Eustace the Monk: A Pirate of Medieval Portions

It's a bit on the chilly side today, so I have been enjoying a day of reading articles concerning archaeology, medieval and American history.  One such article which caught my attention was from Medieval Warfare.  It talked of an early pirate called Eustace the Monk.  Okay.  Stop right there.  Eustace?  The Monk?  A pirate?  Well, that grabbed my attention.  How could it not?  A monk named Eustace had been a bad pirate in the 13th century.  Come on!  That would catch anybody's eye!  Monks are suppose to be pious, serving God, and religious.  I had to read it.  Now, I'm caught.  Eustace, was the usual son of a low noble family in France.  He trained to be a knight.  He left France for Toledo, Spain and began dabbling in necromancy.

Hey, I know what you are thinking, but I swear, I'm not making this up!  People really believed they could use magic to raise the dead, our first zombies, for all you zombie fanatics!  And no, I'm not writing a plot twist for a Skyrim fan fiction.  Really, Eustace (could I even name a character that?) went to Toledo (a den of dark magic of the time- maybe that's why they had the Inquisition in Spain) and tried his hand at necromancy.  While there he learned how to be a sailor (hmmm, a good way to get rid of bodies) and traveled around the Mediterranean Sea.  Suddenly, he decided to become a monk.  Like Maria, in the Sound of Music who wasn't a very good nun, Eustace was not a very good monk.  He was a terrible monk!  Disobedience, gambling, black magic, and swearing were his choices of serving God.  Alas, or thankfully he didn't last long as a monk.  Poor Maria, all she did was sing and laugh in the abbey.

Anyway, to make a long story short, Eustace did all sorts of contradictory things.  He sued a lord, then joined with him in combat.  He left said lord, went to England, became friends with King John (another na'er be good).  John gave him ships and sent him out to defeat the French.  Eustace did so with glory.  so much so that people on both sides of the channel were struck with fear when his name was mentioned.  Eustace was not a nice guy.  Don't bring hi home to meet the parents!  Back to the 13th Century, Eustace did all he could, John gave him more ships and land. Not a bad business venture, but then again like all evil partners,
the friendship ended and back across to France Eustace went, taking control of a few channel islands and created a base of operations on said islands.

Oh, by the way, did I mention he got married and had children.  Yeah, well, it seems when the English recaptured the islands; the wife, a daughter, and a whole lot of pirates were captured as well.  The wife wound up in gaol, the daughter was well, burned, tortured, and killed, and the pirates....well what always happens to pirates?  Yep! Dead!  Where was Eustace?  You got it!  Alive and well in France, getting more ships to go destroy the English fleet this time!  Gotta love double agents! Or is it triple agent now?  Anyway, this was a pirate to admire if you wanted to be a pirate!

So, how does Eustace wind up?  Well, King John dies, his 9 year-old heir is crowned king, the regent takes control of all of England's forces and goes after the French invaders, drives them back, they thrust forward again with Eustace's help in a naval battle, England strikes again sends the French back across the channel (again for the umpteenth time) and disposes Eustace in one hell of a naval fight.  Imagine ships ramming one another, archers and crossbowmen firing a torrent of arrows and bolts at one another.  The capture of Eustace's ship, hand to hand combat.  French sailors and men leaping into the sea, preferring drowning over capture by the English.

Eustace was discovered, cowering in the hold of his ship (why is it these types of men are always in small holes- you know, Hitler in a bunker, Hussein in a hole) Going on, he was dragged back on deck pleading for his life (according to one narrative) and was given his choice of where to be killed.  Nice, that was.  He ended his career being beheaded and having his head placed on a stake to be carted all over Southern England to prove that this demon was indeed dead and could harm no one ever again.  Thus, ends Eustace the Monk, but this line from an anonymous writer of his time period states the realities of the pirates life in The Romance of Eustace the Monk on page 78:

"NO one who is always intent on evil 

Can live for a long time."

No, they really do not.  Hope you enjoyed this enlightening tale of Eustace the Monk.  A real man, a real life, a real evil.  

Work Cited 

McGlynn, Sean.  "Eustace the Monk:  Scourge of the Seas". Medieval Warfare.  Vol. 2, Issue 6.  Pg. 48.

The Romance of Eustace the Monk.  1284.