It is interesting to consider what the possible arms of a Blesevin dynasty in England would be - whether that of Stephen or his older brothers Theobald and William.
Heritable Coats of Arms were not yet fully established at that time though the fact that similar arms were later shown by cadet lines suggests some sort of dynastic element was already in use. e.g. Richard the Lionheart bore a range of lion arms before that adopted by his brother John (see here for a discussion of them)
On the Blois Arms, Stephen's nephews by his older brother Theobald II Ct of Champagne IV Ct of Blois bore as follows:
Henry II Ct of Champagne: azure, a bend argent cottised or. The cottises were later further embellished to distinguish from Blois
Theobald V Ct of Blois: azure, a bend argent cottised or.
Stephen Ct of Sancerre: azure, a bend argent.
This suggests that Theobald II/IV bore the same cottised white stripe on blue as his first 2 sons. Relating this back to Blois "colours" we have a few possibilities since Theobald was himself a 2nd son - his elder brother William the Simple was deposed by their mother on account of his behaviour - and 2nd sons are more likely to vary the family colours. Since adding bends was one early way to distinguish 2nd sons this suggests the Blois colours were a gold bend or 2 on blue.
I'd go with two bend/bendlets on blue as this seems to fit a canting view of the arms as a field of blues - bloes/bleus/bleis meaning blues.
Thus Stephen, though as a landless 3rd son increasingly likely to take his wife's colours or devise new ones, could reasonably have borne a variation or more of that field of blues.
I've previous suggested that Royal Blesevins would modify the cottises to be trefly-pommee and thus resemble coronal decoration.
What ideas to do you have?
Heritable Coats of Arms were not yet fully established at that time though the fact that similar arms were later shown by cadet lines suggests some sort of dynastic element was already in use. e.g. Richard the Lionheart bore a range of lion arms before that adopted by his brother John (see here for a discussion of them)
On the Blois Arms, Stephen's nephews by his older brother Theobald II Ct of Champagne IV Ct of Blois bore as follows:
Henry II Ct of Champagne: azure, a bend argent cottised or. The cottises were later further embellished to distinguish from Blois
Theobald V Ct of Blois: azure, a bend argent cottised or.
Stephen Ct of Sancerre: azure, a bend argent.
This suggests that Theobald II/IV bore the same cottised white stripe on blue as his first 2 sons. Relating this back to Blois "colours" we have a few possibilities since Theobald was himself a 2nd son - his elder brother William the Simple was deposed by their mother on account of his behaviour - and 2nd sons are more likely to vary the family colours. Since adding bends was one early way to distinguish 2nd sons this suggests the Blois colours were a gold bend or 2 on blue.
I'd go with two bend/bendlets on blue as this seems to fit a canting view of the arms as a field of blues - bloes/bleus/bleis meaning blues.
Thus Stephen, though as a landless 3rd son increasingly likely to take his wife's colours or devise new ones, could reasonably have borne a variation or more of that field of blues.
I've previous suggested that Royal Blesevins would modify the cottises to be trefly-pommee and thus resemble coronal decoration.
What ideas to do you have?