was still owed a significant portion of Jeanne’s dowry– 200 l. of rent–as
late as the spring of 1307.^171 Yet this does not seem to have caused any
significant problems between Walter and his new in-laws. He left his‘très
chier et amé seigneur et père’as the effective regent of the county of
Brienne in June 1309, and it would seem that Gaucher was still in post
when Walter was killed a couple of years later.^172
Although Walter may well have hoped, in due course, to resume his
career in southern Italy, far more exciting prospects were emerging
elsewhere. The last of the de la Roche dukes of Athens, Guy II, died
on 5 October 1308 (‘worn out by debauchery’, as Lock puts it).^173 There
were two candidates for the succession, both cousins of the late duke:
Walter himself and Eschiva of Ibelin. The Achaian High Court passed
judgement on the matter. The case itself reflects some of the intricacies of
the Brienne struggle for the regency of the kingdom of Jerusalem, almost
fifty years earlier. For his part, Walter was able to take a stand on Achaian
law, which stated that if there were two heirs in the same degree of
relationship, then the male should be preferred to the female. Yet he
had much more in his favour than this legal principle. As count of
Brienne and Lecce, Walter was already a significantfigure in the politics
of the central Mediterranean, and he could boast thefirm backing of the
Angevin court at Naples. As a result, it would be fair to conclude that his
success was never really in doubt. When Eschiva heard the judgement,
we are told, she prayed that, if Walter was the rightful candidate, he and
his descendants would hold the duchy for ever–but, if not, that he might
die within a year, and his heirs would never inherit it.‘Eschiva’s curse’,if
we can call it that, certainly makes for a splendid story. The timetable is
slightly out, but otherwise it is exact.^174
As it turned out, the biggest problem facing the new duke was not so
much taking possession of the lordship, but sustaining its right and
interests beyond its borders. The neighbouring Greek ruler of southern
Thessaly, John II Doukas, had been a ward of the late Duke Guy. Now,
with Epirote and Byzantine support, John declared himself of age, effect-
ively asserting his independence.^175 With Athenian suzerainty unravel-
ling in the north, Walter took a calculated risk. He decided to engage the
(^171) ‘Catalogue’, nos. 201–2.
(^172) Collection des principaux cartulaires du diocèse de Troyes, vii,‘Cartulaire de Montiéramey’,
nos. 439, 441.
(^173) P. Lock,The Franks in the Aegean, 1204– 1500 (London, 1995), 104.
(^174) Ibid., 104; and K. M. Setton,Catalan Domination of Athens, 1311– 1388 (London,
175 1975), 6–7.
Ibid., 7; and see also D. M. Nicol,The Despotate of Epiros, 1267–1479: A Contribution to
the History of Greece in the Middle Ages(Cambridge, 1984), 73–4.
The Briennes of Lecce and Athens 137