Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations and Works Frequently Cited
- Introduction: Imagining Owain Glyndŵr and the Welsh Rebellion: English Medieval Chronicles in Context
- I Narrative Strategies and Literary Traditions
- II Imagining the Rebellion
- Conclusions: A Multiplicity of Voices: Reading the Narratives of the Welsh Revolt
- Appendix: Translations
- Bibliography
- Index
- York Medieval Press: Publications
1 - ‘As you shalle heare’: the Role of the Narrator
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 February 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Figures
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations and Works Frequently Cited
- Introduction: Imagining Owain Glyndŵr and the Welsh Rebellion: English Medieval Chronicles in Context
- I Narrative Strategies and Literary Traditions
- II Imagining the Rebellion
- Conclusions: A Multiplicity of Voices: Reading the Narratives of the Welsh Revolt
- Appendix: Translations
- Bibliography
- Index
- York Medieval Press: Publications
Summary
In 1404, French ships arrived at Milford Haven to supply much-needed aid to Owain Glyndŵr; the chronicle accounts adopt different narrative strategies in their recounting of the event. Thomas Walsingham, writing sometime before the year 1420, states that:
Meanwhile, the French came to the help of the Welshman, that is, to Owain Glyndŵr, and arrived at the harbour of Milford with 140 ships having lost virtually all of their horses due to a lack of fresh water.
John Capgrave’s narrative, composed in the early 1460s, records:
In þis tyme a hundred schippis and xl sailed oute of Frauns into Wales, for to help Howen Glendor. They cam into Mylforth Haue; but al her hors were ded or þei cam þere for defaute of fresch water.
Lastly, Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles, published in 1577, says:
In the meane time, the Frenche king had appointed one of the Marſhals of Fraunce called Montmerancie, & the maſter of his Croſbowes, with .xij.M. men to ſaile into Wales to ayd Owen Glendouer. They tooke ſhipping at Breſt, and hauing the wind proſperous, landed at Milford hauen, with an. Cxl ſhips, as Tho. Walſ. hath, though Engnerant de Monſtrellet maketh mention but of 120.
All three employ a third person mode of narration, in which the narrator’s position is covert. This is the usual mode of chronicle narration and establishes an authoritative narrative voice, though one without obvious personal characteristics. However, for a privileged moment in Holinshed’s chronicle the narrator is overtly displayed; by including two conflicting accounts of the number of ships provided by Thomas Walsingham and the French chronicler Enguerrand de Monstrelet (d. 1453), the narrator purposefully places himself in neutral middle ground and is thus revealed. In contrast, Capgrave retains a covert, third-person narrative voice at all times despite his obvious dependence on Thomas Walsingham’s narrative, which is translated literally into Capgrave’s account. The different modes of narration used by the chroniclers have profound implications on the representation of the revolt of Owain Glyndŵr, and in particular how the reader is guided through the materials that are presented.
This chapter is an analysis of the different modes of narration used in the revolt narratives. Here I will articulate the range of narrative modes, along with why and where the different voices occur and the implications of them for the narratives of the revolt.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2014