Today, the beautiful view from the battlefield belies the carnage of six centuries ago. The site lies south of Knighton, about a mile and a half off the B4356. A dirt road leads up the hill to the Church of St. Mary (Church of Our Lady of Pilleth). Glyndwr burned this 13th-century building, but part of the original tower still stands behind the present church, which dates from 1911. Beneath three large pine trees, the dead of the Battle of Bryn Glas lie in a mass grave up the hill from the church.

After the battle, Henry refused to pay the ransom for Mortimer, possibly because Mortimer had a legitimate right to the throne himself. As a result, Mortimer and Glyndwr became allies, a bond strengthened when Sir Edmund married Glyndwr’s daughter Catherine. Through Mortimer, Glyndwr made friends with Sir Henry Percy (Hotspur) and later made peace with Grey, who also married one of Glyndwr’s daughters.

After Bryn Glas, Glyndwr took control of Glamorgan and Gwent. The King sent in three armies from Shrewsbury, Hereford, and Chester, but heavy storms and dense mists forced their early retreat. Rumours spread that Glyndwr used powerful magic to control the weather.

With many of King Henry’s forces occupied in the Scottish war, Glyndwr continued his military advances, and by the end of 1403 he controlled most of Wales. In 1404, English castles along the coast at Harlech and Aberystwyth fell and became strategic bases for Glyndwr’s forces.

Glyndwr failed to storm massive Harlech Castle, so he decided to starve out the inhabitants. After many months, disease broke out, finally forcing the English to leave. Glyndwr held the castle for several years. Today CADW (Welsh Historic Monuments) maintains Harlech castle. It stands dramatically atop a crag, providing visitors with spectacular views. Originally built by Edward I to control the troublesome Welsh, it remains a fine example of his concentric designs, best appreciated by walking along the walls that repulsed Glyndwr.

Aberystwyth Castle proved vulnerable to attack and in fact suffered repeated onslaughts during its turbulent history, most recently during the Civil War. Today it lies in ruins but is still worth a visit, along with many other local attractions: the University of Wales, the Arts Centre, National Library of Wales, Camera Obscura, and the Vale of Rheidol Railway.

With his power at an apex and French ships along the coast adding support, Glyndwr surmised that the time was right to receive a formal declaration in support of his title of Prince of Wales. Summoning four men from every ‘commote’ (Welsh administrative district), he convened a parliament at Machynlleth. Before a vast assembly that included envoys from Scotland, France, and Spain, Glyndwr was indeed proclaimed the Prince of Wales.

Glyndwr’s association with the historic town of Machyn-lleth still echoes down its lanes. Maengwyn Street features the Owain Glyndwr Centre–believed to be the actual site of the parliament, though the building dates from the late 1400s. It houses a museum dedicated to Glyndwr’s memory, with exhibits, books, artwork, gifts, and two dramatic murals by Murray Urquhart in the Reading Room. One depicts a scene from the battle of Hyddgen, and the other an assault on an English-held fortress. Tegwyn Griffiths, the Centre’s curator, is wonderfully colourful and talkative.

After the parliament, Glyndwr appointed clerics to help administer the independent state of Wales, and in July he signed a treaty with the King of France. The following year, however, Glyndwr suffered two costly defeats on the battlefield. The first was near Grosmont in the south, and the second and more serious occurred at Pwll Melyn, near Usk. An overwhelming attack by the English army on 15th March caught Glyndwr’s forces unprepared. The English captured Glyndwr’s son Gruffydd and 300 Welsh soldiers. They took the prisoners to a nearby castle and executed them, except for Gruffydd, whom they took to the Tower of London to be tortured.

Later in the year, 2,500 French forces landed at Milford Haven and joined Glyndwr’s 10,000 men. This considerable army proceeded to take Haverfordwest, Tenby, Carmarthen, and Cardigan and marched through South Wales into England. As they approached Worcester, Glyndwr feared he had overextended his army, and he withdrew. Many historians consider this a decisive point in Welsh history; had Glyndwr continued his advance and engaged Henry’s forces in battle, he quite probably would have won.

In 1406 Glyndwr called another parliament, this time at Pennal, at which he advanced his most progressive policies. He supported the establishment of Welsh universities so citizens would not be dependent on England for their education. He also established an independent Welsh church, apart from England and Canterbury, and decided that Wales would support the disputed papacy in Avignon.

In the famous ‘Pennal Letter,’ Glyndwr wrote to the King of France, offering his support of the French Pope Benedict XIII in exchange for the independence of the Welsh church, a guarantee that only men who spoke Welsh would be appointed bishops and priests in Wales, and an agreement that all Welsh monetary grants to English monasteries and colleges would end.

The Pennal Letter has been preserved in Paris, and for the first time in 600 years it has travelled back to Wales. For six months last year the letter was displayed in Aberystwyth in connection with a major exhibition on the life of Owain Glyndwr.

After this parliament, Glyndwr’s luck changed. King Henry had defeated the Scots and turned his full attention to the Welsh uprising. English forces, with their dominance of the sea and numerical superiority, inevitably overpowered the Welsh rebels. Glyndwr’s ally, the Earl of Northumberland, was defeated, and soon Prince Henry retook many of the castles in South Wales. In the cruel winter of 1407, Edmund Mortimer died. Glyndwr fended off the first siege of Aberystwyth, but in 1408 it finally succumbed to English cannon. Harlech fell next, in 1409. Glyndwr’s wife, four children, and Mortimer’s family were captured and taken to London.

His forces diminished, Glyndwr nevertheless continued the uprising throughout North and Central Wales for a few more years. From the sanctuary of the Welsh mountains, he and his band of warriors employed guerrilla tactics to unsettle the English. Many of his most loyal supporters died in 1410 in a battle in Shropshire. In 1413 Prince Henry took the throne, ruling as Henry V, and offered Glyndwr and his supporters a pardon if they would submit. Twice they refused. Glyndwr himself, his cause lost, vanished from history. It is believed he died in 1415 at Monington in Herefordshire, where his daughter Alice lived with her husband, John Scudamore.

The harsh anti-Welsh laws remained until 1485 when Henry VII, a Welshman, took the throne. The truths and legends of the uprising led by Owain Glyndwr have smouldered for centuries, and he remains a powerful symbol of the frustrated dreams of an independent Wales.

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This article was written by Alan Klehr and Winsoar Churchill and originally appeared in the April/May 2001 issue of British Heritage. For more great articles, subscribe to British Heritage magazine today!

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