The Briennes
The Rise and Fall of a Champenois Dynasty in the Age of the Crusades, c. 950–1356

The first comprehensive study of the Brienne dynasty, a fascinating example of the international aristocracy in the central Middle Ages.

Guy Perry (Author)

9781107196902, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 August 2018

238 pages, 8 b/w illus. 7 maps
23.5 x 15.7 x 1.7 cm, 0.52 kg

'… provides an excellent basis for further work to be carried out on this intriguing and adventurous dynasty.' Simon John, Speculum

The Briennes were a highly important aristocratic family who hailed from the Champagne region of north-eastern France, but whose reach and impact extended across Europe and into the Crusader States in the Middle East. It is a highly dramatic and wide-ranging story of medieval mobility, not only up and down the social ladder, but in geographical terms as well. Although the Briennes were one of the great dynasties of the central Middle Ages, this book represents the first comprehensive history of the family. Taking the form of parallel biographies and arranged broadly chronologically, it explores not only their rise, glory and fall, but also how they helped to shape the very nature of the emerging European state system. This book will appeal to students and scholars of medieval France, the Mediterranean world, the Crusades and the central Middle Ages.

Introduction
1. 'Between Bar-sur-Aube and Rosnay' (c.950–1191)
2. Breakthrough and high point (c.1191–1237)
3. In the pages of Joinville (c.1237–1267)
4. The Angevins and Athens (c.1267–1311)
5. Hubris and nemesis (c.1311–1356)
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD], History [HB]