Geoffrey of Briel, in older literature
Geoffrey of Bruyères, was a
French knight and the third lord of the
Barony of Karytaina in the
Principality of Achaea, in
Frankish Greece. He led a colourful and turbulent life, narrated in detail in the
Chronicle of the Morea. Accounted the finest knight in the Principality, he fought in the wars against the
Byzantine Greeks, was captured in the
Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, and was sent back to Achaea bearing the Byzantine terms in 1261. Geoffrey was twice deprived of his barony, once for rebelling against his uncle, the Prince of Achaea
William II of Villehardouin, and then for abandoning the Principality without leave in order to spend time with a mistress, the wife of one of his feudatories, in Italy. He was pardoned both times, but henceforth held his title as a gift of the Prince. He died childless in 1275, and the Barony of Karytaina was split up.