Background
Dafydd was the son of Owain Gwynedd by Cristin ferch Goronwy ab Owain (married c 1145).
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Dafydd Gwynedd
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Since Owain and Cristin were first cousins, the marriage was not accepted by the church, which regarded Dafydd as illegitimate. Dafydd first appears on the scene in 1157 when King Henry II of England invaded Gwynedd. Dafydd was involved in the skirmish near Basingwerk in which King Henry was nearly killed.
In 1165 he was recorded as having settled in the Vale of Clwyd and as having attacked Tegeingl, gaining much plunder.
Dafydd drove out Maelgwn in 1173, sending him fleeing to Ireland. Another brother, Cynan, died in 1174, removing one more contender for the throne.
Emme was an illegitimate daughter of Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou. They had four children:
Owain
Einion
Gwenllian
Gwenhwyfar
Dafydd was able to keep the eastern part, and in 1177 King Henry gave him the manors of Ellesmere and Hales in England.
He had a castle at Rhuddlan where Gerald of Wales spent a night in 1188 on his journey round Wales with Archbishop Baldwin.
He was released a year later thanks to the efforts of Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury. Dafydd retired to the Kingdom of England, where he died in May 1203. Emme died in or after 1214, when she disappears from the Pipe Rolls.
