The Dream of Maxen

Maxen was the emperor of Rome, possibly related to the historical Maxentius who reigned AD 306-312.

Maxen decided to go on a hunting trip until noon, when he grew tired and decided to sleep. In his dream, he travelled on a boat, through rivers and sea, until he arrived in Britain. There he saw a castle, which he entered, and saw two young men playing a board game while a white-haired man carved golden chess-pieces for the board game called gwyddbwyll. Maxen also saw the most beautiful maiden he had ever seen, sitting on a golden chair.

Maxen became depressed the moment he woke up. He had fallen in love with the girl he saw in his dream. After a while, his chamberlain became concerned for his emperor's well being, and discovered that Maxen was suffering from longing and desire for the girl in his dream. The chamberlain and his advisers suggested that they would try to find the girl for their emperor.

For a whole year they tried to find the girl without success, so they asked the emperor where the dream began. The emperor took his followers to a riverbank, where the dream began. His followers followed the river until they came to a ship. Seeing that Maxen's dream was true, they boarded the ship and sailed along the river, then out to the sea. They came to Britain where they discovered the castle in Maxen's dream. They found the man carving gwyddbwyll pieces and the woman whom they had been searching for.

Maxen's followers greeted the maiden by hailing her as the empress of Rome. The girl thought they were mocking her until they told her of their emperor's dream. She only agreed to marry Maxen if he came to her.

Maxen arrived to find the girl in his dream. The maiden was named Elen, daughter of Eudav. Her brothers were Kynan and Avaon, who were playing gwyddbwyll. Elen agreed to the marriage if Maxen would give her father the British Isles to rule. She also wanted three strongholds in Britain – Arvon, Caer Llion (Caerleon on Usk) and Caer Vryddin (Carmarthen).

Maxen spent seven years living in Britain, when a pretender took Rome and proclaimed himself as Emperor of Rome. Maxen decided to reclaim his throne in Rome, and set out with a small British force. Maxen laid siege to Rome, but experienced difficulty in capturing the Roman capital.

Elen's brothers devised a plan to capture Rome. They constructed a siege ladder to scale the wall, while the new emperor was having his midday meal. Kynan and Avaon killed the new emperor, and Rome surrendered to Maxen after three days of heavy fighting in the city.

Maxen rewarded Elen's brothers with command of the army. They conquered Brittany, killing all the men, while they cut off all the women's tongues to prevent contamination of the British language. The people of Brittany became known as Bryttanyeid.