Brienne Claim To The Kingdom of Jerusalem - Line of Succession

Line of Succession

• Hugh of Brienne (born c. 1240, died 1296), Count of Lecce etc., was an ally of Charles I of Anjou in Sicily and Naples and in the pursuits of Constantinople and the Holy Land. Apparently because of his said dependence on Charles, himself also a claimant of Jerusalem, he did not actively pursue his hereditary rights. His first wife was Isabella de la Roche, heiress of Thebes, and his second Helena Komnena Duchess of Epirus-Neopatras, heiress of Lamia and Larisa. He acted as Captain-General of Brindisi, Otranto and Apulia.

• Walter V of Brienne (killed in war near Thebes 1311), Duke of Athens, Count of Lecce etc. His life was largely spent in Greece, where he tried to win back his mother's inheritance, the Duchy of Athens. His wife was Jeanne of Châtillon (died 1354), daughter of count of Porcien.

• Walter VI of Brienne (killed in the battle of Poitiers 1356), sometime Lord of Florence, Marshal of France. Count of Lecce, Conversano etc. He was ally of Anjous of Naples, and participated their policies in Italy. He had only children who died young, both with his first wife Margert of Anjou-Taranto and the second, his distant kinswoman Joan of Brienne. His sons died young, and as he had no surviving children, it was rather evident that his sister's issue would inherit his possessions and claims.

• Isabella of Brienne, who survived her brother, died 1360. Her husband Gauthier d'Enghien had died already in 1345. For a few years, she became Countess of Lecce and Brienne etc., as well as titular Duchess of Athens and of other claimed titles. Since her eldest son Gauthier had died before the uncle, her heir was her second son Sohier of Enghien. She allowed her inherited lands to be divided between her numerous children already during her own lifetime.

• Sohier of Enghien (died 1367), Duke of Athens etc. Held the lordship of Argos and Nauplia in Greece for his uncle and was resident lord there from c. 1350, but apparently returned to Europe in 1360s at latest.

• Walter IV of Enghien (died 1381), Duke of Athens etc., he had inherited the claims of the Brienne family, but died childless, and his heir was his first cousin Peter, the only son of his grandmother's third son John of Enghien Lord of Castro who had just died 1380.

• Peter of Enghien, Count of Lecce etc. Died childless 1384, leaving his sister and her husband Raimondo del Balzo Orsini to succeed.

• Mary of Enghien (1367–1446), Countess of Lecce. Daughter of John of Enghien and Bianca del Balzo. Married firstly Raimondo del Balzo Orsini di Nola, who became Prince of Taranto (in her hereditary rights) and died 1405. Secondly, she was forced to marry King Ladislaus of Naples 1406, who had 1399 driven his rival Louis II of Anjou from Naples. He used the titles King of Naples and Jerusalem and died 1414.

• Giovanni Antonio del Balzo Orsini, Prince of Taranto, son of the first marriage of Queen Mary of Enghien. Died childless in 1463, when his niece Isabella brought his fiefs to her husband King Ferrante.

• Isabella of Taranto (died 1465), Princess of Taranto, she was married in 1444 to Ferdinand of Aragon, then Duke of Calabria. Her husband became, by the testament of King Alfonso, king in his conquered territories (and Isabella became queen consort) 1458, and as such used the title King of Naples and Jerusalem (Ferdinand I of Naples).

• Alfonso II of Naples, eldest son of Isabella and Ferdinand. He used the title King of Naples and Jerusalem while he reigned. Due to the invasion of King Charles VIII of France, he abdicated in favour of his son, Ferdinand II of Naples, in 1495.

• Ferdinand II of Naples, King of Naples, son of Alfonso II of Naples. Died childless in 1496, his successor in the Kingdom of Naples was his uncle (his grandfather's and Isabella di Chiaramonte's second son) don Federigo de Aragona who became King Frederick IV of Naples and was soon dethroned and imprisoned, but his heir-general was his sister Isabella, Dowager Duchess of Milan.

• Isabella of Aragon, daughter of King Alphonse II of Naples, married in 1488, Gian Galeazzo II, who at the time was the Duke of Milan. Her son Francesco Sforza (1491–1512) died during the lifetime of his mother, and therefore did not succeed her. When she died in 1524, only Bona, her youngest daughter, survived her of all her children.

• Bona Sforza In 1518 became the second wife of king Sigismund I of Poland. Sovereign of Poland and Lithuania and all their dominions. When her mother died 1524, she, the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania, succeeded also as Duchess of Bari and Princess of Rossano. It is not altogether clear whether she used also the title Queen of Jerusalem.

• Sigismund August II of Poland (1520–1572), Elected Successor of Poland 1529-, Grand Prince of Lithuania 1544-, King of Poland 1548-1572. His first wife was Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria, his second Princess Barbara Radziwill, and third Archduchess Catherine of Austria. However, he left no legitimate children.

• Sophia of Poland (1522–1575) was Dowager Duchess of Brunswick when her brother died. Her husband duke Henry V of Brunswick-Lüneburg, whose second wife she was, had died 1568. She was childless and succeeded by her sisters and the issue of youngest of them.

• Anna of Poland (1523–1596), was a spinster when her sister died. 1576 she married Stephen Bathory (1533–1586), then Reigning Prince of Transylvania, who was 1576 elected King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. She died childless. Her successor was her youngest sister's (Catherine Jagellon of Poland, Queen of Sweden) only son, Sigismund Vasa.

• Sigismund III Vasa (1566–1632), was elected King of Poland and reigned 1587-1632. By paternal inheritance, he succeeded 1592 as King of Sweden and was regarded as having abdicated 1599 and finally deposed 1604. It is not altogether whether he, King of Poland, Lithuania and Sweden, also used the title King of Jerusalem. His first wife was Archduchess Anna of Austria and his second Archduchess Constance of Austria.

• Vladislaus IV of Poland (1595–1648), Wladyslaw Zygmunt Vasza-Jagellon, was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania 1632-48. His first wife was Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria and second Princess Mary Louise of Mantua (Maria Ludovica Gonzaga). He died without surviving children.

• John II Casimir of Poland (1609–1672), his only surviving brother, was a Cardinal of Roman Church when succeeded. He was elected King of Poland 1648 and abdicated 1668. As his father and brother, also he claimed the title King of Sweden, but after warring and Swedish invasion to Poland he was forced to relinquish that title in 1660. After 1668 abdication, he lived as Abbot of St.Martin in Nevers, France, where he died. He married his brother's widow Mary Louise of Mantua who died 1667 - losing her support was one of the reasons he abdicated. He did not have surviving children. All his brothers and sisters having died, without surviving issue, before him, he was the last of the legitimate line of Bona Sforza. With him, all the legitimate issue of Alfonso II of Naples died out. His heir in Ferrante I of Naples and in Brienne succession was his distant cousin, Henry 2nd Duke of La Tremoille Prince of Talmond and Taranto, the heir-general of Federigo di Aragona (second son of Ferrante I and Isabella of Taranto), who also was the heir-general of Federigo's first wife Anne of Savoy.

• Henry de La Tremoille, 2nd Duke of La Tremoille, Prince of Talmond and Tarant, the heir-general of Federigo di Aragona (second son of Ferrante I and Isabella of Taranto), who also was the heir-general of Federigo's first wife Anne of Savoy, the de jure heiress of the claim of the Kings Of Cyprus to the Throne of Jerusalem. At that point in 1672, the succession of Brienne and of Cyprus to the crown of Jerusalem united.

The succession went through generations of the La Tremoille family. They became extinct in 1930s in the male line, and the eldest sister of the last Duke of La Tremoille - married to the Prince de Ligne - succeeded. Her children began to use the additional name La Tremoille. As of 2011 the current claimant is Prince Charles-Antoine Lamoral of Ligne-La Trémoïlle.