Eustace de Vesci
Encyclopedia
Eustace de Vesci was an English lord of Alnwick Castle
Alnwick Castle
Alnwick Castle is a castle and stately home in the town of the same name in the English county of Northumberland. It is the residence of the Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest, and renovated and remodelled a number of times. It is a Grade I listed building.-History:Alnwick...

, and a Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...

 surety.

Early life

His parents were William de Vesci
William de Vesci
William FitzEustace de Vesci was an Anglo-Norman feudal lord and Sheriff.He was born in Knaresborough castle, Yorkshire to Eustace Fitz John de Burgo, Lord of Knaresborough and Beatrice de Vesci....

 and Burga de Stuteville, daughter of Robert III de Stuteville
Robert III de Stuteville
-Life:He was son of Robert II de Stuteville, one of the northern barons who commanded the English at the battle of the Standard in August 1138. His grandfather, Robert Grundebeof, had supported Robert of Normandy at the battle of Tinchebray in 1106, where he was taken captive and kept in prison for...

. He paid his relief on coming of age in 2 Richard I (1191–92). He was with the king Richard I of England
Richard I of England
Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period...

 in Palestine in 1195. On 13 August 1199 he appeared as one of the guarantors of the treaty between the new king John of England
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...

 and Renaud I, Count of Dammartin, and in the same year, probably later, he was sent to William the Lion of Scotland to promise him satisfaction of his rights in England, and witnessed his homage on 22 November 1200.

He witnessed charters frequently in the early years of John's reign, in 1209 was one of the guardians of the bishopric of Durham, and on 10 April of the same year he was sent to meet William The Lion
William I of Scotland
William the Lion , sometimes styled William I, also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough", reigned as King of the Scots from 1165 to 1214...

 on his visit to England. He was serving the king in Ireland from June to August 1210. Accused of conspiring against John in 1212, he fled to Scotland. A tale of John's attempted seduction of his wife, and the trick played on him, first appears in Walter of Hemingburgh
Walter of Hemingburgh
Walter of Guisborough was a canon regular of the Augustinian Gisborough Priory, Yorkshire and English chronicler of the fourteenth century.His chronicle, The Chronicle of Walter of Guisborough , embraces the period of English history from the Conquest to the nineteenth year of Edward III, with the...

 and bears a close resemblance to a classical model.

His lands were seized, but after John's submission to the pope he was forced to invite Vescy back (27 May 1213), though orders were sent on the same day to Philip de Ulecot to cripple him by destroying his castle of Alnwick. On 18 July 1213 he was one of the recipients of John's pledge to abide by the decision of the pope concerning the things about which he had been excommunicated. On 5 November 1214 Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....

 warned him not to trouble the king.

The Barons' Revolt

He was a leader in the First Barons' War
First Barons' War
The First Barons' War was a civil war in the Kingdom of England, between a group of rebellious barons—led by Robert Fitzwalter and supported by a French army under the future Louis VIII of France—and King John of England...

, in 1215 marching south against King John I with Robert Fitzwalter
Robert Fitzwalter
Lord Robert FitzwalterAlso spelled FitzWalter, fitzWalter, etc. was the leader of the baronial opposition against King John of England, and one of the twenty-five sureties of the Magna Carta...

 He was prominent among the barons who wrung the Magna Carta
Magna Carta
Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225...

from John, and was one of the twenty-five appointed to see it carried out. He was excommunicated by name with others of the barons in 1216. He supported in the confused situation ensuing Louis
Louis VIII of France
Louis VIII the Lion reigned as King of France from 1223 to 1226. He was a member of the House of Capet. Louis VIII was born in Paris, France, the son of Philip II Augustus and Isabelle of Hainaut. He was also Count of Artois, inheriting the county from his mother, from 1190–1226...

, the French dauphin, who was claiming the English throne. He was killed at a siege of Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle is an historical town in Teesdale, County Durham, England. It is named after the castle around which it grew up. It sits on the north side of the River Tees, opposite Startforth, south southwest of Newcastle upon Tyne, south southwest of Sunderland, west of Middlesbrough and ...

; while he accompanied Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II was King of Scots from1214 to his death.-Early life:...

 on his way to do homage to Louis of France, on the way they laid siege to Barnard Castle, belonging to Hugh de Balliol
Hugh de Balliol
Hugh de Balliol was the oldest son and successor of Eustace de Balliol . Hugh probably succeeded to his father Eustace's lordships by 1209....

, and, approaching too near, Vescy was shot through the head by an arrow.

His lands were confiscated and given to Simon de Champ Rémy, Philip de Ulecot, and William de Harcourt.

Family

He married Margaret, half-sister of Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II of Scotland
Alexander II was King of Scots from1214 to his death.-Early life:...

, an illegitimate daughter of William the Lion by a daughter of Adam de Hythus. They left a son William (died 1253), who was father of John de Vescy and of William de Vescy. The latter was one of the Competitors for the Crown of Scotland
Competitors for the Crown of Scotland
With the death of Alexander III of Scotland in 1286 without a male heir, the throne of Scotland had become the possession of the three-year old Margaret, Maid of Norway, the granddaughter of the King...

in 1291.

Eustace has no known descendants past the fourth generation.

External links

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