The Last Days Of Owain Glyndwr

This impressive book reveals surprising new facts about the man who still fires the Welsh imagination, Owain Glyndwr, through rigorous assessment of evidence in contemporary manuscripts and printed sources. Color photos.

The first ever full-scale biography of the last native Prince of Wales who fought to maintain an independent Wales.

Presents the original text and English translations of the medieval and post-medieval records, poems and chronicles relating to Welsh revolutionary Owain Glyndwr (1357?-1415). Notes and essays on the historical, social and literary context provide up-to-date perspectives and commentary on the man and his times.

Gruffudd ap Llywelyn was Wales' greatest king. Ambitious and battle-sure, he succeeded in doing what no Welsh king before him was capable of: he ruled all Wales as a united and independent state. He went further by turning the Viking threat to his realm into a powerful weapon and conquering border land that had been in English hands for centuries. Having emerged as a war leader, Gruffudd also proved to be much more: a patron of the arts and church, with the trappings of a king who was respected and feared on the European stage. His eventual murder at the hands of his own men narrowed the country's political ambitions and left Wales in chaos on the eve of the arrival of the Normans. Those who betrayed Gruffudd were the forebears of the famous princes who would dominate Wales until the Edwardian Conquest, meaning that the former king left no one to tell of his glory. As a result, 1,000 years after his birth, the would-be nation builder is all but forgotten. Here, Sean and Michael Davies reveal the king in all his glory, telling for the first time the story of one of Wales' greatest figures and exploring the full implications of Gruffudd's rule. For, without Gruffudd, the fate of King Harold and the outcome of the Battle of Hastings would have been very different...

The subject of this compelling biography, Owain Glyn Dwr is one of the great figures of Welsh and military history. Initially a loyal subject of the king of England, he reluctantly took up arms against the Crown he had served. Once committed to rebellion, he proved surprisingly talented at leading rebel troops against a theoretically vastly superior enemy. Gideon Brough reveals that Owain was more than just a warrior: he conceived and implemented a strategy which saw his small, poorly-equipped forces repeatedly defeat Crown troops and bring down the apparatus of governance in Wales. Following these achievements, he held native parliaments and established diplomatic contact with surrounding powers. This led to a treaty with France, after the conclusion of which, he welcomed French forces to Welsh soil to campaign with the rebels. In brief, Owain erected a rebel state and won international recognition, as the book soinsightfully shows. It later reflects on how Owain's foreign support was fractured by the intrigues of exceptionally talented English diplomats at work in the French court and the subsequent creation of an environment which allowed Crown forces to concentrate on defeating the rebellion in Wales. Brough very effectively argues that, although ultimately unsuccessful, Owain emerges from the era as a gifted and honourable leader, giving the Welsh a figure commonly recalled as a hero.

The battle of Hyddgen (1401) was Owain Glyndwr's first great victory - crucial in the success of the famous rebellion. Ian Fleming explains lucidly the background and all known details of the battle where 500 Welshmen outfought 1500 Flemish soldiers.

Set in the Welsh marches and the borderlands of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, this book presents a story which scrutinizes a connection traditionally said to have existed between the outlawed Owain Glyndwr, a descendant of the ancient rulers of Wales, and a legendary character of the Welsh borders - 'Jack of Kent'.

"Studies the representations of the revolt in English chronicles, from 1400 up to 1580. It focuses on the narrative strategies employed, offers a new reading of the texts as literary constructs, and explores the information they present."--Back cover.