Stephen of England 
Stephen of was born in Blois, France. Stephen of's father was Etienne II Henri De Blois and his mother was Alice de Tours. His paternal grandparents were Thibaut I De Champagne and Gersent of Le Mans; his maternal grandparents were William I of Normandy and Matilda Forrester. He had nine brothers and seven sisters, named Philip, Humbert, Eustache, Eudo III, Henry, Guillaume, Theobald IV, Henry, Odo, Lithuise Adela, Margaret, Maud, Alice, Eleanore, Agnes and Lucia Mahaut. He died on October 25th, 1154 in St. Martin's Prior, Dover, Kent. He was buried in Faversham Abbey, Faversham, England.General Notes
Usurped the throne from Matilda, daughter of Henry I.
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Stephen of England
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Stephen (1096 - October 25, 1154), the last Norman King of England, reigned from 1135 to 1154, when he was succeeded by his cousin (or, as the gossip of the time had it, his natural son) Henry II, the first of the Angevin or Plantagenet Kings.
Stephen was born at Blois in France, the son of Stephen, Count of Blois, and Adela of Normandy daughter of King William I of England, and thus the brother of Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester. He became Count of Mortain in about 1115, and married Matilda, daughter of the Count of Boulogne, in about 1125.
Before the death of King Henry I of England in 1135, the majority of the barons of England swore to support Matilda (Empress Maud), Henry's daughter, and her claim to the throne. Stephen of Blois however, who claimed descent from William the Conqueror through his mother, Adela, and had been raised at Henry's court, laid claim to the throne. Stephen's claim was supported by the majority of the barons as well as Pope Innocent II. The first few years of his reign were peaceful, but by 1139 he was seen as weak and indecisive, setting the country up for a civil war, commonly called The Anarchy.
In April, 1141, Stephen was defeated and imprisoned at Bristol. His wife, Matilda, kept faith, and Empress Matilda was forced out of London. With the capture of her most able lieutenant, her illegitimate half-brother, Robert of Gloucester, Matilda was obliged to release Stephen from captivity, and he was restored to the throne in November of the same year. In December 1142, Empress Matilda was besieged at Oxford, but she managed to escape.
Stephen maintained his precarious hold on the throne for the remainder of his lifetime. However, following the death of his son and heir, Eustace, in 1153, he was persuaded to reach a compromise with Matilda whereby her son, Henry (from her second marriage to Geoffrey of Anjou), would succeed Stephen on the English throne.
Stephen died at Dover, and was buried in Faversham Abbey, which he had founded with Matilda in 1147.
Besides Eustace, Stephen and Matilda had two other sons
1. Eustace
2. Baldwin (d. before 1135)
3. William of Blois, Count of Mortain and Boulogne and Earl of Surrey or Warenne. They also had two daughters
4. Matilda
5. Mary
As well as these children, Stephen fathered at least three bastards, one of whom, Gervase, bacame Abbot of Westminister.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle(the Peterborough Chronicle second continuation) provides a moving and succint appraisal of Stephen's reign:
"In the days of this King there was nothing but strife, evil, and robbery, for quickly the great men who were traitors rose against him. When the traitors saw that Stephen was a good-humoured, kindly, and easy-going man who inflicted no punishment, then they committed all manner of horrible crimes . . . And so it lasted for nineteen years while Stephen was King, till the land was all undone and darkened with such deeds, and men said openly that Christ and his angels slept".
The monastic author says, of The Anarchy, "this and more we suffered nineteen winters for our sins."
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Wikipedia.org - Stephen II, Count of Blois
Ancestry - Nancy Ann Norman
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Ancestor Pedigree Chart
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*There are earlier generations for the ancestor(s) indicated. See their page(s) for details (click name)
- b.BET 886 AND 908 in Chartres, France d.16 JAN 977/78 in Blois, France
- b.~ 0950 in Mormoutier, France d.12 MAR 994/95
- b.BET 914 AND 920 in Vermandois, France d.9 FEB 978/79
- b.BET 983 AND 990 in Chartres, Eure-et-Loir, Beauce/Centre, France d.15 Nov 1037 in Battle of Bar-le-Duc, Blois, Loiret-Cher, Orleanais, Centre, France
- b.~ 0925 in Arles, Provence, France d.19 OCT 993 in Regensburg, Germany
- b.~ 0967 in Bourgogne, France d.1017 in Blois, Loiret-Cher, Orleanais, Centre, France
- b.BET 946 AND 948 in Laon, Aisne, France d.26 JAN 980/81
- b.~ 1010 in Blois, Loir-et-Cher, France d.1089 in Tours, France
- b.BET 930 AND 943 in Clermont, Auvergne, France d.< 1016
- b.BET 963 AND 971 in Clermont, Auvergne, France d.< 1032
- b.BET 945 AND 950 in Auvergne, France d.UNKNOWN
- b.BET 990 AND 992 in Auvergne, France d.10 MAR 1039/40 in Blois, Champagne, France
- b.~ 0957 in Toulouse, Haute-Garone, France d.~ 0993 in died as a monk in Avignon, France
- b.~ 0938 in Arles, France d.0994
- b.~ 0949 in Provence d.UNKNOWN
- b.BET 1045 AND 1046 in Blois, France d.19 May 1102 in Ramlah, Hazafon, Israel, Palestine
- d.UNKNOWN
- b.~ 1030 in Le Mans, Maine-et-Loire, France d.1074 in Maine, France
- b.BET 1095 AND 1096 in Blois, France d.25 Oct 1154 in St. Martin's Prior, Dover, Kent
- b.~ 0935 in Fecamp, Seine Inferieure, Normandy, France d.20 NOV 996 in Fecamp, Seine Inferieure, Normandy, France
- b.0959 in Normandy, France d.26 Aug 1026 in Fecamp, Normandy, France
- b.BET 936 AND 952 in Denmark d.1031 in Normandy, France
- b.~ 1008 in Normandy, France d.02 Jul 1035 in Nice, Bithynia
- b.~ 0927 in Bretagne, France d.27 JUN 992 in Killed in action at Conquereuil
- b.~ 0982 in Rennes, Ille-et-Vilaine, France d.16 Nov 1017 in Normandie, France
- b.~ 0962 in Anjou, France d.> 1010 in Anjou, France
- b.14 Oct 1028 in Falaise, Calvados, Normandy, France d.10 Sep 1087 in Hermenbraville, Rouen, Normandy
- b.~ 0936 d.BET 1012 AND 1033
- b.BET 976 AND 978 in Falaise, Calvados, France d.UNKNOWN in Falaise, Calvados, France
- b.~ 1012 in Falaise, Normandy, France d.BET 1050 AND 1060 in Mortaigne, S-Mnch, France
- b.~ 0980 in Falaise, Calvados, France d.UNKNOWN
- b.BET 1062 AND 1067 in Rouen, Seine-Inferieure, Normandy, France d.8 MAR 1137/38 in Charente-Maritime, France
- b.Dec 0961 in Flanders, Belgium d.30 MAR 988 in Flanders, France
- b.BET 968 AND 980 in Flanders, France d.30 May 1036 in Flanders, France
- b.BET 945 AND 965 in Luxemburg, West Europe d.26 JAN 1002/03 in Gent, Belgium
- b.1012 in Lille d.10 Sep 1067 in Lille, France
- b.BET 958 AND 965 in Moselgau d.06 Oct 1019 in Luxembourg, Belgium
- b.BET 986 AND 988 in Luxembourg d.21 FEB 1029/30 in Flanders, France
- b.BET 958 AND 970 in Gleiberg Castle, Lahn Valley, Germany d.UNKNOWN
- b.BET 1031 AND 1032 in Flanders d.02 Nov 1083 in Caen, Calvados, France
- b.BET 938 AND 941 in Paris, Seine, France d.24 OCT 996 in Les Juifs, Near Chartres or in Paris
- b.27 MAR 972 in Orleans, Loiret, France d.20 Jul 1031 in Meulan, Yvelines, Isle-de-France, France
- b.BET 945 AND 952 in Germany d.15 Jun 1006
- b.~ 1003 in France d.1 JAN 1078/79 in Monastere de L'Order de St. Benoist, Messines, France
- b.~ 0957 in Toulouse, Haute-Garone, France d.~ 0993 in died as a monk in Avignon, France
- b.~ 0974 in Toulouse, France d.25 Jul 1034 in Meulan, Yvelines, Isle-de-France, France
- b.BET 942 AND 950 in Anjou, France d.BET 1021 AND 1026 in Arles, Provence, France
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Stephen of and Mathilde were married in a religious ceremony about 1125 in Westminster Abbey, London, England. They had three sons and two daughters, named Eustache of, William, Baldwin, Matilda and Marie.
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Children
Eustache of England
Eustache of was born about 1130 in Blois, France. He died on August 16th, 1153. He was buried in Faversham.
Stephen of and Mistress were married in a religious ceremony in Not married. They had a son named Gervase.
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