused. This is not why they left their homes three years ago. The crusaders decided to capture Jerusalem.
Robert of Normandy - one of the leaders of the Crusaders - camped on the north side near the church of St. Stephen. The army of Robert of Flanders "dug in" nearby. As for the Boulogne, he, together with Tancred of Tarentum, were located on the western side, near the Tower of David and the Jaffa Gate. By the way, pilgrims from Europe passed through them.
Another army stood in the south. According to the chronicler Raymund of Azhilsky, an army of twelve thousand infantry and knights, of which there were just over a thousand, gathered under the walls of Jerusalem. As a "bonus", the army of Christ could count on the help of local Christians. But this force was significantly inferior in number to that which was on the other side of the walls of Jerusalem. The only advantage of the Crusaders was their high morale.
The siege of the Holy City began. The local emir did not panic, he was confident of victory. When only the leaders of the crusaders rejected his offer, he expelled all Christians from the city and ordered to strengthen the city walls. The crusaders suffered from lack of food and water, but did not think to retreat. They were ready to endure any torment in order to free their shrine.
In the end, the army of Christ went to storm. It happened in June 1099. The attempt failed, the Muslims managed to repel the attack. Then it became known that the Egyptian fleet had crushed the ships of the Genoese who had gone to the rescue. True, they failed to destroy all the ships. Part reached Jaffa, delivering much-needed provisions and various tools to the Europeans with which it was possible to build war machines.
Time passed, the siege continued. At the end of June, the crusaders learned that the Fatimid army had come out of Egypt to help Jerusalem. In early July, one of the monks had a vision. The late Bishop Ademar of Monteil appeared to him and called upon "to arrange for God a procession of the cross around the fortifications of Jerusalem, to pray fervently, do alms and observe fasting." Moeach said that after that Jerusalem would definitely fall. After consulting, the bishops and military leaders decided that the words of Ademar could not be ignored. And we decided to try it. The procession was led by Peter the Hermit (a monk who was the spiritual leader of the Peasant Crusade), Raimund Azhilskiy and Arnulf Shokeskiy. The trinity, commanding the barefoot crusaders, led a procession around the city walls and sang psalms. Naturally, Muslims reacted to this as aggressively as possible. But the procession did not help. Jerusalem did not fall. And this, I must say, greatly and unpleasantly surprised the whole army of Christ. Everyone, from ordinary soldiers to military leaders, were confident that the walls of the city would collapse. But there was some kind of "failure" and this did not happen. However, this annoying oversight did not weaken the faith of Christians.
The siege dragged on, the resources of the crusaders were dwindling. An urgent solution to the problem was required. And the crusaders rallied for another assault. This is what Raimund of Azhilski wrote in The History of the Franks who took Jerusalem: “Let every man prepare for battle on the 14th. In the meantime, let everyone be on guard, praying and giving alms. Let the carts with the masters be in front, so that the artisans take down trunks, stakes and poles, and let the girls weave fascines from rods. It is commanded that every two knights make one braided shield or ladder. Throw away any doubts about fighting for God, for in the next few days he will complete your military labors."
The assault began on the fourteenth of July. The crusaders, of course, met with desperate resistance from the Muslims. The fierce battle lasted almost a whole day. And only with the onset of darkness did the parties take a break. Jerusalem has resisted. But naturally, no one slept that night. The besieged were waiting for a new attack, the besiegers were guarding military vehicles, fearing that the Muslims would be able to set them on fire. The new day began with the reading of prayers and psalms, after which the crusaders went on the attack. After some time, the ditch that fenced Jerusalem was still filled up. And the siege towers were able to approach the walls of the city. And from them knights jumped onto the walls. This was the turning point of the battle. Taking advantage of the confusion of the city's defenders, the Europeans rushed to the walls. According to legend, the knight Leopold was the first to break through, Gottfried of Bouillon took the "silver". The third was Tancred of Tarentum. Soon, the army of Raymund of Toulouse also broke into the city, which attacked Jerusalem through the southern gate. The city fell. It became clear to everyone. And so the emir of the garrison of the Tower of David himself opened the Jaffa gate.
An avalanche of crusaders burst into the city. The embittered and exhausted warriors threw out all their rage on the defenders of the city. They did not spare anyone. Both Muslims and Jews were sentenced to death. Mosques and synagogues were burned together with people who got confused in them to be saved. The city began to drown in blood … The massacre did not stop at night. And by the morning of July 16, all the inhabitants of the city were killed, there are at least ten thousand people.
Guillaume of Tire wrote: “It was impossible to watch without horror how the bodies of the dead and scattered body parts were scattered everywhere and how the whole earth was covered with blood. And not only the disfigured corpses and severed heads presented a terrible sight, but even more shuddered the fact that the victors themselves were covered in blood from head to toe and terrified everyone they met. They say that about 10 thousand enemies perished within the boundaries of the temple, not counting those who were killed everywhere in the city and covered the streets and squares; their number, they say, was no less. The rest of the army dispersed through the city and, dragging them out of the narrow and remote alleys like cattle, the unfortunates who wanted to hide there from death, killed them with axes. Others, divided into detachments, burst into houses and grabbed the fathers of families with their wives, children and all household members and stabbed them with swords or threw them from some elevated places to the ground, so that they perished, shattered. At the same time, each bursting into the house, turned it into his own property with everything that was in it, because even before the capture of the city, it was agreed between the crusaders that after conquest, everyone would be able to own for eternity by right of ownership, everything that he could capture. Therefore, they especially carefully examined the city and killed those who resisted. They penetrated into the most secluded and secret shelters, broke into the houses of residents, and every Christian knight hung a shield or some other weapon on the doors of the house, as a sign for the approaching one - not to stop here, but to pass by, for this place has already been taken by others..
True, among the crusaders there were also those who did not take out their anger on the inhabitants of the captured city. For example, some chroniclers noted that the soldiers of Raymond of Toulouse released the defenders of the Tower of David. But such an act was rather an exception.
It must be said that the crusaders not only killed the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but also plundered the city. They grabbed, as they say, "everything that glitters" in mosques and synagogues.
After the victory
Jerusalem was taken. The main mission of Christians has been accomplished. After this significant event, ordinary everyday life began. And the first king of the newly formed Kingdom of Jerusalem was Gottfried of Bouillon, who took the title of Defender of the Holy Sepulcher. As a monarch, he was, of course, entitled to a crown. But the legend, he abandoned it. Gottfried declared that he would not wear a golden crown where the King of Kings wore a crown of thorns. Having become a ruler, the Count of Bouillon managed not only to retain power, but also in a short time to expand not only the territorial boundaries of his kingdom, but also the sphere of influence. The emissaries of Ascalon, Caesarea and Ptolemais paid tribute to him. In addition, he annexed the Arabians who lived on the left side of the Jordan.
But Gottfried's reign was short-lived. Already in 1100, the first monarch of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was gone. Moreover, it is not known exactly what happened to him. According to one version, he died during the siege of Acre, according to another, he died of cholera. Here is what Guillaume of Tire wrote about him: “He was a believer, easy to handle, virtuous and God-fearing. He was just, avoided evil, he was truthful and faithful in all his undertakings. He despised the vanity of the world, a quality rare at this age, and especially among the men of the military profession. He was diligent in prayer and pious labors, renowned for his demeanor, graciously affable, outgoing, and merciful. His whole life was praiseworthy and pleasing to God. He was tall, and although it could not be said that he was very tall, he was taller than people of average height. He was a husband of incomparable strength with strong members, powerful breasts and a handsome face. His hair and beard were light brown. By all accounts, he was the most outstanding person in the possession of weapons and in military operations."
After the death of Gottfried, his brother Baldwin received power in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He did not become like a relative and did not give up the golden crown.
