Walter VI, Count of Brienne

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Walter VI of Brienne (c. 1304 – 19 September 1356) was a French nobleman and

Frankish Greece
.

Walter VI
Count of Brienne
Portrait by Luigi Rubio, 1834.
Bornc. 1304
Died19 September 1356 (aged 51–52)
Poitiers, France
OfficesConstable of France
Spouse(s)Jeanne of Brienne
IssueJeanne
Marguerite
FatherWalter V, Count of Brienne
MotherJoanna of Châtillon

Life

Early life in Italy

Walter was the son of Count

Jeanne de Châtillon (died 1354), the daughter of the count of Porcien, constable to King Philip IV of France.[1]

As grandson of Count

Argos and Nauplia, had been overrun by the Catalan Company, and Walter spent much of his life in an unsuccessful struggle to recover that inheritance of his family.[1]
He spent most of his life in Italy and France and left Argos-Nauplia to be ruled by guardians.

His mother Jeanne carried out a vigorous struggle against the Catalans during his minority, which, however, had little military effect but impoverished him. To strengthen his position, Walter engaged in a strategic marriage to Beatrice, the niece of King

Philip I of Taranto by Thamar Angelina Komnene, in December 1325. At this time, Florence requested King Robert's support in protecting Guelph interests in Italy, and elected his son, Charles, Duke of Calabria, as signore of Florence for a ten-year period (1326–36). Walter VI's almost-princely position in the Angevin court soon won him an appointment as Vicar for Charles of Calabria, an office that he only exercised for a few months in 1325.[1]

Anti-Catalan crusade of 1331–1332

After 1321, Walter repeatedly announced his intention to campaign in Greece and recover the Duchy of Athens, but financial constraints and his obligations to the King of Naples kept him occupied in Italy.

County palatine of Cephalonia and Zakynthos, and the Greek Despotate of Epirus, forcing them to recognize the overlordship of King Robert. He also seized the island of Leucas and the mainland castle of Vonitsa for himself in the process. From there he proceeded to invade the Duchy of Athens through northern Boeotia, but his campaign was a failure as the Catalans avoided battle and withdrew behind the walls of Thebes and Athens. Walter had neither the troops to overwhelm the Catalans nor the money to sustain a prolonged war of sieges and attrition, and found no support among the native Greek population. By summer 1332, it was clear that the expedition had failed, and Walter returned to Brindisi, saddled with even more crippling debts.[4][5]

In his new Greek domains of Leucas and Vonitsa, Walter initially appointed a series of French castellans. In 1343, he made the Venetian Graziano Zorzi, who had helped finance his 1331 expedition and joined it himself, governor of Leucas. Zorzi proved successful in this role, and in October 1355, Walter granted Leucas as well as Vonitsa to him as a fief.[6]

Ruler of Florence

Personal standards as ruler of Florence

He also occupied himself with his lands in France, and was the King's Lieutenant in Thiérache in 1339. His wife died in 1340, and he returned to Italy in 1342 when the Florentine ruling class of wealthy merchants called upon him to rule the city. Since 1339, Florence had been in the grip of a severe economic crisis brought about by immense English debts to Florentine banking houses, and by astronomical public debts incurred in trying to obtain the nearby city of Lucca from its Veronese lord, Mastino della Scala. The Florentine nobility looked to foreign powers to solve the city's seemingly impossible financial problems, and found an ally in Walter of Brienne. Although the ruling class invited Walter to rule for a limited time, the lower classes, who were fed up with the ineptitude of Walter's predecessors, unexpectedly proclaimed him signore for life.

The expulsion of the Duke of Athens from Florence, by Stefano Ussi

Walter VI ruled despotically, ignoring or directly opposing the interests of the very same merchant class that had brought him to power. The "Duke of Athens" imposed harsh economic correctives on the Florentines, including the flat tax estimo, and prestanze, postponements of the city's repayment of loans forced from the wealthier citizens. These measures both angered the Florentines and helped alleviate the fiscal crisis that had been stewing for years. After only ten months, Walter of Brienne's signoria was cut short by conspiracy. Walter VI was not only forced to resign from office, but barely escaped Florence with his life.

Later life and death

In 1344 he married Jeanne, the daughter of

Sohier d'Enghien received the title of duke of Athens and county of Brienne.[9] Jean gained the county of Lecce, Louis became the Count of Conversano, while Guy received the Lordship of Argos and Nauplia.[9]

Cultural legacy

Seal of Walter, with his title of "Duke of Athens"

The "Duke of Athens" who appears in the seventh tale of Day Two of the

Decameron
as one of the nine lovers of the Sultan of Babylon's daughter, while not historically accurate, is probably a satirical allusion to Walter VI – his brief, but unforgettable dictatorship in Florence occurred less than ten years before the writing of the Decameron.

References

  1. ^ a b c Crum 2004, p. 1162.
  2. ^ Lock 2006, p. 183.
  3. ^ Luttrell 1966, pp. 35–36.
  4. ^ Luttrell 1966, p. 36.
  5. ^ Setton 1976, p. 452.
  6. ^ Nicol 1984, pp. 133–134.
  7. ^ Perry 2018, p. xxiii.
  8. ^ Nicolle 2004, p. 19.
  9. ^ a b c Luttrell 1982, p. 38.

Sources

External links
French nobility
Preceded by
Walter V
 — TITULAR —
Duke of Athens

1311–1356 		Succeeded by
Isabella
Sohier
Count of Brienne

1311–1356
Lord of Argos and Nauplia

1311–1356 		Succeeded by
Preceded byas Despot of Epirus Lord of Lefkada and Vonitsa
1331–1355 		Succeeded by
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