Armies of Stephen of Blois on the First Crusade and the Crusade of 1101 Armies of Stephen of Blois on the First Crusade and the Crusade of 1101 The armies of Stephen of Blois participated in the First Crusade of 1096 and the minor crusade of 1101. Stephen, Count of Blois, was married to Adela of Normandy, daughter of William the Conquerer, and was the father of Stephen, King of England. Stephen apparently fled the battlefield at Antioch and returned home. He was coerced by Adela to form another army to return to the Holy Land in 1101, accompanied by Stephen I “the Rash”, Count of Burgundy. The known members of the army, which
Counts of Blois England. Charles de Blois, son of Guy I, Count of Blois, married Joan of Penthievre, the heiress of John III, Duke of Brittany; together, they became principal protagonists in the War of the Breton Succession. Upon the death of his only son, Guy II, Count of Blois sold the county to Louis I, Duke of Orléans and the county passed to the French royal family. Blois was important during the Hundred Years' War; Joan of Arc based herself there. The extent of the county varied over time. The northern portion, bordering on Normandy, was sometimes alienated as the County of