GLENDOWER, OWEN [OWAIN GLYN DwR] (13590 1415), the last independent prince of Wales, more correctly de scribed as Owain ab Gruffydd, lord of Glyndyvrdwy in Merioneth, was a man of good family, with two great houses, Sycharth and Glyndyvrdwy in the north, besides smaller estates in south Wales. His father was called Gruffydd Vychan, and his mother Helen; on both sides he had pretensions to be descended from the old Welsh princes. Owen was probably born about 1359, studied law at Westminster, was squire to the earl of Arundel, and a witness for Grosvenor in the famous Scrope and Grosvenor lawsuit in 1386. Afterwards he was in the service of Henry of Bolingbroke, the future king. Welsh sympathies were, however, on the side of Richard II., and combined with a personal quarrel to make Owen the leader of a national revolt.
The lords of Glyndyvrdwy had an ancient feud with their Eng lish neighbours, the Greys of Ruthin. Reginald Grey neglected to summon Owen, as was his duty, for the Scottish expedition of 1400, and then charged him with treason for failing to appear. Owen thereupon took up arms, and when Henry IV. returned from Scotland in September he found north Wales ablaze. A hurried campaign under the king's personal command was ineffec tual. In the spring of 1401 Owen was raiding in south Wales. A second campaign by the king in the autumn was defeated, through bad weather and the Fabian tactics of the Welsh. Owen had already been intriguing with Henry Percy (Hotspur), who during 1402 held command in north Wales, and with Percy's brother-in-law, Sir Edmund Mortimer. During the winter of 1401-1402 he treated with the rebel Irish, the Scots and the French. In the spring he attacked Ruthin, and took Grey prisoner. In the summer he defeated the men of Hereford under Edmund Mortimer at Pilleth, near Brynglas, in Radnorshire. Mortimer was taken prisoner and treated with such friendliness as to make the English doubt his loyalty; within a few months he married Owen's daughter. In the autumn the English king was for the third time driven "bootless home and weather-beaten back." In May 1403 Henry of Monmouth was allowed to sack Sycharth and Glyndyvrdwy unopposed. Owen had a greater plot in hand. The Percies were to rise in arms, and meeting Owen at Shrewsbury, overwhelm the prince before help could arrive. But Owen was defeated near Carmarthen on July 12, and Percy was crushed at Shrewsbury ten days later. But the Welsh revolt was still formid able. Owen styled himself openly prince of Wales, established a regular government, and called a parliament at Machynlleth. As a result of a formal alliance the French sent troops to his aid, and in the course of 1404 the great castles of Harlech and Aberystwith fell into his hands.
In the spring of 1405 the tide turned. Prince Henry defeated the Welsh at Grosmont in March, and twice again in May. Scrope's rebellion in the North prevented the English from fol lowing up their success. The earl of Northumberland took refuge in Wales, and the tripartite alliance of Owen with Percy and Mortimer (transferred by Shakespeare to an earlier occasion) threatened a renewal of danger. But the English under Prince Henry gained ground steadily, and the recovery of Aberystwith, after a long siege (1408), marked the end of serious warfare. In February 1409 Harlech was recaptured, and Owen's wife, daughter and grandchildren were taken prisoners. According to Adam of Usk Owen died in 1415. Welsh legend represents him as spending a peaceful old age with his sons-in-law at Ewyas and Monington in Herefordshire, till his death and burial at the latter place. The dream of an independent and united Wales was never nearer realization than under Owen's leadership. The disturbed state of England helped him, but he was indeed a remarkable personality, and has become a national hero. Sentiment and tradition have magnified his achievements, and confused his career with tales of portents and magical powers. Owen left many bastard children; his legitimate representative in 1433 was his daughter Alice, wife of Sir John Scudamore of Ewyas.
The facts of Owen's life must be pieced together from scattered ref erences in contemporary chronicles and documents ; perhaps the most important are Adam of Usk's Chronicle and Ellis's Original Letters. On the Welsh side something is given by the bards Iolo Goch and Lewis Glyn Cothi. For modern accounts consult J. H. Wylie's History of England under Henry IV. (4 vols., 1884-1898) ; A. C. Bradley, Owen Glyndwr 0904) ; and Professor Tout's article in the Dictionary of National Biography. For further references see the Bibliography (1915) compiled by D. Rhys Phillips.