King Frederick William IV of Prussia saw an opportunity to establish a strong position for Evangelical Christians, as the Armenian, Greek, and Latin churches had long-standing treaty-sanctioned corporations and powerful protectors, while Protestants lacked regular standing.
The endowment for the see was set at £30,000, ensuring an annual income of £1,200 for the bishop, who was to be appointed alternately by Prussia and England, with the Archbishop of Canterbury retaining veto power over Prussian nominations.
The bishop's jurisdiction extended beyond Palestine to Protestants in Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, exercised according to the canons and usages of the Church of England.
As a result of more than one missionary effort in the Holy Land in the earlier years of the century, and of the expedition sent thither in 1840 by the so-called Quadruple Alliance, Frederick William IV of Prussia thought the occasion favourable for establishing a firm position for Evangelical Christians in that country.
The Armenian, Greek, and Latin churches had long possessed the advantage of permanent corporations under treaty sanction, the two latter having also powerful protectors (Russia and France respectively), while Protestants had no regular standing.
The king therefore sent Bunsen on a special mission to Queen Victoria to lay before the archbishop of Canterbury and the bishop of London, who welcomed the proposal, a plan for the joint erection of a Protestant bishopric under the protection of England and Prussia.
His jurisdiction, which extended provisionally beyond Palestine over the Protestants of all Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, was to be exercised according to the canons and usages of the Church of England.