Stephen Henry (in French, ''Étienne Henri'', in

Medieval French Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligibl ...

, ''Estienne Henri''; – 19 May 1102) was the

Count of Blois Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...

and Count of

Chartres Chartres () is the prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir department in the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 170,763 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Chartres (as d ...

. He led an army during the

First Crusade The First Crusade (1096–1099) was the first of a series of religious wars, or Crusades, initiated, supported and at times directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The objective was the recovery of the Holy Land from Islamic ru ...

, was at the surrender of the city of Nicaea, and directed the

siege of Antioch The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, last ...

. Returning home without fulfilling his crusader vows, Stephen joined the

crusade of 1101 The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade of three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. It is also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this ...

. Making his way to Jerusalem, he fought in the

Second Battle of Ramla The Second Battle of Ramla (or Ramleh) took place on 17 May 1102 between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Fatimids of Egypt. Background The town of Ramla lay on the road from Jerusalem to Ascalon, the latter of which was the largest F ...

, where he was captured and later executed.

Life

Stephen was the son of Theobald III, count of

Blois Blois ( ; ) is a commune and the capital city of Loir-et-Cher department, in Centre-Val de Loire, France, on the banks of the lower Loire river between Orléans and Tours. With 45,898 inhabitants by 2019, Blois is the most populated city of the ...

, and Gersent of Le Mans. He is first mentioned as approaching

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

to ask for and receive the hand of his daughter

Adela of Normandy Adela of Normandy, of Blois, or of England (c. 1067 – 8 March 1137),LoPrete, Kimberly. "Adela of Blois." ''Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia.'' Ed. Margaret Schaus. New York: Routledge, 2006. 6–7. also known as in Roman ...

. 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

, leading one of the major armies of the crusade and often writing enthusiastic letters to his wife about the crusade's progress. Present at the

Siege of Nicaea The siege of Nicaea was the first major battle of the First Crusade, taking place from 14 May to 19 June 1097. The city was under the control the Seljuk Turks who opted to surrender to the Byzantines in fear of the crusaders breaking into the ci ...

, he asserts, in his letter, the surrender of the city to fear of siege towers. At some point either before or at the beginning of the

Siege of Antioch The siege of Antioch took place during the First Crusade in 1097 and 1098, on the crusaders' way to Jerusalem through Syria. Two sieges took place in succession. The first siege, by the crusaders against the city held by the Seljuk Empire, last ...

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. 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 Qiwam al-Dawla Kerbogha ( tr, Kürboğa), known as Kerbogha or Karbughā, was atabeg of Mosul during the First Crusade and was renowned as a soldier. Early life Kerbogha was a Seljuk Turk who owed his success to his military talent. He suppo ...

was approaching. Critically, on the way back to the West he met the Byzantine emperor

Alexios Alexius is the Latinized form of the given name Alexios ( el, Αλέξιος, polytonic , "defender", cf. Alexander), especially common in the later Byzantine Empire. The female form is Alexia ( el, Αλεξία) and its variants such as Alessia ...

who was marching with an army to assist the crusaders and persuaded him of the futility of his expedition. 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 The Crusade of 1101 was a minor crusade of three separate movements, organized in 1100 and 1101 in the successful aftermath of the First Crusade. It is also called the Crusade of the Faint-Hearted due to the number of participants who joined this ...

in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. He participated in the failed campaign in Anatolia to free Bohemond from prison which ended in disaster and then sailed from

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

to St. Simeon from where he went to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, 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

against the

Fatimids The Fatimid Caliphate was an Isma'ilism, Ismaili Shia Islam, Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the ea ...

. He was taken prisoner and executed, probably in Ascalon on 19 May, at the age of fifty-seven.

Family

Stephen married

, a daughter of

, around 1090 in

. Their children were: #

William, Count of Sully William the Simple ( – c. 1150) was Count of Blois and Count of Chartres from 1102 to 1107, and jure uxoris Count of Sully. Biography William was the eldest son of Stephen, Count of Blois and Adela of Normandy, daughter of William the Conquero ...

# Theobald II, Count of Blois # Odo, who died young #

Stephen, King of England Stephen (1092 or 1096 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was King of England from 22 December 1135 to his death in 1154. He was Count of Boulogne ''jure uxoris'' from 1125 until 1147 and Duke of Normandy from 1135 unti ...

# Lucia-Mahaut, married

Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester (1094 – 25 November 1120) was the son of Hugh d'Avranches, 1st Earl of Chester, and his wife, Ermentrude of Clermont. Early life He was seven years old when his father, known as Hugh the Fat, died. Due ...

. Both drowned on 25 November 1120 in the ''

White Ship The ''White Ship'' (french: la Blanche-Nef; Medieval Latin: ''Candida navis'') was a vessel transporting many nobles, including the heir to the English throne, that sank in the Channel during a trip from France to England near the Normandy ...

'' disaster. # Agnes, married

Hugh III of Le Puiset Hugh III, Seigneur of Le Puiset (French: ''Hugues III du Puiset'') (d. 1132 in Palestine), son of Éverard III, Seigneur of Puiset and Viscount of Chartres, and Adelaide, Countess of Corbeil. Count of Corbel. Hugh's father took part in the First ...

Eleanor Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. The name was introd ...

(died 1147) married

Ralph I, Count of Vermandois Ralph I of Vermandois ( French: ''Raoul Ier'') (d. 14 October 1152) was Count of Vermandois. He was a son of Hugh, Count of Vermandois and his wife, Adelaide, Countess of Vermandois. Ralph was a grandson of Henry I of France, while Ralph‘s mothe ...

; 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 Milo II of Montlhéry (died 1118) was lord of Bray and Montlhéry, and viscount of Troyes. He was the son of Milo I the Great and Lithuise, and younger brother of Guy III of Montlhéry. He initially held the lordship of Bray-sur-Seine, in Champ ...

, Viscount of Troyes (divorced 1115) #

Henry, Bishop of Winchester Henry of Blois ( c. 1096 8 August 1171), often known as Henry of Winchester, was Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey from 1126, and Bishop of Winchester from 1129 to his death. He was a younger son of Stephen Henry, Count of Blois by Adela of Normandy, d ...

(c. 1096 – 1171) # 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 William of York (late 11th century – 8 June 1154) was an English priest and twice Archbishop of York, before and after a rival, Henry Murdac. He was thought to be related to King Stephen of England, who helped to secure his election to the p ...

archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

, but recent research suggests a different parentage for her.Burton
William of York (d. 1154)
''"Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"''

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * , - , width="30%" align="center", Preceded by:
Theobald III , width="40%" align="center",

1089–1102 , width="30%" align="center", Succeeded by:
William the Simple {{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen 02, Count of Blois 1040s births 1102 deaths Counts of Blois Counts of Chartres Christians of the First Crusade Christians of the Crusade of 1101 Military personnel killed in action House of Blois