of southern Italy, it is hard to see why he would have chosen Walter in
particular. The Briennes were not yet the‘family of the moment’,inthe
way that they would be by the time of Walter’s death. It is worth adding
that not even Innocent’s semi-official‘biography’, theGesta Innocentii III,
claims that the pope was responsible for the marriage.^22 By contrast,
‘Colbert-Fontainebleau’states that, when the remnants of Tancred’s
family found their way into France, they approached King Philip
Augustus for assistance, and he responded by convening a council at
Melun. There, it was agreed that Elvira would marry Walter, and the
French king contributed the vast sum of 20,000l.parisisto help them
assert their claims.^23 Such extravagant generosity, by a ruler famed for
his parsimony, should put us on our guard. In truth, it is highly unlikely
that the French crown would have backed the marriage, since it was
allied with the rival dynasty, the Hohenstaufen.^24 It may be best to
conclude that, as befitted a consummate politician, Philip did his utmost
to ensure that he gained from what was, effectively, afait accompli. In this
way, the king asserted his authority over the troublesome count of
Brienne and encouraged him to leave northern France for the foreseeable
future. This kind of approach would become practised policy for Philip,
and he would do it again with Walter’s brother, John, just less than a
decade later.^25
Walter’s marriage seems to have taken place in 1199.^26 The chances
are that, by the end of that year, he had also taken the cross; so too had
a large number of otherfigures in Champagne, including Count Theo-
bald III himself, as the region became suffused with the atmosphere
of preparations for the Fourth Crusade.^27 It is beyond doubt, though,
that Walter’s main aim was to make himself look good in the eyes of
the papacy; an incidental benefit was that it could also serve as a none-
too-subtle reminder of the Briennes’crusading past.^28 Walter needed
(^22) SeeThe Deeds of Pope Innocent III, ch. 25. (^23) ‘Colbert-Fontainebleau’, 234–5.
(^24) For this, see the helpful summary in J. W. Baldwin,The Government of Philip Augustus:
Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages(London, 1986), 92–4.
(^25) Revising my argument in Perry,John, 32. See alsoErnoul-Bernard,which explicitly states
that the nobles who took the cross for the Fourth Crusade did so partly out of fear of
King Philip, because they had opposed him (Chronique d’Ernoul et de Bernard le
Trésorier, 337).
(^26) See‘Catalogue’, no. 113, in which Walter mentions, for thefirst time, the consent of his
wife, Elvira.
(^27) See Longnon,Les compagnons de Villehardouin,15–17.
(^28) For an analysis of the wider crusading context, see N. Housley,‘Crusades against
Christians: Their Origins and Early Development, c. 1000– 1216 ’, which can be found
most conveniently inThe Crusades: The Essential Readings, ed. T. Madden (Oxford,
2002), 89–97; and R. Rist,The Papacy and Crusading in Europe, 1198– 1245 (London,
2009), 175–8.
38 Breakthrough and High Point (c. 1191–1237)