Barletta, looking hopefully across the Adriatic.^104 Mary survived her
husband by several years. Very little is known about this period, and it
is tempting to suggest that she retired to the abbey of Maubuisson in
France. As we have seen, this was very much a‘family monastery’. In due
course, Maubuisson would also become the burial place for her brother
John, the former count of Montfort and butler of France, and for her
niece Margaret, princess of Antioch and countess of Tripoli.^105
The fate of the Empress Mary’s remains provides some evidence
to suggest that she did, indeed, retire to Maubuisson. In the abbey of
Saint-Denis, among thegisantsof so many great kings and queens, lies a
curiousoddity.Itistheeffigy of a crowned woman, with no writing on it
at all–anditisunique,sinceitisworkedinblackmarble.^106 It was
brought to Saint-Denis, from Maubuisson, in the aftermath of the
Bourbon Restoration of 1815 (although, by then, the bones themselves
had been lost). It has been suggested that this is thegisantof Mary of
Brienne, Latin empress of Constantinople, and that is how it is identi-
fiedinSaint-Denistothisday.^107 If this is correct, then it is tempting
to conclude that Mary’sdifficult life ended in a sort of posthumous
victory. Although the tomb of her brother, Alfonso, has long since
disappeared, Mary’sgisanthas ended up in as prestigious a place as
possible: in the sepulchre of the kings of France, surrounded by those of
her mighty kinsmen.
The Briennes of Lecce and AthensWe will turn now to the senior line of the house of Brienne, the last to
throw in its lot with the Angevins. When Count Hugh’s prospects fell apart
in the eastern Mediterranean, as we have seen, he decided to head to the
West. He was certainly in France by April 1268. It is likely that, at this
juncture, he was formally recognized as count of Brienne by his suzerain
Theobald V, count of Champagne and king of Navarre.^108 Yet it is
noteworthy that Hugh quickly moved on to central Italy, where he may
well have called on the curia.^109 We may guess that he wanted the pope,
Clement IV, to assist him in claiming his rights in the Latin East. As the
events of the next few years will make clear, Hugh seems to have decided
(^104) Ibid., 243.
(^105) See Dutilleux and Depoin,L’Abbaye de Maubuisson, 107, 121; andObituaires de la
province de Sens, i, part 2, 655.
(^106) Not black stone, as is said in Saint-Denis itself.
(^107) See also P. Bony,‘Le gisant en marbre noire de Saint-Denis: les signes de l’impératrice Marie
108 de Brienne?’, Revue française d’héraldique et sigillographie,^54 – 9 (1984–9), 91–^110.
See below,127.^109 Roserot,Dictionnaire, i, 246.
The Briennes of Lecce and Athens 125