Siege
An account by Albert of Aachen stated that Godfrey spent six weeks building mangenae or stone throwers, which were used to support two siege towers. [3] The number of Godfrey's men, however, was severely reduced after most of the crusaders returned home via Laodicea. [4] In the end the two assaults made on Arsuf were defeated when the garrison set the siege towers on fire. [5] Godfrey was left with no options and ended the siege.
During the siege, while the Crusaders pounded the walls with catapults, the Fatimids had Gerard hung from the mast of an old ship that had been lying in the city. They raised Gerard up to be in view of the attacking Crusaders. Gerard begged Godfrey to take pity on him. Godrey responded that while Gerard was the bravest of knights, but he could not call off the attack. Godfrey said that it was better for Gerard to be the sole casualty than to Arsuf to remain a danger to Christian pilgrims. Gerard then asked that his property be donated to the Holy Sepulchre, of which Godfrey was Defender, instead of the king. The Crusaders continued their attack. Gerard was wounded multiple times, though he managed to survive and make it back to Jerusalem.
The city rulers offered to surrender to Raymond of Saint-Gilles, but Godfrey refused. [6] Raymond even encouraged the garrison at Arsuf to hold out against Godfrey, touting his perceived weakness. [7] Within Godfrey's army, Franco I of Maasmechelen, a relative of Godfrey, is known to have died in the battle.
The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Latin Kingdom, was a Crusader state that was established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1099 until the fall of Acre in 1291. Its history is divided into two periods with a brief interruption in its existence, beginning with its collapse after the siege of Jerusalem in 1187 and its restoration after the Third Crusade in 1192.
The 1090s was a decade of the Julian Calendar which began on January 1, 1090, and ended on December 31, 1099.
Year 1099 (MXCIX) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.
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Godfrey of Bouillon was a preeminent leader of the First Crusade, and the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100. Although initially reluctant to take the title of king, he agreed to rule as prince (princeps) under the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri, or Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre.
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Robert II, Count of Flanders was Count of Flanders from 1093 to 1111. He became known as Robert of Jerusalem or Robert the Crusader after his exploits in the First Crusade.
The Battle of Dorylaeum took place during the First Crusade on 1 July 1097 between the crusader forces and the Seljuk Turks, near the city of Dorylaeum in Anatolia. Though the Turkish forces of Kilij Arslan nearly destroyed the Crusader contingent of Bohemond, other Crusaders arrived just in time to reverse the course of the battle.
The Battle of Montgisard was fought between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Ayyubid Dynasty on 25 November 1177 at Montgisard, in the Levant between Ramla and Yibna. The 16-year-old Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, severely afflicted by leprosy, led outnumbered Christian forces against Saladin's troops in what became one of the most notable engagements of the Crusades. The Muslim Army was quickly routed and pursued for twelve miles. Saladin fled back to Cairo, reaching the city on 8 December, with only a tenth of his army. Muslim historians considered Saladin's defeat to be so severe that it was only redeemed by his victory ten years later at the battles of Cresson and Hattin and the Siege of Jerusalem in 1187. Saladin did defeat Baldwin IV in the Battle of Marj Ayyun and the Siege of Jacob’s Ford in 1179, only to be defeated by Baldwin again at the Battle of Belvoir Castle in 1182 and the Siege of Kerak in 1183.
The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, lasted from 20 October 1097 to 3 June 1098. The second siege, of the crusader-held city by a Seljuk relieving army, lasted three weeks in June 1098, leading to the Battle of Antioch in which the crusaders defeated the relieving army led by Kerbogha. The crusaders then established the Principality of Antioch, ruled by Bohemond of Taranto.
The Battle of Ascalon took place on 12 August 1099 shortly after the capture of Jerusalem, and is often considered the last action of the First Crusade. The crusader army led by Godfrey of Bouillon defeated and drove off a Fatimid army, securing the safety of Jerusalem.
Blessed Gerard Sasso, known also as Gérard de Martigues, was a lay brother in the Benedictine Order who was appointed as rector of the hospice in Jerusalem at Muristan in 1080. In the wake of the success of the First Crusade in 1099, he became the founder of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, also known as the Knights Hospitaller, an organization that received papal recognition in 1113. As such, he was the first Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller.
The siege of Ascalon took place from 25 January to 22 August 1153, in the time period between the Second and Third Crusades, and resulted in the capture of the Fatimid Egyptian fortress by the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Ascalon was an important castle that was used by the Fatimids to launch raids into the Crusader kingdom's territory, and by 1153 it was the last coastal city in Palestine that was not controlled by the Crusaders.
Hugh of Fauquembergues, also known as Hugh of St Omer, Hugh of Falkenberg, or Hugh of Falchenberg was Prince of Galilee from 1101 to his death. He was Lord of Fauquembergues before joining the First Crusade. Baldwin I of Jerusalem granted him Galilee after its first prince, Tancred, who was Baldwin's opponent, had voluntarily renounced it. Hugh assisted Baldwin against the Fatimids and made raids into Seljuk territories. He established the castles of Toron and Chastel Neuf. He died fighting against Toghtekin, Atabeg of Damascus.
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, one of several Frankish forces deployed during the First Crusade, was among the first to arrive in Constantinople. 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.
Geldemar Carpenel (Waldemar) (died 7 September 1101), of unknown parentage. Lord of Dargoire, Lord of Haifa (Calphas).
The siege of Acre took place in May 1104. It was of great importance for the consolidation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which had been founded only a few years earlier. With the help of a Genoese fleet, King Baldwin I forced the surrender of the important port city after a siege that lasted only twenty days. Although all defenders and residents wishing to leave the city had been assured by the king that they would be free to leave, taking their chattels with them, many of them had been massacred by the Genoese as they left the city. Moreover, the attackers had also sacked the city itself.
The title of Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri, or Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre, has been ascribed to Godfrey of Bouillon in his role as the first Latin ruler of Jerusalem. In the aftermath of the First Crusade, there was disagreement among the clergy and secular leaders as the leadership of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. There was opposition to the naming of a king over the Holy City and the wearing of a crown in the city where Christ suffered with a crown of thorns. The original sources differ on the actual title assumed by Godfrey. 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.
Fatimid Caliphate 
Kingdom of Jerusalem 
Godfrey of Bouillon 
