Eustace III, Count of Boulogne

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Eustace III
Bornc. 1050
Diedc. 1125 (aged about 75)
France
Eustace II of Boulogne
MotherIda of Lorraine

Eustace III (c. 1050 – c. 1125) was the

Cluniac
monastery in Rumilly, retired as a monk, and died in 1125.

Early life and family

Eustace was the son of Count

Rochester castle by William II.[3] With provisions running out and the situation becoming dire within the castle, the rebels asked for terms.[4] William II pardoned most of the rebels allowing those such as Eustace to return to Normandy.[5] In 1091, Eustace was with Robert Curthose when the latter agreed to terms with William II, recognizing him as king of England.[6]

Eustace married

Matilda.[8]

Crusade

Eustace (shown with white hair) with his brothers Godfrey and Baldwin meeting with Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, as imagined in the 19th century

Eustace participated in the

Bohemund of Taranto's beleaguered troops at the Battle of Dorylaeum (1 July 1097), defeated an enemy ambush during the Siege of Antioch, and was one of the commanders during the capture of Antioch on 3 June 1098.[9]

Eustace, as a member of the council held at Ruj on 4 January 1099, mediated the conflict over the control of Antioch between Bohemund of Taranto and

Maarrat al-Nu'man and an attack on Nablus in July 1099.[11] He gained notoriety for his actions during the Siege of Jerusalem fighting relentlessly from a siege tower along with his brother Godfrey and the crusaders they commanded. They were among the first to breach Jerusalem's city walls and participated in the ensuing massacre. Eustace commanded a division of the crusader army during the Battle of Ascalon,[12] and was a patron of the Knights Templar.[13]

Return home

While his brothers stayed in the Holy Land, Eustace returned to administer his domains. To commemorate Eustace's crusading adventures, the mint at Boulogne struck silver coins with a lion above the walls of Jerusalem stamped on the obverse.[9]

When his youngest brother Baldwin I of Jerusalem died in 1118, the elderly Eustace was offered the throne. Eustace was at first uninterested, but was convinced to accept it. He traveled all the way to Apulia before learning that a distant relative, Baldwin of Bourcq, had been crowned in the meantime.[14]

Eustace returned to Boulogne, founded the

Cluniac house of Rumilly,[13] and retired there as a Cluniac monk.[15]
He died about 1125.

On his death the county of Boulogne was inherited by his daughter, Matilda.[7]

References

  1. ^ Murray 2000, p. 6.
  2. ^ Barlow 1983, p. 77.
  3. ^ Aird 2011, p. 113.
  4. ^ Aird 2011, p. 13.
  5. ^ Barlow 1983, p. 90.
  6. ^ Barlow 1983, p. 281.
  7. ^ a b c Huneycutt 2019, p. 34.
  8. ^ Huneycutt 2019, p. 28.
  9. ^ a b c d Tanner 2003, p. 85.
  10. ^ Tyerman 2012, p. 260.
  11. ^ Barber 2012, p. 45.
  12. ^ Tanner 2003, p. 86.
  13. ^ a b Tanner 2003, p. 87.
  14. ^ Mayer 1985, p. 139.
  15. ^ Cowdrey 1978, p. 238.

Sources

  • Aird, William M. (2011). Robert 'Curthose', Duke of Normandy (C. 1050–1134). Boydell Press.
  • Barber, Malcolm (2012). The Crusader States. Yale University Press.
  • Barlow, Frank (1983). William Rufus. University of California Press.
  • Cowdrey, Herbert Edward John (1978). Two Studies in Cluniac History, 1049–1126. LAS.
  • Huneycutt, Lois (2019). "Becoming Anglo-Norman: The Women of the House of Wessex in the century after the Norman Conquest". In Paranque, Estelle; Schutte, Valerie (eds.). Forgotten Queens in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: Political Agency, Myth-Making, and Patronage. Routledge.
  • Mayer, Hans Eberhard (1985). "The Succession to Baldwin II of Jerusalem: English Impact on the East". Dumbarton Oaks Papers. 38: 139–147.
    JSTOR 1291522
    .
  • Murray, Alan V. (2000). The Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: A Dynastic History 1099–1125. Prosopographica et Genealogica.
  • Tanner, Heather J. (2003). "In his brother's shadow: the crusading career and reputation of Eustace III of Boulogne". In Semaan, Khalil I. (ed.). The Crusades: other experiences, alternate perspectives. Selected proceedings from the 32nd annual Cemers conference. Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
  • Tyerman, Christopher, ed. (2012). Chronicles of the First Crusade. Penguin.
Eustace III, Count of Boulogne
House of Boulogne
Born: before 1060 Died: c. 1125
Preceded by
Eustace II
 Count of Boulogne
1087–1125 		Succeeded by
Matilda I
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