Hywel Coetmor

Recumbent effigy of Hywel Coetmor in St Grwst's Church Llanrwst, Conway. Hywel Coetmor (died c. 1440) was a Welsh knight who played a leading part in Prince Owain Glyndŵr's Welsh rebellion between 1400 and c. 1415 against the Kingdom of England. His brother was Rhys Gethin, who was one of Glyndŵr's leading generals.

Family Hywel Coetmor was a nobleman from Nant Conwy, a commote in the north of what is now the county of Gwynedd. He married Gwenllian, a daughter of Rhys ap Robert (d. 1377), a prominent nobleman who had supported Owain Lawgoch, a claimant to the title of Prince of Gwynedd and of Wales.

Hywel claimed to be a descendant of Prince Llywelyn the Great and to therefore belong to the royal dynasty of the kingdom of Gwynedd. His father was Gruffudd Fychan ap Gruffudd ap Dafydd Goch ap Dafydd ap Gruffudd ap Llywelyn Fawr. His brother Rhys Gethin, was one of Owain Glyn Dŵr's chief captains.

Glyndŵr rebellion In 1390 an English clergyman was appointed to the parish priesthood of Llanrwst by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The response of the local nobility was to force the monolingual Englishman to leave in a hurry and steal his property. Hywel Coetmor and his brother Rhys Gethin were two of the leaders of the rebellion. He was also prominent as a patron saint of poets.

Legacy A cywydd praise poem was written to him by poet Ieuan Llwyd Brydydd and an unknown poet proclaims him as "Hywel Cymro, o hil Cymry," who is of the lineage of Llywelyn (Fawr), and refers to him as "cur y Saeson" in a couplet referring to Owain Glyn Dŵr.