Baldwin I of Jerusalem death, thought that "al-Bardawil" had started the First Crusade. Presenting a fictional correspondence between Baldwin and Roger I of Sicily, Al-Athir claimed that Baldwin had initially wanted to conquer Ifriqiya, but Roger, who wanted to secure the territory for himself, talked into him into attacking Jerusalem. Among modern historians, Thomas Asbridge states that Baldwin was one of the commanders of the First Crusade "whose skill, ambition and devotion drove the enterprise, and by turns threatened to rip it apart". Christopher Tyerman emphasises that Baldwin was a talented military commander and a clever politician, who "established a stable kingdom with defined
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