BLOIS, King Stephen

Abt 1095 - 1154  (59 years)  Submit Photo / Document

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• Name	BLOIS, Stephen
  Prefix	King
  Birth	Abt 1095	Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, France
  Gender	Male
  _TAG	Reviewed on FS
  Burial	Oct 1154	Kent, England
  Death	25 Oct 1154	Canterbury, Kent, England
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I47066	Joseph Smith Sr and Lucy Mack Smith
  Last Modified	19 Aug 2021

  
  

  Father	BLOIS, Count Etienne Henry II ,   b. 1 Jan 1045, Blois, Loir-et-Cher, Centre-Val de Loire, France Blois, Loir-et-Cher, Centre-Val de Loire, Franced. 19 May 1102, Ramleh, Palestine, Holy Land, Israel (Age 57 years)
  Mother	ENGLAND, Countess Adela ,   b. 1062, Normandy, France Normandy, Franced. 8 Mar 1135, Marsilly, Charente-Inférieur, France (Age 73 years)
  Marriage	1080	Breteuil, Eure, Haute-Normandie, France
  Notes	~SEALING_SPOUSE: Also shown as SealSp 4 May 1955, SLAKE.
  Family ID	F15452	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 1	ENGLAND, Dameta
  Family ID	F24411	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

  Family 2	ENGLAND, Queen Mathilde ,   b. 1105, Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Franced. 3 May 1152, Hedingham Castle, Essex, England (Age 47 years)
  Marriage	Bef 1125
  Children	3 sons and 2 daughters
  1. ENGLAND, Princess Matilda ,   b. 1131, Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, France Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, Franced. Bef 1141, Aldgate, London, Middlesex, England (Age < 9 years)   2. ENGLAND, Prince Baldwin ,   b. Abt 1133, Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, France Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, Franced. 2 Dec 1135, Edmonton, Middlesex, England (Age 2 years)   3. CHAMPAGNE, Count Eustace ,   b. Abt 1135, Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, France Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, Franced. 10 Aug 1153, Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France (Age 18 years) + 4. MORTAIN, Countess Marie ,   b. Abt 1137, Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, France Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, Franced. 25 Jul 1182, Eure-et-Loir, Centre, France (Age 45 years)   5. ENGLAND, Count Guillaume ,   b. Abt 1139, Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, France Blois, Jura, Franche-Comté, Franced. 11 Oct 1160, Toulouse, Haute-Garonne, France (Age 21 years)
  Family ID	F24373	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	24 Jan 2022

  
  

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• Notes

  Stephen (c. 1092/6 – 25 October 1154), often referred to as Stephen of Blois, was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne in right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda. He was succeeded by Matilda's son, Henry II, the first of the Angevin kings. Stephen was born in the County of Blois in middle France; his father, Count Stephen-Henry, died while Stephen was still young, and he was brought up by his mother, Adela. Placed into the court of his uncle, Henry I, Stephen rose in prominence and was granted extensive lands. Stephen married Matilda of Boulogne, inheriting additional estates in Kent and Boulogne that made the couple one of the wealthiest in England. Stephen narrowly escaped drowning with Henry I's son, William Adelin, in the sinking of the White Ship in 1120; William's death left the succession of the English throne open to challenge. When Henry I died in 1135, Stephen quickly crossed the English Channel and with the help of his brother Henry of Blois, a powerful ecclesiastic, took the throne, arguing that the preservation of order across the kingdom took priority over his earlier oaths to support the claim of Henry I's daughter, the Empress Matilda. The early years of Stephen's reign were largely successful, despite a series of attacks on his possessions in England and Normandy by David I of Scotland, Welsh rebels, and the Empress Matilda's husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. In 1138 the Empress's half-brother Robert of Gloucester rebelled against Stephen, threatening civil war. Together with his close advisor, Waleran de Beaumont, Stephen took firm steps to defend his rule, including arresting a powerful family of bishops. When the Empress and Robert invaded in 1139, however, Stephen was unable to crush the revolt rapidly, and it took hold in the south-west of England. Captured at the battle of Lincoln in 1141, Stephen was abandoned by many of his followers and lost control of Normandy. Stephen was freed only after his wife and William of Ypres, one of his military commanders, captured Robert at the Rout of Winchester, but the war dragged on for many years with neither side able to win an advantage. Stephen became increasingly concerned with ensuring that his son Eustace would inherit his throne. The King tried to convince the Church to agree to crown Eustace to reinforce his claim; Pope Eugene III refused, and Stephen found himself in a sequence of increasingly bitter arguments with his senior clergy. In 1153 the Empress's son, Henry FitzEmpress, invaded England and built an alliance of powerful regional barons to support his claim for the throne. The two armies met at Wallingford, but neither side's barons were keen to fight another pitched battle. Stephen began to examine a negotiated peace, a process hastened by the sudden death of Eustace. Later in the year Stephen and Henry agreed to the Treaty of Winchester, in which Stephen recognised Henry as his heir in exchange for peace, passing over William, Stephen's second son. Stephen died the following year. Modern historians have extensively debated the extent to which Stephen's personality, external events, or the weaknesses in the Norman state contributed to this prolonged period of civil war. Stephen of Blois married Matilda of Boulogne in 1125. They had the following issue: Eustace (c. 1130 – 1153), who succeeded his parents as Count Eustace IV of Boulogne Matilda (died before 1141), married Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester Marie (1133–1182), who succeeded as Countess Marie I of Boulogne Baldwin (died before 1135) Adela (died before 1146) William (c. 1137 – 1159), who succeeded as Count William I of Boulogne King Stephen's illegitimate children by a certain Damette were: Gervase, Abbot of Westminster Ralph Americ