ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM WAS A CRUSADER STATE ESTABLISHED IN ISRAEL IN 1099 AS A RESULT OF THE CONQUEST OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL BY THE CRUSADERS IN THE FIRST CRUSADE (1096-1099). THE MOST IMPORTANT RELIGION IN THE KINGDOM OF CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY, THE RELIGION OF ITS FRANK RULERS. OTHER IMPORTANT RELIGIONS WERE ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY, THE RELIGION OF CHRISTIANS WHO SAT IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL PRIOR TO ITS CONQUEST BY THE FRANKS AND ISLAM. JUDAISM WAS NOT COMMON BECAUSE THE JEWISH COMMUNITY WAS SUFFERING FROM THE RAIDS OF SALAJUKS IN THE 11TH CENTURY, AND MANY OF ITS SONS WERE SLAUGHTERED BY THE CRUSADERS WHEN THE CONQUEST OF THE LAND.

BACKGROUND
PRIOR TO THE CRUSADES, THE CATHOLIC PRESENCE IN THE HOLY LAND WAS RESTRICTED TO THE BENEDICTINE ST. MARIE MONASTERY, FOUNDED IN 1070 IN JERUSALEM ALONG WITH THE HOSPITAL ON THE NAME OF ST. JOHN. DURING THIS PERIOD, THE CATHOLICS IN THE LAND OF ISRAEL WERE SPARED THE SHADOW OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY AND THE ORTHODOX PATRIARCH.

THE WESTERN PRINCES WHO ACHIEVED THE FIRST CRUSADE, SWORE TO THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR IN WHICH THEY HAD TO TRANSFER THEIR CONQUESTS WHICH WERE PREVIOUSLY UNDER BYZANTINE RULE. THE PRINCES FILLED, HELD, AT LEAST IN THE BEGINNING THEIR OATH AND HANDED DOWN TO THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES. MOREOVER, THE PRINCES, IN THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE VATICAN, RECEIVED THE ORTHODOX MAIDEN AND DID NOT ATTEMPT TO APPOINT CATHOLIC BISHOPS IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES.

THIS FRIENDLY TENDENCY HAS CHANGED WITH THE CONQUEST OF ANTIOCH IN 1098. THE FIRST ALEXIUS, THE BYZANTINE EMPEROR WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BLESSED WITH THE WHITES, BUT CHOSE TO REPEAT HIS TRACES AND FROM THIS MOMENT THE PRINCES WERE FREED FROM THE HOGIUM BUBBLE AND ASKED FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF INDEPENDENT KINGDOMS IN THE HOLY LAND. IT SEEMS NATURAL TO ESTABLISH CATHOLIC CHURCHES IN THESE PLACES.

THE CHANGE IN THE CRUSADER POLICY TOWARD THE ORTHODOX CHURCH IS CLEARLY SEEN WITH THEIR ARRIVAL IN JERUSALEM. ALTHOUGH THE JERUSALEM PATRIARCHATE WAS AMONG THE JUNIORS ON THE ORTHODOX LADDER, THE WESTERN PRINCES HAD A GREAT WEIGHT. THE ORTHODOX PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM, WHO WAS AT THE TIME IN CYPRUS, DIED WHEN THE SIEGE ON JERUSALEM AND THE PRINCES IMMEDIATELY CONDEMNED ARDOLPH MOKA, THE CONFESSED PRIEST OF MAJOR MAN NORMANDY TO THE LATIN PATRIARCH OF JERUSALEM, WITHOUT DISCUSSING THIS WITH ALEXIUS.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
THE RULING RELIGION IN THE KINGDOM WAS THE RELIGION OF THE OCCUPIER, THE CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY. ITS HEADS ARE THOSE WHO SENT EUROPE TO LIBERATE JERUSALEM. THE FIRST CRUSADE ENJOYS VERY MUCH SUPPORT FROM THE CHURCH. PARTICIPANTS WERE GIVEN THE LETTERS OF PARDON AND OTHER SUPPORT FROM THE POPE. THE SUPPORT DID NOT END WITH THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM, BUT CONTINUED CONTINUOUSLY THROUGHOUT THE EXISTENCE OF THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM. THE POPES RECRUITED CRUSADES, MONEY, HUMAN POWER AND OTHER HELP FOR THE KINGDOM.

DESPITE THE GREAT SUPPORT AND INVOLVEMENT OF THE POPES IN THE CRUSADES, THE CATHOLIC CHURCH DID NOT HAVE A MAJOR INFLUENCE ON WHAT WAS DONE WITHIN THE KINGDOM. EXCEPT FOR THE FIRST ATTEMPTS TO ESTABLISH A RELIGIOUS KINGDOM IN JERUSALEM THAT WAS CONSCRIPTED WITH THE DEATH OF ADIMAD DE FOEY, THE NAVIGATOR OF THE POPE, WHO ACCOMPANIED THE FIRST CRUSADE. REPLACED, DAIMBERT OF PISA, DID NOT CONSOLIDATE THE PERSUASION OF HIS PREDECESSOR AND WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A SINGLE SUCCESS OF RECEIVING A REFLECTIVE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE GIVEN BY GOTTFRIED MBOON WERE NO OTHER IMPORTANT STATEMENTS BY THE RULERS OF JERUSALEM TO THE POPE. GOTTFRIED DID NOT ACCEPT, THOUGH, THE TITLE OF THE KING, AND INSTEAD WAS NAMED THE GARDEN OF THE HOLY SEPHARDIC CHURCH, WHO FOLLOWED HIM TOOK THE TITLE OF THE ROYALS TO SUBORDINATE THE PERSECUTIONS OF THE POPES TO ESTABLISH A RELIGIOUS REGIME IN THE KINGDOM.

MOREOVER, WHILE WESTERN EUROPEAN RULERS STRUGGLED BITTERLY IN THE POPE FOR THE RIGHT TO APPOINT THEIR OWN SUCCESSORS, THE KINGS OF JERUSALEM RECEIVED THIS RIGHT EASILY AND EVEN THE RIGHT TO APPOINT THE HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE KINGDOM, THE LATIN PATRIARCH. HOWEVER, THE POPES SENT AN UNSTOPPABLE STREAM OF DELEGATES TO SUPERVISE WHAT WAS DONE IN THE HOLY LAND. LATER ON, THE CROWN'S PREMIERE, THOUGH IT WAS TO THE S