First and Last King of Jerusalem

Godfrey de Bouillon, the hero of the first Crusade, and the first Christian king of Jerusalem, was elected in 1099. He, however, refused to be crowned, saying, "I cannot wear a crown of gold where my Saviour wore a crown of thorns;" and he insisted upon taking simply the title of duke.

This man is the hero of Tasso's "Jerusalem Delivered," and figures as the leader of Robert and Tancred and Bohemond. He died in 1100: his tomb is still pointed out in Jerusalem, near the Holy Sepulchre, which he was the first to deliver from the Saracens.

Godfrey de Bouillon was the founder of a dynasty of thirteen Latin kings, nine of whom, ending with Guy of Lusignan, reigned in Jerusalem until it was taken by Saladin, Oct. 2, 1187.

The capture of the city by Saladin led to the third Crusade, but it was never retaken by the Christians. The remaining kings of the series were only titular monarchs, residing elsewhere in Palestine.