Treatment of the Welsh at the start of Glyndwrs wars, where all of Wales had enough.

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Treatment of the Welsh at the start of Glyndwrs wars, where all of Wales had enough.

This treatment of the Welsh only added numbers to Glyndwrs armies.

A mistake often made by England over the years. 


In 1400 Henry IV, on his way back from invading Scotland, heard of an uprising in Wales, he soon  turned his army towards Wales.

Henry led his army around North Wales. He was harassed constantly by bad weather and the attacks of Welsh guerrillas. When he arrived on Anglesey, he harried the island, killing anyone they come across, burning villages and monasteries, including the Llanfaes Friary.  Rhys ap Tudur led an ambush of the king's forces at Rhos Fawr. After they were engaged, the Englishmen fled back to the safety of Beaumaris Castle.

In 1401 Henry IV   marched across Wales again but this time it was through south Wales to Strata Florida Abbey.

Here his troops camped in the abbey, robbing its relics, mocking and killing monks and stabling their horses at the high altar. Monks along with  hundreds of Welsh children were taken back to England as slaves.

Another part of the English force had marched through South Wales to Brecon, and then joined up with Henry’s army at Llandovery. It was here that Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Fychan was executed for delaying Henry in his search for Glyndŵr.

The army then looted and raped its way back to England, burning crops, executing captives and confiscating lands as they went.

The rest of army marched via Bangor to Anglesey, where he attacked lands held by Owain’s cousins, the Tudurs. He also sacked nearby Llanfaes Abbey again and forced the abbots of Bardsey, Maenan and Cymer Abbeys to pledge allegiance to him.

Strata Florida often  paid heavily for its loyalty to the Welsh and the wider cause of Welsh independence. In 1212 King John ordered his follower, Falkes de Breaute, to destroy the abbey ‘which harbours our enemies' . twice it was destroyed by armies of Edward Longshanks .

Its hard to overstate how important Strata Florida was to medieval Wales .  

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