Amalric of Nesle

Amalric crowns King Baldwin IV, as depicted in late 13th-century edition of the Histoire d'Outre Mer Amalric of Nesle ( French : Amaury ; died on 6 October 1180) was a Catholic prelate who served as the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem from late 1157 or early 1158 until his death. Amalric focused chiefly on managing church property; he showed very little political initiative and, unlike many contemporary bishops in the crusader states , had no interest in military affairs. Amalric was born in France. He arrived in the Latin East in the 1130s or early 1140s and became the court chaplain of Queen Melisende . He rose to become prior of the Holy Sepulchre in 1151 probably because of the queen's patronage. In 1157 she selected him to become the next patriarch and, despite some clerical opposition, he was enthroned by early 1158. Melisende's sons, King Baldwin III and King Amalric , paid little attention to him. Amalric of Nesle was instrumental in forcing King Amalric to separate from his wife, Agnes of Courtenay , at the insistence of the High Court . King Amalric died in 1174, and the patriarch had no part in the election of his son, Baldwin IV , as the next king. Baldwin IV's mother, Agnes, gained immense influence, and Amalric remained out of favor at court. From 1177 the kingdom was increasingly threatened by the Ayyubid ruler Saladin . Amalric was annoyed when the king allowed the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem , Leontius , to enter the kingdom as the representative of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos , whose aid the king hoped to secure; Manuel recalled Leontius in order to maintain good relations with Amalric and, through him, with the papacy . Amalric was too old to travel to Rome to seek Western military aid at the Third Lateran Council in 1179. He died the following year.