Walter IV of Brienne
Walter IV of Brienne (or Gauthier, or Gualtero) (
1205–
1246) was
Count of Brienne 1205–1246. He was the son of
Walter III of Brienne and Elvira (Albiria, Albina, Blanche, Mary) of
Lecce. Around the time of his birth, his father lost his bid for the Sicilian throne and died in prison. His inheritance of the
Principality of Taranto and the County of Lecce was confiscated.
While a teenager, Walter was sent to
Outremer where his uncle
John of Brienne was the ruler of
Jerusalem. In
1221 John gave him the
County of Jaffa and Ascalon, and arranged a marriage with Mary of Cyprus (b. c.
1215), daughter of
Hugh I of Cyprus.
Even after his uncle had been forced out of the Kingdom by
Frederick II, Walter remained one of the most important lords of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He was commander of the
Crusader army that marched against the forces of
As-Salih Ayyub in
1244. Against the advice of
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 the disastrous
Battle of La Forbie, the Crusader-Syrian forces were nearly annihilated. Walter was captured, tortured before the walls of
Jaffa, 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, with the sultan's consent.
He was succeeded by his elder son
John, who died childless. His younger son
Hugh of Brienne settled in Southern Italy and became a partisan of
Charles of Anjou, who returned to him the family's county of
Lecce.
*
