Brân the Blessed (Welsh: Bendigeidfran or Brân Fendigaidd, meaning "Blessed Crow") is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. He is mentioned in several Welsh Triads, but his most important story is in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, called Branwen ferch Llŷr. Brân is the son of Llŷr and Penarddun. His brothers and sisters include Brânwen, Manawydan, Nisien, and Efnysien. The name "Brân" in Welsh usually means "crow" or "raven."
Role in theMabinogion
The Irish king Matholwch travels to Harlech to meet Brân the Blessed, the high king of the Island of the Mighty, and to ask for the hand of his sister, Branwen, in marriage. This would create a friendship between the two islands. Brân agrees to the request, but the celebration is stopped when Efnysien, a half-brother of Brân and Branwen, severely harms Matholwch's horses. He is angry because no one asked him about the marriage. Matholwch is very upset, but Brân gives him a magical cauldron that can bring the dead back to life as compensation. Happy with the gift, Matholwch and Branwen return to Ireland to rule.
After arriving in Matholwch's kingdom, Branwen has a son named Gwern. However, Efnysien's insult continues to cause problems in Ireland, and Branwen is treated unfairly, forced to work in the kitchen and beaten daily. She trains a starling to fly to her brother Brân with a message. Brân swims across the Irish Sea with his brother Manawydan and a large group of warriors from the 154 cantrefi of Britain, traveling by ship. The Irish try to make peace and build a large house for Brân, but they hide armed warriors inside the walls of the house, pretending the bags contain flour. Efnysien notices the trick, checks the hall, and kills the warriors by crushing their skulls. Later, during a feast, Efnysien, still feeling insulted, burns Gwern to death, causing a violent battle. Seeing the Irish use the cauldron to bring their dead back to life, Brân hides among the dead and is thrown into the cauldron by the enemy. He destroys the cauldron from inside, sacrificing himself.
Only seven people survive the battle, including Manawydan, Taliesin, and Pryderi fab Pwyll, prince of Dyfed. Branwen dies from grief. Before dying, Brân tells the survivors to cut off his head and return it to Britain. For seven years, the survivors live in Harlech, where Brân's head continues to speak. Later, they move to Gwales, often linked to Grassholm Island near Dyfed, where they live for eighty years without noticing the passage of time. Eventually, Heilyn fab Gwyn opens the door facing Cornwall, and the sorrow of their past returns. As instructed, they take Brân's now-silent head to Gwynfryn, the "White Hill," believed to be where the Tower of London stands today. They bury the head facing France to prevent attacks. The idea of a talking head is thought to come from the ancient Celtic belief that the head was the home of the soul.
Role inBranwen ferch Llŷr
King Bran was sitting on the rocky shore at Harlech when he saw thirteen ships approaching from Southern Ireland. The boatmen arrived on the shore and said the ships belonged to King Matholwch of Ireland, who had come to ask for Bran’s sister, Branwen, in marriage. Bran believed this union would create a strong alliance between their kingdoms, so he welcomed King Matholwch and provided him with generous hospitality. The wedding was held at Aberffraw, with the ceremony taking place in large tents because no building could hold King Bran’s enormous size.
After the wedding, Bran’s half-brother, Efnysien, returned to Wales and saw many foreign horses. He asked who owned them and became angry when he learned Bran had given his sister away without permission. In his rage, Efnysien harmed the horses by cutting their lips, ears, eyelids, and tails. Matholwch’s advisors believed this was an insult and decided to return home. Bran sent messengers to apologize, offering a silver stick as tall as himself, a golden plate as wide as his face, and promised to replace the damaged horses. He also begged Matholwch to meet him in person to apologize.
When the two kings met again, Matholwch felt Bran’s offer was too small. Bran then gave him a magical black cauldron that could bring the dead back to life, though they could not speak. Matholwch was impressed and forgave the earlier insult. The next day, the thirteen ships left for Ireland with Branwen and Matholwch traveling together.
At first, the Irish people loved Branwen and celebrated their union with many gifts. Soon, she gave birth to a son named Gwern, and the kingdom rejoiced. However, years later, the Irish counselors reminded Matholwch of the harm Efnysien had caused to the horses. They pressured him to punish Branwen by forcing her to leave the court and work in the kitchen. There, she was mistreated for three years. During this time, she tamed a starling to help her cope. One day, she tied a letter to the bird, asking her brother Bran for help. The bird flew to Wales and dropped the letter during a meeting. When Bran read it, he felt sorrow and anger, declaring war on the Irish.
Bran led his armies to Ireland. From the shore, Matholwch’s swineherds saw a vast army approaching. Bran waded through the water to lead his troops, as no ship could carry him. The Irish blocked the river Shannon to stop the Welsh. Bran declared, “A leader must first become a bridge,” and stood in the river so his soldiers could cross. The Irish promised to restore Branwen’s honor by ensuring her son Gwern would rule, but Bran demanded more. He accepted a house built for him only after Branwen begged him to avoid bloodshed.
The Irish tricked Bran by hiding soldiers in bags inside the house. Efnysien, who inspected the house, crushed the hidden soldiers’ skulls. At a feast, Gwern tried to charm the Welsh, but Efnysien threw him into a fire. Branwen tried to jump into the fire to save her son, but Bran stopped her. He protected her as a battle broke out. The Welsh had the advantage until the Irish used the black cauldron to bring the dead back to life.
Efnysien, realizing the chaos he caused, hid among the fallen Irish. When the cauldron attendants threw him in, he shattered the cauldron and sacrificed himself. Bran was mortally wounded and told his men to cut off his head and take it to London, where it should be buried facing France. His head was taken to London, and his men continued their journey. When they returned to Wales, Branwen died of grief. She was buried where she fell, and the men continued their quest for London.
Other associations
According to the Welsh Triads, Brân's head was buried in London where the White Tower now stands. As long as it remained there, Britain would be safe from attacks. However, King Arthur dug up the head, claiming the country would be protected only by his strength. In modern times, some people have tried to connect the practice of keeping ravens at the Tower of London, cared for by Yeomen Warders called the Ravenmaster, to this story. This connection appears in several Celtic languages, such as Welsh, where "brân" means crow, and "bran" means raven in Cornish and Irish.
Scholars have noted similarities between Brân the Blessed and the Arthurian character the Fisher King, who guards the Holy Grail. The Fisher King first appears in a 12th-century French story called Perceval, the Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes. He has a mortal wound in his leg (like Brân's wound in his foot) and lives in a mystical castle because of the Grail's power, waiting to be healed by Percival. Later, Robert de Boron wrote that the first Fisher King was a man named "Bron." In the Welsh story Peredur son of Efrawg, a version of Percival's tale, the hero visits a mysterious castle but finds a severed human head instead of the Grail. Some stories say the Grail can bring the dead back to life, similar to Brân's cauldron. Others link Brân to the Irish hero Bran mac Febal.
John T. Koch suggests that the mythological figure Bendigeidfran shares similarities with the historical Celtic leader Brennus, who invaded the Balkans in the 3rd century BC. Koch also connects Brân to Brancaster, a fort on the Norfolk coast, while Rachel Bromwich links Brân to Castell Dinas Brân in Denbighshire. Nikolai Tolstoy believes Brân's original role was to guide souls of the dead to the Otherworld.
In 12th-century Welsh poetry, Brân is praised as a strong leader in battle and difficult situations. In an elegy for Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, Bleddyn Fardd compares the prince's defeat to the deaths of King Arthur and Brân. A poem in the Black Book of Carmarthen mentions Bendigeidfran's death in Ireland and notes that Gwyn ap Nudd was present at the battle, either as a warrior or as a psychopomp.
The novel series The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, including the book The Black Cauldron, is based on Welsh mythology. The Disney film The Black Cauldron, inspired by the books, features a cauldron that can revive the dead.
George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels include characters named Brandon (Bran) Stark with titles like "the Builder" or "the Breaker." The TV series Game of Thrones, based on the novels, shows one Brandon Stark associated with crows in the books and ravens in the show.
Name
The Welsh mythological stories in the Mabinogion were written between the 14th and 15th centuries in Middle Welsh. Because of this, there are differences in how names are spelled. English translations often use the spelling rules from Middle Welsh, while Modern Welsh versions use the spelling rules from today. In Middle Welsh, the name Brân had some variations. In Modern Welsh, the soft mutation changes "Brân" to "Frân," but in Middle Welsh texts, it might be written as "Vran" or "Uran" (since "U" and "V" were used for the same sound in Latin).
In the Mabinogion, the character is most often called "Bendigeituran," which includes the title "Bendigeit" (meaning "blessed" or "praiseworthy"). In early writings, the letter "D" was sometimes spelled as "T." The only exceptions are in the name of his son, Caradog ap Brân, and one mention of a gathering in Ireland as "Gwledd Brân," meaning "The feast of Brân (or 'Crow')." This usage appears in the Welsh Triads. In Modern Welsh, "Bendigeituran" becomes "Bendigeidfrân" or "Brân Fendigeid." The form "Bendigeidfran" is often used in modern adaptations of the Mabinogion. Earlier texts usually call the character "Brân fab Llŷr" or simply "Brân." Some scholars, like Ifor Williams, suggest that "Bendigeit" was added later, possibly replacing an older word that had fallen out of use. The name "Vran" appears in an old poem from the Book of Taliesin, while other poets, such as Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr and Prydydd y Moch, refer to "Brân fab Llŷr" with different spellings. Bleddyn Fardd mentions "Benigeitran" in a poem about Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, showing that the title "Bendigeit" was attached to Brân by the late 13th century.
In West Penwith, Cornwall, the name "Bran" is linked to "Caer Bran" and the Men Scryfa, which records "Rialobrani Cunovali Fili" (meaning "royal raven" son of "Famous Leader"). This suggests a local leader may have carried the name of the famous hero, who was the son of Cynfawl.