Editing Melisende, Queen of Jerusalem (section)

====Church management====
[[File:Campanário dos Cruzados, Igreja do Santo Sepulcro, Jerusalém.jpg|thumb|upright|The Holy Sepulchre (12th-century bell tower pictured) saw a reconstruction under Melisende.|alt=A church bell tower]]
After Melisende and Baldwin III were crowned, work started on enlarging the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.{{sfn|Folda|2012|p=461}} Folda argues that the project saw copious support from Queen Melisende and her cooperation with Patriarch [[Fulcher of Angoulême|Fulcher]].{{sfn|Folda|2012|p=462}} The historian Nurith Kenaan-Kedar credits the [[Armenian architecture|Armenian characteristics]] of the [[Cathedral of Saint James, Jerusalem|Cathedral of Saint James]] in Jerusalem to Melisende's support and influence.{{sfn|Folda|2012|p=470}}

Melisende received a letter of encouragement from the famed monk [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] in 1144 or 1145, but in his next letter to the queen Bernard mentioned hearing "certain evil reports" of her.{{sfn|Barber|2012|p=175}} Barber suggests that the "evil reports" might be the claim of an anonymous Premonstratensian monk from France, who wrote that in 1148 Melisende had poisoned Count [[Alfonso Jordan]] of Toulouse and arranged for the capture of his son [[Bertrand of Toulouse (son of Alfonso Jordan)|Bertrand]] by the Muslims. The monk wrote that the queen did this to ensure that Alfonso Jordan, a relative of the counts of Tripoli, would not threaten the possession of Tripoli by her brother-in-law Raymond and sister Hodierna.{{sfn|Barber|2012|pp=175–176}} Melisende was on good terms with the Premonstratensians, however, and Barber attributes the monk's hostility to the "endemic [[misogyny]] of the monastic world".{{sfn|Barber|2012|p=175}}

In filling the offices with trusted men Melisende had her eye on the [[chancellor of Jerusalem|chancery]] too.{{sfn|Mayer|1972|p=117}} She had no desire to retain [[Elias (bishop of Tiberias)|Elias]],{{sfn|Mayer|1972|p=117}} who had been her husband's confidant,{{sfn|Mayer|1972|p=116}} so she arranged for him to become [[bishop of Tiberias]], a promotion he could not have refused.{{sfn|Mayer|1972|p=117}} In 1145 Melisende appointed [[Ralph (bishop of Bethlehem)|Ralph]], another newcomer, to succeed Elias as chancellor.{{sfn|Barber|2012|p=177}} In January 1146 the [[archbishop of Tyre]], [[Fulcher of Angoulême]], was elected to the patriarchate, succeeding William of Messines, who had died in September 1145.{{sfn|Mayer|1972|p=126}} Melisende insisted that Ralph be appointed to the vacated see of Tyre. Barber holds that Fulcher must have risen to the patriarchate with Melisende's support, yet he led the opposition to her choice of Ralph.{{sfn|Barber|2012|p=178}} The conflict over the see of Tyre marked the only time Melisende was at odds with the Church.{{sfn|Mayer|1972|p=131}}