Gawain the Brown

We begin our family genealogy and sociology excursion by considering a Brown who was contemporary with the Court of King Arthur. Gawain the Brown (Gauvain li Brun) or Gawain du/des Brun/Brown (almost identical pronunciation and with same meaning) is, according to the French literature, a knight in the existing fragments of the Enfances Gawain. He was the one who christened the infant Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew, and names him after himself. A character who corresponds in part appears in the Perlesvaus (Perceval). A hermit named Gawain appears in the Mort d’Artu (and receives slight mention in the English Stanzaic Morte Arthur and in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur). The corresponding character in the Life of Saint Gregory is the “old knight”. There is only a hint of this character in De ortu Waluuanii.

The story elaborates that when Queen Anna gives birth to a son, she and King Lot (who is present at the birth) give the child to Anna’s handmaid. The handmaid meets with Gawain the Brown. Gawain the Brown knows that the child carried by the handmaid cannot be hers, and she being childless, he asks for the child. The handmaid is moved by this plea, gives the child to Gawain the Brown promising that she will marry Gawain the Brown as soon as the child is baptized. So Gawain the Brown baptized (christened) the infant and gives his own name to him. He took special care of the rich, embroidered shawl of Thessalonian cloth in which the infant was wrapped.

When the child's safety was in danger, Gawain the Brown put him into a barrel and placed the barrel adrift in the sea. In the barrel he also placed a letter in a draw-string bag which said the child was of noble birth, as well as including in the barrel a ring which had belonged to the child’s father Lot, a buckle which had belonged to the child’s mother Anna, the rich cloth in which the infant had been wrapped, and a large sum of money. The barrel was eventually found by a childless fisherman who accepted the young Gawain as his son.

However, the boy showed no interest whatsoever in learning fishering skills or in helping the fisherman at his work. Eventually the fisherman became gravely ill, and vowed to go on a pilgrimage to Rome if God would heal him. On recovering, the fisherman fulfilled his vow, taking young Gawain with him. On their way the fisherman, for the first time, discovers the letter in the draw-string bag and has a clerk read it and so learns that his adopted son is born of high birth, that he should be brought up to be a knight and be given the ring and buckle. By the ring the child will recognize his father, and by the buckle the child will recognize his mother.

Once in Rome, the fisherman gains a private audience with the Pope and tells him the contents of the letter. The Pope adopts the boy as his nephew and has the boy trained to become a knight. The Pope plans to give the ring, buckle, cloth, and letter to his adopted nephew when it is time for him to become a knight.

Meanwhile, Anna arranges the marriage of her handmaid to Gawain the Brown.

Gawain the Brown was probably an early member of the Brown family as seems likely since this was a way of referring to one who wore brown clothing or religious vestments. Though this story is legendary, it is likely that there were a few other Gawain the Browns at that time just as there are many John Browns today. No doubt there were some Galahad the Browns and maybe some Mungo, or Kentigern, the Browns as well. There may have been more Galahad the Crimsons, of cardinal importance in society then, than there were people identified through their association with the color Brown. However, this does not negate those for whom Gawain the Brown was a family archetype. Just as there were Taylors, Coulters, Grays, Leggs, Sweets/Swetes, Carr/Carroll, Whites, Louis/Lewis and other surnames in existence at other place names associated with the Grail at that time and other then future historical periods in which the Grail story was told and written down. For instance most clan cities and towns need a Slaughterer and this has been true for the entire life of the legend of the Holy Grail. At most of the banquets where the Grail was said to have appeared there would probably have been more on the menu than a wafer for guests of the Fisher King. And Gawain and Mungo, his cousin (footnote 11), lived at the time the Grail was associated with the court of Perceval's uncle, the Fisher King, and the legends of King Arthur.

 

Gawain the Brown may have worn reddish brown vestments when he christened Sir Gawain. Perhaps he was ruddy complected himself? Beamish and O'Hanlon among others say that Saint Brendan, at about the time Gawain the Brown lived, sailed to North America. British legend says his ancestors in the first century AD traveled from the Holy Land to France in a boat without sails or oars before some of them continued to Great Britain. Can you imagine that! They must have been tempted at times to jump out of the boat.

Enjoy a fine selection by the Jody Brown Indian Family while you think about today's blog. Maybe you agree with what I've suggested. Maybe you disagree. Hopefully, we can agree to disagree amicably if we must.