STEPHEN OF BLOIS (1135-1145)

Blois was a buffer state sandwiched between Normandy’s rivals Anjou and the French king in Paris. So it was that William the Conqueror’s youngest daughter Adela was married to Stephen Henry the Count of Blois and together they produced three sons, Theobald, Henry and Stephen.

When their father went on the first crusade and was killed in 1102 at the battle of Ramleh the young Stephen was only two years old and was farmed out to his uncle Henry the duke of Normandy to be brought up. Henry soon grew to love his nephew and when the young man grew up was given much of the land forfeited by nobles who had rebelled against the Duke such as Mortain in the west of the Duchy.

His uncle also arranged a good marriage to Matilda the heiress of Boulogne whose main port at Wissant controlled the import of English wool to the continent. The Duke’s only legitimate son William had drowned on the sinking of the White ship in 1120 an accident which Stephen avoided because he had diarrhea and disembarked before the ship left port. When the Duke died unexpectedly in 1135 a supporter of Stephen, Hugh Bigod, claimed that on his deathbed he had renounced his daughter the Empress Matilda in favour of Stephen.

Stephen wasted no time in crossing the channel, gaining the support of the citizens of London and convincing the Archbishop of Canterbury William Corbeil that he was to be anointed King of England. At first he seemed to have been successful with most of the nobility supporting him and 15 months later in the Spring of 1137 he tried to establish himself as Duke. He was to find that the effects of his use of Mercenaries against the Empress Matilda in Normandy led to resentment and he was to stay in only until November when he signed a truce and left for England with his best captains, never to return. By 1145 only the castle at Arques was still loyal and he was no longer recognised as Duke even by the French king Loius VII.

The Scottish King David had led three raids into the North and despite being defeated at the battle of the Standard the following year was given a good deal which included control of Carlisle which upset Ranulf Earl of Chester whose family had rights to that city.

He rebelled and received the support of Robert the earl of Gloucester his father in law and half brother of the Empress. They formed an army and met Stephen’s outside the walls of Lincoln where their left flank drew their swords and advanced. Stephen’s supporters faced with a real fight on their hands turned tail and ran and Stephen was soon surrounded and captured.

This should have been the end of Stephen’s story but Empress Matilda was her own worst enemy. Having been brought up as a German Empress from the age of eight on betrothal to the Emperor Henry V and staying in Germany for the next 17 years until his death she was very arrogant even with her own family and soon alienated the citizens of London. At a banquet in June the citizens attempted to capture her and she had to flee the city.

She then went to Winchester to capture Stephen’s brother Henry the city’s bishop, and besieged him in the castle. He responded by throwing out of the windows firesticks which only succeeded in burning down the next door nunnery. Stephen’s Queen Matilda reacted quickly by sending mercenaries led by William of Ypres to besiege the besiegers which they nearly succeeded in doing. The Empress managed to flee to Gloucester but her brother the Earl Robert stayed to fight a rearguard and was captured and eventually exchanged for Stephen.

Stephen was now to listen more to the advice of his own wife and his brother Henry and tried to establish control over the English earls. At first he seemed to succeed and peace returned though to a divided country. In 1146 he invited Ranulf to court with the lure of promises but once there he was arrested and put in irons until he agreed to give up his castles.

This only succeeded in inflaming the situation once more and resulted in Ranulf being at a Whit Sunday 1149 meeting with King David and the Empress’s son Henry. Further fighting and crop burning followed. Those that Stephen had wished to humble had turned against him and now that Henry was sixteen there was a viable alternative against him. Stephen was urged to fight on by his son Eustace who stood to lose the most but the general mood of the nobility was for compromise not least due to the loss of their revenues.

When Eustace suddenly died in August 1153, some said of divine vengeance for looting St Edmunds Abbey, Stephen quickly made peace with Henry at Winchester and made him his successor. When he died in the following October his memory was that of a king who had not proved himself and whose rule had not provided the abilities needed to keep loyalty. Gervase of Canterbury wrote ‘it was the king’s custom to start many endeavor’s with vigour, but to bring few to a praisworthy end.’