Eustace Folville
Encyclopedia
Eustace Folville was the leader of a robber band active in Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
and Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
in the first half of the 14th century. With four of his younger brothers, he was responsible for two of the most notorious crimes of early 14th century England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
: no mean achievement, considering the same period saw Richard of Pudlicott
Richard of Pudlicott
Richard of Pudlicott , also known as Richard de Podelicote , was an English wool merchant who, down on his luck, became an infamous burglar of King Edward I's Wardrobe treasury at Westminster Abbey in 1303...
ransack the royal treasury, and Adam the Leper
Adam the Leper
Adam the Leper was the leader of a fourteenth-century robber band, operating in the south west of England in the 1330s and 1340s. Like the north Midlands bandits Eustace Folville and James Cotterel, he and his gang specialised in theft and kidnap. Unlike these contemporaries, he seems to have...
seize the port of Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
.
The Folville family
Eustace's family had its seat at Ashby FolvilleAshby Folville
Ashby Folville is a village in the Melton district of Leicestershire, south west of Melton Mowbray. The civil parish of Ashby Folville was abolished in 1936 and its were merged with Gaddesby.The village was recorded in the Domesday Book....
, Leicestershire. They were landholders of some prominence. The family name, ultimately derived from Folleville
Folleville, Somme
Folleville is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Folleville is situated on the D109 road, about south of Amiens.-Population:-Places of interest:* Chateau de Folleville...
in the French region of Picardy
Picardy
This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...
, is attached to several other sites in Leicestershire, such as the deserted village of Newbolt Folville. They seem to have gained most their estate at the beginning of the 12th century. Several of their possessions, such as Ashby and the manor at Teigh
Teigh
Teigh is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It is notable for its parish church, almost unaltered since a 1782 rebuild, that features pews that face one another rather than the altar....
, were in the hands of other parties at the time of the Domesday
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
survey, but had passed to the Folvilles by the reign of Stephen
Stephen of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
(1135-1154). The family were certainly well-established in Leicestershire by the mid 13th century. In 1240 a member of the family donated a large sum to the church at Cranoe
Cranoe
Cranoe is a small village and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The parish had a population of 35 in 2001.-The Village:...
.
The father of Eustace was most likely Sir John Folville, by all accounts a respectable member of the gentry. Under Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
, John represented Leicestershire at six Parliaments
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
, and in 1301 he was summoned 'to attend the royal standard, with horse and arms well fitted, at Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed or simply Berwick is a town in the county of Northumberland and is the northernmost town in England, on the east coast at the mouth of the River Tweed. It is situated 2.5 miles south of the Scottish border....
, on the nativity of John the Baptist
John the Baptist
John the Baptist was an itinerant preacher and a major religious figure mentioned in the Canonical gospels. He is described in the Gospel of Luke as a relative of Jesus, who led a movement of baptism at the Jordan River...
, in the prosecution of the Scottish wars
Wars of Scottish Independence
The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the independent Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and early 14th centuries....
'. He may also have held the office, ironically enough, of Deliverer of Warwick
Warwick
Warwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...
Gaol in 1277 and 1287. With his wife Alice he produced seven sons. The oldest, also named John, inherited his father's estates in 1310, and passed them in turn to his second son, Jeffrey. John is the only one of the seven Folville brothers who was not implicated in large-scale theft
Theft
In common usage, theft is the illegal taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent. The word is also used as an informal shorthand term for some crimes against property, such as burglary, embezzlement, larceny, looting, robbery, shoplifting and fraud...
, kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
, extortion
Extortion
Extortion is a criminal offence which occurs when a person unlawfully obtains either money, property or services from a person, entity, or institution, through coercion. Refraining from doing harm is sometimes euphemistically called protection. Extortion is commonly practiced by organized crime...
and murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
.
The Folville Gang
Eustace, named for his grandfather, was the second oldest of the Folville brothers. His criminal career apparently began in 1326 when, on 19 January, he led an ambush against Sir Roger Bellere, in which the victim was cruelly murdered. Bellere was attacked in a 'small valley' near RearsbyRearsby
Rearsby is a village and civil parish in the Charnwood district of Leicestershire, England. The parish has a population of about 1,000. It is on the A607 road between Leicester and Melton Mowbray, and is just south of the River Wreake. Nearby places are East Goscote, Thrussington and Rotherby...
, Leicestershire, apparently with a retinue of fifty men. With Eustace were his brothers Roger and Walter, and fellow local landowners Roger la Zouche and Robert Halewell. While la Zouche may have inflicted the death-blow, the blame was squarely laid with Eustace: the chronicler Henry Knighton
Henry Knighton
Henry Knighton was an Augustinian canon at the abbey of St. Mary of the Meadows, Leicester, England. He was a canon at the Abbey since at least 1363, when he was recorded as being present during a visit from the King.-The chronicle:He wrote a four-volume chronicle, first published in 1652,...
, a native of Leicestershire himself, refers to him as Eustachius de Fuluyle qui Robertum Bellere interfecerat ('Eustace de Folville who assassinated Roger Bellere'). Even by contemporary standards the crime was one of extreme audacity, made all the more shocking by the standing of the victim. Bellere was not only a local nobleman
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
of some repute, the possessor of some nine manors and the founder of the chantry
Chantry
Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...
chapel at Kirby Bellars
Kirby Bellars
Kirby Bellars is a village and civil parish near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England.-History:The village is recorded in the Domesday Book under the name of Chirchebi....
(later to become Kirby Bellars Priory
Kirby Bellars Priory
- Origins :In 1316 Roger Beler granted lands to support a pair of chaplains to say daily masses in the chapel of St. Peter at Kirby Bellars for the souls of himself, his wife Alice, his parents William and Amicia, and others...
), he was also a baron of the exchequer
Exchequer
The Exchequer is a government department of the United Kingdom responsible for the management and collection of taxation and other government revenues. The historical Exchequer developed judicial roles...
, and at one stage its chief treasurer. The so-called Folville Cross, a 1 m (3.3 ft) high fragment of an ancient crucifix
Crucifix
A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....
, is supposed to mark the site of the murder.
The Folvilles were immediately summoned to stand trial for Bellere's death. However, like many other medieval felons, they could not be traced by the authorities: they may have fled to Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
or France. They were declared outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
s in their absence. This new status seems to have suited them, as within a few years petitions were issued to the Sheriff of Nottingham
Sheriff of Nottingham
The Sheriff of Nottingham was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Nottingham and bringing criminals to justice. For years the post has been directly appointed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and in modern times, with the existence of the police force, the position is...
, 'complaining that two of the Folville brothers were roaming abroad again at the head of a band, waylaying persons whom they spoiled and held to ransom'. In the period of 1327-1330, Eustace was either directly accused of, or mentioned in connection with, three robberies, four murders, and a rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
. This last charge, it should be noted, may not necessarily imply sexual violation. The medieval term raptus
Raptus
Raptus is the Latin for "seized", from rapere "to seize". In Roman law the term covered many crimes of property, and women were considered property.It may refer to:*any literal seizure**confiscation**robbery**kidnapping**raptio, i.e...
is notoriously slippery, and contained a range of meanings, from bodily violence to abduction. The Folvilles also seem to have allied themselves with the infamous Cotterel gang. The Cotterels certainly gave the Folvilles shelter in their territory, the Peak District
Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, lying mainly in northern Derbyshire, but also covering parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, and South and West Yorkshire....
, Derbyshire. They were at one stage pursued here by officers of the crown, but managed to evade capture after a local informer warned them of the danger.
Various indictments from the period portray Eustace and his brothers as freelance mercenaries, hired 'by the ostensibly law-abiding...to commit acts of violence on their behalf'. Members of Sempringham Priory
Sempringham
Sempringham is a hamlet in Lincolnshire, England that is located north of Bourne, on the Lincolnshire fen edge. Sempringham is now a very small hamlet consisting of a church, a house and a well, giving little clue to the history embodied within its parish boundary. Most of its houses are a...
and Haverholm Abbey
Haverholme Priory
Haverholme Priory was a monastery situated north-east of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, near Anwick.-Foundation:Gilbert of Sempringham founded the only English order of the Cistercian monks, who were given Haverholme Priory, by Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln, located between the villages of Anwick and...
, both in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, seem to have made use of their services, and at one stage they were under the patronage of Sir Robert Tuchet, a major lord of Derbyshire and Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. In 1332 the Folvilles launched what may be seen as a sequel to the murder of Roger Bellere, and attacked another agent of the crown, the justice Sir Richard Willoughby
Richard de Willoughby
Sir Richard de Willoughby was an English lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench for three periods between 1332 and 1340. His father, another Richard, served as chief justice of the bench in Ireland from 1323 until his death in 1325...
. This time the victim was ransomed for the sum of 1300 marks
Mark (money)
Mark was a measure of weight mainly for gold and silver, commonly used throughout western Europe and often equivalent to 8 ounces. Considerable variations, however, occurred throughout the Middle Ages Mark (from a merging of three Teutonic/Germanic languages words, Latinized in 9th century...
, close to £900. Willoughby was easily able to raise this substantial amount, and was freed within twenty-four hours.
Rehabilitation
A year after the kidnap of Willoughby, Eustace was serving in the armies of Edward IIIEdward III of England
Edward III was King of England from 1327 until his death and is noted for his military success. Restoring royal authority after the disastrous reign of his father, Edward II, Edward III went on to transform the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe...
against the Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
. He may well have fought at the Halidon Hill
Battle of Halidon Hill
The Battle of Halidon Hill was fought during the Second War of Scottish Independence. Scottish forces under Sir Archibald Douglas were heavily defeated on unfavourable terrain while trying to relieve Berwick-upon-Tweed.-The Disinherited:...
. Perhaps most surprisingly, in recognition of this military service, Eustace received a full pardon for his crimes. He was in combat again in 1337 and 1338, at Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
respectively. He finally died in 1346, a member of the council of the abbot of Crowland
Abbot of Crowland
The Abbot of Crowland was the head of Crowland Abbey, an English monastery built up around the shrine of Saint Guthlac by King Æthelbald of Mercia, and refounded as a Benedictine house circa 948. The last abbot was John Wells , who handed the monastery over to royal control and dissolution in...
, having stood trial for none of the charges lodged against him. He is buried at St Mary's church, Ashby Folville. His monument has been badly damaged: a Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
description states that 'the fragments of his helmet form the only part of his funeral achievement now remaining'.
Assessment
Richard Folville
Richard Folville was a member of the infamous robber band captained by his older brother Eustace.-Biography:Richard was the fourth of seven sons born to Sir John Folville of Ashby Folville, Leicestershire. In 1321 he was created rector to the small country parish of Teigh, about 12 km east of...
. But two factors may explain Folville's apparent good fortune. Firstly, the political turbulence of the 1320s worked in his favour, particularly in the case of his worst crime, the murder of Bellere. While this was undeniably an outrage, and at least partly an affront to royal authority, Bellere had been closely connected to the Despensers
Hugh le Despenser
Le Despenser is a surname, most commonly associated with Norman-English barons of the 13th- and 14th- centuries and their descendants.* Sir Hugh le Despenser I , High Sheriff of Berkshire* Sir Hugh le Despenser II...
: he was appointed attorney to Hugh Despenser the Younger in 1322, and used the revenues of confiscated lands to curry favour with the family. Owing to the Despensers' proximity to Edward II
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
, after the downfall of that King, official opinion had little sympathy for an ally of the family. In fact Eustace was pardoned for the murder as early as 1327, the same year that Edward was deposed, and again in 1329. Neither pardon seems to have tempted him back to a more honest life, but they did bring an end to the first wave of prosecution against him.
Secondly, and most importantly, there does seem to be a widespread perception that Eustace and others like him were basically honest and forthright, at least more so than the authorities that pursued them. This would mean that the justices and their clerks, reliant as they were on testimonies from local people, would find their job extremely difficult in the Folville's home territory. As E.L.G. Stones notes, complaints along these lines are frequently made by the trailbaston
Trailbaston
Trailbaston was a special type of itinerant judicial commission first created during the reign of Edward I of England and used many times thereafter during the reigns of Edward II and Edward III, primarily to punish felonies and trespass at the king's suit.The first trailbaston commissions date...
and other commissions: 'in all these things they are aided and abetted by local people, who incite them to their evil deeds and shield them after they are done'. While these laments might seem to excuse the commissions' own failures, there is undoubtedly some truth to them. After all, a tip-off from a local source allowed the Folvilles and Cotterels to elude capture in the Peak District.
This popular support seems to be rooted in a sense that the Folvilles were allies of the common people, combating the crooked establishment which oppressed them. There is at least some justification for this view. Eustace's two principal victims were certainly highly corrupt individuals. Bellere used his office to seize land and syphon money to his patrons, and his murder should be regarded less as a crime by the Folvilles alone, and more a conspiracy by several Leicestershire landowners. Eustace's accomplices were members of the Halewell and Zouche families, which suggests a breadth of ill-feeling against Sir Roger, going well beyond any one group. Willoughby was no more popular. In 1340 he was targeted by a second gang, who trapped him in Thurcaston
Thurcaston
Thurcaston is a village in Leicestershire, England, in the parish of Thurcaston and Cropston. It is best known as the home to Bishop Hugh Latimer....
castle. He was later imprisoned by Edward III on charges of corruption, indicted by several juries across the country, and forced to pay 1200 marks for the king's pardon. Eustace was respected as an opponent of such figures, even if this opposition was not his primary motive.
Later reputation
For the generations after Eustace's death, the positive view of the Folville gang only increased. In later sources they are not merely regarded as law-breakers, but agents of an unofficial law, outside human legislation and less susceptible to abuse. In the B-text of Piers PlowmanPiers Plowman
Piers Plowman or Visio Willelmi de Petro Plowman is the title of a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in unrhymed alliterative verse divided into sections called "passus"...
(c.1377-9), William Langland
William Langland
William Langland is the conjectured author of the 14th-century English dream-vision Piers Plowman.- Life :The attribution of Piers to Langland rests principally on the evidence of a manuscript held at Trinity College, Dublin...
, a Midlander himself, sees them as instruments of the divine order. While he is scathing about popular veneration of 'Robyn Hood
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
and Ralph Erl of Chestre', he speaks approvingly of 'Folvyles lawes'. The crimes of the family are presented as correctives to the 'false' legal establishment. The 'Folvyles' are listed among the 'tresors' that Grace has given to reassert God's pattern against the 'Antecrist'. Langland states: "Forthi," quod Grace, "er I go, I wol gyve yow tresor/ And wepne to fighte with whan Antecrist yow assailleth...some to ryde and to recovere that unrightfully was wonne ('"Therefore," said Grace, "before I go, I will give you treasure and weaponry to fight with when Antichrist attacks you...some men to ride and to recover that which was unjustly taken'). Henry Knighton is no less sympathetic. He portrays Bellere and Willoughby as entirely legitimate targets: Willoughby's ransom is reduced to a less avaricious 90 marks, while Bellere becomes the aggressor of his killers, not only 'heaping threats and injustices' on to his neighbours but coveting their 'possessions'. Most interestingly, the kidnap of Willoughby is portrayed as a direct conflict between the two codes represented by the outlaws and the justice: Sir Richard is abducted as punishment for trespassing on the territory of a rival order, specifically 'because of the trailbaston commissions of 1331'.
For his contemporaries and near-contemporaries, Eustace Folville was clearly more than an acquisitive thug. He was something closer to an enforcer of 'God's law and the common custom, which was different from the state's or the lord's law, but nevertheless a social order'. Whether he in fact merited such a reputation is a matter of debate.