Owain Glyndŵr (c.1359–c.1415) was the last Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales, who in 1400 rose in revolt against the rule of Henry IV and for over a decade led a war that at its height controlled much of the country, summoned a Welsh parliament and dreamed of an independent Wales with its own church and universities. As the rebellion failed and his strongholds fell, Glyndŵr did not surrender or die in any recorded battle: he simply disappeared around 1415, and no one ever learned where he was buried.
The story
That vanishing turned the historical prince into a figure of legend. Like Arthur and other 'sleeping heroes', Owain is said in folk tradition not to be dead but hidden — sleeping in a cave with his men, or simply waiting unseen — ready to return and lead his people when Wales has need of him again. Shakespeare gave him an air of the uncanny in Henry IV, having him 'call spirits from the vasty deep', and across Wales his name became, and remains, the enduring symbol of national identity and the hope of deliverance.