The years between 1404 and 1406 were the high-water mark of the war, but the movements of Glyndŵr are elusive, as ever. Because there was less campaigning across Wales, and Owain now controlled most of the nation, there are fewer records from keepers of garrisons to consult. Senior Churchmen and members of society from all of Wales had joined Owain, and probably old allies of Richard II were sending money and arms to the Welsh. It is almost certain that Cistercian and Franciscan communities in England were channeling funds to support the Welsh. English towns in Shropshire, Herefordshire and Montgomeryshire had stopped resistance and made their own treaties with Owain’s local warbands. Parliament even sanctioned the people of Shropshire and Montgomeryshire to pay Glyndŵr funds to save further destruction. However, raiding parties seem seldom to have attacked Cheshire, as its people had been consistently faithful to Richard II. French ships were said to have brought cannon to a siege at Conwy Castle. Beaumaris, Caernarfon, Harlech and Aberystwyth were also besieged, and could only be supported from the sea, not overland.
Hotspur, and his uncle the Earl of Worcester, great warriors who had enforced order across Wales, had rebelled against Henry and were now dead. The English Prince of Wales had been badly injured, almost dying from his wound at Shrewsbury. A far better leader than his father, he was still not able to lead the English fight back against Owain. English resistance was limited to a defensive role in a few isolated castles, walled towns, and fortified manors. No less than four Royal Expeditions into Wales had been forced back, and Henry IV also now had major problems in France and Scotland. The anti-English Louis, Duc de Orleans, with the approval of the French Council, began a campaign of conquest in Guyenne, taking several castles. Henry IV was only able to respond by sending Lord Berkeley, with a small force. There was conflict all year across Wales as the last vestiges of English power were constantly attacked.
The kingdom was in a desperate state. The Royal Exchequer was so bare that Henry was obliged to accept parliamentary control of spending, and over his own council. This was a breakthrough in English constitutional history. In January at Beaumaris, Anglesey, a French and Welsh force was victorious. Maredudd ap Cynwrig, Deputy Sheriff of Anglesey, had left the castle and taken many of the garrison to escort him collecting the King’s dues. His train of 200 men was ambushed, and most were killed. Maredudd was taken for ransom. The town of Beaumaris was later retaken by the English, but the Welsh gained the castle in the winter of 1404. The French continued their assistance to the Welsh in the siege of Caernarfon Castle, with Jean d’Espagne ably commanding the siege engines and artillery.
Caernarfon Castle was commanded by William of Tranmere, and by the end of 1403 the castle had lost three of its ablest commanders, including Ieuan ap Maredudd, whose brother Robert was in Glyndŵr’s army. Ieuan’s body was smuggled out of the castle and buried in secret at Penmorfa, for fear that the Welsh would desecrate the traitor’s grave. In Wynn’s Families of Wales we read:
Ieuan ap Maredudd, the father, held steadfastly Henry IV and the House of Lancaster, when Owain Glyndŵr rebelled; so that in the time of that war Ieuan and Hwlkyn Llwyd of Glynllifon had the charge of Caernarfon town, and an English captain was in the castle; in revenge whereof Owain burned his two houses, Cefn y fan or Ystumcegid, and Cesail Gyfarch. In the continuance of this war, Ieuan ap Maredudd died at Caernarfon, and was brought by sea (for the passage by land was shut up by Owain’s forces) to Penmorfa, his parish church, to be buried. Robert ap Maredudd, the brother of Ieuan ap Maredudd, taking the contrary side, was out with Owain, as may be gathered by a pardon granted him by Henry the Fourth, and Henry his son, then Prince of Wales.
On 24 January, a relief force was sent to Radnor Castle, near the border. Prince Henry was still recovering from his injuries, so Arundel had taken charge of English garrisons as Royal Lieutenant in North Wales, and the Duke of York had the southern command. Armies traditionally ceased to campaign through the winter, but the Welsh did not stop their attacks. In January in Parliament, the King officially transferred overall command of the Welsh effort to Prince Henry. The King was ill, and had suffered five years of war to no avail except to empty his coffers and make Parliament more powerful. The French and Bretons were constantly raiding the South Coast. There were rumours that the Earl of Northumberland was plotting the revenge of his son and brother. There were still rumours that Richard II was alive. The Scottish situation was not resolved. There were several claimants to the crown whose claim was better than his – the Mortimers, and Hotspur’s son – and Glyndŵr was still undefeated. Apart from the mighty Pembroke Castle in southern Pembrokeshire, only five castles in the other twelve counties were thought absolutely secure in English hands – Brecon, Beaumaris, Conwy, Harlech and Aberystwyth. Before the end of the year three of these incredibly powerful castles were to fall.
In February, the men of upland Breconshire were called upon to submit to the King’s authority and pay taxes. They answered with the offer that if the King defeated the rebels in Glamorgan they would submit, but that if he failed to do so, they could not be expected to submit. The King told his commanders that he would have to suppress the revolt in Glamorgan and Gwent before May, otherwise the men of Brecon would not be allowed to reside ‘in the King’s peace’. Along with Pembroke, Glamorgan, Gwent and Brecon were the areas of Wales that had had English domination for the longest period, so represented a real groundswell of support. Welsh attacks were continuous into the English border towns and counties and the King was powerless to help. The best he could do was to put larger garrisons in Welshpool and Bishops Castle in the Marches.
CRICIETH CASTLE FALLS 1404
The garrison at Cricieth had been strengthened. The Constable, Roger Acton, had six men-at-arms and fifty archers at an annual cost of £416 14s 2d. A French fleet in the Irish Sea supported Glyndŵr and had stopped provisions reaching the main West Coast castles (Cricieth, Aberystwyth and Harlech). In the spring of 1404, Cricieth fell to Glyndŵr and the castle and the borough were burned. One of Glyndŵr’s men fighting here was Ieuan ab Einion, the nephew of the famed Hywel y Fwyall (Hywel the Battleaxe, knighted at Crecy by the Black Prince). The Castle was never rebuilt, so its noble remains are substantially as Glyndŵr left it. The borough slowly recovered, but was no longer a garrison borough and became wholly Welsh once more. In February 1404, the Earl of Warwick received at Brecon Castle six cannon, 20lbs of gunpowder, 10lbs of sulphur, 20lbs of saltpetre, forty-two breastplates and twelve basinets. With new forces, he forced some Welsh west of Brecon to agree a peace with them offering to pay 100 marks, in 10 weekly instalments.
The French made several attacks upon maritime towns, William du Chatel burning and plundering Teignmouth, Plymouth and others. In 1404, John Hawley was ordered by the King to organise the defence of Dartmouth from attack by Bretons who had landed at Slapton in April 1404. The Bretons lost The Battle of Blackpool Sands. Henry ordered a Te Deum in Westminster Abbey in celebration. Henry was not only ill, but financially impoverished. In North Wales, only the castles of Rhuddlan, Denbigh, Powys and Flint in the north-east, and Beaumaris, Conwy and Caernarfon in the north-west were still in royal hands. On the Western Coast, only Aberystwyth and Harlech remained, both having been besieged for months. The bishops of St Asaf and Bangor Cathedrals, John (Ieuan) Trefor and Lewis Byford (Lewis ap Ieaun) officially joined Glyndŵr’s cause in April 1404. They had probably been sympathisers for a long time. In two of Iolo Goch’s surviving poems, to Ieuan Trefor, we can see the relative luxury they gave up to join Glyndŵr. Iolo Goch praises the court of Ieuan at St Asaph, with its doorman, butler, beerman, baker, chamberlain, cooks, stabler and his own vineyard. There are guest rooms, a mead-cellar, kitchen, pantry, buttery and log fires, not made up of ‘dumb sea-coal’. Iolo, as his guest, could have anything – ‘cardamom seeds, rice, raisins, herbs, mead, a fine feast and wine’ and ‘free-flowing liquor’. The major ecclesiastics joining Glyndŵr’s force were Gruffydd Yonge (Chancellor and Archdeacon of Merioneth), Ieaun or John Trefor (Bishop of St Asaf), Hywel Cyffin (Dean of St Asaf), Ifan ap Bleddyn ap Gronw (Archdeacon of Anglesey), Dafydd ap Ifan ap Dafydd ap Gruffydd (Dean of Bangor), Llywelyn ap Ieuan (called Lewis Byford, Bishop of Bangor) and John ap Hywel (Bishop of Llantarnam).
Later that month, letters were again sent from Caernarfon imploring for help against the French force’s siege engines and warships. Jean, Duc d’Orleans, sent correspondence to Henry several times asking to meet him in single combat to settle English claims to France.
THE WELSH TAKE HARLECH CASTLE APRIL 1404
(some sources state January 1404)
In 1404, the castle fell after a long siege when starvation had reduced the determined garrison to just twenty-one men. There had been twelve men-at-arms and forty-five archers in this grim coastal castle with walls up to 12 ft thick, which cost the equivalent of £10 million to build. It had been defended by Richard Massey of Sale and Vivian Collier of Harlech throughout 1402 until June 1403. However, Massey was replaced in June by John Hennore, who was captured by Robin Holland of Eglwys Fach soon after. Another guardian replaced him, William Hunt, who had managed to access the castle by a small sea-gate. He arrived to find the garrison starving. French ships blockaded any supplies from landing. Hunt was locked up by his troops as he wanted to surrender; such was the plight of its defences. Two men known as ‘Favian Collier’ and ‘Sir Vivian’ then took over, but this may be a single reference to the aforesaid Vivian Collier of Harlech. With sickness, injuries and malnourishment, only sixteen Welsh and five English soldiers were fit to defend it by the spring of 1404, with no possibility of a relief column from England or fresh supplies from the sea.
Its imprisoned constable, William Hunt, in desperation, was allowed to leave the castle with two yeomen, Jack Mercer and Harry Baker, possibly to parley. He was taken by the same Robin Holland who captured John Hennore, in January 1404. Hunt may have wanted to be captured and ransomed – it is difficult to know. The defenders may have succumbed to bribery – it is still unknown how the great castle fell. (Robin Holland was from Plas Berw, Llanfihangel-Ysceifiog, and died in 1410.)
Harlech became Owain’s residence, court, family home and military headquarters for four years, and he held his second Parliament in Harlech in August 1405 (and probably a third in August 1406). Cadwgan of Aberorci, Robert ap Jevan (Ieuan) of Ystymcegid, Rhys Ddu, Rhys Gethin, the Tudurs, the Scudamores, the Hanmers, Bishop Trefor and Lewis Byford all assembled here to discuss strategy. Owain and Marged had their quarters in the constable’s home in the massive gatehouse. Edmund Mortimer, Catrin and their children resided in what is now known as Mortimer’s Tower. Holding court at Harlech, Glyndŵr appointed Gruffydd Yonge as his chancellor, and soon afterwards called his first Parliament or Cynulliad (gathering) of all Wales at Machynlleth.
There were constant Welsh attacks into England, into Cheshire, Hereford, Archenfield and Shropshire, and the English settlement at Abergafenni was again taken and destroyed. Deals were made along the border for protection from attack, with the proceeds going to swell Glyndŵr’s treasury. In May and June, Bretons, Frenchmen and Welshmen were serving on each others’ ships and destroying English shipping in the English Channel. The Bretons beat an English fleet in early June off Brittany, and once more attacked the area around Dartmouth.
THE FIRST SENEDD AT DOLGELLAU AND THE MISSION TO FRANCE 10 MAY 1404
The first Parliament was held at Machynlleth, but there was a meeting of nobles, a Senedd, preceding it at Dolgellau:
The years that followed up to 1404 saw Glyndŵr’s Power extending, and no doubt prisoners like Edmund Mortimer and David Gam passed through Dolgelley. Harlech fell to his arms in January 1404, and in May, Glyndŵr held a council in Dolgelley of some of the chiefs adherent to his cause. Popular tradition used to designate an old house, which formerly stood in Dolgelley, his Parliament house, a quaint and rather handsome house made of undressed stone and wood, with some very fine carving in the interior. It was never a ‘parliament’ house; for nothing, which could be called a parliament, ever sat in Dolgelley, but it is quite possible that Glyndŵr’s council of chiefs assembled there. The house was built, so some accounts say, some 40 or 50 years earlier; but others assert it did not come into existence until some 150 years after Glyndŵr died. It was generally known as Cwrt Plas yn Dre, and it was a kind of townhouse of the family to which Baron Owen belonged. However, it was a charming old building; but the good folk of Dolgelley destroyed it ruthlessly in 1881 or 1882, and its place has been taken since by an up-to-date ironmongery stores. It was, probably enough, at this demolished house that Glyndŵr wrote his despatch on the 10th day of May, 1404, to the King of France, recommending to that King, Dr. Griffith Yonge, who was Archdeacon of Merioneth, and John Hanmer, his own son-in-law, as his ambassadors to enter into negotiations and a treaty with France. These two, together with a priest named Benedict Cornme of St. Asaph, journeyed to Paris from Dolgelley, and on the 14th July concluded a treaty with the French King’s representatives to wage war together against Henry of Lancaster. They returned home, bearing with them a suit of armour for Glyndŵr from the King, with a message that the latter knew that ‘Owain loved arms above all things’, and the treaty which they brought with them was ratified by Glyndŵr at Llanbadarn in the following January. This was the hey-day of Glyndŵr’s success, and thereafter, little by little, his cause declined. (T.P. Ellis, 1923)
Part of the building known as the Old Parliament House in Dolgellau was still standing in the nineteenth century, among a group of old houses near the Ship Inn, and was called Cwrt Plas yn y dre’v, ‘the town-hall court’. The Roman Via Occidentalis seems to have taken its course from Menavia (St. David’s) to Segontium (Carnarvon) via Dolgellau and Machynlleth, so it was part of an important communications system in medieval Wales. (Academics have believed for many years that the main Roman road through South Wales terminated at Carmarthen, but other stretches have been found heading towards St David’s. The same historians stated that the Romans never went to Ireland, but a huge Roman fort has been found at Drumanagh fifteen miles north of Dublin, and the Romans probably sailed and traded from around St David’s.)
The exact number of parliamentary and senedd meetings held by Glyndŵr is unknown, but there were events at Machynlleth, Harlech, Dolgellau, Llanbadarn (Aberystwyth) and at Cefn Caer (Pennal). Glyndŵr sent letters from Dolgellau to the Kings of Scotland and France, asking for help and pleading the justice of his fight against the English:
To Our Cousin the King of France
To all who examine these letters, greeting. Know ye that on account of the affection and sincere regard which the illustrious prince, the Lord Charles, by the same grace, King of the French, has up to the present time borne towards us and our subjects and of his grace bearing daily, we desire to cleave to him and to his subjects as by merit we are held to this purpose. Wherefore we make, ordain and consecrate by these presents Master Griffith Yonge, Doctor of Canon Law, Chancellor and John de Hanmer, our well beloved kinsman, our true and legal ambassadors proctors, factors, negotiators and special nuncios, giving and conceding to our same ambassadors, and to both of them … general power … (to) consider and complete for us.. a perpetual league with the aforesaid most illustrious prince …
Owain, by the grace of God prince of Wales dated at Dolgellau 10th May 1404
Perhaps by serendipity, 10 May was the date in 1372 when the Treaty of Paris had been signed between Owain Lawgoch and Charles V of France. Glyndŵr’s request for armed aid was carried to the French court by John Hanmer, Owain’s son-in-law, and the cleric Gruffydd Yonge (Young), described as his chancellor, in this document sealed with Glyndŵr’s privy seal and dated in the fourth year of his principate. Around 20 May, the Welsh ambassadors were received by Charles VI of France. The widower Richard II had married the six-year-old Isabella de Valois of France in 1396 as part of the peace process. She was the daughter of Charles VI of France, and on Richard’s murder, Henry IV wanted her to marry his son, Prince Henry.
She absolutely refused, and in 1402, the Constable of England, Thomas Percy, escorted her back to her family in France. However, Henry IV had refused to return Isabella’s massive dowry, causing bitter enmity with Charles VI. Charles ‘the Mad’ always refused to accept Bolingbroke’s kingship as Henry IV. He referred to him in correspondence as ‘the successor to the late King of England’, ‘Our adversary of England’ or simply as ‘Henry of Lancaster’. Charles’ brother, the Duc d’Orleans, was infuriated at the loss of the dowry, and had challenged Henry several times to a duel. Correspondence between the Duke and the King was bitter, Henry once replying disdainfully that ‘we are not bound to answer any such demands unless made by persons of equal rank to ourselves.’ As a result, Gruffydd Yonge and John Hanmer, the Welsh envoys to the French court, were always made most welcome, especially by Orleans, the leader of the party that wanted all-out war with England.
In June, Prince Henry was based in Worcester after raids into Archenfield near Monmouth, and warned Henry IV that the Welsh were planning to attack Herefordshire again. Welsh raiding parties were active all along the border. He again wrote to Parliament, telling them that he needed more money, or Wales would have to be left to its own devices. Henry levied troops from four counties to meet at Hereford to be ready to fend off any attack on Abergafenni. The young Earl of Warwick, Richard Beauchamp, was put in charge of the Hereford army and moved towards Abergafenni. In late June and July urgent reinforcements were sent to Welshpool, Oswestry, Bishops Castle, Radnor, Abergafenni, Hay, Brecon and Carmarthen. Cardiff Castle and town also fell to Glyndŵr again in June, and was garrisoned in Welsh hands. Llantrisant Castle, Peterston Castle and St Ffagan’s Castle were destroyed some time in Glyndŵr’s War. Llangynydr was probably taken, and the bastide of Cowbridge (Y Bontfaen) overwhelmed. Cowbridge has a notable defensive Norman church. On the crossing of the River Thaw (Afon Ddawen) on the Roman road from Cardiff to Carmarthen, it was formerly known as Y Dref Hir yn y Waun – the long town in the marsh – and still has a gatehouse and some thirteenth century town walls remaining. Penllyn Castle was taken at the same time as its town of Llanfrynach near Cowbridge, as well as St Quintin’s Castle at Llanblethian (guarding Cowbridge), Boverton Castle and Castell Cynffig (Kenfig).
In the fourteenth century, Tretower passed to the Bluets, who, like most castellar owners, saw it sacked and burned by Owen Glendower in the early fifteenth century… so proudly posed and the bridge between the eastern and western Marches, it is not surprising that Leland’s “faire waulled towne, meately well inhabited” (Abergafenni) was for centuries a bone of contention between Welsh and English, a hornets’ nest of the Marcher Lords, a racial cockpit, a mart of vale and mountain produce, a trade-route, a node and focal point between Gwent and Siluria and a palimpsest of history. Glendower, of course, tediously and tirelessly strumming on his only and discordant string, sacked it in 1404 … by 1376 the degeneration (at Llanthony Priory) had reached such an abyss of horror and barbarity that the Prior had both his eyes torn out by his own canons. The postman at Llanthony claims once to have seen the devil and he would certainly have been likely to have seen him in the ruins of the Priory. Glendower put the finishing touch to this macabre parallel with King Lear by burning the Priory a quarter of a century later, and by 1481 only a Prior and four canons were left.
(Massingham, who also mentions that Glyndŵr burnt Leominster, but this is unlikely).
THE FIRST PARLIAMENT – MACHYNLLETH & THE CROWNING OF OWAIN IV 21 JUNE 1404
Many sources, including Pennant, believe that the first Parliament was at Machynlleth in 1402, upon 2 September. However, in 1402 Harlech and Aberystwyth, on either side ot Machynlleth, were still in English possession, making it too dangerous. It must have been in 1404, probably after the fall of Harlech and with Aberystwyth safely besieged, and was on 21 June. Summoning four men from every ‘commote’ (Welsh Administrative District), Owain convened his Parliament. Before a vast assembly that included envoys from Scotland, France, and Castile, Glyndŵr was formally proclaimed and crowned ‘Owain IV, Prince of Wales – Owynus Dei Gratia Princeps Wallia.’ The coronation was attended by all the major nobles in Wales, and his Great Seal shows Glyndŵr as an armed warrior on one side, and a seated prince with a sceptre, orb and crown on the other.
The Welsh State was instituted with a legal system, administration and treasury. After the Parliament, Glyndŵr appointed clerics to help administer the independent state of Wales. The Senedd (Welsh Parliament) agreed funds to hire sixty French ships – the ‘de Bourbon mission’. Owain stated his vision of an independent Welsh state with a regular Senedd and a separate Welsh church. He wanted two national universities (one in the South and one in the North), and a return to the traditional and more equitable laws of Hywel Dda. Adam of Usk wrote later from the safety of England, ‘Owain and his hill men, even in their misery, usurping the right of conquest and other marks of royalty, albeit to his own confusion, held, or counterfeited or made pretences of holding parliaments.’
Legend tells us that Davy Gam tried to assassinate Glyndŵr as he walked to the Machynlleth Parliament, but the story may be mixed up with that of Hywel Sele. The legend goes on that Glyndŵr allowed Gam to be freed, but in retaliation burned Gam’s manor at Cyrnigwern in Brecon, telling one of Gam’s squires:
Shouldst thou a little man descry
Asking about his dwelling fair,
Tell him it under a bank doth lie
And its brow the mark of coal doth bear.
The still standing medieval Royal House is where Dafydd Gam was said to be imprisoned when the attempt failed. (It is called the Royal House because Charles I allegedly stayed there.) Some stories state that in a generous gesture, Owain let Gam go soon after the Parliament, despite Gam’s refusal to submit. The Medieval Senedd building is open to the public in Maesgwyn Street, Machynlleth. The paths of Glyndŵr and Gam were to cross again, in 1412.
THE TREATY OF ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE 14 JULY 1404
It appears that Wales has the oldest peace treaty with France – Owain was not regarded as a rebel, but as the legitimate ruler of Wales. Charles VI gave the Welsh envoys a golden helmet (a sign of sovereignty), breastplate and sword for Owain, and on 14 June, appointed the Bishop of Chartres and the Bourbon Earl of March to make an agreement with ‘the magnificent and mighty Owen Prince of Wales’. The formal treaty of alliance against ‘Henry of Lancaster’ between Wales and France was signed on 14 July, in the Paris mansion of the Chancellor of France. It was signed by John Hanmer and Gruffydd Yonge for Glyndŵr. The French signatories included the bishops of Arras, Meaux and Noyon, the Chancellor of France (Arnaud de Corbie), le Compte de la Marche (the Earl of March, Jacques II de Bourbon) and his brother Louis, Compte de Vendome. Glyndŵr wasted no time in announcing the treaty to his new Parliament:
In the first place that the said lords, the king and the prince shall be mutually joined, confederated, united and leagued by the bond of a true covenant and real friendship and of a sure, good and most powerful union against Henry of Lancaster – adversary and enemy of both parties – and his adherents and supporters. Again that one of the said Lords shall desire, follow and will ever procure the advantage of the other and should any damage or injury intended against the one by the said Henry, his accomplices, adherents, supporters or others whatsoever come to the notice of one, he shall prevent that in good faith … again, that none of the lords, the king or prince aforesaid will make or take truce, nor make peace with the aforesaid Henry of Lancaster.
The ensuing treaty was dated 14 July 1404, and ratified on 12 January 1405, ‘in the sixth year of our principate’ at the castle of Aberystwyth. Sealed with Owain’s new ‘great seal’, it bound Charles VI and Owain in a covenant against ‘Henry of Lancaster’, both parties promising that neither would enter into a separate peace with Henry, and that disputes arising between their subjects on land or sea should be amicably settled. No formal promise of military assistance was given or received, although a French chronicler recorded that a list of ports and seaways had been provided by the Welsh Prince to the French. The envoys had asked for more aid, and Charles was sympathetic, being the father-in-law of the murdered Richard II. They were given weapons to bring back to Wales, and Charles VI ordered Jacques de Bourbon to assemble a French fleet at Harfleur and a Breton fleet at Brest.
Bourbon joined the fleet late, being delayed at court. Twenty warships from Castile joined, and Plymouth was sacked by a land force in mid-August. Fearing a counter-attack, the French withdrew to St Malo, losing twelve vessels in a storm. Then Bourbon wandered along the English Channel looking for easy plunder, to the dismay of his Breton and Castilian contingents. He again attacked Plymouth, but his forces failed there and at Falmouth. The fleet dispersed – he had won no real booty nor followed his mission to land in Wales with a force of 800 knights and squires. August saw a fleet of sixty French ships with 700 men sail from Brittany and Normandy. However, they returned to France in November without actually landing in Wales. By the end of 1404, French ships were regularly raiding the coast of England, some with Welsh troops on board, setting fire to Dartmouth and devastating the coasts of Devon.
The rebellion under Glendour had now grown to a dangerous pitch. He had lately reduced the castles of Harlegh and Aberystwyth, defeated a strong body of English near Monmouth, and ravaged the country as far as the Severn. The king, who well knew the objects that demanded, at that moment, his sole attention, was averse to an expedition into Wales, and was restrained from prosecuting that war by a trivial incident. The report of Richard’s being alive was now revived, and gained more credit than ever. One Serle … wrote letters to different persons … assuring them that the king … was in good health.
(Barnard 1783.)
Sir William Searle was supposed to have been the knight who murdered Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, in Calais in 1397. He had served Richard II and on his dethroning escaped to Scotland and pretended to be the dead King, having had a copy of Richard’s royal seal made. He was backed by the Scottish nobles and the Countess of Oxford, who was briefly imprisoned, and had sent letters with the royal seal to nobles across England, hoping for a rebellion. He surrendered to Sir William Clifford, who sent him to Henry IV in June 1404, and was executed. A priest who said that Serle was Richard II was hung, drawn and quartered:
The 5 year of king Harri … Johan Serle, sometime yeoman of king Richard’s robes, that was one of the principal slayers of the duke of Gloucester, came out of Scotland in to England, and said to divers persons that king Richard was alive in Scotland; wherefore he brought many people in great error and grouching against king Harri, for the people wanted faithfully it had been so. But at last he was taken in the north country, and was drawn thorough every city and burgh town in England, and then he was brought to London, and there at Guildhall he was judged to be drawn from the tower of London through London unto Tyburne; and there he was hanged and beheaded and quartered, and his head set on London bridge, and his quarters were sent to the 4 good towns of England.
This Serle confessed that when king Richard was taken in Walis, he stole his signet and fled in to Scotland, and therewith he sold many letters, and showed them to such men as were king Richarde’s friends, and said he was alive; and so he was cause of many men’s deaths: and he said also that there was a man in Scotland much like to king Richard, but it was not he.
(An English Chronicle)
In the early summer a third of Shropshire was devastated, and on 10 June Archdeacon Kingeston was once more pleading with the Prince Henry, fearing that Hereford would be over-run:
The Welsh rebels in great numbers have entered Archenfield and there they have burned houses, killed the inhabitants, taken prisoners and ravaged the countryside to the great dishonour of our king and the unsupportable damage of the country. We have often advertised to the king that such mischief would befall us, we have also certain information that the rebels are resolved to make a attack on the March of Wales, to its utter ruin, if speedy succour be not sent. It is indeed true that we have no power to shelter us except that of Richard of York and his men, which is far too little to defend us; we implore you to consider this very perilous and pitiable case and to pray to our sovereign that he will come in his royal person or send some person with sufficient power to rescue us from the invasion of the said rebels. Otherwise we shall be utterly destroyed, which God forbid. Whoever comes will, as we are led to believe, have to engage in battle or will have a very severe struggle with the raiders. And for God’s sake remember that honourable and valiant man the lord of Abergavenny who is on the very point of destruction if he be not rescued.
On 19 July 1404 there was a major skirmish in Flintshire. Prince Henry wrote to his father – he had pawned jewels and gold plate to pay his men, and he had no money to pay for any further action. By the end of June, Prince Henry had withdrawn all his forces to the safety of Worcester, and North Wales was totally in Glyndŵr’s control. There were constant raids on the Marches, especially upon Shropshire. The Montgomeryshire Collections tell us that the men around Welshpool had flocked to join Glyndŵr, after his forces attacked Powys Castle and the town:
Chiefest among them being Sir Griffith Vaughan of Garth (a descendant of Brochwel and likewise of Gwenwynwyn), and his brother leuan neither of them being more than mere youths at the time, but both entering into the national cause with all the enthusiasm of their young manhood. It was in 1402 that the Welsh leader and his followers marched through Powys-land to the mountains of Plynlumon, from whence they made plundering excursions, and were the terror of all who declined to espouse their cause. The territory of John de Cherleton suffered terribly, and it was on this occasion, probably, that the suburbs of Welsh Pool were burnt by Glyndŵr, who, it is said, at the same time, made an attack upon the castle, but was compelled to retire without effecting an entrance into its impregnable walls.
On August 5th of that year Lord Powys wrote a letter to the Council, dated from the ‘Castell de la Pole’, deploring the state to which the neighbourhood had been reduced by the rebellion then raging, and praying ‘that the garrisons might be furnished with men-at-arms and archers’. Whether this letter received the attention of the Council or no, we are not informed. In 1404, on August 30th, the Council gave permission to the county of Salop to make a truce for the country of Wales until the end of November, and the King also assented to the Lord of Powys making the like truce for his castle of La Pole.
Griffith Vaughan was Gruffydd Fychan, who with his brother Ieuan joined his father Gruffydd ap Ieuan ap Madoc ap Gwenwys on the side of Glyndŵr. His father was appointed Seneschal of Caus Castle by Sir Hugh Stafford, Lord of Caus, to defend it against Glyndŵr. Following pleas from Welsh lawyers and students from Oxford, the family changed sides and supported Glyndŵr. As a result the family lands were forfeited in 1404. However, by summer 1406, Griffith Vaughan/Gruffydd Fychan was supporting Edward Charleton, Lord of Powys, once more.
Prince Henry had returned to the Marches in June 1404. At Lichfield on 29 and 30 August the Herefordshire gentry requested that the Prince might be thanked for the good protection of the county, and at the same time money was granted to pay his troops. In late August, Haverfordwest was taken in south-west Wales, with its important port. (Repairs to the castle stable cost 18 s and a new castle gate cost £3.3s 6d. The janitor’s fee was increased to 2d per day, and the wages for the armourer were £13.4s per annum.) Henry Dwn and William Gwyn ap Rhys Llwyd burned Cydweli in the mid-south-west. William Gwyn had been a loyal servant of the King, but like many other gentry had been dispossessed in the anti-Welsh laws. These able men nearly all came over to Glyndŵr’s cause. The Welsh were forbidden to inhabit such ‘boroughs’ or to carry arms within their boundaries (even today, there are laws remaining on the statute books of Chester, a border town, that proscribe the activities of the Welsh within the city walls). Abergafenni was attacked in 1404 and St. Mary’s Priory burnt.
On 2 August, Richard Yonge, Bishop of Bangor from 1399/1400-1405 wrote to Henry IV, warning him that the Count of the Marche was preparing to invade Wales.
BATTLES OF CAMPSTONE HILL AND CRAIG-Y-DORTH 20 AUGUST 1404
In charge of the southern forces, Rhys Gethin swept through Glamorgan. Cardiff and Newport had already been taken. He sacked Caerleon and Usk, Tretower Castle was attacked and the Welsh were looting and burning Grosmont when the forces of Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick caught up with them. The Welsh fell back to Campstone Hill (Mynydd Cwmdu, near Tretower Castle) and regrouped, but had little time. Ellis ap Richard ap Hywel ap Morgan Llwyd, their standard bearer, was killed, and Owain’s standard was captured. It was said that Owain was nearly taken, but again this may have been his brother Tudur. The Welsh were said to have lost 1,000 on the hill but regrouped and moved down the Usk Valley and fought back. At Trelog Common between Tintern and Monmouth, the English baggage train was captured. There was a major skirmish at Craig-y-Dorth, between Trellech and Mitchell Troy in the Trothy Valley, where the large fields are still referred to as Upper and Lower Battlefield. The fighting was carried on up to the gates of Monmouth Castle.
The details of the engagement(s) are extremely sketchy. Other sources state that in the spring of 1404, Glyndŵr’s army diverted around Abergavenny and attacked the English army’s base at Grosmont. Because Owain did not have siege engines, he could not make a direct attack on Grosmont Castle. Thus Owain sent lightly armoured groups to attack and burn the town and draw Henry’s army out of the castle. Meanwhile Owain’s main army occupied a nearby Iron Age Hillfort, ‘Campstone Hill’ (Mynydd Cwmdu or Bryn Du), and had the advantage when his lightly armoured troops led Henry’s army from the castle into the full force of Owain’s army. Both times (1404 and 1405) Glyndŵr’s tactic failed, because the slope up to the hill fort was not steep enough. However, would Glyndŵr use the same failed tactic twice?:
1404 Owain won the castles, namely Harlech and Aberystwyth. In the same year was the slaughter of the Welsh on Campstone Hill and another of the English at Craig y Dorth, between Penclawdd and Monmouth town. Here most of the English were slain and the remainder were chased up to the gate (of Monmouth). (Peniarth MS 135)
August 1404 saw sixty French ships in the English Channel, unfortunately for the Welsh returning to France. Also in August, the people of Shropshire and around Welshpool signed a truce with Glyndŵr, paying protection money to prevent an attack. Glyndŵr moved down to Cardiff, in anticipation of the French fleet, which had returned to France. John Trefor, Bishop of St Asaf, had joined Glyndŵr, making nonsense of the later claim that the Welsh had ransacked St Asaf cathedral. Iolo Goch wrote a poem to celebrate Trefor’s change of heart, as he had earlier supported Henry. Border counties were still paying protection to Glyndŵr’s men at the end of 1404.
THE PARDON OF SIR JOHN KYNASTON 27 SEPTEMBER 1404
Among the small group of relatives and supporters which met in 1400 at Glyndŵr’s manor at Glyndyfrdwy was John Kynaston of the Stocks (near Ellesmere), brother-in-law to Sir David Hanmer of Bettisfield. Hanmer’s daughter Margaret had married Owain Glyndŵr in Hanmer Church. Kynaston was also the kinsman of Northumberland and Hotspur, as his son, Madoc had married Hotspur’s sister and had been killed at Shrewsbury. When Glyndŵr’s force first raided along the border from Chester, reaching Oswestry on 22 September 1400, he was joined by John Kynaston; ‘arrayed in horse and armour for war’, and a companion, William Hunte, also ‘arrayed with a shield, sword, bow and arrows’. The Welsh set fire to Oswestry, and the event is preserved in the name ‘Pentre Poeth’, the Burnt Hamlet. The estates of both Owain and the Hanmers of Bettisfield were quickly confiscated and given to the King’s relatives. The whole community of Maelor Saesneg was reported to have become ‘rebels before the feast of St. Peter’ (1 August 1403). This detached portion of Flintshire included the seat of the Hanmers at Bettisfield and also Welshampton and Ellesmere, which were under the stewardship of John Kynaston of the Stocks. It was probably the last area to submit during the war.
Forty marks owed to John Kynaston, by one Henry Savage, were forfeited to the King on 28 January 1404, ‘on account of his insurrection’. A few weeks later ‘the lands of John Kynaston within the Hundred of Ellesmere and Hamptonswoode, worth twenty marks yearly, in the King’s hands on account of the rebellion of the said John’, were confiscated. They were granted to Richard Laken, ‘because he was prepared to ride to resist the Welsh rebels without any reward and they in their last ride burned and destroyed forty marks of his rent and took beasts and goods to the value of £100’. Thus, sometime in the summer of 1404, John Kynaston decided to make his peace with the King. On 27 September 1404, Henry IV met with his Council at Tutbury Castle and considered the case of John Kynaston. Kynaston had been indicted in the Court of the King’s Bench with aiding and abetting the rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr. He had been seen in ‘war-like guise’ at a number of places including Oswestry, which was at that time outside the jurisdiction of English law; Kynaston’s plea to this effect was upheld. However, Kynaston had been imprisoned in Windsor Castle until a number of his supporters, including the Lord of the Manor, raised £100 bail.
The indictment against Kynaston was then changed to include Oteley, which was subject to English law. However, although Kynaston had met Glyndŵr there, this was not breaking the law. Kynaston’s defence plea was again upheld. (A manuscript in the Shropshire Archive states that the boundary of Wales was at that time marked with a stone, on the Oswestry road 3 miles out of Ellesmere.) Thus, on 27 September, the King issued a pardon ‘for all treasons, insurrections, felonies and misdeeds committed by him’. By 1408 Kynaston’s land had been restored to him and he had resumed his earlier office as Steward of Maelor Saesneg and Ellesmere. The Kymastons were ‘armigers’, squires entitled to heraldic devices. The loss of men like Kynaston meant that Glyndŵr’s power was waning.
THE WELSH TAKE ABERYSTWYTH AND BEAUMARIS CASTLES – THE NEW FLAG
The fall of Aberystwyth and Harlech castles, long under threat, into Welsh hands during 1404 (the castle of Aberystwyth was garrisoned by the English from March to November 1404) confirmed Glyndŵr’s influence over western Wales, giving him two key coastal fortresses and a refuge after the destruction of Sycharth and Carrog. Aberystwyth now became his administrative centre. This was possibly the zenith of Glyndŵr’s campaigning. Glyndŵr kept his personal banner of the golden dragon on a white background, but now not only adopted but adapted the flag of the House of Gwynedd as the new flag of Wales. The quartered flag of four lions passant, alternately red on gold and gold on red, was altered. The lions passant became lions rampant, to symbolise that Wales was once again showing its strength after so much passivity. The huge Beaumaris Castle had finally fallen sometime after August 1404, before the winter of 1404-5.
FIFTH ROYAL EXPEDITION INTO WALES NOVEMBER 1404
By October Prince Henry was ready to fight again, and in November, accompanied by his brother Prince Thomas, rode to relieve Coity Castle. In the south-east, Newport had been subject to raids since 1403, Cardiff Castle and town had been burned in 1404 (one of whose residents, John Sperhauke, had earlier been executed for his support for Glyndŵr). Coety Castle was the only castle in the region left in English hands. Its lord, Sir Lawrence Berkerolles (d. 1411) had been besieged for months. The Princes arrived just in time to save Coity, and then reached Cardiff to find it burning and the Welsh forces gone, in December. Over 450 men had been urgently sent to Cardiff, with supplies from Bristol and Monmouth, but were too late. The royal force returned to Hereford, but arranged fresh supplies for the castles at Cydweli, Carmarthen and Llansteffan. The winter, as usual, was bitterly cold, and unusually, Glyndŵr stopped campaigning and returned to Harlech. He had a secure base at last, in his fifth year of campaigning.