Page 40 - BBC History - September 2017

A notorious medieval bandit

ight hundred years ago, one a leper with a clapper (bell) to trick Count
of the most hated men in Renaud into giving him money as charity. He
England met a grisly end. also, we’re told, bound up one of his legs to
As the battle of Sandwich play the part of a one-legged beggar, again
– fought off the Kent coast deceiving the count into handing money over
on 24 August 1217 between – before promptly jumping onto one of the
Ethe English and French count’s horses and riding off “with his crutch
navies – reached its bloody conclusion, hanging down”.
Eustace the Monk was on the deck of his On another occasion, Eustace dresses up as
ship, vigorously swinging an oar around him a woman and approaches one of the count’s
as he tried to fend off his English enemies. young knights. “Let me get on this horse and
A contemporary writer describes how he I will give you a f***,” he says. The knight is
“knocked down a good number… some keen to pay for the indecent proposal, so
had their arms broken, others their head Eustace entices him further, declaring: “I will
smashed in… another had his collar bone teach you how to use your bum.” As the man
shattered”. But Eustace’s luck was about to lifts Eustace’s leg, Eustace “let out a fart”.
run out. Soon he was overwhelmed by his Needless to say, this story ends with Eustace
foes – and, after attempting to escape, he was This medieval painting shows the stealing the knight’s horse.
dragged on deck and decapitated. Benedictine abbot Blessed Balsamus But there’s a dark side to these humorous
of Cava (left). His piety was far removed
Eustace’s severed head was fixed on a spear tales. When Eustace captures five of the
from Eustace’s antics: encouraging
and paraded around the southern ports of fellow monks to swear and break wind count’s men-at-arms, he cuts off the feet of
England to reassure their residents that this four of them, telling the fifth to convey a
fearsome pirate was finally dead. The people message to the count. The knight does so and,
celebrated his bloody demise long and Eustace learned the as the chronicle wryly tells us, does “not forget
lustily. But why? How had a former his trotters”. Blacker still is the episode in
Benedictine monk become reviled for his arts of necromancy which Eustace seizes one of the count’s spies
lust for loot and violence? And what was a – a young boy – and forces him to hang
man who had once dedicated his life to the in a cave. It was himself without even the opportunity to
service of God doing throwing his weight make his confession.
behind a French invasion of England? as if the devil him-
Eustace was born around 1170, son of England’s cunning ally
Baudoin Busket, a lord of the county of self had become By now, Eustace’s cunning and cruelty had
Boulogne on the northern coast of France. earned him quite a reputation in the environs
Though Eustace started his early adult life as his mentor of Boulogne. Soon he would be making waves
a knight, the call of the sea proved strong, on the other side of English Channel too. For,
and he soon mastered the skills of seaman- by early 1206, he had started working for King
ship through extensive travels. According to John of England.
The Romance of Eustace the Monk – a poem (or, more probably, was ejected from) the Eustace picked an opportune moment to
penned by an anonymous author who Benedictines. But from that moment on, his ally himself with the English king, for John
enthusiastically embellished fact with fiction epithet was sealed: he would always be known was in the middle of a bitter struggle to wrest
– Eustace soon turned up at the Castilian as Eustace the Monk. the duchy of Normandy back from the
city of Toledo. This was a notorious centre of For all his capacity for mischief, Eustace French. By supporting John’s campaign,
black magic, where, we’re told, he learned the clearly had some talent, for next he landed a Eustace would propel himself from the
dark arts of necromancy in a cave. For the job as seneschal (administrative officer) to the forests of northern France onto the interna-
chroniclers, it was as if the devil himself had powerful Count of Boulogne, Renaud de tional arena.
become Eustace’s mentor. But then some- Dammartin. But it seems that Eustace was John no doubt recognised Eustace’s
thing entirely unexpected happened: Eustace soon up to his old tricks again as he was maritime ability and, seeing the potential for
became a monk. accused of financial impropriety. Fearing a pirate to inflict havoc on French shipping in
prison, Eustace fled and began a new career, the Channel, gave him command of, accord-
Farting, not fasting this time as a bandit. ing to one source, 30 galleys.
We can’t be sure why Eustace chose to join the Taking to the forests around Boulogne, It wasn’t long before Eustace was using
Benedictines at the monastery of St Samer Eustace sustained himself through brigand- these vessels to devastating effect. His force of
near Boulogne. But one thing’s for sure: if ever age and a thirst for revenge against the count. English, Flemish and French sailors seized
anyone was ill-suited to the reflective life of Here the legend really takes off. Eustace and Sark, one of the Channel Islands, and set up a
this holy order, it was Eustace. No sooner had his men engaged in a series of outrageous pirate base, from where they launched a series
he joined the monastery than we’re told that escapades – robbery, lightning raids, dramatic of raids against the French seaports.
he was performing “many devilish acts”. He escapes – as they pursued the former monk’s At first it seems that John and Eustace got
encouraged the brothers to eat when they vendetta against the count. on famously. Not only did the king grant
should have been fasting, curse “when they There is very much a Robin Hood element Eustace land in Norfolk (and possibly a
should have been reciting the office”, and he to the tales told of Eustace, not least in the palace in London), he also turned a blind eye
urged them to “fart in the cloister”. proliferation of disguises he employed. At one to the monk’s side-line in private profiteer- MARY EVANS
Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before he left point in the Romance, he takes on the garb of ing. Eustace’s pirates terrorised ships of all

40 BBC History Magazine