Emma (or Emme) of Anjou (c.1140–c.1214) was an illegitimate daughter of

Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou Geoffrey V (24 August 1113 – 7 September 1151), called the Handsome, the Fair (french: link=no, le Bel) or Plantagenet, was the count of Anjou, Count of Tours, Touraine and Count of Maine, Maine by inheritance from 1129, and also Duke of Nor ...

, and half-sister of King

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

. She was married to

Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd ( – 1203) was Prince of Gwynedd from 1170 to 1195. For a time he ruled jointly with his brothers Maelgwn ab Owain Gwynedd and Rhodri ab Owain Gwynedd. Dafydd was the son of Owain Gwynedd by Cristin ferch Goronwy ab ...

, a Welsh prince. She is occasionally confused with Emma de Laval (1200-1264), the daughter of

Guy V de Laval Guy V de Laval (died 1210) was the Lord of Laval, Mayenne. Family Guy was the son of Guy IV de Laval and Emma de Dunstanville. He married Avoise de Craon (died 1230), daughter of Maurice II de Craon. They had issue: * Guy VI de Laval kno ...

. Emma married Dafydd in the summer of 1174, after an unsuccessful rebellion by the queen,

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor ( – 1 April 1204; french: Aliénor d'Aquitaine, ) was Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II, and Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right from ...

, and her older sons had led her half-brother the king to disperse Eleanor's court in Aquitaine and bring Emma back to England. Emma had four children by Dafydd: *

Owain Owain () is a name of Welsh origin, variously written in Old Welsh as Ougein, Eugein, Euguen, Iguein, Ou(u)ein, Eug(u)ein, Yuein, and in Middle Welsh as Ewein, Owein, and Ywein. Other variants of the name Owain include Ewein, Iguein, Owein, Ouein, Y ...

* Einion * Gwenllian * Gwenhwyfar, who married one Meurig ap Roger, the son of a Powys nobleman who had allied himself with Henry II In 1176, after her husband's rule in the

Kingdom of Gwynedd The Kingdom of Gwynedd (Medieval Latin: ; Middle Welsh: ) was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain. Based in northwest Wales, th ...

had been challenged by his brother, Emma is known to have visited King Henry II and received a gift of manors in Shropshire and Worcestershire. After Henry's death in 1189, she continued to attempt to protect her children's interests by making representations to Henry's heirs. In 1196, Emma and her husband, at the request of their son, Owain, gave property to

Haughmond Abbey Haughmond Abbey ( ) is a ruined, medieval, Augustinians, Augustinian monastery a few miles from Shrewsbury, England. It was probably founded in the early 12th century and was closely associated with the FitzAlan family, who became Earls of Arund ...

.Eyton, ''Antiquities of Shropshire'', Volume 10, p. 249
/ref> Shortly afterwards, Dafydd was deposed by his nephew,

Llywelyn the Great Llywelyn the Great ( cy, Llywelyn Fawr, ; full name Llywelyn mab Iorwerth; c. 117311 April 1240) was a King of Gwynedd in north Wales and eventually " Prince of the Welsh" (in 1228) and "Prince of Wales" (in 1240). By a combination of war and d ...

, and was forced into exile in England, where he died in 1203.

References

{{reflist 1140s births 1210s deaths 12th-century French women 12th-century French people