Glyndŵr rebellion

In the last decade of the 14th century, Richard II of England had launched a bold plan to consolidate his hold on his kingdom and break the power of the magnates who constantly threatened his authority. As part of this plan, Richard began to shift his power base from the southeast and London towards the county of Cheshire, and systematically built up his power in nearby Wales. Wales was ruled through a patchwork of semi-autonomous feudal states, bishoprics, shires, and territory under direct royal rule. Richard eliminated his rivals and took their land or gave it to his favourites. As he did so, he raised an entire class of Welsh people to fill the new posts created in his new fiefdoms. For these people, the final years of the reign of Richard II were full of opportunities. To the English magnates, it was a further sign that Richard was dangerously out of control.[1]

In 1399, the exiled Henry Bolingbroke, heir to the Duchy of Lancaster, returned to reclaim his lands. Henry raised an army and marched to meet the king.[2] Richard hurried back from Ireland to Wales to deal with Bolingbroke, but he was arrested by Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland as he was on his way from Conwy Castle to meet Bolingbroke at Flint Castle, supposedly to discuss the restitution of Henry's lands. Richard was imprisoned at the English border city of Chester before being taken to London. Parliament quickly made Henry Bolingbroke Regent and then King. Richard died in Pontefract Castle, shortly after the failed Epiphany Rising of English nobles in January 1400, but his death was not generally known for some time. In Wales, people like Owain Glyndŵr were asked for the first time in their life to decide their loyalties. The Welsh had generally supported King Richard,[3] who had succeeded his father, Edward, the Black Prince, as Prince of Wales. With Richard removed, the opportunities for advancement for Welsh people became more limited. Many Welsh people seem to have been uncertain where this left them and their future.

For some time, supporters of the deposed king remained at large. On 10 January 1400 serious civil disorder broke out in Chester in support of the Epiphany Rising. An atmosphere of disorder was building along the Anglo-Welsh border.

The revolt reportedly began as an argument with Owain Glyndŵr's English neighbour.[3] Successive holders of the title Baron Grey de Ruthyn of Dyffryn Clwyd were English landowners in Wales. Glyndŵr had been engaged in a long-running land dispute with them.[4] He seems to have appealed to Parliament (though which one is not clear) to resolve the issue, with the courts under King Richard finding in his favour. Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn – loyal to the new king – then appears to have used his influence to have that decision overturned. Owain Glyndŵr possibly had his appeal rejected.[5] Another story is that de Grey deliberately withheld a Royal Summons for Glyndŵr to join the new king's Scottish campaign of August 1400. Technically, as a tenant-in-chief to the English king, Glyndŵr was obliged to provide troops, as he had done in the past.[6][7] By not responding to the hidden summons he seems, perhaps unwittingly, to have incurred Henry's wrath.

The core Lancastrian supporters would have none of this. They struck back with anti-Welsh legislation, the Penal Laws against Wales 1402 which were designed to establish English dominance in Wales.[18][19] The laws included prohibiting any Welshman from buying land in England, from holding any senior public office in Wales, from bearing arms, and from holding any castle or defending any house; no Welsh child was to be educated or apprenticed to any trade, no Englishman could be convicted in any suit brought by a Welshman, Welshmen were to be severely penalised when marrying English women, any Englishman marrying a Welsh woman was disenfranchised, and all public assembly was forbidden.[20] These laws sent a message to any of those who were wavering that the English viewed all the Welsh with equal suspicion. Many Welshmen who had tried to further their careers in English service now felt pushed into the rebellion as the middle ground between Owain and Henry disappeared.

Banner of Glyndwr

In the same year, 1402, Owain captured his arch enemy, Reynald or Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn in an ambush in late January or early February at Ruthin.[21] He held him for a year until he received a substantial ransom from King Henry. In June 1402, Owain's forces encountered an army led by Sir Edmund Mortimer, the uncle of the Earl of March, at Bryn Glas in central Wales. Mortimer's army was badly defeated and Mortimer was captured. It is reported that the Welsh women following Owain's army, killed the wounded English soldiers and mutilated the bodies of the dead, supposedly in revenge for plundering and rape by the English soldiery the previous year. Glyndŵr offered to release Mortimer for a large ransom, but Henry IV refused to pay. Mortimer could be said to have had a greater claim to the English throne than himself, so his speedy release was not an option. In response, Sir Edmund negotiated an alliance with Owain and married one of Owain's daughters, Catrin.[22]

The ward of Caernarfon Castle, besieged by Glyndŵr in 1403, showing (from left to right) the Black Tower, the Chamberlain's Tower, and the Eagle Tower.

In 1403 the revolt became truly national in Wales. Owain struck out to the west and the south. Recreating Llywelyn the Great's campaign in the west, Owain marched down the Tywi Valley. Village after village rose to join him. English manors and castles fell or their inhabitants surrendered. Finally, Carmarthen, one of the main English power-bases in the west, fell and was occupied by Owain. Owain then turned around and attacked Glamorgan and Gwent. Abergavenny Castle was attacked and the walled town burned. Owain pushed on down the valley of the River Usk to the coast, burning Usk and taking Cardiff Castle and Newport Castle. Royal officials reported that Welsh students at the University of Oxford were leaving their studies for Owain and Welsh labourers and craftsmen were abandoning their employers in England and returning to Wales in droves.

In the north of Wales, Owain's supporters launched a further attack on Caernarfon Castle (this time with French support) and almost captured it.[23] In response, Henry of Monmouth (son of Henry IV and the future Henry V) attacked and burned Owain's homes at Glyndyfrdwy and Sycharth. On 10 July 1403, Hotspur declared against the king by challenging his cousin Henry's right to the throne and by raising his standard in revolt in Cheshire at Chester, a bastion of support for King Richard II. Henry of Monmouth, then only 16, turned to the north to meet Hotspur. On 21 July, Henry arrived in Shrewsbury just before Hotspur, forcing the rebel army to camp outside the town. Henry forced the battle before the Earl of Northumberland had also managed to reach Shrewsbury. Thus, on 22 July, Henry was able to fight before the full strength of the rebels was present and on ground of his own choosing. The battle lasted all day, Prince Henry was badly wounded in the face by an arrow but continued to fight alongside his men. When the cry went out that Hotspur had fallen, the rebels' resistance began to falter and crumble. By the end of the day, Hotspur was dead and his rebellion was over. Over 300 knights had died and up to 20,000 men were killed or injured.

In the summer of 1404, Owain captured and garrisoned the great western castles of Harlech and Aberystwyth. Anxious to demonstrate his seriousness as a ruler, he held court at Harlech and appointed the deft and brilliant Gruffydd Young as his chancellor. Soon afterwards he was said by Adam of Usk to have called his first Parliament (or more properly a Cynulliad or "gathering"[lower-alpha 1]) of all Wales at Machynlleth where he was crowned Prince of Wales. Senior churchmen and important members of society flowed to his banner. English resistance was reduced to a few isolated castles, walled towns, and fortified manor houses.

Portrait of Glyndŵr, taken from his Great Seal as Prince of Wales

Owain demonstrated his new status by negotiating the "Tripartite Indenture" in February 1405 with Edmund Mortimer and Henry Percy the 1st Earl of Northumberland.[22] The Indenture agreed to divide England and Wales between 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 Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester, would take the north of England. Local English communities in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Montgomeryshire had ceased active resistance and were making their own treaties with the rebels. It was rumoured that old allies of Richard II were sending money and arms to the Welsh and the Cistercians and Franciscans were funneling funds to support the rebellion. Furthermore, the Percy rebellion was still viable; even after the defeat of the Percy Archbishop Scrope in May. In fact the Percy rebellion was not to end until 1408 when the Sheriff of Yorkshire defeated Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland at Bramham Moor. Owain was capitalising on the political situation to make the best deal he possibly could.

Things were improving on the international front too. Although negotiations with the Lords of Ireland were unsuccessful, Owain had reasons to hope that the French and Bretons might be more welcoming. In May 1404, Owain had dispatched Gruffydd Young and his brother-in-law, John Hanmer, to France to negotiate a treaty with the French. The result was a formal treaty that promised French aid to Owain and the Welsh. Joint Welsh and Franco-Breton forces had already attacked and laid siege to Kidwelly Castle in November 1403.[23] The Welsh could also count on semi-official aid from Brittany (which was a French vassal at the time) and the then independent Scotland.[22]

In 1406, he announced his national programme. He declared his vision of an independent Welsh state with a parliament and separate Welsh church. There would be two national universities (one in the south and one in the north) and return to the traditional law of Hywel Dda.[24] By this time, most French forces had withdrawn after politics shifted in Paris toward the peace party. Even Owain's so-called "Pennal Letter", in which he promised Charles VI of France and Avignon Pope Benedict XIII to shift the allegiance of the Welsh Church from Rome to Avignon, produced no effect. The moment had passed.

There were other signs the revolt was encountering problems. Early in the year Owain's forces suffered defeats at Grosmont and Usk at the Battle of Pwll Melyn. Although it is very difficult to understand what happened at these two battles, it appears that Henry of Monmouth or possibly Sir John Talbot defeated substantial Welsh raiding parties led by Rhys Gethin ("Swarthy Rhys") and Owain's eldest son, Gruffudd ab Owain Glyndŵr. The exact date and order of these battles is subject to dispute. However, they may have resulted in the death of Rhys Gethin at Grosmont and Owain's brother, Tudur ap Gruffudd, at Usk and the capture of Gruffudd. Gruffudd was sent to the Tower of London and after six years died in prison. King Henry also showed that the English were engaged in more and more ruthless tactics. Adam of Usk says that after the Battle of Pwll Melyn near Usk, King Henry had three hundred prisoners beheaded in front of Usk Castle. John ap Hywel, Abbot of the nearby Llantarnam Cistercian monastery, was killed during the Battle of Usk as he ministered to the dying and wounded on both sides. More serious for the rebellion, English forces landed in Anglesey from Ireland. Over the next year they would gradually push the Welsh back until the resistance in Anglesey formally ended toward the end of 1406.

At the same time, the English were adopting a different strategy. Rather than focusing on punitive expeditions favoured by his father, the young Henry of Monmouth 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. In March, 1,000 men from all over Flintshire appeared before the Chief Justitiar of the county and agreed to pay a communal fine for their adherence to Glyndŵr. Gradually the same pattern was repeated throughout the country. In July the Earl of Arundel's north-east Lordship around Oswestry and Clun submitted. One by one the Lordships began to surrender. By midsummer, Owain's castle at Aberystwyth was under siege. That autumn Aberystwyth Castle surrendered. In 1409 it was the turn of Harlech Castle. Last minute desperate envoys were sent to the French for help. There was no response. Gruffydd Young was sent to Scotland to attempt to coordinate action but nothing was to come of that either. Harlech Castle fell in 1409. Edmund Mortimer died in the final battle and Owain's wife Margaret along with two of his daughters (including Catrin) and three of his Mortimer granddaughters were taken prisoner and incarcerated in the Tower of London. They were all to die in the Tower before 1415.

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

Owain remained free but now he was a hunted guerilla leader. The revolt continued to splutter on. In 1410, Owain readied his supporters for a last raid deep into Shropshire. Many of his most loyal commanders were present. It may have been a last desperate suicide raid. Whatever was intended, the raid went terribly wrong and many of the leading figures still at large were captured. Rhys Ddu ("Black Rhys") of Cardigan, one of Owain's most faithful commanders, was captured and taken to London for execution. A chronicle of the time states that Rhys Ddu was: "…laid on a hurdle and so drawn forth to Tyburn through the City and was there hanged and let down again. His head was smitten off and his body quartered and sent to four towns and his head set on London Bridge." Philip Scudamore and Rhys ap Tudur were also beheaded and their heads displayed at Shrewsbury and Chester (no doubt to discourage any further thoughts of rebellion).

In 1412, Owain captured, and later ransomed, a leading Welsh supporter of King Henry's, Dafydd Gam ("Crooked David"), in an ambush in Brecon. These were the last flashes of the revolt. This was the last time that Owain was seen alive by his enemies. 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. Outlaws and bandits left over from the rebellion were still active in Snowdonia.

But by then things were changing. King Henry IV died in 1413 and his son King Henry V began to adopt a more conciliatory attitude to the Welsh. Royal Pardons were offered to the major leaders of the revolt and other opponents of his father's regime. In a symbolic and pious gesture, the body of deposed King Richard II was interred in Westminster Abbey. In 1415 Henry V offered a Pardon to Owain, as he prepared for war with France. There is evidence that the new King Henry V was in negotiations with Owain's son, Maredudd ab Owain Glyndŵr, but nothing was to come of it. In 1416 Maredudd was himself offered a Pardon but refused. Perhaps his father Owain was still alive and he was unwilling to accept it while he lived. He finally accepted a Royal Pardon on 8 April 1421, suggesting that Owain Glyndŵr was finally dead.[25] There is some evidence to suggest, in the poetry of the Welsh Bard Llawdden for example, that a few diehards continued to fight on even after 1421 under the leadership of Owain's son-in-law Phylib ap Rhys.

The Annals of Owain Glyndwr (Panton MS. 22) finish in the year 1422. The last entry regarding the prince reads:

1415 – Owain went into hiding on St Matthew's Day in Harvest (21 September), and thereafter his hiding place was unknown. Very many said that he died; the seers maintain he did not.[26]

The date of his death remains uncertain but the tentative consensus is that he may have died in 1415.[27]