"Stephen also, count of Blois, was despised and shamed by almost everyone, because in 1098 he had disgracefully fled from the siege of Antioch and deserted his glorious comrades who were suffering in Christ's martyrdom. He was so often reproached, by so many people, that he was forced to rejoin Christ's army, as much from embarrassment as from fear. His wife Adela also frequently urged him to go, and between caresses of her loving husband she would say: "Far be it from you, my lord, to deign to suffer the reproaches of such men for long. Recapture the famous vigour of your youth, and take up the weapons of the glorious army for the salvation of many thousands, so that there may be a great rejoicing arising from Christians all over the world, and terror for the heathen, and the public overthrow of their wicked law.""
Adela of Normandy

January 1, 1970