Walter VI of Brienne
Encyclopedia
Walter VI of Brienne was Count of Brienne, Conversano
, and Lecce
, and titular Duke of Athens
. Walter was the son of Walter V
, Duke of Athens, and Jeanne de Châtillon (died 1354), the daughter of the Count of Porcien, a constable
to King Philip IV of France
.
As grandson of Hugh of Brienne
(d. 1296), he was heir to a vast property all around the Mediterranean. After his father's death at the Battle of Halmyros
on 15 March 1311, Walter became Count of Brienne, etc., and Duke of Athens. However, all of the Duchy except for Argos and Nauplia
had been overrun by the Catalan Company
, and Walter spent much of his life in an unsuccessful struggle to recover that inheritance of his grandmother's family, until the 1340s when he moved to Italy and France and left Argos-Nauplia to be ruled by guardians. The Duchy of Athens
was not the first loss in his family: Walter's grandfather had been rejected from the succession of the kingdoms of Jerusalem
and Cyprus
, and his great-great-grandfather had been Pretender of the throne of Sicily, as husband of the sister of William III of Sicily
. They had barely regained the County of Lecce
, and were still claiming the Principality of Taranto
.
His mother Jeanne carried out a vigorous struggle against the Catalans during his minority, which, however, had little military effect but impoverished him. To strengthen his position, Walter engaged in a strategic marriage to Margaret, the niece of King Robert of Naples
and daughter of Philip I of Taranto
by Thamar Angelina Komnene, in December 1325. At this time, Florence
requested King Robert's support in protecting Guelph
interests in Italy, and elected his son, Charles, Duke of Calabria
, as signore of Florence
for a ten-year period (1326–36). Walter VI's almost-princely position in the Angevin
court soon won him an appointment as Vicar
for Charles of Calabria
, an office that he only exercised for a few months in 1326.
In 1329, Walter obtained the support of Robert of Naples
and Pope John XXII
, who declared a crusade for his recovery of Athens
. Walter sailed for the East in 1331, but the price of Robert's support was that he first reduce the Despotate of Epirus
, as Vicar-General of the Latin Empire
. Here he took Arta
and forced the Despot John Orsini to acknowledge the suzerainty of Naples. His attempts to recover Athens and Boeotia
, however, were frustrated by the Venetian
alliance with the Catalans and the failure of the Catalans to give battle. His only son, Walter, died of illness during the campaign, and he returned to Naples in 1332. He also occupied himself with his lands in France, and was the King's Lieutenant in Thiérache
in 1339. His wife died in 1340, and he returned to Italy in 1342 when the Florentine ruling class of wealthy merchants called upon him to rule the city. Since 1339, Florence
had been in the grip of a severe economic crisis brought about by immense English debts to Florentine banking houses, and by astronomical public debts incurred in trying to obtain the nearby city of Lucca
from its Veronese
lord, Mastino Della Scala. The Florentine nobility looked to foreign powers to solve the city's seemingly impossible financial problems, and found an ally in Walter of Brienne. Although the ruling class invited Walter to rule for a limited time, the lower classes, who were fed up with the ineptitude of Walter's predecessors, unexpectedly proclaimed him signore for life.
Walter VI ruled despotically, ignoring or directly opposing the interests of the very same merchant class that had brought him to power. The "Duke of Athens" imposed harsh economic correctives on the Florentines, including the flat tax estimo, and prestanze, postponements of the city's repayment of loans forced from the wealthier citizens. These measures both angered the Florentines, and helped alleviate the fiscal crisis that had been stewing for years. After only ten months, Walter of Brienne's signoria was cut short by conspiracy. Walter VI was not only forced to resign from office, but barely escaped Florence with his life.
In 1344 he married Jeanne, the daughter of Raoul I of Brienne, Count of Eu
. She bore him two daughters, Jeanne and Marguerite, both of whom died young. As he had no surviving children, it was evident that his sister's issue would inherit his possessions and claims. He was appointed Constable of France
in 1356 and in that capacity died on 19 September 1356 at the Battle of Poitiers
. He was succeeded in his titles and pretensions by his sister Isabella and her sons. As he had left Greece, his eldest surviving nephew Sohier d'Enghien was holding the lordship of Argos and Nauplia
. When the inheritance was divided after Walter VI's death, Isabella's sixth son Guy d'Enghien received the small remnants of that Greek lordship.
Isabella III survived his brother and died 1360. Her husband Gauthier d'Enghien had died in 1345. For a few years, she became Countess of Lecce and Brienne, etc., as well as titular Duchess of Athens and of other claimed titles. Since her eldest son Gauthier had died before Walter, her heir was her second son Sohier of Enghien. She allowed her inherited lands to be divided between her numerous children during her own lifetime (see Brienne claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem
for her descendants).
The "Duke of Athens" who appears in the seventh tale of Day Two of the Decameron as one of the nine lovers of the Sultan of Babylon's daughter, while not historically accurate, is probably a satirical allusion to Walter VI - his brief, but unforgettable dictatorship in Florence occurred less than ten years before the writing of the Decameron.
Walter de Brienne appears as a minor character in several of Robert E. Howard's Oriental adventure tales, including "The Sowers of the Thunder".
Conversano
Conversano is an ancient town and comune in the province of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. It is located 30 km south-east of Bari, 7 km from the Adriatic coast, at 219 m above sea-level....
, and Lecce
Lecce
Lecce is a historic city of 95,200 inhabitants in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Lecce, the second province in the region by population, as well as one of the most important cities of Puglia...
, and titular Duke of Athens
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century....
. Walter was the son of Walter V
Walter V of Brienne
Gautier or Walter V of Brienne was born in Brienne-le-Château, Aube, Champagne, France. He was the son of Hugh de Candie des Brienne, known as Hugh of Brienne, Count of Brienne and Lecce, and Isabella de la Roche, daughter of Guy I of la Roche, Duke of Athens...
, Duke of Athens, and Jeanne de Châtillon (died 1354), the daughter of the Count of Porcien, a constable
Constable of France
The Constable of France , as the First Officer of the Crown, was one of the original five Great Officers of the Crown of France and Commander in Chief of the army. He, theoretically, as Lieutenant-general of the King, outranked all the nobles and was second-in-command only to the King...
to King Philip IV of France
Philip IV of France
Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...
.
As grandson of Hugh of Brienne
Hugh of Brienne
Hugh de Candie, Count of Brienne and Lecce was the second surviving son of Count Walter IV of Brienne and Marie de Lusignan of Cyprus....
(d. 1296), he was heir to a vast property all around the Mediterranean. After his father's death at the Battle of Halmyros
Battle of Halmyros
The Battle of Halmyros, of Orchomenos, or of the Cephissus was fought on 15 March 1311 between the Frankish Greek forces of Walter V of Brienne and the mercenaries of the Catalan Company, resulting in a devastating victory for the Catalans....
on 15 March 1311, Walter became Count of Brienne, etc., and Duke of Athens. However, all of the Duchy except for Argos and Nauplia
Argos and Nauplia
During the late Middle Ages, the two cities of Argos and Nauplia formed a separate Lordship within the Frankish Principality of Achaea in southern Greece....
had been overrun by the Catalan Company
Catalan Company
The Catalan Company of the East , officially the Magnas Societas Catalanorum, sometimes called the Grand Company and widely known as the Catalan Company, was a free company of mercenaries founded by Roger de Flor in the early 14th-century...
, and Walter spent much of his life in an unsuccessful struggle to recover that inheritance of his grandmother's family, until the 1340s when he moved to Italy and France and left Argos-Nauplia to be ruled by guardians. The Duchy of Athens
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century....
was not the first loss in his family: Walter's grandfather had been rejected from the succession of the kingdoms of Jerusalem
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Catholic kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. The kingdom lasted nearly two hundred years, from 1099 until 1291 when the last remaining possession, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks, but its history is divided into two distinct periods....
and Cyprus
Kingdom of Cyprus
The Kingdom of Cyprus was a Crusader kingdom on the island of Cyprus in the high and late Middle Ages, between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan.-History:...
, and his great-great-grandfather had been Pretender of the throne of Sicily, as husband of the sister of William III of Sicily
William III of Sicily
William III was briefly king of Sicily for 10 months in 1194.He was the second son of King Tancred of Sicily and Sibylla of Acerra. At the age of four, shortly after the death of first his older brother Roger V, Duke of Apulia, and then a few weeks later of his father the king , William was...
. They had barely regained the County of Lecce
Lecce
Lecce is a historic city of 95,200 inhabitants in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Lecce, the second province in the region by population, as well as one of the most important cities of Puglia...
, and were still claiming the Principality of Taranto
Taranto
Taranto is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto and is an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base....
.
His mother Jeanne carried out a vigorous struggle against the Catalans during his minority, which, however, had little military effect but impoverished him. To strengthen his position, Walter engaged in a strategic marriage to Margaret, the niece of King Robert of Naples
Robert of Naples
Robert of Anjou , known as Robert the Wise was King of Naples, titular King of Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1309 to 1343, the central figure of Italian politics of his time. He was the third but eldest surviving son of King Charles II of Naples the Lame and Maria of Hungary...
and daughter of Philip I of Taranto
Philip I of Taranto
Philip I of Taranto : of the Angevin house, was titular Emperor of Constantinople , despot of Epirus, King of Albania, Prince of Achaea and Taranto, and Lord of Durazzo....
by Thamar Angelina Komnene, in December 1325. At this time, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
requested King Robert's support in protecting Guelph
Guelphs and Ghibellines
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were factions supporting the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor, respectively, in central and northern Italy. During the 12th and 13th centuries, the split between these two parties was a particularly important aspect of the internal policy of the Italian city-states...
interests in Italy, and elected his son, Charles, Duke of Calabria
Charles, Duke of Calabria
Charles, Duke of Calabria was the son of King Robert of Naples and Yolanda of Aragon.-Biography:Born in Naples, he became Duke of Calabria in 1309 on his father's accession, and was created Vicar-General of the Kingdom of Sicily...
, as signore of Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
for a ten-year period (1326–36). Walter VI's almost-princely position in the Angevin
Capetian House of Anjou
The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct House of Capet. Founded by Charles I of Sicily, a son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century...
court soon won him an appointment as Vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
for Charles of Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
, an office that he only exercised for a few months in 1326.
In 1329, Walter obtained the support of Robert of Naples
Robert of Naples
Robert of Anjou , known as Robert the Wise was King of Naples, titular King of Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1309 to 1343, the central figure of Italian politics of his time. He was the third but eldest surviving son of King Charles II of Naples the Lame and Maria of Hungary...
and Pope John XXII
Pope John XXII
Pope John XXII , born Jacques Duèze , was pope from 1316 to 1334. He was the second Pope of the Avignon Papacy , elected by a conclave in Lyon assembled by Philip V of France...
, who declared a crusade for his recovery of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. Walter sailed for the East in 1331, but the price of Robert's support was that he first reduce the Despotate of Epirus
Despotate of Epirus
The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond...
, as Vicar-General of the Latin Empire
Latin Empire
The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...
. Here he took Arta
Arta, Greece
Arta is a city with a rich history in northwestern Greece, capital of the peripheral unit of Arta, which is part of Epirus region. The city was known in ancient times as Ambracia . Arta is famous for its old bridge located over the Arachthos River, situated west of downtown...
and forced the Despot John Orsini to acknowledge the suzerainty of Naples. His attempts to recover Athens and Boeotia
Boeotia
Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...
, however, were frustrated by the Venetian
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
alliance with the Catalans and the failure of the Catalans to give battle. His only son, Walter, died of illness during the campaign, and he returned to Naples in 1332. He also occupied himself with his lands in France, and was the King's Lieutenant in Thiérache
Thiérache
The Thiérache or Grande Thiérache is a region of France and Belgium united by similar geography and architecture, including the presence of hedgerows, grassland, hilly terrain, scattered settlements, and traditionally-built stone or brick houses with stone dividing walls and slate roofs.Located in...
in 1339. His wife died in 1340, and he returned to Italy in 1342 when the Florentine ruling class of wealthy merchants called upon him to rule the city. Since 1339, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
had been in the grip of a severe economic crisis brought about by immense English debts to Florentine banking houses, and by astronomical public debts incurred in trying to obtain the nearby city of Lucca
Lucca
Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...
from its Veronese
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
lord, Mastino Della Scala. The Florentine nobility looked to foreign powers to solve the city's seemingly impossible financial problems, and found an ally in Walter of Brienne. Although the ruling class invited Walter to rule for a limited time, the lower classes, who were fed up with the ineptitude of Walter's predecessors, unexpectedly proclaimed him signore for life.
Walter VI ruled despotically, ignoring or directly opposing the interests of the very same merchant class that had brought him to power. The "Duke of Athens" imposed harsh economic correctives on the Florentines, including the flat tax estimo, and prestanze, postponements of the city's repayment of loans forced from the wealthier citizens. These measures both angered the Florentines, and helped alleviate the fiscal crisis that had been stewing for years. After only ten months, Walter of Brienne's signoria was cut short by conspiracy. Walter VI was not only forced to resign from office, but barely escaped Florence with his life.
In 1344 he married Jeanne, the daughter of Raoul I of Brienne, Count of Eu
Raoul I of Brienne, Count of Eu
Raoul I of Brienne was the son of John II of Brienne, Count of Eu and Jeanne, Countess of Guînes.He succeeded his father as Count of Eu in 1302, and his mother as Count of Guînes in 1332. In 1329, he was named Constable of France, and he also held the office of Governor of Languedoc.In 1315, he...
. She bore him two daughters, Jeanne and Marguerite, both of whom died young. As he had no surviving children, it was evident that his sister's issue would inherit his possessions and claims. He was appointed Constable of France
Constable of France
The Constable of France , as the First Officer of the Crown, was one of the original five Great Officers of the Crown of France and Commander in Chief of the army. He, theoretically, as Lieutenant-general of the King, outranked all the nobles and was second-in-command only to the King...
in 1356 and in that capacity died on 19 September 1356 at the Battle of Poitiers
Battle of Poitiers (1356)
The Battle of Poitiers was fought between the Kingdoms of England and France on 19 September 1356 near Poitiers, resulting in the second of the three great English victories of the Hundred Years' War: Crécy, Poitiers, and Agincourt....
. He was succeeded in his titles and pretensions by his sister Isabella and her sons. As he had left Greece, his eldest surviving nephew Sohier d'Enghien was holding the lordship of Argos and Nauplia
Argos and Nauplia
During the late Middle Ages, the two cities of Argos and Nauplia formed a separate Lordship within the Frankish Principality of Achaea in southern Greece....
. When the inheritance was divided after Walter VI's death, Isabella's sixth son Guy d'Enghien received the small remnants of that Greek lordship.
Isabella III survived his brother and died 1360. Her husband Gauthier d'Enghien had died in 1345. For a few years, she became Countess of Lecce and Brienne, etc., as well as titular Duchess of Athens and of other claimed titles. Since her eldest son Gauthier had died before Walter, her heir was her second son Sohier of Enghien. She allowed her inherited lands to be divided between her numerous children during her own lifetime (see Brienne claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Brienne claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Hugh, Count of Brienne claimed the regency of Jerusalem in 1264 as senior heir of Hugh I of Cyprus and Alice of Jerusalem, being the son of their eldest daughter, but was passed over by the Haute Cour in favor of his cousin Hugh III of Cyprus. This claim fell to his son Walter V of Brienne and...
for her descendants).
The "Duke of Athens" who appears in the seventh tale of Day Two of the Decameron as one of the nine lovers of the Sultan of Babylon's daughter, while not historically accurate, is probably a satirical allusion to Walter VI - his brief, but unforgettable dictatorship in Florence occurred less than ten years before the writing of the Decameron.
Walter de Brienne appears as a minor character in several of Robert E. Howard's Oriental adventure tales, including "The Sowers of the Thunder".