Stephen II Henry (in French, Étienne Henri, in Medieval French, Estienne Henri) (c. 1045 – 19 May 1102), Count of Blois and Count of Chartres, was the son of Theobald III, count of Blois, and Garsinde du Maine. He married Adela of Normandy, a daughter of William the Conqueror around 1080 in Chartres. In 1089, upon the death of his father, he became the Count of Blois and Chartres, although Theobald had given him the administration of those holdings in 1074.
Count Stephen was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, often writing enthusiastic letters to Adela about the crusade's progress. Stephen was the head of the army council at the Crusaders' siege of Nicaea in 1097.[1] He returned home in 1098 during the lengthy siege of Antioch, without having fulfilled his crusading vow to forge a way to Jerusalem. He was pressured by Adela into making a second pilgrimage, and joined the minor crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely. In 1102, Stephen was killed at the Second Battle of Ramla at the age of fifty-seven.[2]
Stephen and Adela's children were:
Lithuise, who married Milon of Troyes, viscount of Troyes, was possibly his sister and not his daughter, judging from the dates of her children. Unsubstantiated claim.
He had an illegitimate daughter Emma, who was the mother of William of York, archbishop of York.[3]
| Preceded by: Theobald III |
Count of Blois 1089–1102 |
Succeeded by: William the Simple |