A careful reading of the sources relating to the seizure of power by Baldwin of Boulogne in Edessa, and to his role in the delay of the Holy Fire at Easter 1101 in Jerusalem, makes it possible to reassess various historiographical trends in the foundation of the crusader states including the concepts of Latinisation and cultural transfer. The strategy followed by Baldwin in Edessa and then in Jerusalem reveals his rapid understanding of Middle Eastern society. Rather than seeing the Franks as Westerners who recently arrived in the region, these two episodes allow us to consider them from the perspective of the Christian groups in the Middle East. Far from being newcomers for the Byzantine Greeks, the Melkites or the Armenians, the new settlers came in the wake of the Frankish mercenaries recruited for a century by the basileus, or of the 'trouble-shooters' studied by Shepard. This inquiry will re-situate the Franks as part of the diverse and fragmented society of the Middle East. In so doing, this article aims to contribute to decolonising and deorientalising the study of the foundation of the crusader states.