It’s one of the most famous revolts in medieval history – but has the Glyndŵr rebellion been misnamed?

“The traditional story has Owain sparking the Glyndŵr rebellion, but unfortunately I would say that it didn’t happen that way,” Brough explains on the HistoryExtra podcast.

Instead, the Welsh revolt broke out before Glyndŵr emerged as its leader. He would later become its symbol and figurehead, but the flames were already burning.

Medieval Wales on the brink of revolt

By the late 14th century, Wales had endured more than a century of English domination.

Edward I’s conquest in the 1280s had put an end to the independence of the native princes who had ruled various kingdoms that included the historically dominant Gwynedd and Powys. Great stone castles such as those at Caernarfon, Conwy and Harlech were planted across the rugged landscape as domineering symbols of English power. English officials controlled the law and taxation, while Welsh landowners were marginalised.

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Restrictions prevented Welshmen from holding senior office or carrying arms in towns. New taxes were imposed and caused deep resentment, and land disputes with English neighbours were a common feature of life. Periodic unrest broke out, but there was no unifying leader to direct it.

But in 1399, England was thrown into political turmoil, and this, says Brough, created a moment of opportunity.

The turmoil of 1399

In June of that year, King Richard II, already unpopular among many nobles, departed for Ireland with a large army that included a Welsh contingent. In his absence, his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, who had been exiled, returned to England to reclaim his inheritance. His return quickly snowballed into a full coup.

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By August, Bolingbroke had gathered support from leading magnates. Richard was captured, forced to abdicate, and Bolingbroke seized the throne as Henry IV.

For Wales, this instability was an electrifying moment.

“Rebellion in Wales broke out in the middle of 1399,” Brough explains. Amid the instability, “the touch paper was lit and the Welsh start fighting the English straight away.”

Rather than fighting for Richard or Henry, they seized the moment to attack the English presence in Wales itself.

“The Welsh weren’t rebelling on any one side; they were just rebelling. They’d seen a chance, and this rebellion went on sporadically in different parts of Wales.”

For more than a year, Welsh uprisings flared across the country – and Owain Glyndŵr was not yet at their head.

Who was Owain Glyndŵr?

Owain Glyndŵr was born into a prominent Welsh family in the mid-14th century. He was educated as a nobleman, with training in arms as well as a grounding in the culture of the Welsh gentry.

“He’s famed for leading a revolt,” says Brough, “but I contest that it’s not one of his creation. During his life he lived the life of the quintessential Welsh nobleman. So he had this great military career and military background, but also engaged in cultural pursuits, poetry, and had a bardic circle, and his house entertained singers and poets.”

His reputation combined martial prowess with cultural sophistication and was marked by great wealth.

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“He’s the richest person in Wales – the richest native Welshman at least,” Brough explains, though adds that Glyndŵr’s rank was still modest by English standards. “In English terms, he’s just a squire, not even a knight, nowhere near being a Lord or an Earl or a Duke. So he’s tiny on an English stage at that point, yet enormous on a Welsh stage.”

In relative terms, however, Glyndwr was as powerful as a Welsh noble could be.

“Owain was loved and feared in equal measure. And I think that’s exactly the reputation any medieval noble would’ve wanted.”

The making of a warrior

Long before the 1399 rebellion, Glyndŵr had already more than proven himself as militarily capable.

“His military service really kicked off in 1384 when he was one of almost 300 young Welshman who served under a Welsh knight called Sir Gregory Sais. They went up and did a garrison duty on the Scottish border. There, he would’ve been involved in border raids and skirmishing with the Scots, but he would’ve been about 25 at the time.”

Even the English, soon to be his enemies, acknowledged his skill.

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“The English records do describe him as an exceptional warrior, an exemplary warrior: which isn’t bad, coming from the people who would shortly be your enemy … A Welsh poem describes him fighting with his spear and slaughtering Scots, and feeding the wolves with all the corpses of the Scots laying around him.”

This reputation for ferocity and leadership would later prove decisive.

Glyndŵr steps into the spotlight

It wasn’t until September 1400, after the initial rebellion had begun, that Glyndŵr came to the fore. That month, Welsh rebels attacked Ruthin, an English settlement in north-east Wales.

Brough notes that this began a six-day Welsh campaign of “attacking castles and ambushing English troops that had been sent to rescue castles and towns that were being besieged.”

There may have been multiple, simultaneous uprisings, but Glyndŵr’s name was quickly attached to all of them.

“There’s more than one rebellion going on … but Owain has the finger pointed at him for everything eventually.”

Though Glyndŵr hadn’t been the one to lead the collection of rebellions from the start, from this moment on, he became the face of national resistance.

Tactics and leadership

What made Glyndŵr so effective, says Brough, was his ability to harness Welsh terrain and traditions of warfare. Rather than large set-piece battles, his forces relied on ambushes, raids and the rapid movement of men across familiar mountains and valleys. Castles and towns were attacked suddenly, supply lines harassed, and English reinforcements ambushed.

At the battle of Bryn Glas in 1402, Glyndŵr achieved one of his most celebrated victories. His forces defeated an English army under Sir Edmund Mortimer, capturing Mortimer himself. Rather than ransom him to the English crown, Glyndŵr formed an alliance with him – strengthening his cause and marrying his daughter to Mortimer.

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This pragmatic and canny brilliance was typical of Glyndŵr, says Brough: turning opportunities into political advantage, broadening his support beyond Wales.

By 1404, his position was strong enough for him to hold a parliament at Machynlleth in mid-Wales and even to issue plans for an independent Welsh Church and university system – a vision of a sovereign Welsh state.

The Glyndŵr rebellion’s decline

Despite early successes, sustaining a rebellion against the resources of England proved daunting, and the impressive Henry IV used diplomacy as well as force.

“The decline of the Welsh Rebellion didn’t happen on the battlefield initially. This is where you see the English brilliance, the intelligence of Henry IV and all of his advisors. What they do is work on factions in the French court [allied to the Welsh rebellion] … and in 1406 they form an alliance with the Burgundians,” Brough explains.

With Henry IV having sown this division among the French who were providing aid that had bolstered the rebellion, Glyndŵr’s options soon dried up. English garrisons gradually retook castles. Scorched earth campaigns devastated Welsh communities suspected of harbouring rebels, eroding popular support for Glyndŵr.

By the early 1410s, Glyndŵr’s forces were dwindling. Harlech Castle, one of his last strongholds, fell in 1409. After that, the revolt collapsed into isolated pockets of resistance.

The mystery of Glyndŵr’s end

Unlike many rebels, Glyndŵr was never captured or executed. He simply vanished from the record after 1412.

“I think the English had a pretty good idea of where Owain Glyndwr [was] hiding after the rebellion fails. But they didn’t go after him. And I think if they had found him and killed him, that would’ve ignited the Welsh again. So it worked for the English, and for Owain, for him never to be found, never to be given up, and for him to die quietly – and, in some ways, slip off into myth and legend,” Brough says.

This disappearance did indeed feed his legend. In later centuries, stories claimed he lived incognito in Wales, or that he would one day return to restore Welsh independence.

A rebellion that became a legend

The Glyndŵr rebellion may not have been his creation, but Owain Glyndŵr gave it an identity, vision and a powerful resonance. For more than a decade, he embodied Welsh defiance against English rule, achieving victories that shook the crown and inspired his countrymen.

Though it ended in defeat, the uprising tested the English monarchy, disrupted politics at a fragile moment and carved Glyndŵr into the cultural memory of Wales.

It may have begun without him, in a moment of opportunistic violence, but by its end, there was no rebellion without Owain Glyndŵr.

This article is based on an interview with Gideon Brough, speaking to Emily Briffett on the HistoryExtra podcast. Listen to the full conversation.