Finally his nephew was chosen, and Baldwin IV had him crowned as co-king in order to sideline the child's unpopular stepfather, Guy of Lusignan.

When Baldwin IV died, Count Raymond III of Tripoli assumed government on behalf of the child king.

[4] The Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader state in the Levant ruled by Catholic Franks,[5] was often threatened by the neighbouring Muslim powers.

[6] Because of the king's illness, it was imperative that the young Baldwin's mother, Sibylla, remarry soon;[7] she married Guy of Lusignan in early 1180[8] and had four daughters with him.

Baldwin V was acclaimed, crowned and anointed in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on 20 November 1183, and he received homage from all the barons except his stepfather, Guy.

On the other hand, the High Court suspected that Raymond might seek to make himself king and imposed limits on his power to ensure that he could not usurp the royal dignity.

[19] From there the boy was carried to banquet on the shoulders of Balian of Ibelin "because he was the tallest of the great lords present";[20] in reality, Balian was chosen to carry the young king because he was a staunch opponent of Guy and the stepfather of Baldwin IV and Sibylla's half-sister, Isabella, the only other possible contender for the throne.

[23] Only the king's paternal grandfather, experienced crusader Marquess William V of Montferrat, moved to the East, ensuring that the child's rights would be upheld.

[23][24] Though the failure of the mission to Europe secured his regency, Raymond could not exercise much power; key government posts were occupied by the supporters of Guy, who continued to resent not being regent for his stepson.

Raymond did not attend the funeral–historian Malcolm Barber argues that he was mustering supporters to claim the throne–but Joscelin, Reginald of Châtillon, Patriarch Heraclius, Baldwin's grandfather William, and the masters of the military orders were present.