Owen Glendower (Owain Glyndwr), last Welsh Prince of Wales

On September 16, 1400, Owain Glyndŵr was declared the Prince of Wales by his followers. He was the last Welsh Prince of Wales. An excerpt from the article:

"He went on to serve the English Crown as a soldier against the Scots, and wearing a scarlet flamingo feather as his crest he is said to have bore down on the Scotsmen before him with only the butt of his broken lance!

He married the daughter of an Anglo-Welsh judge, fathering six sons with remarkable speed, and led a very peaceful life on his pleasant estates. It was, however, in the late 1390’s that the seeds of rebellion were sown, following a series of disagreements and disputes with the English Crown and Parliament concerning the loss of lands and honour.

And so in September, 1400, when he was 50, Owen organised a rebellion against the recently usurping English king, Henry IV and claimed the title, Prince of Wales.

His popularity appears to have soared almost overnight with Welsh students, seeing in him the leader they had long been looking for, abandoning their university studies to join him. Welsh labourers threw down their hoes and joined the national uprising. More importantly for Owen, hundreds of seasoned Welsh archers and soldiers, fresh from campaigns in France and Scotland, left English service to join the rebellion.

Owen’s forces spread quickly through northeast Wales. Ruthin, Denbigh, Rhuddlan, Flint, Hawarden, Holt, Oswestry and Welshpool fell quickly. Simultaneously, the Tudor brothers from Anglesey launched a guerrilla war against the English. The Tudors were a prominent Anglesey family and cousins of Owen.

Owen’s cause continued to grow fast – in 1401, despite English expeditions into north and south Wales his stature grew as a national hero. The whole of northern and central Wales went over to Owain.

In 1402 the sighting of a great comet in the sky was taken by Owen’s followers to be a sign of victory and they captured Owen’s enemy Reginald Grey of Ruthin. Grey was later released on the payment of a ransom of £6,666.

Owen was blessed with a sound common sense, and when Edmund Mortimer, the King’s nephew was captured, he did not demand a ransom for him, but married him instead to his daughter Catherine. Now Owen was on course for not only the throne of Wales, but for that of England too!"