Llywelyn ap Gruffydd Fychan
Encyclopedia
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
landowner, a squire in effect, who in 1401 organized a decoy of Henry IV
Henry IV of England
Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...
's English forces searching for the Welsh resistance leader Owain Glyndŵr
Owain Glyndwr
Owain Glyndŵr , or Owain Glyn Dŵr, anglicised by William Shakespeare as Owen Glendower , was a Welsh ruler and the last native Welshman to hold the title Prince of Wales...
. The deception allowed Owain to escape but involved Llywelyn in putting his life on the line. As punishment for his actions, Llywelyn was condemned by the English king to be executed in the town square of Llandovery
Llandovery
Llandovery is a market town in Carmarthenshire, Wales, lying on the River Tywi and the A40 road.The town is served by Llandovery railway station, where there is a park and ride to Llanelli and Shrewsbury via the Heart of Wales Line...
. The English cut his stomach out and had it cooked in front of him, following which Llywelyn was hanged, drawn and quartered
Hanged, drawn and quartered
To be hanged, drawn and quartered was from 1351 a penalty in England for men convicted of high treason, although the ritual was first recorded during the reigns of King Henry III and his successor, Edward I...
. The English custom is variously described, but there is no doubt that the victim was drawn and quartered first, and hanged afterwards, so he was alive whilst being disemboweled.
A 16 feet (4.9 m) sculpture of an empty-helmeted and cloaked figure, holding a spear and shield, commemorates Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Fychan. Made entirely from stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
, it was erected beside Llandovery Castle
Llandovery Castle
Llandovery Castle is a castle ruin in the town of Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It occupies a hilltop overlooking the River Towy and the land surrounding it....
in 2001, on the 600th anniversary of Llywelyn's execution. The stone base is from the cwmwd
Commote
A commote , sometimes spelt in older documents as cymwd, was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix cym- and the noun bod...
of Caio
Caio
Caeo or Caio is a village in the county of Carmarthenshire, south-west Wales, sited near to the Dolaucothi Gold Mines.-Location:It is located between Llandovery and Lampeter, 1 mile north-east of the A482 that connects these two towns. Caeo lies at the confluence of the Afon Annell and the Nant Frena...
/ Caeo which was Llywelyn ap Gruffydd Fychan's home area - and on it is carved the final verse of a Welsh poem.
No historic document says he was used as a decoy, merely that he 'willingly preferred death to treachery'. His death is contemporaneously described as 'drawn, hanged, beheaded and quartered': there is no evidence that he was disembowelled or had his viscera burned. Disembowellment and burning of the intestines were not carried out until later in the century and then were confined to those who had transgressed against God - even traitors were usually spared that fate.
Sources
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southwest/sites/llandovery/pages/llywelyn.shtml
- National Geographic MagazineNational Geographic MagazineNational Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
, March 2006, The Celtic Realm, pg 90. http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0603/feature3/index.html
"The Last Mab Darogan: The Life and Times of Owain Glyn Dŵr", C Parry, (Novasys, 2010), ISBN 978-0-9565553-0-4, pp. 105–7.