a few generations). This briefly created the Roman Catholic Diocese of Lydda and Ramla. The crusaders seized Ramla without fight on 3 June 1099, because the Muslim garrison had left the town before their arrival. Located at the crossing of two roads, Ramla was a strategically important fortress. The nearby Lydda was the most important shrine of the warrior saint, Saint George. The crusaders held an assembly and decided to establish a bishopric in the town. Robert was installed as virtual prince-bishop, wielding temporal feudal power as well as religious jurisdiction, obliged to supply a cavalry contingent to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1110 civil jurisdiction over Ramla was split off as a separate Lordship of Ramla, vested in Baldwin. Saint George's church was burned by Muslims in 1099, but rebuild larger, shifted to the northeast, in the 12th century by the Crusaders as Latin cathedral, but again destroyed by Saracens in 1191, in the fight against English crusader king Richard Lionheart, the patron saint of both knighthood and England being of great significance to his troops. Latin Suffragan Bishops of Lydda Robert of Rouen c 1099 Roger fl. 1110 (Catholic) Constantinus (fl. 1154–1160) Reinier = Ranierus (fl. 1164 - death 1169) Bernard(us) of Lydda (1168?69–1174?90) Unknown Bishop of Lydda who spoke to king Richard I Lionheart in 1192. Isias (Eastern Orthodox bishop) fl.1202. Pelagius (? - 27 May 1227), next Bishop of Salamanca (Spain) Radulphus = Ralph I (mentioned in 1232) Ralph of Lydda = Radulfo II † (fl 1238 - 1244) Arnaldus (fl. 1250–1253) William (? - 8 May 1263), next bishop of Agen (France) John Bishop of Lydda (before 1267 - after 1271) Godfrey (in 1286), ?Franciscan. Titular Latin bishopric As the Crusader kingdom fell to Saladin, Lydda was truly in partibus infidelium. From the 15th century, it was a Latin titular bishopric both under the names Lydda and Diospolis in Palaestina, with a messy proliferation of titular incumbents the next century with up to eleven titular bishops 'on' the see of Lydda. Titular Bishops of Lydda/ Diospolis Benedikt Sibenhirter, (20 Nov 1452 – 10 May 1458) Thomas Lydensis (fl. 1495) Nicolaus de Braciano, (29 April 1504 – 1509) Hermanus Nigenbroch, (7 Nov 1509 – 1511) Petrus Antonii (18 July 1511 – 1515) Heinrich von Hattingen (10 Dec 1515 - 1519) Giovanni Brainfort (26 Feb 1517 - 1521) Thomas Bele (7 June 1521 – 1524) Pompeo