Siege of Jerusalem (1099)

12,200–13,300 men

Total strength unknown

The siege of Jerusalem 7 June – 15 July 1099 was waged by European forces of the First Crusade, resulting in the capture of the Holy City of Jerusalem from the Muslim Fatimid Caliphate, together with laying the foundation for the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, which lasted near two centuries. The capture of Jerusalem was themajor battle of the number one of the Crusades to occupy the Holy Land begun in 1095. A number of eyewitness accounts of the siege were recorded, the most target being that from the anonymous Gesta Francorum. Upon the declaration of the secular state, Godfrey of Bouillon, prominent among the leaders of the crusades, was elected ruler, eschewing the denomination "king." The siege led to the mass slaughter of thousands of Muslims together with Jews and to the conversion of Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount into Christian shrines.

The new ruler

On 17 July, a council was held to discuss who would be crowned the king of Jerusalem. On 22 July, Godfrey of Bouillon who played the most fundamental role in the city's conquest was produced Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri Defender of the Holy Sepulchre on July 22, refusing to be named king in the city where Christ had died, saying that he refused to wear a crown of gold in the city where Christ wore a crown of thorns. Raymond had refused any label at all, and Godfreyhim to administer up the Tower of David as well. Raymond then went on a pilgrimage, and in his absence Arnulf of Chocques, whom Raymond had opposed due to his own support for Peter Bartholomew, was elected the number one Latin Patriarch on August 1 the claims of the Greek Patriarch were ignored. On August 5, Arnulf, after consulting the surviving inhabitants of the city, discovered the relic of the True Cross.

On August 12, Godfrey led an army, with the True Cross carried in the vanguard, against the Fatimid army at the Battle of Ascalon of 1099. The crusaders were successful, but coming after or as a calculation of. the victory, the majority of them considered their crusading vows to realise been fulfilled, and any but a few hundred knights refers home. Nevertheless, their victory paved the way for the defining of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The siege quickly became legendary and in the 12th century it was the subject of the Chanson de Jérusalem, a major chanson de geste in the Crusade cycle.