Hugh,

Count of Brienne The County of Brienne was a medieval county in France centered on Brienne-le-Château. Counts of Brienne * Engelbert I * Engelbert II * Engelbert III * Engelbert IV * Walter I (? – c. 1090) * Erard I (c. 1090 – c. 1120?) * Walter ...

and

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label= Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the provi ...

( 1240 – 9 August 1296) was the second surviving son of Count Walter IV of Brienne and Marie de Lusignan of

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

Life

His father, Count of Jaffa and Ascalon in Palestine, was murdered in 1244 in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, and was succeeded by his elder son,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

. On the death of John (c. 1260), Hugh inherited the County of Brienne, in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, and the family's claims in

southern Italy Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...

, including the

Principality of Taranto The Principality of Taranto was a state in southern Italy created in 1088 for Bohemond I, eldest son of Robert Guiscard, as part of the peace between him and his younger brother Roger Borsa after a dispute over the succession to the Duchy of A ...

and the County of Lecce, which had been confiscated in 1205. He claimed the regency of the

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem ( la, Regnum Hierosolymitanum; fro, Roiaume de Jherusalem), officially known as the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem or the Frankish Kingdom of Palestine,Example (title of works): was a Crusader state that was establish ...

(and, indirectly, a place in the succession) in 1264 as senior heir of Alice of Jerusalem and

Hugh I of Cyprus Hugh I (french: Hugues; gr, Ούγος; 1194/1195 – 10 January 1218) succeeded to the throne of Cyprus on 1 April 1205 underage upon the death of his elderly father Aimery, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem. His mother was Eschiva of Ibelin, heir ...

, being the son of their eldest daughter, but was passed over by the '' Haute Cour'' in favor of his cousin Hugh of Antioch, and thereafter took little part in the affairs of

Outremer The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political in ...

. His first cousin King

Hugh II of Cyprus Hugh II of Cyprus (or Hugues II de Lusignan) (June–August, 1252 or 1253 – November or December 5, 1267) was king of Cyprus and, from the age of 5 years, also Regent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Biography On January 18, 1253, at the age of tw ...

died in 1267, and despite Hugh's rights as the senior heir, Hugh of Antioch, was crowned as Hugh III of Cyprus. When his second cousin's son

Conradin Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (german: link=no, Konradin, it, Corradino), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duke ...

, King of Jerusalem, was killed in 1268, the succession again went to the junior cousin Hugh III. Hugh decided to seek his fortune in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

rather than

, and took service under

Charles I of Naples Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) ...

. Charles made him Captain-General of

Brindisi Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

Otranto Otranto (, , ; scn, label=Salentino, Oṭṛàntu; el, label= Griko, Δερεντό, Derentò; grc, Ὑδροῦς, translit=Hudroûs; la, Hydruntum) is a coastal town, port and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a ferti ...

and

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

and Lord of

Conversano Conversano ( Barese: ) is an ancient town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, south-eastern Italy. It is southeast of Bari and from the Adriatic coast, at above sea level. The counts of Conversano owned a stud that they u ...

, and he was an enthusiastic partisan of the Angevin cause in Italy. For this service, his family's County of Lecce was restored to him. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of the Gulf of Naples in 1284 with

Charles II of Naples Charles II, also known as Charles the Lame (french: Charles le Boiteux; it, Carlo lo Zoppo; 1254 – 5 May 1309), was King of Naples, Count of Provence and Forcalquier (1285–1309), Prince of Achaea (1285–1289), and Count of Anjou and Mai ...

and again at the

Battle of the Counts The naval Battle of the Counts took place on 23 June 1287 at Naples, Italy, when an Aragonese- Sicilian galley fleet commanded by Roger of Lauria defeated a large combined Angevin (Kingdom of Naples) galley fleet commanded respectively by Re ...

in 1287, both times in sea battles against

Roger of Lauria Roger of Lauria (''c''. 1245 – 17 January 1305) was a Neapolitan admiral in Aragonese service, who was the commander of the fleet of the Crown of Aragon during the War of the Sicilian Vespers. He was probably the most successful and tal ...

. On one of these occasions, he obtained his parole by leaving his only son Walter as a hostage. He was killed in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, at the Battle of Gagliano, fighting Catalan

Almogavars Almogavars ( es, almogávares, an, almugávares, ca, almogàvers and pt, almogávares ar, Al-Mugavari) is the name of a class of light infantry soldier originated in the Crown of Aragon used in the later phases of the Reconquista, during th ...

, and was succeeded by Walter. In 1291, he married

Helena Angelina Komnene Helena Angelina Komnene ( el, Ἑλένη Ἀγγελίνα Κομνηνή) was a daughter of the Greek ''sebastokrator'' John I Doukas, ruler of Thessaly in ca. 1268–1289, and a Greek princess of Aromanian origin, known only by her monastic name ...

, the widow of

William de la Roche William I de la Roche (died 1287) succeeded his brother, John I, as Duke of Athens in 1280. He was the son of Guy I de la Roche. William reversed the territorial losses of his brother's reign, extending his control over Lamia and Gardiki. He ma ...

Duke of Athens The Duchy of Athens ( Greek: Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν, ''Doukaton Athinon''; Catalan: ''Ducat d'Atenes'') was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade as part of ...

, and regent for her underage son Guy II de la Roche. He thus became ''

bailli A bailiff (french: bailli, ) was the king's administrative representative during the ''ancien régime'' in northern France, where the bailiff was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in h ...

'' of the Duchy of Athens until Guy II's coming of age in 1296.

Marriages and issue

Hugh's first wife was

Isabella de la Roche Isabella de la Roche (died before 1291) was a daughter of Guy I de la Roche. She was married twice, firstly to Geoffrey of Briel, Lord of Karytaina and then secondly to Hugh, Count of Brienne, having children only with her second husband. Life I ...

, heiress of Thebes. They had a son,

Walter V Walter V of Brienne (french: Gautier; – 15 March 1311) was Duke of Athens from 1308 until his death. Being the only son of Hugh of Brienne and Isabella de la Roche, Walter was the heir to large estates in France, the Kingdom of Naples, and the ...

(d. 1311), who succeeded Hugh, and a daughter, Agnes, who married Count John of Joigny. Hugh and his second wife,

, had a daughter, Joanna, who married Duke Nicholas I Sanudo of Naxos.

Genealogical table

References

Sources

* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hugh of Brienne 1240 births 1296 deaths Year of birth uncertain 13th-century people of the Kingdom of Jerusalem 13th-century viceregal rulers Counts of Brienne Counts of Lecce Christians of the Crusades French people of Cypriot descent Military personnel killed in action Regents of Jerusalem House of Brienne Barons of Karytaina People of the Duchy of Athens Prisoners and detainees of Aragon