Owain Lawgoch

Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri, called Owain Lawgoch, ‘red-handed Owain’ (c. 1330–1378), was a Welsh soldier and the last male-line heir of the princely House of Aberffraw, a descendant of Llywelyn the Great and claimant to the title of Prince of Wales. As captain of a largely Welsh free company, he fought the English for Charles V, who knew him as Yvain de Galles.

He lost his English lands in 1369. In a treaty with Charles he declared English kings had slain or driven out his ancestors and wrongly held Wales, and the king promised men and ships to win it back. The invasion never landed: after he attacked Guernsey, Charles ordered him to seek ships in Castile.

At Soubise he defeated an English and Gascon force and captured Thomas Percy and Jean de Grailly. An English agent assassinated him at the siege of Mortagne in July 1378.