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Étienne Henri 'Stephen' II, Comte de Blois et Champagne, Count of Blois, was born 1045 to Theobald III de Blois (1012-1089) and Garsende du Maine (c1010-c1060) and died 19 May 1102 Battle of Ramla (1102) of battle wounds. He married Adela of Normandy (c1062-1138) 1080 JL in Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, France.
Stephen Henry (in French, Étienne Henri, in Medieval French, Estienne Henri; was the Count of Blois and Count of Chartres. He led an army during the First Crusade, was at the surrender of the city of Nicaea, and directed the siege of Antioch. Returning home without fulfilling his crusader vows, Stephen joined the crusade of 1101. Making his way to Jerusalem, he fought in the Second Battle of Ramla, where he was captured and later executed.
Life
Stephen was the son of Theobald III de Blois (1012-1089), Count of Blois, and Garsende du Maine (c1010-c1060).[1] He is first mentioned as approaching William the Conqueror to ask for and receive the hand of his daughter Adela of Normandy.[2] In 1089, upon the death of his father, Stephen became the Count of Blois and Chartres, although Theobald had given him the administration of those holdings in 1074.
Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, leading one of the major armies of the crusade and often writing enthusiastic letters to his wife about the crusade's progress.[3] Present at the Siege of Nicaea, he asserts, in his letter, the surrender of the city to fear of siege towers.[4]
At some point either before or at the beginning of the Siege of Antioch in October 1098, he was chosen as 'leader' of the army, a function that seems to not have gone much beyond presiding over the assemblies of the leaders as well as provisioning and housekeeping duties for the armies.[5] Stephen retreated from the siege on 2 June 1098, the day before the capture of the city, leaving his comrades behind in a difficult situation as a superior Turkish army under Kerbogha was approaching. Critically, on the way back to the West he met the Byzantine emperor Alexios who was marching with an army to assist the crusaders and persuaded him of the futility of his expedition.[6]
Alexios consequent decision to turn around contributed to the ongoing suspicion of the crusaders that the Byzantines were not to be trusted and to the later conflicts between crusaders and Byzantium. Having returned without having fulfilled his vows and abandoned his comrades, Stephen returned in disgrace. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the subsequent Crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely.[7]
He participated in the failed campaign in Anatolia to free Bohemond from prison which ended in disaster and then sailed from Constantinople to St Simeon from whence he went to Jerusalem, finally fulfilling his vows. In 1102, already on his way back home, he was persuaded by the king of Jerusalem, Baldwin, to fight in the Second Battle of Ramla against the Fatimids.[8] He was taken prisoner and executed, probably in Ascalon on 19 May.[9]
Family
Stephen married Adela of Normandy (c1062-1138),[10] a daughter of William the Conqueror, around 1090 in Chartres. Their children were:
- Guillaume of Blois (c1086-1150), Count of Sully[10]
- Theobald II, Count of Champagne (c1088-1152)][10]
- Odo of Blois (c1090-) - who died young
- Stephen of England - Last Norman king of England; his reign was called "The Anarchy" or "The Nineteen-Year Winter". He was made king because his cousin died in the White Ship Disaster.[10]
- Maud of Blois (c1097-1120) - married Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both drowned on 25 November 1120 and her cousin the prince, William of Normandy (1103-1120) in the White Ship Disaster.
- Agnes of Blois (c1099-1129), married Hugh III of Le Puiset[11]
- Eléonore of Blois (c1104-1147) married Ralph I, Count of Vermandois; they were divorced in 1142.
- Alix of Blois (c1100-1145) married Renaud III of Joigni (d. 1134) and had issue
- Adélaïde de Blois (c1092-c1139), married Milo II of Montlhéry, Viscount of Troyes (divorced 1115)
- Henry of Blois (c1098-1171). Bishop of Winchester[10]
- Humbert of Blois (c1094-) died young
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Sybille de Blois (c1100-c1147) | 1100 | 1147 | Hervé II de Léon (c1110-1168) |
Siblings
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Stephen II, Count of Blois (c1045-1102) | 1045 | 19 May 1102 | Adela of Normandy (c1062-1138) |
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Odo de Troyes (c1070-1093) | 1070 | 1093 | |
| Philip de Blois (c1072-c1100) | 1072 | 1100 | |
| Hugh de Champagne (c1074-1125) | 1074 | 1125 | Constance Capet (1078-c1125) Isabelle de Bourgogne (c1092-c1139) |
See Also
- Charlemagne Family Ancestry
- House of Blois
- House of Normandy
- wikipedia:en:Stephen, Count of Blois
- Stephen II Henry, Comte de Blois at thePeerage
- Étienne Henri 'Stephen' II, Comte de Blois et Champagne - Geni.com
- Stephen, Count of Blois at Find A Grave
- Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 50. Hereinafter cited as Britain's Royal Families.
- Brundage, James A. (1960). "An Errant Crusader: Stephen of Blois". Traditio 16: 380–395. DOI:10.1017/S0362152900006139.
- Claster, Jill N. (2009). Sacred Violence: The European Crusades to the Middle East, 1095-1396. University of Toronto Press.
- Davis, Ralph H. C. (1967). King Stephen, 1135–1154. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0582040007. https://books.google.com/books?id=GrQOvl8MXDgC.
- Evergates, Theodore, ed (1999). Aristocratic Women in Medieval France. University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Evergates, Theodore (2007). The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100–1300. University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Evergates, Theodore (2016). Henry the Liberal: Count of Champagne, 1127–1181. University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Munro, D. Carleton (1902). Letters of the crusaders. Translations and reprints from the original sources of European history. Dept. of history of the University of Pennsylvania. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106006432113&view=1up&seq=3.
- Rogers, Randall (2002). Latin Siege Warfare in the Twelfth Century. Oxford University Press.
- Tyerman, Christopher (2006). God's war: a new history of the Crusades. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674023871. https://archive.org/details/godswarnewhistor00tyer.
Stephen II, Count of Blois (c1045-1102) House of Blois Born: c. 1045 Died: 19 May 1102
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| Preceded by: Theobald III |
Count of Blois 1089–1102 |
Succeeded by: William the Simple |
Footnotes (including sources)
| ‡ General |
Bergsmit, Rtol, Phlox, Thurstan, MainTour
- ^ Evergates 1999, p. 11.
- ^ Brundage 1960, p. 381.
- ^ Munro 1902, p. 5-7.
- ^ Rogers 2002, p. 23.
- ^ Brundage 1960, p. 386.
- ^ Brundage 1960, p. 390.
- ^ Claster 2009, p. 106.
- ^ Brundage 1960, p. 393.
- ^ Tyerman 2006, p. 87.
- ^ a b c d e Evergates 2007, p. 248.
- ^ Evergates 2016, p. x.