Owen Glendower

1359 (age 56)

By 1385 he was serving as a squire with King Richard II against the Scots. Possibly knighted in 1387, he also served the Earl of Arundel under Henry of Lancaster (who became Henry IV in 1399). Glendower headed a Welsh rebellion in 1399, and, after being captured at Flint Castle, he was pardoned, but some of his lands were not restored to him. After an unsuccessful appeal to Parliament, Glendower turned to rebellion and in 1400 took the title of Prince of Wales. As a rebel, Glendower gained considerable support because of agrarian discontent. He and his followers seized south Wales and gained control of Conway, Ruthin, and Hawarden; they also attacked the royal army in the north. In 1402 Glendower was crowned at Machynlleth, and he simultaneously negotiated with the English for peace and with Ireland and Scotland for help. Aided by the weather, Glendower checked the royal forces sent against him, and at Pilleth he captured Reginald de Grey and Sir Edmund de Mortimer. This action paved the way for a treaty with the Mortimers and the Percys for the overthrow of the King. After his daughter married Mortimer, Glendower released him, and during the next few months he gained control of Carmarthen, Usk, Caerleon, and Newport. This alliance ended with the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403), in which Glendower failed to join the Percys. For the next few years Glendower and his followers controlled Wales; they ravaged the English border, regulated Church appointments, and sent the bishop of St. Asaph as an ambassador to France. Capturing Harlech and Cardiff, Glendower controlled the area west of Worcester, and in 1405 he called for a Welsh Parliament. From 1405 onward, Glendower's power started to decline, and his sons were captured by Prince Henry. Glendower recaptured Carmarthen with the help of the French, but he was defeated in battle in 1406, deserted by his ally the Earl of Northumberland the following year, and then lost Aberystwyth in 1408 and south Wales. Glendower's wife and several of his relatives were captured by the English in 1413, and although King Henry V made several offers of full pardon in an attempt to calm the border on the eve of his French campaign, Glendower never submitted to the English. Glendower is believed to have died on Sept. 20, 1415, at Monnington, Herefordshire. His sons concluded negotiations with the English the following spring, but the terms of their pardons were less favorable than those that had been offered to Glendower. The main aim of Glendower and his followers was to secure the political and ecclesiastical independence of Wales. They also wanted to preserve the native language and culture of Wales.

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Owen Glendower

Background

Glyndŵr was born around 1359 to a prosperous landed family, part of the Anglo-Welsh gentry of the Welsh Marches (the border between England and Wales) in northeast Wales.

Education

After inheriting estates in Merioneth, Glendower probably studied law at one of the Inns of Court in London.

Career

By 1385 he was serving as a squire with King Richard II against the Scots. Possibly knighted in 1387, he also served the Earl of Arundel under Henry of Lancaster (who became Henry IV in 1399). Glendower headed a Welsh rebellion in 1399, and, after being captured at Flint Castle, he was pardoned, but some of his lands were not restored to him. After an unsuccessful appeal to Parliament, Glendower turned to rebellion and in 1400 took the title of Prince of Wales.

As a rebel, Glendower gained considerable support because of agrarian discontent. He and his followers seized south Wales and gained control of Conway, Ruthin, and Hawarden; they also attacked the royal army in the north. In 1402 Glendower was crowned at Machynlleth, and he simultaneously negotiated with the English for peace and with Ireland and Scotland for help. Aided by the weather, Glendower checked the royal forces sent against him, and at Pilleth he captured Reginald de Grey and Sir Edmund de Mortimer. This action paved the way for a treaty with the Mortimers and the Percys for the overthrow of the King. After his daughter married Mortimer, Glendower released him, and during the next few months he gained control of Carmarthen, Usk, Caerleon, and Newport. This alliance ended with the Battle of Shrewsbury (1403), in which Glendower failed to join the Percys. For the next few years Glendower and his followers controlled Wales; they ravaged the English border, regulated Church appointments, and sent the bishop of St. Asaph as an ambassador to France. Capturing Harlech and Cardiff, Glendower controlled the area west of Worcester, and in 1405 he called for a Welsh Parliament.

From 1405 onward, Glendower's power started to decline, and his sons were captured by Prince Henry. Glendower recaptured Carmarthen with the help of the French, but he was defeated in battle in 1406, deserted by his ally the Earl of Northumberland the following year, and then lost Aberystwyth in 1408 and south Wales. Glendower's wife and several of his relatives were captured by the English in 1413, and although King Henry V made several offers of full pardon in an attempt to calm the border on the eve of his French campaign, Glendower never submitted to the English.

Glendower is believed to have died on Sept. 20, 1415, at Monnington, Herefordshire. His sons concluded negotiations with the English the following spring, but the terms of their pardons were less favorable than those that had been offered to Glendower.

The main aim of Glendower and his followers was to secure the political and ecclesiastical independence of Wales. They also wanted to preserve the native language and culture of Wales.

Achievements

Glyndŵr has been featured in a number of works of modern fiction, including John Cowper Powys: Owen Glendower (1941), Edith Pargeter: A Bloody Field by Shrewsbury (1972), Martha Rofheart: "Glendower Country" (1973), Rosemary Hawley Jarman: Crown in Candlelight (1978), Roger Zelazny: A Night in the Lonesome October (1993), Malcolm Pryce: A Dragon to Agincourt – Y Lolfa ISBN 0-86243-684-2 (2003), Rhiannon Ifans: Owain Glyndŵr: Prince of Wales (2003), Rowland Williams: Owen Glendower: A Dramatic Biography and Other Poems (2008), T. I. Adams: The Dragon Wakes: A Novel of Wales and Owain Glyndwr (2012), Maggie Stiefvater: The Raven Boys (2012), The Dream Thieves (2013), Blue Lily, Lily Blue (2014), and The Raven King (2016), N. Gemini Sasson: Uneasy Lies the Crown: A Novel of Owain Glyndwr (2012), BBC TV Series Horrible Histories, series 5, episode 7, features a song about Glyndor, Terry Breverton: Owain Glyndŵr: The Story of the Last Prince of Wales (2014).

Glyndŵr was the hero of James Hill's UK TV movie Owain, Prince of Wales, broadcast in 1983 in the early days of Channel 4/S4C.

Glyndŵr appeared briefly as a past Knight of the Word and a ghost who serves the Lady in Terry Brooks' Word/Void trilogy. In the books, he is John Ross's ancestor.

Glyndŵr appeared as an agent of the Light in Susan Cooper's novel Silver on the Tree, part of The Dark is Rising Sequence.

Views

Quotations: "Dread lord and cousin, may the almighty preserve your reverence and lordship in long life and good fortune. "

"Most redoubted lord and right sovereign cousin, may the Almighty Lord have you in his keeping. "

Connections

Owain married Margaret Hanmer, also known by her Welsh name Marred ferch Dafydd, daughter of Sir David Hanmer of Hanmer, early in his life. According to Lloyd, Owain and Margaret had five sons and four or five daughters.

Owain's sons were either taken prisoner or died in battle and had no issue. Owain had additional illegitimate children: David, Gwenllian, Ieuan, and Myfanwy.

Father:: Gruffudd Fychan II
Spouse:: Margaret Hanmer
Daughter:: Alys
Son:: Gruffudd
Son:: Maredudd

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