French nobility, as Thibaut II Count of Champagne and as Thibaut IV Count of Blois. He was the second-eldest son of Étienne Henri de Blois and Adela of England. He inherited the titles Count of Troyes and Count of Champagne from his uncle Hugh in 1125. His relationship with his liege Louis VI was a quite ambivalent relationship. While he supported him in 1111 against a revolt, he turned against him two years later when the king denied him the county of Corbeil. He allied with his uncle Henry I of England, but signed a peace contract with Louis when Henry was excommunicated. From 1127 on, he again opposed the King of France. This constant changing of sides didn't change with the new king, Louis VII. After Thibaut had helped arrange his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1137 he came into conflict with the king about the introduction of a new Archbishop of Bourges. After the death of Henry I, he was proposed by the Norman barons to succeed him, as he was the eldest grandson of William the Conqueror. But his youngest brother Stephen was able to obtain the crown. In exchange, he received the regency over Normandy, which he lost again in 1144 when Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, invaded the county. He was unable to prevent it because he was occupied with Louis who had invaded the Champagne. But soon Louis feared the new strength of the Anjou family and now allied with Thibaut. He is known as a supporter of the Cistercians and for the foundation of the abbeys of Clairvaux, Trois-Fontaines and Pontigny. He also granted Pierre Abelard refuge after he had had to flee from Saint Denis University. Thibaut was married to Mathilde of Carinthia who bore him eleven children. His eldest sons married the daughters of King Louis and Eleanor while his youngest daughter married the king himself.