King Stephen Blois ENGLAND

   Other names for Stephen were MORTAIN Count, Etienne and ENGLAND King.

   Ancestral File Number: 8XJ1-15.

   General Notes:

Count of MORTAIN, King of ENGLAND Reigned 22 Dec 1135, Deposed Apr 1141, Nov 1141-1154.

Not Married Concubine I Stephen Blois King of England, Not Married Concubine II Stephen Blois King of England.

BOOKS
Kings and Queens of Great Britain, Genealogical Chart, Anne Taute and Romilly Squire, Taute, 1990: "Stephen King of England 1135-Apr 1141 (Deposed), Nov 1141- 1154, Count of Mortain, Mar Matilda Daughter of Eustace III of Boulogne, Died 1154."

The Political History of England, Vol II, George Burton Adams Longmans Green and Co, 1905, p157:
[1111] "...In Louis' army were two men, oneof whom had lately been, and the other was soon to be, in alliance with Henry, Robert of Jerusalem Count of Flanders, and Teobald, Count of Blois, eldest son of Henry's sister and brother of his successor as king, Stephen of England. Possiblya truce had soon closed this first war, but if so, it had begun again in the year of Henry's crossing, 1111; and the Count of Blois was now in the field against his sovereign and defeated Louis in a battle in which the Count of Flanders was killed..."
p165: "The peace between Henry and Louis, made in the spring of 1113, was broken by Henry's coming to the aid of his nephew, Theobald of Blois. Theobald had seized the Count of Nevers on his return from assisting Louis in a campaign in the duchy of France in 1115...
"On Henry's side were a majority of the Norman barons and the counts of Britanny and of Blois. For the first time, also, appeared upon the stage of history in this war Henry's other nephew, Stephen, whowas destined to do so much evil to England and to Henry's plans before his death. His uncle had already made him Count of Mortain. The lordship of Belleme, which Henry had given to Theobald, had been by him transferred to Stephen in the division of their inheritance. It was probably not long after this that Henry procured for him the hand of Matilda, heiress of the county of Boulogne, and thus extended his own influence over that important territory of the borders of Flanders..."
p195: [1135] "With the new adherents whom he had gained, Stephen at once returned from Winchester to London for his formal coronation. This took place at Westminster, probably on december 22, certainly within a very few days of that date..."
p251: [1153] "...From Wallingford also, Eustace withdrew from his father, greatly angered by the truce which had been made, and went off to the east on an expedition of his own which looks much like a plundering raid. Rashly he laid waste the lands of St Edmund, who was well known to be a fierce protector of his own and to have no hesitation at striking even a royal robber. Punishment quickly followed the offence. Within a week Eustace was smitten with madness and died on August 17, a new and terrible warning of the fate of the sacrilegious. This death changed the whole outlook for the future. Stephen had no more interest in continuing the war than to protect himself. His wife had now been dead for more than a year. His next son, William, had never looked forward to the crown, and never been prominent in the struggle..."

A History of the Plantagenets, Vol I, The Conquering Family, Thomas B Costain, Doubleday & Co, Garden City, 1949:
p5: "...The assembled nobility decided unanimously in favor of Matilda. The first to take the oath was Stephen of Blois, son of Adele, the Conqueror's fourth daughter..."
p9: "Stephen was at the bedside of Henry, and he heard the dying King give instructions to Robert of Gloucester, who stood on the other side of the couch, for his burial. He heard also the low tones in which Henry asserted that he bequeathed all his dominions to his daughter.
"Could any intimation of coming events, of the struggle they would wage between them, have been communicated itself to these two men who saw the old King breathe his last? Stephen would have been more likely to sense what was ahead than the other. Robert of Gloucester was one of Henry'sscore of natural children, the best of the lot, his mother a Welsh princess named Nesta who had been made a prisoner during some fighting along the Marches. He was a man of lofty ideals, of great courage and compassion, a capable leader and soldier. It would not occur to one of his high honor that the wishes of the dead monarch might be set aside, and it is unlikely that he entertained any suspicions when Stephen disappeared abruptly..."
p13: "[The Battle of Lincoln]...It is a favorite divice of the chronicles to depict the handsome King as holding the hostile forces at bay singlehanded. Matthew Paris...describes Stephen as `grinding his teeth and foaming like a furious wild boar' as he fought on alone. There can be no doubt that the King gave a good account of himself, laying about him with his battle-ax. When this was broken he resorted to his heavy two handed sword with which he did great execution also. In the end he went down, and a common soldier, coming across him as he lay unconscious among the dead, cried, `I have found the King!'
p14: "...[Stephen] was taken to Gloucester, where the Empress was in residence...The records make no mention of a meeting between the two rivals, but it is certain that that Matilda had Stephen summoned to her presence... There may have been an attempt at escape. Whatever the cause, he was heavily loaded with chains and taken to Bristol.
p20: [Treaty of Wallingford] "...[According to Matthew Paris] The Empress was at Wallingford and the settlement was due to her efforts. `The Empress,' he writes, `who would rather have been Stephen's paramour than his foe, they say, caused King Stephen to be called aside, and coming boldly up tohim, said, "What mischievous and unnatural thing go ye about to do? Is it meet the father should destroy the son, or the son kill the sire? etc., etc."'
"This, of course, has no roots in truth. The Empress was not in England when these events occurred, and had she been there, her last thought would have been to counsel peace. Not that resolute lady whose whole life had been dedicated to the winning of the crown! There are certain pieces of evidence on this point, however, whichmake the possibility of Henry being the son of Stephen a little more than mere survise. The Empress was in England the year before the birth of the prince and swore at first furiously and definitely that she would not go back to Geoffrey, thenchanged her mind hurriedly. In some sources it is said that Henry called Stephen his father during the cross-water negotiations, a statement which seems to carry the hallmark of invention on the face of it..."
p22: "Stephen had twice been close to death in a condition verging on coma. Now for a third time he lost the power of movement and lay as one dead in the citadel at Dover where he had been when the seizure came. There was no devoted wife to nurse him back to health as had been the case on both other occasions. In any event, it is very doubtful if even the loving care of Matilda could have helped him. His hour had come. He died on October 25, 1154, and the physicians said death had been due to piles and an iliac passion. The symptoms seem to point rather to apoplexy.
"This handsome man, who had wanted everyone to like him, was probably the worst king England ever had because of the suffering he brought the people. During the nineteen years of his reign 1,115 unlicensed castles were built by the lawless barons. In some chronicles it is said that one third of the population died during that short space of time."

The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes, Elizabeth Longford, 1991, Oxford Univ Press, pxix: "Normans and Plantagenets Genealogy: Stephen, mar Matilda of Boulogne, reigned 1135-1154."

The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England, Antonia Fraser, 1975, Alfred Knopf, p25: "Stephen, c1096-1154, mar Matilda of Boulogne..."

The Wall Chart of World History, Edward Hull, 1988, Studio Edition, England 1135: "King of England 1135-1154, Nephew of Henry I, Defeated Maud his Uncle's daughter & rightful heir..."

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1981, Micropaedia, Vol IX, p555, Stephen: "Born Abt 1097, Died 25 Oct 1154 Dover Kent, King of England from 1135 to 1154. He gained the throne by usurpation but lacked the political astuteness and determination to consolidate his power during the ensuing civil strife...He was reared by his uncle, King Henry I, and received vast lands in England, Normandy, and the county of Boulogne. With a number of other magnates he was pledged to support Henry's daughter, Matilda, as successor to the throne. Nevertheless, many English nobles were reluctant to accept a woman ruler, and Henry's Norman subjects resented Matilda's marriage into an Angevin family. Consequently, after Henry I died in Dec 1135, the leading lords and bishops welcomed Stephen when he crossed theEnglish Channel to claim the crown. In return for support from the pope, Stephen opened the way to increased papal influence in English politcal affairs."
"Although Stephen was brave and energetic, his affable, mild-mannered nature prevented him from providing firm leadership...In 1138 the powerful Robert Earl of Gloucester, Matilda's half brother, took up arms in support of Matilda's claim...Seizing her opportunity, Matilda invaded England (Sep 1139). In an incredible display of chivalry Stephen had her escorted to Bristol, and she proceeded to bring most of western England under her control. Early in 1141 the Angevins captured Stephen in a battle at Lincoln. His cause might have been lost had not Matilda's arroganceprovoked a rebellion of the citizens in London, where she had gone for her coronation...Stephen was exchanged for Gloucester, who had been captured by forces loyal to the King. Stephen gradually gained the upper hand, and in 1148 Matilda withdrew from England."
"Although the King at this point exercised nominal control over most of the kingdom, he had neither the resources nor the will to suppress lawlessness and to mediate between warring nobles. He hoped only to secure the succession for his son, Eustace, but to do so he had to deal with Matilda's son, Henry of Anjou, who invaded England in January 1153 to claim his royal inheritance. When Eustace died in August, Stephen lost heart; he signed a treaty designating Henry as his successor. At Stephen's death Henry ascended the throne as King Henry II."

ANCESTRAL FILE
Ancestral File Ver 4.11 8XJ1-15 Stephen King of ENGLAND Born Abt 1095/1096 Blois Loir-Et-Cher France Mar Matilda Queen of ENGLAND 8XJK-67 Bef 1125 Died 25 Oct 1154 Canterbury Kent England Bur Faversham Abbey Faversham Kent England, FNMB-PR Etienne BLOIS Born Abt 1095 Died 25 Oct 1154.

   Marriage Information:

Stephen married Queen Matilida Boulogne ENGLAND, daughter of Count Eustace BOULOGNE, III and Countess Mary Scotland BOULOGNE, before 1125. (Queen Matilida Boulogne ENGLAND was born in 1103, died on 3 May 1151-1152 in Castle, Hedingham, Hatfield, Essex, England and was buried in Abbey, Faversham, Kent, England.)

   Marriage Information:

Stephen also married Concubine I England Stephen.

   Marriage Information:

Stephen also married Concubine II Dameta England.