Gervase became an important member of the royal court in the
Kingdom of Jerusalem. He witnessed one of the charters of
Baldwin I of Jerusalem as
Gervasius dapifer (or senechal) in 1104. After
Hugh of Fauquembergues, Prince of Galilee, was ambushed and killed during a pillaging raid in late 1105 or early 1106, the king conferred Galilee on Gervase. In 1106, the Muslims of
Tyre attacked the Galilean fortress of
Toron while
Toghtekin, the atabeg of Damascus, raided the region of
Tiberias, but they could not do much harm. Baldwin and Toghtekin's envoys signed an armistice, temporarily ending the Muslim raids against Galilee. Toghtekin again invaded Galilee, and captured Gervase and his retainers outside Tiberias in early 1108. He demanded
Acre,
Haifa, and
Tiberias as their ransom from Baldwin, who was only willing to pay a large sum of money. Outraged by the king's answer, Toghtekin ordered Gervase be executed in Damascus in May. On Toghtekin's order, his soldiers tied Gervase to a tree and shot arrows at him until he died. His scalp was put on a pole to be carried before Toghtekin's army and his skull was made into a goblet for Toghtekin. After Gervase's death, Baldwin granted the title Prince of Galilee to
Tancred, who had held the principality before
Hugh of Fauquembergues. Royal officials administered the principality during the following five years. ==References==