Maxen Wledig's expedition to Britain and Rome

Maxen Wledig's expedition to Britain and Rome turns a dream of an unknown woman into a journey across the world, a marriage that redraws authority in Britain, and a military return to Rome. Its course is driven first by Maxen's longing for the woman he has seen, then by the danger of remaining abroad beyond seven years; its decisive reversal comes when Helen Luyddawc's brothers, Kynan and Adeon, take the city that Maxen's army has besieged for a year.

The Dream and the Search

The expedition begins with Maxen waking from a dream in which he has seen and embraced a beautiful maiden. The awakening ends the vision, but not its hold over him: he feels that neither life nor spirit remains in him because of her. For a week he withdraws from the ordinary company of his household, refusing wine, mead, songs, and tales, and doing little but sleep. Whenever he sleeps, the maiden returns; awake, he has no knowledge of where she can be found.

The Roman people begin to revile their emperor because he gives them neither messages nor answers. A page of the chamber confronts him with this public consequence, and Maxen summons the wise men of Rome to explain his sorrow. They advise him to send messengers for three years through the three parts of the world, reasoning that the hope of news might sustain him. After a year the messengers return without learning anything, and Maxen fears that he will never find the woman he loves.

A further suggestion changes the search from a broad inquiry into a journey retracing the dream. Maxen goes hunting by the route he seemed to travel in it and recognizes the riverbank where the vision began; he had followed the river westward toward its source. Thirteen messengers then set out as envoys, each wearing one sleeve over the front of his cap as a sign of his office and, in hostile lands, a protection against harm. Their route leads over a mountain that seems to reach the sky, across plains and rivers, and down to a great river, a vast city, and a many-coloured castle with high towers. A large fleet lies in the harbour, including a ship greater than the others. The envoys recognize these places as features of Maxen's dream, cross the sea to the Island of Britain, and travel by Snowdon, Anglesey, and Arvon to the castle at Aber Sain.

Inside the castle hall, the dream's details resolve into actual people and objects: two youths play chess on a golden bench, a hoary-headed man carves chessmen in an ivory chair, and the maiden sits in a chair of ruddy gold. The envoys greet her as the Empress of Rome and explain that Maxen has seen her in sleep and has lost his life and spirit for love of her. They offer her the choice of going with them to become empress or having Maxen come to seek her. She refuses to accept the proposal merely on their assurance: if he loves her, she says, he must come himself.

Marriage and Rule in Britain

The envoys return to Rome by day and night, replacing their horses when they fail. They identify the maiden's name, kindred, and race to Maxen and offer to guide him to her. He immediately sets out with an army. On the way to Arvon he conquers the Island of Britain from Beli son of Manogan and his sons, driving them to the sea. When he reaches Aber Sain, he recognizes the castle and enters its hall. There he finds Kynan and Adeon, sons of Eudav, playing chess; Eudav son of Caradawc sits carving chessmen; and the woman from his dream waits in the golden chair. Maxen greets her as empress, embraces her, and marries her that night.

The following morning Helen Luyddawc asks for her maiden portion. She requests the Island of Britain for her father, from the Channel to the Irish Sea, together with the three adjacent islands, to be held under the empress of Rome. She also asks for three principal castles at places of her own choosing. The highest is to stand at Arvon. Earth is brought from Rome so that it will be more healthful for Maxen to sleep, sit, and walk upon; the other castles are built at Caerlleon upon Usk and Caermarthen. The marriage thus joins Maxen's imperial authority to Helen's claims and choices in Britain rather than leaving the island only as territory taken in the campaign.

The story also associates Helen with the construction of roads. While hunting at Caermarthen, Maxen reaches the top of Brevi Vawr and pitches his tent there; the encampment is called Cadeir Maxen. Caervyrddin is built with a myriad of men. Helen then arranges for roads to run between the castles throughout the island. They are called the roads of Helen Luyddawc because she descends from a native of the island, and, the narrative adds, the Britons would not have made such great roads for anyone else. Her role in the expedition's aftermath therefore extends from securing a territorial grant to shaping the routes that connect its new strongholds.

The Seven-Year Limit and Return to Rome

Maxen remains in Britain for seven years. The delay matters because Roman custom holds that an emperor who stays in foreign lands for more than seven years will meet his own overthrow and never return to Rome. During his absence the Romans appoint a new emperor, who sends Maxen a threatening letter whose only words challenge him to come to Rome. Maxen answers in kind with a letter that makes his own return conditional and defiant. The brief exchange turns a private, dream-driven absence into an explicit contest over the imperial seat.

Maxen marches toward Rome, conquering France and Burgundy and every land along the way, then lays siege to the city. The siege lasts a year without bringing him closer to taking Rome than he was on the first day. At that point Helen's brothers arrive from the Island of Britain with a small force. The account emphasizes the quality rather than the size of their host: its warriors are better than twice as many Romans, and it is described as exceptionally handsome and well equipped, with striking standards. Helen recognizes those standards and goes to see the army; Kynan and Adeon come to meet Maxen, who welcomes them and embraces them.

The Capture of Rome and the Brothers' Division

Kynan judges that the Roman assault can be carried out more skilfully. He and Adeon measure the height of the city wall at night and send their carpenters to make ladders, one for every four men in their force. They exploit the regular pause in the fighting: each day at midday, both sides stop while the emperors take their meal. The Britons eat in the morning and drink until invigorated; while the two emperors are at dinner, they bring their ladders to the city and climb inside.

The new emperor has no time to arm himself. The attackers kill him and many others, then spend three days and three nights subduing the city's defenders and taking the castle. Some remain to hold the city against any of Maxen's troops who might enter before the Britons have brought it entirely under control. The capture is therefore not simply a battlefield victory for Maxen's army: the narrative makes the British contingent the force that opens and secures Rome.

When Maxen wonders why Helen's brothers have not conquered the city for him, she tells him to go and ask for it. Kynan and Adeon reply that the city belongs to neither the man who claims it nor anyone who might grant it to him: the men of the Island of Britain have taken it. They then open Rome's gates. Maxen sits on the throne, and the Romans submit to him. Having recovered his whole empire, he gives the brothers the host to conquer whichever regions they wish.

Their subsequent campaigns reveal the cost and duration of this delegated conquest. They take lands, castles, and cities, kill the men, and spare the women. The young men who came with them grow grey-haired during the long years away. Eventually Kynan asks Adeon whether he would rather remain in the conquered lands or return to the country from which they came. Adeon chooses to go home, taking many with him; Kynan stays behind with the rest. The expedition's ending thus separates the brothers: Rome is restored to Maxen, but the British force does not return home as one body.