Godfrey served Henry IV loyally, supporting him even when Pope Gregory VII was battling the German king in the Investiture Controversy. In fact, Lower Lorraine was so important to the German kingdom and the Holy Roman Empire that Henry IV, the German king and future emperor (reigned 1084–1105), decided in 1076 that he would place it in the hands of his own son and give Godfrey only Bouillon and the Margraviate of Antwerp as a test of Godfrey's abilities and loyalty. This duchy was an important one at the time, serving as a buffer between the kingdom of France and the German lands.
However his maternal uncle, Godfrey the Hunchback, died childless and named his nephew, Godfrey of Bouillon, as his heir and next in line to his Duchy of Lower Lorraine. As second son, he had fewer opportunities than his older brother. His birthplace was probably Boulogne-sur-Mer, although one 13th-century chronicler cites Baisy, a town in what is now Walloon Brabant, Belgium. Godfrey of Bouillon was born around 1060 as the second son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, and Ida, daughter of the Lotharingian duke Godfrey the Bearded and his first wife, Doda. He was succeeded by his brother Baldwin, who was crowned the first king of Jerusalem. Godfrey only ruled Jerusalem for one year before his death in 1100. Godfrey secured his kingdom by defeating the Fatimids at Ascalon a month later, bringing the First Crusade to an end. He refused the title of king, however, as he believed that he ought not wear "a crown of gold" where Jesus Christ had worn "a crown of thorns". Raymond IV of Toulouse declined the offer to become king of Jerusalem, and Godfrey accepted the rulership instead. He saw minor action at Nicaea, Dorylaeum and Antioch, before playing a key role during the successful Siege of Jerusalem in 1099. Godfrey and his brothers Eustace III and Baldwin of Boulogne joined the First Crusade in 1096.
The second son of Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, Godfrey became Lord of Bouillon (from which he took his byname) in 1076 and secured his rights to the Duchy of Lower Lorraine in 1087 as a reward to his service to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV during the Great Saxon Revolt. Older scholarship is more fond of another title, that of Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Defender of the Holy Sepulchre), a secondary title which is still preferred by the Catholic Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. He avoided using the title of king, choosing instead that of princeps. He was the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 to 1100. Godfrey of Bouillon ( French: Godefroy, Dutch: Godfried, German: Gottfried, Latin: Godefridus Bullionensis 18 September 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a French nobleman and one of the pre-eminent leaders of the First Crusade.
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