Godfrey (Geoffrey) (''Filius Fredelonis, unus de collateralibus ducis Godefridi)'' (died after 1098), Lord of Esch and crusader, son of Fredelon of Esch. Godfrey was brother to

Henry of Esch Henry (''Henricus de Ascha'') (d. after 1098), lord (or, in some accounts, count) of Esch, son of Fredelon of Esch. Henry was brother to Godfrey of Esch, and his family held the castle of Esch-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes. He and his brother were vas ...

. His family held the castle of

Esch-sur-Sûre Esch-sur-Sûre ( lb, Esch-Sauer, , german: Esch-Sauer ) is a commune and small town in north-western Luxembourg. It is part of the canton of Wiltz, which is part of the district of Diekirch. At one point it was the second smallest commune by area ...

in the Ardennes. He and his brother were vassals of

Henry III, Count of Luxembourg Henri III, Count of Luxembourg (died 1096) was count of Luxembourg from 1086 until his death. He succeeded his father, Conrad I. His mother was Clementia of Aquitaine. Henry III was the first count known to have established his permanent residenc ...

, and his brother and successor

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

. His stepmother was Ermengarde, Countess of Clermont, widow of Gozelon, Count of Montaigu. Godfrey and his brother took the cross in 1096 and were among many leading knights from Walloon and the Lotharingian territories that joined the

army of Godfrey of Bouillon The army of Godfrey of Bouillon, the duke of Lower Lorraine, in response to the call by Pope Urban II to both liberate Jerusalem from Muslim forces and protect the Byzantine Empire from similar attacks. Godfrey and his army, one of several Frankis ...

in the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

. These included Godfrey's brothers and their cousin Baldwin of Le Bourg, Baldwin II of Hainaut, Rainald of Toul, Giselbert of Clermont,

Warner of Grez Warner of Grez (also Werner or Garnier of Grey or Gray) (died 22 or 23 July 1100) Count of Grez, was a French nobleman from Grez-Doiceau, currently in Walloon Brabant in Belgium. He was one of the participants in the army of Godfrey of Bouillon of t ...

, Baldwin of Stavelot, Peter of Stenay,

Dodo of Cons Dodo of Cons (Dudo of Konz-Saarburg) ( fl. 1096), lord of Cons-la-Grandville, a nobleman from the Lotharingian territories, son of Adelon (Adelo) de Cons. Dodo was originally from Konz, above Trier at the confluence of the Moselle and Sauer river ...

, and Conon of Montaigu and his sons and heirs Gozelo II and Lambert. Godfrey was chosen to negotiate the passage of the crusading army through Hungary. The first three armies passing through Hungary resulting in calamitous slaughters, and the king

Coloman the Learned Coloman the Learned, also the Book-Lover or the Bookish ( hu, Könyves Kálmán; hr, Koloman; sk, Koloman Učený; 10703February 1116) was King of Hungary from 1095 and King of Croatia from 1097 until his death. Because Coloman and his younge ...

was determined to not repeat these disasters. In September 1096, Godfrey successfully negotiated the passage of the army through Hungary, but the price was high. The family of Godfrey of Bouillon was required to be held hostage until the army had passed. The incident apparently greatly enhanced the standing of Coloman in the eyes of European royalty.Runciman, S. (1949)
The First Crusaders' Journey across the Balkan Peninsula
''Byzantion'', 19, 207–221. As Henry and Baldwin hurried to Constantinople in search of booty, Godfrey and the others would arrive shortly thereafter. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Godfrey differed on the goals of the crusade, and Godfrey was unwilling to agree to the emperor's demands prior to the main force of Crusaders that would shortly arrive in the Holy Land. Godfrey sent his cousin Baldwin of Le Bourg, Conon of Montaigu, and Godfrey (of Esch) to the palace to meet with Alexios, but with no resolution of the conflict. A charter dated February 1098 by

Emperor Henry IV Henry IV (german: Heinrich IV; 11 November 1050 – 7 August 1106) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1084 to 1105, King of Germany from 1054 to 1105, King of Italy and Burgundy from 1056 to 1105, and Duke of Bavaria from 1052 to 1054. He was the son ...

relating to the abbey of Nivelles indicates that both Godfrey and his brother Henry had returned from the crusades. There is no further reference to them in the histories. It is uncertain whether Godfrey had any children, although Godfrey II, Count of Esch, could have been his son.

Sources

*Murray, Alan V.
"The Army of Godfrey of Bouillon, 1096–1099: Structure and Dynamics of a Contingent on the First Crusade" (PDF)
Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 70 (2), 1992 *Runciman, Steven, ''A History of the Crusades, Volume I: The First Crusade and the Foundation of the Kingdom of Jerusalem'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1951 *Riley-Smith, ''The First Crusaders, 1095-1131'', Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey of Esch Christians of the First Crusade 11th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire People from Wiltz (canton)