The Gokstad ship
terrain, attacks by the Turks, and dissension and disorgani-
zation among the leaders, the crusade was successful. The
crusaders achieved a major victory at ANTIOCHin June
1098, along with a number of other military conquests.
In June 1099, the crusaders assaulted Jerusalem. On
July 14–15, 1099, Godfrey and his knights were among
the first to breach the walls and enter the city. In the
aftermath of a massacre and a victory, the real difficulty
became a way to hold Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
Godfrey of Bouillon was selected to be the “Advocate
or Defender” of the HOLYSEPULCHER. The size of the
Western forces quickly fell as most of the crusaders
returned home. The competition among leaders for land
in the newly conquered Holy Land divided their efforts.
Godfrey defeated an attack from EGYPTand subdued the
surrounding countryside. With the help of Pisan and
Venetian fleets, he rebuilt Jaffa, an essential port for
Jerusalem and the kingdom. In June 1100, he became
gravely ill while trying to aid another crusader, TANCRED
at DAMASCUS. Taken back to Jerusalem and viewed as
overly pious, he died about a month later, July 18, 1100.
His brother, Baldwin I (r. 1100–1118), succeeded him as
the king of Jerusalem.
See alsoCRUSADES.
Further reading:Edward Peters, ed., The First Cru-
sade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source
Materials,2d ed. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylva-
nia Press, 1998); John C. Anderssohn, The Ancestry and
Life of Godfrey of Bouillon(Bloomington: Indiana Univer-
sity Press, 1947); John France, Victory in the East: A Mili-
tary History of the First Crusade(Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1994); Jonathan Riley-Smith, The First
Crusaders, 1095–1131(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1997).
Gog and Magog According to a distorted biblical tra-
dition (Ezekiel 38–39 and Revelations 20:7–8), Gog and
Magog were two imaginary peoples or nations under the
rule of the DEVILor Satan. Their great war at the “end of
the world” was to be a prelude to the return of or the
coming of a messiah. This tradition was cultivated in the
Middle Ages, and various legends arose in western
Europe that described these people as giants and some-
how related to the JEWS. They were similarly represented
in the various styles of medieval art. From the beginning
of the year 1000 Gog and Magog became a central topic
of popular sermons and expectations of the end of the
world. In the late Middle Ages, the location of their
homeland was fixed in the Far East, north of China. As
Yajuj and Majuj they appeared in the QURANand repre-
sented the forces of chaos or tribes of warring barbarians.
See alsoANTICHRIST;APOCALYPSE AND APOCALYPTICAL
LITERATURE; MILLENARIANISM, CHRISTIAN.
Further reading:Muhammad Ali, The Antichrist and
Gog and Magog,2d ed., trans. M. Aftab-ud-Din Ahmad
and ed. S. Muhammad Tufail (Lahore: Ahmadiyya Anju-
man Ishaat Islam, 1971); Andrew Runni Anderson,
Alexander’s Gate: Gog and Magog, and the Inclosed Nations
(Cambridge: The Medieval Academy of America, 1932).Gokstad ship This was a buried ship discovered in
1880 at Gokstad in NORWAYin a shallow trench equipped
with a wooden burial chamber built aft of the mast. A
skeleton of a body of a 60- to 70-year-old man was laid
out on a bed in the chamber. Grave goods were placed in
the chamber and around the ship before all were buried
under an earth mound. Nearby, evidence was found of
the sacrifice of horses, dogs, and a peacock. The excellent
timber used for the burial chamber was dated by den-
drochronology to between 900 and 905, probably about
the time of the burial.THE SHIP
The burial ship was undecorated and clinker-built, with
16 strakes or positions for an oar on each side. Built ofThe Gokstad ship, a ninth-century Viking longship, Viking
Ship Museum, Bygdoy, Norway(Werner Forman / Art
Resource)