Gervase of Blois Gervase of Blois Gervase of Blois was the Abbot of Westminster in England between 1138 and around 1157. Historically, Gervase has a bad reputation for mismanaging the abbey, although modern historians have re-evaluated his performance as abbot. Gervase of Blois was the illegitimate son of King Stephen and his mistress, Damette. His father ensured that he was appointed as the Abbot of Westminster Abbey in the second half of 1138; the abbey would have hoped to receive additional royal funding as a result. Gervase was very young to be appointed abbot, but despite this probably attended the Second Lateran Council
Flavia Blois Flavia Blois Flavia Ria Joan Blois, later Lady Burntwood, (28 December 1914 - 28 March 1980) was a British landscape artist. Blois was born at Cockfield Hall at Yoxford in Suffolk into the Blois family. Her father was Sir Ralph Barrett MacNaghten Blois, a baronet, and her mother was Winifred Grace Blois née Kennard. Flavia Blois studied art in London, first at the Chelsea School of Art and then at the Euston Road School. She studied in Paris during 1939 and 1940 after which she turned away from portrait painting to depicting landscapes and street scenes. Blois painted many landscapes