The Voyage of Bran

Immram Brain (maic Febail) (English: The Voyage of Bran (son of Febail)) is a medieval Irish narrative. The content derives from Irish mythology, but was written in the 8th century. Some Irish tale-lists categorize the tale as an Echtra ("Adventure"), but it contains the essential elements of an Immram, or "Voyage". It may have influenced the later story of Saint Brendan's voyage.

Synopsis

Bran mac Febail (modern spelling: Bran mac Feabhail) embarks upon a quest to the Other World. One day while Bran is walking, he hears beautiful music, so beautiful, in fact, that it lulls him to sleep. Upon awakening, he sees a beautiful silver branch in front of him. He returns to his royal house, and while his company is there, an Otherworld woman appears, and sings to him a poem about the land where the branch had grown. In this Otherworld, it is always summer, there is no want of food or water, and no sickness or despair ever touches the perfect people. She tells Bran to voyage to the Land of Women across the sea, and the next day he gathers a company of men to do so.

After two days, he sees a man on a chariot speeding towards him. The man is Manannan mac Lir, and he tells Bran that he is not sailing upon the ocean, but upon a flowery plain. He also reveals to Bran that there are many men riding in chariots, but that they are invisible. He tells Bran of how he is to beget his son in Ireland, and that his son will become a great warrior.

Bran leaves Manannan mac Lir, and comes to the Isle of Joy. All the people upon the Isle of Joy laugh and stare at him, but will not answer his calls. When Bran sends a man ashore to see what the matter is, the man starts to laugh and gape just like the others. Bran leaves him and sails farther.

He then reaches the Land of Women, but is hesitant to go ashore. However, the leader of the women throws a magical clew (ball of yarn) at him which sticks to his hand. She then pulls the boat to shore, and each man pairs off with a woman, Bran with the leader.

For what seems to be one year, although it is in actuality many more, the men feast happily in the Land of Women until Nechtan Mac Collbran feels homesickness stir within him. The leader of the women is reluctant to let them go, and warns them not to step upon the shores of Ireland.

Bran and his company sail back to Ireland. The people that have gathered on the shores to meet him do not recognize his name except in their legends. Nechtan Mac Collbran, upset, jumps off the boat onto the land. Immediately, Nechtan Mac Collbran turns to ashes.

Bran and his company relate the rest of their story to the Irish, and then sail across the sea, never to be seen again.

Historical Notes

This poem was written down between A.D. 700 and 900, by Christian monks.

Manuscript sources

• Dublin, RIA, Lebor na hUidre, pp. 121a-24 (originally, f. 78). Diplomatic edition: 10088-10112.
• Oxford, Bodleian Library, Rawlinson B 512, f. 119al-120b2 (originally, f. 71-72).
• Dublin, RIA MS 23 N 10, pp. 56–61.
• London, British Museum, MS Egerton 88, f. 11b (col. 2) - 12a and f. 13a (cols. 1-2).
• London, British Museum, MS Harleian 5280, f. 43a-44b.
• Stockholm, Royal Library, MS Vitterhet Engelsk II, f. 1b-4.
• London, British Museum, Add. 35090.
• Dublin, TCD, MS H 4.22, f. 48b17-50a6 and f. 40-53. Incomplete.
• Dublin, TCD, Yellow Book of Lecan (=H 2.16, MS 1318). Cols. 395-398.

Editions and translations

• Mac Mathúna, Séamus (ed. and tr.). Bran's Journey to the Land of Women. Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1985. Edition (html) available from CELT.
• Murphy, Gerard (ed.). "Manannán, God of the Sea, Describes his Kingdom to Bran and Predicts the Birth of Mongán." In Early Irish lyrics, eighth to twelfth century, ed. Gerard Murphy. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956. pp. 92–100. The poem "Caíni amra laisin m-Bran" as preserved in MS 23 N 10. Edition available from CELT.
• Hamel, A.G. van (ed.). Immrama. Mediaeval and Modern Irish 10. Dublin, 1941.
• Meyer, Kuno and Alfred Nutt (ed. and tr.). The Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living. 2 vols. London, 1895–1897. PDFs available at Internet Archive.

Further reading

• Carey, John. "Bran son of Febal and Brân son of Llyr." In Ireland and Wales in the Middle Ages, ed. Karen Jankulak and Jonathan M. Wooding. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007. 168-79.
• Carney, James. "The earliest Bran material." In Latin Script and Letters AD 400–900. Festschrift presented to Ludwig Bieler on the occasion of his 70th birthday, ed. J.J. O'Meara and Bernd Naumann. Leiden, 1976. 174-93. Reproduced in The otherworld voyage in early Irish literature. An anthology of criticism, ed. Jonathan M. Wooding. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000. 73–90.
• Hull, Vernam E. "A passage in Imram Brain." ZCP 28 (1960–61): 256–7.
• Hull, Vernam E. "An incomplete version of the Imram Brain and four stories concerning Mongan." ZCP 18 (1930): 409–19.
• Mac Cana, Proinsias. "The sinless otherworld of Immram Brain." In The otherworld voyage in early Irish literature. An anthology of criticism, ed. Jonathan M. Wooding. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000. 52-72.
• Mac Cana, Proinsias. "On the 'prehistory' of Immram Brain." Ériu 26 (1975): 33-52.
• Mac Cana, Proinsias. "Mongán Mac Fiachna and Immram Brain." Ériu 23 (1972): 104-42.