ABSTRACT
In 1405, in a document called the Tripartite Indenture, the rebels Owain Glyn Dwr, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Edmund Mortimer divided England and Wales between them. Editors usually treat Shakespeare's knowledge of Owain Glyn Dwr as if it were restricted to what he could have gotten out of Holinshed and his use of Holinshed as if it were restricted to what the playwright actually quotes. In taking up Owain Glyn Dwr, Shakespeare was dealing with very fraught material indeed. The author hopes to get us closer to what Shakespeare was about in his treatment of Wales in this trilogy, and in particular to the character who comes to represent that kingdom in the first two plays, Owen Glendower. Today, historians recognize that, by putting Owain Glyn Dwr onstage as Owen Glendower, Shakespeare crucially reshaped the reputation of this Welsh rebel, establishing a 'canonical view which remained basically unchanged in historical writing for the better part of two centuries'.
