Clamecy Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Bethléem), now the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bethléem (Our Lady of Bethlehem) in Clamecy, France, was started in the 12th and completed in the 15th century.
In 1168 the crusader William IV, Count of Nevers had promised the bishop of Bethlehem that if the city fell into Muslim hands he or his successors would welcome him to Clamecy in Burgundy.
In 1223, after the 1187 fall of Palestine to Saladin, the Bishop took residence in Clamecy; although he was never granted membership in the French States-General, the cathedral was the formal seat of the Diocese of Bethlehem in partibus infidelium (or Bethléem les Clamecy) from 1223 to 1790, when it was abolished as a see during the French Revolution (later affirmed by the Concordat of 1801).
In 1988 Barry Pilton wrote a follow-up book, One Man and His Log (subtitled The Cautionary and True Tale of Five Buffoons and a Barge) also illustrated by Gray Jolliffe, recounting a journey along the Canal du Nivernais from Corbigny to Clamecy in central France.
This coat of arms of the counts of Nevers is the present day coat of arms of the Town of Clamecy in the Nièvre, France.
•
Before his death in 1168, he promised the bishop of Bethlehem that if Bethlehem should ever fall into Muslim hands, he would welcome him or his successors in Clamecy.