Eustace IV (c. 1129/1131 17 August 1153) ruled the
County of Boulogne
The County of Boulogne was a county within the Kingdom of France during the 9th to 15th centuries, centred on the city of Boulogne-sur-Mer. It was ruled by the counts of Flanders in the 10th century, but a separate House of Boulogne emerged durin ...
from 1146 until his death. He was the eldest son of King
Stephen of England
Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne '' jure uxoris'' from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 u ...
and Countess
Matilda I of Boulogne
Matilda (c.1105 – 3 May 1152) was Countess of Boulogne in her own right from 1125 and Queen of England from the accession of her husband, Stephen, in 1136 until her death in 1152. She supported Stephen in his struggle for the English throne ...
.
[Edmund King, ''Eustace, count of Boulogne'', Oxford Online Dictionary of National Biography, 2004]
/ref> When his father seized the English throne on Henry I's death in 1135, he became heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
to the English throne but predeceased his father.
Early life
Eustace was first mentioned in one of his parents' charters dated no later than August 1131.[ Stephen ascended the English throne upon the death of his uncle King ]Henry I Henry I may refer to:
876–1366
* Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936)
* Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955)
* Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018)
* Henry I of France (1008–1060)
* Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...
, but Henry's daughter Empress Matilda
Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...
claimed the throne as well, leading to the long civil war known as the Anarchy
The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adelin, the only legiti ...
. As heir apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
to the English throne in 1137, Eustace did homage for Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
to King Louis VII of France
Louis VII (1120 – 18 September 1180), called the Younger, or the Young (french: link=no, le Jeune), was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet "the Young") and married Duchess ...
, whose sister, Constance
Constance may refer to:
Places
*Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English
*Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada
* Constance, Kentucky
* Constance, Minnesota
* Constance (Portugal)
* Mount Constance, Washington State
People
* Consta ...
, he subsequently married in 1140. Eustace was knighted in 1147, at which date he was probably from sixteen to eighteen years of age.
The Anarchy
In 1151 Eustace joined his brother-in-law Louis VII in a raid upon Normandy, also contested between Empress Matilda and King Stephen. This was short-lived, however, when Louis accepted the homage of Henry Plantagenet, son of Empress Matilda, for Normandy. The following year, Eustace was in France as part of a wider coalition of Henry's enemies, but Henry's control of the duchy remained unshaken.
In the later stages of the Anarchy, Stephen was concerned with cementing Eustace as his heir without question. At a council held in London on 6 April 1152, Stephen induced a small number of baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
s to pay homage to Eustace as their future king; but the archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, Theobald of Bec
Theobald of Bec ( c. 1090 – 18 April 1161) was a Norman archbishop of Canterbury from 1139 to 1161. His exact birth date is unknown. Some time in the late 11th or early 12th century Theobald became a monk at the Abbey of Bec, risin ...
, and the other bishops declined to perform the coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
ceremony on the grounds that the Roman curia had declined Stephen's request to use the French custom and crown Eustace in his own lifetime, opting rather they stick to English custom, thus denying Eustace his coronation. This infuriated Stephen and Eustace to such a degree that, as recorded by Henry of Huntingdon
Henry of Huntingdon ( la, Henricus Huntindoniensis; 1088 – AD 1157), the son of a canon in the diocese of Lincoln, was a 12th-century English historian and the author of ''Historia Anglorum'' (Medieval Latin for "History of the English"), ...
, they had the prelates confined and attempted by means of 'strong coercion' to force their acquiescence. Theobald himself was said to have escaped across the Thames and eventually into temporary exile in Flanders. While Edmund King casts doubts on this particular account he does not doubt the King's rage. This clearly had not been Stephen's first attempt at crowning Eustace as John of Salisbury
John of Salisbury (late 1110s – 25 October 1180), who described himself as Johannes Parvus ("John the Little"), was an English author, philosopher, educationalist, diplomat and bishop of Chartres.
Early life and education
Born at Salisbury, E ...
reports that Celestine II
Pope Celestine II ( la, Caelestinus II; died 8 March 1144), born Guido di Castello,Thomas, pg. 91 was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 26 September 1143 to his death in 1144.
Early life
Guido di Castello, possibly ...
had written to Archbishop Theobald as early as 1143 forbidding him 'to allow any change to be made in the English kingdom in the matter of the crown', a policy that was maintained by Celestine's immediate successors. Eustace's mother, Matilda of Boulogne
Matilda (c.1105 – 3 May 1152) was Countess of Boulogne in her own right from 1125 and Queen of England from the accession of her husband, Stephen, in 1136 until her death in 1152. She supported Stephen in his struggle for the English throne ...
, died on 3 May 1152, making him the count of Boulogne
Count of Boulogne was a historical title in the Kingdom of France. The city of Boulogne-sur-Mer became the centre of the county of Boulogne during the ninth century. Little is known of the early counts, but the first holder of the title is recor ...
.
After the second siege of Wallingford in July 1153, after Henry had invaded England and attracted widespread support, Stephen was persuaded to agree to terms. The agreement, known as the Treaty of Winchester
The Treaty of Wallingford, also known as the Treaty of Winchester or the Treaty of Westminster, was an agreement reached in England in the summer of 1153. It effectively ended a civil war known as ''the Anarchy'' (1135–54), caused by a dispute o ...
, established Henry as Stephen's heir. Eustace withdrew from the court as a result of this, "greatly vexed and angry, because the war, in his opinion, had not reached a proper conclusion".
Death and aftermath
Eustace died suddenly that same year, in mid-August 1153, struck down (so it was said) by the wrath of God while plundering church lands near Bury St Edmunds
Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...
. Others believed that Eustace died simply of a broken heart. The death of Eustace was hailed with general satisfaction as opening the possibility of a peaceful settlement between Stephen and his rival, the young Henry Plantagenet. According to William of Newburgh
William of Newburgh or Newbury ( la, Guilelmus Neubrigensis, ''Wilhelmus Neubrigensis'', or ''Willelmus de Novoburgo''. 1136 – 1198), also known as William Parvus, was a 12th-century English historian and Augustinian canon of Anglo-Saxon de ...
, Stephen was "grieved beyond measure by the death of the son whom he hoped would succeed him; he pursued warlike preparations less vigorously, and listened more patiently than usual to the voices of those urging peace."
The reputation Eustace left behind was mixed. On the one hand, the ''Peterborough Chronicle
The ''Peterborough Chronicle'' (also called the Laud manuscript and the E manuscript) is a version of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicles'' originally maintained by the monks of Peterborough Abbey in Cambridgeshire. It contains unique information abo ...
'', not content with voicing this sentiment, gives Eustace a bad character. "He was an evil man and did more harm than good wherever he went; he spoiled the lands and laid thereon heavy taxes." Eustace raided church lands near Peterborough, possibly inciting this hatred from the ''Chronicle''. He had used threats against the recalcitrant bishops, and in the war against the Angevin
Angevin or House of Anjou may refer to:
*County of Anjou or Duchy of Anjou, a historical county, and later Duchy, in France
**Angevin (language), the traditional langue d'oïl spoken in Anjou
**Counts and Dukes of Anjou
* House of Ingelger, a Frank ...
party had demanded contributions from religious houses. However, the ''Gesta Stephani
__NOTOC__
''Deeds of King Stephen'' or ''Acts of Stephen'' or ''Gesta Regis Stephani'' is a mid-12th-century English history by an anonymous author about King Stephen of England and his struggles with his cousin, Empress Matilda, also known as the ...
'' describes his courtly manner as a true heir to Stephen able to "meet men on a footing of equality or superiority as the occasion acquired".
Eustace was buried in Faversham Abbey
Faversham Abbey was a Cluniac style monastery immediately to the north-east of the town of Faversham, in north Kent, England.
History
It was founded by King Stephen and his wife Matilda of Boulogne in 1148. A party of monks from Bermondsey ...
in Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, which was founded by his parents. They too were buried in Faversham Abbey; all three tombs are now lost, as a consequence of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
References
External links
Eustace, Son of King Stephen: The Model Prince in Twelfth-Century England
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eustace Iv Of Boulogne
1130s births
1153 deaths
12th-century English monarchs
Heirs to the English throne
Heirs apparent who never acceded
Counts of Boulogne
Counts of Mortain
House of Blois
People of The Anarchy
Children of Stephen, King of England
Burials at Faversham Abbey
Anglo-Normans
Sons of kings