Owain Glyn Dŵr

Owain Glyn Dŵr (English, Owen Glendower) (c.1350-c.1416), leader of the last major Welsh revolt (1400-1409) and self-proclaimed Prince of Wales. Born Owain ap Gruffudd Fychan ap Gruffudd, he was directly descended through his parents from the two surviving princely dynasties of Wales, and as such was widely regarded, especially by the poets, as the rightful native claimant to be Prince of Wales. Prior to 1400 his career, like that of his father and grandfather before him, had been one of complete loyalty and respectability; he had probably spent a period mastering English law in Westminster, had certainly had a distinguished military career in English service in the 1380s, had seen service with the Earl of Arundel, and had married Margaret, the daughter of Sir David Hanmer, a chief justice of the king’s bench and one of the most powerful legal figures of his day.

It was, therefore, utterly surprising when Owain had himself proclaimed Prince of Wales on September 16, 1400, and thereby ignited a revolt that eventually swept across the whole of Wales, and won the support, active or passive, of most of the population. Whatever the initial trigger, the revolt tapped deep resentment in Welsh society against the privileges of English rulers and settlers in Wales, and their financial extortions, but it also drew heavily on an expectation of deliverance under a charismatic leader. Owain seemed to fit the bill exactly. He and his guerrilla armies exploited the terrain and weather of Wales to maximum effect. Spectacular achievements—such as the storming of Conwy Castle in 1401 while the garrison was at prayer, or the capture of leading English figures such as Reginald Grey and Edmund Mortimer in 1402—revealed the vulnerability of English rule in Wales. Major castles—notably Aberystwyth and Harlech—were seized by the Welsh, and a series of royal expeditions were distinguished only by recurrent failure.

The revolt reached its peak in the years 1403-1405. Owain exploited to the full the tenuous hold of the English king, Henry IV, on his throne, and channelled the support of disaffected English families, such as the Percies and the Mortimers, to his cause. Even more enterprisingly, he forged alliances with the Irish, Scots, and the French, and thereby put Wales on the agenda of the international politics of the day. But perhaps most striking of all was the way he developed a vision of an independent Wales, with its own prince, parliament, chancery, church, and universities. Yet once the English monarchy defeated its own domestic enemies (most spectacularly in its victory over the Percies at the battle of Shrewsbury on July 21, 1403), recovered its financial poise, and in effect bought off the French, the Welsh revolt went into decline. It was not so much defeated by the English as ebbed away through exhaustion, particularly after 1406. It still flickered into life as late as 1412, but by then normal life was beginning to return to Wales after the huge damage and dislocation caused by the revolt. Owain himself disappeared from the scene sometime around 1416.

Contemporaries believed that Owain had not died, but rather that he had withdrawn temporarily and would return in the fullness of time. This may explain why he quickly became, and has ever since remained, a true national hero in Welsh folk memory. Stories relating to his prowess and adventures are recorded from every part of Wales; caves, paths, and mounds were named after him. Even the English came to respect him, especially after Shakespeare had presented a notably sympathetic portrait of him in Henry IV, Part I. Above all, from the 19th century in particular, his vision of an independent Wales has fired the Welsh political imagination. That is why he has been called “the father of modern Welsh nationalism”.