prince. Henry IV. and Prince Henry came to Wales, made rapid marches
and retook castles, punished the friars of Llan Vaes and the monks of
Strata Florida. But their victories led to nothing, and the storms
fought against them. Owen's victories were used to the full--that of
the Vyrnwy was followed by an agreement with Grey of Ruthin, that of
Bryn Glas by an alliance with the Mortimers. His marches were nearly
all triumphant; he was welcomed along the whole line of the marches
by the peasants to the furthest corners of Gwent.

Owen was wise enough to see that no abiding power can be based on a
popular rising. He tried to establish a government that the King of
England could not overthrow. He had three institutions in mind--an
independent Wales, governed by him as Prince in a Parliament of
representatives of the commotes; an independent Welsh Church, with an
Archbishop of St David's at its head; and an independent system of
learning and civilisation, guided by two Universities, one in North
Wales and one in South Wales.

The new Wales was to he safeguarded by four alliances--with the
English barons, with the Pope, with Scotland, and with France. He
failed to save the Percies from their defeat at Shrewsbury in 1403;
but he based all his plans on an alliance with the Mortimers, the
enemies of Lancaster and the Percies. The head of the Mortimer
family had died in Ireland in 1398, and had left four young children.
They were the real heirs to the crown, and Owen meant to win their
throne for them. Their uncle, Edmund Mortimer, married Glendower's
daughter. But the young Earl of March, the elder of the Mortimer
boys, had no ambition, and a plot to bring him and his brother to
Owen failed.