Branwen

by Branfionn NicGrioghair

Branwen's Two Brothers
by Branfionn NicGrioghair, c. 1998-2000, All rights Reserved

"And She was one of the Three Matriarchs in this Island.
Fairest Maiden in the world was She."
- The Mabinogi, Branwen, Daughter of Llyr

The Goddess/Heroine Branwen

Branwen, Daughter of Llyr, is one of the most misunderstood Goddesses of Celtdom. Her tale is a tale of honor and of woe, of magical skills and sacred symbols. Remnants of her tale remain to this very day, both in Wales and in London. The beautiful Branwen is one of the most popular heroines of
Welsh romance and is no less celebrated for her woes than for her charms. Her tale was a favorite theme with the bards and poets of her nation. The indignities to which Branwen was subjected in Ireland are referred to in one of the Triads. Also, in the early Welsh Triads, Llyr is one of the three held prisoner by the Britons. Great Branwen is said by some to be the Chief Goddess of Avalon.

"It has come to us that these five - Blodeuwedd, Arianrhod, Rhiannon, Cerridwen and Branwen, are the Guardians of the Sacred Isle of Avalon..."
The Sisterhood of Avalon

In the Welsh traditions, there are two houses of the Gods: The House of Donn (Danu) and the House of Llyr (Lir.) Branwen was the daughter of the Sea God, Llyr (the Welsh version of the Irish Sea God Lir) and Penarddun, the daughter of Donn (Danu) and Beli (Bel). Her parentage bridges the two families. Her own house was also divided for she had two full brothers, Bran (Daghda?)and Manawyddan (Manannan) and two half brothers: Nissyen and Evnissyen. Her tale lies in the conflict created by two brothers, Bran the Blessed, Bendigeid Vran and Evnissyen, her half brother by her mother Penardun's liaison with Eurosswydd. Without their actions, her life might have been quite ordinary. As it plays out, she is one of the few Sacrificial Queens of lore.

The Tale of Branwen

The legend entitled "Branwen, Daughter of Llyr" is sometimes seen as an allegory of the suppression of the Irish people and their troubles as well as the story of Sovereignty. The character of Branwen has been seen as similar to Shakespeare's Cordelia as her father, Llyr was seen as King Lear. Also within the King Lear story are the three daughters/three matriarchs; two evil daughters who pretend goodness and one good daughter who refuses to flatter her father, the king.

Here briefly, is the tale:

Bendegeid Vran, Bran the Blessed, son of Llyr ('of the sea', also known as Lludd Llaw Ereint or Silver Hand) was the crowned king of the island. He is called in Irish legend a Sleeping Lord. He was in Harlech, sitting upon a rock overlooking the sea with his 3 brothers Manawyddan and saw thirteen ships with silken flags flying coming to the Island of the Mighty from Ireland. Nissyen, 'The Peaceful', was known to be of a good and gentle nature, and would make peace between his kin, and cause his family to be friends when their wrath was its worst. By contrast, Evnissyen, The Unpeaceful, would cause strife between his two brothers when they were most at peace.

One of the thirteen ships outstripped all the others, and the point of the shield was pointing upwards, in token of peace. A messenger was sent to this ship and found that upon this ship was Matholwch, the king of Ireland, who had come in hopes of forming an alliance through marriage to Branwen, that the Island of the Mighty might be leagued with Ireland. Bran took counsel and it was agreed to bestow Branwen in marriage to Matholwch.

So the Irish king came to the shore and they proceeded to Aberffraw where they sat and feasted with the King of the Island of the Mighty. Manawyddan sat at Bran's side with Matholwch on the other side, and Branwen beside the Irish king. That night Branwen became Matholwch's bride.

Then Evnissyen came by chance to the place where the horses of Matholwch were and discovered that Branwen had been given in marriage without his advice. He took this as an insult and proceeded to maim all the horses, cutting off their lips at the teeth, their ears close to their heads, their tails close to their backs, and wherever he could their eyelids to the very bone. In this manner, he disfigured the horses and rendered them useless.

When Matholwch learned of the maiming he departed the Isle alone. Bran sent men after him, discovered the reason and determined to make amends. Matholwch could not understand why they would have given him an exalted maiden of such high rank and so much beloved of her kindred, and then done this act.

To make amends, Bran gave to Matholwch a sound horse for every one that had been injured, a staff of silver, as large and as tall as himself, and a plate of gold of the breadth of his face. When they began their feast again, Matholwch was silent and Bran determined that he had not been generous enough. A king must be the most shining example of generosity. So he offered further to Matholwch a Cauldron beyond compare. This was a magical cauldron for if a slain man were cast into it, the next day he would be well again except that he would have no speech. Matholwch was finally content with this gift and returned to Ireland with Branwen as his wife and queen.

In Ireland was there great joy because of their coming. Branwen was always kind and generous. Not one great man or noble lady visited Branwen without her giving a clasp, a ring, or a royal jewel to keep, which was honorable to give. For a year, this was how the time passed and she enjoyed all honor and friendship. In the way of all nature. she also gave birth to a son that she called Gwern. He was fosternursed in a place where there were the very best men of Ireland, in keeping with royal tradition.

In her second year in Ireland, the people of Ireland began to desire revenge for Evnissyen's dishonor to them and they gave the king no peace until he would grant revenge for this disgrace. The vengeance was set that he would drive Branwen away from their bedchamber, make her cook for the Court and each day the butcher would give her a blow on her ear. They also banned all travel between Ireland and the Island of the Mighty. This continued for three years.

During this time, Branwen reared a starling and taught it to speak. She taught the bird about her brother Bran and wrote a letter to him of her woes. She then bound the letter to the bird's wing, and sent it towards the Island of the Mighty. The bird came to Bran and when he read of his sister's mistreatment, he called one hundred and fifty countries to come join him in her rescue. They left, as ruler Caradawc, the son of Bran.

The nobles of Ireland saw Bran approaching and broke down a bridge to prevent him reaching them. Bran said "He who will be chief, let him be a bridge. I will be so." He made his own gigantic body the bridge upon which his armies crossed onto Irish soil. This statement is still used as a proverb.

In council, it was resolved that Matholwch should accept the peace if Gwern would be made king at the advice of Branwen, lest the country should be destroyed. They laid a feast with treachery, for in the feasting house were bags which contained armed men. Evnissyen discovered this and killed each one, all two hundred men. Then all came to the house. The men of the Island of Ireland entered the house on one side, and the men of the Island of the Mighty on the other. They reached concord and the sovereignty was conferred upon the boy, Gwern, who then was King of Ireland.

Once there was peace, Gwern went to all his uncles and they showed their affection, all but Evnissyen. So Evnissyen called the boy to him. When Gwern came to him, he seized the boy by the feet and threw him headlong into the great fire. When Branwen saw her son burning in the fire, she leapt into
the fire also. But Bran grabbed her with one hand, with his shield in the other and pulled her from the fire. Bran supported Branwen between his shield and his shoulder.

Later that night, when the Irish kindled a fire under the cauldron of rejuvenation, Evnissyen saw the dead bodies of the men of the Island of the Mighty nowhere resuscitated. He cast himself among the dead bodies of the Irish and stretched himself out in the cauldron, so that he broke the cauldron into four pieces, and burst his own heart also.

In the battle that followed all the men of Ireland were slain leaving only five pregnant women. These five divided Ireland amongst them, and because of them there are the five divisions of Ireland. They examined the land where the battles had taken place, and they found gold and silver until they became wealthy.

Only seven men of the Island of the Mighty survived and Bran himself was wounded in the foot with a poisoned dart. Bran then commanded them to cut off his head which is where the Celts believed that the soul resides and take it to the White Mount, in London. There they should bury it with the face towards France. His head was later called The Mystical Head.

Bran said that in Harlech they would stop to feast for seven years, while the birds of Rhiannon sang and during that time the Head would be good company. Then at Gwales in Penvro they would spend fourscore years until one opened the door that looks towards Cornwall. At that moment, they would then leave and go to London to bury the head.

Then the seven men and Branwen carried the Head back from Ireland. They came to land at Aber Alaw, in Talebolyon, and Branwen looked towards Ireland and towards the Island of the Mighty. She uttered a loud groan, and there broke her heart. They made her a four-sided grave, and buried her upon the banks Of the Alaw. Caradawc the son of Bran, and the seven men who were left with him had been slain and Caradawc's heart broke from grief.

Branwen's Tears
© 1998, Theresa Hilliard, All Rights Reserved

Branwen's tears fall from her face
And splash upon the emerald sea.
She trembles as her kind heart breaks,
Then fades into eternity.

She rues the day that she was born.
She curses the fate she caused.
She takes their guilt upon herself
And mourns for nations lost.

She throws her spirit to the wind.
And soars upon the breeze.
She melts into the ancient mist.
Her broken heart now free.

Branwen's tears fall from her face
And splash upon my soul.
I sob with her unselfishly.
Together, we mourn the whole.

They reached Harlech, bearing the head. The three birds of Rhiannon came and began singing a special song. All the songs they had ever heard were unpleasant compared to this song. The birds seemed to be at a great distance from them over the sea, yet they appeared as if they were close by. In the end, the Head was buried at the White Mount of London, thought to be the land where the Tower of London is built. This was the third "goodly concealment" as well as the third "ill-fated disclosure" when it was disinterred since no invasion could come from across the sea while the head was in that concealment. This is the tale of the blow given to Branwen, which was the third "unhappy blow" of this island.

Branwen and Sovereignty

She is the Embodiment of Sovereignty, greatly concerned with the welfare of her realms, a Goddess of great depth and complexity. She was one of the Three Matriarchs of the Island of the Mighty. She was the fairest damsel in the world. She was the daughter of a King, the sister of a King, the wife of the King of Ireland and finally the mother of the King Ireland. Her entire life is touched by Sovereignty.

In Irish legend, Sovereignty is the collective name for the three Goddesses, Eriu, Banba and Fodla. In ancient Celtic beliefs Sovereignty was known as Eriu. There are many Goddesses within British history and legend that have been connected with Sovereignty at key moments in history including Branwen, Brigit and Rigru Roisclethan. Sovereignty is an important element in all legends and often appears disguised as an old crone who usually requires a task to be completed before she is revealed to be a woman of great beauty. She is sometimes called the Lady Sovereignty, Guardian of The Hallows of Kingship.

Normally, Sovereignty reveals herself only when she is satisfied, usually through the successful completion of a difficult task, that the challenger is the rightful heir to the kingdom and worthy of the union between king and sovereignty. This is symbolic of the people and the land being married together with the king. By proving himself worthy, the heir is seen to be righteous and fair, a provider of hope through self-sacrifice and a defender of life for the continuance of sovereignty. This may be where the kingship of Matholwch fails for he proves no worth and passes no test. He asks for the gift of Branwen and receives her. With all the devastation which plays itself out in the decimation of quite nearly all the characters who are alive at the beginning of the tale, it is interesting that 'Queen of the Wastelands' is one of the most common names associated with the sovereign land and the relationship of the king with his people and the land.

The Goddess Sovereignty was also the Guardian of the Hallows of Kingship which have been spoken of since arcane times. The are the 'royal regalia' carried by the King, or the sacred objects in both ancient and modern stories.

The sacred vessels, or Hallows of Ireland, brought by the Tuatha de Danaan to Ireland, were kept in the Crane Bag, which was visible at high tide only. The four who were responsible for guarding the contents, known as Guardians of the Hallows were Manannan, Lugh, Cumhal and Fionn. It contained:

Manannan's House
Goibniu's shirt, belt, knife and smith's hook
King of Lochlann's Helmet
King of Alba's Shears
A Belt made from fish skin
Asal's pig's bones

In later tales,the Tuatha de Danaan were said to have brought sacred treasures from an island near Greece to Ireland from the Otherworld. These four treasures were:

1. Shining spear of Lugh from Gorias, providing victory in any fight, which once hurled, never missed its target
2. Stone of Fal, the Lia Fail from Falias. Kings were crowned on this and it cried out when the true king stood upon it, each cry representing a year of rule
3. Sword of Nuadu, from Findias, impossible to avoid being struck and wounded by its contact
4. Cauldron of Dagda, Cauldron of Un-Dry, Bran's Cauldron from Murias, of plenty

In even later stories, these four hallows of the Tuatha de Danaan became:

1. The Pole of Combat
2. The Sword of Light
3. The Cauldron of Cure
4. The Stone of Destiny

Today The Hallows are the royalty's modern regalia:

1. The Sceptre (Rod of Equity and Mercy)
2. The Sword of State
3. The Ampulla of Holy Oil
4. The Crown

The thirteen treasures which existed in the Otherworld were said to have been retrieved from Annwn by Arthur. They were collectively known as the 'Thirteen Treasures of Britain'. The story of their recovery is told in the poems of Taliesin. Thirteen treasures like the thirteen ships that came for Branwen. And when Arthur set off on the barque to Avalon, The Isle of Apples. The Druid Priestess' Isle, he was attended by three Women, the Three Matriarchs, the Three Goddesses of Sovereignty. And as any meaningful legend, he is not dead but merely sleeps. And so sleeps Branwen...

Notes:

Bran's Cauldron
Bran's cauldron of rebirth is very similar to the 'Horn of Bran' which provided any kind food in plentiful supply to the courageous which is depicted in the Welsh Triads and the Mabinogion. It was considered one of 'Thirteen Treasures of Britain' which Arthur journeyed to 'Annwn' to recover as told in the 'Spoils of Annwn' by Taliesin.

Harlech
Harlech was also called Twr Bronwen or Branwen's Tower. It possesses the ruins of a fine castle. Harlech stands on the sea coast, on the confines of Ardudwy, one of the six districts of Merionethshire, a remnant of the Cantrev y Gwaelod, inundated in the time of Gwyddno Garanhir.

Mabinogi
This collection has been drawn from Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch (The White Book of Rhydderch @ 1300-1325 now found in the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth) and Llyfr Coch Hergest (The Red Book of Hergest @ 1375-1425 in the Library of Jesus College, Oxford) although the stories themselves are much older.

White Mount
Friar Bacon, a 13th century scholar, said that the head was buried at The Tower of London, under White Mount. Ravens guard the Head and it is said that so long as they remain, the monarchy of England will survive. A friend in Wales assures me that all the ravens are male and that they have had their wings clipped.

Ynys Bronwen
In 1813, they discovered a grave containing a funeral urn on the banks of the river Alaw, in Anglesey, in a spot called Ynys Bronwen. It might be the "Bedd Petrual," the four-sided place of burial. The following account of its discovery was communicated, in 1821, to the Cambro-Briton (and printed in
that publication, II. p. 71), by Sir R. C. Hoare, on the authority of Richard Fenton, Esq., of Fishguard.

"An Account of the Discovery, in 1813, of an urn, in which, there is every reason to suppose, the ashes of Bronwen (White Bosom), the daughter of Llyr, and aunt to the great Caractacus, were deposited. A farmer, living on the banks of the Alaw, a river in the Isle of Anglesea, having occasion for stones, to make some addition to his farm-buildings, and having observed a stone or two peeping through the turf of a circular elevation on a flat not far from the river, was induced to examine it, where, after paring off the turf, he came to a considerable heap of stones, or carnedd, covered with earth, which he removed with some degree of caution, and got to a cist formed of coarse flags canted and covered over. On removing the lid, he found it contained an urn placed with its mouth downwards, fall of ashes and half-calcined fragments of bone. The report of this discovery soon went abroad, and came to the ears of the parson of the parish, and another neighboring clergyman, both fond of, and conversant in, Welsh antiquities, who were immediately reminded of a passage in one of the early Welsh romances, called the Mabinogion (or juvenile tales), the same that is quoted in Dr. Davies's Latin and Welsh Dictionary, as well as in Richards's, under the word Petrual (square).

'Bedd petrual a wnaed i Fronwen ferch Lyr ar Ian Alaw, ac yno y claddwyd hi.'

'A square grave was made for Bronwen, the daughter of Llyr, on the banks of the Alaw, and there she was buried.'

Happening to be in Anglesea soon after this discovery, I could not resist the temptation of paying a visit to so memorable a spot, though separated from it by a distance of eighteen miles. I found it, in all local respects, exactly as described to me by the clergyman above mentioned, and as characterised by the cited passage from the romance. The tumulus, raised over the venerable deposit, was of considerable circuit, elegantly rounded, but low, about a dozen paces from the river Alaw. The Urn was preserved entire, with an exception of a small bit out of its lip, was ill-baked, very rude and simple, having no other ornament than little pricked dots, in height from about a foot to fourteen inches, and nearly of the following shape. When I saw the urn, the ashes and half-calcined bones were in it."


Bibliography

Branwen's Tears, A Poem graciously allowed inclusion by Theresa Hilliard.

The Mabinogion by Jeffrey Gantz, Penguin Books, 1976.

The Mabinogion by Lady Charlotte Guest - website edition.

The Cambro-Briton (1821, II. p. 71), by Sir R. C. Hoare, on the authority of Richard Fenton, Esq., of Fishguard.

Celtic Myths, Celtic Legends by R. J. Stewart with illustrations by Courtney Davis (terrific picture of Branwen on page 101.) ISBN 0-7137-2621-0.

Internet and other uses allowed so long as the text is used in full and for educational purposes without profit, with all credits given. Credit should be given to Aileen Terra aka Branfionn Nic Grioghair (Nic means "daughter of" as Mac means "son of", previous pen name: Branwen Heartfire (pick one or any of these names.) This copyright tag (name-modified, naturally) should be attached. All other rights are reserved. If you would like to publish for profit, please ask me; I might say yes!
Copyright 1997-2004, Branfionn Nic Grioghair

Lasted updated 6/22/04