Walter had certainly been released, and journeyed on to France, within
a short time of his father’s death. We know that he had formally
succeeded as count of Brienne (and, presumably, as count of Lecce
too) by March 1297.^163 During that month, the French king, Philip IV,
confirmed that Walter’s sister, Agnes, would marry the young count of
Joigny, even though the wedding itself did not take place for another
eight years.^164 Walter agreed to supply his sister with a substantial dowry,
which would include a residence, 300l. of rent and a down payment of
7,000l. It was carefully stipulated that most of the latter sum would be
kept, for the present, in a secure chest in the abbey of Montier-la-Celle.
The count of Joigny would have one key, and Walter would have
another.^165
Despite this reaffirmation of the Brienne family’s close accord with the
house of Joigny, Walter plainly decided that his own future lay elsewhere.
Indeed, a very dramatic account (reported, rather too credulously, by de
Sassenay) places the emphasis on the idea of a blood feud: that is, on
Walter’s duty to avenge Count Hugh. According to this version of events,
Walter and two other French lords, whose fathers had also perished in
Italy, recruited 300 knights for service there–a company that soon bore
the soubriquet of‘the Knights of Death’. However, pursuing the vendetta
would be rather more difficult than Walter had anticipated. The War of
the Vespers had changed its character, quite remarkably, in 1297–8.
Charles II and King James of Aragon had joined forces against the latter’s
younger brother, Frederick of Sicily. This meant that Walter would be
fightingalongsideRoger of Lauria, rather than against him. As a result, a
new target had to be chosen. Therefore, we are told, the Knights of
Death selected the obvious person, Blasco of Alagona, who had replaced
Roger as Frederick’s right-hand man.^166
Underneath all this chivalric nonsense lay the hard reality of the last
major struggles in the War of the Vespers. Walter and his company soon
joined the host of Charles II’s heir, Duke Robert of Calabria. The plan of
campaign was relatively simple. Whilst Robert seized Catania in eastern
Sicily, his younger brother, Prince Philip of Taranto, would land at the
other end of the island, crushing Frederick between the two forces.
However, Frederick fell on Philip’s host soon after it landed and captured
him. This piled the pressure on Robert at Catania. At this juncture, it
(^163) On 27 August 1296, Charles II ordered that Walter, son of Hugh, should be recognized
and acknowledged by the inhabitants of the lands that his father had possessed. See de
164 Sassenay,Brienne, 163–4n.2.
166 See Roserot,Dictionnaire, intro. vol., part 3, no. 3.^165 ‘Catalogue’, no. 198.
See the summary in de Sassenay,Brienne, 166.
The Briennes of Lecce and Athens 135