Owain Glyndŵr

In 1406, a Welsh prince called Owain Glyndŵr sealed a letter to the King of France. He had been leading a Welsh rising against the English crown for six years. The letter set out his vision: an independent Welsh church, two Welsh universities, the Welsh language recognised in law, Welsh people governing themselves. By 1412 the rising had collapsed, his family had been taken to the Tower of London, and Owain himself had vanished into the mountains. But every word he wrote in that letter has now come true. It took 616 years.

The problem (1282 – 1400)

For 122 years, Wales had lived under the English crown. Edward I had taken it in 1282. The Welsh laws of Hywel Dda, Cyfraith Hywel, the body of law that had governed Welsh life for five hundred years, were set aside. The land of the Welsh was in the crown's hands. The country existed, but it wasn't its own.

The spark (1400)

Owain Glyndŵr was a Welsh lord, descended from the old princes of Powys and Deheubarth. In 1400, his neighbour, a marcher lord called Lord Grey of Ruthin, stole a piece of his land. Grey held back the king's summons. Glyndŵr never got the chance to plead his case in the English court.

On 16 September 1400, he raised his banner above the valley of Glyndyfrdwy. He declared himself Prince of Wales. He was in his forties.

The rising (1402 – 1404)

The Welsh came to him from every valley, from the slate mountains in the north, the green hills of mid-Wales, the coast.

In 1401, at Mynydd Hyddgen, a small Welsh force broke an English army on a hillside. The first Welsh victory in over a century.

His forces took Conwy back. They took Harlech. They walked into Aberystwyth.

By 1404, most of Wales answered to Owain.

The parliament (1404)

That year, he did something no Welsh prince had done before. He summoned every commote in Wales to send envoys to Machynlleth, a small Welsh town in the shadow of Eryri.

Four envoys from every commote. They came down valley roads and over mountain passes. They gathered in a stone hall that is still standing today. You can walk into it.

They crowned him Prince of Wales.

France sent envoys, in blue marked with the fleur-de-lys. Spain stood with him, in crimson. Scotland came too, in green plaid. Three foreign nations recognising Wales as Wales.

The vision, the Pennal Letter (1406)

Two years later, at Pennal in Merionethshire, Owain dictated a letter to the King of France. Thirty-first of March, 1406. Sealed in red wax.

He told Charles VI what Wales would be:

• An independent Welsh church, free of Canterbury.
• Two Welsh universities, one in the north, one in the south, so that Welsh children would never again have to leave their country to learn.
• Welsh-speaking priests in every Welsh church.
• Welsh people governing themselves, in their own tongue, by their own laws.

All of it written down. This is what Wales would become.

The fall (1408 – 1412)

Henry IV would not have it. He sent army after army.

By 1408, Aberystwyth was back under the crown. By 1409, Harlech.

At Harlech, the crown took his wife Margaret Hanmer, his daughter Catrin, and his grandchildren. They were marched to the Tower of London. A Welsh princess and her children, held in stone. They died there. All of them.

By 1412, Owain was alone in the mountains. He vanished into the high country. He was never captured. And no one in Wales ever turned him in. Not a farmer. Not a shepherd. Not a neighbour.

The waiting (1412 – 1999)

For six hundred years, Wales had no parliament. Welsh children were beaten in school for speaking the language their mothers had taught them.

But the letter survived. In Paris. In the Archives Nationales. Where it still is. The wax is still red. You can ask to see it.

The answer (1999 – 2020)

In 1999, the Welsh got their assembly back. In 2020, they named it the Senedd, the parliament of Wales.

The Welsh language is now official, spoken in the courts, written into law. Welsh universities serve the north and the south.

Every word Owain wrote in 1406 has come true. It took 616 years.