a clear confirmation of the Briennes’subordinate status–sometimes,
indeed, to the point of pathetic clientage.
This chapter, then, will focus on the branches of the Brienne dynasty
that fell into step behind the house of Anjou. It will examine these lines
of the family one by one, in the order that they entered into a close
relationship with the Angevins. But it will not minimize or ignore the
other branches of the Brienne dynasty that tried to advance their for-
tunes in different ways elsewhere. Indeed, we will begin with those who
had least to do with the house of Anjou: the line founded by Alfonso,
count of Eu.
The House of Eu and GuînesAlfonso seems to have been the eldest son of John of Brienne, king of
Jerusalem and Latin emperor of Constantinople, and of his third wife,
Berengaria of Castile.^1 Hence, Alfonso and his posterity were the senior
line in descent from this celebrated and well-connected couple. This may
explain why they were quite so keen to remember andflaunt this particu-
lar aspect of their past. In other words, they did not completely lose their
Brienne identity, even though they took another toponym and inherit-
ance within France. Although there is a substantial amount of evidence
to support this contention, the most obvious is provided by the naming
patterns in Alfonso’s immediate family. Whilst the name‘John’had been
borne by a count of Eu only once beforehand, Alfonso’s heir was given
the same appellation as the boy’s illustrious grandfather.^2 In a somewhat
similar fashion, Alfonso’s daughter was named after her kinswoman, the
French queen mother Blanche of Castile.^3
In fact, Blanche of Eu was the member of her family who would follow
most closely in the footsteps of her namesake. Destined for the Church at
a young age, she took her vows at Maubuisson, the abbey founded by
Queen Blanche for her own retirement and burial.^4 It is not surprising
that Blanche of Eu’s career trajectory, in what was effectively a‘family
monastery’, was very steep and fast. In the late 1270s, she succeeded her
(^1) It is well worth noting that theChronique des comtes d’Euclaims that Louis, not John, was
the eldest of the three brothers (443). Admittedly, though, theChroniqueis often confused
when looking back this far.
(^2) Obituaires de la province de Sens, vol. i, part 2, 649, 652, contains a tantalizing reference to
a certain Raoul (‘Radulphi’),‘son of the former count of Eu’. It is possible, at least, that
3 this refers to another son of Alfonso’s, who predeceased his father.
4 For the suggestion that Alfonso had more daughters than this, see below,^109 n.27.
See O. Vergé de Taillis,Chroniques de l’abbaye royale de Maubuisson, 1236–1798: la vie
religieuse au temps de la vieille France(Paris, 1947), 39.
104 The Angevins and Athens (c. 1267–1311)