Baldwin I of Jerusalem the Armenian Abu'l-Garib the commander of Bijerik, an important fort controlling the road between Edessa and Turbessel. The main crusader army captured Jerusalem on 15July 1099. A week later, Godfrey of Bouillon was elected ruler of the city, but he was never crowned king. Baldwin decided to complete his pilgrimage and left Edessa for Jerusalem in November. At Buluniyas, he joined the pilgrims who had departed from Antioch with Bohemond I and the papal legate, Daimbert of Pisa. Attacks by Muslim troops, fatigue and diseases caused heavy casualties during the journey, but most of the pilgrims reached Jerusalem on 21December.
Baldwin I of Jerusalem his adoptive father, but he did nothing when the rioters broke into the citadel on 9March. Thoros and his wife were captured and murdered. On the following day, the townspeople acknowledged Baldwin as their ruler (or "doux"). He assumed the title of count and established the first crusader state. The Seljuqs had captured Edessa from the Byzantines in 1087, but Alexios I Komnenos did not demand that Baldwin hand over the town. MacEvitt argues that the local population did not regard Baldwin's ascension as "a change in regime, but the replacement of one strongman with vague Byzantine ties with another