and, as late as October 1324, Pope John XXII was still trying to com-
mend Walter VI and his cause to them.^4
It is not surprising that such efforts soon drove the Briennes, in exile,
into a large amount of debt. The unfortunate outcome was, in fact, a
lawsuit, which set the young Walter VI, who was just coming of age,
against his mother. Thefinal settlement was publicized by the French
king in January 1321. It was agreed that Walter would pay, up to a total of
7,000l.tournois, the debts accumulated by his parents in defence of his
territories in the Mediterranean. Jeanne would pay the rest, although she
was assured of a rent of 600l., with some permission to alienate it as she
sawfit.^5 It is worth noting that the duchess also renounced her right to
a valuable estate in the forest of Wassy, near Brienne. Walter promptly
assigned the land in question to his sister, Isabella, turning dower into
dowry for the next generation.^6 Moreover, in the same month, it was
agreed that Isabella would wed Walter of Enghien–the marriage that
would eventually cause the county of Brienne itself, and all of Walter’s
other territories, to pass to the latter dynasty.^7
It might look as though Walter had completely elbowed his mother
aside. In fact, he still had a role for her. By the early 1330s at the latest,
Walter had realized that he was unlikely to spend very long in the county
of Brienne, and so he appointed his mother as the regent there, at the
head of a council that also included Theobald of Fontaine,bailliof
Brienne, and Otto of Montangon, the receiver.^8 Whenever it was that
Jeanne actually started doing this, we can suddenly see the internal
workings of the county in far more detail than has been possible since
the far-off days of Count Erard II, almost 150 years earlier. The duchess
rebuilt the family’s close accord with nearby monastic houses, such as
Beaulieu.^9 In 1339, she recognized that the prior of Radonvilliers had the
right to do justice in that lordship, and she also restored six‘grosses
bestez’ that the mayor of Brienne-la-Vieille had seized.^10 Jeanne’s
relationships with various secular lords also begins to come alive. In
May 1341, for example, Walter of Arzillières conceded that, for various
estates at Mathaux, Auzon and l’Étape, he owed six weeks of guard duty
per annum,‘en armes et en chevaulz en la ville ou en chastel de Brène’.^11
Of course, Walter VI was not always far away and, even when he was, he
remained the ultimate authority. In the early 1340s, for instance, it was
(^4) These developments are neatly summarized in Setton,Catalan Domination of Athens,
526 – 33, 38.
8 ‘Catalogue’, no. 216.^6 Ibid., no. 217.^7 Ibid., no. 218.
10 Roserot,Dictionnaire, i, 246.^9 See‘Catalogue’, nos. 219, 221–2, 233.
Ibid., no. 223.^11 Ibid., no. 225.
The Early Career of Walter VI 143