FITZ-JOHN

Eustace Fitz-John (nephew and heir of Serlo de Burgh, the founder of Knaresburough Castle) was one of the most powerful of the Northern Barons, and stood high in favour with Henry I. His first wife Beatrice, only daughter and heiress of Ivo de Vesci, Lord of Alnwick, in Northumberland, brought him that extensive estate, and his second, Agnes, daughter and heir of William Fitz-Nigel, Constable of Chester, still further augmented his inheritance by the Barony of Halton. From Eustace's son, by his first marriage, William, sprang the great Baronial family of De Vesci: by his second alliance he was father of Richard Fitz-Eustace, Baron of Halton and Constable of Chester, ancestor of the Claverings, and the Eures.

--(This name appears on the Battle Abbey Roll).