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:

John Capgrave’s narrative, composed in the early 1460s, records:

Lastly, Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles, published in 1577, says:

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.