Walter III Brisebarre

Walter ended his career as the lord of Blanchegarde, a minor fief, but retained some influence at court until he died, probably in the early 1180s.

[3] A 1164 charter mentions Marie, lady of Beirut; the historian Hans E. Mayer concludes that she was most likely Walter's mother, although he also had a sister with the same name.

[7] Walter's rule began with the devastating 1157 earthquake; historian Mary E. Nickerson notes that "changes and catastrophes appear almost normal to him during the rest of his life".

In October, he and his brothers, Guy and Bernard, authorized Humphrey to grant a half of the lordship of Banias to the Knights Hospitaller.

[13] In 1164, while King Amalric was conducting one of his campaigns in Egypt, the Damascene ruler Nur ad-Din Zengi captured numerous noblemen at the Battle of Harim in 1164.

This forced them to accept the king's offer to pay the ransom in return for their exchange of Beirut for the much smaller fief of Blanchegarde.

[9][16] The historian Bernard Hamilton infers that King Amalric wished to prevent the union of two great lordships, Beirut and Transjordan, under Walter's rule.

Helena had died by 18 November 1167, making Walter's position less secure; he remained lord, but only as the bailli for his young daughter.

Chroniclers differ in their accounts: according to Ibn al-Athir, Saladin besieged Montreal in 1171 and Kerak in 1173; William of Tyre says that the 1173 invasion amounted to a raid.

[12] The principal beneficiary of Walter's misfortune was the royal seneschal, Miles of Plancy, who married Stephanie and became the new lord of Transjordan in early 1174.

[25] William narrates that Miles was warned that "certain men" plotted against his life, but refused to act cautiously, and was murdered in a street in Acre in October.

[27] The Lignages attribute to Walter and Agnes a son, Gilles, and four daughters: Raymonde (married to Bertrand Masoir of Margat), Margaret, Eschiva, and Orable.

Walter and Guy are last mentioned in extant documents in 1179 and 1182, respectively, and Hamilton presumes that neither lived to the end of Baldwin IV's reign.

[5] He accepts Nickerson's identification of Bernard of Blanchegarde, who appears in a 1186 charter, as the brother and successor of Walter,[5] but Hamilton says that there is not enough evidence to support it.