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OWYNUS DEI GRATIA PRINCEPS WALLIAE
(Owain by the Grace of God Prince of Wales)
Part I Owain Glyn Dwr, c.1359-c.1416 or Owain ap Gruffydd was a descendant of the princes of Powys and Cyfeiliog. He claimed descent from Llewelyn Fawr and the ruling princes of Wales. He was an heir to Cadwaladr. Through his mother, he was also claimant to the lands of Rhys ap Gruffydd (Deheubarth). Thus, he was one of the most powerful lords in Wales. He was the heir to two of the four great princely houses of Wales. Following his father's death in 1370, Glyn Dwr enjoyed a good education at the Inns of Court, becoming 'learned in heraldic distinction and the customs of chivalry'. Glyn Dwr began his military training in the household of Thomas Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, whose Welsh possessions included the great Castell Dinas Bran near Llangollen, close to Glyn Dwr's own estate named Glyn Dyfrdwy, near Corwen. As lord of Glyn Dyfrdwy and Cynllaith Owain, .which he held directly of the king by Welsh Barony, Owain Glyn Dwr derived an income of £200 or 300 marks per annum, which placed him among the few Welsh gentlemen of large estate. While not rich by English standards (English barons were deriving £5-6000 or roughly 9000 marks per annum from their estates), he was comfortably placed. Glyn Dwr was a member of the uchelwyr or that level of Welsh society that had done well for itself after the conquest.
Glyn Dwr fought for England against France and Scotland, and became well-known because of this. In 1385, 'wearing in his helmet the scarlet feather of a flamingo', he joined a brief and inglorious expedition led by the Black Prince's unfortunate son Richard II against the Scots. The Scots had invaded England in partnership with France who sent a fleet to the south coast of England. Richard accompanied by John of Gaunt marched north with 14,000 men, but the Scots refused to engage. Richard burned the border abbeys but returned having gained nothing.
By 1386 Glyn Dwr was of sufficient stature as an heraldic expert to give evidence in the celebrated legal suit between the Houses of Grosvenor and Scrope, which determined the right of the former to the arms 'Azure a bend or'.
In 1397, however, Arundel was beheaded by Richard for daring to temper his excesses, causing Glyn Dwr to side with the Lancastrian opposition and take service with Henry Bolingbroke (the son of John of Gaunt and a grandson Edward III).
Glyn Dwr had married Margaret the daughter of Sir David Hanmer an Anglo-Welsh judge (who had possibly been one of his teacher's) and fathered six sons in a short time. Upon his return to Wales he led a very peaceful life on his pleasant estate, Sycharth Castle near Llangedwyn, at least, for a short time. His fine moated mansion at Sycharth had tiled and chimneyed roofs, a deer park, a henory, a fishpond and a mill.
In 1399, Richard was deposed by Henry who was duly elected King by Parliament and on his accession one of his first acts was to make his son, Henry (Hal), Prince of Wales. Richard was imprisoned in the Tower of London where he probably died of starvation.
In September 1400, however, when Glyn Dwr was 50 and one year after Bolingbroke usurped the throne and became King Henry IV, Glyn Dwr emerged as the leader of a revolt against English rule. The immediate cause might have been a quarrel with his neighbor, Reynold de Grey, Lord Ruthin, an English border baron, over a marcher property in the Vale of Clwyd; or possibly Ruthin’s maliciously devised delay in summoning Glyn Dwr to join an expedition against the Scots, with the intent of having the Welshman viewed as disloyal. Both actions might have been cause as according to Glyn Dwr, Ruthin had stolen some of his land and when he complained to Henry of his troubles with Ruthin, Henry called Glyn Dwr a bare footed Welshman and completely ignored his complaint, perhaps thinking him disloyal.
What is certain is that on 16th September 1400 Glyn Dwr took up arms along with his eldest son, his brother Gryffyn, and his brother-in-law Philip Hanmer, other Norman-Welsh Marchers and the Dean of St Asaph, he attacked Ruthin with several hundred men and on the 18th burned Ruthin and for the next three days ravaged the English settlements near by.
On the 24th he was checked by the levies of Shropshire, Staffordshire and Warwickshire, but this proved merely a breathing space, for a larger movement was to follow. Glyn Dwr, with only seven men, took to the hills over the winter.
Glyn Dwr, who had been proclaimed Prince of Wales by his followers in 1400, kept the revolt against Henry IV of England burning for years. Part II Glyn Dwr's popularity grew fast, and in 1401, despite English expeditions to north and south Wales, his stature, as a national hero, grew. Glyn Dwr became aware of the growing power of the rebellion as men of higher rank began to defect to the cause. He recognized that there were deeper causes for the popularity of his cause. These deeper causes were rooted in Welsh antagonism toward their English overlords, Welsh resentment of unjust English laws and administration, and widespread economic discontent.
England's oppressive rule had weakened the Welsh economy. The English barons Wales tried to add to their possessions by encroaching on the lands of the Welsh freemen. The baron’s estates always remained the same, as a result of what is called primogeniture, the land all went to the eldest son. The Welsh freeman’s lands, on the other hand, were divided between the sons according to what is called gavelkind. The barons, also, took forest and mountain according to laws the freeman did not comprehend. The freemen felt as if they were being robbed by the English barons.
The tenants of the barons were restless and rebellious. They said they were free and that they would not work as serfs. They said that they would not bring food rents, but they would pay a fixed rent for every acre they held. The rebellion that had long been smoldering burst into a flame all over the country. Glyn Dwr was at once welcomed by the bard, the friar, and the peasant. There was an immediate response from Oxford, where Welsh scholars at once dropped their books and flocked home. Even more dramatic was the news that Welsh laborers in England were downing their tools and heading for home.
In his letters to south Wales he declared himself the liberator appointed by God to deliver the Welsh race from their oppressors. On Good Friday 1401, Gwilym and Rhys ap Twdwr (Glyn Dwr’s cousins) captured Castell Conwy, one of the strongest castles in Wales. The castle fell to his cousins, who were able to take the castle by surprise when the defending troops left it poorly guarded whilst they were in the castle chapel. They, then, proceeded to hold out for two months. In the same year an army of Flemish mercenaries and English soldiers was defeated at Hyddgen in the Pumlumon mountains.
At the same time, Glyn Dwr came out of hiding, began making a series of raids and during the autumn, supported by the whole of North Wales, Cardigan and Powys, Glyn Dwr repeatedly attacked the English living in those regions especially Welshpool. In October, Glyn Dwr's followers captured his enemy Reynald de Grey, Lord Ruthin. Ruthin was later released on the payment of a ransom of £6,666 or 10,000 marks. Glyn Dwr had established himself in north-west Wales well enough to threaten Castell Harlech and Castell Caernarvon. At Bangor he set fire to the cathedral because the Bishop supported Henry IV, then beseiged the castle at Caernarfon.
The English king, Henry IV, dispatched troops and rapidly drew up a range of severely punitive laws against the Welsh, even outlawing Welsh language bards and singers. Part III Glyn Dwr formed strategic alliances with Henry's most powerful opponents. On June 22, 1402, he achieved a great victory over the English near Pilleth on a hillside known as Bryn Glas in Radnorshire and captured Sir Edmund de Mortimer, whose nephew the 5th earl of March had a claim to the English throne. Glyn Dwr was a man of good sense, and when Edmund de Mortimer, who was also the King's nephew, was captured, he demanded a ransom for him. Henry who was suspicious would not pay it. Angered Sir Edmund allied himself to Glyn Dwr and married his daughter Catrin. By the end of the summer, Glyn Dwr had extended the revolt to Glamorgan and Gwent. Glyn Dwr's forces sack Castell Newydd. .In August 1402, a third royal expedition went into Wales from three directions, but failed miserably, most of the expedition being swamped in heavy rains.
The Percies (Sir Henry Percy; his father, Henry Percy, 1st earl of Northumberland; and Thomas Percy, earl of Worcester) powerful lords in the north, were kin to Mortimer. They joined Glyn Dwr partly as a result of Henry’s failure to ransom Mortimer, but more importantly as they had recently feuded with the English King over Scottish prisoners taken in the battle of Homilden Hill, near Wooler. At that battle the Percies had defeated an army of Scots under Archibald, earl of Douglas. The Douglases were great enemies of the Northumberland Percys. Eight hundred Scots were killed in their defensive position by English archers shooting uphill. Five hundred more drowned trying to escape over the Tweed. Douglas was captured having received 5 wounds including the loss of an eye.
Glyn Dwr, Mortimer and the Percies decided to restore Richard II to the throne and grant Glyn Dwr his rights in Wales. Then if it could be proved that Richard was dead, the fifth earl of March, Mortimer’s nephew, would be made king. This led to open warfare between the Percies and the king. At the battle of Shrewsbury on July 21, 1403 (in which Glyn Dwr did not take part), Northumberland’s son, known as Hotspur, was killed. Thomas Percy was executed shortly after the battle. Despite their deaths, the alliance set the stage for Glyn Dwr to embrace discontented elements within England against Henry IV.
Over all it was a year of triumph for Glyn Dwr, who carried out raids all over Wales. Conwy, Aberystwyth and Cardiff castles were besieged. He extended his sway into south-west Wales, was laying seige to castles from Brecon to Aberystwyth, Beaumaris to Cardiff. In the meantime, Henry IV led yet another fruitless expedition into south Wales.
Glyn Dwr was very busy in north-east Wales, with the result that a garrison of 120 men was posted to Montgomery castle. The rebellion could now be said to be national, and civilian rule was breaking down across Wales. The English could not collect revenues and local powers of government and taxation were handed over to local military commanders, as happened in Montgomery, Radnor and Brecon. Castles such as Radnor, Montgomery and Builth were little more than isolated outposts.
Also, Owain gained his first assistance from the French, a further sign that his ambitions were being realized. In October 1403, forces from France and Brittany besieged Kidwelly, and later that month, a French fleet showed up at Caernarfon and assaulted the castle.
Henry IV responded with yet another royal expedition, which passed through Brecon on its way to Carmarthen. Prince Henry of Monmouth at the age of 16, showing the martial skills that he would exhibit later as King Henry V at Agincourt, put both Glyn Dyfrdwy and Sycharth to the torch. In October Henry appointed John, Lord Audley to take control of the castle and lordship of Brecon for a year. Owain Glyn Dwr Continued
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