The date of composition has been assigned to the late 7th or early 8th century, and the text is known to have been included in the lost 8th century codex Cín Dromma Snechtai.
The concept of "voyage" has been widely used across the world in that time. While this specific set comes from Ireland, it can be compared with Classical sources such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid, some Scandinavian tales as well as some Brittonic tales told on what is now the United Kingdom, particularly those preserved from Wales (Y Mabinogion) and Brittany including Tristan and Yseult. The most recent translation is by Séamus Mac Mathúna (1985).
Emain is a place of "lasting weather" (perpetually like spring or summer), without want of food or water, free from sickness or despair; it is otherwise called (or has a place called) Aircthech (‘Bountiful Land’) where dragonstones and crystals fall. She instructs Bran to embark on a sea voyage to Emain, which she reveals to be a Land of Women, and disappears with the branch. Bran gathers three companies of nine men apiece for the voyage, and his foster brothers were put in charge of each company.
After traveling by boat for two days and nights, the group encounters the ocean deity Manannán mac Lir riding a chariot over the sea towards them. Manannán explains that while this may seem like a body of water to Bran and his crew rowing the coracle, it appears as an otherworldly flowery plain to the god. Manannán also foretells the birth of his son as Mongán mac Fiachnai in Ireland. Manannán then informs Bran that he will reach his goal by sundown.
After parting ways with Manannán mac Lir, Bran's voyagers make a stop at the Isle of Joy, where the inhabitants just laugh and stare, and will not answer to calls. When Bran sends a scout ashore, he starts to laugh and gape just like the others. Bran abandons this crewman and sails on.
He now approaches the Land of Women but is hesitant to go ashore. The leader of the land casts a magical clew (ball of yarn) at him, which sticks to his hand. She then tugs the boat ashore, and each man pairs off with a woman, Bran with the leader. There are three times nine "couches" available for all of them.
During what seems to be one year's span, many more years have elapsed, while the men feast happily in the Land of Women, until Nechtán mac Collbrain feels homesickness stir within him. The leader of the women is reluctant to let them go, and cautions them not to step upon the shores of Ireland, and counsels them to retrieve the man left abandoned on the Island of Joy. The group nears the shores of Ireland, and Bran shouts his own name to the people gathered on shore, but they do not recognize the name except as ancient legend. Nechtán cannot restrain himself and jumps off the boat, but the moment he sets foot ashore he turns into ashes.
Bran and his company relate the rest of their story to the gathered people, and also hands over a written record of their voyage inscribed in ogam letters, and then sail across the sea, never to be seen again.
For example, both Bran's and Máel Dúin's voyagers reach an island of laughter or laughing people, and in each case a crew member is left abandoned. And the material may possibly have been borrowed by the Navigatio sancti Brendani abbatis, the Latin work on St. Brendan's voyage. Heinrich Zimmer contended that it led to the episode of the third latecomer being abducted by the demons (Navigatio 24), though Walter Haug [de] did not see this as an obvious parallel. A different episode open to comparison is Brendan's abandonment of one of the monks to the psalm-singing choirs (Navigatio 17), although the situation in Brendan's case is a happy one and contrastive to Bran.
Elsewhere, Bran is told of a tree with holy birds that all sing at the same time, similar to what Brendan encounters in his voyage, and Mael Duin encounters trees full of birds as well.
However, some scholars emphasise that commonality of the voyage is only a superficial similarity, since the true immrama are "exclusively ecclesiastical in inspiration" in contrast to the echtrae (including Bran's Voyage) whose central theme is the voyage to the Celtic Otherworld. However, there are also specific points of close similarity, because the immrama do "draw to a limited extent on the motifs of the native secular literate" (including the echtrae).
The stories are also similar in that at one point, one of the travellers is exorcised or left behind on an island, either by free will or as punishment for a sin.
But the parallel between the two figures is another point on which Celticists are of divided opinion. It is pointed out that if Manawydan fab Llŷr has an exact counterpart in Manannan mac Lir, then Brân has an Irish counterpart named Brón, though the latter is quite obscure.
The mention of the sea god Manannán producing a human scion (Mongan) is analogous to Poseidon having ten sons begotten on human mothers residing on Atlantis as described by Plato, according to Thomas Johnson Westropp. There is also a close resemblance between Atlantis being surrounded by concentric ringed walls made of metal (including orichalcum) and brazen ramparts around islands described in the immrama (Máel Dúin; Uí Corra), and some resemblance to the findruine or white bronze "feet" or pillars underpinning the land of Emain, which the mysterious woman sings of in the Voyage of Bran.
Alfred Nutt expressed scepticism over the notion that the Celtic Otherworld was founded on the Classical Greek Elysium, and contrasts the free-love milieu of the Land of Women in Bran's Voyage with Virgil's Elysium of chastity.
Carney (1976), p. 174. - Carney, James (1976), O'Meara, John J.; Naumann, Bernd (eds.), "The earliest Bran material", Latin Script and Letters AD 400–900. Festschrift presented to Ludwig Bieler on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Leiden: E. J. Brill, pp. 174–193, ISBN 9789004258235 https://books.google.com/books?id=2MQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA191
Olsen (2013), p. 58. - Olsen, Karin E. (2013), "Female Voices from the Otherworld : The Role of Women in the Early Irish Echtrai", Airy Nothings: Imagining the Otherworld of Faerie from the Middle Ages to the Age of Reason: Essays in Honour of Alasdair A. MacDonald, Brill, pp. 57–74, ISBN 9789004258235 https://books.google.com/books?id=JUNWAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA57
Carney (1976), p. 175. - Carney, James (1976), O'Meara, John J.; Naumann, Bernd (eds.), "The earliest Bran material", Latin Script and Letters AD 400–900. Festschrift presented to Ludwig Bieler on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Leiden: E. J. Brill, pp. 174–193, ISBN 9789004258235 https://books.google.com/books?id=2MQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA191
Thrall, William Flint (1923). Manly, John Matthews (ed.). Clerical Sea Pilgrimages and the Imrama. University of Chicago Press. p. 276 n2. ISBN 9780598933362. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) 9780598933362
Dillon, Myles (1948). Early Irish Literature p. 107 (pp. 101-130), apud Dumville (1976), p. 87 /wiki/Myles_Dillon
"List B", embedded in the story Airec menman Uraird maic Coisse.[6] The story is preserved in the manuscripts RIA 23 N. 10, Rawlinson B 512,and Harleian 5280.[7] /w/index.php?title=Airec_menman_Uraird_maic_Coisse&action=edit&redlink=1
Carney, James (1976). "The earliest Bran material" apud Dumville (1976), p. 86 - Dumville, David N. (1976). "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition". Ériu. 27: 73–94. JSTOR 30007669. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30007669
Carney (1976), p. 191. - Carney, James (1976), O'Meara, John J.; Naumann, Bernd (eds.), "The earliest Bran material", Latin Script and Letters AD 400–900. Festschrift presented to Ludwig Bieler on the occasion of his 70th birthday, Leiden: E. J. Brill, pp. 174–193, ISBN 9789004258235 https://books.google.com/books?id=2MQUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA191
Commonality with acquisition of otherworldly treasures, named in Welsh triads, as according to Carney.[11] /wiki/Welsh_triads
Dumville (1976), pp. 74–75. - Dumville, David N. (1976). "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition". Ériu. 27: 73–94. JSTOR 30007669. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30007669
Dumville (1976), pp. 74–75. - Dumville, David N. (1976). "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition". Ériu. 27: 73–94. JSTOR 30007669. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30007669
Mac Mathúna (1985). - Mac Mathúna, Séamus, ed. (1985). Immram Brain - Bran's Journey into the Land of the Women. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
Meyer (1895) (ed. tr.) The Voyage of Bran 1: 1–17. Nutt, Alfred. "Summary of Bran's Presentment of the Happy Otherworld" The Happy Otherworld in the Mythico-Romantic Literature of the Irish, 1: 141–143 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
¶2.Meyer (1895), 1: 1–5 . - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
eDIL s.v. "aball". http://www.dil.ie/40
Meyer (1895), p. 4, note 2. - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
The land is initially called Emain (¶3, ¶10) bu later given as Emne(¶19, ¶60).[18]
Immram Brain ¶3–30 (poem strophes). Meyer (1895), 1: 5–15 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Immram Brain ¶3–30 (poem strophes). Meyer (1895), 1: 5–15 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Dragonstone, or dragontia in Latin, is written of by Pliny, and supposedly occurs in brains of dragons.[20] Since its mentioned in Immram Brain ¶12 seems to suggest it washes up in the sea, one theory is that the Irish apparently associated it with amber.[21]
Immram Brain ¶3–30 (poem strophes). Meyer (1895), 1: 5–15 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Immram Brain¶31–32.Meyer (1895), 1: 16–17 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Immram Brain (poem strophes). Meyer (1895), 1: 16–29 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Immram Brain ¶61. Meyer (1895), 1: 28–31 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Immram Brain ¶62. Meyer (1895), 1: 30–31 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Immram Brain ¶62. Meyer (1895), 1: 30–31 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Immram Brain ¶63–65. Meyer (1895), 1: 32–35 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Immram Brain ¶66. Meyer (1895), 1: 34–35 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Strijbosch (2000), p. 155. - Strijbosch, Clara (2000). The Seafaring Saint: Sources and Analogues of the Twelfth Century Voyage of Saint Brendan. Translated by Summerfield, Thea. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 9781851824830. https://books.google.com/books?id=W5d0AAAAIAAJ&q=laughing
Strijbosch (2000), p. 156. - Strijbosch, Clara (2000). The Seafaring Saint: Sources and Analogues of the Twelfth Century Voyage of Saint Brendan. Translated by Summerfield, Thea. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 9781851824830. https://books.google.com/books?id=W5d0AAAAIAAJ&q=laughing
Strijbosch (2000), pp. 157, 170. - Strijbosch, Clara (2000). The Seafaring Saint: Sources and Analogues of the Twelfth Century Voyage of Saint Brendan. Translated by Summerfield, Thea. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 9781851824830. https://books.google.com/books?id=W5d0AAAAIAAJ&q=laughing
Meyer (1895) ¶7, pp. 6–7; Hamel (1941), p. 10 apud Carney (1986), p. 102 n63 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Selmer, ed. (1959) Navigatio pp. 22–25 apud Carney (1986), p. 102 n63 - —— (1986), "The Heavenly City in Saltair na Rann", Celtica, 18: 87–104 https://books.google.com/books?id=eUBiAAAAMAAJ&q=%22bird-covered+trees%22
Stokes (1888) Ch. XIX, p. 495; Hamel (1941), p. 39 apud Carney (1986), p. 102 n63 - Stokes, Whitley (1888), "The voyage of Mael Duin (chapters I–XIX)", Revue Celtique, 9: 447–495, archived from the original on 18 January 2010 https://archive.org/stream/revueceltique09pari#page/447/mode/2up
Dumville (1976), p. 82. - Dumville, David N. (1976). "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition". Ériu. 27: 73–94. JSTOR 30007669. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30007669
Dumville (1976), p. 82. - Dumville, David N. (1976). "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition". Ériu. 27: 73–94. JSTOR 30007669. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30007669
Dunn (1921), p. 447. - Dunn, Joseph (January 1921). "The Brendan problem". The Catholic Historical Review. 6 (4): 395–477. https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZlJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA447
Dumville (1976), p. 82. - Dumville, David N. (1976). "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition". Ériu. 27: 73–94. JSTOR 30007669. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30007669
Oskamp, Hans P. A. (1970). The Voyage of Máel Dúin. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff Publishing. pp. 101–179. /wiki/Hans_Oskamp
Mac Mathúna (1985). - Mac Mathúna, Séamus, ed. (1985). Immram Brain - Bran's Journey into the Land of the Women. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag.
Mackley (2008), pp. 56–57. - Mackley, Jude (2008). The Legend of St Brendan: A Comparative Study of the Latin and Anglo-Norman Versions. BRILL. ISBN 9789047442806. https://books.google.com/books?id=0O55DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57
Strijbosch (2000), p. 155. - Strijbosch, Clara (2000). The Seafaring Saint: Sources and Analogues of the Twelfth Century Voyage of Saint Brendan. Translated by Summerfield, Thea. Dublin: Four Courts Press. ISBN 9781851824830. https://books.google.com/books?id=W5d0AAAAIAAJ&q=laughing
Meyer (1895) ¶61 pp. 28–31 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Stokes (1889) Ch. 31, pp. 78–79 - —— (1889), "The voyage of Mael Duin (chapters XX–XXXIV)", Revue Celtique, 10: 52–72, archived from the original on 24 February 2011 https://archive.org/stream/revueceltiqu10pari#page/50/mode/2up
Mackley (2008), pp. 56–57. - Mackley, Jude (2008). The Legend of St Brendan: A Comparative Study of the Latin and Anglo-Norman Versions. BRILL. ISBN 9789047442806. https://books.google.com/books?id=0O55DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA57
Meyer (1895) ¶62 pp. 30–31 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Stokes (1889) Ch. 28, pp. 62–63 - —— (1889), "The voyage of Mael Duin (chapters XX–XXXIV)", Revue Celtique, 10: 52–72, archived from the original on 24 February 2011 https://archive.org/stream/revueceltiqu10pari#page/50/mode/2up
Stokes (1888), p. 449. - Stokes, Whitley (1888), "The voyage of Mael Duin (chapters I–XIX)", Revue Celtique, 9: 447–495, archived from the original on 18 January 2010 https://archive.org/stream/revueceltique09pari#page/447/mode/2up
Meyer (1895) ¶65 pp. 32–35 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Stokes (1888) Ch. 11, pp. 476–479 - Stokes, Whitley (1888), "The voyage of Mael Duin (chapters I–XIX)", Revue Celtique, 9: 447–495, archived from the original on 18 January 2010 https://archive.org/stream/revueceltique09pari#page/447/mode/2up
Carney (2007a), pp. 168ff and Carney (2007b) Ireland and the Grail, pp. 60–64 apud Sims-Williams.[45] - —— (2007a), Jankulak, Karen; Wooding, Jonathan M. (eds.), "Bran son of Febal and Brân son of Llŷr", Ireland and Wales in the Middle Ages, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 168–179, ISBN 9781851827480 https://books.google.com/books?id=SZFnAAAAMAAJ
Ford, Patrick K., ed., tr. (2019) [2008], "Branwen Daughter of Llŷr", The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales (2 ed.), Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 55, ISBN 9780520974661 9780520974661
Patrick Sims-Williams states that he himself is less persuaded than Carney about deriving the Welsh Brân from the Irish voyager. He also names Proinsias Mac Cana and Glyn E. Jones among skeptics, and Rachel Bromwich as proponent.
/wiki/Patrick_Sims-Williams
Sims-Williams, Patrick (2011), Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature, Oxford University Press, pp. 13–14 and n71, ISBN 978-0-19-958865-7 978-0-19-958865-7
Sims-Williams, Patrick (2011), Irish Influence on Medieval Welsh Literature, Oxford University Press, pp. 13–14 and n71, ISBN 978-0-19-958865-7 978-0-19-958865-7
Dunn (1921), p. 438. - Dunn, Joseph (January 1921). "The Brendan problem". The Catholic Historical Review. 6 (4): 395–477. https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZlJAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA447
Thrall, William Flint (1923). Manly, John Matthews (ed.). Clerical Sea Pilgrimages and the Imrama. University of Chicago Press. p. 276 n2. ISBN 9780598933362. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help) 9780598933362
Dumville (1976), p. 76. - Dumville, David N. (1976). "Echtrae and Immram: Some Problems of Definition". Ériu. 27: 73–94. JSTOR 30007669. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30007669
Westropp (1912–1913), p. 236. - Westropp, Thomas Johnson (1912–1913). "Brasil and the Legendary Islands of the North Atlantic: Their History and Fable. A Contribution to the 'Atlantis' Problem". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature. 30: 223–260. JSTOR 25502810. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25502810
Westropp (1912–1913), p. 236. - Westropp, Thomas Johnson (1912–1913). "Brasil and the Legendary Islands of the North Atlantic: Their History and Fable. A Contribution to the 'Atlantis' Problem". Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature. 30: 223–260. JSTOR 25502810. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25502810
Immram Brain ¶6/ Meyer (1895), pp. 6–7 - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up
Meyer (1895), 1: 290–291. - Meyer, Kuno (1895), Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living, vol. 2 vols., Alfred Nutt (summary), London: D. Nutt https://archive.org/details/voyageofbransono01meye/page/16/mode/2up