Hafren (or Sabre, Sabren, or Sabrina; cy, Hafren; owl, Habren) is a legendary British princess who was drowned in the

River Severn , name_etymology = , image = SevernFromCastleCB.JPG , image_size = 288 , image_caption = The river seen from Shrewsbury Castle , map = RiverSevernMap.jpg , map_size = 288 , map_c ...

by her repudiated stepmother

Gwendolen Gwendolen () is a feminine given name, in general use only since the 19th century. It has come to be the standard English form of Latin '' Guendoloena'', which was first used by Geoffrey of Monmouth as the name of a legendary British queen in hi ...

. The legend appears in

Geoffrey of Monmouth Geoffrey of Monmouth ( la, Galfridus Monemutensis, Galfridus Arturus, cy, Gruffudd ap Arthur, Sieffre o Fynwy; 1095 – 1155) was a British cleric from Monmouth, Wales and one of the major figures in the development of British historiography ...

's pseudohistorical chronicle ''

Historia Regum Britanniae ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (''The History of the Kings of Britain''), originally called ''De gestis Britonum'' (''On the Deeds of the Britons''), is a pseudohistorical account of British history, written around 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth. I ...

'' (). According to Geoffrey, Hafren is the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

of the Severn, which bears one of Britain's most ancient

river name A hydronym (from el, ὕδρω, , "water" and , , "name") is a type of toponym that designates a proper name of a body of water. Hydronyms include the proper names of rivers and streams, lakes and ponds, swamps and marshes, seas and oceans. As a ...

s (recorded as early as the

2nd century The 2nd century is the period from 101 ( CI) through 200 ( CC) in accordance with the Julian calendar. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period. Early in the century, the Roman Empire attained its greatest e ...

in the Latinized form ''

Sabrina Sabrina may refer to: * Sabrina (given name), a feminine given name, including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name People * Sabrina (actress), stage name of Norma Ann Sykes (1936–2016), a British glamour model and actres ...

'').

''Historia regum Britanniae''

's ''Historia regum Britanniae'' (History of the Kings of Britain, ),

Habren Hafren (or Sabre, Sabren, or Sabrina; cy, Hafren; owl, Habren) is a legendary British princess who was drowned in the River Severn by her repudiated stepmother Gwendolen. The legend appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudohistorical chroni ...

was the beautiful daughter of King Locrin of the

Britons British people or Britons, also known colloquially as Brits, are the citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown dependencies.: British nationality law governs mod ...

by his secret lover, a Germanic princess named

Estrildis Estrildis was the beloved mistress of King Locrinus of the Britons and the mother of his daughter Habren, according to the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth. Mediaeval literature In Geoffrey's pseudohistorical ''Historia Regum Britan ...

. Her mother had been abducted by

Humber the Hun Humber the Hun was a legendary king of so-called "Huns" who, according to Gafridian legend, invaded the British Isles in about the 12th century BC. His people successfully conquered Scotia but he himself was drowned during his campaign against S ...

and brought to Britain during their invasion following King

Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC), often referred to simply as Brutus, was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Serv ...

' death; eventually the Hun invasion was suppressed by Locrin, Brutus' eldest son, who fell in love with Estrildis upon discovering her in one of Humber's ships. Locrin had been forced into a " diplomatic" marriage to Gwendolen, the daughter of King Corineus of Cornwall, but upon the death of Corineus, Locrin divorced her and made Estrildis his queen—thereby legitimizing Habren. Locrin's scorned first wife, the mother of his heir

Maddan Maddan was a legendary king of the Britons as accounted by Geoffrey of Monmouth. He was the son of King Locrinus and Queen Gwendolen, who both ruled Britain separately. He was born during the reign of Locrinus but soon after, his grandfather Corin ...

, raised a Cornish army against him, defeated him in battle, and had his widow and daughter drowned in the River Severn:

For wendolencommanded Estrildis and her daughter Sabre to be thrown into the river now called the Severn, and published an edict though all Britain, that the river should bear the damsel's name, hoping by this to perpetuate her memory, and by that the infamy of her husband. So that to this day the river is called in the British tongue Sabren, which by the corruption of the name is nanother language Sabrina.
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''Historia'' (revised and corrected by Giles, 1842)]

Welsh legends

A different version of the story is recorded in a 1616 manuscript by Oliver Matthews. In this version, Hafren's mother Estrildis is called Sŵs-wên, and

Locrinus Locrinus was a legendary king of the Britons, as recounted by the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his ''Historia Regum Britanniae''. According to Geoffrey, Locrinus was the oldest son of Brutus and Innogen, and a descendant of ...

builds the town of

Caersws Caersws ( cy, Caersŵs; ) is a village and community on the River Severn, in the Welsh county of Powys (Montgomeryshire) west of Newtown, and halfway between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. It has a station on the Cambrian Line from Aberystwyth t ...

for her around 1086 BC, where she gives birth to Hafren (called Haverwen or Havfren) out of wedlock. Locrinus marries Sŵs-wên after the death of

Corineus Corineus, in medieval British legend, was a prodigious warrior, a fighter of giants, and the eponymous founder of Cornwall. ''History of the Kings of Britain'' In Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudo-history '' History of the Kings of Britain'' (1 ...

, causing

to raise an army and kill Locrinus. Gwendolen then travels to Caersws, razes it to the ground, kills both Sŵs-wên and Haverwen, and throws their bodies into the River Severn, which the Britons then name Haverne after Haverwen. It claims that the Romans later called them Eistride and Sabrina or Severne. According to local legends reported by the antiquarian

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales. As a naturalist he h ...

, Hafren was drowned at

Dolforwyn Castle Dolforwyn Castle ( cy, Castell Dolforwyn) is a Welsh medieval castle above the village of Abermule, Powys. The fortification was established by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Gwynedd in the late 13th century. It is sited on a wooded ridge com ...

; literally means in Welsh. Richard Williams Morgan drew on the previous two stories, and expanded them in ''The British Kymry'' (1857). In it, Locrinus builds a palace for Estrildis (also known as Susa) at Caersws, where he concealed her for seven years with the help of his brother

Camber Camber may refer to a variety of curvatures and angles: * Camber angle, the angle made by the wheels of a vehicle * Camber beam, an upward curvature of a joist to compensate for load deflection due in buildings * Camber thrust in bike technology * ...

. Hafren (called Sabra) is born, and is even more beautiful than Estrildis, rivalling her ancestor

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

(Locrinus was a descendant of

Aeneas In Greco-Roman mythology, Aeneas (, ; from ) was a Trojan hero, the son of the Trojan prince Anchises and the Greek goddess Aphrodite (equivalent to the Roman Venus). His father was a first cousin of King Priam of Troy (both being grandsons ...

, son of Venus). When Corineus dies, Gwendolen's army fights Locrinus' forces at the River Stour, and after killing him hurries to Caersws and sizes Estrildis and Sabra. She orders Estrildis to be killed immediately, but was "so moved by the supernatural loveliness of Sabra, that many days elapsed before she could be persuaded to condemn her to death". Sabra was then taken to a meadow (, ) by Gwendolen's guards, and cast into the River Severn.

In literature

The Welsh tale of Hafren (variously referred to as Averne, Sabre, Sabren, Sabrina, etc.) was adapted by Milton for his

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...

Comus In Greek mythology, Comus (; grc, Κῶμος, ''Kōmos'') is the god of festivity, revels and nocturnal dalliances. He is a son and a cup-bearer of the god Dionysus. He was represented as a winged youth or a child-like satyr and represents ana ...

'' (1634), in which the following verses are addressed to the

water nymph In Greek mythology, the naiads (; grc-gre, ναϊάδες, naïádes) are a type of female spirit, or nymph, presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water. They are distinct from river gods, who ...

"Sabrina": The Romanized form Sabrina was also used by Edmund Spenser in his poem ''

The Faerie Queene ''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...

'' (1590).

In art

Several statues of Sabrina were made, including by Peter Hollins (1846), Holme Cardwell (1865), three by

William Calder Marshall William Calder Marshall ARSA (18 March 1813 – 16 June 1894) was a Scottish sculpture, sculptor. Life He was born at Gilmour Place in Edinburgh, the eldest son of William Marshall a goldsmith with a shop at 1 South Bridge and his wife Annie C ...

(including Amherst College's Statue of Sabrina), John Graham Lough, and others.

References

External links