Page "Kingdom of Jerusalem" Paragraph 8

There was still some uncertainty about what to do with the new kingdom.

The papal legate Daimbert of Pisa convinced Godfrey to hand over Jerusalem to him as Latin Patriarch, with the intention to set up a theocratic state directly under papal control.

According to William of Tyre, Godfrey may have supported Daimbert's efforts, and he agreed to take possession of " one or two other cities and thus enlarge the kingdom " if Daimbert were permitted to rule Jerusalem.

Godfrey did indeed increase the boundaries of the kingdom, by capturing Jaffa, Haifa, Tiberias, and other cities, and reducing many others to tributary status.

He set the foundations for the system of vassalage in the kingdom, establishing the Principality of Galilee and the County of Jaffa.

But his reign was short, and he died of an illness in 1100.

His brother Baldwin of Boulogne successfully outmanoeuvered Daimbert and claimed Jerusalem for himself as " king of the Latins of Jerusalem ".

Daimbert compromised by crowning Baldwin in Bethlehem rather than Jerusalem, but the path for a secular state had been laid.

Within this secular framework, a Catholic church hierarchy was established, overtop of the local Eastern Orthodox and Syrian Orthodox authorities, who retained their own hierarchies ( the Catholics considered them schismatics and thus illegitimate ).

Under the Latin Patriarch there were four suffragan archdioceses and numerous dioceses.