Welsh Journals

described in celebrated lines by Iolo Goch,5 lay only another twenty miles to the south of Glyndyfrdwy. The reactions of Ruthin, in this vulnerable position, the first storm-centre of the revolt, owned by a lord for whom few writers have had any good to say, deserve closer study than they have been given. The materials for such study survive in satisfying quantity. The great series of Ruthin court rolls, running almost unbroken for three hundred and fifty years, can be used to give a vital picture of the lordship in the years of rebellion-although there are possible difficulties in their interpretation and without the corresponding account rolls (all of which have perished) there must remain many gaps inadequately filled. Yet, despite the existence of the court rolls, despite the publicity accorded to their discovery in 1854 in a Ruthin loft by a Public Record Office official,6 despite the incidental use made of some of them by Welsh medievalists, such as Professor Lewis or Professor Rees,7 no one has used the rolls for a comprehensive examination of the Glyn Dwr revolt in the lordship, although Mr. Brian Evans has recently commented briefly on a small part of the available material. Dr. Ralph Griffiths has recently been unearthing interesting things about allegations of support for Glyn Dwr in England.9 This present article is intended to fill a gap in the studies of Wales during the revolt. For general context I have, of course, leant heavily on the work of Sir John Lloyd and, to a lesser extent, that of Mr. A. G. Bradley and Professor E. A. Lewis.10 The source material used for the first time almost all derives from the Ruthin court rolls. II. PRELIMINARIES TO THE REVOLT The lord of Ruthin at the opening of the Lancastrian period was Reynold Grey, the fifth member of his family to hold the lordship. They have often been cited, translated, and paraphrased, as, for example, Bradley, Owen Glyndwr, pp. 100-2; Tours in Wales by Thomas Pennant, Esq., ed. J. Rhys (1883). III. 291-3; W. Cathrall. The History of North Wales (1828), 1. 201 n. f. 6 Report of the Deputy-Keeper of the Public Records, XVI (1855), Appendix 2. pp. 37-8; XXI (1860). pp. x-xi; XXII (1861), pp. vii-viii; R. A. Roberts, 'The Public Records relating to Wales', Y Cymmrodor, X (1890). 167-8. The earliest rolls, for 1293-6. were printed by Mr. Roberts in 1893 as volume II of the Cymmrodorion Record Series. 7 E. A. Lewis. "The Development of Industry and Commerce in Wales during the Middle Ages', Transactions of Royal Historical Society, new series, XVII (1903). 156-9, 157, n. 2. 159. n. 2; W. Rees. 'The Black Death in Wales', T. R. Hist. S., 4th ser.. Ill (1920), 120-1. 8 B. Evans.' Owain Glyn Dwr's Raid on Ruthin (1400)', Transactions of Denbighshire Historical Society. X (1961), 239^11. R. A. Griffiths, 'Some Partisans of Owain Glyndwr at Oxford'. Bulletin of Board of Celtic Studies, XX. iii (1963), 282-92; 'Some Secret Supporters of Owain Glyn Dwr?'. Bulletin of Institute of Historical Research, XXXVII (1964). 77-100. 10 J. E. Lloyd. Owen Glendower (1931); Bradley, Owen Glyndwr; Lewis, Mediaeval Boroughs of Snowdonia.