The last independent leader of Wales, Owain Glyndwr (c. 1354–c. 1413) led an uprising of Welsh nationalists that briefly drove out the English occupiers. Though his revolt was eventually suppressed, Glyndwr was never captured by the English, and his fate remains a mystery and a source of myth.
A member of the Welsh nobility, Glyndwr was born in the northeastern part of the country and initially served as an officer for King Richard II (1367–1400) of England. Wales had been taken over by the English in the thirteenth century, and the occupiers had stamped out most of the resistance to their rule.
But Welsh opposition flared up in 1400, after Richard was deposed and replaced by his cousin, Henry IV (1366–1413). Richard was perceived as an ally of the Welsh, and many nobles sided with him against the new king. Efforts by some of Henry’s supporters to seize land in Wales only added to Welsh dissatisfaction.
Taking control of the revolt, Glyndwr proclaimed himself Prince of Wales in 1400. (He would be the last Welsh person to hold the title.) By the next year, central and northern Wales had joined the rebellion. In 1402, he received a boost from the French, who saw an opportunity to weaken England by aiding the revolt. For a few years, Glyndwr was sufficiently in control of Wales that he was able to convene a parliament and have himself formally crowned in 1404.
In 1405, however, the French began withdrawing their troops, and Henry counterattacked. Several Welsh leaders, including several of Glyndwr’s relatives, were captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London. By 1409, the English had retaken most of Wales, and Glyndwr and his remaining supporters had been chased into the forests, from which they continued to mount guerrilla raids on the English for several more years.
Glyndwr was never captured, however, and in the following years he became a hero of Welsh folklore.
ADDITIONAL FACTS
- Glyndwr appears in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, as Owen Glendower, the voluble, rebellious leader of the Welsh.
- In 2004, an author claimed to have discovered evidence that Glyndwr’s long-lost burial site was beneath a church in Llanwrda, a small village in western Wales. Others believe his remains are buried in England.
- During the celebration of the 600th anniversary of the revolt, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant (1948–) donated money for the erection of a statue of Glyndwr in Machynlleth, Wales. Plant, a fan of Celtic mythology, reportedly wrote the lyrics to “Stairway to Heaven” at his home in Powrys.
