Brennus

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Brennus (or Brennos) is the name of two Gaulish chieftains famous in ancient history:

[edit] Etymology

The recurrence of the name Brennus make it likely that it was a title rather than a proper name. Indeed, the suffix -us means that it is almost certainly Romanised. Probably meaning "courageous, zealous, intense"^{[citation needed]}, it is a Celtic root word from which is derived the Brythonic Celtic word "Brenin", which means king. Examples in different forms are:

Brinno, whose name was said by Tacitus to be that of "a family of rebels".
Bran the Blessed, King of Britain in the Mabinogion^[1]
The personage named "Brennius" in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae who conquers Rome, probably created by that author from the two Brenni of history.
- A possible recollection of Geoffrey's "Brennius" is the "Englishman" called Brennus whom the Duke of Norfolk told the Imperial ambassador Eustace Chapuys about in 1530. In arguing Tudor claims to imperial status, the Duke stated that this man had founded Bristol and conquered Rome.^[2]

[edit] References

^ His name may be related, although 'Bran' seems to be derived from the Welsh word for raven rather than brenin.
^ Thomas Healy, Times Literary Supplement 24 June 2005 p 25, reviewing Philip Schwyzer, Literature Nationalism and Memory in Early Modern England and Wales, Cambridge, 2005

John T. Koch, "Brân, Brennos: an instance of Early Gallo-Brittonic history and mythology'", Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 20 (Winter 1990:1-20)

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