Bran (Bróen)

Bran (Bróen) (d. 1052), son of Máel-mórda and overking of Leinster 1016–18, belonged to the Uí Fháeláin lineage of the Uí Dúnlainge dynasty. His father Máel-mórda (qv), who had held the overkingship of Leinster, was slain in the battle of Clontarf (1014). He had at least one brother, Cerball. Bran succeeded his father in the kingship of Uí Fháeláin (in the north of the present Co. Kildare), and claimed the provincial title following the assassination (1016) of his distant cousin, Donn-cuan son of Dúnlaing (qv). Two years later, Bran was captured and blinded by Sitriuc Silkbeard (qv), king of Dublin, while Cerball was slain in treacherous circumstances the same year. Although the Annals of the Four Masters (following the regnal list) claim that Bran died as a result of his ordeal, it would appear that he in fact survived. He is almost certainly to be identified (as John O'Donovan (qv) indeed suggested) with the Bran son of Máel-mórda who passed away, apparently in religious retirement, at the Irish monastery in Cologne (1052). Bran left at least two sons, one of whom was named Cellach. In 1041 the sons of Bran slew two of their father's first cousins to regain the local kingship. Through Cellach, Bran became the eponymous ancestor of the family line of Ua Brain (O'Byrne), the surname of many later kings of the Uí Fháeláin lineage.