In the summer of 1098 under the walls of Syrian Antioch it was really not comfortable: scorching heat, angry Turks and - especially - terrible hunger.

- Why is the rabbit so dead? - asked the count, picking up a piece of meat with his long fingernail.

- It's not a rabbit, sire, it's a rat,” answered Jean, the squire and cook. - Rabbits, like chickens, were eaten long ago.

With marked disgust Stephan proceeded to eat what was considered a sumptuous dinner. Jean, meanwhile, had to make do with a couple of rotten roots, a handful of blackened grains, and a piece of leather belt boiled in boiling water. And it was not bad at all, not all participants of the First Crusade had uneaten belts by that time.

But the last straw for Stephen of Blois was not a rat. The next morning in the camp of the crusaders spread the rumor that the army of Kerbogi - the atabek of Mosul - was approaching Antioch.

- An untold army, three hundred thousand mounted archers and as many infantrymen with square shields,” the spy said gravely.

He was exaggerating, of course, but everyone believed him. Including Stephen of Blois. He became very sad. Suddenly, an old wound, received in the battle of Dorilea... suddenly ached. Or maybe it just seemed to him that it hurt. And the Count was suddenly drawn with renewed vigor to his wife - the beautiful Adela, who missed her husband in distant Blois.

- Something I do not feel well, it seems, sick - said the closest companions Stephan and that evening with a small detachment moved to the port Alexandretta.

In the port just moored Genoese ships with food for the crusaders.

- I'm afraid you're too late, - said the Italian sailors Stefan. - There is already Kerboga and scorched earth.

From Alexandretta the detachment of the Count headed north, to Cilicia, and then towards Constantinople. And somewhere halfway to Tsargrad, among the hot hills of Anatolia, Stephen met the Byzantine army, which was led personally by Emperor Alexis Komnenos. The Romans were on their way to Antioch to help the Crusaders take the city, which had been under siege for eight months.

- It's too late, august, it's too late, - said Stephen, having found himself in the imperial tent. - Our army is defeated, the Saracens of Kerbogi have left no one alive.

Stephen was lying, of course, but he really believed that this is what happened - as he says. After all, the Crusaders had no chance in battle against “three hundred thousand mounted archers” and the same number of infantrymen.

- Well, no so no,” Alexei sighed with relief.

Stephan's detachment joined the Byzantine army and together they reached the capital. And already here, in Constantinople, received the news: the crusaders are not defeated at all, but just the opposite - Antioch fell. And the victorious storming of the city began almost the same evening, when Stefan Bloisky, reluctant, left the camp. Franks helped by treachery: the leader of the Italian Normans Boemund Tarenta for a large sum of money managed to induce to treason one of the Turkish commanders named Firuz.

“What have I done? Why did I hurry in such a hurry?” the Count was tossing and turning, unable to sleep. But the river could not be turned back - the Count was determined to return to France.

His beloved wife, the beautiful and power-hungry Adela of Normandy, daughter of the conqueror of England, William the Conqueror, did not meet her husband in the way Stephen would have liked. On the way home, of course, he dreamed of a different reception.

- Notoriety, my husband, has preceded you,” the Countess said icily. - You have broken your vows. You have betrayed God. You abandoned your brothers.

- But I wanted to see you so much. - Stefan threw himself on his knees and wrapped his arms around his beloved's legs.

But Adela turned and went to her room. - You were in a hurry,” she said over her shoulder.

After this brief conversation Adela declared to her husband the torture of silence. And this silence, in which the Countess was supported and once close friends of Stephen, barons from the north and south of France, and local priests, which at one time the count generously helped with money, lasted for several months, until July 1099 crusaders did not seize Jerusalem. When news of this reached Blois and Chartres, Adela broke her vow:

- You must return to the Holy Land. You have put the cross on yourself. You made a vow that you must keep.

- But I came back for you, for our family, for us to be together,” Stefan tried to justify himself again.

- For your family? Have you thought about how our children will look in everyone's eyes? Have you thought about how they will live knowing that their father broke his vows to God?

It was useless to argue with the imperious and determined Adela, the worthy daughter of her conqueror father. “She's right,” Stefan thought. - Especially when it comes to our children. How can they live after my disgrace?”

And in the early spring of 1101 Count Bloisky again sewed on his chest cross and again went on a campaign to the Holy Land.

Stephen left for the East in good company. Together with him, the Duke of Burgundy, Ed the Red, who wanted to avenge his daughter, who was lost somewhere in Anatolia during the campaign in 1097, the Burgundian Count Stephen, Hugo de Brua, Baldwin de Grandpre and other worthy knights, moved to Jerusalem. Arriving at Constantinople, Stephen saw that the company was going to be even more representative, and that the army would be very, very imposing. In the vicinity of the city already stood a large militia from Lombardy, which was led by two counts - Alberto de Biandrate and Hiberto of Parma, as well as the Archbishop of Milan Anselm of Bovis. And in the city itself at this time was one of the heroes of the First Crusade and the richest man in France, Raymund of St. Gilles, Count of Toulouse, one of those with whom Stephen shared the unbearable hardships of standing at Antioch.

Blois was delighted to meet an old comrade in arms:

- Have you cracked this nut after all? And you are victorious after all?

- Yes, and Antioch is ours,” answered Raimund, ”and Jerusalem is ours.

- 'You are right, my dear,' said the Count in parting. - I have a duty to help our brothers defend the Holy Sepulchre from the infidels.

Raimund of Toulouse, with the approval of Emperor Alexei, led this new campaign. Stephen and the rest of the lords from France were very happy about it - the count was not only rich, but also authoritative, and - more importantly - an experienced man. “Such a one will definitely not fail,” thought both Stephan, Blois and Burgundy, Ed Red and all the other Franks. But the Lombards thought otherwise. And when the campaign began and the Crusader army moved out of Nicea, they organized a “mutiny on the ship”. Instead of going off the beaten path through Dorilei, Iconium and Heraclea, the old Roman road, the Italians insisted that the first thing to go in a completely different direction. Namely - to the northeast of Asia Minor, where the hero of the first campaign Boemund of Tarentum languished in the dungeons of Sultan Melik Gazi of the Danishmendid family. The same one, thanks to whom the great victory at Antioch was won. It so happened that the knights and soldiers from the north of Italy breathed unevenly to the knights and soldiers from the south of their country - the Normans. The Lombards outnumbered the Normans and won the fierce dispute. Instead of taking the shortest route to Syria and then to Jerusalem, the crusaders went to hell to rescue Boemund.

And what do you think? The willfulness and stubbornness of the Italians ruined them all. Although the beginning was good. Latins without great efforts have taken Ankara and under the agreement with Alexey Komnenos have transferred the city under authority of Byzantium. True, it was the first and only success. Because after Ankara, the army went north and... lost its way. And somewhere among the Anatolian hollows near the city of Gangra brilliant European army was ambushed, organized by Seljuk Sultan Ruma Kılıç-Arslan and Melik Gazi (in order to punish the Crusaders, they even buried the hatchet, which was conducted with each other a little less than continuously). The defeat was terrible, the Lombards were destroyed almost every last one, except for the Counts, who managed to slip away, as well as the Archbishop of Milan, who fell ill before the decisive battle and left for Constantinople for treatment. Franks were luckier - and Raymund of Toulouse, and Stephen of Blois with small detachments managed to get to Constantinople.

- You disobeyed me and this is what happened, - said Emperor Alexis.

In the fall of 1002, his ship anchored in the port of St. Simeon in Northern Syria, where Stephen and other losers of the crusade met Tancred of Tarenta, nephew of Boemund, who was languishing in captivity. Accompanied by Tancred, the count did get to Antioch, spent a few days in the city, and then went to Jerusalem. He got there without incident. In the Holy City he was met by the Jerusalem king Baldwin I. Stephen visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, went up to Golgotha... In Jerusalem Stephen stayed maybe two weeks, maybe three. After that he began to pack for home.

His ship left Jaffa, but was unable to get to the open sea because of bad weather. He had to return. While they were waiting for a fair wind, a messenger from Baldwin arrived in Jaffa:

- “The king is going on a great campaign to Egypt and is in great need of knights. It is a matter of life and death.

The messenger's words sounded important and convincing. And so Stephen of Blois with his troop, as well as other knights who were going to go to Europe - Stephen of Burgundy, Connetable of the German Emperor Conrad and others - joined the campaign.

Alas, it was not an easy walk. Quite the opposite. Baldwin did not calculate his forces. When a small army of crusaders approached Ramla, it became clear that they are opposed by a much larger army of the Egyptian sultan. Retreat was too late, and Baldwin decided that the rapid all-destroying attack of iron-clad knights can solve the case in favor of the Crusaders. Moreover, in the king's opinion, it was the only chance for salvation.

In the battle at the tower and Stephen of Blois, and Stephen of Burgundy, and many other noble and not so noble knights died.... Connetable Conrad was the lucky one. He was severely wounded, and the Saracens spared him - because he fought bravely and selflessly. And a few more Franks managed to escape in some unbelievable way, and they broke the sad news.

When Adela learned of her husband's death, her heart ached unbearably. But she overcame the pain and said to Guillaume, Thibault, Odo, Stephen and the other sons:

- “Your father is a hero. He died defending the Lord.

She tried to keep her voice calm.

Adela outlived her husband by 35 years. The Countess ended her days as a simple nun at the Cluniac monastery in Marsigny.