Owain Glyndwr: Causes and Course of the Revolt

Why that year, and not any other

Asked why a revolt happened, almost everybody starts telling the story of it happening. That is a narrative, and a narrative is not a cause. Here is the distinction that fixes it. A revolt needs two different things: a GRIEVANCE and an OPPORTUNITY. A grievance is a reason to be angry. Owain Glyndwr had a long-running quarrel with a neighbouring lord over land, and that is a real grievance. It is also completely ordinary: disputes like it ran in every county in every decade of the Middle Ages, and almost none of them turned into a rising. An opportunity is a reason to think you might get away with it. In 1400 there was one. A king had taken the English throne the year before by deposing the man who held it, his claim was disputed, and the soldiers and attention of his government were needed in several places at once. The grievance explains why somebody was angry. The opportunity explains why THAT YEAR. Whether the revolt mattered afterwards, and how we know any of this from the sources, are the other module on this part of the course.

Five words used carefully

The first two are the pair the whole module turns on. The last one is the trap.

Two that came afterwards

Five things often listed as causes of the Glyndwr revolt. The revolt began in the autumn of 1400. Tap the TWO that only became true AFTER it had already started.

• A long-running land dispute between Glyndwr and a neighbouring lord
• Laws passed by the English parliament restricting what Welsh people could own and which offices they could hold
• A new king on the English throne whose right to be there was disputed
• English garrisons reinforced in castles across Wales, and the cost of paying for them
• Resentment at taxes and at the way Wales had been governed since its conquest

Why 1400 and not 1390

Grievances about land, taxes and how Wales was governed had existed for generations before 1400. Which factor best explains why a revolt broke out in that particular year?

• The English crown had changed hands the year before, the new king's claim was contested, and his forces were committed in more than one place
• People in Wales had simply become angrier than they had been before
• A leader appeared, and before that there had been nobody to follow
• The penal laws against the Welsh had just been passed

Two questions, not one

Run both columns over any rising, in any period, and the answer stops being a story. Most weak answers fill the left column and leave the right one empty.

Five moments, five different jobs in the explanation

Put the course of the revolt in order

Six stages in the course of the revolt. Put them in the order they happened.

• The rising begins in north-east Wales and Glyndwr is proclaimed prince by his followers
• The English parliament responds with laws restricting Welsh landholding and office
• The revolt spreads across much of Wales, and major castles are taken
• Glyndwr holds a parliament of his own and seeks alliances abroad
• A letter is sent to the French king setting out a programme for a separate Welsh church and universities
• The castles are lost again, the revolt fades, and Glyndwr disappears without ever being captured

What a strong causation answer does

Three habits separate an answer at the top of the range from one that has learned the topic and retold it. Sort your causes by the job they do. Long-term grievance, short-term opportunity, trigger, and the things that made it spread once it had begun. An answer organised that way is already an argument; a list in chronological order is still a story. Check the order before you call something a cause. If it happened after the event, it is not a reason the event began. This single check catches the commonest mistake on this topic and on most others. ⭐ And say which cause you think mattered most, and why. Not a vague nod at everything being important: a decision, with the reason attached. Historians genuinely disagree about how far this revolt was a national movement and how far it grew from one man quarrel, and saying where you stand and on what grounds is the judgement being asked for.

What job does each one do

For each factor, decide which job it does in an explanation of the revolt. Three lives.

The complaint nobody acted on for years

A workplace has an old complaint about the rota. Everybody knows about it, everybody grumbles about it, and for eleven years nothing whatever happens. Then in one particular month, the staff walk out. Somebody asks what changed about the rota, and the answer is nothing at all. The rota is exactly what it was. What changed is that the manager who would normally have handled it firmly had just left, the replacement had been in the job three weeks, and the busiest fortnight of the year was about to start, when walking out would actually be noticed. The complaint told you who was unhappy. It could never have told you which month. Anybody trying to explain the walkout by describing the rota in more and more detail is working on the wrong half of the problem. ⭐ And notice what happened next: management brought in a rule about clocking in, which made a lot of people who did not care about the rota very angry indeed. If you asked them afterwards why they stopped work, some would name that rule, and it did not exist when they stopped.

What turns a story into an explanation

A student has written a clear account of what happened during the revolt, in order, and been told it does not yet explain anything. Select every change that would genuinely fix it.

• Grouping the factors by the job each one does rather than by when it happened
• Adding a paragraph specifically on why it began when it did
• Saying which factor they think mattered most, with a reason
• Adding more detail about each event in the account
• Extending the account further into the years afterwards

Finish the causation sentences

A reason somebody has to be angry is a _____, and because it is usually years old it explains almost nothing about timing. A reason to believe that acting now might succeed is an _____, and it is usually about whoever would normally stop you being weakened or distracted. The particular incident that sets things off is the _____, which passes off quietly if the other two are not already in place. Sorting factors into _____ and short-term is what turns a list into an argument. Something produced BY an event that then makes it bigger is a consequence rather than a _____ of it starting, and the quickest way to catch one is to check the _____ of events before you call anything a reason.

Build the causal argument

Assemble the opening of an answer explaining why the revolt broke out when it did.

Four decisions in one answer

A student is writing an answer on why the revolt happened and how far it spread. Each stage sets out where they are and hands you the decision.

• Their first draft is a clear account of events in order, and reads like a story. Decide what to do with it.
• They want to argue that the penal laws were the main cause of the revolt. Decide.
• They need to explain why so many people joined a quarrel that began as one man dispute over land. Decide the best line.
• The final paragraph has to say how far this was a national movement. They know historians disagree. Decide.

Explain why it began when it did

Explain why the Glyndwr revolt broke out in 1400 rather than in an earlier year, and why it spread beyond the original dispute.

• Separate the long-term grievances from the short-term opportunity, and say which is which
• Explain why the grievances on their own cannot account for the date
• Identify one factor usually listed as a cause that in fact came after the rising began, and say what it really explains
• Explain how a private quarrel was turned into something other people could join
• Say which factor you think mattered most, and give your reason
• Finish by noting where historians disagree about the revolt, without settling it for them