House of Blois

House of Blois
House of Champagne
Arms of the House of Blois
Country  France
Navarre
 England
Ethnicity French
Founded 906
Founder Theobald the Old, Viscount of Blois
Final ruler Joan I of Navarre
Titles
Estate(s) Blois, Champagne, Navarre, England, Sancerre, Boulogne, Aumale
Dissolution 1305
Cadet branches
  • House of Champagne
  • House of Sancerre

The House of Blois (French: [blwa]) is a lineage derived from the Frankish nobility, whose principal members were often named Theobald (Thibaud, Thibault, Thibaut in French).

History

Heirs of the viscounts of Blois, the House of Blois accumulated the counties of Blois, Chartres, Châteaudun, Troyes, Meaux — as successors of Herbertians — etc., then the county of Champagne, and finally the kingdom of Navarre. The family was founded by Theobald the Old in the year 906.

When Louis VII of France was greatly threatened by the vast collection of territories in the person of Henry II of England, he chose a wife from the House of Champagne (Adela of Champagne) as a counterpoise to Angevin power.

The senior line of the House of Blois became extinct with the death of Joan I of Navarre, wife of Philip IV of France, in 1305. Champagne and Navarre passed to the Capetian dynasty.

King Stephen I of England, 1135–1154, was both a member of the House of Blois and the last Anglo-Norman King, being the grandson of William the Conqueror through his daughter Adela of Normandy.[1]

A branch of the family was established in Sancerre by Stephen I of Sancerre, a younger son of Theobald II, Count of Champagne. This branch became extinct at the death of Margaret of Sancerre in 1418 or 1419.

Genealogy

Arms

Arms of the House of Blois
Count of Blois
Count of Champagne
King of Navarre
Count of Champagne
Count of Sancerre

See also

References

  1. ↑ David Crouch. The Reign of King Stephen, 1135-1154, Pearson Education, Harlow, England, 2000.
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