The count of Boulogne listed among William’s commanders at Hastings was Eustace II.
Eustace II was Count of Boulogne from about 1049 to 1087 and joined William’s Norman invasion of England in 1066. At Hastings, he commanded on the Norman right alongside William FitzOsbern, leading forces associated with French, Picard, Boulogne, and Flemish contingents.
His role is also connected with one of the battle’s most debated episodes. The Bayeux Tapestry appears to show a mounted, banner-bearing figure identified by an inscription commonly read as Eustace, pointing urgently toward William. Some accounts interpret this as Eustace urging a retreat when the Norman advance seemed endangered; other details of his conduct vary among sources.
Eustace survived the battle and received substantial English lands after the conquest, evidence that William regarded him as a valuable ally. He later became linked to the royal and crusading history of Europe: his sons included Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin I of Jerusalem. He is sometimes confused with other Eustaces in medieval records, but the Boulogne commander at Hastings was Eustace II.