8 - Resurgence and decline: the fifteenth century

Summary

That claims to the principality of Wales were regarded as dangerous can be seen from the career of Owain Lawgoch – Owain of the Red Hand. He was the grandson of Rhodri, brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, and so of impeccable lineage, but his family had been settled in England for two generations. He was born and grew up there and had no direct association with Wales. As a young man he had opted for a military career in France and he built up a formidable reputation as a mercenary captain, serving in Spain, France, Alsace and the Swiss cantons. His force was made up partly of Welsh expatriates. The mercenary bands active in France in the fourteenth century had an unsavoury reputation, but the Breton, Bertrand du Guesclin, constable of France, and Louis, duke of Anjou, the son of King John II, made use of him and admired his qualities. His career, as Yvain de Galles, passed into legend. He returned to England briefly in 1365–6 to secure his inheritance, but left for France as soon as the formalities were completed. Like all mercenary captains, he found the changing pattern of war and peace a threat to his fortunes. In 1369 he was deprived of his English estates for being in league with the king's enemies, and the authorities kept his activities under review: an Anglesey man was charged and condemned in 1370 for being in touch with him, but whether he was a potential recruit or a potential opponent to English rule in Wales is not known.