Owain Glyndwr

Harbingers

Jun 22, 2023

anniversaries, battles, buildings, heraldry, law

Anne of Bohemia, harbingers, Henry IV, King’s Lodgings, livery colours, Lollards, Owain Glyndwr, Pilleth, Richard II, Sir Robert Whitney, Sir Thomas Clanvowe, Welsh Marches

We still use the word ‘harbinger’ in constructions like ‘This was the harbinger of war.’ Meaning that something gives a warning or prediction. In the Middle Ages, a harbinger was a man who travelled ahead of the royal (or a noble) household to warn that they were coming. Well, if you had 600-1000 assorted people…
William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke

Jul 16, 2022

anniversaries, battles, buildings, genealogy, sources

Aberystwyth, Azincourt, Barry, Carmarthen Castle, Catherine de Valois, Civil War, Dafydd Gam, Dictionary of Welsh Biography, Edward IV, executions, George Duke of Clarence, Glamorgan, Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VII, Humphrey Stafford Earl of Devon, Hundred Years War, Jasper “Tudor”, Lancastrians, Lordship of Usk, Matilda Barri, Morleys of Norfolk, Mortimers, Northampton, ODNB, Owain Glyndwr, Owen Tudor, Pembroke Castle, Raglan Castle, Ralph Griffiths, ransom, Richard III, Richard of Warwick, Robin of Redesdale, Sheriff of Glamorgan, Sir John Morley, Sir William ap Thomas, Wales, William Herbert Earl of Pembroke, William I, Yellow Tower of GwentWilliam Lord Berkeley

William Herbert, otherwise ‘Black William’ was born in 1423, the son of Sir William ap Thomas ‘the Blue Knight of Gwent’ and Gwladys ferch Dafydd Gam the ‘Star of Abergavenny’. His main claim to fame is that he was the first Welshman to become an earl in the peerage of England, except for Henry VI’s…
Another way for Henry VII to screw money out of his subjects….

Aug 21, 2021

anniversaries, battles, humour, law

backdating, Battle of Bosworth, Charters, Henry VII, Owain Glyndwr, rebellions, taxation, Wales, Welsh Penal Laws

There are some interesting occurrences in Welsh history, not all of them well known. When I came upon this article, I looked for Henry VII. Well, he was bound to feature. And he did! I quote: “….Numerous [Welsh] rebellions still arose, most famously that led by Owain Glyndwr….The Glyndwr Rising would lead to the Penal…
Jack Cade and the Mortimer connection….

Nov 6, 2017

anniversaries, genealogy

battles, Edmund Duke of Somerset, Edmund Mortimer, Henry VI, Ireland, Jack Cade, John Bailey, Lionel of Antwerp, Llewellyn Fawr, London Bridge, Margaret of Anjou, mortimer claim, Mortimers, Owain Glyndwr, Phillipa of Ulster, rebellion, Richard Duke of York, Richard II, The London Stone, William of Waynflete

In the summer of 1450, Richard, 3rd Duke of York, threw in his appointments in Ireland to return to England to assert his rights as heir to the throne of the inept Lancastrian king, Henry VI. The ensuing confrontation with poor Henry, who really was too gentle to be king, led to Parliament being called…
Sir Roger of Clarendon

Sep 4, 2016

genealogy

duel, Edmund Mortimer, Edward the Black Prince, executions, Henry IV, Owain Glyndwr, Richard II, Scotland, Sir Roger of Clarenden, Tyburn, Wales

It is not widely know that Richard II had a half-brother on his father’s side. This was Sir Roger of Clarendon, son of Edward of Woodstock ‘the Black Prince’ by one Edith de Willesford. Roger was almost certainly older than Richard II. In 1372 he received an annuity from Edward III of £100. He was…
Another little boy who went into the Tower and never came out. (As far as we know.)

Sep 11, 2015

battles, buildings

Catrin ferch Owain, Earls of March, Gwladys Dhu, Gwynedd, Harlech Castle, Henry IV, Henry Pole the Younger, Henry V, Lionel Mortimer, Llewellyn Fawr, Mortimers, Owain Glyndwr, Princes of Wales, Sir Edmund Mortimer, St. Swithin’s Church, Tower of London

After the fall of Harlech Castle in February 1409, various members of Owain Glyndwr’s family were taken to the Tower. Among them was his grandson, Lionel ap Edmund (or Lionel Mortimer) the young son of Sir Edmund Mortimer and his wife Catrin ferch Owain. This boy cannot have been older than six at the uttermost,…
Dan Jones (again)

Apr 26, 2015

buildings, television reviews

Caernarvon, Dan Jones, Dover, Edward II, John, Owain Glyndwr, Owain Tudor, Princes of Wales, Richard III, Starkey, Stirling, Tower of London, Wales

His current Channel Five series (Secrets of Great British Castles, Fridays, 20:00) is quite informative in parts. However, as a Starkey protege, Jones relies on fairly simplistic views and with his pre-selected one-dimensional heroes and villains, the latter including John (from the opener on Dover) as well as Edward II (mentioned in at least three…