connétable de France, qui trespassa MCCCLVI en la bataille devant
Poitiers quant le roy Jean fu pris’.^190
Walter had drawn up his will almost exactly a decade earlier. It is a
long document, containing more than 140 clauses, and so it provides us
with a wealth of detail about the senior line of the house of Brienne, not
long before itsfinal extinction. For instance, it permits us to name a
whole host of the‘supporting cast’behind Walter, who normally remain
hidden: his chaplain, Peter of Montier-en-Der (clause 41); his cooks,
Girardin and Martin (53, 63); hisvalet de chambre, Philip of Mareuil
(55); Renardin, the barber (56); Sabinet, the tailor (57); Jehannin
Mignon and Philippon, the butlers (59, 67); Collingnon, the page
(60); Heliot and Parity, the messengers (61–2); Brienne, the herald
(66); John of Ramerupt, the former marshal (68); and so on. The main
body of the text makes it clear that Walter’s lands were clustered in
north-eastern France and southern Italy. There were also, of course,
a few additional toe-holds in Greece–and we should not forget the
remaining estates in Cyprus, which Luttrell has explored in far more
detail than the will itself actually does.^191 Indeed, the structure of the
text reflects these territorial divisions. It starts by focusing on France
(5–72), before moving on to the southern Italian sphere (73–127), and
thenfinishing up in Greece (128–34). This makes it a relatively simple
matter to discern, for example, Walter’s main religious bequest in each
geographical area: four chapels in the Briennes’old homeland (6–10); a
new church and a Celestine monastery in Lecce (73–6); and a chantry
in Kiveri, not far from Nafplio (128).^192 It is worth noting, too, that
this sense of‘separateness’is maintained–to some extent, at least–even
in the list of executors.^193 In other words, although it is tempting to
observe that the complete document reflects the internationalism of
Walter’s outlook, this should not be overstated. The will is cosmopolitan
in scope, but it is also divided up into various definite tranches.
Since Walter had no surviving children, he left his titles, lands and
claims to his‘very dear and well-beloved sister, Isabella of Brienne, lady
of Enghien’.^194 But there was another heiress to think about: Walter’s
widow, Jeanne of Eu. Both of these women had, in fact, lost their
husbands on the very same day, at the battle of Poitiers. Naturally
enough, Jeanne retained her dower lands for life. In due course, she
remarried, becoming countess of Brienne and Étampes, as well as titular
(^190) The epitaph can be found most easily in Setton,Catalan Domination of Athens, 44.
(^191) Luttrell,‘The Latins of Argos and Nauplia’, 36.
(^192) See alsoRCA, xlvi, reg. 57, no. 669.
(^193) ‘Le testament de Gauthier VI de Brienne’, clause 138. (^194) Ibid., clause 3.
182 Hubris and Nemesis (c. 1311–1356)