Owain Glyndŵr

Owain ap Gruffudd Fychan, a Welsh soldier and Lord of Glyndyfrdwy, turned a property dispute with his English neighbour Reginald de Grey into a full-scale war for independence. Acclaimed Prince of Wales on 16 September 1400, he led a sixteen-year revolt that united Welsh commoners and nobles against English rule. Discriminatory penal laws meant to crush the uprising only widened his support. By 1404, after successful sieges and battlefield victories, he controlled most of Wales and convened a parliament at Machynlleth with envoys from France, Scotland, Castille, and Leon. In the Pennal Letter of 1406 he laid out plans for two universities, the restoration of traditional Welsh law, and expanded borders reaching into England. But French and Scottish aid wasn't enough: by 1409 the English had retaken Harlech and Aberystwyth, the rebellion's last castles. Owain refused two royal pardons, retreated to the mountains, and waged guerrilla resistance until he disappeared from history in 1412, his death a mystery that fed the legend.