Eustace the Monk
Eustache le Moine, actually Eustache Buske, also Eustache de Boulogne, le Moine Witasse and The Black Monk (* 1170 in Courset at Boulogne -sur -Mer ( Pas -de- Calais ), † August 24, 1217, in Sandwich Kent ) was a French pirate and mercenary north.
Life
Much of what is known of the life of Eustache, comes from the old French adventure novel Witasse le Moine (13th century), representing the adventures of the black monk in verse. There are also a number of existing secured as cornerstones of his life in contemporary sources.
Eustache was born near Boulogne -sur -Mer in a noble family. According to the novel, he went at a young age to Toledo, where he studied the black arts. After his return, he joined Samer ( at Calais ) the Benedictine monastery of St. Wulmer. When his father Baudoin Buske was killed in a feud, Eustache left the monastery to seek legal and collect his inheritance. He was seneschal at Rainald I of Dammartin, Count of Boulogne. He fell out with this and it was discontinued because of reckless action from his post and stripped of his possessions. Eustache vowed to avenge the injustice suffered. As an outlaw he hid in the forests of Boulogne and led a bandit lives in the fight against the Count.
To escape persecution, to Eustache went to England, where he offered his services to King John Lackland. Together with his brothers led Eustache from the Channel Island of Sark by pirates from actions. As a mercenary, he offered the services initially to John Lackland ( 1205 ), however, changed hands several times the page. Eustache was a feared Pirate ( pirata fortissimus ). Thanks to its daring maneuvers and the introduction of increased combat platforms he was often superior to the other ships, so he controlled the English Channel with his ships.
In 1216 he supported the Crown Prince Louis VIII, son of Philip II, in his attempt to invade England. With the help of Eustache succeeded Louis VIII, unhindered march into London and to conquer the Cinque Ports. After John died without land in 1216 in his hiding place, the rebellious barons of France turned away and recognized the succession of Henry III .. To Ludwig in London to come to the aid was from Calais, a French fleet, escorted by the ships Eustach, sent.
Even before the French fleet had reached the mouth of the Thames, the British came under William Marshal, to Sandwich. Hurriedly a Abfangflotte under Hubert de Burgh was compiled. Fully exploiting the wind drove around the English ships, the French fleet and attacked them in their backs. Before sandwich it came to the clash between British and French ships ( naval battle Sandwich, August 24, 1217 ). The French suffered a bitter defeat. Eustache himself was captured and said to have been still, beheaded on the ship, despite the offer of a high ransom. His head was impaled on a lance according to contemporary chroniclers and made deterrence in various places in England to show.
Roman ( modern editions)
- Roman d' Eustache le moine, pirate fameux you XIIIe siècle, publié pour la première fois d'après un manuscrit de la Bibliothèque royale par Francisque Michel. Paris 1834.
- Wistasse le Moine, Old French adventure novel of the XIII. Century after the single Paris manuscript, edited by Wendelin Foerster and Johann Trost. Hall 1891 ( reprint 1976)
- Li romans de le Moine Witasse, roman du siècle Treizième, d'après le manuscrit, fund français in 1553, de la Bibliothèque nationale, Paris, edited by Denis Joseph Conlon. Chapel Hill in 1972.
- Eustache le Moine: pirate boulonnais you XIIIe siècle, edited and translated by Édouard Mousseigne, Lille 1996.
- Le roman d' Eustache le Moine, nouvelle édition, edited and translated by AJ Holden and J. Monfrin, Louvain 2005.
- Two Medieval Outlaws: Eustache the Monk and Fouke Fitz Waryn, edited and translated by Glyn S. Burgess, Cambridge 1997 ISBN 0-85991-438-0.
- Robin Hood and other outlaw tales, edited by Stephen Knight and Thomas Ohlgren, Kalamazoo 2000, ISBN 9781580440677