She had a crisis of faith and tended to attend religious services at the nearby St. Stephen's Church and discuss religion with William, Joseph's younger brother, as Joseph had apparently stopped attending religious services.

Stephen's eldest brother was William, who under normal circumstances would have inherited the title of count.

Stephen's remaining older brother, Odo, died young, probably in his early teens.

Stephen's younger brother, Henry of Blois, was probably born four years after Stephen.

Meanwhile, Stephen's younger brother Henry of Blois had also risen to power under Henry I. Henry of Blois had become a Cluniac monk and followed Stephen to England, where the king made him Abbot of Glastonbury, the richest abbey in England.

Contemporary depiction of Stephen's brother Henry of Blois, with his bishop's Crosier | staff and Ecclesiastical ring | ring

Stephen's elder brother Theobald was further south still, in Blois.

Stephen's accession to the throne still needed to be ratified by the Pope, however, and Henry of Blois appears to have been responsible for ensuring that testimonials of support were sent both from Stephen's elder brother Theobald and from the French king Louis VI, to whom Stephen represented a useful balance to Angevin power in the north of France.

Stephen's brother Henry wanted to succeed to the post, but Stephen instead supported Theobald of Bec, who was eventually appointed, while the papacy named Henry papal legate, possibly as consolation for not receiving Canterbury.

The incident successfully removed any military threat from the bishops, but it may have damaged Stephen's relationship with the senior clergy, and in particular with his brother Henry.

Stephen's brother Henry summoned a council at Winchester before Easter in his capacity as papal legate to consider the clergy's view.

No help was forthcoming from Stephen's brother Theobald this time either, who appears to have been preoccupied with his own problems with France — the new French king, Louis VII, had rejected his father's regional alliance, improving relations with Anjou and taking a more bellicose line with Theobald, which would result in war the following year.

Both Stephen's wife, Queen Matilda, and his older brother Theobald died in 1152.

Meanwhile, Stephen's brother Henry of Blois and Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury were for once unified in an effort to broker a permanent peace between the two sides, putting pressure on Stephen to accept a deal.

Stephen's elder brother Theobald, who had succeeded his father as count, was further south still, in Blois.

Stephen's accession to the throne still needed to be ratified by the Pope, however, and Henry of Blois appears to have been responsible for ensuring that testimonials of support were sent both from Stephen's elder brother Theobald and from the French king Louis VI, to whom Stephen represented a useful balance to Angevin power in the north of France.

The incident successfully removed any military threat from the bishops, but it may have damaged Stephen's relationship with the senior clergy, and in particular with his brother Henry.

Stephen's brother Henry summoned a council at Winchester before Easter in his capacity as papal legate to consider the clergy's view.

No help was forthcoming from Stephen's brother Theobald this time either, who appears to have been preoccupied with his own problems with France — the new French king, Louis VII, had rejected his father's regional alliance, improving relations with Anjou and taking a more bellicose line with Theobald, which would result in war the following year.

Meanwhile, Stephen's brother Henry of Blois and Archbishop Theobald of Canterbury were for once unified in an effort to broker a permanent peace between the two sides, putting pressure on Stephen to accept a deal.

In 1138 King Stephen chose Theobald to fill the vacant archbishopric of Canterbury over Stephen's own brother Henry, the Bishop of Winchester, who had helped Stephen gain the throne of England.

Waleran and his twin brother Robert, Earl of Leicester, were Henry's chief rivals for Stephen's favour, and Henry disliked both of them intensely.

When Stephen's son and heir apparent Eustace died in 1153, the king reached an accommodation with Henry of Anjou ( who became Henry II ) to succeed Stephen and in which peace between them was guaranteed.

Stephen and Henry agreed the Treaty of Winchester later in the year, in which Stephen recognised Henry as his heir in exchange for peace, passing over William, Stephen's second son.

Stephen's early life was heavily influenced by his relationship with Henry I, his uncle and King of England.

Henry responded by forming a net of alliances with the western counties of France against Louis, resulting in a regional conflict that would last throughout Stephen's early life.

Adela and Theobald allied themselves with Henry, and Stephen's mother decided to place him in Henry's court.

Stephen's wife Matilda was sent to negotiate another agreement between Stephen and David, called the treaty of Durham ; Northumbria and Cumbria would effectively be granted to David and his son Prince Henry, in exchange for their fealty and future peace along the border.

From 1138 onwards, Stephen gave them the earldoms of Worcester, Leicester, Hereford, Warwick and Pembroke, which — especially when combined with the possessions of Stephen's new ally, Prince Henry, in Cumberland and Northumbria — created a wide block of territory to act as a buffer zone between the troubled south-west, Chester and the rest of the kingdom.

Contemporary chroniclers suggested that Henry argued that it would be in Stephen's own best interests to release the Empress and concentrate instead on attacking Robert, and Stephen may have seen Robert, not the Empress, as his main opponent at this point in the conflict.

Ranulf of Chester remained upset over Stephen's gift of the north of England to Prince Henry.

Ranulf devised a plan for dealing with the problem by ambushing Henry whilst the prince was travelling back from Stephen's court to Scotland after Christmas.

Henry handed over the royal treasury, rather depleted except for Stephen's crown, to the Empress, and excommunicated many of Stephen's supporters who refused to switch sides.

His father was Stephen-Henry, Count of Blois and Chartres, an important French nobleman ; Stephen's father played only a brief part in his early life, being an active crusader.

The king's power was linked to his control of the rich province of Île-de-France, just to the east of Stephen's home county of Blois.

Stephen's remaining son William I of Blois was confirmed as the Earl of Surrey by Henry, and prospered under the new regime, with the occasional point of tension with Henry.

They base their view on a Vita, or Life of the 12th-century mystic Christina of Markyate, which narrates the events and gives a more central role to Theobald, instead of Henry of Blois, in challenging Stephen's arrest of the three bishops.

He was persuaded to do so by Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and Stephen's brother, and Roger of Salisbury, Bishop of Salisbury.

He was nominated by King Stephen with the advice of Waleran of Melun, but Philip's election was opposed by Henry of Blois, bishop of Winchester who was also the papal legate in England and Stephen's brother.

Most sources say his mother was Emma, half-sister of King Stephen and Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester, and that she was an illegitimate daughter of Stephen II, Count of Blois, Stephen's father.

In 1159, William of Blois died without an inheritance, he was Stephen's last son, leaving the titles of Count of Boulogne and Count of Mortain vacant.

While the Empress Matilda waited in London to prepare her coronation, Matilda and Stephen's brother Henry of Blois had her chased out of the city.