war, a sort of‘semi-crusade’against the excommunicate emperor, has
colourfully been labelled the‘War of the Keys’, on account of the insignia
borne by the papal forces. Bravely and brazenly, Frederick departed
again for the Holy Land when he was well enough to do so, but, by then,
he was no longer king of Jerusalem as husband to the reigning queen.
Isabella II, aged onlyfifteen, had died in April 1228. Like her mother, she
succumbed shortly after childbirth, leaving behind a child who lived. In
Isabella’s case, this was a son, the future Conrad IV. However, Frederick
was able to take advantage of the precedent established by John back in
1212 – 13. Not only did the emperor retain the crown during Conrad’s
long minority, but, even after that, he continued to regard himself as king
of Jerusalem for life: precisely the position that he had so roughly denied
to John.^162
John was‘an obvious choice’to serve as a papalcondotierre–or even
as the Church’s supreme commander–in the War of the Keys.^163 At
long last, he was about to walk in the footsteps of his brother, Walter III,
and so it can come as no surprise that a large number of chroniclers
paint it up in this way, as a sort of Brienne–Hohenstaufen grudge
match.^164 A seal was set on the similarities with the involvement of
Walter IV in the campaign. Walter had gone to France, to take up his
county of Brienne, in the early 1220s. As we have seen, he had served as
lord, rather than as count of Brienne, until 1224 or 1226. Thereafter, he
underlined his close relationship with his uncle, King John, and perhaps
signalled his support for the latter’s bid for continued royal status, by
having his counter-seal decorated with the cross and crosslets of the
kingdom of Jerusalem.^165 It is worth remembering that Walter nursed a
number of claims in southern Italy, potentially extending even to the
crown of Sicily itself. At the very least, he would have been looking to
recover those old family heirlooms,the principality of Taranto and the
county of Lecce. For his part, Johnhad no such claims, but he would
certainly have been interested in the prospects that were now opening
up. He may well have hoped that the Briennes could run southern
Italy in tandem, effectively recreating Walter III’s old dominance over
the mainland.
John and his clerical sidekick, Cardinal Colonna, had the most press-
ing task at the beginning of the War of the Keys: that is, to halt the
(^162) Perry,John, 144–5.
(^163) D. Waley,The Papal State in the Thirteenth Century(London, 1961), 138.
(^164) Perry,John, 147.
(^165) Illustrated in Roserot,Dictionnaire, i, 245. See also the discussion in Nielen,‘Du comté
de Champagne aux royaumes d’Orient: sceaux et armoiries des comtes de
Brienne’, 598.
68 Breakthrough and High Point (c. 1191–1237)