GEN-MEDIEVAL-L Archives

From: Urania< >
Subject: A bastard daughter of King Stephen ?
Date: 2 Feb 1999 00:13:52 GMT

In the Gallia Christiana volume 14 column 787 I find under the list of
the Abbesses of the Fontevriste nunnery of St Sulpice de la Foret
(Rennes, Brittany) the following entry:

1. Maria I, fillia ut avint Stephani Anglorun regis occurrit anno 1124 in
litteris Roberti Corispitensis episcopi, quibis ab eo monasterium S.
Marie accepit.

However, King Stephen of England's dates are c.1096/7 to 25 Oct 1154
(WEIR: Britain's Royal Families).
If Maria I became the first Abbess of St Sulpice in 1124, she must have
been at least 30 years old which puts her date of birth back to before
1094, so King Stephen cannot have been her father.
However, King Stephen's father was also a Stephen - Stephen-Henry, Count
of Blois, Brie, Chartres and Meaux. He died in 1102 on the Crusades.
Would it be a reasonable inference to assume that Gallia Christiana is
mistaken and that Maria I was actually King Stephen's bastard
half-sister?

Has anyone found any reference to this lady in any other source ?

This thread:

• A bastard daughter of King Stephen ? by Urania< >