The knights wished to choose a king. The choice lay between Tancred and Godfrey. But Tancred was a warrior; he did not wish to rule. Godfrey stood alone. The only thing that his servants could say against him was that he lingered too long in church, and cared not though they waited for him nor though his dinner grew cold. Godfrey was chosen king, but when the crown was brought he refused to wear it. He said that he would never be crowned with gold where the Saviour of the world had worn the crown of thorns. Nor would he take the title of king. ‘Baron and Defender of the Holy Sepulchre,’ he called himself. But others called him Godfrey I., King of Jerusalem. After this the Crusaders left him. Many of them went home to Europe; others scattered over the Holy Land. Tancred, with three hundred knights and two thousand foot soldiers, stayed to defend the new kingdom. Godfrey reigned for less than a year. His death was a great sorrow to those who loved Jerusalem. Tancred lived for twelve years to fight the battles of the Holy City. He ruled Antioch while Bohemond was in prison, for he still was faithful to his cousin, though Bohemond’s aims were low, his hopes selfish, and his heart cruel. Tancred died in the strength of his manhood from a battle wound. In that rough time he was one ‘Than whom ... is no nobler knight, More mild in manner, fair in manly bloom, Nor more sublimely daring in the fight.’ CHAPTER III HOW THE KINGS FOUGHT FOR GLORY AND NOT FOR CHRIST After Godfrey died many kings reigned in Jerusalem, but amongst them all there was not one who was like him. The head of the Christian Church in the Holy Land was called the Patriarch of Jerusalem. There was great power in his hands, and often he and the king were enemies. Instead of trying to help one another to make the Christian power strong, they used each to try to get all the power away from the other. If it had not been for two great orders of knights, the Moslems would soon have swept the new kingdom away.