In the fourteenth century Jacques de Longuyon popularized the theme of the nine worthies in his poem Les Voeux du Paon. Gofrey of Bouillon, Duke of Lower Lorraine and Protector of the Holy Sepulchre, was the last of the Christian Worthies in the poem. In his life and legends he exemplified the medieval world's heroic ideal. His achievement, the recovery of the Holy City for Christianity, was the pinnacle-the crowning glory-for the western world. By examining the historical fact of Godfrey's life and comparing it to legends and artistic renderings of that life, one can learn more about the time during which he lived and the people of which he was a part.