Eustace de Vesci (1169–1216) was an English lord of

Alnwick Castle Alnwick Castle () is a castle and country house in Alnwick in the English county of Northumberland. It is the seat of the 12th Duke of Northumberland, built following the Norman conquest and renovated and remodelled a number of times. It is a G ...

, and a ''

Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for "Great Charter of Freedoms"), commonly called (also ''Magna Charta''; "Great Charter"), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. First drafted by t ...

'' surety. He also held lands in

Sprouston Sprouston is a village, parish and former feudal barony in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, as well as the historic county of Roxburghshire, located 2 miles north-east of Kelso.Survey Gazetteer of the British Isles, publ. J.G. Bartholomew, ...

Roxburghshire Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Be ...

, Scotland as brother in-law to King

Alexander II of Scotland Alexander II ( Medieval Gaelic: '; Modern Gaelic: '; 24 August 1198 – 6 July 1249) was King of Scotland from 1214 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of York (1237) which defined the boundary between England and Scotland, virtually un ...

. Eustace was a leader during the Barons' War in 1215 and was killed while undertaking a siege of

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...

in 1216.

Early life

His parents were

William de Vesci William de Vesci (c.1125–1184) was an Anglo-Norman feudal lord and Sheriff. Born William fitz Eustace at Knaresborough Castle, Yorkshire, the son of Eustace Fitz John and Beatrix de Vesci, he took his mother's surname. He was appointed Sheri ...

and Burga de Stuteville, daughter of

Robert III de Stuteville Robert III de Stuteville (died 1186) was an English baron and justiciar. Life He was son of Robert II de Stuteville (from Estouteville in Normandy), one of the northern barons who commanded the English at the battle of the Standard in August 1 ...

. He paid his relief on coming of age in 1190. Claims by The Baronial Order of Magna Charta & The Military Order of The Crusades that he was with

King Richard I of England Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was over ...

in Palestine in 1191 are seemingly unsupported by primary sources. On 13 August 1199 he appeared as one of the guarantors of the treaty between the new king

John of England John (24 December 1166 – 19 October 1216) was King of England from 1199 until his death in 1216. He lost the Duchy of Normandy and most of his other French lands to King Philip II of France, resulting in the collapse of the Angevin ...

and

Renaud I, Count of Dammartin Renaud de Dammartin (Reginald of Boulogne) (c. 1165 – 1227) was Count of Boulogne from 1190, Count of Dammartin from 1200 to 1214 and Count of Aumale from 1204 to 1214. He was son of Alberic III of Dammartin and Mathilde of Clermont. Bro ...

, 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 The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham s ...

, and on 10 April of the same year he was sent to meet

William The Lion William the Lion, sometimes styled William I and also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough"''Uilleam Garbh''; e.g. Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1214.6; Annals of Loch Cé, s.a. 1213.10. ( 1142 – 4 December 1214), reigned as King of Scots from 11 ...

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 GuisboroughWalter of Gisburn, Walterus Gisburnensis. Previously known to scholars as Walter of Hemingburgh (John Bale seems to have been the first to call him that).Sometimes known erroneously as Walter Hemingford, Latin chronicler of t ...

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 of Oldcoates Philip of Oldcoates (or Philip Oldcoates, Philip de Ulcotes,Warren ''King John'' p. 350 Philip de Ulecot; died 1220) was an English nobleman and royal official. Royal service Philip first appears in the historical record in 1194 when he was depr ...

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 ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...

warned him not to trouble the king.

The Barons' Revolt

He was a leader in the

First Barons' War The First Barons' War (1215–1217) was a civil war in the Kingdom of England in which a group of rebellious major landowners (commonly referred to as barons) led by Robert Fitzwalter waged war against King John of England. The conflict resulte ...

, in 1215 marching south against King John I with

Robert Fitzwalter Robert FitzwalterAlso spelled Fitzwater, FitzWalter, fitzWalter, etc. (died 9 December 1235) was one of the leaders of the baronial opposition against King John, and one of the twenty-five sureties of ''Magna Carta''. He was feudal baron of Lit ...

. He was prominent among the barons who wrung ''

'' 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, the French dauphin, who was claiming the English throne. He was killed at a siege of

; while he accompanied

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 (died 1229), Lord of Bywell, Barnard Castle and Gainford, was an English nobleman. He was the son of Eustace de Balliol and Petronilla FitzPiers. Balliol was a supporter of King John of England during the Barons Wars of 1215� ...

, 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 King

, an illegitimate daughter of

William the Lion William the Lion, sometimes styled William I and also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough"''Uilleam Garbh''; e.g. Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1214.6; Annals of Loch Cé, s.a. 1213.10. ( 1142 – 4 December 1214), reigned as King of Scots from 11 ...

by a daughter of

Adam de Hythus Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as ...

. They had: *

, who was father of

John de Vesci John de Vesci, sometimes spelt Vescy, was a prominent 13th-century noble. He was the eldest son of William de Vesci and Agnes de Ferrers. He married firstly Agnes de Saluzzo and secondly Isabella de Beaumont. John died c. 1289. He succeeded to h ...

and of William de Vescy. The latter was one of the

Competitors for the Crown of Scotland When the crown of Scotland became vacant in September 1290 on the death of the seven-year-old Queen Margaret, 13 claimants to the throne came forward. Those with the most credible claims were John Balliol, Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale, ...

in 1291.Dunbar, Sir Alexander (1899) p.282-3: ''Pedigree Showing the Thirteen Competitors for the Scottish Crown'' &c.

Notes

References

External links

Baronial Order of Magna Charta

via

Oxford DNB The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vesci, Eustace De 1169 births 1216 deaths Magna Carta barons English feudal barons People from Alnwick

Eustace Eustace, also rendered Eustis, ( ) is the rendition in English of two phonetically similar Greek given names: *Εὔσταχυς (''Eústachys'') meaning "fruitful", "fecund"; literally "abundant in grain"; its Latin equivalents are ''Fæcundus/Fe ...