knight die, nor any who came to the rescue of so many.’^106 The principal
reason for all this adulation is to be found in the developments
of 4 October 1189, which are described in most detail in a near-
contemporary English source, theItinerarium peregrinorum et gesta regis
Ricardi. Erard is mentioned leading an advance that took place that day,
along with‘King Guy [of Jerusalem], the Templars, the Hospitallers...
and the landgrave [of Thuringia]’.^107 However, the attack was bloodily
repulsed.‘In this sad and unfortunate confusion’, wrote the author of the
Itinerarium,‘Andrew of Brienne was killed by the Turkish onslaught
whilst he was courageously calling out to the others not to run away.
His valour had raised him so far above all the French that he was
regarded as thefirst amongst knights, whilst all the rest contended for
second place. His brother, the count of Brienne, knew that he had fallen
and passed by him; but although Andrew called out to him for help, he
was afraid to stop. So,’concludes our author sententiously,‘cowardice
declined the glory which chance had offered’.^108
Erard’s‘cowardice’did not save him in the long run. Unlike his
brother, he lived to see the arrival of their lord, Henry of Champagne,
in the summer of 1190.^109 However, it would seem that Erard perished–
quite possibly of plague–during the long, harsh winter that followed, on
8 February 1191.^110 If he had survived just a couple more months, he
would have witnessed the coming of the French king, Philip Augustus,
whose retinue may well have included Erard’s kinsman Manasses, bishop
of Langres.^111 Through the simple fact of his death on crusade, though,
Erard may have repaired some of the damage to his honour that had been
inflicted by his role in the demise of his brother, a year and a half earlier.
It is hard to escape the impression that the Briennes grew in stature
between the time of theirfirst footsteps in the Holy Land and the Third
Crusade. By 1189–91, the twin heads of the family werefigures of
consequence, whose presence and deeds warranted considerable repor-
tage. Indeed, their heroic deaths may well have played their part in
raising the prestige of the dynasty to new heights as the 1190s began.
(^106) The History of the Holy War: Ambroise’sEstoire de la guerre sainte, tr. and ed. M. Ailes
and M. Barber, 2 vols. (Woodbridge, 2003), ii, 75.
(^107) Chronicle of the Third Crusade: A Translation of theItinerarium peregrinorum et gesta
regis Ricardi, tr. H. J. Nicholson (Aldershot, 1997), p. 78.
(^108) A mildly adapted version of the translation inibid., p. 80.
(^109) The Historical Works of Master Ralph of Diceto, ed. W. Stubbs, 2 vols. (London, 1876),
ii, 79.
(^110) The calendar date, but not the year, is given inObituaires de la province de Sens, ed.
A. Molinieret al., 4 vols. (Paris, 1902–23), iv, 335. It is easy to deduce, though, that the
111 year must have been 1191.
For Manasses’later career, see Roserot,Dictionnaire, i, 109–10.
First Footsteps in the Holy Land 31