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The commanders met that Sunday, the 17th, to discuss plans. They gave orders to have the streets cleared of corpses and for the return of local Christians. The question of who should rule in Jerusalem was broached at this meeting, seemingly for the first time. No one could agree on who should be chosen as Patriarch and that decision was postponed.

The leading candidates for a governor were Raymond and Godfrey. The barons first offered to Raymond, who refused, saying that only Christ could be king in Jerusalem. They made the same offer to Godfrey, who showed an unexpected cleverness. He too declined the title of king, but he accepted the offer, taking as his title "Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre". The title of advocatus was a traditional one in northern France. An advocate was one who was given authority over a town or region by its overlord. The advocate acted on his lord's behalf until such time as the lord should return in person. Godfrey was thus able to lay claim to all the temporal authority of being a ruler of Jerusalem without threatening the theoretical superiority of the Church.

Raymond was furious. He holed up in the Tower of David and refused to yield it. He was finally persuaded to give it into the care of a bishop, but as soon as he moved out, the bishop turned it over to Godfrey. Raymond was now sure that everyone was conspiring against him. He left Jerusalem, never to return.

With Raymond gone, Arnulf Malecorne was now chosen as Patriarch of Jerusalem. He was not a particularly good choice. Most of the army liked him, but he banned all rites at the Holy Sepulchre except the Latin, alienating the local Christians, and his moral reputation was not good.

Still, Jerusalem now had its leaders. The First Crusade had been a tremendous success. 

It was to be the only crusade to succeed in its objectives.

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