Eustace de Balliol

Who was Eustace de Balliol?

Eustace de Balliol was the cousin and successor of Bernard II de Balliol, lord of Balliol and Barnard Castle. He was the lord of Hélicourt in Picardy, an estate near the chief seat of the main Balliol line at Bailleul-en-Vimeu; after his cousin died childless, in 1190 Eustace de Helicourt took over those estates and remarried.

He had four known sons, all of whom appeared in the Durham Liber Vitae: Hugh, Enguerrand, Bernard, and Henry; his eldest son Hugh succeeded him, while his younger sons Enguerrand and Henry gained the patronage of the Scottish kings and founded Scottish cadet branches based at Inverkeilor and at Cavers. Eustace's son Hugh had succeeded him by around 1209.