claim that county, which he regarded as her rightful inheritance (despite
the inconvenient fact that she was the younger sister). This has been
described, elsewhere, as the‘Erard of Brienne affair’.^121 It would be no
exaggeration to say that John’s achievement in becoming king of Jerusa-
lem stood at the beginning, middle and end of Erard’s plans. The lord of
Ramerupt aimed to make an excellent new marriage to advance himself
and his dynasty, just as his cousins, Walter III and John, had done before
him. Thanks to John, the Briennes were much more than the up-and-
coming‘family of the moment’by the early 1210s. They had become a
royal dynasty, and so Erard could argue that he was of a suitable stature
to marry Philippa and claim Champagne. Moreover, as king of Jerusalem
and hence as Philippa’s guardian, John appeared to be in a position
to choose or approve the lady’s husband–and this was a point that
Erard soon emphasized to Philip Augustus.^122 There is a key difference,
though, between Erard’s marriage scheme and those of Walter III and
John. Erard was soon faced with the hostility, not the acquiescence, of the
pertinent great powers, and this made him the negative face of Brienne
expansionism and assertiveness, quite unlike his cousins. This meant that
those who were inclined to support Erard, such as King John, had to
move relatively cautiously.
The great adventure of Erard’s life was his expedition to the Holy Land
to claim Philippa’s hand in marriage. Well aware that his scheme would
not be met with approval, he took the cross in a quite blatant endeavour
to obtain protection and privileges from the Church.^123 He then outlined
his plans to the French king, Philip Augustus. Philip was studiedly non-
committal. Fundamentally, he was determined to back Blanche and
young Theobald, but he was also looking to exploit their difficulties.^124
The countess herself made fruitless efforts to try to talk Erard round, but
she was forced to take a much stronger line against him once he had
departed. She formally disavowed him as her vassal. Then, without
regard for his crusader status, she took advantage of his debts to seize
(^121) For this label, see my‘“Scandalia...tam in oriente quam in occidente”: the Briennes in
East and West, 1213– 1221 ’,Crusades10 (2011), 63–77; andJohn,81–8.
(^122) Layettes du Trésor des chartes, ed. A. Teuletet al., 5 vols (Paris, 1863–1909), i, no. 1474.
(^123) Indeed, Erard may even have deliberately muddied the waters about whether he was
going either to the Latin East or against the Cathars in the south of France. See the
following document in the BnF: MS Français 20690, fols. 168–9; andCartulaire générale
de l’Yonne, compiled by M. Quantin, 2 vols and supplement (Auxerre, 1854–73),
supplement, no. 128. The latter charter is discussed in D. Power,‘Who Went on the
Albigensian Crusade?’,English Historical Review, vol. 128, issue 534 (2013), 1064,
124 1079. I would like to thank Professor Power for drawing this to my attention.
Perry,John, 81.
58 Breakthrough and High Point (c. 1191–1237)