Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs To what extent can the association between Owain Glyndr and the Prophetic Tradition be justified or is it the legacy of Tudor propaganda? Student Dissertation How to cite: Murphy, Margaret (2019). To what extent can the association between Owain Glyndr and the Prophetic Tradition be justified or is it the legacy of Tudor propaganda? Student dissertation for The Open University module A329 The making of Welsh history. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2019 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Redacted Version of Record Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk To what extent can the association between Owain Glyndŵr and the Prophetic Tradition be justified or is it the legacy of Tudor propaganda? Margaret Murphy Dissertation for module A329 - 'The making of Welsh History' Open University, April 2019 *Image Removed for Copyright Reasons* Unknown - This image is available from the National Library of Wales Available at NLW Catalogue, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=70059031 (Accessed 6th April 2019) Margaret Murphy P a g e | 2 Contents Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3 Chapter One – Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 Chapter Two – Prophecies at the time of Glyndwr ……………………………………………………………… 7 Chapter Three – The Tudor Effect ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 14 Chapter Four – Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 21 Appendix Appendix 1 Excerpt from The Chronicle of John Hardyng Vol.2…………………………………………. 24 Appendix 2 Excerpt from Owen Rhoscomyl’s, Flame bearers of Welsh History, ………………… 25 Appendix 3 Prophecy of the Six Kings ed. Brie, 72-76………………………………………………………. 26 Bibliography Primary …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 27 Secondary ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 28 Margaret Murphy P a g e | 3 Acknowledgements My sincerest thanks to my tutor at the Open University, Dr Matthew Griffiths, for his guidance and support. I’m indebted to Professor Helen Fulton, Chair in Medieval Literature at Bristol University for her encouragement and in particular for her sending me a copy of her work ‘Owain Glyn Dwr and the Uses of Prophecy’ My thanks also to the staff at the Open University Library for their patience and expertise. This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my late husband, Michael Murphy - a man who courageously fought his own battle and like Glyndŵr eventually lost. Margaret Murphy P a g e | 4 Chapter One Introduction Owain Glyndŵr is often depicted as a man who, in the words of T F Tout, “had long brooded over the legendary glories of Cambria. The fabled prophecies of Merlin, the wondrous deeds of the old British Kings”.1 But how far can this view of Glyndŵr, as a leader with a predilection for the prophetic tradition, be justified? Can evidence be found within contemporary documents that Glyndŵr was influenced by prophecy or has this image been created at a later date, as suggested by Elissa Henken, to reflect “changing socio-political as well as personal needs”2 Prophecy was an integral part of medieval life. This dissertation seeks to determine its importance to Glyndŵr and also aims to establish whether Tudor chroniclers and historians, such as Edward Hall and Raphael Holinshed, exaggerated Glyndŵr’s use of prophecy for propaganda purposes, to justify both the Act of Union between England and Wales and to confirm the authority of the Tudor claim to the throne. Certainly, Glyndŵr manipulated legends to his own advantage, such as his adoption of the standard of Uther Pendragon but as Helen Fulton in her essay Owain Glyndŵr and the prophetic tradition points out 1 T.F. Tout, Owain Glyndŵr and his times (London, 2018), p11 2 Elissa Henken, ‘Legendry of Owain Glyndŵr’ in National Library of Wales Journal, 32 (3), (2002), p288 Margaret Murphy P a g e | 5 there are only five known references in contemporary documents that refer to Glyndŵr’s use of prophecy3. The historiography of Owain Glyndŵr’s association with the prophetic tradition has largely been established by two lecturers, Elissa R. Henken of the University of Georgia and Helen Fulton from Bristol University. In Three forms of a Hero, Arthur, Owain Lawloch and Owain Glyndŵr, (1995) Henken claims that it was as the result of Glyndŵr’s reputation becoming linked to prophecy that has enabled him to be viewed with the same mythical connotation as Arthur and has led to him becoming “the preeminent redeemer hero as well as a primary nationalist symbol” 4 Certainly, in the twentieth century Glyndŵr became the poster boy of Welsh Nationalists with historian and founder member of Cymru Fydd J.E. Lloyd going as far as declaring Glyndŵr as “the father of modern Welsh nationalism”5 Whilst in her 2005 article Owain Glyn Dŵr and the Uses of Prophecy, Fulton maintains that it was the legacy of anti-Welshness left by the Tudors that “is largely responsible for the view that Owain Glyn Dŵr was nothing more than a dreamer, driven by an irrational conviction that he was the mab darogan, the son of prophecy”6 This portrayal of Glyndŵr is one that endured and has been passed down from Hall and Hollinshed to the present day, enjoying a revival in Victorian times when cultural commentators, such as Matthew Arnold, saw Glyndŵr and Welsh medieval ideology as being preoccupied with prophecy7 3 Helen Fulton, ‘Owain Glyndŵr and the prophetic tradition’, in Owain Glyndŵr A casebook, (Liverpool University Press, 2013), p.477 4 Elissa Henken, ‘Three forms of a hero, Arthur, Owain Lawgoch and Owain Glyndŵr’ in Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquim, vol 15, (1995) p 28. 5 Sir J E Lloyd, Owen Glendower (Owain Glyndŵr), (Oxford university Press, 1966) p.146 6Helen Fulton ‘Owain Glyn Dwr and the Uses of Prophecy’ in Studia Celtica, XXXIX (2005) p12 7Helen Fulton, 'Matthew Arnold and the Canon of Medieval Welsh Literature', in Review of English Studies 63 (2011), p 221. Margaret Murphy P a g e | 6 With a view to establishing the importance of the prophetic tradition to Glyndŵr, this dissertation will discuss the five known contemporary documents that specifically link Glyndŵr and prophecy. De Oweino Glendworedy8, lists the names of fifteen men believed to have been present when Glyndŵr was declared Princeps Wallie. One name on the list was Crach Ffinnant, their prophet. Burgesses of Caerleon, Owain and the Prophet, records a conversation between Glyndŵr and Hopcyn ap Thomas, in which Hopcyn use of prophecy prevents Owain from going into Gower9. The Tripartite Indenture, the alliance between Glyndŵr, Edmund Mortimer and Henry Percy, refers to a Prophet considered by many to mean Merlin10. The other two sources are letters written by Glyndŵr to Robert III, King of Scotland and to the Lords of Ireland. In both of which he quotes a prophecy that by the sons of Brutus joining together they will defeat the English11. The aim of this dissertation is to provide a balanced interpretation of the available evidence which links Glyndŵr to the prophetic tradition. It seeks, by gathering together disparate evidence from both primary and secondary sources, to provide a unique insight into the actual relationship Glyndŵr had with prophecy and to discover how much of what is believed to be true today actually originates from the political and ideological beliefs of Tudor propagandists. There are three key justifications for this research. Firstly, to discover if Glyndŵr was the “prophet born centuries before his time”12 who “lived in a world of miracle and mystery”13 or has he been “misrepresented as the gullible fantasist, the unsophisticated dabbler in risible prophecy”14 by the anti-Welsh rhetoric of Tudor propaganda. Secondly, how far did Tudor propaganda fuel the myth of Owain Glyndŵr and lastly how much is our 8 Anon.’ De Oweino Glendworedy’, trans. by Graham C.G.Thomas, in Michael Livingston and John K. Bollard (eds). Owain Glyndŵr A casebook, (Liverpool University Press, 2013), pp 36-43 9 Burgesses of Caerleon, ‘Owain and the Prophet’, trans. by Michael Livingston in Michael Livingston and John K. Bollard (eds). Owain Glyndŵr A casebook, (Liverpool University Press, 2013), p.89 10 Ellis, ‘Original Letters, 2.1.27-28’, trans. by Michael Livingston in Michael Livingston and John K. Bollard (eds). Owain Glyndŵr A casebook, (Liverpool University Press, 2013), p.115 11 Adam of Usk, Chronicle, ed. and trans. C. Given-Wilson (1997) in Michael Livingston and John K. Bollard (eds). Owain Glyndwr: a casebook (Liverpool University Press, 2013), pp. 61-7. 12 R.R.Davies, Owain Glyndŵr Prince of Wales (Talybont, 2009) p. 150 13 Tout, Owain Glyndŵr and his times, p. 11 14 Fulton, ‘Owain Glyn Dwr and the Uses of Prophecy’ p. 121 Margaret Murphy P a g e | 7 current understanding of Glyndŵr still influenced by the political and ideological biases of the 16th Century. Chapter two will begin by examining the role of prophecy in the 15th Century and in particular the importance to the Welsh of the Mab Darogan. It will then examine the five known contemporary primary sources that link Glyndŵr to prophecy and try to identify how important the prophetic tradition was to him and to isolate which prophecies were known to be associated with Glyndŵr during his lifetime. It will also examine Glyndŵr’s manipulation of popular myths and legends for his own benefit. Chapter three examines the role of chronicles in the 16th Century. It will investigate how Tudor chroniclers associated Glyndŵr with prophecy for propaganda purposes, in particular to justify both the Act of Union between England and Wales and to confirm the authority of the Tudor claim to the throne.