c. 1205–before 1250 · Count of Jaffa
Walter of Brienne
Walter IV of Brienne, count of Jaffa; he was captured at the Battle of La Forbie near Gaza in 1244 and killed in captivity in Egypt.
BIOGRAPHICAL DOSSIER
Life and historical role
Life and political setting
Walter was of the Brienne family and a nephew of King John of Brienne of Jerusalem. He married Marie, daughter of King Hugh I of Cyprus, and became count of Jaffa in the late 1220s. In the War of the Lombards he sided with the Ibelin party.
Role in the Crusades
After the Khwarazmians sacked Jerusalem in 1244, the Latin barons allied with the Ayyubid rulers of Damascus and Homs against the Egyptian sultan al-Salih Ayyub and his Khwarazmian allies. On 17–18 October 1244, at the Battle of La Forbie (Harbiyya) near Gaza, the army of Baybars and the Khwarazmians defeated the allies. Walter was captured; when brought before Jaffa he is said to have told the garrison not to surrender.
Historical significance and source problems
Walter was held captive in Cairo and killed some years later; the date of his death is uncertain. Joinville describes his courage before Jaffa. The defeat at La Forbie had weakened the Kingdom of Jerusalem's military strength more severely than anything since Hattin.
Biographical information is linked to the sources shown on the page and to the connected event records. Disputed dates are given as approximate, gaps are not filled by conjecture, and later literary or visual depictions are not treated as contemporary portraits.