Walter IV, Count of Brienne
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Walter IV (
count of Brienne
from 1205 to 1246.
Life
Walter was the son of
Walter III of Brienne and Elvira of Sicily.[1] Around the time of his birth, his father lost his bid for the Sicilian throne and was killed. His inheritance of the Principality of Taranto and the County of Lecce was confiscated. He took part in the War of the Keys
in 1228–1229 in an effort to recover it.
While a teenager, Walter was sent to
Maria (before March, 1215 – ca. 1252 or 1254), daughter of Hugh I of Cyprus, in 1233.[3]
Even after his uncle had been forced out of the kingdom by
al-Mansur of Homs, his Syrian ally, Walter insisted on taking the offensive, rather than fortifying his camp and awaiting the retreat of the Khwarezmians. In this disastrous battle, the Crusader-Syrian forces were nearly annihilated. Walter was captured,[4] tortured before the walls of Jaffa,[5] and ultimately turned over to the Egyptians after the Khwarezmian defeat before Homs in 1246. He was imprisoned in Cairo and murdered by merchants whose caravans he had robbed.[5]
He was succeeded by his elder son
Charles of Anjou, who returned to him the family's county of Lecce
.
Notes
References
- ^ Perry 2018, p. xxii.
- ^ Edbury 1999, p. 124.
- ^ a b Edbury 1999, p. 123.
- ^ Hamilton 2016, p. 238.
- ^ a b Paul & Schenk 2017, p. 176.
Sources
- Edbury, Peter W. (1999). Kingdoms of the Crusaders: From Jerusalem to Cyprus. Ashgate Publishing Company.
- Hamilton, Bernard (2016). "Queen Alice of Cyprus". In Boas, Adrian (ed.). The Crusader World. Routledge.
- Paul, Nicholas L.; Schenk, Jochen G. (2017). "Family Memory and the Crusades". In Cassidy-Welch, Megan (ed.). Remembering the Crusades and Crusading. Routledge.
- Perry, Guy (2018). The Briennes: The Rise and Fall of a Champenois Dynasty in the Age of the Crusades, c. 950-1356. Cambridge University Press.
| House of Brienne |  | |
|---|---|---|
| House of Enghien |
| |
| House of Luxemburg | ||
| House of Loménie | ||