Eustachius IV

Eustachius IV was the son of Stephen of Blois , Count de Morten and, from 1135, the King of England , and Matilda , Countess of Boulogne . After the death of his older brother in 1135, Eustachius became the heir to the possessions of his father and mother. In the same year, with the election of Stephen to the English throne, Eustachius received the title of Count de Morten .

The accession of Stephen of Blois in England was contested by Empress Matilda , daughter of Henry I of Bocklerc . Matilda was married to Geoffrey Plantagenet , Earl of Anjou , with whom in 1136 she began a war against the supporters of Stephen Blois in Normandy .

The county of Morten was an outpost of King Stephen in southwestern Normandy and for several years restrained the onslaught of the Angevins. In the fight against them, Stephen enlisted the support of the French king Louis VII , and in 1137 the young Eustachius brought on behalf of his father homage to Louis VII for the duchy of Normandy . Three years later, in 1140 , Eustachy married the sister of the French king Constance . However, the support of France did not help to keep Normandy: in 1141, Geoffrey of Anjou passed to the systematic conquest of the duchy. Soon Morten, Avranches , Cherbourg and, at the beginning of 1144 , Rouen fell. For Stefan of Blois and Eustachius, Normandy was lost.

In 1147, Eustachius was knighted . By this time he was sixteen or seventeen years old. He began to take a more active part in the civil war in England as one of the leaders of King Stephen's party.

In 1151, Eustachius, together with the French king Louis VII, launched an invasion of Normandy, however, they were defeated by the troops of Henry Plantagenet , the son of Empress Matilda and Geoffrey of Anjou. As the eldest son of King Stephen, Eustachius was regarded as his potential heir to the English throne. At the meeting of the barons of England on April 6, 1152, the king achieved recognition of Eustachius as his heir and brought him the oath of allegiance. But a significant part of the aristocracy and the higher clergy opposed Stephen’s attempts to secure the English crown for his son. A sharp protest was expressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Theobald , who was supported by Pope Eugene III , who stated that Stefan illegally usurped the throne of England and forbade the crowning of Eustachius. Eustachius himself, according to the Chronicles of Peterborough , was distinguished by his cruel and arrogant character and did not win the sympathies of the English nobility:

It is known that Eustachius treated the churches and monasteries without reverence, demanding an increase in their financial contribution to the war with the Anjou. Along with this, however, contemporaries noted the courage of Eustachius and his military prowess, and William of Newburgh , although he belonged to the Angevin camp, called Eustachius “the most glorious young man ” ^[1] .

In 1153, the army of Henry Plantagenet landed in England, which besieged Malmesbury . The army of Stefan and Eustachius moved to help the city, however, rainy weather and the breakdown of discipline in the royal troops forced them to retreat. After the capture of Malmesbury, Henry undertook a victorious march through the western counties , capturing Gloucester , Coventry and Warwick , and then moved to Middle England, subduing Leicester , Tatbury and Bedford . Finally, the armies of Henry and Stephen met at Wallingford , which was besieged by the king and Eustachius. Under pressure from the barons, Stefan did not dare to give a general battle, but went to a truce, despite the objections of his son. In response, Eustachius left the royal court and took his detachment to East Anglia , where he began to plunder the lands of the Abbey of . However, on August 17, Eustachius unexpectedly died, probably from poisoning .

The death of Eustachius, the most irreconcilable leader of the royal party, has opened the door to compromise between the warring parties. According to William of Newburgh,

Broken down by the death of Eustachius, weary of the twenty years of the civil war and realizing the unattainability of a complete victory, King Stephen went to conclude the Wallingford Treaty with Henry and recognized the latter as heir to the English throne. The civil war in England was over. A year later, Stephen Bloisky died, and Henry II Plantagenet became king.

In 1140, Eustachius married Constance of France (d. 1176), daughter of Louis VI , king of France , and Adelaide of Savoy . They did not have children, after the death of Eustachius of Boulogne , Morten and his possessions in England passed to his younger brother Wilhelm de Blois .

There is evidence that Eustachius had several illegitimate children from unknown mothers. Among them stands Eustachius of Champagne , who later married Anselm de Campdaven , Count de Saint-Paul (d. 1165).

Eustachius under the name Eustace is withdrawn in the dileogy of Simone Vilar “Far Light” (“Lady Acolyte” and “Knight of the Light”) as an unprincipled person who goes ahead to his goal.

• The Complete Peerage
• Genealogy of the Counts of Boulogne