Owain Glyndŵr

Owain ap Gruffudd Fychan or Owain Glyndŵr (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈoʊain ˈɡlɨ̞nduːr], c. 1359 – c. 1416) was a Welsh aristocrat, soldier and military commander in the late Middle Ages, who led a 15-year-long Welsh revolt with the aim of ending English rule in Wales. He was an educated lawyer, forming the first Welsh parliament under his rule, and was the last native-born Welshman to claim the title Prince of Wales.

During the year 1400, Owain, a Welsh soldier and Lord of Glyndyfrdwy, had a dispute with a neighbouring English Lord, the event which spiralled into a national revolt pitted common Welsh countrymen and nobles against the English military. In response to the rebellion, discriminatory penal laws were implemented against the Welsh people; this deepened civil unrest and significantly increased support for Owain across Wales. Then, in 1404, after a series of successful castle sieges and several battlefield victories for the Welsh, Owain gained control of most of Wales and held a parliament in Machynlleth in the presence of envoys from France with representatives from the entirety of Wales. Military aid was given to the rebellion from France, Brittany, and Scotland. Owain claimed in the Pennal Letter of 1406 that he would build two universities, one in North Wales and one in South Wales as well as reinstate the supposed ancient archbishopric of St Davids, thereby establishing independent Welsh church.

The war continued, and over the next several years, the English gradually gained control of large parts of Wales. By 1409 Owain's last remaining castles of Harlech and Aberystwyth had been captured by English forces. Owain refused two royal pardons and retreated to the Welsh hills and mountains with his remaining forces, where he continued to resist English rule by using guerrilla warfare tactics, until his disappearance in 1415, when he was recorded as having died by one of his followers, Adam of Usk.

Owain was never captured or killed, and he was also never betrayed despite being a fugitive of the law with a large bounty. In Welsh culture he acquired a mythical status alongside Cadwaladr, Cynon ap Clydno and King Arthur as a folk hero – Y Mab Darogan (Welsh for 'the foretold son'). In William Shakespeare's play Henry IV, Part 1 he appears as the character Owen Glendower as a king rather than a prince.