Branwen

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Branwen [ ˈbranwen ] is the name of a figure from the medieval Celtic mythology of Wales , especially from the Mabinogion . There she is in the second branch, Branwen ferch Llŷr ("Branwen, the daughter of Llŷr"), the main character.

Etymology and Mythology

The name is likely to mean in the Cymrian white raven , but it is also assumed that the original variation may have been Bronwen , which is derived from the Kymrian bron ("breast") and qwyn ("white"), meaning "the white-breasted" one. Over time, the idea has developed that the legendary figure is a goddess. Along with Rhiannon and Arianrhod , she is named as one of the three most important goddesses of Britain.

Branwen is the daughter of Penarddun and the sea god Llŷr , her two biological brothers are Manawydan and the giant King Bran . They still have two half-brothers, Nissyen and Efnisien , whom their mother fathered with Euroswydd.

Matholwch , King of Ireland , comes to Harlech to Bran, King of Britain , to ask for the hand of his sister Branwen. Bran agrees to the marriage, Branwen's half-brother Efnisien is angry because his permission was not asked. In revenge, he mutilates Matholwch's horses (he cuts their lips, ears and eyelids), which almost leads to a fight between the two. Bran manages to calm the heated minds again by giving the Irish new horses and a cauldron that brings the dead back to life.

Matholwch marries Branwen in Aberffraw and together they travel to Ireland, where their son Gwern is born. However, the marriage does not turn out to be a happy one, because when his subjects learn of the horse massacre and rebel, Matholwch banishes Branwen to the kitchen, where she has to work hard and is beaten. - In one version of the legend, the cook gives her a few slaps every day, according to the Trioedd Ynys Prydein , the “Triads of the Isle of Britain”, it is Bran himself who does this. - In order not to let any news of this penetrate into Wales, a general ban on boat trips from Ireland to there will be issued.

“Well, Lord,” said his followers to Matholwch, “put a ban on ships, barges or fur boats” (see Curragh ), “so that no one goes to Wales. And whoever comes here from Wales lock them up and not let them return so that this is not known. "
Branwen sends the star to her brother Bran in Wales

After three years, she manages to tame a star who flies across the Irish Sea to Bran to deliver a message to him. Horrified by the fate of his sister, Bran gathers his men around him and moves to Ireland. When rumors of a hiking mountain reach Matholwch, he gets scared because he suspects that it is the giant Bran who is hiking through the sea. He flees with his army behind the Linon (probably the River Liffey .) To placate Bran, he has a palace built that is for the first time large enough for the giant. He also promises to give his son Gwern the royal dignity.

During a celebration in the newly built palace, Irish aristocrats who disagree hide in sacks of flour to overpower the Welsh people. Efnisien suspects their plan and kills the men in the sacks, but when he throws his nephew Gwern into the fire, a fight breaks out, which ultimately only seven Welshmen survive. After Efnisia destroyed the cauldron, only five pregnant women remain in Ireland, whose sons later sleep with them and repopulate the country (this tale tries to explain the creation of the five provinces of Ireland in this way).

Branwen returns with the survivors to Aber Alaw in Anglesey , but she dies of grief when she realizes that two countries have been almost completely destroyed because of her.

Bedd Branwen

Bedd Branwen

At the Afon Alaw near Elim on Anglesey there is a Rundcairn named Bedd Branwen , where Branwen is said to be buried. The stone was first excavated around 1800. During further excavations in the 1960s under the direction of Frances Lynch urns were found, so it is reasonable to assume that the story of Branwen is based on a true story that took place during the British Bedd Branwen period of the Bronze Age .

Modern receptions

  • There's a film called Branwen from 1994 that is set in the present but is loosely based on the story from the Mabinogion .
  • Christopher Williams , a Welsh artist, painted three paintings based on the Tales of the Mabinogion. Branwen (1915) can be viewed at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea .

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rachel Bromwich: Trioedd Ynis Prydein. The Welsh Triads. Cardiff 1978, p. 287.
  2. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The legend book of the Welsh Celts. The four branches of the Mabinogi. Pp. 54, 138, note 54.25. "One of the three unfortunate slaps the island of Britain" (the other two being the blow Gwenhwyfach her sister Queen Gwenhwyfar was and that the poet Golydan the king replied Cadwaladr)
  3. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The legend book of the Welsh Celts. The four branches of the Mabinogi. P. 44.
  4. ↑ Bernhard Maier: The legend book of the Welsh Celts. The four branches of the Mabinogi. P. 135, note 47.8.
  5. ^ Branwen (film) in the IMDb