50 MARCH/APRIL 2022
became popular and would have a profound in-
fluence on the origins of the European novel.
The importance of chivalric culture in storytell-
ing persists today through its extensive use in
fantasy fiction and fandom, gaming, animation,
television shows, and movies.
One way to truly understand the nature of
knighthood in this period is to meet some of the
knights themselves, whether historical figures
like Richard the Lionheart, or literary ones. In
fact, the line between historical record and liter-
ary invention is often blurred. Literary models
influenced the behavior of real knights, while real
knights offered abundant material for writers of
literary accounts.
Godfrey of Bouillon
One of the earliest and most representative ex-
amples of a chivalrous knight was Godfrey of
Bouillon (circa 1060-1100). After the 14th cen-
tury, he was included among the so-called Nine
Worthies: nine men through the ages (some his-
torical, others legendary) deemed to have em-
bodied the ideals of chivalry.
Godfrey was the son of Count Eustace II of
Boulogne and Ida of Lorraine, and together with
his brothers helped lead the First Crusade in
- Godfrey’s fame and prestige among the
diverse group of barons commanding the Cru-
sade grew so that, when the crusaders succeed-
ed in reclaiming Jerusalem from Islamic rule in
1099, they offered Godfrey the throne of the new
kingdom of Jerusalem. Godfrey, in a gesture that
ticked all the chivalric boxes, refused and piously
argued that no one should wear a golden crown
in the city where Christ had worn the crown of
thorns. Instead, he agreed to be called the De-
fender of the Holy Sepulcher.
Godfrey was such an exemplary knight that
he became legendary. Embellished tales were
written about his journey to the Holy Land and
established his noble lineage. The best known
of these stories is the legend of the Knight of
the Swan; originally, it was the tale of an anony-
mous knight who appears in a boat drawn by a
swan to rescue a damsel in distress. By the end
of the 12th century, popular tellings identified
the protagonist with the Bouillon dynasty and
claimed that the mysterious Knight of the Swan
was none other than Godfrey’s grandfather. It
was a story that wove together fact and fiction
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