WHILE THE CONTINUED development of administrative and legal apparatus by both nobles and kings has elements of modern government, the contemporary distinction between “domestic” and “foreign” policy makes little sense in a medieval context. Medieval nobles routinely interacted with foreign rulers and nobles who did not share a superior lord or king. In addition, they routinely participated in royal undertakings and pursued the expansion of power and status outside their own lands, but within the realm. After 1214, the French kings exerted significantly more limits upon internal politics, but only after 1244 were they able to exercise more effective control over noble interactions with foreign rulers. Countesses and noble spouses worked with husbands and family members to advance their political interests. Women were instrumental in fostering alliances through hospitality and marriages of children, as well as in gathering intelligence and military support. Noblewomen's activities are obscured by the chroniclers’ and society's assumption that politics is the preserve of men; thus, the silence in the sources is probably not indicative of the level of women's involvement. At a minimum, like Roman aristocratic matrons, medieval noblewomen routinely advised male relatives (especially husbands and sons) and interceded for others in matters of public and political concern. On occasion, they took a more direct role in the affairs outside their own lands.

Boulogne functioned in several different political theaters—Flanders, Angevin “empire,” Picardy, France, and, to a lesser extent, western Germany (e.g. Hainaut and Lower Lorraine)—as well as the wider “world” of Christendom. The death of William, count of Boulogne, Lens, Mortain, and Warenne in October 1159 precipitated a shift in Boulonnais politics from incorporation into the Anglo-Norman realm to a primarily continental focus. The overlordship of the county of Boulogne shifted from the French king to the Flemish count and back again. As in previous generations, this led to alliances with the nobility in Hainaut, Lower Lorraine, and Picardy. The county of Mortain in Normandy, granted to Stephen of Blois by his uncle Henry I of England, was a significant source of conflict with the Angevin kings and one of the main drivers of whether the Boulonnais family allied with the English or French kings.