Scotland in Lord Derby’s first ministry, three months later becoming Lord Advocate. In 1858 he resumed this office in Lord Derby’s second administration, being returned to the House of Commons as member for Stamford. He was responsible for the Universities of Scotland Act of 1858, and in the same year he was elevated to the bench as lord justice clerk. In 1867 he was made lord justice general of Scotland and lord president of the court of session, taking the title of Lord Glencorse. Outside his judicial duties he was responsible for much useful public work, particularly in the department of higher education. In 1869 he was elected chancellor of Edinburgh University, having already been rector of the university of Glasgow. He died on the 20th August 1891.
GLENDALOUGH, VALE OF, a mountain glen of Co.
Wicklow, Ireland, celebrated and frequently visited both on
account of its scenic beauty and, more especially, because of the
collection of ecclesiastical remains situated in it. Fortunately
for its appearance, it is not approached by any railway, but
services of cars are maintained to several points, of which
Rathdrum, 812 m. S.E., is the nearest railway station, on the
Dublin & South-Eastern. The glen is traversed by the stream
of Glenealo, a tributary of the Avonmore, expanding into small
loughs, the Upper and the Lower. The former of these is
walled by the abrupt heights of Camaderry (2296 ft.) and
Lugduff (2176 ft.), and here the extreme narrowness of the valley
adds to its grandeur; while lower down, where it widens, the
romantic character of the scenery is enhanced by the scattered
ruins of the former monastic settlement. These ruins have
the collective name of the “Seven Churches.” The settlement
owed its foundation to the hermit St Kevin, who is reputed to
have died on the 3rd of June 618; and it rapidly became a seat
of learning of wide fame, but suffered much at the hands of the
Danes and the Anglo-Normans. In close proximity to an hotel,
and to one another, in an enclosure, are a round tower, one of the
finest in Ireland, 110 ft. high and 52 in circumference; St Kevin’s
kitchen or church (closely resembling the house of St Columba at
Kells), which measures 25 ft. by 15, with a high-pitched roof and
round belfry—supposed to be the earliest example of its type;
and the cathedral, about 73 ft. in total length by 51 in width.
This possesses a good square-headed doorway, and an east
window of ornate character (the chancel being of later date
than the nave), and there are also some early tombs, but the
whole is in a decayed condition. In the enclosure are also a
Lady chapel, chiefly remarkable for its doorway of wrought
granite, in a style of architecture resembling Greek; a priest’s
house (restored), and slight remains of St Chiaran’s church.
Here is also St Kevin’s cross, a granite monolith never completed;
and the enclosure is entered by a fine though dilapidated gateway.
Other neighbouring remains are Trinity or the Ivy Church,
towards Laragh, with beautiful detailed work; St Saviour’s
monastery, carefully restored under the direction of the Board
of Works, with a chancel arch of three orders (re-erected);
while on the shores of the upper lough are Reefert Church,
the burial-place of the O’Toole family, and Teampull-na-skellig,
the church of the rock. St Kevin’s bed is a cave approachable
with difficulty, above the lough, probably a natural cavity
artificially enlarged, to which attaches the legend of St Kevin’s
hermitage. Along the valley there are a number of monuments
and stone crosses of various sizes and styles. The whole collection
forms, with the possible exception of Clonmacnoise in King’s
county, the most striking monument of monasticism in Ireland.
GLENDOWER, OWEN (c. 1359–1415), the last to claim the
title of an independent prince of Wales, more correctly described
as Owain ab Gruffydd, lord of Glyndyvrdwy in Merioneth, was
a man of good family, with two great houses, Sycharth and
Glyndyvrdwy in the north, besides smaller estates in south
Wales. His father was called Gruffydd Vychan, and his mother
Helen; on both sides he had pretensions to be descended from
the old Welsh princes. Owen was probably born about 1359,
studied law at Westminster, was squire to the earl of Arundel,
and a witness for Grosvenor in the famous Scrope and Grosvenor
lawsuit in 1386. Afterwards he was in the service of Henry of
Bolingbroke, the future king, though by an error it has been
commonly stated that he was squire to Richard II. Welsh
sympathies were, however, on Richard’s side, and combined
with a personal quarrel to make Owen the leader of a national
revolt.
The lords of Glyndyvrdwy had an ancient feud with their English neighbours, the Greys of Ruthin. Reginald Grey neglected to summon Owen, as was his duty, for the Scottish expedition of 1400, and then charged him with treason for failing to appear. Owen thereupon took up arms, and when Henry IV. returned from Scotland in September he found north Wales ablaze. A hurried campaign under the king’s personal command was ineffectual. Owen’s estates were declared forfeit and vigorous measures threatened by the English government. Still the revolt gathered strength. In the spring of 1401 Owen was raiding in south Wales, and credited with the intention of invading England. A second campaign by the king in the autumn was defeated, like that of the previous year, through bad weather and the Fabian tactics of the Welsh. Owen had already been intriguing with Henry Percy (Hotspur), who during 1401 held command in north Wales, and with Percy’s brother-in-law, Sir Edmund Mortimer. During the winter of 1401–1402 his plans were further extended to negotiations with the rebel Irish, the Scots and the French. In the spring he had grown so strong that he attacked Ruthin, and took Grey prisoner. In the summer he defeated the men of Hereford under Edmund Mortimer at Pilleth, near Brynglas, in Radnorshire. Mortimer was taken prisoner and treated with such friendliness as to make the English doubt his loyalty; within a few months he married Owen’s daughter. In the autumn the English king was for the third time driven “bootless home and weather-beaten back.” The few English strongholds left in Wales were now hard pressed, and Owen boasted that he would meet his enemy in the field. Nevertheless, in May 1403 Henry of Monmouth was allowed to sack Sycharth and Glyndyvrdwy unopposed. Owen had a greater plot in hand. The Percies were to rise in arms, and meeting Owen at Shrewsbury, overwhelm the prince before help could arrive. But Owen’s share in the undertaking miscarried through his own defeat near Carmarthen on the 12th of July, and Percy was crushed at Shrewsbury ten days later. Still the Welsh revolt was never so formidable. Owen styled himself openly prince of Wales, established a regular government, and called a parliament at Machynlleth. As a result of a formal alliance the French sent troops to his aid, and in the course of 1404 the great castles of Harlech and Aberystwith fell into his hands.
In the spring of 1405 Owen was at the height of his power; but the tide turned suddenly. Prince Henry defeated the Welsh at Grosmont in March, and twice again in May, when Owen’s son Griffith and his chancellor were made prisoners. Scrope’s rebellion in the North prevented the English from following up their success. The earl of Northumberland took refuge in Wales, and the tripartite alliance of Owen with Percy and Mortimer (transferred by Shakespeare to an earlier occasion) threatened a renewal of danger. But Northumberland’s plots and the active help of the French proved ineffective. The English under Prince Henry gained ground steadily, and the recovery of Aberystwith, after a long siege, in the autumn of 1408 marked the end of serious warfare. In February 1409 Harlech was also recaptured, and Owen’s wife, daughter and grandchildren were taken prisoners. Owen himself still held out and even continued to intrigue with the French. In July 1415 Gilbert Talbot had power to treat with Owen and his supporters and admit them to pardon. Owen’s name does not occur in the document renewing Talbot’s powers in February 1416; according to Adam of Usk he died in 1415. Later English writers allege that he died of starvation in the mountains; but Welsh legend represents him as spending a peaceful old age with his sons-in-law at Ewyas and Monington in Herefordshire, till his death and burial at the latter place. The dream of an independent and united Wales was never nearer realization than under Owen’s leadership. The disturbed state of England
