in right of his wife, Queen Constance. In this way, the revolt was
converted into a major European war.^135
Hugh’s appointments as captain can serve as a sign of the supreme
importance of the naval dimension. Indeed, the war as a whole is often
noted for the victories of Roger of Lauria, the leading southern Italian
commander in Aragonese service. Extravagant claims are still made for
Roger. Historians have not been shy of using terms such as‘brilliance’
and‘genius’. Recently, though, rather more sober studies have down-
played the role of the commander, preferring to place the emphasis on
the ‘quality gap’ between the Aragonese and the Angevin fleets.^136
Roger’s greatest triumph came in the battle of the bay of Naples, fought
on 5 June 1284, when he lured King Charles’s namesake and heir, the
prince of Salerno, out of the safety of his anchorage.^137 The subsequent
conflict broke down into a series of smaller struggles, in which the
experience and skill of the Aragonese was decisive.^138 A large number
of leading Angevins fell into enemy hands, including not only Count
Hugh but also, much more importantly, Charles of Salerno himself.
Whilst the Aragonese had the sense to retain their trump card, the
prince’s subordinates were soon released, although most of them quickly
repudiated the oath they had taken to withdraw from the conflict.^139
What followed can be described as the darkest hour of the war, both
for the Angevins in general and for the count of Brienne in particular. For
Hugh, the most pressing issue was simply the fact that Roger was now in
a position to focus much of his attention on the Terra d’Otranto. It is not
surprising that Lecce and its surroundingcontadowere devastated. Hugh
did what he could to try to repair the damage. It seems that he had the
town walls rebuilt, and made sure that they were better garrisoned in
future.^140 An unpublished charter shows that, at this desperate juncture,
Hugh also gave a privilege to the monastery of San Niccolò, just to the
north-west of the town (that is, the modern church of SS. Niccolò e
Cataldo). Tellingly, the text harks back to the abbey’s founder, King
Tancred, and to Walter III and Elvira. In other words, it emphasizes the
roles of Hugh’s great forebears in southern Italy. However, the charter
(^135) Paraphrasing Steven Runciman’s classic, The Sicilian Vespers: A History of the
Mediterranean World in the Later Thirteenth Century(Cambridge, 1958), 227.
(^136) See J. H. Pryor,‘The Naval Battles of Roger of Lauria’,Journal of Medieval History 9
(1983), 179–216; and S. Rose,Medieval Naval Warfare, 1000 – 1500 (London, 2002),
44 – 51.
(^137) For Hugh’s activities at around this time–which extended as far afield as Malta–see
138 RCA, xxvii, reg. 117, nos. 182, 263; and de Sassenay,Brienne, 142.
140 Rose,Medieval Naval Warfare,48–9.^139 De Sassenay,Brienne, 156–7.
Ibid., 157–9.
130 The Angevins and Athens (c. 1267–1311)