ploy, and that Walter and the Catalans were about to combine to destroy
them. They joined in the slaughter only when it became clear which way
the struggle was going.^190 Indeed, we are told that Walter was decapi-
tated by a Turk, and that his head was borne in triumph from thefield.^191
In his will, drawn up a few days earlier, Walter had stated his intention to
be interred in the Cistercian monastery of Dafni–that is, in thefinal
resting place of the dukes of Athens. In other words, he had wanted to
be identified with the de la Roches, and seen as their natural succes-
sor.^192 Instead, though, in less than three years, he had presided over the
destruction of their patrimony, and thrown into doubt the whole future
of Frankish Greece. As a result, he did not receive the burial that he had
planned. The fate of Walter’s remains–and, indeed, of his entire family–
would be far more exciting and unpredictable than that.
(^190) The Catalan Expedition to the East, ch. 45.
(^191) See Setton,Catalan Domination of Athens, 12. (^192) ‘Catalogue’, no. 210.
140 The Angevins and Athens (c. 1267–1311)