12. Eustace the Pirate, Battle of Sandwich, England 1217
Here you can see the English using grappling hooks, the longbow, and a hurled missile which we’re going to guess is lime, on the French vessel, where some of their compatriots are slaughtering the French, including Eustace. This is Matthew Paris’s illustration of the Battle of Sandwich, from his Chronica maiora, dating not long after the battle (MS CCC 16, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge).
Eustace the Monk, AKA Eustace the Outlaw, AKA Eustace the Pirate, AKA Eustace the Mercenary, AKA Eustace the Admiral of the French Fleet, led a varied and exciting existence, hired as a pirate mercenary first by the English, then by the French. Everything was great until the Battle of Sandwich, at which he lost his head.
