Stephen II, Count of Blois
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Original coat of arms of the county of Blois.

Stephen II Henry (c. 1045 – May 19, 1102), (in French, Étienne Henri), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres.

Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade's progress. He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without fulfilling his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed in the Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.

Family and children

Stephen and Adela's children were:

1. Guillaume (William) (d.1150), Count of Chartres married Agnes of Sulli (d. aft 1104) and had issue.
2. Theobald II, Count of Champagne
3. Odo, died young.
4. Stephen, King of England
5. Lucia-Mahaut, married Richard d'Avranches, 2nd Earl of Chester. Both drowned on 25 November 1120.
6. Agnes, married Hugh III of Le Puiset
7. Eléonore (d. 1147) married Raoul I of Vermandois (d. 1152) and had issue; they were divorced in 1142.
8. Alix (d. 1145) married Renaud III of Joigni (d. 1134) and had issue
9. Lithuise (d. 1118) married Milo de Brai, Viscount of Troyes (divorced 1115)
10. Henry, Bishop of Winchester
11. Humbert, died young.

Lithuise, who married Milon of Troyes, viscount of Troyes, was possibly his sister and not his daughter, judging from the dates of her children.

He had an illegitimate daughter Emma, who was the mother of William of York, archbishop of York.^[1]

Notes

References

• Davis, R. H. C. King Stephen 1135-1154 Third Edition London:Longman 1990 ISBN 0-582-04000-0