Jack o' Kent or Jack-a-Kent is an English and Welsh folkloric character based in the Welsh Marches. He is alternately referred to as either a cleric or wizard who regularly beats the Devil in bets and games. He is most well known around Herefordshire and Monmouthshire, and his legends are used to tell the origin of many of the geological formations around the region.
Jack o' Kent appears in print for the first time in a sixteenth-century play, so it may be assumed that he was well known in local culture before this time. He is said to have been used as a bogeyman figure until at least the early twentieth century. [1]
There is speculation that Jack could be Siôn Cent, and other suggestions are that he was Owain Glyndŵr, but it is more likely that he was an amalgamation of a number of people and myths. [2] [3] [4]
Jack often outsmarted the Devil by entering into bargains and then fulfilling the letter of the bargain but not the spirit. In one instance he made a deal with the Devil so that his crops would prosper - Jack would plant the crops, and the devil would make sure that the sun and rain came in proper amounts. Jack asked the Devil which part of the crops he wanted, the "tops" or the "butts" (bottoms), and the Devil picked "tops" thinking that come harvest he would receive a lot of wheat, but Jack planted turnips and left the Devil with the useless leaves. The next year the Devil thought he would get the better of Jack and picked "butts", so Jack planted wheat, and once again the Devil was cheated.
In another story, Jack asks the Devil to help him build a bridge, promising him the first soul that crosses it. They build the bridge and then Jack tosses a bone over the bridge and a hungry dog runs across. [1]
Jack o' Kent legends are used to explain a number of geographical formations in the Anglo-Welsh border region.
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Owain ap Gruffydd, commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the late Middle Ages, who led a 15-year-long Welsh revolt with the aim of ending English rule in Wales. He was an educated lawyer, forming the first Welsh parliament under his rule, and was the last native-born Welshman to claim the title Prince of Wales.
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Sir David Hanmer, KS, SL (c.1332–1387) was a fourteenth century Anglo-Welsh Justice of the King's Bench from Hanmer, Wales, best known as Owain Glyndŵr's father-in-law and the father of Glyndŵr's chief supporters.
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Owain Lawgoch, full name Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri, was a Welsh soldier who served in Lombardy, France, Alsace, and Switzerland. He led a Free Company fighting for the French against the English in the Hundred Years' War. As a politically active descendant of Llywelyn the Great in the male line, he was a claimant to the title of Prince of Gwynedd and of Wales.
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Siôn Cent, was a Welsh language poet, and is an important figure in Medieval Welsh literature.
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The Glyndŵr rebellion was a Welsh rebellion led by Owain Glyndŵr against the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages. During the rebellion's height between 1403 and 1406, Owain exercised control over the majority of Wales after capturing several of the most powerful English castles in the country, and formed a parliament at Machynlleth. The revolt was the last major manifestation of Welsh independence before the annexation of Wales into England in 1543.
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Owain Glyndŵr Day is held annually on 16 September in Wales, as a celebration of Owain Glyndŵr, the last native Prince of Wales and founder of the first Welsh parliament.
Hywel Sele was a Welsh nobleman. A cousin of Owain Glyndŵr, Prince of Wales, he was a friend of Henry IV of England and opposed his cousin's 1400–1415 uprising. Sele was captured by Glyndŵr but is said to have accepted an invitation to hunt with his cousin on the Nannau Estate. Sele attempted to kill Glyndŵr but failed and was himself killed, his body being hidden within the hollow of an oak tree. The oak is subsequently said to have been haunted and was named Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyl or Ceubren yr Ellyll.
"Owain Glyndŵr's Court", also known as "Sycharth" or "The Court of Owain Glyndŵr at Sycharth", is a cywydd by the Welsh bard Iolo Goch. It describes and celebrates the hall and household of his patron, the nobleman Owain Glyndŵr, at Sycharth in Powys. It cannot be dated exactly, but was probably written about 1390, before Glyndŵr's revolt against the English crown. It survives in as many as 24 manuscripts.
There are multiple buildings and sites associated with Owain Glyndwr in Wales.