Welsh historians have tended to view the second half of the fourteenth century in the context of two attempts at Welsh self-determination. These were the claims of the last descendant of the princes of Gwynedd, Owain Lawgoch (d. 1378), to be prince of Wales and then later, the rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr in pursuit of the same title during the first decade of the fifteenth century. The one was concentrated in France and attracted a sympathetic response in Wales and from Welshmen seeking service against the English in France. The other was a revolt fomented among men who had made their careers as soldiers and administrators of the English Crown. War determined the pattern of relationships between Welsh and English because, between 1360 and 1400, there was scarcely a year that did not witness some military engagement or defensive activity. That said, foreign expeditions led by the king in person were relatively unusual. There were none, for example, between 1359 and 1385. There was a further gap then to 1394 and no more before Richard II's fateful campaign to Ireland in 1399. The Irish campaigns marked a return of war to the lands of Wales in that they offered a departure point. Richard II was the first English king to visit Ireland since John campaigned there in 1210.

This chapter begins in the years after the Anglo-French peace settlement in 1360. English soldiers continued to have a presence in France and the first fruits of the ideas of national self-determination that bloomed under Owain Glyndŵr were harvested under the leadership of the last descendant, in the male line, of the princes of Gwynedd. The leadership of Owain Lawgoch (Owain of the Red Hand) meant that Welshmen served on both sides after the failure of the Brétigny settlement. The records available to us also reveal that Welshmen played their part in conflict at sea and in Iberia, Scotland and Ireland.

In this period, the military aspect of Marcher lordship expressed itself as forcefully as before, but, in common with the scale of armies after 1359, the scale of Welsh involvement was much reduced. The general experience of those living in the principality of Wales and the March was a peaceful one, although significant tensions lay beneath the surface. Peace and stability, combined with proactive management, meant that Marcher revenues greatly increased in the second half of the fourteenth century.