Owain Glyndŵr

Early rebellion, 1400 – 1404

At Sycharth on 16 September 1400, in front of his immediate family, his in-laws, Welsh people from Berwyn, friends from North-East Wales, the Dean of St Asaph totalling 300 men, Owain Glyndŵr prophecised that he was the person to save his people from the English invasions, and proclaimed himself the Prince of Wales. The following day, he instigated a 15-year rebellion against the rule of Henry IV. Then came a number of initial confrontations between Henry IV and Owain's followers in September and October 1400, as the revolt began to spread around North Wales. Owain was immediately proclaimed Prince of Wales by his followers and subsequently launched an assault on Lord Grey's territories, burning Ruthin. They continued to Denbigh, Rhuddlan, Flint, Holt, Oswestry and Welshpool, all of which were seen as English towns in Wales. The initial revolt got the attention of the King of England after letters were sent asking for military assistance to combat the Welsh rebels. Much of northern and central Wales went over to Owain, and from then on, he would only make an appearance to attack his enemy, his army using effective guerrilla warfare tactics against the English occupying territories.

On Good Friday (1 April) 1401, 40 of Glyndwr's men who were led by his cousins, Rhys ap Tudur and Gwilym ap Tudur, took Conwy Castle in North Wales. In response, King Henry IV appointed Henry Percy (Hotspur) to bring the country to order. A month later, the King and the English parliament issued an amnesty which applied to all rebels with the exception of Owain and his cousins, the Tudurs; however, both the Tudurs were eventually pardoned after they gave up Conwy Castle on 28 May that same year. Hotspur won a battle at Cadair Idris two days later, but that was to be his final service for the King of England, as he retired his command as leader of the English troops after dealing with Owain. During that time in the spring of 1401, Owain appears in South Wales.

In June, Owain scored his first major victory in the field at Mynydd Hyddgen on Pumlumon; however, retaliation by Henry IV on Strata Florida Abbey was to follow in October that same year. The rebel uprising had occupied all of North Wales; labourers seized whatever weapons they could, and farmers sold their cattle to buy arms. Secret meetings were held everywhere, and bards "wandered about as messengers of sedition." Henry IV heard of a Welsh uprising at Leicester; Henry's army wandered North Wales to Anglesey and drove out Franciscan friars who favoured Richard II. All the while Owain, who was in hiding, had his estate at Sycharth forfeited by the King to John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset on 9 November 1400. By autumn, Gwynedd and Ceredigion (which temporarily submitted to England for a pardon) and Powys adhered to the rising against the English rule by supporting the rebellion. Owain's attempts at stoking rebellion with help from the Scottish and Irish were quashed, with the English showing no mercy and hanging some messengers.

As a response to the situation of warfare in Wales, the English Parliament between 1401 and 1402 enacted penal laws against the Welsh, designed to coerce submission in Wales, but the result was to create resentment that pushed many Welshmen into the rebellion. In the same year, Owain captured his archenemy Baron Grey de Ruthyn. He held him for almost a year until he received a substantial ransom from Henry. In June 1402, Owain defeated an English force led by Sir Edmund Mortimer near Pilleth (the Battle of Bryn Glas), where Mortimer was captured. Owain offered to release Mortimer for a large ransom but, in sharp contrast to his attitude to de Grey, Henry IV refused to pay. Mortimer's nephew could be said to have had a greater claim to the English throne than Henry himself, so his speedy release was not an option. In response, Mortimer negotiated an alliance with Owain and married one of Owain's daughters. It is also in 1402 that mention of the French and the people of Flanders helping Owain's daughter Janet, who was negotiating on the continent for her father for two years until 1404.

News of the rebellion's success spread across Europe, and Owain began to receive naval support from Scotland and Brittany. He also received the support of King Charles VI of France, who agreed to send French troops and supplies to aid the rebellion. In 1403 Glyndwr had amassed an army of 4,000 in his first division, and 12,000 soldiers in total. A Welsh army including a French contingent assimilated into forces mainly from Glamorgan and the Rhondda Valleys region commanded by Owain Glyndŵr, his senior general Rhys Gethin and Cadwgan, Lord of Glyn Rhondda, defeated a large English invasion force reputedly led by King Henry IV himself at the Battle of Stalling Down in Glamorgan.

Owain, facing years on the run, finally lost his estate in the spring of 1403, when Prince Henry as usual marched into Wales unopposed and burnt down Owain's houses at Sycharth and Glyndyfrdwy, as well as the commote of Edeirnion and parts of Powys. Owain continued to besiege towns and burn down castles; for 10 days in July that year, he toured the south and southwest of Wales until all of the south joined arms in rebelling against English rule. These actions induced an internal rebellion against the King of England, with the Percys joining the rising. It is around this stage of Owain's life that Hywel Sele, a cousin of the Welsh prince, attempted to assassinate Glyndŵr at the Nannau estate.

In 1403, the revolt became truly national in Wales. Royal officials reported that Welsh students at Oxford and Cambridge Universities were leaving their studies to join Owain, and also that Welsh laborers and craftsmen were abandoning their employers in England and returning to Wales. Owain could also draw on Welsh troops seasoned by the English campaigns in France and Scotland. Hundreds of Welsh archers and experienced men-at-arms left the English service to join the rebellion.

In 1404, Owain's forces took Aberystwyth Castle and Harlech Castle, then continued to ravage the south by burning Cardiff Castle. Then, a court was held at Harlech and Gruffydd Young was appointed as the Welsh Chancellor. There had been communication to Louis I, Duke of Orléans in Paris to try (unsuccessfully) to open the Welsh ports to French trade.

De facto rule of Wales, 1404 – 1405

Parliament

By 1404, no less than four royal military expeditions into Wales had been repelled, and Owain had solidified his control of the nation. By this point, Owain and the rebellion had assumed de facto rule of Wales, and Owain was able to project himself to his French allies as a legitimate Prince of Wales. In 1404, he and his supporters held parliaments at Machynlleth and Harlech. He also planned to build two national universities (one in the south and one in the north), to re-introduce the traditional Welsh laws of Hywel Dda, and to establish an independent Welsh church. There were envoys from other countries including France, Scotland, and the Kingdom of León (in Spain). In the summer of 1405, four representatives from every commote in Wales were sent to Harlech.

Tripartite indenture

In February 1405, Owain negotiated the Tripartite Indenture with Edmund Mortimer and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. The Indenture agreed to divide England and Wales among the three of them. Wales would extend as far as the rivers Severn and Mersey, including most of Cheshire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. The Mortimer Lords of March would take all of southern and western England and the Percys would take the north of England. Although negotiations with the lords of Ireland were unsuccessful, Owain had reason to hope that the French and Bretons might be more welcoming. He dispatched Gruffudd Yonge and his brother-in-law John Hanmer (Margaret's brother) to negotiate with the French. The result was a formal treaty that promised French aid to Owain and the Welsh. The immediate effect seems to have been that joint Welsh and Franco-Breton forces attacked and laid siege to Kidwelly Castle. The Welsh could also count on semi-official fraternal aid from the Duchy of Brittany and from Scotland. Scots and French privateers were operating around Wales throughout Owain's war. Scottish ships had raided English settlements on the Llŷn Peninsula in 1400 and 1401. In 1403, a Breton squadron defeated the English in the Channel and devastated Jersey, Guernsey and Plymouth, while the French made a landing on the Isle of Wight. By 1404, they were raiding the coast of England, with Welsh troops on board, setting fire to Dartmouth and devastating the coast of Devon.

1405 was the "Year of the French" in Wales. A formal treaty between Wales and France was negotiated. On the continent, the French pressed the English as the French army invaded the English Plantagenet Aquitaine. Simultaneously, the French landed in force at Milford Haven in west Wales, burned Haverfordwest, and attempted to capture Pembroke Castle before they were bought off. The combined forces of French and Welsh took Carmarthen, which Owain had captured in 1403 but lost again. The occupants were given safe passage out, and they burned the town walls. Enguerrand de Monstrelet, a later chronicler gives an uncorroborated account of a march through Herefordshire and on into Worcestershire to Woodbury Hill, ten miles from Worcester. They met the English army and took positions from which they daily and viewed each other from a mile without any major action for eight days. Then, both sides seeming to find engagement too risky, departed.

Letter to Charles VI of France

By 1405, most French forces had withdrawn after politics in Paris shifted towards peace, with the Hundred Years' War continuing between England and France. On 31 March 1406, in St Peter ad Vincula church at Pennal, Owain wrote a letter to be sent to Charles VI of France. Owain's letter requested to maintain military support from the French to fend off the English in Wales. Owain suggested that in return, he would recognise Benedict XIII of Avignon as the Pope. The letter sets out the ambitions of Owain for an independent Wales with its own parliament, led by himself as Prince of Wales. These ambitions also included the return of the traditional law of Hywel Dda, rather than the enforced English law, establishment of an independent Welsh church by expanding the Bishoporic of St. David's into England, well as two universities, one in south Wales, and one in north Wales. Following this letter, senior churchmen and important members of society flocked to Owain's banner and English resistance was reduced to a few isolated castles, walled towns, and fortified manor houses.

Owain's Great Seal and a letter handwritten by him to the French in 1406 are in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. This letter is currently held in the Archives Nationales in Paris. Facsimile copies involving specialist ageing techniques and moulds of Owain's seal were created by the National Library of Wales and presented by the heritage minister Alun Ffred Jones to six Welsh institutions in 2009. The royal great seal from 1404 was given to Charles IV of France and contains images and Owain's title –

Latin: Owynus Dei Gratia Princeps Walliae –
"Owain, by the grace of God, Prince of Wales".

Glyndwr referred to himself as the "Prince of Wales" and claimed his "right of inheritance" in these letters

The faltering rebellion, 1405 – 1412

In early 1405, the Welsh forces, who had until then won several easy victories, suffered a series of defeats. Owain's brother, Lord Tudur ap Gruffudd, a commander during the war, died at the Battle of Pwll Melyn in May 1405. English forces landed in Anglesey from Ireland and would over time push the Welsh back until the resistance in Anglesey formally ended toward the end of 1406.

Following the intervention of French forces, battling continued for years. In 1406 Prince Henry restored fines and redemption for Welsh soldiers so they could choose their own fate. Prisoners were taken after the battle and castles were restored to their original owners. In the same year a son of Owain died in battle. By 1408 Owain had taken refuge in the North of Wales, having lost his ally from Northumberland.

Despite the initial success of the revolution, in 1407 the superior numbers, resources, and wealth that England had at its disposal began to turn the tide of the war, and the much larger and better-equipped English forces gradually began to overwhelm the Welsh. In times of war, the English changed their strategy. Rather than focusing on punitive expeditions as favoured by his father, the young Prince Henry adopted a strategy of economic blockade. Using the castles that remained in English control, he gradually began to retake Wales while cutting off trade and the supply of weapons. By 1407, this strategy was beginning to bear fruit, and by 1408, the English regained Aberystwyth and then marched north Harlech Castle, which also surrendered during the cold winter into 1409. Edmund Mortimer died during the siege, and Owain's wife Margaret along with two of his daughters (including Catrin) and three of Mortimer's granddaughters were captured on the fall of the castle and imprisoned in the Tower of London. They were all to die in the Tower in 1413 and were buried at St Swithin, London Stone. Before his downfall, Owain was considered the wealthiest of all Welshmen.

Owain managed to escape capture by disguising himself as an elderly man, sneaking out of the castle and slipping past the English military blockade in the darkness of the night. Owain retreated to the Welsh wilderness with a band of loyal supporters; he refused to surrender and continued the war with guerrilla tactics such as launching sporadic raids and ambushes throughout Wales and the English borderlands.

Owain remained free, but he had lost his ancestral home and was a hunted prince. He continued the rebellion, particularly wanting to avenge his wife. In 1410, Owain led a raid into rebel-controlled Shropshire, and in 1412, he carried out one of the final successful raids. With his most faithful soldiers, he cut through the King's men in an ambush in Brecon, where he captured, and later ransomed, a leading Welsh supporter of King Henry, Dafydd Gam ('Crooked David'). This was the last time that Owain was seen alive by his enemies, although it was claimed he took refuge with the Scudamore family. In the autumn, Owain's Aberystwyth Castle surrendered, while he was away fighting, but by then things were changing. Henry IV died in 1413, and his son Henry V began to adopt a more conciliatory attitude towards the Welsh. Royal pardons were offered to the major leaders of the revolt and other opponents of his father's regime. As late as 1414, there were rumours that the Herefordshire-based Lollard leader Sir John Oldcastle was communicating with Owain, and reinforcements were sent to the major castles in the north and south.

On 21 December 1411, the King of England issued pardons to all Welsh except their leader and Thomas of Trumpington (until 9 April 1413, from which Owain was no longer excepted). Owain ignored offers of a pardon on many different occasions, his followers continued to be punished for crimes of war until the 1410s. The poet Lewys Glyn Cothi wrote an elegy for Gwenllian, an illegitimate daughter of Owain, where it was mentioned that at the time of the Welsh War of independence, the whole of Wales was under Owain's command, with forty dukes as the prince's allies, and that later in life he supported 62 female pensioners.

Disappearance and death, 1412 – c. 1416

Owain was never captured and appears to have spent the last years of his life in hiding. In the sixteenth-century antiquarian Gruffudd Hiraethog's Annals of Owain Glyn Dŵr, it is recounted that in 1415 Owain "went into hiding on St Matthew's Day in Harvest [September 21]", but this date is discounted by J. E. Lloyd as a mere repetition of his first absconding to the woods after the beginning of his revolt, which occurred on the same day in 1400. In 1415 and 1416, Owain's old enemy Henry V attempted to entreat Owain and the few remaining rebels to surrender and be pardoned, to which Owain never responded; Owain is presumed to have died around this time.

Accounts from Herefordshire

The uncertain circumstances surrounding Owain's final days gave rise to many legends surrounding his death. According to J. E. Lloyd and Gruffydd Aled Williams, the most credible sources associate Owain's death and burial with Herefordshire. The seventeenth-century History of Owen Glendower written by the antiquarians Robert Vaughan and Thomas Ellis notes that by their time "some say he dyed at his daughter Scudamores, others, at his daughter Monington's house". An early sixteenth-century translation of Tito Livio Frulovisi's Life of Henry the Fifth inserts into the text an assertion that Owain died "vppon the topp of Lawton's hope Hill in Herefordshire". Lawton's Hope farm near Canon Pyon was inherited by the Monnington family around the turn of the fourteenth century, and its owner around the time of Owain's death would have been Sir Richard Monnington, husband of Owain's daughter Sioned.

Other traditions associate the site of Owain's death with Kentchurch Court, owned by another one of Owain's sons-in-law, John Skydmore, though the better-attested hall of the family at this time was Bodenham at La Verne. In the early fifteenth century, the area around Kentchurch would have been majority Welsh-speaking, and Skydmore was the employed by the state as the Welsh interpreter for Gwidigada and Elfed in Carmarthenshire from the years 1411-1431. Another hall associated with this family is Monnington Straddle, which possessed a medieval chapel and was endorsed as Owain's place of rest by J. E. Lloyd. The final likely possibility for Owain's burial ground is at St James the Great, Kimbolton, which was formerly the chapelry of Leominster Priory and also owned by the Skydmores; this tradition is attributed to is attributed to the sixteenth-century scholar Edmund Prys, a Welshman who was vicar of nearby Ludlow from 1576 to 1579.

A second burial?

Owain may have been buried a second time, as according to Adam Usk, "After four years in hiding from the king and kingdom, Owen Glendower died, and was buried by his followers in the darkness of night. His grave was discovered by his enemies, however, so he had to be re-buried, though it is impossible to discover where he was laid." While Owain may have been reburied at some other location in Herefordshire, another possibility is outside of the county, even in Wales. The fifteenth-century poet Robin Ddu of Anglesey, writing in the tumultuous reign of Richard III, prophesied that "There is an old man in Maelienydd / whose hair is like blossom on trees... I have heard, captivating muse, / much poetry about an old white-haired man, / and if this one who will claim his right / is the prophesied white-haired one, / battle-axe and sword without delay / will extend the boundary of our land..." and in one line names this man as "Owain". In the fifteenth century, Lewys Glyn Cothi called the husband of Owain's daughter Gwenllïan who lived in the parish of St Harmon on the border between Gwrtheyrnion and Maelienydd "son-in-law to the Old White-haired One"; Lewys Glyn Cothi also associates Owain with Maelienydd in another poem. Thus, Gruffydd Aled Williams suggested the final resting place of Owain Glyndŵr may have been Cwmhir Abbey, which was located in Maelienydd and was also the final resting place of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the native Prince of Wales killed in the final stages of the Edwardian Conquest.

Issue and descendants

Owain married Margaret Hanmer, also known by her Welsh name Marred ferch Dafydd, and together they had five or six sons and four or five daughters. Also, Owain had some illegitimate children out of wedlock.

Sons

• Gruffudd d. 1411.
• Madog.
• Maredudd alive in 1421.
• Thomas.
• John.

All of Owain and Margaret's sons from their marriage were either taken prisoner and died in confinement, or died in battle and had no issue. Gruffudd was captured in Gwent by Prince Henry, imprisoned in Nottingham Castle, and later taken to the Tower of London in 1410. Maredudd was recorded as communicating with John Talbot and the English Crown on 24 February 1416, and receiving a royal pardon in 1421, but dying a few years later.

Daughters

• Alice (Alys), m. John Scudamore of Ewyas.
• Jane.
• Janet, m. Sir John De Croft.
• Margaret, m. Sir Richard Monnington.
• Catherine (Catrin) (d. 1413), m. (1) Edmund Mortimer (d. 1409), (2) Roger Mortimer.

Upon Owain's disappearance and death, his eldest (oldest child with descendants) daughter Alice came to be known as the Lady of Glyndyfrdwy and Cynllaith, and heiress de jure of the Principalities of Powys, South Wales and Gwynedd. During 1431, she successfully went to court in Meirionydd to regain her inheritance as the heiress of Sycharth in Glyndyfrdwy against John, Earl of Somerset, who had been granted Owain's forfeited lands by the King of England in 1400. Alice's descendants married into the Scudamore family and her direct descendant John Lucy Scudamore married the daughter of Harford Jones-Brydges in the early 19th century, and whose daughter in 1852 married the son of Edward Lucas from the Castleshane estate in Ireland. Another daughter, Jane, married Henry, Lord Grey de Ruthin without issue. Then, Janet married into the noble family of Croft Castle in Herefordshire, whose descendants today are titled the Croft Baronets. Whilst Margaret married a knight from Monnington, also in Herefordshire.

Illegitimate

Owain's illegitimate children with other women included Ieuan, Myfanwy and Gwenllian, whilst it is debated whether his son David was born out of wedlock. Ieuan became Owain's only male descendant to have children. Like his other illegitimate kin, they remained in Wales and married locally into Welsh families. Gwenllian became the wife of Philip ab Rhys ab Cenarth, and died near St Harmon in Powys (Radnorshire).

Legacy

In Welsh culture Owain acquired a mythical status alongside other medieval kings such as Cadwaladr, Cynon ap Clydno and King Arthur. He was perceived as a folk hero awaiting a call to return and liberate his people in the classic Welsh mythical role – Y Mab Darogan ('the foretold son'). The myth was that one day after a thousand years of servitude under English rule, a 'Son of Prophecy' would return the Welsh people as rulers of the island of Great Britain. Also, in Welsh folklore, the name Owain has been connected to a legend of the 'son of destiny'. His claim as the Prince of Wales was similar to that of another distant relative from the Gwynedd dynasty. It was another Owain, Lawgoch (Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri) who proclaimed his patrimony a few decades earlier, when he attempted to regain his family stature with aid from the King of France in a Franco-Welsh alliance from the late 1360s, until his assassination in 1378.

Modern legacy

• Owain was described by Fidel Castro as the first effective guerrilla leader. It has been suggested that Castro, who may have kept books about the Welshman, and Che Guevara copied some of Owain's methods in the Cuban Revolution.
• During the First World War, the prime minister David Lloyd George unveiled a statue to Owain in Cardiff City Hall. A statue of Owain by the sculptor Simon van de Put was installed in The Square in Corwen in 1995, and in 2007 it was replaced with a larger equestrian statue by Colin Spofforth.
• Owain came second to Aneurin Bevan in the 100 Welsh Heroes poll of 2003/2004. Stamps were issued with his likeness in 1974 and 2008, and streets, parks, and public squares were named after him throughout Wales. There is a campaign to make 16 September (Owain Glyndŵr Day), the date Owain raised his standard, a public holiday in Wales, including by Dafydd Wigley in 2021.
• RGC 1404 (Rygbi Gogledd Cymru, 'north Wales rugby') rugby union team is named in honour of "the year Owain Glyndŵr became Prince of Wales".
• To celebrate the 600th anniversary of Owain's life, a monument was erected in Machynlleth in the grounds of Plas Machynlleth.

Meibion Glyndŵr

Owain is now remembered as a national hero and numerous small groups have adopted his symbolism to advocate independence for Wales or Welsh nationalism. For example, during the 1980s, a group calling itself Meibion Glyndŵr ("the Sons of Glyndŵr") claimed responsibility for the burning of English holiday homes in Wales.

Literature

• After Owain's death, there was little resistance to English rule. The Tudor dynasty saw Welshmen become more prominent in English society. In Henry IV, Part 1, Shakespeare portrays him as Owen Glendower (the name has since been adopted as the anglicised version of Owain Glyndŵr), wild and exotic; a man who claims to be able to "call spirits from the vasty deep", ruled by magic and tradition in sharp contrast to the more logical but highly emotional Hotspur. Glendower is further noted as being "not in the roll of common men" and "a worthy gentleman,/Exceedingly well read, and profited/ In strange concealments, valiant as a lion/And as wondrous affable and as bountiful/As mines of India." His enemies describe him "that damn'd magician", which was in reference to having the weather on his side in battle.
• It was not until the late 19th century that Owain's reputation was revived, when the Cymru Fydd ('young Wales') movement recreated Owain as the father of Welsh nationalism.
• Owain later acquired mythical status as the hero awaiting a call to return and liberate his people. Thomas Pennant, in his Tours in Wales (1778, 1781 and 1783), searched out and published many of the legends and places associated with the memory of Owain.
• Owain has been featured in a number of works of modern fiction, including most notably John Cowper Powys's novel Owen Glendower (1941), and Edith Pargeter's 1972 publication A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury.
• A highly fictionalised Owain is featured in the popular YA book series The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater as Owen Glendower. In the series, which takes place in the Shenandoah Valley, characters believe that Owain's body was brought from Wales to Virginia after his death, and that whoever can "wake" him will be granted a favour.
• From 5 to 28 November 2026 a new play by Gary Owen called Owain & Henry, about Owain's rebellion against the rule of Henry IV of England in the 15th century, will be performed at the Welsh National Theatre with Michael Sheen playing Owain. Sheen said "He meant absolutely nothing. I was never taught about him ... I knew nothing about his story. I was never taught Welsh history. It wasn't on the curriculum ... that tells you something... We're talking about a figure voted the second most important Welsh person of all time, only behind Aneurin Bevan [the architect of the NHS, but nobody's ever done anything about him on this scale before. That tells a story in itself."

Namesakes

• The Owain Glyndwr Hotel in Corwen is a historic 18th century coaching inn.
• The Owain Glyndŵr pub in Cardiff, briefly named Owen Glendower was named in his honour.
• The waymarked, 132-mile long-distance footpath Glyndŵr's Way runs through Mid Wales near to his homelands.
• At least two ships and two locomotives have been named after Owain:
  • In 1808, the Royal Navy launched a 36-gun fifth-rate frigate,HMS Owen Glendower. She served in the Baltic Sea during the Gunboat War where she participated in the seizure of Anholt Island, and then in the Channel. Between 1822 and 1824, she served in the West Africa Squadron (or "Preventative Squadron") chasing down slave ships, capturing at least two;
  • Owen Glendower, an East Indiaman, a Blackwall frigate built in 1839;
  • In 1923, a 2-6-2T Vale of Rheidol locomotive was named after Owain. The locomotive is still operational and was one of a few used by British Rail until it was privatised;
  • 70010 Owen Glendower, renamed Owain Glyndŵr, built in 1951 at the Crewe Works, it was withdrawn in June 1965. It was a British Railways Standard Class 7 mixed-traffic steam locomotive.
• In 2002, a plaque was unveiled near the Tower of London to commemorate Glyndwr's daughter Catrin who died there with her children.
• From 2008 to 2023, Wrexham University was known as (Wrexham) Glyndŵr University in his honour. Despite dropping the name in 2023, the university maintains links with the Owain Glyndŵr Society for one of its annual graduate awards.

Arms

Ancestry