Editing Baldwin IV of Jerusalem (section)

==Accession==
[[File:Coronation of Baldwin IV.jpg|thumb|Patriarch Amalric crowns King Baldwin IV, as depicted in late 13th-century edition of the ''[[Histoire d'Outre Mer]]'']]

Upon Amalric's death, the High Court convened to discuss the succession.{{sfn|Hamilton|2000|p=32}} Though Baldwin had not yet been diagnosed, Hamilton believes that the High Court must have been aware of the royal physicians' suspicions that Baldwin had contracted leprosy.{{sfn|Hamilton|2000|p=38}} Yet there was no viable alternative. Baldwin was the king's only son; Amalric's second marriage had produced two daughters, of which only [[Isabella I of Jerusalem|Isabella]] survived infancy.{{sfn|Hamilton|2000|p=31}}{{sfn|Runciman|1952|p=404}} Female succession was expressly allowed, but Sibylla was an unmarried adolescent and Isabella only two years old.{{sfn|Hamilton|2000|p=40}} The male candidates, Amalric's cousins Prince [[Bohemond III of Antioch]], [[Baldwin of Antioch]], and Count [[Raymond III of Tripoli]], were politically unsuitable: Bohemond was bound to distant [[Principality of Antioch|Antioch]], Baldwin in the service of [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Manuel I Komnenos]], and Raymond virtually a stranger to the barons after nine years spent in Muslim captivity.{{sfn|Hamilton|2000|pp=40–41}}

After three days of deliberation{{sfn|Hamilton|2000|p=32}} Baldwin IV was chosen, with the expectation that a husband would be found for Sibylla to succeed him if he proved to be affected.{{sfn|Hamilton|2000|p=41}} The young king's [[coronation]] by the [[Latin patriarch of Jerusalem]], [[Amalric of Nesle]], took place immediately in the [[Church of the Holy Sepulchre]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2000|p=41}} Medieval rulers were typically crowned on Sundays, but in Baldwin's case 15 July 1174 was chosen instead as it was the 75th anniversary of the [[First Crusade]]'s [[Siege of Jerusalem (1099)|seizure of Jerusalem]].{{sfn|Hamilton|2000|p=42}}