13 Facts About Eustace Folville

Eustace Folville was the most active member of the Folville Gang, which engaged in acts of vigilantism and outlawry in Leicestershire in the early 1300s, often on behalf of others.

John Folville was probably the same John Folville who was knight of the shire for both Rutland and Leicestershire between 1298 and 1306.

Eustace Folville was pardoned again in 1333 for his military services in Scotland.

Eustace Folville continued to serve in military campaigns in 1337 and 1338, in Scotland and Flanders, respectively.

Eustace Folville died in 1346, having stood trial for none of the charges lodged against him.

Eustace Folville is buried at St Mary's church, Ashby Folville.

Eustace Folville's monument has been badly damaged: a Victorian description states that "the fragments of his helmet form the only part of his funeral achievement now remaining".

Eustace Folville faced little resistance to his crimes during his lifetime and suffered no form of legal penalty, despite being widely known as a habitual offender for two decades.

Eustace Folville's accomplices were members of the Halewell and Zouche families, which suggests a breadth of ill-feeling against Beler, going well beyond any one group.

Eustace Folville was later imprisoned by Edward III on charges of corruption, indicted by several juries across the country, and forced to pay 1200 marks for the king's pardon.

Eustace Folville was respected as an opponent of such figures, even if this opposition was not his primary motive.

Eustace Folville portrays Beler and Willoughby as entirely legitimate targets: Willoughby's ransom is reduced to a less avaricious 90 marks, while Beler becomes the aggressor of his killers, not only "heaping threats and injustices" on to his neighbours but coveting their "possessions".

Eustace Folville was, according to Eric Hobsbawm, something closer to an enforcer of "God's law and the common custom, which was different from the state's or the lord's law, but nevertheless a social order".