ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Godfrey of Bouillon’s career in the West. It firstly surmises his activities between his birth in about 1060 and his earliest emergence in historical record, which came in connection with the death of his uncle, Godfrey the Hunchback, in 1076. It considers the circumstances in which Godfrey the Hunchback named Godfrey of Bouillon as his heir, before discussing the lands and holdings which the latter inherited. The chapter demonstrates that after Godfrey the Hunchback’s death, Henry IV overlooked Godfrey of Bouillon for the ducal office of Lower Lotharingia. The remainder of the chapter charts Godfrey of Bouillon’s exploits during the following twenty years. Like his predecessors, he maintained close links with the monks of St Hubert and the bishop of Liège, acting as the secular advocate of the former, and supporting the latter’s efforts to institute the Peace of God in the diocese in about 1082. The chapter argues that in the decade after 1076 Godfrey of Bouillon was not as firmly allied to Henry IV as historians have often suggested, but that relations between the two were sufficiently cordial for Henry to appoint Godfrey as duke in 1087. The closing section of the chapter charts Godfrey’s career as duke between 1087 and 1095, and suggests that his influence as duke did not match that of his predecessors.
