Owain Glyndŵr

"Owen Glendower" redirects here. For other uses, see Owen Glendower (disambiguation).

Owain Glyndŵr
Prince of Wales Lord of Glyndyfrdwy and of Cynllaith
Portrait of Owain Glyndŵr from his great seal
Prince of Wales
Reign	1400–1415
Predecessor	English title: Henry V of England (1399-1413) Welsh title: Owain Lawgoch (1363-1378)
Successor	Edward, Prince of Wales
Born	Owain ap Gruffydd c. 1354 Sycharth, Wales
Died	20 September 1415(1415-09-20) (aged 60–61)
Burial	21 September 1415 (unclear)
Spouse	Margaret Hanmer
Issue among others	Gruffudd ab Owain Glyndŵr Maredudd ab Owain Glyndŵr Alys ferch Owain Glyndŵr Catrin ferch Owain Glyndŵr Ieuan ab Owain Glyndŵr
House	Mathrafal
Father	Lord Gruffydd Fychan II
Mother	Elen ferch Tomas ap Llywelyn
Signature

Owain ap Gruffydd (c. 1354 – 20 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, pronounced [ˈoʊain ɡlɨ̞nˈduːr], anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the late Middle Ages, who led a 15-year-long Welsh revolt with the aim of ending English rule in Wales. He was an educated lawyer, forming the first Welsh parliament under his rule, and was the last native-born Welshman to claim the title Prince of Wales.

During the year 1400, Owain Glyndŵr, a Welsh soldier and Lord of Glyndyfrdwy had a dispute with a neighbouring English Lord, the event spiralled into a national revolt which pitted common Welsh countrymen and nobles against the English military. In response to the rebellion, discriminatory penal laws were implemented against the Welsh people; this deepened civil unrest and significantly increased support for Glyndŵr across Wales. Then, in 1404, after a series of successful castle sieges and several battlefield victories for the Welsh, Owain gained control of most of Wales and was proclaimed by his supporters as the Prince of Wales, in the presence of envoys from several other European kingdoms, and military aid was given from France, Brittany, and Scotland. He proceeded to summon the first Welsh parliament in Machynlleth, where he outlined his plans for Wales which included building two universities, reinstating the medieval Welsh laws of Hywel Dda, and build an independent Welsh church.

The war continued, and over the next several years, the English gradually gained control of large parts of Wales. By 1409 Owain’s last remaining castles of Harlech and Aberystwyth had been captured by English forces. Glyndŵr refused two royal pardons and retreated to the Welsh hills and mountains with his remaining forces, where he continued to resist English rule by using guerrilla warfare tactics, until his disappearance in 1415, when he was recorded to have died by one of his followers Adam of Usk.

Glyndŵr was never captured or killed, and he was also never betrayed despite being a fugitive of the law with a large bounty. In Welsh culture he acquired a mythical status alongside Cadwaladr, Cynon ap Clydno and King Arthur as a folk hero - 'The Foretold Son' (Welsh:Y Mab Darogan). Centuries after Glyndwr's death, in William Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1 he appears as the character Owen Glendower as a king rather than a prince.

Early life and marriage

The site of Owain Glyndŵr's court at Sycharth, only a mound remains after the building was burnt to the ground.

Owain ap Gruffydd (Owain Glyndŵr) was born during 1354 (1359?) in Sycharth, North East Wales, into a powerful Anglo-Welsh gentry family. His father, Gruffydd Fychan II was the hereditary Prince (Welsh: Tywysog) of Powys Fadog and Lord of Glyndyfrdwy, who died around 1370, leaving Glyndŵr's mother Elen ferch Tomas ap Llywelyn, a woman with an accent from Ceredigion (Deheubarth), a widow when he was still a boy. Owain Glyndŵr was a direct descendant of all three Welsh Royal Principalities (royal houses). Through his father, he was the heir of the former Kingdom of Powys (House of Mathrafal). And through his mother, he was the direct descendant and heir of both Deheubarth (House of Dinefwr) and Gwynedd (House of Aberffraw). He may also have been a descendant of the English King Edward I, through his granddaughter Eleanor. However the existence of Eleanor is disputed.

The young Owain ap Gruffydd was possibly fostered at the home of David Hanmer, a rising lawyer shortly to be a justice of the King's Bench, or at the home of Richard FitzAlan, 3rd Earl of Arundel. Owain is then thought to have been sent to London to study law at the Inns of Court, as a student in Westminster, London, for over a period of seven years. He was possibly in London during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. By 1384, he was living in Wales and married to David's daughter, Margaret Hanmer; their marriage took place 1383 in St Chad's Church, Hanmer in Clwyd. However they may have married at an earlier date in the late 1370s. They started a large family and Owain established himself as the squire of his ancestral lands at Sycharth and Glyndyfrdwy.

Military service

Glyndŵr joined the king's military service in 1384 when he undertook garrison duty under the renowned Welshman Sir Gregory Sais (Sir Degory Sais) on the English–Scottish border at Berwick-upon-Tweed. His surname Sais, meaning 'Englishman' in Welsh, refers to his ability to speak English, not common in Wales at the time. In August 1385, he served King Richard II under the command of John of Gaunt, again in Scotland. Then, in 1386, he was called to give evidence at the High Court of Chivalry, in the Scrope v Grosvenor trial at Chester on 3 September that year. In March 1387, Owain fought as a squire to Richard FitzAlan, 4th Earl of Arundel, where he saw action in the English Channel at the defeat of a Franco-Spanish-Flemish fleet off the coast of Kent. Upon the death in late 1387 of his father-in-law, Sir David Hanmer, knighted earlier that same year by the then King of England, Richard II, Glyndŵr returned to Wales as executor of his estate. Glyndŵr next served as a squire to Henry Bolingbroke (later King Henry IV), son of John of Gaunt, at the short Battle of Radcot Bridge in December 1387. From 1384 until 1388 he had been active in military service and had gained three full years of military experience in different theatres, and had witnessed some key events and noteworthy people at first hand.

King Richard was distracted by a growing conflict with the Lords Appellant from this time on. Glyndŵr's opportunities were further limited by the death of Sir Gregory Sais in 1390 and the sidelining of FitzAlan, and he probably returned to his stable Welsh estates, living there quietly for ten years during his forties. The bard Iolo Goch, himself a Welsh Lord, visited Glyndŵr in Sycharth in the 1390s and wrote a number of odes to Owain, praising his host's liberality and writing of Sycharth, "Rare was it there / to see a latch or a lock."

Glyndŵr's Welsh rebellion

Main article: Glyndŵr rebellion

Prequel to rebellion

In the late 1390s, a series of events occurred which cornered Owain, and forced his ambitions towards a rebellion. The events would later be called the Welsh Revolt, the Glyndŵr Rising (within Wales), or the Last War of Independence. His neighbour, Baron Grey de Ruthyn, had seized control of some land, for which Glyndŵr appealed to the English Parliament, however, Owain's petition for redress was ignored. Later, in 1400, Lord Grey did not inform Glyndŵr in time about a royal command to levy feudal troops for Scottish border service, thus enabling him to call Glyndŵr a traitor in London court circles. Lord Grey had stature in the royal court of Henry IV. The law courts refused to hear the case, or it was delayed because Lord Grey prevented Owain's letter from reaching the King, which would have repercussions. Sources state that Glyndŵr was under threat because he had written an angry letter to Lord Grey, boasting that lands had come into his possession, and he had stolen some of Lord Grey's horses; and believing Lord Grey had threatened to "burn and slay" within his lands, he threatened retaliation in the same manner. Lord Grey then denied making the initial threat to burn and slay, and replied that he would take the incriminating letter to Henry IV's council and that Glyndŵr would hang for the admission of theft and treason contained within the letter. The deposed king, Richard II, had support in Wales, and in January 1400 serious civil disorder broke out in the English border city of Chester after the public execution of an officer of Richard II.

Initial revolts

At Sycharth, in Glyndyfrdwy 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. And, after that 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. Glyndŵr, the self appointed Prince of Wales and his hundreds of followers 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 Glyndŵr, and from then on, Glyndŵr would stay and hiding and only appear to attack his enemy, his army used effective guerrilla warfare tactics against the English occupying territories in Wales.

Welsh rebellion

Monument to Owain Glyndŵr's victory at the Battle of Mynydd Hyddgen in 1401

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 on 10 March 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 Glyndŵr. During that time in the spring of 1401, Glyndŵr appears in South Wales.

In June, Glyndŵr 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, a few months 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 Glyndŵr, who was in hiding, had his estate at Sycarth forfeited by the King to John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset on 9 November 1400. Then, 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. Glyndŵr'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, Glyndŵr 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, Glyndŵr defeated an English force led by Sir Edmund Mortimer near Pilleth (the Battle of Bryn Glas), where Mortimer was captured. Glyndŵr 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 Glyndŵr and married one of Glyndŵr's daughters. It is also in 1402 that mention of the French and Bretons helping Owain was first heard. The French were certainly hoping to use Wales as they had used Scotland: as a base from which to fight the English.

News of the rebellion's success spread across Europe, and Glyndŵr 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.

Depiction of Owain Glyndŵr in battle by Arthur Cadwgan Michael

Glyndŵr, 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 Glyndŵr's houses at Sycharth and Glyndyfrdwy, as well as the commote of Edeirnion and parts of Powys. Glyndŵr 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 Glyndŵr'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 Glyndŵr, and also that Welsh labourers 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, Glyndŵr'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.

Crowning as Prince of Wales

See also: Prince of Wales

By 1404, no less than four royal military expeditions into Wales had been repelled, and Owain had solidified his control of the nation. In 1404, he was proclaimed by his supporters Prince of Wales (Welsh: Tywysog Cymru) and held a parliament at Machynlleth, where he outlined his national programme for an independent Wales. This included such plans as building two national universities (one in the south and one in the north), re-introducing the traditional Welsh laws of Hywel Dda, and establishing 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.

Rear of the Parliament House in Machynlleth

Owain Glyndŵr's Parliament at Machynlleth.

Machynlleth may have been chosen due to its central location in Wales and the recently acquired possession of three nearby castles: Castell y Bere, Aberystwyth Castle and Harlech Castle. The current Parliament House (Senedd-dy) in Machynlleth is associated with the 1404 parliament but the present building is more recent. Local tradition has it that the stones used came from the original 1404 building.

Tripartite indenture

See also: Tripartite Indenture

In February 1405, Glyndŵr 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, Glyndŵr had reason to hope that the French and Bretons might be more welcoming. He dispatched Gruffydd Yonge and his brother-in-law (Margaret's brother), John Hanmer, to negotiate with the French. The result was a formal treaty that promised French aid to Glyndŵr 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 and attempted to capture Pembroke Castle before they were bought off. The combined forces of French and Welsh marched through Herefordshire and on into Worcestershire to Woodbury Hill. They met the English army just ten miles from Worcester. The armies took up battle positions daily and viewed each other from a mile without any major action for eight days. Then, for reasons that have never become clear, the Welsh retreated, and so did the French shortly afterwards.

Letter to Charles VI of France

Main article: Pennal Letter

Owain Glyndŵr Great Seal impression (On horseback)

Glyndŵr's Great Seal impression (On throne)

Owain Glyndŵr's Privy seal impression (Coat of arms)

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 Glyndŵr wrote a letter to be sent to Charles VI of France in St Peter ad Vincula church at Pennal, hence its naming after the location it was written at. Glyndŵr's letter requested to maintain military support from the French to fend off the English in Wales. Glyndŵr suggested that in return, he would recognise Benedict XIII of Avignon as the Pope. The letter sets out the ambitions of Glyndŵr 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 as 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 Glyndŵr's banner and English resistance was reduced to a few isolated castles, walled towns, and fortified manor houses.

Glyndŵr'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 Glyndŵr'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 Glyndŵr's title –

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

Glyndwr cited himself as the "Prince of Wales" and noted his "right of inheritance" in these letters.

The rebellion falters

Charles VI of France did not continue to support Glyndŵr's revolt

In early 1405, the Welsh forces, who had until then won several easy victories, suffered a series of defeats. Glyndŵr'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 ensued for years, and in 1406 Prince Henry restored fines and redemption for Welsh soldiers to choose their own fate, prisoners were taken after the battle, and castles were restored to their original owners, this same year a son of Glyndŵr died in battle. By 1408 Glyndŵr 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 eventually 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, Glyndŵr was considered the wealthiest of all Welshmen.

Glyndŵr 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. Glyndŵr 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.

Harlech Castle

Glyndŵr 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, Glyndŵr'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 Glyndŵr was no longer excepted). Glyndŵr twice ignored offers of a pardon from the new king Henry V, and despite the large rewards offered for his capture, Glyndŵr was never betrayed by the Welsh. His death was recorded by a former follower in the year 1415, at the age of approximately 56.

Disappearance

Nothing certain is known of Glyndŵr after 1412. Despite enormous rewards being offered, he was neither captured nor betrayed. He ignored royal pardons. Tradition has it that he died and was buried possibly in the church of Saints Mael and Sulien at Corwen close to his home, or possibly on his estate in Sycharth or on the estates of his daughters' husbands: Kentchurch in south Herefordshire or Monnington in west Herefordshire. The poet Lewys Glyn Cothi wrote an elegy for Gwenllian, an illegitimate daughter of Glyndŵr, where it was mentioned that at the time of the Welsh War of independence, the whole of Wales was under Glyndŵr's command, with forty dukes as the prince's allies, and that later in life he supported 62 female pensioners.

After his disappearance, a legend arose about the folk hero Jack of Kent, also known as Siôn Cent – the family chaplain of the Scudamore family – was, in fact, Owain Glyndŵr himself. Similarities have been compared between Siôn Cent and Glyndŵr (including physical appearance, age, education, and character), and claims that Owain spent his last years living with his daughter Alys, passing himself off as an aging Franciscan friar and family tutor. There are many folk tales of Glyndŵr donning disguises to gain an advantage over opponents during the rebellion.

Issue and descendants

A sketch of Owain Glyndŵr as he appeared to William Blake in a late-night vision. This is one of a number of such sketches known collectively as the Visionary Heads.

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 1417.
• 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. Of all of them, Gruffudd was noted as being captured in Gwent by Prince Henry, and was arrested and imprisoned in Nottingham Castle, and later taken to the Tower of London in 1410. Whilst, 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 Sycarth in Glyndyfrdwy against John, Earl of Somerset, who had been granted Owain's forfeited lands by the King of England in 1400. Alice's descendant's 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

Glyndŵr'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 Glyndŵr'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 was died near St Harmon in Powys (Radnorshire).

Family poem

Iolo Goch wrote of Glyndŵr's wife, Margaret:

The best of wives.

Eminent woman of a knightly family, Her children come in pairs,

A beautiful nest of chieftains.

Death and burial

Adam of Usk, a one-time supporter of Glyndŵr, made the following entry in his Chronicle in the year 1415:

"After four years in hiding, from the king and the realm, Owain Glyndŵr 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."

The contemporary source of Adam of Usk's testimony has been embraced as authentic, with St. Matthew's day (21 September) generally being accepted as the day of his burial. And, Thomas Pennant writes that Glyndŵr died on 20 September 1415 at the age of 61 (which would place his birth at approximately 1354). However, there has been confusion as to the place specified as his final resting place. A town of Monnington in England has been mentioned by different people, but there are conflicting stories as to whether Monnington on Wye or Monnington Straddell is the correct location. In 1875, the Rev. Francis Kilvert wrote in his diary that he saw the grave of "Owen Glendower" in the churchyard at Monnington on Wye "[h]ard by the church porch and on the western side of it ... It is a flat stone of whitish-grey shaped like a rude obelisk figure, sunk deep into the ground in the middle of an oblong patch of earth from which the turf has been pared away, and, alas, smashed into several fragments." However, a different location has been suggested. In 2006, Adrien Jones, the president of the Owain Glyndŵr Society, said, "Four years ago we visited a direct descendant of Glyndŵr, a John Skidmore, at Kentchurch Court, near Abergavenny. He took us to Mornington Straddle in Herefordshire, where one of Glyndŵr's daughters, Alice, lived. Mr. Skidmore told us that he (Glyndŵr) spent his last days there and eventually died there... It was a family secret for 600 years, and even Mr Skidmore's mother, who died shortly before we visited, refused to reveal the secret. There's even a mound where he is believed to be buried at Mornington Straddle." The Scudamore family secret was passed on for centuries, which confirmed Adam Usk's testimony of Glyndŵr's death being common knowledge to those closest to him. The conclusion was that Glyndŵr spent his final years and died in Monnington Straddel in the Golden Valley, Herefordshire, England on 20 September 1415, and was buried that night on St. Matthew's day (21st). But it's been speculated his body was removed and taken to Carmarthenshire for reburial after being discovered.

The historian Gruffydd Aled Williams suggests in a 2017 monograph that the burial site is in the Kimbolton Chapel near Leominster, the present parish church of St James the Great which used to be the chapelry of Leominster Priory, based upon a number of manuscripts held in the National Archives. Although Kimbolton is an unexceptional and relatively unknown place outside of Herefordshire, it is closely connected to the Scudamore family. Given the existence of other links with Herefordshire, its place within the mystery of Owain Glyndŵr's last days cannot be discounted.

Lineage

Owain Glyndŵr's ancestral connection between the three final ruling royal houses of Wales; Powys (Mathrafal), Deheubarth (Dinefwr) and Gwynedd (Aberffraw):

(Rulers of Powys)

(Rulers of Deheubarth)

(Rulers of Gwynedd)

Bleddyn ap Cynfyn d. 1075

Rhys ap Tewdwr d. 1093

Cynan ab Iago d. 1063

Maredudd ap Bleddyn d. 1132

Gruffudd ap Rhys d. 1137

Gruffudd ap Cynan d. 1137

Madog ap Maredudd d. 1160

Rhys ap Gruffudd (Lord Rhys) d. 1197

Owain Gwynedd d. 1170

Gruffudd Maelor I d. 1191

Gruffudd d. 1201

Iorwerth Drwyndwn d. 1174

Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor d. 1236

Owain d. 1235

Llywelyn the Great d. 1240

Gruffudd Maelor II d. 1269

Maredudd ab Owain d. 1265

Gruffudd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth d.1244

Gruffudd Fychan I d. 1289

Owain d. 1275

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd d.1282

Madog Crypl c. 1275 – 1304

Llywelyn ab Owain d. 1308

Catherine

Gruffudd d. 1343

Tomos d. 1343

Eleanor Goch

Gruffudd Fychan II c. 1330 - 1369

Elen

Owain Glyndŵr c. 1354 – 1415

Gwynedd ancestry confusion

As well as being a direct genealogical descendant of the final ruling monarchs of Powys and Deheubarth, Owain Glyndwr's ancestors were also descended from the Welsh medieval Kingdom of Gwynedd through his Mother, Elen. Some sources allege that Glyndwr was a descendant of the Gwynedd King Gruffudd ap Cynan (d. 1137), via his great-grandmother Gwenllian. However, other sources claim that another ruler of Gwynedd, Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (Llywelyn I, The Great d. 1240) who was Gruffudd ap Cynan's great-grandson was Glyndwr's royal ancestor from Gwynedd. Then, alternatively, a third ruler from Gwynedd has been suggested as Glyndwr's last ancestor from Gwynedd, he was Llywelyn II, Prince of Wales (Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, d. 1282), who was Llywelyn I's grandson from the same dynasty, and also the penultimate Prince of Gwynedd from the final generation of the Aberffraw rulers in Wales before his brother, Dafydd III. Yet, Llywelyn II was noted by some historians as having only one child, a daughter named Gwenllian, who died in 1337 without issue. Professor John Edward Lloyd said: "There is no evidence that Llywelyn had any daughter but Gwenllian, born in the last year of his life and after his death confined for the rest of her days as a nun of the order of Sempringham". Lloyd's assessment has been renewed by other Welsh historians. However, in 19th century, the genealogist Bernard Burke (Ulster King of Arms) and the historian Thomas Tout (DNB) recorded that Glyndŵr was actually a descendant of Llywelyn II, but the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB) did contest the claim. Therefore, the assumption is that Glyndwr's great-grandmother through his Mother was Countess Eleanor of Bar, a daughter of King Edward I, and her son Thomas ap Llywelyn (Llywelyn I's 3x grandson), Lord of South Wales who married Eleanor Goch, the daughter of Philip ap Ivor, Lord of Iscoed in Cardigan, and his wife Catherine, a daughter of Llywelyn II.

Banners and coat of arms

• 
  Owain Glyndŵr's coat of arms. The design is the same as his predecessor as the pretender Prince of Wales, Owain Lawgoch.
• 
  Gold dragon of Wales, a flag used by Glyndŵr in his independence campaign.
• 
  Arms assigned Owain Glyndŵr in A Tour in Wales by Thomas Pennant (1726–1798), which chronicles the three journeys he made through Wales between 1773 and 1776.
• 
  Owain Glyndŵr arms used as a sign for a hotel at Pale Hall.

Legacy

Despite the large bounty placed on him by the English crown, Glyndŵr was never betrayed by his own people whilst in hiding, nor was he ever captured by his enemies. In Welsh culture Glyndwr has been perceived to have a mythical status alongside the likes of other medieval Kings, such as Cadwaladr, Cynon ap Clydno and King Arthur 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"). Also, in Welsh folklore, the name Owain has been connected to the legend of the 'son of destiny'. His position as the pretender Prince of Wales was replicated from his distant relative from Gwynedd, another Owain, Lawgoch the previous Welsh title holder a few decades earlier, between the 1363 and 1378.

Modern legacy

The Owain Glyndŵr Stone in Machynlleth

Statue of Glyndŵr at Cardiff City Hall

Equestrian statue in Corwen

• Glyndŵr 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 Glyndŵr's methods in the Cuban Revolution.

• During the First World War, the prime minister David Lloyd George unveiled a statue to Glyndŵr in Cardiff City Hall. A statue of Glyndŵr 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.

• In 2023, Welsh actor Matthew Rhys spoke on a podcast about how he has been working on a potential film about Glyndwr's life and the rebellion, and that the production has been in development for 12 years.

Meibion Glyndwr

Glyndŵr 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.

600 year anniversary

The creation of the National Assembly for Wales brought Owain Glyndŵr back into the spotlight and in 2000 celebrations were held all over Wales to commemorate the 600th anniversary of his revolt, including a historic reenactment at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Llanelli in 2000. Also, to celebrate the anniversary of Glyndwr's life, a monument was erected in Machynlleth in 2000, on the 600th anniversary of the beginning of the Glyndŵr Rising. The plinth of the monument has an englyn by the poet Dafydd Wyn Jones, which he has translated as follows:

Owain, you're our defiance, – Owain,
Yours is our allegiance,
Our steel, and in your stance
See our nation's renaissance.

— Dafydd Wyn Jones

The 600th anniversary also saw a new expansion of the old song Marwnad yr Ehedydd, ("The Lark's Elegy") which some suppose to have been written about Glyndŵr by one of his followers.

Literature

• After Glyndŵr'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." (Henry IV, Part I, 3.1). His enemies describe him "that damn'd magician", which was in reference to having the weather on his side in battle.

• Previously, George Owen, in his book A Dialogue of the Present Government of Wales, written in 1594, commented on the topic of the "Cruell lawes against Welshmen made by Henrie the ffourth" in his attempts to quell the revolt. But it was not until the late 19th century that Glyndŵr's reputation was revived, when the Cymru Fydd ("Young Wales") movement recreated Glyndŵr as the father of Welsh nationalism.

• Glyndŵr 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 Glyndŵr. Glyndŵr 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 fictionalized Glyndŵr 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 Glyndŵr's body was brought from Wales to Virginia after his death, and that whoever can "wake" him will be granted a wish.

Namesakes

"Owen Glendower", East Indiaman, entering Bombay Harbour

VoR 2-6-2T No.7 "Owain Glyndwr", built at GWR Swindon Works 1923

• The Owain Glyndwr Hotel in Corwen is a historic inn. An earlier building had been a monastery and church dating from the age of Glyndŵr in the 14th century, although the current building mostly dates from the 18th century. The waymarked long-distance footpath Glyndŵr's Way runs through Mid Wales near to his homelands. As well as in North Wales, in the capital, Cardiff is the Owain Glyndwr pub on St John Street in the city centre.

• At least two ships and two locomotives have been named after Glyndŵr:
  • 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 Glyndŵr. 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. The train was a British Railways Standard Class 7 mixed-traffic steam locomotive.

• Glyndŵr 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 Glyndŵr raised his standard, a public holiday in Wales, including by Dafydd Wigley in 2021. Many schools and organisations commemorate the day, and street parades such as Gŵyl y Fflam ("Festival of the Flame") are held to celebrate it.

• On 16 September 2023, a portrait of Glyndŵr was unveiled at Sycharth by the artist Dan Llywelyn Hall. The portrait was made in support of a campaign to restore the motte and bailey of Sycharth.

• An annual award for achievement in the arts and literature, the Glyndŵr Award, is named after Glyndŵr. From 2008 to 2023, Wrexham University was known as (Wrexham) Glyndŵr University in his honour. Despite adopting its new name without Glyndŵr in 2023, the university maintains links with the Owain Glyndŵr Society for one of its annual top graduate awards. Glendower Residence, at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, was named after Owain Glyndŵr. The residence was opened in 1993, having previously been the Glendower Hotel. The hall of residence houses 135 male students.

• Glyndŵr's personal standard of a red lion on a gold banner (similar to the quartered arms of Powys Fadog and Deheubarth rampant) was taken from another member of Gwynedd's Royal family, Owain Lawgoch, and is currently used as part of the standard of today's Prince of Wales. Also, the flag has been seen in Wales on commercial products and is also used at Welsh sporting events.

• RGC 1404 (Rygbi Gogledd Cymru/North Wales Rugby) rugby union team is named in honour of the year Owain Glyndŵr was crowned Prince of Wales.

See also

• Owain Glyndŵr Day
• Owain Glyndŵr's Court
• Glyndŵr Award
• Buildings associated with Owain Glyndŵr
• Welsh rebellions against English rule
• Welsh heraldry
• Welsh Seal

Sources

• Lloyd, Jacob Youde W. (1881). "6". The History of the Princes. Vol. 1. Great Queen Street, London: T. Richards Printer.
• Bradley, A.G. (1901). Owen Glyndwr and the Last Struggle for Welsh Independence. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
• Burke, Bernard (1876). The Royal Families of England, Scotland (PDF). Pall Mall, London: Harrison.
• Connolly, Sharron Bennett (2021). Defenders of the Norman Crown : Rise and Fall of the Warenne Earls of Surrey. Pen & Sword History. ISBN 9781526745323.
• Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel; Baines, Menna, eds. (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0708319536.
• Davies, R. R. (1995). The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dŵr. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 293–324. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205081.003.0012. ISBN 978-0198205081. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
• Davies, R. R.; Morgan, Gerald (2009). Owain Glyn Dŵr: Prince of Wales. Ceredigion: Y Lolfa. ISBN 978-1-84771-127-4.
• Hodge, Geoffrey (1995). Owain Glyn Dwr: The War of Independence in the Welsh Borders. Logaston Press. ISBN 1-873827-24-5.
• Livingston, Michael, ed. (2013). Owain Glyndŵr: A Casebook. Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-0-85989-884-3.
• Lloyd, J. E. (1931). Owen Glendower. Oxford University Press.
• Panton, Kenneth (2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarecrow Press.
• Pierce, Thomas Jones (1959). "Owain Glyndwr (c. 1354–1416), 'Prince of Wales'". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales.
• Tout, T.F. (1901). "Glendower, Owen (1359?–1416?), Welsh rebel" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 21. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Turvey, Roger (2010). Twenty-One Welsh Princes. Conwy: Gwasg Carreg Gwalch. ISBN 9781845272692.
• Williams, Gruffydd Aled (2017). The Last Days of Owain Glyndŵr. Y Lolfa. ISBN 978-1-7846-146-38. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.

Further reading

• Burton, Robert (1730). The history of the principality of Wales. : In three parts. Paternoster Row, London. – A history of the Principality of Wales at Google Books
• Latimer, Jon; Murray, John (2001). Deception in War. pp. 12–13.
• Lowe, Walter Bezant (1912). The Heart of Northern Wales. Vol. 1. pp. 205–207. – The Heart of Northern Wales, p. 205, at Google Books
• Morgan, Owen (1911). A history of Wales from the Earliest Period: Including Hitherto Unrecorded Antiquarian Lore. – A History of Wales at Google Books
• Moseley, Charles (1 August 1999). Burke's Peerage & Baronetage (106 ed.). pp. 714, 1295. ISSN 0950-4125.

External links

• "Canolfan & Senedd-Dŷ Owain Glyndŵr (Owain Glyndŵr's Parliament & Centre)". canolfanowainglyndwr.org.
• "The Owain Glyndŵr Society". owain-glyndwr.wales.