The Anglo-Welsh gentry of the Welsh Marches…

1400 CE

The Anglo-Welsh gentry of the Welsh Marches has moved easily between Welsh and English societies and language, occupying important offices for the Marcher Lords while maintaining their position as uchelwyr—nobles descended from the pre-conquest Welsh Royal dynasties—in traditional Welsh society.

The Welsh had traditionally been supporters of King Richard, who had succeeded his father, the Black Prince, as Prince of Wales.

Richard’s removal abruptly curtails the opportunities for advancement for Welsh people, many of whom appear to be uncertain of their future.

Owain Glyndwr (later anglicized by Shakespeare into Owen Glendower), an orphaned scion of a prosperous landed Anglo-Welsh family, is a descendant of the Princes of Powys from his father Gruffydd Fychan II, hereditary Tywysog of Powys Fadog and Lord of Glyndyfrdwy, and of those of Deheubarth through his mother Elen ferch Tomas ap Llywelyn.

Fostered at the home of a rising lawyer and thought to have been sent to London to study law at the Inns of Court, the young Gyndwr had in 1385 seen action under Richard II in his French wars as his scutifer (shield bearer) and later that year served Richard under the command of John of Gaunt again in Scotland.

Owain in 1387 was in southeast England under Richard Fitzalan, 11th Earl of Arundel in the Channel at the defeat of a Franco-Spanish-Flemish fleet off the coast of Kent.

Upon the death of his foster father and now father-in-law in late 1387, knighted earlier that very year by King Richard, Glyndwr had returned to Wales as executor of his estate, then in December 1387 served as a squire to Gaunt’s son Bolingbroke at the short, sharp Battle of Radcot Bridge.

With the sidelining of Arundel by the Lords Appellant, Glyndwr gladly returned to his stable Welsh estates, living there quietly for ten years during his forties.

Like many of his kind, he now must decide his loyalties.

Owain has been engaged in a long-running land dispute with his neighbors, the successive holders of the title Baron Grey de Ruthyn of Dyffryn Clwyd, English landowners in Wales with a reputation for being anti-Welsh.

He had in 1399 appealed to Parliament to resolve the issue and under King Richard the court had found in his favor.

Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn—a good friend of the new kin—has used his influence to have that decision overturned.

Owain’s appeal is rejected without a hearing even being granted.

Furthermore, de Grey has deliberately withheld a Royal Summons for Owain to join the new King’s Scottish campaign.

Technically, as a tenant-in-chief to the English King, Owain is obliged to provide troops, as he has done in the past.

By not responding to the hidden summons, Owain has unwittingly committed treason.

King Henry declares Owain a traitor, his estates forfeit, and urges de Grey to deal with Owain.

De Grey, breaking personal assurances and using force, makes clear his intent, leaving Owain with no recourse other than to flee, seemingly confirming his guilt, …