page_title: Walter VI, Count of Brienne
section_title: Ruler of Florence
hierarchical_section_title: Walter VI, Count of Brienne / Life / Ruler of Florence
context_page_description: Walter VI was Count of Brienne, Conversano, and Lecce, and titular Duke of Athens as Walter II.
context_section_description: He also occupied himself with his lands in France, and was the King's Lieutenant in Thiérache in 1339. His wife died in 1340, and he returned to Italy in 1342 when the Florentine ruling class of wealthy merchants called upon him to rule the city. Since 1339, Florence had been in the grip of a severe economic crisis brought about by immense English debts to Florentine banking houses, and by astronomical public debts incurred in trying to obtain the nearby city of Lucca from its Veronese lord, Mastino della Scala. The Florentine nobility looked to foreign powers to solve the city's seemingly impossible financial problems, and found an ally in Walter of Brienne. Although the ruling class invited Walter to rule for a limited time, the lower classes, who were fed up with the ineptitude of Walter's predecessors, unexpectedly proclaimed him signore for life.
  Walter VI ruled despotically, ignoring or directly opposing the interests of the very same merchant class that had brought him to power. The "Duke of Athens" imposed harsh economic correctives on the Florentines, including the flat tax estimo, and prestanze, postponements of the city's repayment of loans forced from the wealthier citizens. These measures both angered the Florentines, and helped alleviate the fiscal crisis that had been stewing for years. After only ten months, Walter of Brienne's signoria was cut short by conspiracy. Walter VI was not only forced to resign from office, but barely escaped Florence with his life.
caption: The Expulsion of the Duke of Athens, fresco preserved in the Palazzo Vecchio of Florence
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