Only unofficial Glyndwr stamps exist

Last year, publishers Y Lolfa printed their own special commemorative stamp.

They did it in protest against the Royal Mail's decision not to produce an official stamp for the 600th anniversary of Glyndwr becoming Prince of Wales.

BBC Wales News Online users voted him the Welsh person of the millennium.

In a poll open throughout December 1999, users of BBC Wales's News Online and Ceefax were asked to name the most influential Welsh person of the past thousand years.

Owen John Thomas backed Owain Glyndwr

Glyndwr - the clear winner, beating the likes of Aneurin Bevan and Gwynfor Evans - led a successful rebellion against English control of Wales, which had been in force since Edward 1st conquered the country in 1282.

Following the English conquest, Welsh resentment had been fuelled by the imposition of laws favouring English rulers and settlers - laws which later historians described as "a system of apartheid".

Welshmen were banned from holding land or trading in the towns established around the castles built to secure the conquest.

Their word could not be accepted against that of an Englishman in a law court.

Welsh parliament

Glyndwr began his rebellion in 1400, and managed to take control of the whole of Wales.

His rule was sufficiently secure for him to hold a parliament in Machynlleth in Powys.

During his reign, he made plans for two Welsh universities and for an independent Welsh church, and he entered into an alliance with France.

He was eventually defeated by a sustained war of attrition by superior English forces. He went into hiding and the date of his death and the place of his burial are uncertain - a situation which added to his mythical status.

600th anniversary

He is seen as an inspiration not only to guerilla leaders - Fidel Castro admired his military tactics - but to those who have tried to improve Wales's political status in the six centuries since Glyndwr's defeat.

The year 2000 saw the 600th anniversary of Glyndwr's rebellion.

Commemorative events included the unveiling of a memorial at Machynlleth - the scene of Glyndwr's parliament -and the establishment of a monument at Ruthin, where his rebellion began.