V. BRAN

The story of Bran and his sister Branwen may be found most fully given in
Lady Charlotte Guest's translation of the "Mabinogion," ed. 1877, pp. 369,
384. She considers Harlech, whence Bran came, to be a locality on the
Welsh seacoast still known by that name and called also Branwen's Tower.
But Rhys, a much higher authority, thinks that Bran came really from the
region of Hades, and therefore from a distant island ("Arthurian Legend,"
p. 250, "Hibbert Lectures," pp. 94, 269). The name of "the Blessed" came
from the legend of Bran's having introduced Christianity into Ireland, as
stated in one of the Welsh Triads. He was the father of Caractacus,
celebrated for his resistance to the Roman conquest, and carried a
prisoner to Rome. Another triad speaks of King Arthur as having dug up
Bran's head, for the reason that he wished to hold England by his own
strength; whence followed many disasters (Guest, p. 387).

There were many Welsh legends in regard to Branwen or Bronwen (White
Bosom), and what is supposed to be her grave, with an urn containing her
ashes, may still be seen at a place called "Ynys Bronwen," or "the islet
of Bronwen," in Anglesea. It was discovered and visited in 1813 (Guest, p.
389).

The White Mount in which Bran's head was deposited is supposed to have
been the Tower of London, described by a Welsh poet of the twelfth century
as "The White Eminence of London, a place of splendid fame" (Guest, p.
392).


VI. THE CASTLE OF THE ACTIVE DOOR