Emmo of Loon

Emmo (Emmon) (died 17 January 1078), Count of Looz (1046-1078), son of Gislebert, Count of Looz, and Erlande of Geldenaken.

Some historians believe that Emmo and his brother Otto jointly ruled the county of Looz, but others are skeptical and believe they divided the county, Otto receiving the County of Duras. Emmo's grandfather was Rudolf van Haspinga, Count of Betuwe (predecessors of the Counts of Looz), who married a daughter of Emmo, Count of Hesbaye. Vanderkindere suggested that this accounted for the use of the name Emmo in the generations following Gislebert.

Emmo married Suanhildis, daughter of Dirk III Hierosolymita, Count of Holland, and Othelandis of Nordmarck. Emmo and Suanhildis had four children:

• Sophie (d. 1065) married Géza I, King of Hungary. It is uncertain whether the subsequent dynasty of Kings of Hungary were the descendants of Sophie or Géza’s second wife.
• Arnold I, Count of Looz
• Thierry de Looz (d. after April 1125), Count of Horn. Thierry’s son Herman van Horne was Bishop of Utrecht (1150-1156)
• Renaud, first Abbot of Averboden.

Emmo was succeeded as Count of Looz by his son Arnold upon his death.

Sources

Baerten, J., "Les origines des comtes de Looz et la formation territoriale du comté", Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire 43 (2), 1965

Medieval Lands Project, Comtes de Looz

Vanderkindere, Léon, La Formation territoriale des principautés belges au Moyen Âge, Bruxelles, H. Lamertin, 1902