Bianca de Lecce

Family/Spouse: Roger. Roger (son of Roger II, King of Sicily and Elvira of Castile) was born about 1121; died on 12 May 1148. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From Leo van de Pas:

Tancred was born in 1135, the illegitimate son of Roger, duke of Apulia, and Bianca di Lecce, daughter of Accardo, conte di Lecce. He inherited the title of 'Count of Lecce' from his grandfather, and is consequently often referred to as Tancred of Lecce. He was crowned king of Sicily in January 1190 in succession to Guglielmo II who had died the previous year.

He was supported by the chancellor Matteo d'Ajello and the official class, while the rival claims or Roger II's daughter Costanza and her husband Heinrich VI, king of the Romans, were supported by most of the nobles. Tancred was a good soldier, though his tiny stature earns from Peter of Eboli the nickname 'Tancredulus.' But he was ill-supported in his task of maintaining the Norman kingdom, faced with general apathy and threatened by a baronial revolt, and in addition, Richard 'the Lionheart', at Messina in 1190, threatened him with war.

Heinrich VI, skilfully winning over Pisa, Genoa and the Roman Commune, isolated Tancred and intimidated Pope Celestine III, who on 14 April 1191 crowned him Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. However Heinrich failed to capture Naples in August and retired north, leaving garrisons along the frontier of the Regno. Tancred now sought to win over the towns by extensive grants of privileges, and at Gravina (in June 1192) he was recognised by the pope, whose ineffectual support he gained by surrendering the royal legateship over Sicily. In 1192 and 1193 he commanded personally and with success against the Apulian barons, but his death at Palermo (on 20 February 1194) a few days after that of Roger, his son and joint-king, made Heinrich's path clear.

Tancred's wife Sibilla d'Aquino maintained a regency for her second son Guglielmo III, but on Heinrich's final descent, Naples surrendered almost without a blow in May 1194, and the rest of the Regno followed. Sibilla and the loyal Margarito of Brindisi, the great admiral of Sicily, prepared to defend Palermo, but the citizens admitted the emperor on 20 November 1194. Tancred's family, and Margarito, fell into Heinrich's hands. Claiming that a conspiracy on behalf of Guglielmo had been detected, he had the young Guglielmo blinded and castrated while all those nobles present at Tancred's coronation were burnt alive. Guglielmo seems to have died in Germany in 1198.

Tancred and Sibilla had a daughter usually called Elvira or Albiria, who married Gauthier III de Brienne, prince of Tarente, comte de Brienne. At the time of their marriage, she and her family were exiles in France, trying to find allies to reclaim the kingdom of Sicily from the young King Fadrique (the future Friedrich II, Holy Roman Emperor). Their son Gauthier IV would have progeny to continue the line of counts of Brienne.

Family/Spouse: Sibilla d'Aquino. Sibilla (daughter of Rainaldo d'Aquino and Cecilia di Medania) was born about 1153; died on 27 Mar 1204. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Albiria, Albinia, Maria, and Blanche.

Elvira married Gauthier III de Brienne in 1200 in Melun, Seine-et-Marne, Île-de-France, France. Gauthier (son of Erard II de Brienne and Agnès) was born about 1165; died in Jun 1205 in Sarno, Campania, Italy; was buried in Church of St. Maria della Foce, Sarno, Campania, Italy. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Elvira married Giacomo Sanseverino about 1206. Giacomo (son of Ruggiero Sanseverino and Sibilla) was born about 1180; died about 1213. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Brienne; Count of Jaffa.

From Leo Van de Pas (citation details below):

Gauthier was born in 1205, the son of Gauthier III de Brienne, prince of Tarente, comte de Brienne, and Elvira (Albiria) of Sicily. 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 Tarente and the county of Lecce was confiscated.

Gauthier IV was not a crusader per se, but a baron of Outremer, having emigrated there upon or following his arranged marriage to Marie de Lusignan about 1233. His family had various Italian involvements with Emperor Frederick II through Gauthier's Sicilian mother, and of course strong connections to Outremer with the marriage of his uncle Jean de Brienne to the heiress of Jerusalem.

As count of Jaffa he had a good military reputation over a number of years. However he was involved in the great losses of the kingdom of Jerusalem to the Khorasmians in 1244. One of the commanders of the combined army of the kingdom in the field against the Khorasmians in October 1244, his tactical choices in the field of Herbgiya (a few miles northeast of Gaza) on 17 October 1244 spelled disaster: the defeat of the army of the kingdom of Jerusalem, and the greatest loss in pitched battle since Hattin.

Gauthier was taken prisoner. The Khorasmian army then marched to Jaffa and besieged it, hanging Gauthier on a forked pole, outside the walls, threatening to leave him hanging until Jaffa capitulated. While dangling he shouted to his men not to capitulate, and that he would kill them with his own hands if they did. Jaffa held.

He was eventually taken to Cairo. Joinville tells us that the Sultan handed him over to various commanders who avenged their losses at his hands, presumably by torturing him to death at an unknown date, but thought to be between 1247 and 1251. His cousin Marguerite had his remains taken from Cairo and removed to Acre for burial.

Gauthier married Marie de Lusignan about 1233. Marie (daughter of Hugues I de Lusignan, King of Cyprus and Alix de Champagne) was born in 1215; died after 1251. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Brienne. Count of Lecce.

Family/Spouse: Isabelle de la Roche-sur-l'Ognon. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Brienne. Duke of Athens. Killed at the Battle of Halmyros on the river Cephissus in Boeotia.

Family/Spouse: Jeanne de Châtillon. Jeanne (daughter of Gaucher V de Châtillon and Isabelle de Dreux) died on 16 Jan 1354; was buried in Troyes, Aube, Champagne-Ardenne, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Risone I della Marra. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called Isabeau. "La Belle Helene." Titular Duchess of Athens. Countess of Brienne, Lecce, and Conversano.

Isabelle married Walter III d'Enghien on 6 Jan 1321. Walter (son of Wautier II d'Enghien and Yolanda of Flanders) was born on 5 Jun 1302; died about 16 Oct 1345; was buried in Cambron, Somme, Hauts-de-France, France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Jacopa married Hugues des Baux before 11 Dec 1310. Hugues (son of Bertrand III des Baux and Stephanette de Baux d'Orange) died in 1315. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Count of Conversano and Brienne. Titular Duke of Athens.

Louis married Giovanna de SanseverinoNaples, Campania, Italy. Giovanna (daughter of Antonio de Sanseverino and Isabelle des Baux) died between 1393 and 1403. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also called del Balzo.

Sueva married Roberto di Romano Orsini about 1330. Roberto (son of Romano Orsini and Anastasia de Montfort) was born about 1295; died in 1350. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]