the empress of Constantinople came to the Iberian peninsula to plead for
help for her husband (not her son), who had been captured by the
Saracens (not pawned to the Venetians).^70 In this way, Alfonso emerged
as the chief shield of the Latin empire before Constantinople was lost in
- Moreover, Castile continued to loom large in plans for the recov-
ery of the city, both in the 1260s and later.^71
The fall of Constantinople opened up a new phase in the history of the
beleaguered imperial couple. They were now working together, in exile,
to try to restore the fortunes of their family. But some things did not
change–from the over-ambitious schemes for reconquest, to the debts
that were piling up.^72 Much has been made of the notion that Baldwin II
executed an ideological volte-face during this period. However, his views
seem to have been consistent. In so far as he had identified a singlefigure
who could help him to recover Constantinople, that person was the king
of Sicily. In the early 1260s, that meant pursuing a dangerousrapproche-
mentwith the pope’s enemy, Manfred of Hohenstaufen. In due course,
though, this was replaced by an Angevin alliance, which was far more
acceptable to the Church.^73
Cyprus and the Holy LandAnother branch of the Brienne family was moving in the same direction
at around the same time: the senior line, the descendants of Count
Walter IV. We have already traced the early stages of Walter’s career,
which was deeply intertwined with that of his uncle, John. As we have
seen, John set off, in the summer of 1231, to become Latin emperor of
Constantinople. It is highly noteworthy that Walter did not accompany
his uncle, since he could surely have taken up a leading position in the
empire, close to the imperial crown. Hence, it may be suggested, instead,
that Walter did not do this because there were new and even more
exciting prospects opening up in a rather unlikely locus for Brienne
activity: namely, the Lusignan kingdom of Cyprus.
Frederick II’s crusade, in 1228–9, had witnessed the start of a long
struggle against him, the so-called‘War of the Lombards’, both in the
kingdom of Jerusalem and on Cyprus (over which he claimed to be king
and suzerain respectively). But the headquarters of opposition to him was
(^70) Ibid.,56–60.
(^71) Ibid.,71–6; Callaghan,The Learned King, 208–10; and see also P. Linehan,‘The
Gravaminaof the Castilian Church in 1262– 1263 ’,English Historical Review85 (1970),
72 733, 743.
73 See, for example,‘Régestes des empereurs latins de Constantinople’, no. 297.
Ibid., nos. 291, 298. See also Chrissis,Crusading in Frankish Greece, 193–204.
Cyprus and the Holy Land 89