as conducive as either of these kings–or, indeed, a vast array of lesser
figures–to serve this and similar purposes. The Briennes’role in the
story of their times is appealing precisely because of its variety and
extension. In a word, therefore, we could describe their impact as
‘diffuse’, rather than concentrated.
The Briennes were important–indeed, exceptional–in so many
different ways. Perhaps this is at its most obvious in purely dynastic
terms. It is possible to speak of a Brienne‘genealogical triumph’, com-
parable to the much better known one achieved by the French royal
house of Capet. Even if we confine our attention to the senior line, it is
clear that for more than 300 and, quite possibly, for more than 400 years,
the Briennes kept on producing those priceless male heirs, and so pre-
served their ancestral title and lands within their own grasp. As Evergates
has rightly observed, the succession with this family–certainly, from the
1040s onwards–was almost always father to son, each time. There was
only one slight hiccup in 1260, and, even then,‘[a brother] easily con-
tinued the line’.^9 This image is rather too neat, however, concealing
some of the messy realities that the Briennes had to contend with over
the course of the centuries. For instance, there were several regencies,
most commonly wielded by uncles–and one of thesefigures, John, the
future king of Jerusalem and Latin emperor, actually held the title and
position of count of Brienne for somefifteen years or so. Moreover, all
of this genealogical good fortune was not just a matter of the senior
line alone. From their original heartland in south-eastern Champagne,
the Briennes expanded to generate a large number of cadet branches,
from Bar-sur-Seine and Ramerupt to Eu and Guînes and Beaumont.
Although it can therefore be said, with confidence, that natural fecundity
was one of the great strengths of the dynasty, there are a number of
caveats that should be pointed out as well. For example, when the family
most needed a male heir (that is, a son for John of Brienne by hisfirst
wife, to establish a line of Brienne kings of Jerusalem), no such heir was
forthcoming. Likewise, thefirst major dynastic link between the various
branches of the house of Brienne–Walter VI’s marriage to his kins-
woman, Jeanne of Eu and Guînes–was, ironically, the match that failed
when so many others had succeeded. It did not provide Walter with a son
and heir, and so it marked the end of the old senior line.
national hero. These efforts never quite succeeded, primarily because of the
overwhelmingfigure of St Louis, who monopolized the role so completely. See esp.
9 Grousset,Histoire des croisades et du royaume franc de Jérusalem, iii, ch. 15.
Evergates,Feudal Society in the Bailliage of Troyes, 102.186 Conclusion