Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr led the last major Welsh rising against English rule and was the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales. Born around 1359 to a family descended from the princes of Powys and Deheubarth, he was wealthy and thoroughly assimilated: he studied law at the Inns of Court in London, married the daughter of an English judge, and served in the English army under Richard II, seeing action in Scotland. His revolt began as a property dispute. A neighbour, Lord Grey of Ruthin, seized land, and the king's court found against Owain — reportedly with the remark that it did not matter what happened to barefoot dogs. In September 1400 his followers proclaimed him Prince of Wales and attacked Ruthin. The rising spread across Wales over the following years, fed by resentment at the penal laws imposed after Edward I's conquest, at absentee lordship and at taxation. Owain won at Bryn Glas in 1402, capturing Edmund Mortimer, who then married his daughter and joined him, and at Craig-y-dorth. By 1404 he held Harlech and Aberystwyth castles. He held a parliament at Machynlleth in 1404, was crowned, and set out a programme: an independent Welsh church under St David's, two universities, and a return to Welsh law. He allied with the Percys and Mortimer in the Tripartite Indenture to divide England and Wales, and secured a French expedition in 1405. Henry IV's son, the future Henry V, ground the revolt down by blockade and attrition. Aberystwyth and Harlech fell in 1408-09, and Owain's wife and daughters were captured and died in the Tower. He was never captured or betrayed, refused a pardon, and disappeared around 1415.
- Lived: 1359 CE – 1415 CE
- Nationality: Welsh
- Roles: prince, rebel_leader
