Roman Catholic Diocese of Bethlehem in the Holy Land Orthodox) were ejected and replaced by Catholic clergy. On his birthday in 1100, Baldwin was crowned King of Jerusalem in Bethlehem — that same year, at Baldwin's request, Pope Paschal II established Bethlehem (never before an episcopal see) as a Catholic bishopric, a suffragan of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1187 the Ayyubid Sultan Saladin (of Egypt, Syria and more in the Levant) reconquered Bethlehem and the Catholic clergy was forced to let the Greek Orthodox clergy return. Saladin himself in 1192 allowed two Catholic priests and two deacons to return to the diocese, though Bethlehem's economy still suffered
Baldwin I, Latin Emperor who interpreted and observed his crusading vows strictly, and the most popular leader in the host. With Venetian support he was elected on 9 May 1204, and crowned on 16 May in the Hagia Sophia at a ceremony which closely followed Byzantine practices. During his coronation, Baldwin wore a very rich jewel that had been bought by Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos for 62,000 silver marks. Baldwin's wife Marie, unaware of these events, had sailed to Acre. There she learned of her husband's election as emperor, but died in August 1204 before she could join him. The Latin Empire was