Bethlehem the official Christian presence in the region was Greek Orthodox. On Christmas Day 1100, Baldwin I, first king of the Frankish Kingdom of Jerusalem, was crowned in Bethlehem, and that year a Latin episcopate was also established in the town. In 1187, Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt and Syria who led the Muslim Ayyubids, captured Bethlehem from the Crusaders. The Latin clerics were forced to leave, allowing the Greek Orthodox clergy to return. Saladin agreed to the return of two Latin priests and two deacons in 1192. However, Bethlehem suffered from the loss of the pilgrim trade, as there was
Baldwin II of Jerusalem victorious". Baldwin returned to Antioch two days later, where the townspeople and the patriarch gave him a "victor's welcome". Before leaving Antioch he granted the County of Edessa to Joscelin of Courtenay. Baldwin and his wife were crowned king and queen in Bethlehem on Christmas Day. He and the Patriarch held a general assembly at Nablus on 16January 1120. The prelates and noblemen who attended the meeting confirmed the clergy's right to collect the tithe and to bear arms "in the cause of defense". The council also ordered the punishment of adulterers, pimps, sodomites and bigamists, and prohibited sexual relations