King of Jerusalem

King of Jerusalem
Royal coat of arms (1280s)
Details
First monarch	Godfrey of Bouillon
Last monarch	Henry II
Formation	1099
Abolition	1291
Residence	David's Tower
Appointer	Hereditary Election
Pretender(s)	Claimants

Part of a series on
Jerusalem
History Timeline City of David 1000 BCE Second Temple Period 538 BCE–70 CE Aelia Capitolina 130–325 CE Byzantine 325–638 CE Early Muslim 638–1099 Crusader 1099–1187 Late Medieval 1187–1517 Ottoman 1517–1917 British Mandate 1917–1948 Modern period (Jordanian and Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem) 1948-
Sieges Before Common Era 701 BCE 597 BCE 587 BCE 63 BCE 37 BCE Common Era 70 614 637 1099 1187 1244 1834 1917 1948
Places East West Old City Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Dome of the Rock Al-Aqsa Mosque Western Wall Synagogues Mosques Church of the Holy Sepulchre Hebrew University Knesset Biblical Zoo Tomb of Lazarus Al-Quds University
People Demographic history Mayor Chief Rabbi Grand Mufti Greek Orthodox Patriarch Crusader kings
Political status Religious significance Judaism Christianity Islam Jerusalem Law Jerusalem Day Quds Day Judaization Islamization US recognition
Other topics Names Emblem Municipality Greater Jerusalem Cuisine City Line Transport Songs Historical maps
v t e

The king or queen of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was conquered in 1099. Most of them were men, but there were also five queens regnant of Jerusalem, either reigning alone suo jure ("in her own right"), or as co-rulers of husbands who reigned as kings of Jerusalem jure uxoris ("by right of his wife").

Godfrey of Bouillon, the first ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, refused the title of king choosing instead the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri, that is Advocate or Defender of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In 1100 Baldwin I, Godfrey's successor, was the first ruler crowned as king. The crusaders in Jerusalem were conquered in 1187, but their Kingdom of Jerusalem survived, moving the capital to Acre in 1191. Crusaders re-captured the city of Jerusalem in the Sixth Crusade, during 1229–1239 and 1241–1244.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was finally dissolved with the fall of Acre and the end of the Crusades in the Holy Land in 1291.

Even after the Crusader States ceased to exist, the title of "King of Jerusalem" was claimed by a number of European noble houses descended from the kings of Cyprus or the kings of Naples, and is claimed by the current king of Spain.