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"Cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon"-"A nation without a language is a nation without a heart" Welsh Proverb

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Wednesday, July 15, 2015

July 16th-

16th of July Owain Glyndwr's victory against overwhelming odds over the King's forces The Battle of Mynydd Hyddgen in the summer of 1401 is considered his first victory in the field and it set the tone for the spread of the rebellion in its early stages and turned him from a local rebel to a national leader.
Not much is known of the battle, but the probable site is a remote area of the Pumlumon Mountain range. It is thought that Owain's force of just 120 men would have be...en made up mostly of archers mounted on hill ponies that would have been well suited for travelling across boggy or mountainous regions. The English-Flemish army meanwhile would have generally consisted of infantry with some light cavalrymen supporting them. Despite having decent equipment, many of the English-Flemish soldiers were lacking in military experience, and there was a general lack of discipline within their army.
The sole written source is The Peniarth Manuscript 135 written by the poet Gruffydd Hiraethog many years later in 1550 and based on earlier accounts that have not survived;
"Owain rose with 120 reckless men and robbers and brought them in war like fashion to the uplands of Ceredigion; and 1500 men of the lowlands of Ceredigion and of Rhos and Penfro assembled there and came to the mountain with the intent to sieze Owain, The encounter between them was on Hyddgen Mountain and no sooner did the English troops turn their backs in flight than 200 of them were slain. Owain now won great fame and a great number of youths and fighting men from every part of Wales rose and joined him, until he had a great host at his back"