Royal Standard of Owain Glyndwr (© Stephen Jones)
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[ britannia.com ] [ The Celtic Heart ] which contains within it > [ The encyclopaedia of the Celts ]Fortins Welsh history synopsis
References found to ap Owen / ap Owain
the vale of the Gronwy, about a mile above Pont Escob, there is a wood called Coed Dial, or the Wood of Revenge. Here again, by the modern name of the place, we are enabled to fix the very spot on which Richard de Clare was murdered. The Welsh Chronicle informs us, that "in 1135, Morgan ap Owen, a man of considerable quality and estate in Wales, remembering the wrong and injury he had received at the hands of Richard Fitz-Gilbert, slew him, together with his son Gilbert." The first of this great family, Richard de Clare, was the eldest son of Gislebert, surnamed Crispin, earl of Brion, in Normandy. This Richard Fitz-Gilbert came into England with William the Conqueror, and received from him great advancement in honour and possessions. On the death of the Conqueror, favouring the cause of Robert Curthose, he rebelled against William Rufus, but when that king appeared in arms before his castle at Tunbridge, he submitted; after which, adhering to Rufus against Robert, in 1091, he was taken prisoner, and shortly after the death of king Henry I., was assassinated, on his journey through Wales, in the manner already related.
*The raven is also associated with the wren in prophecy and divination, appears with the swan in solar symbolism, and is connected with the dove-cote as a house-symbol, this probably being pre-Celtic. The Raven of Battle, the Goddess Badb, symbolizes war, bloodshed, and malevolence. Morrigan as a raven goddess watched over battles. Bran has a raven, and Lugh or Lugos, who had two magic ravens, is an all-purpose and wise raven-god like the Teutonic/Scandinavian Woden/Odin. The Welsh hero Owain had an army of ravens which had magic powers and while he and King Arthur are playing a game of gwyddbwyll, a boardgame similar to the Irish brandubh (black-raven), they defeats Arthur's men, as Owain defeats Arthur in the game until the tables are turned. # 156: After his death Arthur's soul went into a raven's body in Cornish folklore. The raven is one of the primal totems of the British Isles. If they saw a flock where all black ravens were malefic, with a white feather it became to be beneficient. # 454: In Ireland, it is the bird in whose shape Morrigan appears over battle-fields with her sisters, Badb and Nemainn. Throughout Celtic and Arthurian literature, raven-women appear, performing much the same function as the Goddess. In one story, the DIDOT PERCEVAL, Morgan herself appears as a raven. In Britain the raven is primarily the bird of Bran the Blessed, for 'bran' means raven. In that story he asks for his head to be cut off and buried at the White Mount, (modern Tower of London), to act as a palladium against invasion. This was done, but when Arthur became king, he dug up the head, not wishing any other to defend Britain but himself. This act of hubris is perhaps represented in the tradition about the Tower's ravens who are supposed to similarly keep Britain free of invasion, and it is said that if they leave the Tower, Britain is doomed. It is for this reason that their wings are always kept well clipped.
OWAIN
Son of Urien of Rheged and Modron (Morgan). A historical character, (in French: Yvain) he succeeded Urien and fought on the side of the northern British against the Angles which he defeated about AD 593. Although he lived later than the traditional Arthurian period, he and his father were drawn into the sagas around Arthur in which he is the son of Urien by his wife, Morgan Le Fay, Arthur's sister. He was the hero of THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAIN and THE DREAM OF RHONABWY, in the latter while Arthur and Owain were playing Gwyddbwyll (a board game), Owain's ravens fought with Arthur's men and were nearly defeated until Owain ordered his flag to be raised and they set on their attackers with renewed vigour. As his mother, Modron (identical with Morrigan) often assumes the shape of a raven and promises to aid Urien and his family when they are in need in this shape, we can assume that the Ravens are not warriors, but in fact otherworld women in the form of ravens. In later medieval versions of this story, YVAIN by Chrétien we learn how Owain, hearing of a wondrous spring in the Forest of Broceliande, went thither and defeated the knight Esclados who defended it. He chased him home to his castle where he died from his wound. As Owain was trying to enter the castle, he became ensnared between the portcullises, but was rescued by Lunete, the sister of Laudine the widow of the slain knight. Owain fell in love with Laudine, and Lunete persuaded her to marry him. When Arthur and his followers arrived, Owain went with him, but promised his wife that he would return in a year at the latest. He did not keep an eye on the time, failed to honour his promise and Laudine rejected him. He became a madman in the forest and it took a certain ointment to cure him. He went to the aid of a lion fighting a serpent and the lion became his companion - hence his nickname, the Knight of the Lion. Welsh tradition made Owain the husband of Penarwan and Denw, the latter being Arthur's niece. # 104 - 152 - 156 - 243 - 272 - 346 - 439 - 453 - 454 - 604
OWAIN THE BASTARD
The half-brother of Owain, whom Urien begot on the wife of his senechal. He was a sensible character and a Knight of the Round Table. He was killed in a joust with Gawain who had not recognized him. # 156 - 434
OWEN
Son of Duracht; slays Naisi and other sons of Usna. # 562
OWEN ( Owain ) GLYNDWR { More on Owain Glyn Dwr }
Despite his close links with the English monarchy, English name > Owen Glendower,
Welch name Owain Glyndwr ; rebelled against Henry IV and started consolidating treaties with neighbouring barons which might well have set up a separate Welsh state if he had succeeded. A long drawn-out border-war swept the Marches of Wales and England. However, having shown himself a capable commander and man of foresight, Owen found his forces defeated, his family imprisoned and his hopes deferred. He remains one of the greatest of Welsh heroes who attempted to draw together the shattered links of British pride once more. He was credited with magical powers and, like Arthur, his death was obscure so as to give foundation to myths of his returning to aid the Cymru once again. # 454-735
OWENS OF ARAN
Ailill derives from the sept of Owens of Aran. Maelduin goes to dwell with Owens of Aran. # 562
PENARWAN
Owain's wife. According to the TRIADS, she was unfaithful to him. # 104-156
GWYDDBWYLL
The board (gwyddbwyll), is one of the hallows, and appears in the list of the Thirteen Treasures of the Island of Britain. - An early Celtic board game, which Arthur played against Owain. It is the same as the Irish game FIDCHELL, meaning 'wood sense'. The board was seen as the world in miniature and the match between Arthur and Owain may have been a ritual. # 438
KENVERCHYN
The three hundred ravens of Kenverchyn. 'And thenceforth Owain dwelt at Arthur's Court, gratly beloved, as the head of his household, until he went away with his followers; and these were the army of three hundred ravens which Kenverchyn had left him. And wherever Owain went with these he was victorious. And this is the tale of the Lady of the Fountain. (There is no other mention of this Kenverchyn or of how Owain got his raven-army, also referred to in THE DREAM OF RHONABWY. We have here evidently a piece of antique mythology embedded in a more modern fabric.) # 562
KNIGHT OF THE LION
A name given to Owain, because of his lion companion. # 156
ARTHUR, THE HISTORICAL KING
From KING ARTHUR - THE TRUE STORY, M. Keatman and G. Phillips tells us: 'Having traced the life and times of the real King Arthur, we close in on the historical figure himself, piecing together the evidence to reveal the flesh and blood warrior behind the legend.
1. The most likely date for Arthur's death coincides precisely with the abandonment of Viroconium about 520. This is the generally accepted date for Cuneglasus becoming king of Powys, and Maglocunus becoming king of Gwynedd, a time when the two kingdoms split apart. Since Viroconium was under no threat from the Saxons for decades to come, the only explanation for the abandonment of the city for a more defendable site is a threat from the adjoining kingdom of Gwynedd.In other words, Cuneglasus was preparing to defend himself against the threat from Maglocunus. Internal feuding breaking out at this time is not only evidence for Arthur's demise, but also suggests that Cuneglasus and Maglocunus were his rival successors.
2.Arthur appears to have been the son of the Head Dragon, the leader of the Votadini in the 480s and king of both Gwynedd and Powys. The Head Dragon seems to have been Cunedda's son, Enniaun Girt, who according to the genealogies is the grandfather of Maglocunus and Cuneglasus, both of whom became kings in their own right. If Enniaun Girt was Arthur's father, then Arthur must have been the father of either Maglocunus or Cuneglasus.
3. Since Maglocunus was by far the most powerful of the two kings, then perhaps Arthur was Maglocunus' father, named in the genealogies as Cadwallon Lawhir. However, on reading Gildas we discover that Maglocunus did not succeed from his father, but from his uncle. From the genealogies we discover that his uncle was Cuneglasus' father.
4. The name of this Dark Age warlord survives in a list of genealogies, compiled around 955 from earlier monastic records and now attached to the ANNALES CAMBRIAE in a manuscript indexed 'Harley 3859' in the British Library. The genealogy reveals that Cuneglasus' father was called Owain Ddantgwyn.
5.All the available evidence indicates that Owain Ddantgwyn was the historical figure who assumed the title Arthur. He ruled in the same place and at the same time as the research has located King Arthur. He ruled Gwynedd and Powys simultaneously, and was thus the most powerful ruler in Britain at the time of the battle of Badon, in which Arthur led the British to their most important victory of the era. Arthur almost certainly means the Bear and Owain Ddantgwyn was the father of Cuneglasus, whom Gildas refers to as the 'charioteer of the Bear's stronghold'.
6. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, Arthur was mortally wounded at the battle of Camlan while attempting to quash a revolt led by his nephew. Although this nephew is called Modred, the legend may have sprung from the real-life Maglocunus who, according to Gildas, aquired his kingdom by overthrowing his uncle. Since Gwynedd and Powys formed a united kingdom prior to the succession of Maglocunus in Gwynedd, the border land between the two kingdoms is the logical site for a battle in which Maglocunus severed his kingdom of Gwynedd from the kingdom of Powys.
7. A bleak and remote valley about five miles to the east of Dolgellau in Central-West Wales is actually called Camlan. It is surely beyond coincidence that the only location in Great Britain ever known to have been called Camlan is and strategically situated in the border area of the kingdoms of Gwynedd and Powys as they existed in the early sixth century. Not only is Camlan the name given to Arthur's last battle by Geoffrey of Monmouth, but the ANNALES CAMBRIAE also record Arthur's death at the battle of Camlann. # 524
Wibernant - the story of a dragon-like beast from near Penmachno
A 'gwiber' in todays Welsh means viper or adder. But a long time ago a 'gwiber' was something quite different - a huge snake that could fly. This is the story of how Wibernant, (valley of the gwiber), near Penmachno, got its name.
The local gwiber was unique in that it was the only one in Wales that could live on land and under water. This monster was therefore especially dangerous and would devour the local livestock and killed those who tried to get rid of it. So the locals decided to offer a reward to anyone who killed the monster.
Owain ap Gruffydd from the nearby Hiraethog Mountains came to kill the beast. But first he consulted a wise man called Rhys Ddewin to ask his fate. "You will not suceed, and the beast will bite you" he was told. Being brave and strong Owain was shocked by this. He disguised himself as a tramp and returned asking Rhys Ddewin, "how will I die?". "You will fall and break your neck", he was told. He returned a third time disguised as a miller and asked the same question. "You will drown", he was told this time.
Owain revealed himself and accused Rhys Ddewin of deceit. "How can I die in three different ways?" he said. "We will see, time will tell", replied Rhys Ddewin. Owain then went to the valley to kill the beast with his axe. But the beast attacked from above, biting him, and causing him to fall from a ledge. As he fell he hit the rocks, breaking his neck, before drowning in the river at the bottom.
Owain's friends swore revenge and attacked the gwiber with bows and arrows. It was badly injured and disappeared into the river and was never seen again, but to this day the place where it lived is called Wibernant (valley of the gwiber).
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