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"OWEN GLYNDWR."|

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"OWEN GLYNDWR." (Continued.) A kinder fate would have placed Owen with his 10,000 men by the side of Hotspur at the Battle of Shrewsbury against King Henry on July 21st, ■ 1403. The course of history would at any rate have been different. At the time that one tradition credits him with watching the event of the battle from the safe shelter of an oak-tree he was invest- ing the castle of Dynevor, little knowing that the seal was then being irrevocably set upon his own fate and that of his cause. His march through South Wales had been more like a triumphal pro- gress than a conquerors march. The castles of Llandovery and Llandilo Fawr were burnt, and Car- marthen reduced to ashes. Having heard that tho men of Flint had seceded to Henry IV. after the Battle of Shrewsbury, he hurried up North to inspire them with fresh courage, invaded Herefordshire, and raised a large sum of money at the sword's point. The Dean of Hereford wrote to the I £ ing in great, great haste that the whole country will be lost unless he marches night and day to save it, and added P.S. Carmarthen burnt." lost unless he marches night and day to save it, and added "P.S. Carmarthen burnt." Gn the 15th September the King was at Hereford, and a few days later amongst the ruinn of Carmar- then issuing vain pardons, proclamations, and de- crees of confiscation. Glyndwr was invisible. With- in four days Henry was back at Hereford with Owen at his heels capturing Caerphilly, Newport, and Caerlon Castle, and threatening even Hereford and I Gloucester. j 1404.—In January, 1404, Harlech Castle fell, and Owen transferred his family there, as Svccartli and Glyndyfrdwy had been burnt by the Prince of W_ales in the previous year. 1404 was the year in which Owen, as "Tywysog Cymru," convened his first Parliament to consider the future of Wales. It met at Macliynileth in a house which stands to tins day, nearly opposite the gates of Plas Machyn- <L ai w as composed of "four persons of sufficient consequence from each cantref." Amongst those who attended was Dafydd ap Llewellyn ap Howell, Dafydd Gam (squint-eyed Davy), a dis- tinguished landowner from Brecon, whose great, grandfather had fought at Crecy and Poitiers. As a youth he had been compelled to flee from Brecon for killing a neighbour, to the household of John of Gaunt, where he was brought up with Henry Boling- broke, who restored him subsequently to his pro- perty in Brecon, and appointed him to high positions in S. »V ales. Feigning that he had seceded from Henry IV. he attended parliament with the inten- tion of assassinating Owen. His design was dis- covered, and he was imprisoned, probably in Dol- badarn, whence ho was only liberated just before the death of Glyndwr in 1416. Ho lived to fight for Henry V. at Agincourt, with his son-in-law, Roger Vychan: both fell on the field of battle, Davy the credited original of Sh&kespea.re's Fluellin, being knighted while dying. About 18 months before this another attempt had been made upon Owen's life by his host and' relative, Howel Selo at his house at Nannan overlooking the Mawddw. Whilst they were both out in the park, Howel, pretending to take aim at a deer, discharged his arrow full at Owen s breast. The latter had, with what proved to be but necessary forethought, put on a shirt of mail beneath his tunic. Howel was never again seen -lit6' Nannan was at onco burnt to the ground. *orty years afterwards, near the spot where ho was le.,t seen, a skeleton, supposed to te his, was found in a hollow oak-tree, and is referred to by Sir Walter Scott in his "Marmion.' What his aspirations were for Wales Owen pictures in a letter to the French King dated from Pennal, near Machynlleth, March 31st, 1406, and still pre- served amongst the national records in Paris. (1) Wales was to be independent and governed by a Prince and Parliament. (2) The Welsh Church was to be independent and served by none but Welsh-speaking clergy. St. David's was to be restored to its position of Metro- politan Church. (3) The foundations of two universities, for North and South Wales respectively. Owen was now at the height of his power. lie, held royal court at Harlech. His envoys, John ne' Hanmer and Gruffydd Yonge, his chancellor were received by the King of France as those" of a sovereign King; his support was welcomed by the Avignon Pope XIII. On January 12th, 1405, Owen signed a treaty of alliance with France at. Llanbadarn, near Aberv twyth. There was a plot to carry off the young earl of March, the Teal heir to the English throne, from Windsor to Owen's headquarters, and was only frus- trated by the capture of Lady Despcncer and her Gloucestershire, just as they were about to cross the Severn into Wales. Four years it took "our dread and illustrious prince to become the reigning Princo of W ales": four years more he was but a solitary wanderer in his native land. In 1405 Rhys Gethin was severely defeated at Grosmont, near Monmouth, with a loss of 80 dead. At Mynydd-Pwli-mclin, in Breconshiro, Owen's brother Tudor suffered a still worse defeat, Tudor himself being killed and Glyndwr's son, Gruffydd, being taken prisoner. In July, 1405, 10,000 French landed at Milford. The. combined Franco-Meisli army, after capturing Haverfordwest, and ravaging Glamorgan, were en- camped at Woodbury Hill, nine miles from Worces- ter, by the 10th of August. Here Henry met them, but did not venture upon an attack. After a week of inaction tho allied army retreated into Wales followed by Henry, who gave* up the pursuit when the whole of his supplies were captured by Glyndwr's soldiers. On September 10th, 1405, Henry, with. a large force started out from Hereford on his fifth invasion of Wales. It was the same old story. The heavens shed rain in sheets, every brook was a torrent— every river an angry flood; the provisions, which were not carried off or captured, were ruined; the soldiers were drenched, starved, and spiritless, and by October 1st, what was left of the army, was back at Worcester. Just before Christmas Owen saw. with equal pleasure, the departure of the French; the alliance had not proved useful. On February 28th. 1406, Glyndwr and Mortimer crossed over from Harlech to Aberdaron to meet at the house of David Daron. Dean of Bangor, the Earl of Northumberland, and Earl Bardolph. who were in rebellion against the King of England, and here was signed the "Indenture of Agreement," whereby Owen was to have Wales ,and England equally divied between Northumberland and Morti- mer. Little was to come of this. Northumberland and Bardolph wore defeated and killed on Brancliam' Moor in March. 1408. and with them died Owen's last hope of outside lielp, During the years 1407-8 Owen remained unmolested; at Harlech. By this time, say the lolo (Morganwg) manuscripts, "Wales had been so impoverished that. even the means of barely sustaining lifo could not be obtained but by rewards of the King' Glamor- gan and the Vale of Towy in the Southland in^le- sea in the North, fell away from Glyndwr "from sheer weariness of strife" and threatening, destitu- tion. from Anglesea alone 2,112 men purchased their pardon at Beaumaris at a cost to themselves of Disheartened by these important defections he is said to have Wandered about the country in tTI kW1SCf° v-r ,th<r/ea- sentiments of his people. in^n^ L°{ Vale C[UCLS' near Llangollen, walk- W, ^w^ns earJy morning, came across mm Sir Abbott you have risen too early," said txlyndwr. No, answered the Abbott, "it is vou who have risen too early-by a hundred years." silence1™' 'turned on his heel and departed in In the Iolo manuscripts is a story that unarmed and accompanied, by a servant he came to tho Castle of Coity and requested, in French, a night s lodging from the castellan, Sir Laurence Berkroil^ who placed the best that the castle afforded before b unknown guest, and begged him to prolong his V • inducement he informed the traveller that ir was quite possible ho might in such case be fortunate enough to see the great Owen Glyndwr who, it was rumoured, was in the neighbourhood, and to secure whom, alive or dead, was his great. l Yni"' -?n t,u' -no,nt his departure, Owen dis- posed his identity, and the storv goes on to 6ay that Sir Lawrence was struck dumb with amazement and Iolo CP^rCr-°f-Speech- from that "SSST -iolo Lrocil, in impassioned verse, anneals to S.ore™o ricto°/.r°m 1"d'°l?' ""d lMd ,he P™!1* °°« more to y ,P7 ni'th gar Harri, Adfyd aeth. a wyd fyw di? Ai od wyd, a gwayw o dan Dyred, dangos dy darian! Deigr Cadwaladr Fendigaid Dyred a dwg dir dy daid: Dyga ran dy garenydd, Dwg ni o'n rhwym, dygn yn rhvdd. His re-appearance is dramatic. Aberystwith Cattle- was being beseiged by PrincD Henry, Earl War- wick, and the Duke of York, by land and lea with cannon and siege train, towers, and scaffolds' It, wa-inoblydef ended by Rhys ap Gruffydd ap Llew- ellyn. It is characteristic of Owen th~hr hH Henry, finding it impregnable, sat down to reduced by starvation. Provisions soon began to fad and We[ h nn TT ?ladVn Ju!? a compromise Tho *? £ *$$■ \Ua(Lk'C'to tho aPProaching fall of Tter- y^twith that the Prince was publicly thanked for his services. But on the verv d-iv +W "/■ a ror was passed Owen slipped into Aberystwyth 4ith° a strong force, repudiated the agreement and hranrl But star was on the wane. In 1408 their during the siege, and his wife and children"died In taptrnty in London. Of the fate of Glyndwr's nothing is known. Owen relapsed "TaduaHv fnt of11u" Ls,f Lri onei-,l<"t V .«■ £ battle or executed Bi sJam in him so much of tlw tar of war, and who, though knee. frK,ndk>s. was too proud to bend his a s^°Pherd Owen wandered down Itor' 1 °r l11^' found refuge in his dau«-h M°nnington, where he died in 1416 S«traKW[? ?T llOS Chiefly in P^ience of hi, • tlreless energy, his strength of will his :W^»{ £ KDC°' hi> iver One picturesque old tradition has it that he and Oeof fetTvSl their arms in a °"|V H"r cc'">7'* "y of distress S read at a meeting of the 1,5 Dr- Ilw«.

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