Eustace the Monk

This employment involved Eustace and his brothers raiding the Normandy coast and establishing bases in the Channel Islands (he and his men held Castle Cornet in Guernsey for a considerable period).

[citation needed] When civil war broke out in England in 1215, he supported the rebel barons and ferried Prince Louis of France across the Channel to help them in 1216.

[citation needed] In August 1217, whilst ferrying much-needed reinforcements to Louis, Eustace met an English fleet under Hubert de Burgh sailing out of Dover.

Eustace was found hiding in the ship's bilges and offered huge sums for his life,[5] which his captors refused, since he had made himself so hated by the English crews.

[citation needed] In June 1217, during the negotiations for what would be known as the Treaty of Lambeth, the English demanded the return of the Channel Islands from Eustace's control, forcibly if necessary.

[9] A romance biography of him was written between 1223 and 1284 by an unknown poet from Picardy, mainly interested in his year or so of adventures after leaving Renaud's service.

[10] It is linked to the medieval myths of Robin Hood and the 13th-century Old French romance Fouke le Fitz Waryn on the life of Fulk FitzWarin.