Owain Glyndwr - Disappearance and legacy

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The Annals of Owain Glyndwr taken from the medieval manuscript Panton MS. 22 finish in the year 1422. The last entry regarding the prince reads;

1415 - Owain went into hiding on St Matthew's Day in Harvest (September 21), and thereafter his hiding place was unknown. Very many said that he died; the seers maintain he did not.

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Disappearance and legacy

Nothing is known of Owain after 1412. Despite enormous rewards offered he was never captured. Tradition has that he either died and was buried at his estate in Sycharth or on the estates of his daughters' husbands — Kentchurch in Herefordshire or Monnington. Owain's daughter, Alys, had married Sir Henry Scudamore, the Sheriff of Herefordshire. Somehow he had weathered the war and remained in office. It was rumoured that Owain finally retreated to their home at Kentchurch. In his book "The Mystery of Jack of Kent and the Fate of Owain Glyndŵr", Alex Gibon argues that the folk hero Jack of Kent – the family chaplain of the Scudamore family – was Owain Glyndŵr. Gibbon points out a number of similarities between Kent and Glyndŵr (including physical appearance) and claims that Owain spent his last years living with Alys passing himself off as an aging Franciscan friar.

A grandchild of the Scudamore's was Sir John Donne (d. 1503) of Kidwelly, a successful Yorkist courtier, diplomat and soldier, who after 1485 made an accommodation with his fellow-Welshman Henry VII.

Through the Donne family many prominent English families are descended from Owain,

including the De Vere Earls of Oxford

and the Cavendish Dukes of Devonshire.

In 2006 The Owain Glyndwr Society's president Adrien Jones said: "Four years ago we visited a direct descendant of Glyndwr, a John Skidmore, at Kentchurch Court, near Abergavenny. "He took us to Monnington Straddle, in Herefordshire, where one of Glyndwr's daughters, Alice, lived. Mr Skidmore told us that he (Glyndŵr) spent his last days there and eventually died there. It was a family secret for 600 years and even Mr Skidmore's mother, who died shortly before we visited, refused to reveal the secret. There's even a mound where he is believed to be buried at Monnington Straddle." 1

Owain Glyndŵr is reputed to have had the following children:

* Gruffudd ab Owain Glyndŵr
* Madog ab Owain Glyndŵr
* Maredudd ab Owain Glyndŵr
* Tomas ab Owain Glyndŵr
* John ab Owain Glyndŵr
* Dafydd ab Owain Glyndŵr
* Alys ferch Owain Glyndŵr
* Margaret ferch Owain Glyndŵr
* Isabel ferch Owain Glyndŵr
* Jonet ferch Owain Glyndŵr
* Catrin ferch Owain Glyndŵr
* Elizabeth ferch Owain Glyndŵr
* Jane ferch Owain Glyndŵr

Owain Glyndwr is also reputed to have had the following brothers:

* Gruffudd ap Gruffudd Fychan
* Tudur ap Gruffudd Fychan

The aftermath in Wales

By 1415, English rule was returned to Wales. The leading rebels were dead, imprisoned, or impoverished through massive fines. Scarcely a parish or family in Wales, English or Welsh, had not been affected in some way. The cost in loss of life, physical destruction, and ruined lives was enormous. Wales, already a poor country, was further impoverished by pillage, economic blockade and communal fines. Reports by travellers talk of ruined castles and abbeys. Grass grew in the market squares of many towns and commerce had almost ground to a halt. Land that had previously been productive was now empty wasteland with no tenants to work the land. As late as 1492, a Royal Official in lowland Glamorgan was still citing the devastation caused by the revolt as the reason why he was unable to deliver promised revenues to the King.

Many prominent families were ruined. In 1411, John Hanmer pleaded poverty as a reason why he could not pay the fines imposed on him. The Tudors no longer lorded it over Anglesey and northwest Wales as they had done throughout the late 14th century. The family seemed finished until the third Tudor brother, Maredudd, went to London and established a new destiny for the family. Others eventually surrendered and made peace with the new order. The redoubtable Henry Dwn who with the French and Bretons had laid siege to Kidwelly Castle in 1403 and 1404 made his peace and accepted a fine. Somehow he avoided paying a penny. For many years after his surrender and despite official proscriptions, he sheltered rebels on the run, levied fines on 200 individuals that had not supported him, rode around the county with his retinue, and even plotted the murder of the King’s justice. Nevertheless, his grandson fought with Henry V in 1415 at the Battle of Agincourt.

Others could not fit into the new order. An unknown number of Owain’s supporters went into exile. Henry Gwyn ("White Henry") — heir to the substantial Lordship of Llansteffan — left Wales forever and was to die in the service of the King of France facing his old comrades at Agincourt. Gruffydd Yonge was another permanent exile. By 1415 he was in Paris. He was to live another 20 years being first Bishop of Ross in Scotland and later of Hippo in North Africa.

Modern legacy

After Owain's death, there was little resistance to English rule until, in the 16th century, the Tudor dynasty, whilst allowing Welshmen to become more prominent in English society, saw Owain's revolt as a catastrophe for Wales.

In "Henry IV" Shakespeare portrays him as wild and exotic; a man ruled by magic and emotion in sharp contrast to the logical and reasonable Hotspur. It was not until the late 19th century that Owain's reputation was to be revived. The "Young Wales" movement recreated him as the father of Welsh nationalism. The discovery of Owain's Great Seal and his letters to the French in the Bibliotheque Nationale helped revise historical images of him as a purely local leader. In the First World War, the Welsh Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, unveiled a statue to him in Cardiff town hall and a postcard showing Owain at the Battle of Mynydd Hyddgen was sold to raise money for wounded Welsh soldiers. Folk memory in Wales had always held him in high regard and almost every parish has some landmark or story about Owain.

He joined the long list of failed resistance to English rule in the British Isles, was remembered as a national hero on a par with King Arthur and numerous small groups have adopted his symbolism to advocate independence or nationalism for Wales. For example, during the 1980s, a group calling themselves "Meibion Glyndwr" claimed responsibility for the burning of English holiday homes in Wales.

However, perhaps ironically, Glyndwr was part English himself.

Welsh legend states that when Wales is threatened again then he will rise from the his unknown resting place in Wales in order to lead the defence of Wales, quite like the legend of King Arthur.

The creation of the National Assembly for Wales brought him back into the spotlight and in 2000 celebrations were held all over Wales to commemorate the 600th anniversary of the rising. Stamps were issued with his likeness and streets, parks, and public squares were named after him throughout Wales. Owain’s personal standard — the quartered arms of Powys and Deheubarth rampant — began to be seen all over Wales, especially at rugby matches against the English.

An energetic campaign exists to make September 16, the date Owain raised his standard, a national holiday in Wales. An annual award for achievement in the arts and literature, the Glyndŵr Award, is named after him.

Preceded by
Owain III Titular Prince of Gwynedd and Wales
1400-c.1416 Succeeded by
Vacant

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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owain_Glynd%C5%B5r"

Categories: Monarchs of Powys | Welsh monarchs | Welsh rebels | Welsh soldiers | Welsh lawyers | Disappeared people | Historical figures portrayed by Shakespeare | 1359 births | 1416 deaths

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owain_Glynd%C5%B5r

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