Owain Glyndŵr rebellion
The rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr was the last great uprising of the Welsh against English rule after the conquest of Wales , under the leadership of the landed nobleman Owain Glyndŵr . The uprising ended after great initial success in a complete defeat of the Welsh.
The beginning of the revolt
After the conquest of Wales, several Welsh uprisings in the late 13th and early 14th centuries were violently put down by the English conquerors. The old Welsh ruling families, some of whose members had led the uprisings, had been destroyed or disempowered. That is why the new rebellion had partly social causes. The Welsh population was disadvantaged compared to English settlers after the conquest, harassed by English officials and the judiciary and heavily taxed. After the Black Death , labor was scarce and the English boroughs in Wales insisted on their trading privileges, which further disadvantaged the rural Welsh population. In 1397 Richard Fitzalan, the Earl of Arundel , was executed by King Richard II . Fitzalan had also been Lord of Chirk and Holt in North Wales and Oswestry , and Richard united these lords with the royal lordship of Chester . The deposition of King Richard II by Henry Bolingbroke led to great uncertainty among the Welsh nobility in north-east Wales, who had been strengthened in their rights by King Richard. As a result, the change of the throne in Wales was controversial. The immediate cause of the revolt was the unwillingness of the new king to mediate fairly in a dispute between the Welsh Owain Glyndŵr and his neighbor, the English baron Reginald Gray of Ruthin . Owain Glyndŵr, who was a descendant of the Princes of Powys and Deheubarth , feared reprisals and was proclaimed Prince of Wales on September 16, 1400 by his friends . He called on other disappointed North East Wales nobles to support him, and with their support he started an uprising against English rule in Wales. He first attacked Grey's castle in Ruthin and destroyed it. The rebels then attacked the English boroughs of Denbigh , Rhuddlan , Flint , Hawarden , Holt and Oswestry. Within eight days the army marched into Welshpool and destroyed that town too, but then they were defeated and dispersed outside the town by the Royal Commander Hugh Burnell, 2nd Baron Burnell with a contingent from Shropshire , Staffordshire and Warwickshire . Burnell classified the rebels as no longer dangerous and did not pursue them. In view of these rapid successes, however, numerous other nobles joined Glyndŵr, including the related Rhys and Gwilym ap Tudor from Anglesey . They had been close allies of Richard II and used guerrilla tactics against the English fortresses in north Wales. The uprising in North and Central Wales now forced King Henry IV to lead his army to Wales instead of against Scotland. He pardoned numerous rebels, but not Owain, Rhys and Gwilym. The first skirmishes with the Welsh were devastating for the English, however, in the bad Welsh weather they had nothing to counter the guerrilla attacks of the Welsh and had to retreat to Shrewsbury on October 15th . Over the next few months, the uprising spread across Wales. There were raids everywhere on English settlements, manors and castles. In south Wales, a group of Welsh people who called themselves Plant Owain ( Welsh for Owain's children) attacked Brecon and Gwent . Owain himself was able to surprise an English army of over 1500 men from Pembrokeshire with 400 men in their camp in the Hyddgen Valley in Powys. Over 200 British were killed, the others captured. In March 1401, Rhys and Gwilym Tudor captured Conwy Castle in a surprise attack . The English only succeeded in retaking the castle after two months.
In the summer of 1401, King Henry IV undertook another punitive campaign. With his army he reached Strata Florida Abbey , whose monks allegedly sympathized with the rebellion. The English suffered losses as a result of guerrilla attacks by Plant Owain, so that the king - allegedly after a drinking bout - ordered the partial destruction of the abbey and the execution of some monks suspected of supporting the rebels. The Plant Owain continued their attacks on the English supply lines, and on the way back to Hereford , the English army suffered further losses from continuous rain with landslides and floods. Heinrich himself was in mortal danger when his tent was flooded.
Spread of the rebellion
Because of the increasing support for the rebellion, also in the north-west of England, the parliament passed new laws, which for example forbade Welsh land ownership in England and in the English boroughs in Wales. These laws and new high taxes, however, led previously loyal Welshmen to join the rebels. The uprising now turned into a guerrilla war, in which Owain operated successfully, although it did not achieve major victories. In January 1402 he attacked Ruthin and captured his old opponent Reginald Gray. The king was only able to buy him free after a year of imprisonment for a sizeable ransom of 10,000 marks (over 6666 pounds ). Owain continued the war in Maelienydd. In June 1402 an English army commanded by Edmund Mortimer was defeated by Owain's Welsh at the Battle of Bryn Glas near Pilleth. The Welsh archers in English service defected to Owain and Mortimer was captured. The king now refused to release Mortimer, which is why Mortimer switched sides, joined Owain and married his daughter Catherine.
In August Owain attacked the castles of Usk , Caerleon , Newport and Cardiff . The third counterattack by Henry IV, who invaded Wales with three armies from Shrewsbury, Hereford and Chester, had to be canceled in September due to continuous rain and fog. Owain's growing success, rising from country noble to national leader, encouraged numerous Welsh emigrants to return to Wales and join Owain. Few castles like Caernarfon Castle withstood the Welsh attacks. Owain's houses in Glyndydrdwy and Sycharth were burned down by Prince Harry in 1403 , but these were only minor English successes. With the help of his son-in-law Mortimer, Owain was able to win his brother-in-law Harry Hotspur as an ally in 1403 . In July 1403 the Percys rebelled and moved with 14,000 soldiers to Shrewsbury, where Prince Harry camped with an army. Henry IV came to the aid of his son, in the battle of Shrewsbury on July 21, 1403 the king was victorious with heavy losses, while Owain did not come to the aid of his ally. Owain himself had successfully captured Carmarthen , Dryslwyn , Llansteffan , Newcastle Emlyn and Carreg Cennen Castle that year , gaining control of South West Wales. In September 1403 the king undertook his fourth and last campaign to Wales, which again brought no result. The Welsh insurgents now received money, equipment and other support from Brittany and France, which was at the Hundred Years War with England . The Welsh-Breton-French alliance was strengthened from 1403 through several naval battles against the English. From August to October 1403, the Welshman Henry Dwnn Kidwelly Castle besieged . He was supported by French ships, but the castle withstood the siege. In November, a French fleet under Jean d'Espagne attacked Caernarfon . In the late spring of 1404 Owain captured Harlech and Aberystwyth Castle and the castles of Abergavenny and Coity were besieged.
The climax and failure of the rebellion
English rule in Wales had now shrunk to a few stretches of coastline and fortified castles and towns. Owain now began to shape his empire, he convened a first Cynulliad , a Welsh parliament in Machynlleth . Harlech Castle became his main residence. He was the undisputed leader of the rebellion and on May 10 in Dolgellau appointed his brother-in-law John Hanmer and his Chancellor Gruffydd Young as envoys to negotiate the alliance with France. On July 14, 1404, he concluded an alliance with France. Owain called himself Prince of Wales by the grace of God . He wanted an independent Welsh principality that would become a modern state with an independent church, two universities, and a parliament. However, it did not have an effective administration as the old Welsh system of rule of the 13th century no longer existed. That's why he never had his own financial management. The income from his territories in North West Wales could never cover the expenses of his court and army.
Still, he held firm control of North West Wales and was recognized by Llewellyn Bifort, Bishop of Bangor , in August and by Bishop John Trevaur of St Asaph at the end of the year. In February 1405 he agreed the partition of England with the Earl of Northumberland and his son-in-law Edmund Mortimer. Owain, as Prince of Wales, was to receive Cheshire, Salop and Worcester , the Earl of Northumberland the north and the Midlands , while Mortimer was to receive southern England. In August 1405 he convened his second parliament in Harlech, where French troops were also present. At the beginning of August 1405, 140 French ships with 2600 soldiers under Jean de Rieux landed in Milford Haven . Among the soldiers were 800 men-at-arms and 600 crossbowmen under Jean de Hangest. Owain is said to have had 10,000 soldiers and won battles at Haverfordwest and Carmarthen. The combined army advanced through south Wales to Worcester . However, after the city was sacked, they took a defensive position on Woodbury Hill 15 km northwest of the city. The army achieved nothing, after which they withdrew to Wales. Henry IV's counterstrike to Wales failed again in the rain, and his train was attacked and looted.
However, the failure of the Worcester campaign became the turning point of the uprising. Six years after the start of the uprising and after great successes, Owain Glyndŵr suffered increasing defeats. The support from France diminished, as did Owain's politically motivated attempt to defeat the French antipope Benedict XIII in the church schism in 1406 . to support and thus to separate the Welsh Church from the English was unsuccessful. The Welsh forces suffered several defeats. One of his armies was taken by surprise and severely defeated during the sack of Grosmont by an English army under Prince Harry . Only a few weeks later, his army attacked Usk Castle again, but when the besieged fell out, the Welsh suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Pwll Melyn . After the battle, King Henry had 300 prisoners beheaded, and increasingly prisoners were treated even more cruelly. Henry IV wanted to take advantage of Owain's weakness for a campaign to south Wales, but when a rebellion of the Archbishop of York, Richard le Scrope , broke out in northern England, he had to break off his campaign. The direct military actions of the king did not bring decisive success, but together with the economic blockade carried out by his son, Prince Harry, they were successful. English troops from Ireland landed on the island of Anglesey in early 1406 and conquered the island in the course of the year. From Anglesey and other coastal bases, the English began to prevent trade with Wales and to cut off the insurgents from supplies of weapons and material. Gradually the blockage took effect. At the end of 1406, Gower , the valley of the Tywi and Ceredigion were again under English rule in addition to Anglesey . Welsh attacks, such as a renewed attack by Henry Dwnn on Kidwelly in August 1406, failed. Owain was now on the defensive, the alliance with France failed in the autumn of 1407. The harsh winter from 1407 to 1408 led to supply bottlenecks. In February 1408 the Earl of Northumberland, who was involved in the rebellion in the north, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Braham Moor , so Henry IV had no more opponents worth mentioning in England. In addition, Scotland could be neutralized, the new King James I was a prisoner of Henry IV, while the Duke of Albany ruled as regent. After long sieges, Aberystwyth Castle was retaken in 1408 and Harlech Castle in early 1409. During the siege of Harlech, Owain's son-in-law, Mortimer, died, while Owain's wife, daughter, and three grandchildren were captured by the English.
Owain's rule had failed, his principality dissolved, and the dioceses of Bangor and St Asaph came back under English control. Owain had to retreat with his followers to the North Wales hill country. In 1410 he attempted a raid on Shropshire, perhaps in a desperate attempt to end the rebellion with honor. The Welsh were beaten and three of Owain's closest confidants, including Rhys ap Tudur, were captured and executed. In 1412 Owain was able to capture his opponent Dafydd Gam , but after that little is known about his fate. He died around 1415, probably spending his last years with his daughter Alys, who had married the Sheriff of Herefordshire.
Consequences and aftermath
The rebellion ended in defeat and became a protracted economic, social and political catastrophe for Wales. The uprising had destroyed the fragile but peaceful coexistence between the English and the Welsh. Chroniclers complained that "Glyndwr had destroyed everything" and that the English king had devastated Wales. Numerous villages and towns had been completely destroyed. Large areas that were once used for agriculture lay fallow. Numerous Welsh who fought under Owain fought in the wars of Henry V in France. The destruction was not over until a generation later. The rebellion had claimed countless victims, the war had brought trade to a standstill and the economy ruined. Politically, the Welsh had been completely eliminated. Despite this disaster, Owain Glyndŵr was never forgotten and is now considered a Welsh national hero.
literature
- Rees R. Davies: The Revolt of Owain Glyn Dwr . University Press, Oxford 1995, ISBN 0-19-285336-8
- Geoffrey Hodge: Owain Glyn Dwr: The War of Independence in the Welsh Borders . Logaston Press, 1995, ISBN 1-873827-24-5
- Alan Klehr; Winsoar Churchill: Owain Glyndwr's Fight for Wales . In: British Heritage, 22 (2001), Heft 3 (Apr / May), p. 22 28 Online on History.net
Web links
- Llinos Smith, Glyn Dŵr, Owain (c.1359 – c.1416) . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; On-line
- BBC Wales - History: The revolt of Owain Glyndwr
- Thomas Jones Pierce: Owain Glyndwr. In: Welsh Biography Online, The National Library of Wales. On-line
Individual evidence
- ^ David Walker: Medieval Wales . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 0-521-31153-5 , p. 171
- ↑ BBC Wales History: Owain Glyndwr - The seeds of revolt. Retrieved August 12, 2014 .
- ^ David Walker: Medieval Wales . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990. ISBN 0-521-31153-5 , p. 171
- ^ Rees R. Davies: The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063-1415. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-820198-2 , p. 447
- ^ Rees R. Davies: The Age of Conquest. Wales 1063-1415. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1991, ISBN 0-19-820198-2 , p. 446