Emma of France

Emma of France (died 935)[1] was a French princess by birth and queen by marriage. She was also variously known as Emma Capet, Emma of Burgundy, and Emma of Neustria. She was the daughter of Robert I of France and either Aelis of Maine or Béatrice of Vermandois.[lower-alpha 1] Her family is known as the Robertians.

Depiction of two kings, Emma's husband Rudolph of France (right, enthroned) and Charles the Simple (left centre)

In c. 921, she married Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.[3] Her spouse was crowned king of Western Francia on 13 July 923 at Saint-Médard de Soissons, thereby making her queen. Emma was the first Frankish queen who is known to have been crowned: she was crowned in Reims, by the bishop of Reims called Séulf, the same year but a little later than her spouse, a fact mentioned in contemporary chronicles.

She defended her husband's right to the throne against the Carolingian claimant, Charles III "The Simple", and her brother-in-law, Herbert II of Vermandois. Emma captured Avalon in 931, and in 933 led the siege of Château Thierry against Herbert II with King Rudolph's army.[1]

Emma bore only one child, a son named Louis. There is a possibility that Emma also had a daughter, and (if so) that she was named Judith.

Notes
  1. Constance Brittain Bouchard states Emma was the daughter of Robert I of France and his first wife.[2]

References
  1. MacLean 2017, p. 46.
  2. Bouchard 2001, p. 111.
  3. Bouchard 2001, p. 127.

Sources
  • Bouchard, Constance Brittain (2001). Those of My Blood: Creating Noble Families in Medieval Francia. University of Pennsylvania Press.
  • MacLean, Simon (2017). Ottonian Queenship. Oxford University Press.
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