OWEN

See also:

• OWEN GLENDOWER (c. 1359–1415)

GLENDOWER (c. 1359–1415)  , the last to claim the title of an independent prince of Wales, more correctly described as Owain ab Gruffydd, lord of Glyndyvrdwy in Merioneth, was a man of good family, with two great houses, Sycharth and Glyndyvrdwy in the north, besides smaller estates in south Wales . His father was called Gruffydd Vychan, and his mother Helen; on both sides he had pretensions to be descended from the old Welsh princes . Owen was probably born about 1359, studied law at Westminster, was squire to the earl of Arundel, and a witness for Grosvenor in the famous Scrope and Grosvenor lawsuit in 1386 . Afterwards he was in the service of Henry of Bolingbroke, the future king, though by an error it has been commonly stated that he was squire to Richard II . Welsh sympathies were, however, on Richard's side, and combined with a personal quarrel to make Owen the leader of a national revolt . The lords of Glyndyvrdwy had an ancient feud with their English neighbours, the Greys of Ruthin . Reginald Grey neglected to summon Owen, as was his duty, for the Scottish expedition of 1400, and then charged him with treason for failing to appear . Owen thereupon took up arms, and when Henry IV. returned from Scotland in September he found north Wales ablaze . A hurried campaign under the king's personal command was ineffectual . Owen's estates were declared forfeit and vigorous measures threatened by the English government . Still the revolt gathered strength . In the spring of 1401 Owen was raiding in south Wales, and credited with the intention of invading England .

A second campaign by the king in the autumn was defeated, like that of the previous

year, through bad weather and the Fabian tactics of the Welsh . Owen had already been intriguing with Henry Percy (Hotspur), who during 1401 held command in north Wales, and with Percy's brother-in-law, Sir Edmund Mortimer . During the winter of 1401–1402 his plans were further extended to negotiations with the rebel Irish, the Scots and the French . In the spring he had grown so strong that he attacked Ruthin, and took Grey prisoner . In the summer he defeated the men of Hereford under Edmund Mortimer at Pilleth, near Brynglas, in Radnorshire . Mortimer was taken prisoner and treated with such friendliness as to make the English doubt his loyalty; within a few months he married Owen's daughter . In the autumn the English king was for the third time driven " bootless home and weather-beaten back." The few English strongholds left in Wales were now hard pressed, and Owen boasted that he would meet his enemy in the field . Nevertheless, in May 1403 Henry of Mon-mouth was allowed to sack Sycharth and Glyndyvrdwy unopposed . Owen had a greater plot in hand . The Percies were to rise in arms, and meeting Owen at Shrewsbury, overwhelm the prince before help could arrive . But Owen's share in the undertaking miscarried through his own defeat near Carmarthen on the 12th of July, and Percy was crushed at Shrewsbury ten days later . Still the Welsh revolt was never so formidable .

Owen styled himself openly prince of Wales, established a

regular government, and called a parliament at Machynlleth . As a result of a formal alliance the French sent troops to his aid; and in the course of 1404 the great castles of Harlech and Aberystwith fell into his hands . In the spring of 14o5 Owen was at the height of his power; but the tide turned suddenly . Prince Henry defeated the Welsh at Grosmont in March, and twice again in May, when Owen's son Griffith and his chancellor were made prisoners . Scrope's rebellion in the North prevented the English from following up their success . The earl of Northumberland took refuge in Wales, and the tripartite alliance of Owen with Percy and Mortimer (transferred by Shakespeare to an earlier occasion) threatened a renewal of danger . But Northumberland's plots and the active help of the French proved ineffective . The English under Prince Henry gained ground steadily, and the recovery of Aberystwith, after a long siege, in the autumn of 1408 marked the end of serious warfare . In February 1409 Harlech was also recaptured, and Owen's wife, daughter and grandchildren were taken prisoners . Owen himself still held out and even continued to intrigue with the French . In July 1415 Gilbert Talbot had power to treat with Owen and his supporters and admit them to pardon . Owen's name does not occur in the document renewing Talbot's powers in February 1416; according to Adam of Usk he died in 1415 .

Later English writers allege that he died of

starvation in the mountains; but Welsh legend represents him as spending a peaceful old age with his sons-in-law at Ewyas and Monington in Herefordshire, till his death and burial at the latter place . The dream of an independent and united Wales was never nearer realization than under Owen's leadership . The disturbed state of England helped him, but he was indeed a remarkable personality, and has not undeservedly become a national hero . Sentiment and tradition have magnified his achievements, and confused his career with tales of portents and magical powers . Owen left many bastard children; his legitimate representative in 1433 was his daughter Alice, wife of Sir John Scudamore of Ewyas . The facts of Owen's life must be pieced together from scattered references in contemporary chronicles and documents; perhaps the most important are Adam of Usk's Chronicle and Ellis's Original Letters . On the Welsh side something is given by the bards Iolo Goch and Lewis Glyn Cothi . For modern accounts consult J . H . Wylie's History of England under Henry IV . (4 vols., 1884–1898); A . C .

Bradley's popular biography ; and Professor Tout's article in the Dictionary of National Biography .. (C . L .