Prologue: The Life and Times of Owain Glyndŵr:
On the 16th September 1400, Owain Glyndŵr was proclaimed Tywysog Cymru[1] by his supporters at Llys Glyndyfrdwy after escaping an ambush by Baron Grey de Ruthyn and raised the Black Lion Rampant standard of Powys in rebellion. Some might say that as the date the rebellion started in earnest, this must be when the story of Glyndŵr’s War and the independent Tywysogaeth Cymru[2] but in truth the story began many years earlier, even before the birth of Owain himself. The history of Wales extended back centuries before the birth of Owain in 1359, encompassing many principalities and petty kingdoms and a long history of resistance to repeated incursions by the English. The stories of the Welsh people, or rather the Britons, were well-known in Wales, sung by wandering bards up and down the country, and they were many great heroes, from Llywellyn Fawr[3] to the semi-legendary King Cadwaladr. This proud history of an independent Wales had only come to an end less than a century before Owain was born with the defeat and murder of Llywellyn ap Gruffudd, known to the Welsh as Ein Llyw Olaf[4], in Aberedw Woods. Llywellyn the Last’s death might have been the end of an independent Welsh principality, but the Welsh dream never died as Welshman after Welshman fought and died for Wales.
Only 5 years after Llywellyn the Last’s death, Rhys ad Maredudd, lord of Dryslwyn, had risen up and been executed at York for his crime, next came Prince Madog ap Llywellyn in 1294 but he too fell to the power of the English. Even as more and more punitive laws were imposed upon the Welsh people, they rose up once more in 1316 under Llywellyn Bren, Lord of Senghenydd, who met his end with an illegal execution at the hands of Hugh Depenser the Younger, a crime for which the English noble was also to suffer the fate of death. The gruesome death of Llywellyn Bren marked the end of Welsh resistance for over half a century as the English tightened their grip on the lands of Wales. This all changed in 1361 when the terrible plague of the Black Death swept across Europe and precipitated the collapse of many aspects of the feudal system. In the midst of this near-continental wide anarchy, a mercenary captain by the name of Yvain de Galles rose to prominence in France. Though appearing to be a simple mercenary captain, ‘Yvain de Galles'[5] was in fact Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri, the last direct survivor of the House of Gwynnedd. Known by his followers as Owain Lawgoch[6], Owain was arguably the greatest military genius that Wales has produced, even surpassing Owain Glyndŵr himself, and followed by numerous Welsh soldiers in fought in wars across Europe, even surviving the rout of the French army by Edward the Black Prince at the Battle of Poitiers, before finally turning his attention to the lands of his fathers in 1369. He, supported by King Charles V, twice attempted to liberate Wales but he would never make it home. His first expedition was cruelly ended by storms and his second, despite the capture of Guernsey and with it the Black Prince’s great comrade, Jean III de Grailly, Captal de Buch, was forced to turn back the attack on the English occupied town of La Rochelle. Thus, despite considerable further campaigning, Owain Lawgoch would die without returning to his homeland as he was murdered on the orders of Henry III in 1378. With Owain Lawgoch’s death, Welsh independence looked to be a lost cause, that is until the title of Mad Darogan[7] and the role of heir to the legacies of Llywellyn Fawr, Llywellyn the Last and Rhodri Mawr passed on to a man born 19 years before Owain Lawgoch had died, Owain Glyndŵr.
Owain Glyndŵr was a man of impeccable lineage to take over from Owain Lawgoch as ‘Un Pen ar Gymru'[8], he was directly descended both the House of Powys and the House of Deheubarth and also indirectly descended from Owain Lawgoch’s own House of Gwynedd. Owain’s birth was, according to legend, heralded by terrible storms and a comet in the skies, phenomenon both seen as signs of divine blessing, and after this auspicious birth, Owain had a relatively privileged upbringing for a Welshman, an upbringing that would hold him in good stead later in life, thanks to his status as a royal ward. As a child he was sent to the Inns of Court in Westminster to study law and later studied at either Oxford or Cambridge for a brief time at the age of 11. After this solid education, he became squire to the Earl of Arundel, the most prominent Earl in England, under whom he would serve in more than one campaign. During his time in the Earl of Arundel’s service, he inherited his father’s estates in 1370 and later his mother’s estates as well, which combined left him in control of the lordship of Glyndyfrdwy, land around Carrog in the Dee Valley, half of Cynllaith (known by the name of the main manor, Sycharth), part of the Trefgar estates, lands in south Wales near Casnewydd[9] and around the town of Talacharn[10] and surrounding land in Sir Benfro. By any estimation these were considerable estates, but especially so for a Welshman in these times, taking an income of 300 marks[11] a year, an equally considerable sum, and also making Owain a Baronet and the Hereditary Prince of Powys Fadog. If that were not enough, Owain married Margaret Hanmer in 1383, a marriage that, like many in Wales at the time, connected a Welsh family to an Anglo-Welsh one. It was not just any family, however, the Hanmers’ were a prominent family in the region and Margaret’s father and Owain’s former guardian, Sir David, was an MP, a King’s Sergeant and a King’s Bench Judge, making him a valuable father-in-law for the young Owain.
Two years after his marriage to Margaret, he, as Lord of Sycharth and Glyndyfrdwy, enlisted under the Earl of Arundel to garrison the English border with Scotland. In this campaign, he was joined by his brother Tudur and his brothers-in-law, John Hanmer, sister of Margaret, and Robert Puleston, the husband of Owain’s sister Lowri. Together the four men would serve under the great Welsh knight, Sir Gregory Sais, at Berwick in 1384, fight a battle in Scotland as part of the English army in 1385 and take part in the Scrope vs. Grosvenor Trial as a witness in 1386. A year later, he also fought for the Earl of Arundel in the Battle of Margate, in which a Flemish wine fleet was routed. After the battle, many of Arundel’s squires were knighted but Owain was notably not among them. Nonetheless, Owain’s future prospects in a military career looked bright, that is until the Lords Appellant rose up against Richard II, with the Earl of Arundel among them. This culminated in the Battle of Radcot Bridge in which Owain fought as part of Arundel’s retinue under the command of his future opponent, Henry Bolingbroke, then Earl of Derby. This battle would be Owain’s last as part of the Earl of Arundel’s retinue as, shortly after the Battle of Radcot Bridge, he suddenly, and unexpectedly for his many of his contemporaries, withdrew from an expedition to France led by the Earl of Arundel and returned home to his estates in Wales. Given that he was only 28 at the time, this was a strange decision for a member of the minor nobility, but perhaps the death of his father-in-law Sir David Hanmer and his appointment as joint administrator of the Hanmer lands for as long as Sir David’s widow Angharad lived and the fact that he had still not been knighted were contributing factors.
Owain’s retirement was not a happy one, however, two years after he had returned home the Earl of Arundel fell from power when John of Gaunt returned to England and the year after that Sir Gregory Sais died, leaving Owain without any allies in the higher ranks at court. Nonetheless, he was a prosperous and well to do nobleman, enjoying a content and comfortable domestic life, and the great Welsh bard Iolo Goch visited Owain several times at Sycharth during the 1390s, even composing an epic poem about him. By this time he had had six sons and 7 daughters with his wife Margaret and also an illegitimate son and an illegitimate daughter[12], enjoying a life of relative domestic bliss. This state of affairs would only last a few years as in 1399 the fragile balance in English politics was broken. John of Gaunt, the real power behind Richard II, died and by rights his son Henry Bolingbroke should have subsequently inherited the Duchy of Lancaster. This was somewhat complicated by the fact that he had been exiled for 10 years the previous year and instead of allowing Henry Bolingroke to return home to take over his father’s estates, Richard II extended his exile to life and stripped him of all his lands and titles. This proved to be a disastrous decision for Richard II as, after he had launched an expedition into Ireland in May of 1399, Henry Bolingbroke returned to England with support from the French. He was met by supporters of his father, including his brother-in-law, the Duke of Westmorland, and two members of the powerful Percy family, and it quickly became clear that Henry Bolingbroke now held England in his hands. Richard II did return to Wales to try and fight for his crown but he was trapped in Conwy Castle with no support forthcoming and on the 29th September abdicated his crown to Henry Bolingbroke as King Henry IV.
Henry IV’s accession to the English throne precipitated a decline in fortunes for Owain and the Glyndŵr family, the situation might have seemed bad in the later stages of Richard II’s reign, but under Henry IV it rapidly declined. Owain and many of his friends and family were part of the Welsh uchelwyr[13], who had largely been loyal to Richard II, much like the people of Cheshire, and now that Henry IV was on the throne they would pay for their loyalty. In Owain’s case this retribution came in his dispute with Baron Reginald Grey de Ruthyn. There had been a long running territorial dispute between the two neighbours, a dispute which had been found in Glyndŵr’s favour during Richard II’s reign, but after Henry IV had seized the throne, Baron Grey had seized the disputed lands around Derwen again. Glyndŵr responded by registering his grievances with Parliament, but these were repeatedly ignored and in 1400 things came to a head. Henry IV was preparing to go to war with Scotland and had issued a general muster, a summons that Glyndŵr was obliged to respond to. As it happened, however, Baron Grey was in charge of issuing the summons in the Northern March of Wales and did not summon Glyndŵr’s levy until the last minute, making it impossible for Glyndŵr to respond or even send an excuse for his absence. Given that punishment for this was treason, a crime for which Glyndŵr’s estates would be confiscated, the motive here was clear and it appeared to have paid off for Baron Grey as, after Henry IV’s return from Scotland, he and Richard, 4th Baron Talbot, were instructed to bring Glyndŵr to ‘justice’.
This began the chain of events that would lead to Glyndŵr being proclaimed Tywysog Cymru, First Baron Grey invited Glyndŵr to a reconciliation meeting, a meeting that would take place at Glyndŵr’s court at Sycharth. Grey travelled to Sycharth, accompanied some 30 armed followers, but behind him came a heavily armed party of horsemen, thereby breaching the terms of their agreement. The neighbouring lords did meet briefly, before Iolo Goch came into room and warned Glyndŵr of the horsemen’s approach, using the Welsh legend of the death of Prince Dafydd to do so. Glyndŵr promptly leapt up and left the room and fled into the hills, even as Grey’s horsemen attacked the manor, before going into hiding in fear of his life. As far as the English were concerned, however, Glyndŵr’s flight into hiding had confirmed his status as a traitor. Knowing now that that he would have no justice from the English crown, Glyndŵr was now left with two choices, both equally dangerous. He could either raise his flag in rebellion or hand himself in, both options that appeared to have only one end possible, his death.
But the man they called Mab Darogan and who had fought alongside Wales’ greatest knight for a generation was hardly going to go quietly into the good night and now at last we come to where this narrative began, the 16th September 1400. At Caer Drewyn, near Glyndŵr’s court at Llys Glyndyfrdwy, his family and supporters proclaimed him Tywysog Cymru, those in attendance included Glyndŵr’s brother Tudur, his seven sons, his personal priest Crach y Ffynnant and his brothers-in-law Philip and Griffith Hanmer and Robert Puleston. The Dean of Llanelwy[14], Hywel Gyffin, his nephews Ieuan Fychan and Gruffyd ap Ieuan, Madog ap Ieuan ap Madog, Ieun ap Hywel Pickhill and John Astwick were also all in attendance, making it something of a gathering of north Wales’ notables. Glyndŵr then raised the Black Lion Rampant Standard of Powys in rebellion over the very place where the Princes of Gwynedd, Powys and Deheubarth had rallied a great Welsh army and defeated the invasion of Henry II in 1165 and called the men of Wales to him to fight for the land of their fathers.
[1] Prince of Wales
[2] Principality of Wales
[3] Llywellyn the Great
[4] Our Last Leader
[5] Owain of Wales in French
[6] Owain Red Hand
[7] Son of Prophecy
[8] The Only Head of Wales
[9] Newport
[10] Laugharne
[11] Some £120,000 in modern money
[12] It is worth noting that in Welsh law, illegitimate children were not stigmatised as they were under English law
[13] Literally the nobility, in 1400 they were of similar status to the English squirearchy.
[14] Saint Asaph
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This is the extended edition of my Golden Dragon of Wales TL, done to celebrate the anniversary of said TL. This will be a story-only thread and only updated infrequently, largely due to the sheer length of the chapters, but you can both discuss this edition and follow the rest of the TL here: https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ragon-of-wales-a-glyndwr-rebellion-tl.435378/
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