Pennal Letter

The Pennal Letter was a historical letter by Owain Glyndŵr to Charles VI, King of France. Owain composed the letter in Latin, in Pennal, in the north of Wales, in 1406, and set out his vision of an independent Wales.^[1]

The letter is regarded as unique as the only surviving written documentation detailing secular and religious policies for a potential independent Wales in the Middle Ages.

The letter was briefly exhibited at the National Library of Wales in 2000, and a campaign has been founded for its permanent return and display at the National Assembly in Cardiff.

Within the letter Owain pledges obedience to Antipope Benedict XIII of Avignon, supported by Charles VI during the Avignon Papacy, as opposed to the Province of Canterbury and Pope Innocent VII, the pope in Rome, who was supported by the English king Henry IV. He describes the English government as "the barbarous Saxons, who usurped to themselves the land of Wales" and calls for Pope Benedict XIII to try and punish Henry IV as a heretic for the burning of many church buildings and the execution of members of the Welsh church.

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