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Owain Glyndwr
The Norman Conquest of England following 1066 gave rise to Norman attempts to occupy Wales; by the thirteenth century much of eastern and southern WAles were under Norman control in autonomous 'Marcher Lordships' owing loyalty to the English crown. What was left of independent Wales was not a unitary nation, but comprised a number of separate, often warring, principalities, and only late on, under English pressure, did these unite to acknowledge one 'Prince of Wales'. These princes were provided by the most powerful of the Welsh states, Gwynedd, in the mountainous NW of the country. Most notable was Llewelyn the Great (1173-1240; who unified the country, and gave it a code of laws). His grandson, Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, was unable to resist a powerful invasion mounted by the English king Edward i, and his death in battle in 1282 marked the extinction of independent Wales.
The Norman Conquest of England following 1066 gave rise to Norman attempts to occupy Wales; by the thirteenth century much of eastern and southern WAles were under Norman control in autonomous 'Marcher Lordships' owing loyalty to the English crown. What was left of independent Wales was not a unitary nation, but comprised a number of separate, often warring, principalities, and only late on, under English pressure, did these unite to acknowledge one 'Prince of Wales'. These princes were provided by the most powerful of the Welsh states, Gwynedd, in the mountainous NW of the country. Most notable was Llewelyn the Great (1173-1240; who unified the country, and gave it a code of laws). His grandson, Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, was unable to resist a powerful invasion mounted by the English king Edward i, and his death in battle in 1282 marked the extinction of independent Wales.
A major revolt against English rule was mounted in the early fifteenth century led by Owain Glyndwr, a member of the prosperous Welsh gentry who became embittered against the local English magnates for reasons which are uncertain, but probably owe as much to personla disputes as national sentiment. Glyndwr's rebellion achieved astonishing success, for a while. Beginning on Good Friday 1401, the rebels came to control much of the countryside and many Welsh towns, even advancing to Worcester in England. Glyndwr, who had been proclaimed Prince of Wales, held two parliaments at Machynlleth in mid Wales, and allied himself with the Duke of Northumberland and and the Earl of Mortimer in a plan to dismember the English kingdom once Henry IV had been conclusively defeated. He made an alliance with France, and created two (short-lived) universities, one each in north and south Wales. However, by 1408 the tide had turned. His Northumbrian allies had been defeated and English forces retook many Welsh towns. Te rebels resorted to guerilla warfare but by 1410 Glyndwr was a fugitive and he disappears from history, his fate a mystery.
==Notes and references==
==Notes and references==