Eustace Fitz John Baron of Halton

  General Notes:

~Boyer's Medieval English Ancestors of Certain Americans, p. 120, married, 1st, Beatrice de Vesci, married 2nd, Agnes. ⁷²²

~Ancestral Roots of Certain American Colonists Who Came to America before 1700, 8th Edition, 269:24, Eustace Fitz John, second son, brother and heir of Payn Fitz John, married as first wife, Beatrice de Vescy, the only daughter and heir of Yves de Vescy, Lord of Alnwich and malton, possibly by Alda Tyson, daughter of William Tyson. Eustace Fitz John was the son of John Fitz Richard. Eustace and Beatrix were the parents of William de Vescy. ¹⁶⁰

~Cockayne's Complete Peerage, (Chart - Family of Lacy & the Earldom of Lincoln), Vol. VII, p. 677, John, constable of Chester, died 1190 and married to Alice. He had a brother named Robert and their parents were Richard Fitz Eustace and Aubreye de Lisours.

~Ormerod's History of Cheshire, Vol. I, p. 690, Barons of Halton pedigree, Eustace Fitz John, heir to Serlo, his uncle, 4^th baron of Ilalton and constab. of Chester, slain 1157 ¹⁴¹

  Noted events in his life were:

• Background Information. ¹⁴¹
Eustace Fitz John, brother & heir of Payne, was born before 1100. He became possessed of his father's manor of Saxlingham and made a further gift of 20s. there from to Gloucester Abbey. Like his brothers, he became a trusted officer of Henry I. He first appears as a witness to a royal charter before 1120 (1116-1119), after which he constantly attests Henry I's charters, &c. In 1130, he and William de Luvetot were keepers of Tickhill Castle and the Honor of Blyth. Eustace farmed Aldborough and Knaresborough. He was acting then as a Justice iItinerant in the north, usually with Walter Espec. He is said to have become an intimate friend of Henry I, who granted him large estates and made him Constable of Bamburgh Castle. In consequence of his 1^st marriage, he held Alnwick Castle in Northumberland and Malton Castle in Yorkshire. He was at Stephen's Easter court at Westminster in 1136, and later was with him at Clarendon. When Stephen advanced against the King of Scots early in 1138 and pursued him across the border, Eustace was in his army; but the King, hearing that some of his barons were traitors, arrested Eustace, and deprived him of the command of the castles which Henry had entrusted to him. Angered by this treatment Eustace, when the King of Scots invaded England later in the year, joined him and marched with him into Yorkshire, where he put David in possession of Malton Castle. At the Battle of the Standard, 22 Aug 1138, he fought in David's army, in Prince Henry's division beside the men of Cumberland and Teviotdale, but he was wounded and escaped with difficulty to his castle.

In or before 1139 Eustace became Constable of Chester in right of his 2^nd wife. In 1139, when peace had been concluded between England and Scotland and Stephen had given Northumberland to Prince Henry, the Prince confirmed to Eustace all the grants, which he had received from Henry I and made him, further grants of lands. Eustace was evidently reconciled to Stephen, as he was with the King at Stamford before Easter 1142. During the remainder of the reign he seems to have remained quiescent, living as a great baron of the north, where he even coined his own silver pennies. On 30 Nov 1143, he was one of those who arranged a truce between the rival bishops of Durham. He is also found attesting, as Constable of Chester, charters of the Earls of Chester. In February 1154/5 he was probably with Henry II at York; about June 1157 he was with him at Waltham; and in the following month he took part in the King's expedition into North Wales. He founded Alnwick Abbey for Premonstratensian canons, and between 1147 and 1154 he founded Gilbertian Convents at Watton and Malton. He was a benefactor to the Abbeys of Gloucester, Fountains, and Bridlington.

Eustace married, 1^st, Beatrice, only daughter and heir of Yves de Vescy, lord of Alnwick and Malton, by [it is said] "Alda" only daughter and heir of William Tyson, also lord of Alnwick and Malton. She died in childbirth. He married, 2^nd, Agnes, elder sister and coheir of William and daughter of William Fitz Neel, both Barons of Halton in the palatinate of Chester and Constables of Chester. Eustace died in July 1157, being slain when part of Henry II's army was ambushed in the pass of Consyllt, near Basingwerk, in North Wales. His widow married Robert Fitz Count, apparently an illegitimate son of an Earl of Chester. He became Constable of Chester jure uxoris and died in or before 1166.

~Cockayne's Complete Peerage, (Vescy), Vol. XIIB, pp. 272-274

• Background Information. ⁷²⁶
Eustace Fitz John, one of the most powerful Barons in the time of King Henry I. Eustace founded the Abbey of Alnwick in Northumberland and the Abbeys of Walton and Malton in Yorkshire. He Held the Castle of Malton against King Stephen in 1137, and commanded a division of the Scotch Army against against him at the Battle of the Standard of the following year. Because of this, he forfeited all his lands, which King Henry II restored to him. He was slain in the wars against the Welsh in 1157. Eustace was the son of John Monoculus, Lord of Knaresborough.

~Fenwick Allied Ancestry, pg. 37

• Background Information. ⁹⁴⁰
Eustace Fitz John, judge and constable of Chester, like his brother, Pain Fitz John, he became attached to the court of Henry I. He witnessed some charters of 1133. In the only extant Pipe Roll of Henry's reign he appears as acting as justice itinerant in the north in conjunction with Walter Espec. He won Henry's special favor [Gesta Stephani_ p. 35, Engl. Hist. Soc.], received grants that made him very powerful in Yorkshire, and was reputed to be a man of great wisdom [Ailred of Rievaulx in Twysden, Decem Scriptores, c. 343; cf. William of Newburgh, i. 108, Rolls Ser.] He was also governor of Bamburgh Castle [John of Hexham in Twysden, Decem Scriptores, c. 261]. He witnessed the charter of Archbishop Thurstan to Beverley [Fœdera, i. 10]. Upon the death of Henry, Eustace Fitz John remained faithful to the cause of Matilda, and was in consequence taken into custody and deprived of the governorship of Bamburgh [John of Hexham]. He joined David, king of Scots, when that king invaded the north in 1138 [Gesta Stephani, p. 35]. He surrendered Alnwick Castle to David [Richard of Hexham in Twysden, c. 319], and held out against Stephen in his own castle of Malton [Henry of Huntingdon, Hist. Anglorum, p. 261, Rolls Ser.] He was present at the Battle of the Standard [Ailred, c. 343], where he and his followers fought alongside the men of 'Cumberland' and Teviotdale in the second line of King David's host. In the latter part of Stephen's reign he lived quietly in the north under the government of the Scottish king, by whose grants his possessions were confirmed.

Eustace Fitz John was a lavish patron of the church and the special friend of new orders of regulars. In 1131 he witnessed the charter by which his colleague, Walter Espec, founded Rievaulx, the first Cistercian house established in Yorkshire [Monasticon, v. 281]. When the first monks of Fountains were in the direst distress and had given away their last loaves of bread in charity, Eustace's timely present of a load of bread from Knaresborough was looked on as little less than a miracle [Walbran, i. 50]. He also made two gifts of lands to Fountains [ib. i. 55, 57]. In 1147 he founded the abbey of Alnwick for Premonstratensian canons. This was the first house of that order in England, and was erected only two years after the order was founded [Monasticon, vi. 867-8]. Eustace Fitz John was a friend of St Gilbert of Sempringham, and established two of the earliest houses for the mixed convents of canons and nuns called, after their founder, the Gilbertines. Between 1147 and 1154 Eustace, in conjunction with his second wife, Agnes, founded a Gilbertine house at Watton in Yorkshire [ib. vi. 954-7], and another at Old Malton in the same county [ib. vi. 970-4]. A few years later his grants to Malton were confirmed [Thirty-first Report of Deputy-Keeper of Records, p. 3]. He also made grants to the monks of St Peter's Gloucester, the chruch of Flamborough, and to the Austin canons of Bridlington [Monasticon, vi. 286].

Eustace Fitz John made two rich marriages. His first wife was Beatrice, daughter and heiress of Ivo de Vesci. She brought him Alnwick and Malton [ib. vi. 868]. She died at the birth of his son by her, William [ib. vi. 956], who adopted the name of Vescy, and was active in the public service during the reign of Henry II [Eyton, Court and Itinerary of Henry II, passim], and was sheriff of Northumberland between the fourth and sixteenth years of Henry II [Thirty-first Report of Deputy-Keeper of Records, p. 320]. He was the ancestor of the Barons de Vescy. His son Eustace was prominent among the northern barons, whose revolt from John led to the signing of the Magna Charta. Eustace Fitz John's second wife was Agnes, daughter of William, Baron of Halton and constable of Chester [Monasticon, vi. 955], one of the leading lords of that palatinate. He obtained from Earl Ranulph II of Chester a grant of his father-in-law's estates and titles. He was recognized in the grant as leading counselor to the earl, 'above all the nobles of that country.' In his new capacity he took part in Henry II's first disastrous expedition into Wales, and was slain (July 1157) in the unequal fight when the king's army fell into an ambush at Basingwerk. He was then an old man [Will. Newburgh, i. 108]. By his second wife he left a son, Richard Fitz Eustace, the ancestor of the Claverings and the Lacies.

[Other Sources cited: Dugdale's Baronage, i. 90-1, largely 'ex vet.' Cartulario penes Car. Fairfax de Menstan in Com. Ebor.,' which gives a pedigree of the Vescies; Dugdale's Monasticon, vol. vi.; Walbran's Memorials of Fountains (Surtees Soc.); Foss's Judges of England, i. 115-17; Eyton's Itinerary of Henry II; Thirty-first Report of Deputy-Keeper of Public Records.]

~ Thomas Frederick Tout, Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. VII, pp. 183-184

• Web Reference: Eustace Fitz John from Wikipedia.
Eustace's family came from the south-east of England [Tout and Dalton, "Eustace fitz John"]. His father John fitz Richard was a tenant-in-chief who appeared in the Domesday Book owning estates in Essex and Norfolk [Tout and Dalton, "Eustace fitz John"]. The family was not of exalted origin, representing the middle rank of society [Dalton, "Eustace Fitz John", p. 359; Green, Henry I, p. 244]. Eustace had two known sisters, Agnes and Alice. He also had two brothers, Pain (Payne) and William, and it is thought that Pain\emdash whose career was as successful as Eustace's\emdash was probably the eldest [Dalton, "Eustace Fitz John", p. 360]. Eustace likely did not inherit much from his father, but instead depended on success as a royal servant [Dalton, Conquest, pp. 96\endash 97; Dalton, "Eustace Fitz John", pp. 359\endash 60].

Eustace is witnessing royal charters from at least 1119, but may have been at Henry's court as early as 1114 [Dalton, "Eustace Fitz John", p. 359; Tout and Dalton, "Eustace fitz John"]. Through Henry's (I) patronage, Eustace married two heiresses, both of whom brought him lands. Beatrix de Vesci, daughter and heiress of Ivo de Vesci, brought him control of Alnwick Castle and the barony of Alnwick in Northumberland [Crouch, Reign of King Stephen, p. 164; Dalton, Conquest, 97\endash 98]. He probably received, in addition, land in Lincolnshire as well as five and a half knight's fees in Yorkshire previously belonging to Ranulf de Mortimer (died 1104) [Dalton, Conquest, p. 98; Dalton, "Eustace Fitz John", p. 362]. Although it has often been claimed that this marriage brought Eustace the lordship of Old Malton, a former royal manor in the North Riding of Yorkshire, this was probably a separate gift from the king [Dalton, "Eustace Fitz John", p. 362]. Eustace's marriage to Beatrix occurred some time before 1130 [Dalton, Conquest, p. 97].

The other marriage, which also occurred before 1130, was to Agnes daughter of the constable of Chester William fitz Nigel, and this eventually brought Eustace more land in Yorkshire at Bridlington as well as in Northamptonshire at Loddington. Both landholdings were held from the earl of Chester [Dalton, Conquest, p. 99]. Eustace would gain control of many other sub-tenancies, held from a number of lords, including the Archbishop of York, Bishop of Durham, Nigel d'Aubigny, and the count of Aumale [Dalton, Conquest, p. 99; Dalton, "Eustace Fitz John", pp. 363\endash 64 f], and in Henry's reign he held lands at Aldborough, Tickhill and Knaresborough from the king as a tenant-in-chief [Kapelle, Norman Conquest, p. 199].

Eustace is known to have had two sons, one by each wife [Tout and Dalton, "Eustace fitz John"]. William de Vesci, his son by Beatrix, served as sheriff of Northumberland between 1157 and 1170, and would become the ancestor of the Northumberland de Vescy family [Tout and Dalton, "Eustace fitz John"]. Richard fitz Eustace, his son by Agnes, is known to have married Aubrey de Lisours, daughter of Aubrey de Lacy and niece of Ilbert II de Lacy (another baron captured by Earl Ranulf at the Battle of Lincoln) [Dalton, "Eustace Fitz John", p. 373]. He became ancestor of a second line of de Lacys [Tout and Dalton, "Eustace fitz John"].

Sources:

Dalton, Paul (1994), Conquest, Anarchy and Lordship. Yorkshire, 1066\endash 1154, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought, 4th Series, xxvii, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Dalton, Paul (1996), "Eustace Fitz John and the Politics of Anglo-Norman England: The Rise and Survival of a Twelfth-Century Royal Servant", Speculum (Medieval Academy of America)

Kapelle, William E. (1979), The Norman Conquest of the North: The Region and Its Transformation, 1000\endash 1135, London: Croom Helm Ltd.

Tout, T. F.; Dalton, Paul (2008), "Eustace fitz John (d. 1157), justice and baron", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Eustace married Agnes Fitz Nigel, daughter of William Fitz Nigel Baron of Halton and Adeliza de Gand ⁷²⁶.^,940 (Agnes Fitz Nigel was born about 1090 in Manche, Normandy and died in Cheshire, England ⁹⁴⁰.)

Eustace next married Beatrix de Vescy, daughter of Ivo de Vescy and Alda Tyson. (Beatrix de Vescy was born about 1095 in Alnwick Castle, Northumbria, England and died after 1115.)