Ehremar

Who is Ehremar?

Ehremar or Ebramar or Evremar was Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from 1102 to 1105 or 1107, and then Archbishop of Caesarea.

Ehremar was a priest from Thérouanne in France who in old age went east with the First Crusade. In 1102 Dagobert of Pisa was deposed as Patriarch by the papal legate, Robert Cardinal of Paris, on charges of misconduct brought by the King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I. When the legate asked for a candidate to be the new patriarch, the Palestinian bishops suggested Ehremar, who was known for his piety and charity. Baldwin was happy to accept the appointment as he knew that Ehremar, unlike Dagobert, would not set the claims of the church against his power as king.

In 1105 Baldwin accepted the surrender of Acre on a promise that the Moslem residents would be allowed to leave safely with their property, but Genoese sailors ignored the promise and murdered and robbed them. Baldwin was furious and would have attacked the Genoese but Ehremar patched up a reconciliation. Shortly afterwards, he came to assist with the conquest of Jaffa at Baldwin's request with the True Cross to encourage the troops, and one hundred and fifty men he had recruited.

In the same year Dagobert went to Rome to appeal against his deposition, and Pope Paschal II reinstated him. When Ehremar heard about this, he went to Rome, but he arrived to find his rival had died. Paschal was then inclined to re-appoint Ehremar, but king Baldwin had become dissatisfied with him, considering him inefficient. Baldwin sent Arnulf of Chocques, who had himself been displaced as patriarch in favour of Dagobert in 1099, to oppose Ehremar. Paschal sent Ghibbelin of Arles, Archbishop of Arles, to Jerusalem as legate to decide the matter. Ghibbelin found that Ehremar was unfitted for the position and declared it vacant, and Baldwin then proposed Ghibbelin himself as patriarch. He accepted and Ehremar was compensated with the Archbishopric of Caesarea.