View source for Stephen, Count of Blois

{{Short description|Count of Blois from 1089 to 1102}}{{For|his son|Stephen, King of England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{Infobox noble
| name = Stephen
| image = StepanBlois 1089.jpg
| caption = Seal of Stephen
| CoA = 
| tenure = 1089–1102
| predecessor = [[Theobald III, Count of Blois]]
| noble family = [[House of Blois|Blois]]
| father = [[Theobald III, Count of Blois]]
| mother = Garsinde du Maine
| spouse = [[Adela of Normandy]]
| issue = {{plainlist|
*[[William, Count of Sully]]
*[[Theobald II, Count of Champagne]]
*Odo of Blois
*[[Stephen, King of England]]
*[[Lucia-Mahaut, Countess of Chester]]
*[[Agnes of Blois|Agnes, Lady of Le Puiset]]
*[[Eleanor of Champagne|Eleanor, Countess of Vermandois]]
*Alix, Lady of Joigni
*Adelaide of Blois
*[[Henry, Bishop of Winchester]]
*Humbert of Blois}}
| successor = [[Theobald IV, Count of Blois]]
| birth_date = {{c.|1045}}
| birth_place = [[Blois]], Kingdom of France
| death_date = 19 May {{death year and age|1102|1045}}
| death_place = [[Battle of Ramla (1102)|Ramla]], [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]
}}

'''Stephen Henry''' (in [[French language|French]], ''Étienne Henri'', in [[Old French]], ''Estienne Henri''; {{c.|1045}} – 19 May 1102) was the [[count of Blois]] and [[County of Chartres|Chartres]]. He led an army during the [[First Crusade]], was at the [[siege of Nicaea|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 of Blois|Theobald III]], count of [[Blois]], and Gersent of Le Mans.{{sfn|Evergates|1999|p=11}} He is first mentioned as approaching [[William the Conqueror]] to ask for and receive the hand of his daughter [[Adela of Normandy]].{{sfn|Brundage |1960|p=381}}  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 [[Armies of Stephen of Blois on the First Crusades|major armies]] of the crusade and often writing enthusiastic letters to his wife about the crusade's progress.{{sfn|Munro|1902|p=5-7}} Present at the [[Siege of Nicaea]], he wrote that the defenders surrendered out of fear of the siege towers.{{sfn|Rogers|2002|p=23}} 

At some point either before or at the beginning of the [[Siege of Antioch]] in October 1097, 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.{{sfn|Brundage |1960|p=386}}
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 I Komnenos]], who was marching with an army to assist the crusaders, and persuaded him of the futility of his expedition.{{sfn|Brundage|1960|p=390}} 

Alexios's 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 with unfulfilled vows and the ignominy of abandoning his comrades, Stephen was in disgrace. His wife Adela pleaded with him to make a second pilgrimage, and he joined the subsequent [[Crusade of 1101]] in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely.{{sfn|Claster|2009|p=106}} 

He participated in the disastrous campaign in Anatolia to free [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond]] from prison, then sailed from [[Constantinople]] to [[Port Saint Symeon|St Simeon]] and thence [[Jerusalem]], finally fulfilling his vows. In 1102, already on his way back home, he was persuaded by King [[Baldwin I of Jerusalem|Baldwin]] of Jerusalem to fight in the [[Second Battle of Ramla]] against the [[Fatimid Caliphate|Fatimids]].{{sfn|Brundage|1960|p=393}} He was taken prisoner and executed, probably in [[Ascalon]] on 19 May.{{sfn|Tyerman|2006|p=87}}

==Family==
Stephen married [[Adela of Normandy]],{{sfn|Evergates|2007|p=248}} a daughter of [[William the Conqueror]], around 1090 in [[Chartres]]. Their children were:
# [[William, Count of Sully]]{{sfn|Evergates|2007|p=248}} (c. 1085 – c. 1150)
# [[Theobald II, Count of Champagne]]{{sfn|Evergates|2007|p=248}} (1090–1152)
# Odo, who died young
# [[Stephen, King of England]]{{sfn|Evergates|2007|p=248}} (1092 or 1096 – 1154) (reign: 1135 - 1154)
# Matilda,<ref>{{Citation |last=Johns |first=Susan M. |title=Countesses |date=2003 |work=Noblewomen, aristocracy and power in the twelfth-century Anglo-Norman realm |pages=53–80 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt155jbk1.9 |access-date=2024-11-29 |publisher=Manchester University Press|jstor=j.ctt155jbk1.9 }}</ref>  married [[Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester]]. Both drowned on 25 November 1120 in the ''[[White Ship]]'' disaster.
# [[Agnes of Blois|Agnes]], married [[Hugh III of Le Puiset]]{{sfn|Evergates|2016|p=x}}
#[[Eleanor of Champagne|Eleanor]] (died 1147) married [[Ralph I, Count of Vermandois]]; they were divorced in 1142.
# Alix (c. 1095 – 1145) married Renaud III of Joigni (d. 1134) and had issue
# Adelaide, married [[Milo II of Montlhéry]], Viscount of Troyes (divorced 1115)
# [[Henry, Bishop of Winchester]] (c. 1096 – 1171){{sfn|Evergates|2007|p=248}}
# Humbert, died young

A late 14th century source gives Stephen an illegitimate daughter Emma, wife of [[Herbert of Winchester]] and mother of [[William of York]], [[archbishop of York]],{{sfn|Davis|1967|p=172}} but recent research suggests a different parentage for her.<ref name=WilliamDNB>Burton "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9606 William of York (d. 1154)]" ''"Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"''</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite journal |title=An Errant Crusader: Stephen of Blois |first=James A. |last=Brundage |journal=Traditio |volume=16 |pages=380–395 |year=1960 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27830413|doi=10.1017/S0362152900006139 |jstor=27830413 |s2cid=142071410 |url-access=subscription }}
*{{cite book |title=Sacred Violence: The European Crusades to the Middle East, 1095-1396 |first=Jill N. |last=Claster |publisher=University of Toronto Press |year=2009 }}
*{{cite book|last=Davis|first=Ralph H. C.|title=King Stephen, 1135–1154|year=1967|publisher=University of California Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GrQOvl8MXDgC|isbn=978-0582040007}}
*{{cite book |title=Aristocratic Women in Medieval France |editor-first=Theodore |editor-last=Evergates |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=1999 }}
*{{cite book |first=Theodore |last=Evergates |title=The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100–1300 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2007 }}
*{{cite book |title=Henry the Liberal: Count of Champagne, 1127–1181 |first=Theodore |last=Evergates |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2016 }}
*{{cite book |last=Munro |first=D. Carleton |year=1902 |title=Letters of the crusaders |series=Translations and reprints from the original sources of European history |publisher=Dept. of history of the University of Pennsylvania |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106006432113&view=1up&seq=3 }}
*{{cite book |title=Latin Siege Warfare in the Twelfth Century |first=Randall |last=Rogers |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2002 }}
*{{cite book |last=Tyerman |first=Christopher|authorlink= Christopher Tyerman |title=God's war: a new history of the Crusades |url=https://archive.org/details/godswarnewhistor00tyer |url-access=registration |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2006 |isbn=9780674023871 }}

{{s-start}}
{{s-hou|[[House of Blois]]||{{c.|1045}}|19 May|1102}}
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:<br/>'''[[Theobald III of Blois|Theobald III]]'''
|width="40%" align="center"|'''[[Count of Blois]]'''<br/>1089–1102	 
|width="30%" align="center"|Succeeded by:<br/>'''[[William, Count of Sully|William the Simple]]'''
{{s-end}}

{{Dukes of Chartres}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen, Count of Blois}}
[[Category:1040s births]]
[[Category:1102 deaths]]

[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:Counts of Blois]]
[[Category:Counts of Chartres]]
[[Category:Christians of the First Crusade]]
[[Category:Christians of the Crusade of 1101]]
[[Category:Military personnel killed in action]]
[[Category:House of Blois]]