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Birth:          1136 Blois, Loire-et-Cher, France
Death:          25 Jul 1182 Austrebert, Eure-et-Loire, France
Burial:         St. Austrebert, Austrebert, Eure-et-Loire, France

Notes
heiress of Boulogne
died as Abbess of Ramsey
div 1169/1170
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_I,_Countess_of_Boulogne
Marie I or Mary (1136 – 25 July 1182 in St Austrebert, Montreuil, France) was the suo 
jure Countess of Boulogne from 1159 to 1170. She also held the post of Abbess of 
Romsey for five years until her abduction by Matthew of Alsace, who forced her to 
marry him.
Early years[edit]

Marie was the youngest daughter of King Stephen of England and his wife Matilda I, 
Countess of Boulogne.[1] She was born in 1136,[1] one year after her father had 
succeeded to the English throne. His reign was to be marked by the civil war known 
as "The Anarchy" during which he fought a series of battles to retain the crown which 
was claimed by his double first cousin Empress Matilda.

She had three brothers, Eustace, William, Baldwin, and one sister, Matilda. She also 
had three illegitimate half-siblings by her father's relationship with a Norman lady 
known only as Dameta.[1] She became a novice at the Priory of Lillechurch in Kent, 
but later transferred to Romsey Abbey in Hampshire.[1] The abbey had been rebuilt by 
her uncle Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester. It was at Romsey that she became a 
nun sometime between 1148 and 1155. She was elected Abbess of Romsey in 1155,
[1] the year following her father's death and the subsequent ascension to the English 
throne of Empress Matilda's son Henry II. Her brother William had been passed over in 
the succession.

About four years later, on 11 October 1159, her brother William died in Toulouse. As 
his marriage to Isabel de Warenne, Countess of Surrey had been childless, Marie, his 
only surviving sibling, succeeded as the suo jure Countess of Boulogne.[1]

Abduction and forced marriage[edit]

Matthew of Alsace abducted Marie from the abbey in 1160, and forced her to marry 
him in defiance of her religious vows.[1] He therefore became jure uxoris Count of 
Boulogne and co-ruler. On 18 December 1161, Pope Alexander III wrote a letter to the 
Archbishop of Rheims in which he discussed Marie's abduction by Matthew of Alsace 
and her subsequent constrained marriage.[1] The couple had two daughters:
Ida, Countess of Boulogne (1160/1161 – 21 April 1216), married firstly Gerard of 
Guelders; secondly Berthold IV of Zahringen; and thirdly Count Renaud de Dammartin, 
by whom she had one daughter, Matilda II of Boulogne, who succeeded her as 
countess.
Mathilde of Flanders (1170 – 16 October 1210), married in 1179 Henry I, Duke of 
Brabant, by whom she had seven children. Six of these children lived to adulthood.

Marie's marriage to Matthew was annulled in 1170.[1] This was the same year that she 
gave birth to their younger daughter, Mathilde in Louvain. Following the annulment, 
Marie re-entered the religious life as a Benedictine nun at St. Austrebert, Montreuil, 
where she died on 25 July 1182 at the age of about 46.[1][2] Her former husband 
Matthew continued to reign as Count of Boulogne until his death in 1173, when their 
eldest daughter Ida succeeded as countess. Following the death of Ida's daughter, 
Matilda II, the county of Boulogne eventually passed to Adelaide of Brabant, daughter 
of Marie's second daughter, Mathilde.

Parents
OF BLOIS Stephen (ABT 1095 - 25 Oct 1154)
OF BOULOGNE Matilda I (ABT 1105 - 3 May 1152)

Siblings
OF BLOIS Marie (Mary) (1136 - 25 Jul 1182)

Marriage To D'ALSACE Matthew (Matthieu) (ABT 1137 - 25 Jul 1173)
    m. ABT 1160 dv. ABT 1170 

Notes

Parents
D'ALSACE Thierry (Dietrich) II (ABT 1099 - 17 Jan 1168)
D'ANJOU Sybil (Sibilla) (ABT 1112 - 1165)

Children by D'ALSACE Matthew (Matthieu) ABT 1137 - 25 Jul 1173
D'ALSACE AND FLANDERS Matilda (Maud) (1170 - 16 Oct 1210)

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