in childbirth–may well have led to questions about whether Hugh could
keep her lands in trust for their children.^129 Longnon suggested that, at a
slightly later date, Hugh was the driving force behind the process by
which his brother-in-law, Duke William, was selected as the Angevins’
bailliand vicar-general in Achaia. If so, then this could well have been
to make sure that Hugh would get possession of his share of Karytaina.
His scheming was foiled, however, when the lordship was granted to
Isabella of Villehardouin, princess of Achaia, shortly before her marriage
to Florent of Hainault. Hugh was compensated with other estates else-
where. Although this might not seem very significant, it is worth noting
that, a few years later, he shuffled territory once again. This time, he
acquired Conversano, which would become the seat of a cadet branch
under the Briennes’successors.^130
The grand plans of Hugh–and, indeed, of the Angevin dynasty as a
whole–had to be put aside with the outbreak of the‘War of the Sicilian
Vespers’in 1282. This conflict, which began with the insurrection that
gives it the name, quickly turned into a protracted duel for supremacy
between the Angevins and the rival house of Aragon-Catalonia. By 1302,
this had led to the division of the South into the‘kingdom of Naples’
(although the Angevins themselves did not call it that), whilst the island
of Sicily itself was under the rule of a cadet branch of the house of
Aragon. However, feuding and warfare continued thereafter, almost until
the close of the Middle Ages.^131
Hugh was closely involved in the struggle from its very beginnings.
On 16 April 1282, he was among those ordered to muster at Reggio.^132
In July, he was appointed captain of thefleets of Apulia and the Abruzzi,
and a month later, he was promotedto captain for the entire Sicilian
expedition.^133 In fact, Hugh had already proved his worth by then. In
late June, he and various others had crossed the straits, scattering rebel
forces, and seized the port of Milazzo. As de Sassenay put it, however,
this was almost‘the last success of the Angevin party’.^134 King Peter III
of Aragon landed at Trapani, on 30 August, to claim the Sicilian crown
(^129) Ibid., 296; and see alsoRCA, xxvii, reg. 118, no. 360, and xxix, reg. 5, no. 88.
(^130) For this, see Longnon,L’empire latin de Constantinople et la principautée de Morée, 262–3.
(^131) The whole conflict is covered in David Abulafia’s classic,The Western Mediterranean
Kingdoms, 1200–1500: The Struggle for Dominion(Harlow, 1997).
(^132) RCA, xxvi, reg. 112, no. 178.
(^133) Ibid., xxvi, reg. 110, no. 190, and reg. 112, nos. 255, 594; see also xliv, add. to reg. 112,
no. 362, and add. to reg. 117, no. 367. It is worth noting that add. to reg. 122, no. 393,
134 mistakenly names Hugh as‘Henrici’.
De Sassenay,Brienne, 147–8.
The Briennes of Lecce and Athens 129