As this extract from the early fifteenth century Continuatio Eulogii suggests, Owain Glyndŵr’s complaint was not taken seriously by the members of the English parliament because of the petitioner’s ethnic origins; he is, we are told, one of a broader community of barefooted buffoons, a communal group that is ridiculous, laughable, silly and backward. The image is one of a savage standing before a superior establishment in bare feet, a sign of the society under scrutiny not having progressed to the point where shoes, a marker of civility, status and advancement, are commonplace. As a result there is no engagement with the individual or desire to remedy the problems that he faced. Instead the petition is mocked, the petitioner insulted, and the society to which he belongs is socially and legally marginalized.

This chapter explores representations of the ‘Welsh’ in the revolt narratives. This is an important consideration for several reasons. While chroniclers commonly refer to the events of 1400 to c.1415 in Wales using the terms ‘rising’, ‘insurrection’ or ‘rebellion’, such terminology was not often applied to the group of people involved. There are only a handful of instances in which the term ‘rebels’ is used in the examined chronicles: Holinshed refers to the ‘Welsh rebels’ on three occasions, while the Dieulacres chronicler uses the term once. Instead it was the terms ‘Welsh’ and ‘Welshmen’ that were predominantly used to denote those involved in the events of 1400 to c.1415.

It is therefore crucial to consider what was meant by the terms ‘Welsh’ and indeed ‘English’ within fifteenth- and sixteenth-century contexts. Furthermore, questions concerning notions of ‘Welsh’ and ‘English’ are important because the revolt narratives document a relationship between these two peoples; the application of terms such as ‘rebellion’ by the chroniclers to the events of 1400 to c.