ABOUT THE STATUE:
"Place Royale is the meeting point of rue de la Régence and rue Royale, two streets where many of the city’s most important sights can be found. At the center of this square, laid out in Neo-Classical style during the 18th century, is a dynamic, heroic, equestrian bronze of Godefroid, Duke de Bouillon, leader of the First Crusade. Despite how the inscription describes him, Godefroid himself refused the title First King of Jerusalem, accepting instead that of Protector of the Holy Places.
This bronze, designed by Louis-Eugène Simonis (1810-1882), stands on a high, elliptical-shaped pedestal made of blue Arquennes stone, designed by architect Tilman-François Suys. The hero is represented as he left for the First Crusade, waving a banner and shouting, “God willing!” In 1897, two bronze bas-reliefs by sculptor William De Groot were added to the pedestal. One represents the assault of Jerusalem led by Godfrey of Bouillon on 15.July.1099. The other represents the Assizes of Jerusalem, a collection of laws written 200 years after Godefroid.
When Place Royale was created a statue of Charles of Lorraine was erected there. It was pulled down in 1794; it was then melted down and converted into coins. The square remained for decades without a statue. The idea to erect a statue to Godfrey of Bouillon was in tune with the times, when the young Belgian nation was looking for patriotic landmarks.
In addition to being the first equestrian sculpture in Brussels, this bronze is the first to break with the Neo-Classical aesthetic, embodied by the statue of Charles of Lorraine, represented as a Roman emperor, which preceded it on the Place Royale. In the 1840s, antiquity was no longer fashionable. The statue of Godfrey of Bouillon is a reference to the Middle Ages, an era loved by the Romantics.
After the bronze was unveiled on 15.August.1848 (and not as the plaque reads on the 24th), the statue was the subject of several controversies. In 1851, Simonis was falsely accused of plagiarism; he was accused of coping an equestrian statue of Carlo Marochetti of Richard the Lionheart. Other complaints against him included historical inaccuracies; the hero wears a crown although he was not king.
Between 1989 and 1990 the monument was restored. The internal structure of the iron was rusty and had contaminated the outer shell of bronze; also it was pierced in several places."
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ABOUT THE MAN:
"Godfrey of Bouillon (18 September 1060 – 18 July 1100) was a Frankish knight, and one of the leaders of the First Crusade from 1096 until his death. He was the Lord of Bouillon, from which he took his byname, from 1076 and the Duke of Lower Lorraine from 1087. After the successful siege of Jerusalem in 1099, Godfrey became the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He refused the title of King, however, as he believed that the true King of Jerusalem was Christ, preferring the title of Advocate (i.e. protector or defender) of the Holy Sepulchre (Latin: Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri). He is also known as the "Baron of the Holy Sepulchre" and the "Crusader King"."
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