Eustachius III ( Estash III ; French Eustache III ; c. 1060 - 1125 ) - Count of Boulogne (since 1088 ), participant in the First Crusade and older brother of the first two kings of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Gottfried of Boulogne and Baldwin I.
| Eustachius III | |||||||
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| Eustache III | |||||||
 Eustache (with white hair) and his brothers Gottfried and Baldwin at a reception at the Byzantine emperor Alexei I Komnin | |||||||
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| Predecessor | Estash II | ||||||
| Successor | Matilda of Boulogne | ||||||
| Birth | OK. 1060 | ||||||
| Death | 1125 Rumiyi | ||||||
| Kind | Boulogne House | ||||||
| Father | Estash II | ||||||
| Mother | Ida Lorraine | ||||||
| Spouse | Mary of Scotland | ||||||
| Children | Matilda of Boulogne | ||||||
Biography
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Eustachius III was the eldest son of Count Boulogne Eustachius II and Ida Verdun, daughter of the Duke of Lower Lorraine Gottfried II . After the death of his father in 1088 [1], Eustachius inherited the Boulogne County and vast lands in England , especially in Essex , as well as in eleven other English counties , which put 120 armed knights into the royal army [2] .
In 1096, Eustachius III went on a crusade to Palestine . However, unlike his younger brothers Gottfried of Bouillon and Baldwin I , Eustachius did not gain military glory and soon returned to his homeland, while Gottfried founded the Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Holy Land.
When the younger brother Eustachius III Baldwin I died in 1118, the throne of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was to be transferred to him. Initially, the count did not show interest in the prospect of accession in faraway Palestine, but then he managed to convince him and he went to the Holy Land. However, in Puglia, Eustachius learned that Baldwin II de Burke was elected king of Jerusalem. Having no solid support among the crusaders, Eustachius did not dare to start the struggle for the throne and returned to Boulogne.
As Count of Boulogne, Eustachius III continued the policy of his father and was in close alliance with the kings of England. Around 1101, he married Mary of Scotland , the daughter of the Scottish king Malcolm III and the sister of the wife of King Henry I of Bocklerc . The daughter of Eustachius and Mary Matilda of Boulogne in the 1110s was engaged to the nephew of Henry I, Stephen Bloisch .
In 1125, Eustachius III retired to a monastery in Rumiyi , where he soon died. As Countess of Boulogne, he was succeeded by his only daughter Matilda.
Marriage and children
Eustachius III was married (1101/1102) to Mary of Scotland (d. 1116), daughter of the King of Scotland, Malcolm III and St. Margaret . Their only child:
- Matilda of Boulogne (1116–1151), Countess of Boulogne (from 1125), married to the king of England, Stephen Blois .
Notes
- ↑ According to other sources, in 1093 .
- ↑ According to the Doomsday Book .