Eustace the Monk

This article is about Eustace the Black Monk. For another Eustace the Monk, see Eustace of Luxeuil.

Eustace the Monk (Old French: Eustache le Moine; c. 1170 – 24 August 1217), born Eustace Busket, was a French pirate and mercenary, one of the most famous pirates of the early 13th century, in the grand tradition of medieval outlaws. The birthplace of Eustace was not far from Boulogne, France. A 1243 document mentions a Guillaume le Moine, seigneur de Course, which indicates that the family lived in that vicinity.

An extraordinary, formidable, and provocative figure, he long appeared as a highway robber. He became entangled in the conflict between the Capetians and the Plantagenets, pitting Philip Augustus of France against John Lackland. He regularly switched his allegiance among the two. Defeated and captured by the English at the Battle of Sandwich in 1217, he was beheaded.

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