[5] Stephen retreated from the siege on 2 June 1098, the day before the capture of the city, leaving his comrades behind in a difficult situation, as a superior Turkish army under Kerbogha was approaching.

Critically, on the way back to the West he met the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, who was marching with an army to assist the crusaders, and persuaded him of the futility of his expedition.

His wife Adela pleaded with him to make a second pilgrimage, and he joined the subsequent Crusade of 1101 in the company of others who had also returned home prematurely.

[7] He participated in the disastrous campaign in Anatolia to free Bohemond from prison, then sailed from Constantinople to St Simeon and thence Jerusalem, finally fulfilling his vows.

In 1102, already on his way back home, he was persuaded by King Baldwin of Jerusalem to fight in the Second Battle of Ramla against the Fatimids.