Godfrey of Bouillon, First Crusader

Godfrey of Bouillon, First Crusader Godfrey of Bouillon was also known as Godefroi de Bouillon, and he was best known for leading an army in the First Crusade, and becoming the first European ruler in the Holy Land. Godfrey of Bouillon was born in about 1060 C.E. to Count Eustace II of Boulogne and his wife Ida, who was the daughter of Duke Godfrey II of Lower Lorraine. His elder brother, Eustace III, inherited Boulogne and the familys estate in England. In 1076 his maternal uncle named Godfrey heir to the duchy of Lower Lorraine, the county of Verdun, the Marquisate of Antwerp and the territories of Stenay and Bouillon. But Emperor Henry IV delayed confirming the grant of Lower Lorraine, and Godfrey only won the duchy back in 1089, as a reward for fighting for Henry. Godfrey the Crusader In 1096, Godfrey joined the First Crusade with Eustace and his younger brother, Baldwin. His motivations are unclear; he had never shown any notable devotion to the Church, and in the investiture controversy he had supported the German ruler against the pope. The terms of the mortgage agreements he drew up in preparation for going to the Holy Land suggest that Godfrey had no intention of staying there. But he raised considerable funds and a formidable army, and he would become one of the most important leaders of the First Crusade. Upon his arrival at Constantinople, Godfrey immediately clashed with Alexius Comnenus over the oath the emperor wanted the crusaders to take, which included the provision that any recovered lands that had once been part of the empire be restored to the emperor. Though Godfrey clearly had not planned to settle in the Holy Land, he balked at this. Tensions grew so strained that they came to violence; but ultimately Godfrey took the oath, though he harbored serious reservations and not a little resentment. That resentment probably grew stronger when Alexius surprised the Crusaders by taking possession of Nicea after they had besieged it, robbing them of the opportunity to plunder the city for spoil. In their progress through the Holy Land, some of the Crusaders took a detour to find allies and supplies, and they ended up establishing a settlement in Edessa. Godfrey acquired Tilbesar, a prosperous region that would make it possible for him to supply his troops more readily and help him increase his number of followers. Tilbesar, like the other areas acquired by the Crusaders at this time, had once been Byzantine; but neither Godfrey nor any of his associates offered to turn any of these lands over to the emperor. Ruler of Jerusalem After the Crusaders captured Jerusalem when fellow crusade leader Raymond of Toulouse refused to become king of the city, Godfrey agreed to rule; but he wouldnt take the title of king. He was instead called Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Protector of the Holy Sepulchre). Shortly thereafter, Godfrey and his fellow crusaders beat back a force of encroaching Egyptians. With Jerusalem thus secured - at least for the time being - most of the crusaders decided to return home. Godfrey now lacked support and guidance in governing the city, and the arrival of papal legate Daimbert, archbishop of Pisa, complicated matters. Daimbert, who shortly became the patriarch of Jerusalem, believed the city and, indeed, the entire Holy Land should be governed by the church. Against his better judgment, but without any alternative, Godfrey became Daimberts vassal. This would make Jerusalem the subject of an ongoing power struggle for years to come. However, Godfrey would play no further part in this matter; he died unexpectedly on July 18, 1100. After his death, Godfrey became the subject of legends and songs, thanks in large part to his height, his fair hair and his good looks. Sources: Brà ©hier at the Cathoic Encycopedia. Godfrey of BouillonBrundage, James at Paul Halsalls Medieval Sourcebook. William of Tyre: Godfrey Of Bouillon Becomes Defender Of The Holy Sepulcher.

Step Pyramid of Djoser - Egypts Oldest Pyramid

Step Pyramid of Djoser - Egypts Oldest Pyramid The Step Pyramid of Djoser (also spelled Zoser) is the earliest monumental pyramid in Egypt, built at Saqqara about 2650 BCE for the 3rd Dynasty Old Kingdom pharaoh Djoser, who ruled about 2691–2625  BCE (or perhaps 2630-2611  BCE). The pyramid is part of a complex of buildings, said to have been planned and executed by that most famous architect of the ancient world, Imhotep. Fast Facts: Step Pyramid of Djoser Culture: 3rd Dynasty, Old Kingdom Egypt (ca. 2686–2125 BCE)Location: Saqqara, EgyptPurpose: Burial chamber for Djoser (Horus Ntry-ht, ruled 2667–2648 BCE)Architect: ImhotepComplex: Surrounded by a rectangular wall enclosing several shrines and open courtyards  Size: 205 feet high, 358 feet square at the base, complex covers 37 acresMaterial: Native limestone What is a Step Pyramid? The Step Pyramid is made up of a stack of rectangular mounds, each built of limestone blocks, and decreasing in size upward. That may seem odd to those of us who think pyramid-shaped means smooth-sided, no doubt because of the classic  Giza Plateau pyramids, also dated to the Old Kingdom. But stepped pyramids were the common type of tomb for both private and public individuals until the 4th dynasty when Sneferu built the first smooth-sided, albeit bent, pyramid.  Roth (1993) has an interesting paper about what the shift from rectangular to pointy pyramids meant to Egyptian society and its relationship to the  sun god Ra; but thats a digression. The very first pharaonic burial monuments were low rectangular mounds called mastabas, reaching a maximum height of 2.5 meters or about eight feet. Those would have been almost completely invisible from a distance, and, over time the tombs were built ever-increasingly larger. Djosers was the first truly monumental structure.   Djosers Pyramid Complex Djosers Step Pyramid is at the heart of a complex of structures, enclosed by a rectangular stone wall. The buildings in the complex include a line of shrines, some fake buildings (and a few functional ones), high niched walls and several wsht (or jubilee) courtyards. The largest wsht-courtyards are the Great Court south of the pyramid, and the Heb Sed courtyard between the rows of provincial shrines. The step pyramid is near the center, complemented by the south tomb. The complex includes subterranean storage chambers, galleries and corridors, most of which were not discovered until the 19th century (although they were apparently excavated by Middle Kingdom pharaohs, see below). One corridor that runs beneath the pyramid is decorated with six limestone panels depicting King Djoser. In these panels, Djoser is dressed in different ritual clothing and posed as standing or running. That has been interpreted to mean he is performing rituals associated with the Sed festival (Friedman and Friedman). Sed rituals were dedicated to the jackal god known as Sed or Wepwawet, meaning Opener of the Ways, and an early version of Anubis. Sed can be found standing next to Egyptian dynastic kings right from the first images such as that on the Narmer palette. Historians tell us that Sed festivals were rituals of physical renewal, in which the aged king would prove he still had the right of kingship by running a lap or two around the walls of the royal residence. Middle Kingdom Fascination with the Old Guy Djosers name was given to him in the Middle Kingdom: his original name was Horus Ntry-ht, glossed as Netjerykhet. All of the Old Kingdom pyramids were the focus of keen interest to the founders of the Middle Kingdom, some 500 years after the pyramids were built. The tomb of Amenemhat I (Middle Kingdom 12th dynasty) at Lisht was found to be packed with Old Kingdom inscribed blocks from five different pyramid complexes at Giza and Saqqara (but not the step pyramid). The Courtyard of the Cachette at Karnak had hundreds of statues and steles taken from Old Kingdom contexts, including at least one statue of Djoser, with a new dedication inscribed by Sesostris (or Senusret) I. Sesostris (or Senusret) III [1878–1841 BCE], Amenemhats great-great-grandson, apparently snagged two calcite sarcophagi (alabaster coffins) from the underground galleries at the Step Pyramid, and transmitted them to his own pyramid at Dahshur. A rectangular stone monument featuring the undulating bodies of snakes, perhaps part of a ceremonial gateway, was removed from Djosers pyramid complex for the sixth dynasty Queen Iput Is mortuary temple at the Teti pyramid complex. Sources Baines, John, and Christina Riggs. Archaism and Kingship: A Late Royal Statue and Its Early Dynastic Model. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 87 (2001): 103–18. Print.Bronk Ramsey, Christopher, et al. Radiocarbon-Based Chronology for Dynastic Egypt. Science 328 (2010): 1554–57. Print.Dodson, Aidan. Egypts First Antiquarians? Antiquity 62.236 (1988): 513–17. Print.Friedman, Florence Dunn, and Florence Friedman. The Underground Relief Panels of King Djoser at the Step Pyramid Complex. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 32 (1995): 1–42. Print.Gilli, Barbara. The Past in the Present: The Reuse of Ancient Material in the 12th Dynasty. Aegyptus 89 (2009): 89–110. Print.Hawass, Zahi. A Fragmentary Monument of Djoser from Saqqara. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 80 (1994): 45–56. Print.Pflà ¼ger, Kurt, and Ethel W. Burney. The Art of the Third and Fifth Dynasties. The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 23.1 (1937): 7–9. Print .Roth, Ann Macy. Social Change in the Fourth Dynasty: The Spatial Organization of Pyramids, Tombs, and Cemeteries. Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt 30 (1993): 33–55. Print.