 The Roman Catholic Bishop of the crusader diocese of Bethlehem, in the Holy Land, was favored by William IV, the Count of Nevers who died in Bethlehem as crusader, and inherited from him land near Clamecy (notably the hamlet Pantehenor), where a hospice ("Maison-Dieu", a clergy-run hospital) had been established.In 1223, after the 1187 fall of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in Palestine to Ayyubid Sultan Saladin, the Bishop Rainiero (a Cistercian) took residence in Clamecy.Although the see was never granted membership in the French States-General (arguably being an 'overseas' see), the cathedral was the formal seat of the Diocese of Bethlehem "in partibus infidelium" (or Bethléem à/les Clamecy) from 1223.