Owain Lawgoch
Owain Lawgoch, (English: "Owain of the Red Hand", French: "Yvain de Galles"), full name
Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri (c.
1330 -
1378), was a Welsh soldier who served in Spain, France, Alsace and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French against the English in the
Hundred Years' War. As the last descendant of
Llywelyn the Great in the male line, he was a claimant to the title of Prince of
Gwynedd and of
Wales.
|
The arms of the royal house of Gwynedd |
Following the death of
Llywelyn ap Gruffydd in
1282, Gwynedd along with the remainder of Wales came under the rule of the king of England. Llywelyn's daughter Gwenllian was incarcerated in a nunnery at Sempringham, while the sons of his brother
Dafydd ap Gruffydd were kept in Bristol castle until their deaths. Another of Llywelyn's brothers,
Rhodri ap Gruffydd, spent much of his life in England. By his second wife, Katherine, he had a son, Thomas, the father of Owain.
Rhodri was content to end his life as a country gentleman in England, and though his son Thomas ap Rhodri used the four lions of Gwynedd on his seal he made no attempt to win his inheritance. Thomas died in 1363 and Owain, his only son, returned from abroad to claim his patrimony in 1365. He was in French service by 1369 and his lands in Wales and England were confiscated.
The year in which Owain entered the service of the king of France is uncertain.
Froissart claims that he fought on the French side at the
Battle of Poitiers, but there is no evidence to support this. He was certainly in the service of the French as leader of a Free Company when the period of truce between France and England following the Treaty of Brétigny ended and hostilities resumed in 1369.
Owain's company consisted largely of Welshmen. The second in command of this company was Ieuan Wyn, known to the French as
le Poursuivant d'Amour, a descendant of
Ednyfed Fychan, seneschal of Gwynedd under Owain's ancestors. While in French service Owain had good relations with
Bertrand du Guesclin and others and gained the support of
Charles V of France.
He made his first attempt to claim his inheritance in late 1369. A fleet was prepared in
Harfleur at King Charles' expense to invade Wales under Owain's command and set sail just before Christmas. However storms forced it to return to port after a few days. Owain served with Bertrand du Guesclin in
Maine and
Anjou in 1370 and in 1371 he and his company were in the service of the town of
Metz.
In May
1372 in Paris, Owain announced that he intended to claim the throne of Wales. He set sail from
Harfleur with money borrowed from Charles V. Owain first attacked the island of
Guernsey, and was still there when a message arrived from Charles ordering him to abandon the expedition in order to go to
Castile to seek ships to attach
La Rochelle. Owain defeated an English and Gascon force at Soubise later that year, capturing Sir Thomas Percy and
Jean de Grailly, the Captal de Buch. Another invasion of Wales was planned in 1373 but had to be abandoned when
John of Gaunt launched an offensive. In 1374 he fought at Mirebau and at Saintonge. In 1375 Owain was employed by
Enguerrand de Coucy to help win Enguerrand's share of the Hapsburg lands due to him as nephew of the former Duke of Austria. However they were defeated by the forces of
Berne and had to abandon the expedition.
In
1377 there were reports that Owain was planning another expedition, this time with help from
Castile. The alarmed English government sent a spy, the Scot Jon Lamb, to assassinate Owain, who had been given the task of besieging Mortagne sur Mer in
Poitou. Lamb gained Owain's confidence and became his chamberlain, which gave him the opportunity to stab Owain to death in July
1378. The Issue Roll of the Exchequer dated 4 December 1378 records "To John Lamb, an esquire from Scotland, because he lately killed Owynn de Gales, a rebel and enemy of the King in France ... £20". Owain was buried in the church of Saint-Léger and Ieuan Wyn took over the command of his company.
After the assassination of Owain Lawgoch the remaining heirs of the House of Gwynedd all went into hiding until
John Wynn, 1st Baronet asserted his pedigree in the 17th Century. No other person would proclaim themselves Prince of Wales until
Owain Glyndŵr ("Owain IV") in 1400 and he was not from the House of Gwynedd, but of Powys.
A number of legends grew around Owain, of which one version from
Cardiganshire runs as follows. Dafydd Meurig of
Bettws Bledrws was helping to drive cattle from Cardiganshire to
London. On the way he cut himself a hazel stick, and was still carrying it when he encountered a stranger on London Bridge. The stranger asked Dafydd where he had cut the stick, and ended up accompanying him back to Wales to the place where the stick had been cut.
The stranger told Dafydd to dig under the bush, and this revealed steps leading down to a large cave illuminated by lamps, where a man seven feet tall with a red right hand was sleeping. The stranger told Dafydd that this was Owain Lawgoch "who sleeps until the appointed time; when he wakes he will be king of the Britons".
The quarry reservoir at
Aberllefenni in
Gwynedd is known as Llyn Owain Lawgoch and there is a story linking him with the nearby mansion, Plas Aberllefenni, recorded in "Trem Yn Ol" by J.Arthur Williams.
*
*
*
Unveiling of a monument to commemorate Owaine at Montagne-sur-Gironde
