Stephen, Count of Blois

Stephen Henry (French: Étienne Henri, Old French: Estienne Henri; c. 1045 – 19 May 1102) was the count of Blois and Chartres. He led an army during the First Crusade, was at the surrender of the city of Nicaea, and directed the siege of Antioch. Returning home without fulfilling his crusader vows, Stephen joined the crusade of 1101. Making his way to Jerusalem, he fought in the Second Battle of Ramla, where he was captured and later executed.

Life

Stephen was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Gersent of Le Mans.¹ He is first mentioned as approaching William the Conqueror to ask for and receive the hand of his daughter Adela of Normandy.² 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 First Crusade, leading one of the major armies of the crusade and often writing enthusiastic letters to his wife about the crusade's progress.³ Present at the Siege of Nicaea, he wrote that the defenders surrendered out of fear of the siege towers.⁴

At some point either before or at the beginning of the Siege of Antioch in October 1097, 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 was approaching. Critically, on the way back to the West he met the Byzantine emperor , who was marching with an army to assist the crusaders, and persuaded him of the futility of his expedition.