King of Jerusalem King of Jerusalem The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Crusader state founded by Christian princes in 1099 when the First Crusade took the city. Godfrey of Bouillon, the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, himself refused the title of king, and instead chose the title "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre". Thus, the title of king was only introduced for his successor, King Baldwin I in 1100. The city of Jerusalem was lost in 1187, but the Kingdom of Jerusalem survived, moving its capital to Acre in 1191. The city of Jerusalem
Baldwin I of Jerusalem the Seljuq Sultan of Rum, in the Battle of Dorylaeum on 1July 1097, Baldwin and the Norman Tancred broke away from the main body of the army. They marched as far as Heraclea where they again joined their fellows around 15 August. The long march across Asia Minor in the heat of summer exhausted the crusaders and most knights' horses died. To secure a supply of food and forage, Baldwin and Tancred were sent to the fertile plains of Cilicia. They could count on the local Armenians' support, especially as Baldwin had already been befriended by an Armenian nobleman, Bagrat.