I think we may be at cross purposes. I am asking if Owain Glyndwr’s wife would have been taught enough history to know that Llywelyn’s daughter had been taken off as a prisoner as a baban fach and had no real life at all! I’m asking if she would have known enough to contrast her own life and marriage with that other Gwenllian 's limited existence for 56 years.
that makes more sense now! sorry, didn’t realise you’d switched back to wife Glyn Dwr from the two Gwenllians!
Though on the subject of Gwenllian in the convent, you have got me thinking. 50 years of being a nun is not something I’d pick today (not sure I could keep doing a Monty Python woman’s voice for that long anyway), but 600 odd years ago it wouldn’t have been such a bad choice.
Well fed, bed every night, gardens to tend, books to read. For hundreds of years people voluntarily chose a cloistered life and led fulfilling lives. Admittedly it was foisted upon her, but compared to the other traditional fate meted out to inconvenient offspring it might have been preferable.
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Ah, sorry. I thought you were talking about ideas for the next novel (as you do in my world). She would have known the history perhaps. Though the whereabouts of those girls may have been kept a secret. But Gwenllian and her cousins would be long dead but 1400 when the Glyndwr rising started. The interesting thing about Glyndwr’s wife is that she was of Norman stock. Her forefathers received their Welsh lands post conquest. They went on to marry Welsh women in each generation and became very Welsh in outlook. All of her brothers supported Glyndwr’s rebellion. At the fall of Harlech, Marged, his wife, was imprisoned with her daughter and two granddaughters. Glyndwr could have surrendered and had them released (albeit at the cost of his life). He didn’t. They all died in prison. My novel will explore those decisions and the part Marged ultimately played in them. But fear not, I will not be taking a negative view of Owain Glyndwr. 
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I think choice is the operative word. She did not choose. She would never have known who she was. So, in her case, it was an involuntary incarceration. Unfortunately, that was the case for many women through history. The convent became their prison.
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Possibly. Though, unlike Gwenllian, Marged had no claim to a throne. She was imprisoned as a political hostage to put pressure on Owain to surrender. He never did, even when offered a pardon. So, she died in prison (we think). There is no actual record of her death. A link could certainly be made between the two but considering her upbringing and heritage (her father’s lands resulted from the fall of the house of Gwynedd) I’m not sure if she’d have linked herself with Gwenllian or ever seen herself as a true princess. Her sole value to Henry V was as a hostage.
I suspect the general populace would have been kept in the dark regarding the details of Gwenllian’s incarceration. Otherwise, someone might have tried to rescue her. They would simply know she had disappeared and that the government were tight-lipped about the details. Our knowledge of where she lived and how long for may have been unearthed by historians at a late date.
The question for me is how Marged felt about being in prison and the possibility of Owain surrendering, knowing it would bring his death and her release. That is the questions I will seek to answer in my novel.
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Grovel. For some unknown reason, although I knew Marged’s name, at one stage, above, I mis-called her Gwenllian, I think!! Senior moment!! Altzheimer’s?? 
I’m looking forward to reading it already!
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I didn’t notice. Your questions all made sense to me.
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Keeping you updated… I did a book interview recently. Here is the link for anyone who is interested.
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