Known as “The Last Prince of Wales,” Owain Glyndwr led the last attempted rebellion against the English in the 15th Century. Ironically enough, Owain was born during a time of peace between the English and the Welsh in 1354. He was from a powerful Anglo-Welsh family that descended from the Princes of Powys and Deheubarth on both sides of his family. His parents could trace their royal lineage back to before the Norman Conquest. In fact, Owain could claim ties to four of the major ruling houses of Wales.

It is presumed that, after his father had died when Owain was 11, he was fostered at the home of David Hanmer, a lawyer who eventually rose to the King’s Bench. Evidence suggests that young Owain was sent to London to study law at the Inns of Court, but instead of going into law, he instead joined the army under Sir Gregory Sais in 1384 and served under King Richard II starting in 1385. Even though he did not follow his foster father’s career, he married Hanmer’s daughter in 1383. During his time in the army, he served under such notable persons as Sir John of Gaunt and as a squire to Henry Bolingbroke (the future King Henry IV).

His life changed in 1387 when Haner died, and Owain returned to Wales as executor of Hanmer’s estate. Moving into the 1390s, a series of incidents pushed Glyndwr into open rebellion, beginning with Baron Grey de Ruthyn seizing some of Owain’s land. Glyndwr made an appear to the English court for redress, but his petition was flatly ignored. In 1399, King Richard II was overthrown by Henry IV in 1399. In the following year, Lord Grey issued an edict to Owain for a mustering of troops near the Scottish border, meaning that Owain did not send any soldiers in time and permitted Lord Grey, King Henry, and others to label him as a traitor in London’s social circles. Glyndwr attempted an appear but lost the case, putting him under very real threat by the crown.

Thus, in 1400, with King Richard II still having a great amount of support in Wales and with the backing of his family, Owain Glyndwr proclaimed himself Prince of Wales and began his rebellion against King Henry. With his eldest son, brothers-in-law, and a number of other followers, he began an assault on Lord Grey’s forces. His revolt grew by 1401, with Owain gaining much of northern and central Wales, while his numbers swelled with even university students abandoning their studies to join his forces.

He continued to gain success, eventually defeating Lord Grey and ransoming him for £6,666. He also captured the king’s son, Edmund Mortimer, but instead of ransoming him, he instead married to future King of England to his daughter Catherine, giving him a link to the throne of England as well as Wales. However, England responded to Owain’s success with a series of anti-Welsh legislation that prohibited Welshmen from buying land in England, prevented Welsh children from entering a trade, owning weapons, gathering, would not permit a conviction against an Englishman by a Welshman, and even prevented Welshmen from holding offices within their own country.

His advances seemed to halt in 1405 after retreating to Wales from Woodbury Hill. He began to issue national plans for Wales such as the Pennal Manifesto and the Welsh Church in 1406. However, in that same year, Owain began to suffer a series of defeats and his commanders slowly but surely forced to submit and swear fealty to the English. Owain then had to switch to more guerrilla tactics in his battles against the English. Owain then lost his home, Edmund Mortimer died in battle, and his family was captured by English forces then held in the Tower of London where they would all die by 1415.

After 1412, records of Owain seem to have disappeared, along with any trace of the Welsh prince. There ceased to be any real organised resistance against the English but for bandits and small bands of rebels. The next year, Henry IV died and was succeeded by King Henry V, who was much more forgiving to the Welsh forces than his father. Henry offered pardons to Owain’s forces and even Glyndwr himself in order to bolster his forces for a coming war with France, but Owain never came out of hiding to accept it. It is believed that Owain Glyndwr died sometime between 1416 and 1421, though there are no records to confirm the details.

Even though Owain and his rebellion had died, the legends surrounding the man only grew in his absence. Where it was once thought that Owain Glyndwr could make the weather itself an ally, Glyndwr took on a mythic status after his rebellion fell. Shakespeare portrayed Owain in his play King Henry IV as magical, wild, and exotic. His disappearance ended up creating the myth that, like King Arthur for England, Owain would return to fight for Wales if the country was ever under threat. In reality, though life returned to normal in England and Wales, the anti-Welsh laws remained in effect until the reign of King Henry VII and the beginning of the Tudor dynasty. As a wave of Welsh nationalism began to reassert itself in the 19th Century, Owain Glyndwr was celebrated a hero throughout Wales and remains a national figurehead to this day. 2000 saw his colours fly again as the country remembered the 600th anniversary of his uprising.