William Of CHAMPAGNE

Other Events and Attributes:

• Fact: Sire of Sully

Notes:

Excerpt from Blood Royal: William, the eldest son, did not succeed to his father's earldom because he was "wholy unfit to rule."

Family/Spouse: Agnes DE SULLY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Margaret DE CHAMPAGNE died about 15 Dec 1145; was buried in Abbey Of Foucarmont.
2. Henry DE SULLY

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: "le Sage" "Count of Chartres & Tours"
• Fact: Count of Blois, Champagne, Brie, and Chartres
• Name: Stephen II Count Of Blois
• Fact: 1096, A Crusader, a leader of the 1st Crusade

Stephen married Adela Of ENGLAND between 1080 and 1085 in Breteuil and Chartres. Adela (daughter of William I The CONQUEROR and Matilda Of FLANDERS) was born about 1062 in Normandy, France; died on 8 Mar 1137 in Cluniac Priory of Marcigny-sur-Loire; was buried in Abbey Of the Holy Trinity in Caen. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Also Known As: Alice Princess of England
• Birth: Abt 1062

Notes:

Name:
Adela was born around 1062 and was the youngest daughter of William the Conqueror and his wife Mathilde of Flanders. She was very well educated, spoke several languages, and was deeply religious. Around 1080/81, she married Stephen III, Count of Blos who was one of the richest men in Europe and a king in all but name. They had eleven children.

Adela's formidable political abilities first showed themselves in 1095 when Stephen became one of the leaders of the First Crusade and left for the Holy Land. He was County of Blois, Champagne, Brie, and Chartres and controlled hundreds of estates in France. he was away four years, and Adela was such an effective ruler of his domains in his absence that she became known as "the heroine of the Fist Crusade."

From 1099 when Stephen returned until he departed again on the Crusade of 1101, Adela continued to support several scholars and poets that she had invited to her court and that significantly contributed to the spiritual and cultural life of her era.

From 1101, Adela was once again ruling Stephen's domains. After May 1102 when he was killed at the battle of Ramleh, she became regent for their eldest son Thibaud and was the most important woman in Europe until he came of age in 1109. She generously endowed abbeys and churches. Several letters on ecclesiastical matters written to her by Hildebert, bishop of Le Mans, have survived.

Around 1122, Adela became a nun, entered the Cluniac priory of Marigney-sur-Loiure, and died there on 8 march 1137. She was buried in Caen in the abbey of the Holy Trinity next to her mother and her sister Cecilia.

Adela's brothers William and Henry both became kings of England, as William II and Henry I. So did her son Stephen.