House of Blois


The House of Blois is a lineage derived from the Frankish nobility, whose principal members were often named Theobald.

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 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.
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.

Rulers

Genealogy