The
See of Tyre was the most prestigious
archbishopric under the authority of the
patriarchs of Antioch from the 5th century. The archbishops had more than a dozen
suffragans, including the bishops of Acre, Beirut, Byblos, Sidon, Tripoli and Tortosa. The
crusaders captured Tortosa (now
Tartus in Syria) in 1102,
Byblos in 1103, and
Tripoli in 1109. In the late 1170s,
William of Tyre wrote that
Bernard of Valence, the
Latin Patriarch of Antioch, had soon appointed Latin bishops to the three bishoprics. Documents written in the early 12th century did not refer to the bishops of the three dioceses, suggesting that the three sees, all located in the newly established crusader
County of Tripoli, were actually left vacant. After King
Baldwin I of Jerusalem captured
Sidon and
Beirut in 1110,
Ghibbelin of Arles, the
Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, convinced Baldwin I to ask
Pope Paschal II to place the two sees and also the bishopric of Acre under the jurisdiction of the patriarchs of Jerusalem. Accepting the king's argumentation, the Pope ruled on 8 June 1111 that the boundaries of the ecclesiastical provinces should follow the political frontiers. Patriarch Bernard protested, but the Pope confirmed his decision, emphasizing his right to alter the boundaries of the patriarchates. == Establishment ==