off the ground, Walter was dependent, once again, on the Angevins of
Naples. At this particular juncture, though, the kingdom was convulsed
by internal rivalries between the various branches of the house of Anjou.
This had led not only to a severe breakdown in internal law and order,
but also to repeated Hungarian invasions of southern Italy, just as the
plague was beginning to ravage the peninsula.^180 First and foremost,
Walter would need to protect his own estates before he could even hope
to look further afield. As a result, he was quickly sucked into a vicious
internecine struggle with the count of Caserta, who devastated much of
the Terra d’Otranto. Indeed, the political situation was sofluid that
Walter was even able to try and seize Brindisi (officially, at least, on
behalf of the beleaguered queen, Joanna I).^181 However, there was no
chance of getting the kind of assistance that was needed for the recon-
quest of Athens. In so far as there was a centralfigure in southern Italy, it
was Walter’s kinsman, Louis of Taranto, who had married Queen Joanna
in 1347 and was crowned kingfive years later. Louis was very closely
connected to Walter’s enemies, the Acciaioli, but that was not the only
problem. If the king had any resources to spare for an overseas campaign,
he was focused, above all, on the long-standing Angevin goal of recover-
ing the island of Sicily, not chasing chimeras in Greece.^182 Hence, it can
be said, with some justice, that the only lasting memorial to Walter’sfinal
stay in the South was the foundation of the monastery of Santa Croce.
Almost completely rebuilt in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the
church is now one of the greatest examples ofbarocco leccese, and arguably
the highlight of the whole city.^183
Walter returned to France just on time to take part in the next and,
indeed, the most calamitous phase of the Hundred Years’War so far.
It is clear that both the nobility and the French king were delighted to
welcome back afigure of his calibre. The former made him their spokes-
man at the celebrated meeting of the Estates-General in 1355.^184 In the
late spring of the next year, John II appointed Walter as constable of
France, the post that had recently been held by Walter’s kinsmen of the
house of Eu, and before that by his grandfather, Gaucher of Châtillon.^185
(^180) For an excellent short summary of these developments, see Abulafia,The Western
Mediterranean Kingdoms, 162–3.
(^181) Matteo Villani,Cronica: con la continuazione di Filippo Villani, ed. G. Porta, 2 vols.
(Parma, 1995), i, book 3, chs. 20, 51.
(^182) Abulafia,The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms, 164–6.
(^183) De Sassenay,Brienne, 242; and M. Manieri-Elia,Barocco leccese(Milan, 1996).
(^184) Chronique des règnes de Jean II et de Charles V, ed. R. Delachenal, 4 vols. (Paris,
1851910 – 20), i, 56.
De Sassenay,Brienne, 243; Roserot,Dictionnaire, i, 246.
180 Hubris and Nemesis (c. 1311–1356)