ORIGINAL LETTERS,

ETC.

LETTER I.

Reginald Lord Grey of Ruthin to the Prince of Wales, upon the breaking out of Owen Glyndowr's Rebellion.

[MS. COTTON. MUS. BRIT. CLEOP. F. III. fol. 70. Orig.]

Leland, in his Itinerary, has given in few words the pedigree of Owen Glyndowr, with his relationship to King Henry the Seventh: "Lluelin ap Jorwarth Droyndon, Prince of all Wales, had Grifith. Grifith had Lluelin. Lluelin had Catarine his heir. Catarine had Eleanor. Eleanor had Helene and Catarine. This Helene was mother to OWEN GLINDOURE. Catarine had Meredik. Meredik had Owen. Owen had Edmunde earl of Richmond and Gasper earl of Pembroke. Edmunde had HENRY THE SEVENTH." a

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The time of the birth of Glyndowr is uncertain; some placing it in 1349, others in 1354. Holinshed says, strange wonders happened (as men reported) at the nativity of this man; for the same night he was borne, all his father's horses in the stable were found to stand in blood up to their bellies." b

Walsingham tells us that Owen Glyndowr was bred in an English Inn of Court, that he was an esquire of the body to King Richard the Second,

a Lel. Itin. vol. v. fol. 46.

b Holinshed, p. 521. The original of this passage is in Walsingham.

VOL. I. SER. 2.

B

and one of the few who remained in the suite of that Monarch when he was taken prisoner in Flint Castle. After Richard's death, Owen became for a short time esquire to the earl of Arundel. At this time he had retired to his estate in Wales, where his property lay contiguous to that of the Lord Grey of Ruthyn, who claimed and unjustly seized a portion of it. Glyndowr petitioned the Parliament for redress; but Henry espousing the cause of Lord Grey, Owen was unsuccessful. Leland says, that upon this occasion the bishop of St. Asaph cautioned the Parliament not to despise Owen, lest the Welsh should rise; but the advice was treated with a sort of national contempt. a

Another act of treachery upon the part of the Lord Grey threw Owen into open revolt. He withheld the Letter of summons for Owen to attend the King in his Scottish expedition, till it was too late to join the rendezvous. Owen excused himself from the shortness of the notice; but the Lord Grey represented him as disobedient. The King went to Scotland, and Owen, who found he had incurred the king's displeasure, either arranged his plans, or joined in those which the Welsh had formed, for a rebellion.

Upon Henry's return, the Welsh were rising in arms; and Lord Grey, whose ancestors had received Ruthyn with a view to the protection of the frontier, was ordered to go against them. It seems to have been at this point of time that the Letter which immediately follows was penned. It was apparently written in the month of June, A.D. 1400. Lord Grey expresses himself strongly in it upon the difficulties of the task imposed upon him but it is remarkable that he makes no personal mention of Owen Glyndowr: neither is Glyndowr named in Henry the Fourth's first Proclamation against the rebellion of the Welsh, dated Sept. 19, 1400. 1 Hen. IV. b

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A Chronicle compiled by one of the Chaplains of King Henry the Fifth, of which two copies are preserved in the British Museum, speaks of the Welsh as rising in arms, and afterwards choosing Glyndowr for their chief. This, it is probable, was the fact. The earl of Arundel, to whom Glyndowr had become an esquire, personally remained firm to the King. Glyndowr seems to have been chosen on account of his descent.

a" Anno D. 1400 factum est Parliamentum London. Ad hoc venit Audoenus de Glindor Wallicus, qui fuerat armiger comitis Arundel, conquerens quod dominus Gray de Ruthine quasdam terras suas in Wallia usurpavit: sed contra dominum Gray nil profecit. Episcopus de S. Asaph consuluit in Parlamento quod non omnino præfatum Audoenum contemnerent, ne forte Wallici insurgerent: at illi in Parlamento dixerunt se de sCURRIS NUDIPEDIBUS non curare." Lel. Collect. tom. i. p. 310. Henry the Fourth himself, in one of his Letters, speaks of the Welsh as "de petit reputacion."

See Rymer, tom. viii. p. 159.

• MS. Reg. 13. C. I. and MS. Donat. 1776.

RIGHT heigh and myghty Prynce, my goode and gracious Lorde, I recomaund me to you as lowly as I kan or may with all my pouer hert, desiryng to hier goode and gracious tydynges of your worshipfull astate and welfare, which I prey to allmyghty God as goode mot thei be as ye in your gracious hert kan best deuyse un to the plesaunce of God and of you. And gracious Lorde pleseth hit un to your heigh astate to witte that I have resceyued our liege Lord es pryve seal with your oun worshipfull lettres to me sent, commaundyng me un to see, and to apees a the misgouernance and the riote wich ye heiren that is begunnen heer in the marches of North Wales. Pleseth unto your gracious lordshipe to witte that I have do my power, and woll doo fro day to day by our liege lord es comaundement and by youres, my gracious Lorde, plese hit you to witte that ye with avise of our liege lord es counsaile most giffe me a moore pleyner commyssioun then I have yit, to taken hem in the Kynges grounde, other in the Erles ground of the March, other in the Erles of Arundele, b or in any lordes grounde of North Wales; and by the feith that I owe un to my ligeaunce I shall trewely do my power to do our liege lorde the Kynges commaundement and youres: but worshipfull and gracious Lorde ye most comaunden the kynges officers in every cuntree to do the same. Also, my gracious Lorde, ther been many

2 appease.

but

b Castel Dinas Bran, in the neighbourhood of Glyndowrdy, was the fortress possessed by the Earl of Arundel in Denbighshire.

ye

Officers, sume of our liege lord the kyng es lond, sume of the Erles of the Marche es lond, sume off the Erle es londe of Arundele, sume of Powise lond, sume of my lond, sume of other lord es londes heer aboute, that ben kynne un to this meignee that be rissen. And tyll ye putte thoo officers in better governance, this cuntre of North Wales shall nevere haue peese. And if hadde tho officers under your governance, thei koude ordeyn remedy, wherthrogh thei sholde be taken. And, gracious Lorde, plese hit you to witte that the day that the Kynges messager cam with the Kynges lettres and with youres to me, the strengest thiefe of Wales sent me a Lettre, which lettre I send to you, that ye mowe knowen his goode wyll and gouvernance, with a copie of an other lettre that I have send to hym agayn of an Answare. And also, gracious Lorde, I'besech you lowely that ye wolde vouchsaufe to giffe feith and credence to a pour squyer of myn, Richard Donn, of that he shall enfourme you of by mowthe touchyng tydynges of this cuntree; and that ye wolde take to you our liege lordes counsaile and ordeyn other remedie for hem then we been of powere for to do, other elles trewely hitt woll be an unruely Cuntree within short tyme. My gracious Lorde I kan no more write at this tyme, but God that is our elder sovereigne gife you long lyve and well enduryng. Written at Ruthyn the xxiij day of June.

REGINALD DE GREY

S de Ruthyn.

If the Letter which is pasted at the back of Lord Grey's be that which he alludes to as written by "the strongest thief in Wales," that personage must have been Griffith ap David ap Griffith, one of Glyndowr's most strenuous partisans. His epistle, indeed, is of a barbarous character, and breathes more of savage warfare than of chivalry: but such was the general feature of Glyndowr's campaigns. The conclusion of this Letter will serve as a sufficient specimen. "And there as thou bearest upon us that we sholde ben in purpose to brenne and sleyen men and horses for thy sake, or for any of those enclinant to thee, or any of them that ben the King's trew liege men, We was never so mys avised to work again the King ne his laws, which if we did were high treason: but thou hast had false messages and false reporters of us touching this matter, and that shall be well known unto the King and all his Council. Furthermore, there as thou knowledgest by thine own lettre that thy men hath stolle our horses out of our Park, and thou recettour of them, we hope that thou and thy men shall have that ye have deserved. For us thinketh though John Welle hath done as thou aboven has certified, thinketh that that shold not be wroken toward us. But we hope we shall do the a privy thing; a rope, a ladder, and a ryng; high on gallows for to henge. And thus shall be your endyng: and he that made the be ther to helpyng: and we on our behalf shall be well willyng: for thy Lettre is knowledging. Written," &c.

In consonance with the same feeling, we have another Letter from Griffith ap David ap Griffith; the whole of which is here laid before the reader.

LETTER II.

Griffith ap David ap Griffith to Lord Grey of Ruthyn, in defiance of his power.

[MS. COTTON. CLEOPAT. F. III. fol. 72. Orig.]

WORSCHIPFULL Lord I recomande me to zou and to zour lordschip, and I wold pray zou hertli that ze wold her how the fals John Wele serued me, as al