Étienne (Blois) of England (abt. 1092 - 1154)

Born about 1092 in Blois, Loir-et-Cher, Centre, France

Ancestors

Husband of Matilda (Boulogne) Blois — married 1125 in Westminster, London, , England

Descendants

Died 25 Oct 1154 at about age 62 in St. Martin's Priory, Dover, Kent, England

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Biography

b. c.1092-1096 d. 25 Oct 1154 Blois, Berri, France.

Parents

Stephen VI (FR: Étienne), Count of Blois-Chartres and Adela of England (p. William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders). Issue: 5 sons, 4 dau.

1. Eléonore of Blois
2. Count Thibaud (Theobald) II of Champagne;
3. Henry of Blois (monk at Cluny);
4. Henry, Bishop of Winchester;
5. Guillaume (William) of Sully;

Marriage

m. Matilda of Boulogne circa 1125. Issue: 3 sons, 2 dau.^[1]

1. Eustace (c. 1130 – 1153) or Eustace, who succeeded his parents as Count Eustace IV of Boulogne;
2. Matilda (Maud) (d. before 1141) m. Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester;
3. Marie (1133–1182), Countess Marie I of Boulogne, (Benedictine nun, abbess of Romsey, d.1182;
4. Baldwin (d. before 1135);
5. Adela (d. before 1146);
6. William (c. 1137 – 1159), Count William I of Boulogne, Count of Mortain, and Earl of Surrey or Warenne;

Mistress and Issue

mistress. Damette. Issue:

1. Gervase, Abbot of Westminster
2. Ralph
3. Americ

Other children currently linked to this profile but without documentation are:

1. Sybilla

Death and burial

(Royal Tombs of Medieval England) Stephen died on 25 October 1154 at the priory of St. Martin in Dover, and was buried in the abbey church at Faversham, a Cluniac house which he had founded with his wife, Matilda, in 1148. Matilda was buried there in 1151, and their eldest son, Eustache, in 1153. The large retrochoir contained a relic of the Holy Cross presented to Stephen by Godfrey de Bouillon, and the royal tombs were probably installed beside it. There is no record of the tombs, which were most likely demolished following the surrender of the abbey in 1538. Leland makes no mention of them. Speed claims Stephen's remains were scattered following the Dissolution (of the monasteries), a claim repeated by Sanford. Later the abbey church was converted into stables and the other buildings demolished; only the gatehouse survives.

King Stephen and Faversham Abbey

Faversham Abbey, located near the town of Faversham in Kent, was founded in 1148 by King Stephen and Queen Matilda. The site was just to the north-east of the town, about where the playing fields of the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School are now. The aim of Stephen and Matilda was to found a mausoleum for the House of Blois. They hoped the dynasty would rule over England for generations to come. In fact it began and ended with them. King Stephen, in 1154, his wife, Matilda in 1152, and son Eustace, in 1153, were all buried in the abbey church. When the abbey was excavated in 1964, their empty graves were found close to the very centre of the quire. Their bones are said to have been thrown into Faversham Creek when the building was dismantled. However, in the nearby Faversham Parish Church of St. Mary of Charity is a canopy tomb with no contemporary inscription, where, it is said, their bones were re-interred. The abbey was dissolved in 1538 and subsequently most it demolished as part of Henry VIII's plans to sweep the monasteries from England. Much of the abbey building material was removed by military engineers and transported by sea to France, where it was used to strengthen the fortifications of the towns in the Pale of Calais, which at the time was England's continental bridgehead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160408031030/http://www.faversham.org/history/buildings/abbey.aspx

Timeline

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia: Stephen, King of_England

• "Royal Ancestry" 2013 by Douglas Richardson Vol. I page 390
• "Royal Ancestry" 2013 by Douglas Richardson Vol. I. page 496
• Royal Tombs of Medieval England M. Duffy 2003 pages 52-53
• Davis, Henry. Regesta Regum Anglo Normannorum, 1066–1154 (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1969) Facsimiles of Original Charters and Writs of King Stephen... 1135-1154

See Also:

• Time Team Season 16, Episode 7 "Anarchy in the UK" (Radcot, Oxfordshire)