repatriated to Italy, and buried with honour in Lecce.^175 In this context,
it should perhaps be added that Walter VI may well have been respon-
sible for the gift of a finger, said to be of John the Baptist, to the
Champenois monastery of Basse-Fontaine.^176 All of this, though, can
serve as part of the backdrop for a wider debate about a mysterious tomb
in the Lower Basilica in Assisi. It is clearly the sepulchre of a crowned
male, who is represented twice (below, in death, and above, perched
rather awkwardly atop a lion, not far from an attendant Madonna and
Child). Although the monument contains no inscriptions at all, the arms
of the Latin empire of Constantinople are repeated all over it. Hence, we
can reasonably conclude that it pertains to a Latin emperor, although it is
difficult to say which one. The tomb is described to this day, in the
basilica itself, as that of John of Brienne, the former king of Jerusalem
and Latin emperor. Building on the exhaustive work of Jürgen Wiener, it
has been possible to suggest a number of reasons why this is not quite
so improbable as we might think. It is clear that Walter VI was closely
connected with the Franciscan Order, both in Assisi itself and elsewhere.
It seems, for example, that he had a chapel, not far away in the Lower
Basilica. This chapel was decorated not only with recurring depictions of
the Brienne arms, but also with an image of the‘most illustrious and
excellent duke of Athens’himself.^177 If it is John’s tomb–and, it has to
be said, this is all very speculative–then it is possible, at least, that it was
erected by Walter to promote himself and his dynasty for the war of
reconquest that he was planning.
By the end of 1351, Walter was preparing to set out for southern Italy.
His plan, it seems, was to go on to Greece and launch a second invasion
of the peninsula, almost two decades after the previous one.^178 It must
have been something of a blow, however, when the Venetians again failed
to provide much help. They refused to permit Walter to arm ships in
their city, even though they were apparently prepared to supply him and
his host with provisions.^179 This meant that, to really get the project
(^175) The reburial seems to have taken place in the church of Sant’Oronzo. A monument was
later put up by the Briennes’descendant, Mary of Enghien. See de Sassenay,Brienne,
243 n. 3; and Setton,Catalan Domination of Athens,12–13.
(^176) SeeCollection des principaux cartulaires du diocèse de Troyes, iii, p. xix; and Roserot,
Dictionnaire, i, 133.
(^177) See J. Wiener,Das Grabmal des Johann von Brienne, Kaiser von Konstantinopel und König
von Jerusalem(Düsseldorf, 1997); and Perry,John, 183–8.
(^178) See a couple of little-known charters in which Walter refers to his kinsman, William of
Mello,‘qui nous doit suivre ès parties de Roménie’. These charters can be found in
Titres de la maison ducale de Bourbon, compiled by J. L. A. Huillard-Bréholles and R. A.
179 Lecoy de la Marche, 2 vols. (Paris, 1867–74), i, p. 451.
See Luttrell,‘The Latins of Argos and Nauplia’, 36.
178 Hubris and Nemesis (c. 1311–1356)