Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V.
Speaker 2: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. It's been quite a while
Speaker 2: since we had an episode on a pirate and also,
Speaker 2: I really could have sworn that we had just a
Speaker 2: ton of pirate episodes in the catalog. It feels in
Speaker 2: my mind like a very frequent theme. Turns out, looking back,
Speaker 2: there are not that many, relatively speaking, today's pirate and outlaw.
Speaker 2: Lived in the thirteenth century and was connected to some
Speaker 2: major events in British and French history, but he just
Speaker 2: really doesn't have the name recognition today that someone like
Speaker 2: Blackbeard or Anne Bonnie and Mary Reid, or thanks in
Speaker 2: part to the TV show Our Flag Means Death Steed Bonnet.
Speaker 2: I'm so sad that show was canceled me too. This
Speaker 2: is about Eustace the Monk. Sometimes it is spelled cche
Speaker 2: at the end, almost as though it would be pronounced
Speaker 2: to rhyme with mustache. During his lifetime, he was so
Speaker 2: notorious and feared that in areas around the English Channel,
Speaker 2: people would tell their kids that if they were bad,
Speaker 2: Eustace the monk would come and take them away.
Speaker 1: He's like the lost Crampus and Friends character. A lot
Speaker 1: of what we know about Eustace the Monk comes from
Speaker 1: a biography by an anonymous poet from Picardy in what
Speaker 1: is now France. This book was written in Old French
Speaker 1: with some Picard dialect as a little more than twenty
Speaker 1: three hundred verses in rhymed couplets. There is one known
Speaker 1: copy of it today, which is in the collection of
Speaker 1: the National Library of France.
Speaker 2: So the earliest this biography could have been written is
Speaker 2: the year twelve twenty three, and it definitely existed by
Speaker 2: twelve eighty four. It was probably written in the earlier
Speaker 2: part of that time span, and that means the events
Speaker 2: it describes were in the fairly recent past. It's possible
Speaker 2: the author could have talked to people who knew Eustace
Speaker 2: or lived through various events that he was connected to,
Speaker 2: or the author could have had some kind of personal
Speaker 2: experience with all of this. Various details in the biography
Speaker 2: can be corroborated through other historical sources, including some official documents,
Speaker 2: so parts of this biography probably pretty accurate. But though
Speaker 2: we're calling it a biography, it's not a straightforward biography,
Speaker 2: It's a medieval romance. As a genre, medieval romances are
Speaker 2: known for their fantastic adventures. The most well known medieval
Speaker 2: romances today are the ones that also focus more on
Speaker 2: tales of heroism and chivalry and courtly love. Think of
Speaker 2: all the various stories involving King Arthur and his knights.
Speaker 1: For example.
Speaker 2: Eustace, on the other hand, is an outlaw and a
Speaker 2: pirate whose behavior can really be the opposite of chivalrous,
Speaker 2: like propositioning a sergeant well disguised as a woman and
Speaker 2: then loudly passing gas and blaming it on his horse's saddle.
Speaker 2: Get that incident goes on for much longer than that
Speaker 2: one sentence. The Romance of Eustace the Monk has some
Speaker 2: parallels with the Romance of Reynard the Fox. The characters
Speaker 2: in Reynard the Fox are anthropomorphized animals, but there are
Speaker 2: some similarities between Eustace and the trickster character of Renard.
Speaker 2: There are also some moments in the romance of Eustace
Speaker 2: the Monk that are almost identical to things that happen
Speaker 2: in the Romance of fuch Fitzwaren. This was another real
Speaker 2: person and one of Eustace's contemporaries. It's not really clear
Speaker 2: whether this overlap came from the authors of each of
Speaker 2: these kind of being inspired by each or copying from
Speaker 2: each other, or if the common scenes among them are
Speaker 2: more like literary tropes that were just in heavy use
Speaker 2: at the time and are probably in lots of other
Speaker 2: stories that just haven't survived until today.
Speaker 1: Regardless, nearly two thirds of the Romance of Eustace the
Speaker 1: Monk is focused not on the wars and the monarchs
Speaker 1: and the details that can be more readily substantiated, but
Speaker 1: on the period when he was living as an outlaw
Speaker 1: in the forest of the Boulonnais in northern France. It's
Speaker 1: a series of very dramatic sketches that involve a lot
Speaker 1: of trickery and theft and disguises and narrow escapes, some
Speaker 1: of which really defy reality. So this biography includes details
Speaker 1: that were probably true, details that might have been true,
Speaker 1: and things that were almost certainly made up for the
Speaker 1: sake of and entertaining stories, and sometimes it's really tough
Speaker 1: to pick those apart. Eustace was definitely a real person,
Speaker 1: though born around the year seventy, he was the son
Speaker 1: of a minor noble named Budwin Busque or Buscit. They
Speaker 1: lived in the County of Bologna, which was in northern
Speaker 1: France along the coast of the English Channel. Boudoin was
Speaker 1: a vassal of Renaud de de Martin, count of Bologna,
Speaker 1: and since Eustace was of the nobility, he probably trained
Speaker 1: as a knight, and at some point he also learned
Speaker 1: to be a seafarer, although the timeline on that is
Speaker 1: not really clear. According to the Romance of Eustace the Monk,
Speaker 1: Eustace went to Toledo and what's now central Spain to study
Speaker 1: sorcery or necromancy. The romance claims he spent an entire
Speaker 1: summer and winter in an underground chamber there, studying black magic,
Speaker 1: including meeting with the devil himself. A nineteenth century essay
Speaker 1: by Thomas Wright, who was an antiquarian and an editor
Speaker 1: of medieval literature, summed up with the Devil, allegedly foretold
Speaker 1: about Eustace's later life as quote, he should live to
Speaker 1: war against nobles and princes, and that he should not
Speaker 1: die until he had been concerned in many commotions, after
Speaker 1: which he should be killed on the sea.
Speaker 2: This trip to Toledo is one of the moments in
Speaker 2: the Romance of Eustace the Monk that really can't be substantiated,
Speaker 2: not even just the part about talking to the devil.
Speaker 2: There's not really any evidence that he went to the
Speaker 2: Iberian Peninsula at all, but Toledo did have a reputation
Speaker 2: and a lot of Europe for being home to all
Speaker 2: kinds of sorcerers and magicians and underground schools of witchcraft.
Speaker 2: We also don't really know where the idea of his
Speaker 2: studying sorcery came from, like whether this was a rumor
Speaker 2: about Eustace that was circulating during or after his lifetime,
Speaker 2: or whether it was something that the author of this
Speaker 2: romance included to kind of spice up the story and
Speaker 2: also offer an explanation of what he was up to
Speaker 2: during a gap in the timeline between when he was
Speaker 2: born and the next thing we know happened, along with
Speaker 2: explaining how he became such a cunning and ruthless man.
Speaker 2: As an example of stuff from the biography that can't
Speaker 2: really be substantiated and definitely sounds very fictional. On the
Speaker 2: way back from Toledo, Eustace was traveling with some of
Speaker 2: his fellow students of sorcery, and they stopped in the
Speaker 2: town of Montferrand today that's Clermont Ferrand in central France.
Speaker 2: They didn't have any local currency, so at first the
Speaker 2: tavern keeper's wife refused to serve them. Then she tried
Speaker 2: to charge them double because they were using foreign coins,
Speaker 2: so Eustace cast a spell that made her take all
Speaker 2: of her clothes off and release all of the tavern's
Speaker 2: wine from the barrels. Other people in town ran up
Speaker 2: to see what the commotion was about, and they started
Speaker 2: taking their clothes off too. Then Eustace's party tried to leave,
Speaker 2: and the townspeople gave chase. One of his traveling companions
Speaker 2: was an old man, and this old man cast a
Speaker 2: spell that caused a huge river to appear and divide
Speaker 2: them from their pursuers, And then he cast another spell
Speaker 2: that made the townspeople back on the other side of
Speaker 2: the river all start fighting each other. Once Eustace felt
Speaker 2: like he'd gotten sufficient retribution for their earlier treatment at
Speaker 2: the tavern, he threw some grain on the ground, which
Speaker 2: caused everything to go back to normal, including making the
Speaker 2: wine go back into the barrels.
Speaker 1: Of course, there's no backup documentation for that whole incident,
Speaker 1: but sources do generally agree that Eustace became a monk.
Speaker 1: He likely joined the Benedictine order at the abbey of
Speaker 1: Saint sam Man near Calais, But again most of the
Speaker 1: details of his time as a monk come from the
Speaker 1: romance in the words of that nineteenth century essay on
Speaker 1: him quote, when Eustace took on himself the religious habit,
Speaker 1: he laid aside none of his former unholy practices. The
Speaker 1: whole abbey was troubled by his conjurations, and he turned
Speaker 1: everything upside down, caused the monks, as the story informs us,
Speaker 1: to fast when they ought to have been eating, and
Speaker 1: when they ought to have worn their shoes, to go barefoot,
Speaker 1: one thousand errors he led them into when they ought
Speaker 1: to have been gravely performing the holy services.
Speaker 2: Eustace later left the monastery, and there are two different
Speaker 2: accounts of why.
Speaker 1: Neither of them is.
Speaker 2: That the other monks got sick of him using black
Speaker 2: magic to just continually disrupt their religious community. The Chronica
Speaker 2: Majora by Benedictine monk Matthew Parris, was first published in
Speaker 2: twelve fifty nine and it says that Eustace's father, Buduin Buscuaye,
Speaker 2: died and then Eustace was the only surviving heir. His
Speaker 2: father probably did die sometime around eleven ninety. His name
Speaker 2: shows up as a witness in various legal documents before
Speaker 2: eleven ninety, but then not afterward. Eustace could not inherit
Speaker 2: that estate as long as as he was a monk,
Speaker 2: so he renounced the order. If this is what happened, though,
Speaker 2: if he left the order so that he could get
Speaker 2: this inheritance, some of the details are wrong because Eustace
Speaker 2: seems to have still had surviving brothers. There's not I mean,
Speaker 2: that's possible. Maybe that like his mother remarried and had
Speaker 2: children with somebody else, but he has brothers who show
Speaker 2: up in the historical record later on.
Speaker 1: The other explanation is also connected to the death of
Speaker 1: Eustace's father, and that's that Eustace left the order so
Speaker 1: that he could try to get revenge on the man
Speaker 1: who killed him. Boudoin had some kind of dispute with
Speaker 1: Hanphoi de Harris and Jin, possibly over control of a fifdom.
Speaker 1: This escalated into a physical altercation in which Boudoin struck
Speaker 1: Hanphoi and Hanfoix retaliated, either by killing him or by
Speaker 1: arranging an ambush in which someone else killed him. Eustace
Speaker 1: petitioned Renault de de Martin for justice, leading to a
Speaker 1: judicial duel to settle the matter. Hanphoas's champion was another
Speaker 1: man named Eustace Eustace de Marquise. Eustace the Monk's champion
Speaker 1: was his cousin Monsier, who was killed in the duel,
Speaker 1: making Hanphois the victor.
Speaker 2: And even though Eustace's petition to Reynald de de Martine
Speaker 2: did not work out in his favor, he later entered
Speaker 2: the count's service. By twelve oh three, Eustace had become
Speaker 2: rend Seneschal, but his time in this role did not
Speaker 2: go all that smoothly. Based on what we know, and
Speaker 2: we'll get to that after a sponsor break. Eustace the
Speaker 2: Monk's life up to this point, as we have told
Speaker 2: it so far, has had a fair amount of silliness.
Speaker 2: But before we go on, we need to set up
Speaker 2: some more serious context for what was happening between England
Speaker 2: and France, because that is going to be a recurring
Speaker 2: part of the rest of the episode. England was being
Speaker 2: ruled by the Plantagenets also known as the Angevints or
Speaker 2: the House of Anjou, depending on who's describing them and
Speaker 2: exactly when we are talking about, and France was being
Speaker 2: ruled by the Capitian dynasty. The Plantagenets controlled most of
Speaker 2: what's now England, as well as parts of Ireland and Wales,
Speaker 2: and thanks to various marriages and inheritances going back to
Speaker 2: the later part of the twelfth century, the Plantagenets also
Speaker 2: were controlling about half of what's now France, with this
Speaker 2: combined territory later described as the Angevin Empire.
Speaker 1: In eleven ninety nine, English King Richard the First also
Speaker 1: known as Richard the Lionheart, died without a direct heir.
Speaker 1: He had previously named his nephew Arthur as his successor,
Speaker 1: but then changed his selection to his brother John, also
Speaker 1: known as John Lackland. John had previously tried to take
Speaker 1: control of England while Richard was imprisoned during the Third Crusade.
Speaker 1: But Richard had a few reasons for making this switch
Speaker 1: in spite of all that. One is that Arthur was
Speaker 1: still a child while John was in his early thirties.
Speaker 1: Another is that after some convoluted and failed attempts to
Speaker 1: create an alliance between the Plantagenets and the Kapecians. Young
Speaker 1: Arthur had wound up being fostered in the court of
Speaker 1: Philip the Second of France. He's also called Philip Augustus.
Speaker 1: Of course, this meant that Philip Augustus supported Arthur's claim
Speaker 1: to the English throne. Among other things, an English king
Speaker 1: who had been fostered in French court might pave the
Speaker 1: way for the French to regain control of some of
Speaker 1: that territory.
Speaker 2: Yeaes switcheroo was confirmed, and near the very end of
Speaker 2: the of Richard the first life, after he had been
Speaker 2: shot with a crossbow bolt, and that had become gangrenous,
Speaker 2: and it was clear that he was dying, so to
Speaker 2: get back to Eustace. While he was in the service
Speaker 2: of Renaud de de Martines, Renaud was supporting Philip Augustus's
Speaker 2: efforts to retake this territory in France by force. And
Speaker 2: we don't know the full story of all of Eustace's service,
Speaker 2: but one portion of it did not go all that
Speaker 2: well for him or for Renaud. Eustace had been ordered
Speaker 2: to oversee the improvement of a road that was going
Speaker 2: to help strengthen communication between Bologna and Calais. This road
Speaker 2: was going to be on land that belonged to Baldwin,
Speaker 2: Count of Guineas, who was opposed to the whole project,
Speaker 2: because this improved road was going to improve that connection,
Speaker 2: but it was going to cut off some of his
Speaker 2: own access routes. This led to a standoff between Eustace
Speaker 2: and Baldwin, with Baldwin finally showing up with men to
Speaker 2: confront Eustace's workforce. Eustace's workers fled, and while it doesn't
Speaker 2: seem like anybody was killed in this altercation, some of
Speaker 2: those workers were captured, and Baldwin also seized all of
Speaker 2: their tools and materials.
Speaker 1: Eustace left Renault's service in twelve oh four, or perhaps
Speaker 1: a little later, and according to the Romance of Eustace
Speaker 1: the Monk, this traced back to his dispute with han
Speaker 1: Foi de Harris engine as Seneschal. Eustace was managing Reynauld's
Speaker 1: accounts and han Foix raised all kinds of suspicions that
Speaker 1: Eustace was mishandling Reynauld's money. Renault eventually summoned Eustace to
Speaker 1: his castle to answer these charges, but instead of answering
Speaker 1: that call, Eustace fled, burning down Renauld's mills on his
Speaker 1: way out. According to the romance, after this, Eustace spent
Speaker 1: some time as an outlaw, hiding out in the woods
Speaker 1: of Boulonnai, trying to both humiliate Renault and rob him
Speaker 1: at every opportunity.
Speaker 2: This probably was a real dispute Eustace and Reynauld. Probably
Speaker 2: we were fighting with each other, but the account of
Speaker 2: it in the Romance of Eustace the Monk is very colorful.
Speaker 2: This is also the longest part of the Row Romance,
Speaker 2: set up at the top of the show. This part
Speaker 2: of the romance has some parallels with Reynard the Fox
Speaker 2: and the Romance of fu Fitzwarren, especially this part of it.
Speaker 2: Like Eustace and fuch Fitzwarren, both have their horses shoes
Speaker 2: put on backward so people will think they're traveling in
Speaker 2: the opposite direction based on the tracks they left. They
Speaker 2: both disguise themselves as charcoal burners, that is, somebody who
Speaker 2: makes and sell charcoal, and people in that role typically
Speaker 2: were just covered in charcoal dust. Because of the nature
Speaker 2: of the work. There are a lot of chases and escapes,
Speaker 2: and there's speculation that Eustace the Monk or fuch Fitzwarren,
Speaker 2: or both of them may have been inspirations for the
Speaker 2: character of Robin Hood From.
Speaker 1: Time to time. Eustace's exploits as an outlaw also touched
Speaker 1: on the bigger political situation in France. When Philip Augustus
Speaker 1: visited the region, Reynauld's men acted as his rear guard
Speaker 1: and Eustace's force, not because he had any issue with
Speaker 1: Philip Augustus, but because he wanted to mess things up
Speaker 1: for Renaud. Renaud managed to capture Eustace after Eustace's saddle
Speaker 1: slipped while he was being pursued, causing him to fall
Speaker 1: off his horse. We don't know if it made a
Speaker 1: farting sound or not. Some of Eustace's allies convinced Renaud
Speaker 1: to send Eustace to Philip Augustus to stand trial rather
Speaker 1: than just executing him himself. But those same allies came
Speaker 1: to Eustace's rescue while he was being transported and got
Speaker 1: him to the border of Boolinais. From there, Eustace fled
Speaker 1: to England, and once he arrived, he pledged his service
Speaker 1: to King John.
Speaker 2: As we said earlier, we don't know exactly when Eustace
Speaker 2: trained to be a seafarer, but it had happened already
Speaker 2: by the time he got to England. King John put
Speaker 2: him in control of a fleet of ships. There's documentation
Speaker 2: of eight of them, but the Romance puts that number
Speaker 2: at thirty. Eustace attacked the King's enemy and was part
Speaker 2: of English efforts to retake Normandy, which England had lost
Speaker 2: to France in twelve oh four. The term privateer and
Speaker 2: letters of mark these things were still centuries away, but
Speaker 2: that's basically what Eustace was doing. He was acting as
Speaker 2: a maritime mercenary at the behest of the king. King
Speaker 2: John was reportedly so impressed with Eustace that he built
Speaker 2: him a palace in London as a thank you gift,
Speaker 2: but there's no documentation of this palace actually existing. As
Speaker 2: he fought for the King, Eustace was also acting more
Speaker 2: like a pirate, operating out of the Channel Islands and
Speaker 2: attacking the King's allies as well. He built a stronghold
Speaker 2: on the island of Sark and treated the whole island
Speaker 2: as his own property. At various points, John had to
Speaker 2: smooth things over with various barons and other high ranking
Speaker 2: people after Eustace attacked their ships. Eventually, Eusas made so
Speaker 2: many any English enemies, and any time he needed to
Speaker 2: visit the King, he had to do so with a
Speaker 2: letter of safe passage, and these are on record as
Speaker 2: being issued in May of twelve oh six and April
Speaker 2: of twelve oh seven. And Eustace reportedly made so much
Speaker 2: money through piracy that he tore down that undocumented palace
Speaker 2: that John had built for him and replaced it with
Speaker 2: a bigger, better one, also undocumented. Unsurprisingly, Eustace's relationship with
Speaker 2: King John eventually soured one John understandably got tired of
Speaker 2: having to pay off or otherwise placate people who Eustace
Speaker 2: and his fleet attacked or harassed. Eustace was also probably
Speaker 2: tired of the King constantly getting on his case about
Speaker 2: how he should stop attacking the King's allies, and then
Speaker 2: in twelve twelve, the King also informed the Sheriff of
Speaker 2: Nottingham that Eustace owed a debt of twenty marks and
Speaker 2: that he had a deadline to pay it. When Eustace
Speaker 2: failed to pay the debt by the deadline, the sheriff
Speaker 2: seized all of his lands for unclear reasons, though this
Speaker 2: consequence did not really stick. The king allowed Eustace to
Speaker 2: start occupying those lands again, but John did also imprison
Speaker 2: some of Eustace's men, possibly including one of his brothers,
Speaker 2: and he took Eustace's daughter and possibly also his wife hostage.
Speaker 2: We really don't know anything about his wife or children,
Speaker 2: aside from scattered mentions of their existence in various documents.
Speaker 2: The final straw seems to have come sometime after May
Speaker 2: of twelve twelve, when Renauld did de Martesse switched sides,
Speaker 2: leaving France and pledging his fealty to King John. Either
Speaker 2: Eustace could not stand the idea of fighting on the
Speaker 2: same side as Renaud, or Renaud worked to turn King
Speaker 2: John against him. It's possible that it was more the latter,
Speaker 2: because there's some indication that Eustace stayed in john service
Speaker 2: until twelve fourteen, rather than leaving as soon as Renaud
Speaker 2: showed up. According to the romance, when Eustace left his service,
Speaker 2: King John had his daughter burned and then killed. After
Speaker 2: returning to France, Eustace allied with Philip Augustus and worked
Speaker 2: particularly closely with Philip's son, Prince Louis later King Louis
Speaker 2: the eighth. Eustace became an admiral in the French Navy,
Speaker 2: and one of his assignments was to try to retake
Speaker 2: the Channel Islands from England. Control of the Channel Islands
Speaker 2: went back and forth between England and France during this
Speaker 2: whole period. He also fought against England's efforts to retake
Speaker 2: Normandy from the French. This conflict between England and France
Speaker 2: became known as the Anglo French War of twelve thirteen
Speaker 2: to twelve fourteen. As it went on, England didn't manage
Speaker 2: to retake its lost possessions in France, and France started
Speaker 2: preparing for a direct invasion of Inga, with Eustace transporting
Speaker 2: knights and siege weapons to support that planned invasion. This
Speaker 2: conflict also went beyond England and France, drawing in other
Speaker 2: kingdoms and the Holy Roman Empire. The last major battle
Speaker 2: in this particular war between England and France was the
Speaker 2: Battle of Mouvin, which ended in a French victory. The
Speaker 2: French at this battle captured Renault de de Martines, and
Speaker 2: he remained in prison until his death in twelve twenty seven,
Speaker 2: at the age of about sixty one.
Speaker 1: Although the Anglo French War ended with the Truce of
Speaker 1: Chinol in twelve fourteen, it did not take long for
Speaker 1: England and France to be at war again. More on
Speaker 1: that after a sponsor break.
Speaker 2: The English losses in the Anglo French War fed into
Speaker 2: long standing tension between the English monarch and the barons,
Speaker 2: or the landowners who made up the nobility. This included
Speaker 2: disputes over things like taxes and administrative issues, and those
Speaker 2: questions about who Richard the First's successor should be had
Speaker 2: contributed to a lack of confidence in the monarchy. John's
Speaker 2: reputation as king was really not good, and after the
Speaker 2: Anglo French War, the barons were also angry about the
Speaker 2: loss of nearly all of England's territory in France. Same time,
Speaker 2: there were also disputes between the crown and Pope Innocent
Speaker 2: the Second. The Pope excommunicated King John in twelve oh nine,
Speaker 2: although that was later rescinded. Efforts to resolve these issues
Speaker 2: and to try to prevent a civil war in England
Speaker 2: ultimately led to the creation of the Magna Carta in
Speaker 2: June of twelve fifteen. The Magna Carta or Great Charter,
Speaker 2: outlined the rights and freedoms of the barons and of
Speaker 2: the Church, as well as outlining limits of power for
Speaker 2: the monarch. Some of its clauses also outlined basic civil rights,
Speaker 2: such as no freeman shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled,
Speaker 2: or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against,
Speaker 2: except by the lawful judgment of his peers and the
Speaker 2: law of the land.
Speaker 1: That's one of the four clauses of the Magna Carta
Speaker 1: that are still in effect today. The Magna Carta is
Speaker 1: considered to be one of the most important and influential
Speaker 1: legal documents in English history, and it's one that people
Speaker 1: who have studied English history in any way have probably
Speaker 1: at least heard of.
Speaker 2: There's some speculation that those sieged weapons that Eustace had
Speaker 2: transported on behalf of Prince Louis of France, which we
Speaker 2: talked about before the break. There's speculation that those were
Speaker 2: a factor in King John agreeing to the terms of
Speaker 2: the Magna Carta. John was hoping to prevent the possibility
Speaker 2: of the dissatisfied barons. Basically inviting the French to invade England.
Speaker 2: Knowing that the French already had siege weapons ready to go,
Speaker 2: might have been a motivating factor for King John in this.
Speaker 1: But John's attempt to prevent a civil war and a
Speaker 1: French invasion did not work out. The barons didn't think
Speaker 1: it was likely that the King would actually uphold the
Speaker 1: terms of the Magna cartam and then Pope Innocent the
Speaker 1: third declared that he didn't have to. So some of
Speaker 1: these barons rose up against the king and invited Prince
Speaker 1: Louis of France to invade England and try to take over,
Speaker 1: and this came to be known as the First Baron's War.
Speaker 1: When Prince Louis crossed the Channel on May twentieth, twelve sixteen,
Speaker 1: it was against the wishes of both his father and
Speaker 1: the Pope. Pope actually excommunicated him over it. He also
Speaker 1: crossed the Channel aboard Eustace's flagship. Meanwhile, the rebelling barons
Speaker 1: in England took control of parts of the country, including
Speaker 1: the Tower of London. Then King John died of dysentery
Speaker 1: on October twelfth, twelve sixteen. His son Henry the Third
Speaker 1: was his successor, but Henry was only nine years old.
Speaker 1: Henry's regent, William Marshall, took over the defense of England,
Speaker 1: and he was much more effective at it than John
Speaker 1: had been. He started driving the French back, and eventually
Speaker 1: Louis had to return to France to regroup and to
Speaker 1: get reinforcements. But as the French tried to leave England
Speaker 1: via the town of Wenchelsea, they were trapped by a blockade.
Speaker 1: The townspeople had sabotaged the mills there, so the French
Speaker 1: had plenty of grain but no easy way to grind
Speaker 1: it into something edible. They lived for a while on forage, nuts,
Speaker 1: and flour that they did manage to grind themselves by hand.
Speaker 1: It's not totally clear whether Eustace was with Louis when
Speaker 1: his army became trapped in Wenchelsea, or if Eustace managed
Speaker 1: to sneak through that blackade. The sources are contradictory on
Speaker 1: that detail. But Eustace eventually built a perrier, which is
Speaker 1: kind of like a trebochet, to attack the blockading ships,
Speaker 1: and he also built a large fortification on one of
Speaker 1: the ships that was trapped in the harbor. Although the
Speaker 1: English captured this fortified ship. The French were eventually relieved
Speaker 1: by a force that arrived from Artois, and they were
Speaker 1: able to get out of Winchelsea and return to France.
Speaker 1: The French returned to England with still more reinforcements, but
Speaker 1: faced another defeat at the Battle of Lincoln also called
Speaker 1: the Battle of Lincoln Castle in May of twelve seventeen.
Speaker 1: But they returned yet again, this time with a plan
Speaker 1: to try to sail a fleet up the River Thames
Speaker 1: to London. They faced an English force commanded by Hubert
Speaker 1: de Burgh at the Battle of Sandwich on August twenty fourth,
Speaker 1: twelve seventeen.
Speaker 2: This was really very early in the history of nautical
Speaker 2: warfare in this part of Europe. Most ocean vessels in
Speaker 2: this part of the world generally stuck very close to
Speaker 2: the coasts. They carried armies that were going to fight
Speaker 2: once they were on land, and so the ships would
Speaker 2: try to outmaneuver or outrun one another to get to
Speaker 2: the land where the fighting was going to happen. The
Speaker 2: ships themselves weren't really equipped to fight other ships at sea,
Speaker 2: so those huge warships armed with cannons firing broadside volleys
Speaker 2: at one another those were still centuries away. Instead, sailors
Speaker 2: might try to board enemy ships and take them over,
Speaker 2: possibly with the support of archers or various types of weaponry,
Speaker 2: but eventually the battles were always winding up on land.
Speaker 2: The Battle of Sandwich was the first battle in the
Speaker 2: history of Northern Europe to be fought entirely at sea.
Speaker 2: The details of how this battle played out are sketchy,
Speaker 2: and details from various sources are contradictory, possibly because there
Speaker 2: were a lot of things happening all at once. The
Speaker 2: English fleet was only about half the size of the
Speaker 2: French fleet, but the French ships were heavily laden with cargo,
Speaker 2: including siege weapons, knights, and horses, so they couldn't maneuver
Speaker 2: very well. The French ships were also downwind of the English,
Speaker 2: who came at them from behind, and this made it
Speaker 2: possible for the English to throw powdered lime at the
Speaker 2: French without being affected by it themselves. That lime blinded
Speaker 2: the enemy sailors, so they couldn't effectively fight back or
Speaker 2: control their ships. Once the English caught up to the
Speaker 2: now disabled French ships, they cut down their sails, which
Speaker 2: fell on and around those blinded sailors. The English force
Speaker 2: also focused its attention on Eustace's flagship. Specifically, it was
Speaker 2: one of the ones that was carrying siege weapons, so
Speaker 2: its cargo was particularly valuable in the context of this war. Plus,
Speaker 2: the English hoped if they defeated this flagship, the rest
Speaker 2: of the French fleet would just scatter or surrender. There's
Speaker 2: also an English account of the battle that puts a
Speaker 2: magical spin on this, saying that Eustace had enchanted his
Speaker 2: ship to be invisible to the English and so they
Speaker 2: were only able to see it once he had been killed.
Speaker 2: In the end, focusing on Eustace worked out for the English.
Speaker 2: They successfully boarded Eustace's ship, where he was found hiding
Speaker 2: in the bilge or in the hold, depending on what
Speaker 2: account you read, and he tried to buy his freedom,
Speaker 2: but was beheaded on the spot, dying at the age
Speaker 2: of about forty seven. The French effort really fell apart
Speaker 2: after that. This was a pivotal moment in the history
Speaker 2: of this part of Europe, in addition to its place
Speaker 2: in the history of naval warfare and of British naval power.
Speaker 2: The Battle of sandwhich was a decisive defeat for the French.
Speaker 2: None of the English ships were lost, while sixty five
Speaker 2: of eighty French ships were captured. Other ships were sunk,
Speaker 2: and estimated four thousand French sailors died at the Battle
Speaker 2: of Sandwich and thirty six French knights were captured. The
Speaker 2: battle was over, Eustace's head was taken to Canterbury and
Speaker 2: paraded around on display at the end of a lance,
Speaker 2: The Romance of Eustace the Monk ends with quote no
Speaker 2: man can live long who spends his days doing ill.
Speaker 2: Louis also abandoned his claim to the English throne after
Speaker 2: this defeat, and that defeat also effectively ended the First
Speaker 2: Baron's War. The war formally ended with the Treaty of
Speaker 2: Kingston Lambeth in September of twelve seventeen. There's no surviving
Speaker 2: copy of this treaty, so we don't have all of
Speaker 2: its language, but its terms did include that Prince Louis
Speaker 2: would order Eustace's brothers to return control of the Channel
Speaker 2: islands they were occupying to England. Louis also abandoned all
Speaker 2: claims to the English throne under the terms of the treaty,
Speaker 2: but received ten thousand marks and then the Pope later
Speaker 2: lifted Louie's excommunication. Twenty fourth, when the Battle of Sandwich
Speaker 2: took place, is also the feast of Saint Bartholomew, and
Speaker 2: in some accounts of the battle, Saint Bartholomew appeared bolstering
Speaker 2: or comforting the English force. After the battle, the people
Speaker 2: of Sandwich used the spoils to build a chapel dedicated
Speaker 2: to Saint Bartholomew, and houses for the poor and aged,
Speaker 2: and a hospital, and it became a tradition for the
Speaker 2: townspeople to quote make a solemn procession to the aforesaid
Speaker 2: hospital with tapers in their hands every year on Saint Bartholomew's.
Speaker 1: Day, that is Eustace the Monk. I have a little
Speaker 1: bit of listener mail. Bring it on.
Speaker 2: This listener mail is from Janine who wrote after we
Speaker 2: talked about Connie Willis in the behind the scenes of
Speaker 2: our episode on the Doomsday Book, and Janine wrote, Hi,
Speaker 2: Holly and Tracy, I just listened to your episode on
Speaker 2: Doomsday Book and Tracy's plug for Connie Willis's Doomsday Book
Speaker 2: and the behind the scenes and had to comment I
Speaker 2: loved Doomsday Book and all of Connie Willis's time traveling
Speaker 2: historians of Oxford Books. I read Doomsday Book for the
Speaker 2: first time ages ago, but I did reread it in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty during lockdown, and it was definitely something. Mostly
Speaker 2: it was just a real sense of familiarity, but there's
Speaker 2: one scene that stood out. There's a group of Americans
Speaker 2: visiting Oxford when the city is locked down, and they
Speaker 2: complain vociferously about how they need to move on with
Speaker 2: their tour and this kind of lockdown would never happen
Speaker 2: in America, and the main character thinks, yes, this is
Speaker 2: why thirty million Americans died during the pandemic, referring to
Speaker 2: a global pandemic that happens in twenty eighteen. In the books,
Speaker 2: Doomsday Book was published in nineteen ninety two. Connie Willis
Speaker 2: was extremely prescient and oof that one really hit home
Speaker 2: in December of twenty twenty. Anyway, still an excellent book
Speaker 2: and worth the reread, but it certainly is an experience
Speaker 2: reading it in a post pandemic world. I have sent
Speaker 2: pictures of my cats before, but I've attached to another
Speaker 2: couple as pet tacks because they remain extremely cute. Here's
Speaker 2: the two of them cuddling together, and also my friendliest
Speaker 2: cat on her favorite perch, my shoulder. Thanks for the podcast.
Speaker 2: Love catching up when I'm doing chores around the house.
Speaker 2: Thank you for this email, Jeanine. Like I said in
Speaker 2: that behind the scenes, it's been so long since I
Speaker 2: read Doomsday book, I did not remember that detail.
Speaker 1: I think I have read all of the books.
Speaker 2: In that series, but it's possible that there's one that
Speaker 2: was written after I had read the others that I
Speaker 2: did not pick up.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's.
Speaker 2: Something I heard about at one point and I was like,
Speaker 2: I should I should get that, and then have not
Speaker 2: done it. These cat pictures, let's.
Speaker 1: Look Katie's keys.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness. We have a like a black cat
Speaker 2: and a kind of orange just tabby cat, and they
Speaker 2: are curled up together so cute. One is basically on
Speaker 2: top of the other. Sometimes mine will do this, but
Speaker 2: sometimes something that has started happening at my house is
Speaker 2: Opel will be asleep in the old office chair that
Speaker 2: I can't get rid of because it's the cat's chair now,
Speaker 2: and on ex will decide she wants to be up there,
Speaker 2: and she'll just basically go ahead and jump on up
Speaker 2: directly on top of her sisters.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that sounds great.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And sometimes they work it out and they curl
Speaker 2: up together and it's incredibly cute. But yesterday when this happened,
Speaker 2: ople was like, Nope, I'm not doing this today. She
Speaker 2: got down and went somewhere else. A cat perched on
Speaker 2: a shoulder. I love this. This is something that happens
Speaker 2: at my house often. If I let a cat into
Speaker 2: the bathroom while I'm brushing my teeth and I bend
Speaker 2: over to spit out the toothpaste, kitty Kat will take
Speaker 2: that opportunity to jump directly onto my back. Anyway, thank
Speaker 2: you for these adorable pictures and this email about Connie
Speaker 2: Willis's doomsday book. If you'd like to send us a note,
Speaker 2: we're at History podcast atiheartradio dot com and you can
Speaker 2: subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app, which is
Speaker 2: now searchable by episode, or wherever you like to get
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