Eustace the Monk
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Eustace the Monk (c. 1170 – August 24, 1217) was a mercenary and pirate, in the tradition of medieval outlaws. Eustace was reputed to be a magician and one of the most feared men of his time.
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[edit] Life
[edit] Beginnings
Eustace was born a younger son of a noble family in Boulogne. He spent part of his youth in a Benedictine monastery, earning him his moniker. According to legend, he served Renaud, Count of Boulogne, as a seneschal and bailiff some time between 1202 and 1204, but was accused of mishandling his stewardship. Eustace fled and was declared an outlaw. When the count confiscated his lands and fields, he burned two mills in retaliation. He became a mercenary pirate in the English Channel and the Straits of Dover.
[edit] Serving England
Eustace sold the services of his fleet to the highest bidder. From 1205 to 1212, he served King John of England in his war against Philip II of France, raiding the Normandy coast and establishing bases in the Channel Islands. He and his men held Castle Cornet in Guernsey for a considerable period. When he raided English coastal villages, King John briefly outlawed him, but soon afterwards issued a pardon because he needed his services.
[edit] Serving France
However, Eustace switched sides in 1212 and raided Folkestone when English troops seized his Channel Island bases. When civil war broke out in England in 1215, he supported the rebel barons and the French invasion which they invited.
In early 1217, Eustace the Monk and his fleet were transporting French troops to England to support Prince Louis of France, who was intervening on behalf of the barons in the First Barons' War. They met an English fleet under Hubert de Burgh sailing out of Dover. In the ensuing Battle of Dover, Eustace wrought havoc among his former allies, until the English blinded the French with powdered lime. English troops boarded his ships and defeated his men in melee. Eustace managed to escape, but was captured on August 24, 1217 in the Battle of Sandwich by the English under Philip d'Aubigny. He was beheaded on the spot.
[edit] See also
[edit] External link
[edit] References
- Glyn Burgess, Two Medieval Outlaws: Eustace the Monk and Fouke Fitz Waryn, 1997. (Translation of the 13th century north French vernacular romance Li Romans de Witasse le Moine into modern English)
- Matthew Paris (a contemporary of Eustace's) gives more detail of Eustace's career, in his Chronica Maiora (The Main Chronicle)
