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Eustace I, Count of Boulogne

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Eustace I, of Boulogne, was a Frankish nobleman and Count of Boulogne. He held the county of Boulogne from 1042 until his death.

Career

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He was the oldest son of Count Baldwin II of Boulogne and Adelina of Holland.[1] Eustace became count in 1042.[2] Eustace I was also the count of Lens.[3]

During the minority of Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders, Eustace's grandfather, Arnulf III, Count of Boulogne, broke free of control by the count of Flanders.[4] Both Eustace's father and Eustace himself remained independent.[4] In 995, having reached his majority, Baldwin IV of Flanders tried to take back several of the independently held castles. He also expanded the Flemish borders.[4] This had caused considerable enmity between Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders and Eustace's father. When Baldwin IV's son Baldwin V succeeded him in 1035 Eustace I and Baldwin V of Flanders cooperated on several ventures including several charters. Eustace also signed charters of Baldwin V which limited the powers of the advocates.[a][8]

Eustace I was allied to the house of Normandy. This was through the marriage of his son Eustace II to Goda, niece of Richard II.[9] Under Eustace I the counts of Boulogne rose to great prominence in Northern France.[10] He was apparently a patron of Samer Abbey near Calais and he is said to have been buried there.[11] In 1028 Eustace I confirmed the foundation of a college of canons at his castle at Lens[3] Eustace I died in 1049.[2]

Family

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Eustace I was married to Matilda of Leuven.[b] She was the daughter of Lambert I, Count of Leuven.[2] Together they had:

Notes

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  1. ↑ Most monasteries in tenth and eleventh century Frankia had advocates (Latin: advocatus). An advocate was a nobleman who had an interest in protecting a monastery.[5] He would collect revenues for the monks. He represented them in legal cases. He would also protect their lands from attacks by others.[5] For this he received a portion of the rents. Advocacy of wealthy monasteries could be very profitable. But advocate abuse was not uncommon.[6] It could develop into taking from the very church or monastery they were paid to protect. Some interfered in Church affairs.[6] Baldwin V's charters limited the power of advocates in Flanders.[7] This was to make sure the advocated protected the church; not exploited it.[7]
  2. ↑ Matilda was a direct descendant of Charlemagne[2][12] In terms of rank, female descendants of Charlemagne were among the most prestigious brides.[13] Noble families of the eleventh and twelfth centuries sought to trace their family's descent specifically into the Carolingian line.[14]

References

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  1. ↑ W.H. Turton, The Plantagenet Ancestry (Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1968), p. 105
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln|Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band III Teilband 4 (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1989), Tafel 621
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Heather J. Tanner, Family, Friends and Allies; Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England c. 879-1160 (Brill, 2004), p. 61
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Heather J. Tanner, The Expansion of the Power and Influence of the Counts of Boulogne under Eustace II', Anglo-Norman Studies XIV: Proceedings of the Battle Conference 1991, Ed. Marjorie Chibnall (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge, UK, 1992), p. 251
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Constance Brittain Bouchard, Sword, Miter, and Cloister: Nobility and the Church in Burgundy, 980-1198 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009), p. 125
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Susan Wood, The Proprietary Church in the Medieval West (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 330
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Jean Dunbabin, France in the Making 843-1180, Second Edition (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 210
  8. ↑ Heather J. Tanner, Family, Friends and Allies; Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England c. 879-1160 (Brill, 2004),p. 83
  9. ↑ Heather J. Tanner, Family, Friends and Allies; Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England c. 879-1160 (Brill, 2004),p. 113
  10. ↑ John Carl Andressohn, The Ancestry and Life of Godfrey of Bouillon (Indiana University Press, 1947), p. 9
  11. ↑ Heather J. Tanner, Family, Friends and Allies; Boulogne and Politics in Northern France and England c. 879-1160 (Brill, 2004),p. 118
  12. ↑ Detlev Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln|Europäische Stammtafeln: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der Europäischen Staaten, Neue Folge, Band II (Marburg, Germany: J. A. Stargardt, 1984), Tafel 1
  13. ↑ Judith A. Green, The Aristocracy of Norman England (Cambridge: The Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 353-54
  14. ↑ Motherhood, Religion, and Society in Medieval Europe, 400 - 1400, eds. Conrad Leyser, Lesley Smith (Farnham, Surrey, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011), p. 28
  15. ↑ George Edward Cokayne, The Complete Peerage of England Scotland Ireland Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant Extinct or Dormant, Vol. I, ed. Vicary Gibbs (The St. Catherine Press, Ltd., London, 1910), p. 352 n. (a)
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