Brennus (or Brennos) is the name of two Gaulish chieftains famous in ancient history:. The Brennus of the fourth century BC was a chieftain of the Senones, a Gallic tribe originating from the modern areas of France known as Seine-et-Marne, Loiret, and Yonne; in 387 BC, in the Battle of the Allia, he led an army of Cisalpine Gauls in their attack on Rome. The Brennus of the third century BC was one of the leaders of the army of Gauls who invaded Macedon and northern Greece and defeated the assembled Greeks at Thermopylae.

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}. 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 Mabinogion¹
• 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

References

• 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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• This page was last modified on 3 January 2009, at 03:29.

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