Brangien

Family: Ireland · Role: maid · First appears: Chapter 3 · Part 2

In Chapter 3, Brangien travels with Iseult as her maid, alongside Perinis, and helps find Tristan alive and carry him secretly to safety. In Chapter 4, she receives the love potion and promises to reserve it for King Mark and Iseult, but discovers that Iseult and Tristan have drunk it instead: “Iseult, my friend, and Tristan, you, you have drunk death together.” She throws the remaining pitcher into the sea.

On the wedding night in Chapter 5, Brangien takes Iseult’s place in the marriage bed to save her friend. She warns Iseult and Tristan when King Mark watches them, then finds Tristan and teaches him a secret signaling device; at peril to herself, she also reaches the house where he lies, and Gorvenal welcomes her, knowing the salvation she can bring. In Chapter 12, Tristan secretly places the fairy dog in her hands for the Queen, and Brangien later throws its magic bell into the sea. By Chapter 14, Iseult calls her “dear sister.”

Relationship record

Life events

• Iseult, Perinis, and Brangien find Tristan alive and secretly carry him to safety.(Chapter 3 · Part 2)
  • With: Iseult Perinis Tristan
  • “They sought him long, Iseult and Perinis and Brangien together, till at last Brangien saw the helm glittering in the marshy grass: and Tristan still breathed. Perinis put him on his horse and bore him secretly to the women’s rooms.”
• Brangien receives the love potion and promises to reserve it for King Mark and Iseult to drink together.(Chapter 4 · Part 1)
  • With: King Mark Iseult
  • “And Brangien promised the Queen that she would do her bidding.”
• Brangien discovers the potion was consumed and reveals that Iseult and Tristan have drunk death together.(Chapter 4 · Part 1)
  • With: Iseult Tristan
  • “Cursed be the day I was born and cursed the day that first I trod this deck. Iseult, my friend, and Tristan, you, you have drunk death together.”
• Brangien throws the remaining potion pitcher into the sea.(Chapter 4 · Part 1)
  • “she snatched it up and cast it into the shuddering sea”
• Brangien secretly took Iseult’s place in the marriage bed.(Chapter 5 · Part 1)
  • With: Iseult
  • “But on the wedding night, to save her friend, Brangien took her place in the darkness, for her remorse demanded even this from her; nor was the trick discovered.”
• Brangien finds Tristan and teaches him a secret signaling device to save the lovers.(Chapter 5 · Part 2)
  • With: Tristan
  • “So she found Tristan, and to save the lovers she taught him a device, nor was ever known a more subtle ruse of love.”
• Tristan secretly sends the fairy dog to Brangien for the Queen.(Chapter 12 · Part 1 · 📍 Tintagel)
  • With: Tristan
  • “having come there put it secretly into Brangien’s hands”
• The fairy dog’s bell is thrown into the sea, ending its power to relieve sorrow.(Chapter 12 · Part 1)
  • “And she took the magic bell and shook it just a little, and then by the open window she threw it into the sea.”

Chapter 3 · Part 2

• employer: Iseult “she took with her Perinis her squire and Brangien her maid”

Chapter 4 · Part 1

• friends with Iseult “Cursed be the day I was born and cursed the day that first I trod this deck. Iseult, my friend, and Tristan, you, you have drunk death together.”
• friends with Tristan “For that bad ward I kept take here my body and my life, for through me and in that cup you have drunk not love alone, but love and death together.”

Chapter 5 · Part 1

• friends with Iseult “But on the wedding night, to save her friend, Brangien took her place in the darkness, for her remorse demanded even this from her; nor was the trick discovered.”
• with Tristan (Brangien acts as a protector and confidante of Tristan and Iseult.) “Then King Mark watched the Queen and Tristan; but Brangien noting it warned them both and the King watched in vain,”

Chapter 5 · Part 2

• with Iseult (Brangien succoured Iseult.) “Now these lovers would have died, but Brangien succoured them.”
• with Tristan (Brangien aided Tristan with a device.) “So she found Tristan, and to save the lovers she taught him a device, nor was ever known a more subtle ruse of love.”
• with Gorvenal (Gorvenal welcomed Brangien.) “There Gorvenal opened to her very gladly, knowing what salvation she could bring.”
• with Gorvenal (Gorvenal receives Brangien while she brings aid to Tristan and Iseult.) “At peril of her life she found the house where Tristan lay. There Gorvenal opened to her very gladly, knowing what salvation she could bring.”

Chapter 12 · Part 1

• with Tristan (Tristan’s gift is conveyed to Brangien through the Welsh harper.) “Then Tristan took the little fairy dog and gave it in ward to a Welsh harper, who was cunning and who bore it to Cornwall till he came to Tintagel, and having come there put it secretly into Brangien’s hands”

Chapter 14 · Part 1

• employer: Iseult (Brangien is identified as Iseult's maid.) “But where,” said he, “is Iseult, the Queen, and her fair maid, Brangien?”

Chapter 14 · Part 2

• siblings with Iseult “Why was I born? Brangien, dear sister, life is so hard to me that death were better!”

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Extracted from the original text of The Romance of Tristan and Iseult. Made with Rho MD.