Bastard Children of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou
Douglas Richardson
I show the following three illegitimate children for Geoffrey
Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (died 1151). The son, Hamelin, is often
styled "Hamelin de Warenne" in modern records. However, all instances
I have seen of him call him simply "Hamelin" without a surname. As
for the two daughters, Emme and Mary, contemporary medieval charters
attest to their existence. Emme is also named in the Pipe Rolls as
the King's sister. Hamelin and probably Emme have living modern
descendants.
I wish to thank John Carmi Parsons for pointing out to me the
existence of the daughter, Mary, whose name does not usually appear on
lists of Geoffrey Plantagenet's children.
If anyone has any corrections or additions to the information below,
I'd appreciate it if they would post their comments here on the
newsgroup.
Best always, Douglas Richardson, Salt Lake City, Utah
E-mail: royala...@msn.com
- - - - - - - - -
Illegitimate children of Geofffey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, by
unknown mistress (or mistresses):
i. HAMELIN, 5th Earl of Surrey, married ISABEL DE WARENNE [see WARENNE
2].
ii. EMME, married in summer 1174 DAFYDD AP OWAIN, Prince (or King) of
North Wales, younger son of Owain Gwynedd, by Christina, daughter of
Gronw ap Owain ap Edwin. They had two sons, Owain and Einion, and two
daughters, Gwenhwyfar (or Wennour) (wife of Meurig ap Roger Powys) and
Gwenllian (wife of Gruffudd ap Cadwgon). In 1157 he took part in the
ambush of Hawarden Woods. In 1170 he and his brother, Rhodri,
attacked and killed their half-brother, Hywel ap Owain, in a battle
near Pentraeth. In 1173 he attacked another half-brother, Maelgwn ap
Owain, and drove him from Anglesey. In 1174 he ejected all his
rivals, whereby he became ruler of the whole of Gwynedd. In 1175 he
was attacked by his brother Rhodri and driven into the eastern half of
Gweynedd. In 1177 King Henry II bestowed the manors of Ellesmere, co.
Salop and Halesowen, co. Worcester on his sister, Emme. Dafydd
subsequently settled in the Middle Country, where he resided in a
castle at Rhuddlan, co. Caernarvon. In 1193 she restored the manor of
Halesowen, co. Worcester to her nephew, King Richard I, in exchange
for rents of other manors including Broom and Clent, co. Worcester.
In 1194 Dafydd was defeated by his nephew, Llywelyn ap Iowerth [see
WAKE 4], in a battle at Aberconwy, and, in 1197, was imprisoned by
Llywelyn. He was released in 1198 by the intervention of Hubert
Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, and spent the rest of his life in
England. DAVID AP OWAIN, Prince (or King) of North Wales, died about
May 1203, having won the esteem of both nations by "maintaining a just
balance between Welsh and English." His widow, Emme, was living in
1212, and presumably died ca. 1214, when her name last appears in the
Pipe Rolls. Modern descendants (not traced). R. Llwyd, Hist. of
Wales (1832). Rev. R.W. Eyton, Antiquities of Shropshire 10 (1860):
234-236. Pub. Pipe Roll Soc. 21 (1896): 9,16,94 (references in 1173/4
Pipe Rolls to "Sororis Reg[is] q[u]am Dauid fil[ius] Oeni duxit
vxore[m]"; 25 (1904): 56-57; n.s. 1 (1925): 124; 2 (1926): 255; 3
(1927): 110; 5 (1928): 140; 6 (1929): 243; 7 (1930): 41; 8 (1931):
156; 9 (1932): xxxi-xxxii,108; 10 (1933): 73; 12 (1934): 170; 14
(1936): 276-277; 15 (1937): 41; 16 (1938): 66; 18 (1940): 154; 19
(1941): 87; 20 (1942): 108; 22 (1944): 4; 24 (1946): 146; 30 (1954):
87; 35 (1959): 119. J.E. Lloyd, Hist. of Wales 2 (1912): 616. VCH
Worcester 3 (1913): 33,51,142-144. Dict. Welsh Biog. (1959), pp.
98-99 (biog. of Dafydd ap Owain Gwynedd). W. L. Warren, Henry II
(1973), pg. 167, note 3. P.C. Bartrum, Welsh Genealogies, A.D.
300-1400 (1980) [Gruffudd Ap Cynan 3]. U. Rees, Cartulary of
Haughmond Abbey (1985), pp. 68-69,137,159-160,216 (Emme styled "King
Henry's sister" in her charter dated 1186/94). E.B. Fryde, Handbook
of British Chronology 3rd ed. (1986), pg. 51. [Note: Emme of Anjou is
sometimes confused in print with Emme (living 1208), wife of Guy V de
Laval. Emme de Laval is specifically identified in a charter to Evron
Abbey as "daughter of Reynold, Earl of Cornwall" which Reynold was an
illegitimate son of Henry I, King of England (see Abbé A. Angot,
Généalogies Féodales Mayennaises du XI au XIII Siècle (1942), pp.
292-295; NEHGR 119 (1965): 94-102; 120 (1966): 230.
iii. MARY, nun, became Abbess of Shaftesbury c.1181, died shortly
before 5 Sep. 1216. Sir William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum 2
(1819): 484 (Mary styled "my sister" (sororis meae) by King Henry II).
VCH Dorset 2 (1908): 74, 79. English Hist. Rev. 25 (1910): 303-306;
26 (1911): 317-326; 80 (1965): 314-322 (Mary styled "my dearest
kinswoman" [amicae] by her nephew, King John) (author suggests Mary
had a half-brother, Guy d'Outillé [Ostelli], Knt., of Shaftesbury,
Dorset, who occurs 1194-1208). E.J. Mickel, Marie de France (1974),
pp. 20-21.
Leo van de Pas
You surprise me, but perhaps I am wrong, but a while ago we discussed ii
Emme and I provided sources that she had married first Guy V, Sire de Laval,
who died in 1170. Most likely she was very young when marrying him, as it
took four years before she married Dafydd ap Owain. I don't remember that
Guy V was totally discarded----if he is still a possibility, surely, he
should have been mentioned?
Leo van de Pas
Canberra, Australia