of Lecce, an illegitimate member of the Norman royal family but, in a
sense, the‘native’southern Italian candidate; and the man who soon
became German emperor, Henry VI of the house of Hohenstaufen,
whose claim to the kingdom of Sicily was derived through his marriage
to Tancred’s aunt, Constance. Tancred won thefirst round of the
conflict and ruled as king of Sicily between 1189 and 1194. However,
his death–leaving behind an infant son, William III–demoralized his
supporters, and Henry and Constance were able to conquer the king-
dom. Atfirst, the victorious emperor was unusually generous: he granted
Tancred’s family the principality of Taranto, as well as Tancred’s former
county of Lecce. Shortly afterwards, though, Henry accused the family
of conspiracy and had them all shunted away into imprisonment in
Germany. There, little William III perished in captivity, amid ghastly
rumours about his fate. All this became much more complicated when
Henry and Constance themselves died soon afterwards, leaving behind
an infant son, Frederick II–and Constance formally consigned the
regency of the Sicilian kingdom, and the guardianship of young
Frederick, to the papacy. This produced a three-sided struggle between
the new pope, Innocent III, who was trying to make his regency a reality
and expel the hated Germans; the Germans themselves, headed by the
ministerialis, Markward of Anweiler, who claimed that he himself had
been designated as regent; and the ruling‘council offamiliares’on the
island of Sicily itself, headed by Walter of Palear, bishop of Troia and
chancellor of the kingdom, who actually had possession of the child king,
Frederick. A further unpredictable factor was provided by the remnants
of Tancred’s family–above all, his widow, Sibylla, and his heiress and
eldest daughter, Elvira, who had been released from prison on the
intercession of the pope. They made their way to France, and there
Elvira married Walter of Brienne.^19
In many ways, the key question about Walter’s whole life is this: why
was it he who married Elvira of Sicily? Possible answers are provided
by two narrative accounts: the‘Colbert-Fontainebleau’continuation of
William of Tyre’sHistoria, and a related text, usually calledErnoul-
Bernard.^20 The latter suggests that Innocent III was the keyfigure behind
the match.^21 Whilst it is quite believable that the pope was on the lookout
for a French champion who would wed Elvira and drive the Germans out
(^19) The best account of all this, in English, is still in T. C. Van Cleve, Markward of Anweiler
20 and the Sicilian Regency(Oxford, 1937).
A short overview of these sources is provided in Perry,John,13–15. A new edition of all
21 of these texts is currently being prepared by Professor Peter Edbury.
Chronique d’Ernoul et de Bernard le Trésorier, ed. L. de Mas Latrie (Paris, 1871), 329.
The Life and Death of Walter III 37