Page "Titular see" Paragraph 8

An example of an enduring ' in Partibus ' bishopric is that of the Bishop of Bethlehem.

In 1168, the crusading William IV, Count of Nevers had promised the Bishop of Bethlehem that if Bethlehem should fall under Muslim control, he would welcome either him or his successors in the small town of Clamecy in the present day Burgundy, France.

After the capture of Bethlehem by Saladin in 1187, the bequest of the by then deceased Count was honoured and the Bishop of Bethlehem duly took up residence in the hospital of Panthenor, Clamecy in 1223.

Clamecy remained the continuous ' in partibus infidelium ' seat of the Bishopric of Bethlehem for almost 600 years, until the French Revolution in 1789.