Thread by @ChivalryGuild

Are you strong enough to chop off the head of a camel? A request made of Godfrey of Bouillon.🧵

The great Crusader's reputation spread far and wide after the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099. An Arab chief wanted to see for himself. So he traveled to meet Godfrey.

William of Tyre recounts the challenge: “The Arab chief earnestly begged Godfrey that he would deign to smite with his own sword an immense camel which he had brought for this purpose.”

The chief wished to be able to tell others that he had seen Godfrey’s strength with his own eyes. For his part, Godfrey probably didn't want to harm the poor animal, but he consented since the man had come from far away to see it.

You've got to give the people what they want.

“Unsheathing his sword,” William writes, “he cut off the animal’s head as easily as if it had been some fragile object.”

The Arab man was amazed, but he started to think it must have been due to the sharpness of Godfrey's sword.

So he asked Godfrey if he thought he could accomplish the same feat with the sword of another. Godfrey smiled and told the man to hand over his own sword.

“Taking it, he commanded another animal of the same kind be brought before him. This done, he raised the sword and without difficulty struck off its head also at one blow.”

So now the Arab man could rest assured that Godfrey indeed possessed savage strength.

I've heard tell that Godfrey's sword can still be seen at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.