Stephan I. (Sancerre)

Stephan I (French: Étienne ; † October 1190 before Acre ) was a Count of Sancerre from the House of Blois . He was the third son of Count Theobald the Great of Blois-Champagne and his wife Mathilde of Carinthia.

biography

After the death of his father in 1151 and the division of his inheritance Sancerre and the surrounding area, Stephan received the title of Count. In order to continue to guarantee the political unity of the House of Blois, Stephan had to undertake to follow his eldest brother, Count Heinrich I of Champagne, to follow suit. This feudal relationship passed on to his descendants and was only ended by Count Theobald IV of Champagne in 1234.

In 1153, Stephan kidnapped the lady Adélais (Alix) de Donzy on the day of her wedding to Anselm de Trainel. Adélai's brother Hervé III. de Donzy accused him of this with his brother Heinrich, who, in league with King Ludwig VII (both overlords) and an army, included Stephan in the castle of Saint-Aignan. Before the fight started, the warring parties came to an agreement peacefully. Stephan was able to marry Adélaide after their first marriage was dissolved and had to cede Gien to his new brother-in-law.

After he became a widower, Stephan was invited in 1169 by an embassy from King Amalrich I of Jerusalem to travel to the Holy Land to marry the Princess Sibylle . Together with Duke Hugo III. from Burgundy he started the journey and reached Palestine in the summer of 1171. But for unexplained reasons, the marriage project failed after a short time, through which Stephen would one day have become King of Jerusalem, and Stephan started his way back to his homeland via Constantinople . While passing through Cilicia he was briefly captured by the mountain prince Mleh .

Back home, Stephan married Lady Beatrix in 1176, who died in 1179. During this time, Stephan and his whole family came into conflict with his nephew King Philip II . As Crown Prince , he had freed himself from the tutelage of his mother, Stephen's sister Adele , and chose Count Philip I of Flanders as his protector. Together with his older brother Count Theobald V. von Blois , Stephan stayed away from Philip's coronation in 1180 and prepared for the fight against Philip of Flanders in order to regain the lost influence. As the leader of a Brabanzone army , Stephan devastated the region around Bourges and Orléans , but by 1182 he and his comrades had to surrender to the king and submit.

After his third marriage to Aénor in 1187, Stephan joined the king on the third crusade . He was also accompanied by his brother Theobald V. von Blois and his nephew Heinrich II von Champagne . Stephan and Theobald died there during the siege of Acre (1189–1191) . Heinrich was to become King of Jerusalem a year later by marrying Isabella , sister of Stephen's escaped fiancé Sibylle.

From his marriage to Beatrix Stephan had the sons Wilhelm I († 1217), who inherited Sancerre, and Johann († around 1200). From his third wife he had the son Stephan († 1252), who was the grand cupid of King Ludwig IX in 1248 . the saint became.

Individual evidence

1. ^ William of Tire : Historia Rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum. XX, §25. In: Recueil des historiens des croisades . (1844), Historiens occidentaux II, p. 988.
2. ↑ For the year of death 1190 see Gesta Regis Henrici Secundis et Gesta Regis Richardi Benedicti abbatis , ed. by William Stubbs in: Rolls Series 49 (1867), Vol. 2, p. 148. Matthew Paris , who wrote later, named the year 1191: Chronica Majora , ed. by HR Luard in: Rolls Series 57 (1874), Vol. 2, p. 370

predecessor	Office	successor
Theobald the great	Count of Sancerre 1151–1191	Wilhelm I.