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Birth:          ABT 1080 of Knaresborough, Yorkshire, England
Death:          3 Jul 1157 Wales
Cause of Death: killed by Welsh in ambush

Notes
so was it a marriage, with a divorce from Matilda? Or a liason????
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eustace_fitz_John
Eustace fitz John (died 1157) was a powerful magnate in northern England during the 
reigns of Henry I, Stephen and Henry II. From a relatively humble background in the 
south-east of England, Eustace made his career serving Henry I, and was elevated by 
the king through marriage and office into one of the most important figures in the north 
of England. Eustace acquired a great deal of property in the region, controlled 
Bamburgh Castle, and served jointly with Walter Espec as justiciar of the North.

After Henry I's death in 1135, Eustace became involved in the warfare between the 
supporters of Stephen and his rival the Empress Matilda, the latter led by Matilda's 
uncle David, King of Scotland. He surrendered Alnwick Castle and Malton Castle 
temporarily to David, while Bamburgh was taken by Stephen. Eustace became a 
supporter of David, fighting and suffering defeat at the Battle of the Standard in 1138. 
He maintained most of his lands in the north however, and from around 1144 became 
one of the main followers of Ranulf II, Earl of Chester, through whom he gained even 
more land. Eustace subsequently founded three religious houses, and died on 
campaign with Henry II in 1157.
Origins and early career[edit]

Eustace's family came from the south-east of England.[1] His father John fitz Richard 
was a tenant-in-chief who appeared in the Domesday Book owning estates in Essex 
and Norfolk.[1] The family was not of exalted origin, representing the middle rank of 
society.[2] Eustace had two known sisters, Agnes and Alice. He also had two 
brothers, Pain (Payne) and William, and it is thought that Pain—whose career was as 
successful as Eustace's— was probably the eldest.[3] Eustace likely did not inherit 
much from his father, but instead depended on success as a royal servant.[4]

Eustace is witnessing royal charters from at least 1119, but may have been at Henry's 
court as early as 1114.[5] Through Henry's 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.[6] 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).[7] 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.[8] Eustace's marriage to Beatrix occurred 
some time before 1130.[9]

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.[10] 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,[11] and in Henry's 
reign he held lands at Aldborough, Tickhill and Knaresborough from the king as a 
tenant-in-chief.[12]

Eustace had thus emerged as one of the key players in Henry's reordering of 
Northumbrian society following the destruction of the earldom of Northumbria in the 
late 11th-century.[13] According to historian William Kapelle, Eustace was one of the 
"three mainstays of Henry's new regime in the North", the other two being Walter 
Espec and King David of Scotland.[14] In Northumberland he is known to have 
commanded authority over at least ten local notables, including John FitzOdard lord of 
Embleton and Robert II de Umfraville lord of Redesdale.[15] Eustace's barony of 
Alnwick stretched across the potential Scottish invasion routes of the Tweed basin, 
and was one of the two largest baronies in the county,[a] holding between 14 and 17 
knight's fees by 1166, nearly three times the size of the average lordship in the 
county.[15]

Henry I's only surviving pipe roll, for 1129–30, shows that Eustace served jointly as 
justiciar of the north along with Walter Espec, and had custody of the former capital of 
the Northumbrian earldom, Bamburgh Castle.[10] Allowances made to Eustace for the 
repair of the gate of Bamburgh Castle and the construction of fortifications at Tickhill 
and Knaresborough in Yorkshire are also recorded in this pipe roll.[10] This and 
evidence of royal writs show that Eustace and Walter Espec had justiciar 
responsibility for the counties of Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham, and Yorkshire, 
a role that involved hearing pleas and conveying instructions from central 
government.[16]

The Anarchy[edit]

The death of Henry I on 1 December 1135 led to the accession of Stephen de Blois, 
to whom Eustace submitted.[1] Stephen's seizure of the throne was contested by 
Henry I's daughter, the Empress Matilda, who had been Henry's designated heir. The 
Gesta Stephani claimed that certain "very intimate friends of Henry" had been against 
Stephen from the beginning because of loyalty for Henry's daughter Matilda, and 
names Eustace's brother Pain as one of these, making it quite possible that Eustace 
had likewise never been on Stephen's side.[17] However, they, just like Eustace, did 
swear fealty to Stephen after a short time.[18] This capitulation meant that Stephen let 
them keep the honours and positions they had held under Henry, and Stephen is even 
found confirming the grants of Eustace's family between 1136 and 1138.[19]

Matilda was supported by her uncle King David of Scotland, and he did not accept 
Stephen's succession peacefully.[20] Thus Eustace was placed in the front line of a 
new war, and when David invaded northern England Eustace's castle of Alnwick was 
among those captured by David in the first two months of the year (though it was 
returned in March).[1] Stephen relieved Eustace of control of Bamburgh Castle when 
he returned from his punitive invasion of Lothian early in 1138.[21] It has been 
claimed that Eustace must have gone over to David's side by the end of 1137, when 
David invaded northern England.[22] There is no proof however that Eustace had 
switched allegiance at this point.[23]

After David crossed back into Northumberland in April 1138, Eustace became one of 
David's active supporters, and during David's siege of Wark Castle in May, Eustace 
tried to persuade him to besiege Bamburgh Castle instead.[24] Eustace had had a long 
association with the Scottish king, or at least with his Norman follower Robert I de 
Brus, as Eustace's name appears as witness to David's charter recording the grant of 
Annandale to Robert, issued at Scone in 1124.[18]

Eustace fought at the Battle of the Standard in August 1138, fighting for David in the 
second line with the men of Cumbria and Teviotdale. The battle ended in defeat, and 
Eustace was wounded and fled to Alnwick in its aftermath, leaving his castle at 
Malton to be captured soon after.[25] Despite the defeat for David, peace the 
following year brought David victory, his son Henry becoming Earl of Northumbria and 
Huntingdon, and under the rule of Earl Henry, Eustace regained many of his 
Northumberland possessions and received other lands in the earldom of Huntingdon.
[26] When a succession dispute for the bishopric of Durham erupted in 1141, Eustace 
supported the pro-David William Cumin against William de Ste Barbara; and in 1143, 
Eustace helped negotiate a truce between the two claimants.[27]

Eustace's number of known associations with David and Henry after 1144 is small, 
appearing only as witness to one charter of Earl Henry issued at Corbridge at some 
point between 1150 and 1152.[28] Around 1144 Eustace seems to have entered a 
beneficial relationship with Ranulf II, Earl of Chester. Eustace was married to the 
sister of Ranulf's constable, William fitz William, and in 1143 or 1144 William died. 
This made Eustace's wife and her sister Matilda joint heiress to the lands and offices 
of William, who was childless.[29]

In either 1144 or 1145 Eustace obtained from Ranulf a large honour with lands mostly 
in Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire, and gained the office of constable of Chester 
along with the status as chief counselor in Ranulf's dominions.[30] Earl Ranulf's 
patronage also seems to have gained Eustace a grant by Roger de Mowbray (the 
earl's captive from the Battle of Lincoln) of fourteen knight fees worth of estates in 
Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, with townships along the river Humber. This was probably 
part of the attempts of the earl and his half-brother the Earl of Lincoln William de 
Roumare to tighten their family's grip on the region.[31] Eustace's position vis-a-vis 
Stephen probably mirrored that of Ranulf, and like other pro-Matildans there was 
probably no permanent stabilisation of relations until the settlement between Stephen 
and Matilda in the winter of 1153.[32] In the following year, Eustace attested a charter 
King Stephen issued at York in favour of Pontefract Priory.[32]

Death and legacy[edit]

Eustace had a good relationship with Stephen's successor Henry II, and the latter 
seems to have regarded Eustace as one of his supporters.[33] Henry confirmed 
Eustace's gifts to his son William de Vescy, and would recognise the latters 
succession to his father's lands.[34] After Henry accession in 1154, Eustace attested 
the new king's charters. Eustace died in July 1157 near Basingwerk in Flintshire, 
where on campaign with Henry against the Welsh he was ambushed and killed.[35]

Eustace fitz John was remembered as a great monastic patron. He patronised 
Gloucester Abbey, a Benedictine house, as well as the Augustinian Priory of 
Bridlington.[1] In 1147, he founded his own abbey, Alnwick Abbey, as a daughter-
house of England's first Premonstratensian monastery, Newhouse Abbey in 
Lincolnshire.[36] Two years later, Eustace turned his favours to the order of Gilbert of 
Sempringham, in 1150 founding a Gilbertine priory at Malton in Yorkshire and another 
priory (with a nunnery) at Watton (also Yorkshire) around the same time.[37] Later 
tradition held that Eustace founded these houses in penance for fighting with the 
Scots, but this has no basis in fact.[38]

Watton, scene of Ailred of Rievaulx's De Sanctimoniali de Wattun, was founded jointly 
with Eustace's landlord William Fossard.[39] Probably Eustace's patronage of the 
Gilbertines was influenced by the policies and inclinations of William, Earl of York and 
Henry Murdac, Archbishop of York.[40] Eustace had become closely associated with 
the Earl of York. He witnessed two of Earl William's charters, between 1150 and 1153, 
and obtained land from him.[41] And Eustace's name appears on coins minted at York, 
a city under the control of the earl.[41]

Eustace is known to have had two sons, one by each wife.[1] 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.[1] 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).[42] He became ancestor of a second line of de Lacys.[1]

Several sources, including Roger of Howden, report that Eustace had only one eye.[1]

Parents
FITZ RICHARD John "One Eye" "Monoculus" (ABT 1050 - 1138)
____ Magdalen ()

Siblings
FITZ JOHN [CHG TO CLAVERING] Eustace (ABT 1080 - 3 Jul 1157)
FITZ JOHN Payn (ABT 1086 - 10 Jul 1137)
FITZ JOHN Agnes (ABT 1103 - AFT 1185)

Marriage To FITZ NEEL [FITZ NIGEL] Agnes (Matilda Agnes) (ABT 1084 - 1166)
    m. ABT 1120 

Notes

Parents
FITZ NEEL [FITZ NIGEL] William I (ABT 1058 - 1134)
DE WIDNESS ----- (ABT 1062 - )

Children by FITZ NEEL [FITZ NIGEL] Agnes (Matilda Agnes) ABT 1084 - 1166
FITZ EUSTACE [CLAVERING] Richard FitzEustace (1128 - )

Marriage To DE VESCY Beatrice (ABT 1090 - ABT 1130)
    m. ABT 1129 

Notes

Parents
DE VESCY Ivo (Yvo) (ABT 1065 - )
DE TYSON Ada (Alda) (ABT 1065 - )

Children by DE VESCY Beatrice ABT 1090 - ABT 1130
DE VESCY William (ABT 1130 - 1184)

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