AEDDAN HOWELLS

Last Days of the

Golden Dragon

 

 

It is the year 1415 AD and war has been raging between Wales and England for over a decade – the war for Welsh independence led by Owain Glyn Dŵr. Despite early military successes the power and resources of England eventually began to tell and Welsh resistance began to crumble; the leader taking to living off the countryside, and the continuing generosity of supporters, whilst he and his men conducted hit-and-run raids against the enemy. But in September 1415, a chronicler records, Owain disappeared and was never heard from again, the leadership of what remained of the revolt handed over to his son, Maredudd.

 

No-one knows for certain where Owain went, where he stayed, how long he lived for, where he died or where he was buried: he became a legend, instantly. However, one persistant piece of folklore has him seeking a refuge in a Marcher lordship in the south-east of the country and in an area that was later (in the Act of Union of 1536) to become part of Herefordshire – border country, in other words, and hostile territory at that.

 

This then, The Last Days of the Golden Dragon, is a thoroughly researched imagining of what became of this ultimately tragic man but Wales’s great hero, nevertheless.