Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne

Early life Eustace was first mentioned in one of his parents' charters dated no later than August 1131. Eustace was knighted in 1147, at which date he was probably from sixteen to eighteen years of age.

The Anarchy

In 1151, Eustace joined his brother-in-law, Louis VII, in a raid upon Normandy, also contested between Empress Matilda and King Stephen. This was short-lived, however, when Louis accepted the homage of Henry Plantagenet, son of Empress Matilda, for Normandy. The following year, Eustace was in France as part of a wider coalition of Henry's enemies, but Henry's control of the duchy remained unshaken.

This clearly had not been Stephen's first attempt at crowning Eustace as John of Salisbury reports that Celestine II had written to Archbishop Theobald as early as 1143 forbidding him 'to allow any change to be made in the English kingdom in the matter of the crown', a policy that was maintained by Celestine's immediate successors. Eustace's mother died on 3 May 1152. Meeting of Stephen and Prince Henry at Wallingford (Cassell's Illustrated History of England, 1865), depicting the Treaty of Wallingford, 1153. Eustace, then in his early 20s, is standing at left, his arm resting on his shield, his father next to him. Opposite them is the 20-year-old Henry FitzEmpress. After the second siege of Wallingford in July 1153, after Henry had invaded England and attracted widespread support, Stephen was persuaded to agree to terms. The agreement, known as the Treaty of Wallingford, established Henry as Stephen's heir. Eustace withdrew from the court as a result of this, "greatly vexed and angry, because the war, in his opinion, had not reached a proper conclusion".

Death and aftermath Eustace died suddenly that same year, in mid-August 1153, struck down (so it was said) by the wrath of God while plundering church lands near Bury St Edmunds. The death of Eustace was hailed with general satisfaction as opening the possibility of a peaceful settlement between Stephen and his rival, the young Henry Plantagenet. Eustace raided church lands near Peterborough, possibly inciting this hatred from the Chronicle. He had used threats against the recalcitrant bishops, and in the war against the Angevin party had demanded contributions from religious houses.

Eustace was buried in Faversham Abbey in Kent, which was founded by his parents. They too were buried in Faversham Abbey; all three tombs are now lost, as a consequence of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.