Branwen

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

Etymology and Mythology

The name should mean in Cymric White Raven, but is also suspected that the original variation Bronwen may have envisaged that the thing from the Welsh bron ( " chest " ) and qwyn ( "white" ) is derived, ie " the Weißbrüstige " my might. Over time, the idea has developed that the legendary figure is a goddess. Together with Rhiannon and Arianrhod it is called as one of the three main goddesses Britain.

Branwen is the daughter of Penarddun and the sea god Llyr, her two biological brothers are Manawydan and the giant king Bran. You still have two half-brothers, Nissyen and Efnisien who has witnessed her mother 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 incensed because he was not asked for permission. In revenge, he mutilated Matholwchs horses ( he cuts them lips, ears and eyelids ), making it almost comes to a fight between the two. Bran to calm tempers again by giving the new Irish horses and a boiler that brings the dead back to life again succeed.

Matholwch Branwen marries in Aberffraw and together they travel to Ireland, where her son Gwern is born. However, the marriage turns out not happy because experienced as his subjects of the massacre of the horses and rebel, exiled Matholwch Branwen in the kitchen, where she has to work hard and is beaten. - In one version of the legend gives her some of the cooking daily slap in the face, according to the Trioedd Ynys Prydein, the " Triads of the Island of Britain " it is Bran itself that does this .. - To let it penetrate any customer to Wales, is a general prohibition of sea journeys from Ireland adopted to there.

After three years, she manages to tame a star, flying across the Irish Sea to Bran, to deliver him a message. Appalled by the fate of his sister, Bran gathers his men around him and moved to Ireland. When rumors of a wandering mountain Matholwch reach, he gets scared because he suspects that it is the giant Bran, who wanders through the sea. He flees with his army behind the Linon ( probably the River Liffey. ) To vote Bran mild, it can build a palace, which is the first time large enough for the Giants. He also promises to leave his son Gwern kingship.

At a ceremony in the newly built palace Irish nobleman who do not agree with flour sacks, to overwhelm the Welsh hide. Efnisien guess their plan and kill the men in the bags, but when he throws his nephew Gwern into the fire, a fight breaks out, the ultimately survive only seven Welsh. After Efnisien destroyed the cauldron remain only five pregnant women whose sons later sleep with them and repopulate the land in Ireland ( this story is trying in this way the formation of the five provinces of Ireland explain ).

Branwen returns with the survivors after But Alaw, Anglesey back, but she dies of grief when she realizes that two countries were almost completely destroyed because of them.

Branwen's grave

At the river bed of the Alaw in Anglesey Llanddeusant there is a cairn called Bedd Branwen, where presumably is Branwen's grave. In 1800 the stone was first excavated. For further excavations in the 1960s under the direction of Frances Lynch urns were found, so it seems likely that the story of Branwen is based on a true story that took place during the period of the Bronze Age British Bedd Branwen.

Modern receptions

  • There is a movie called Branwen from 1994, set in the present, but loosely based on the story from the Mabinogion.
  • Christopher Williams, a Welsh artist, painted three paintings to the tales of the Mabinogion. Branwen (1915 ) Swansea may be seen in the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery.

Pictures of Branwen

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