User:Cuchullain/Macsen

The Dream of Macsen (Breuddwyd Macsen) is a Welsh prose tale dating to the 12th century. It survives in two later manuscripts, the White Book of Rhydderch and the Red Book of Hergest, and has been associated with the collection known as the Mabinogion since its publication in the 19th century. The Macsen or Maxen Wledic of the title is the historical Magnus Maximus, a 4th-century usurper of the Western Roman Empire. A general stationed in Britain when he was declared emperor by his troops, Magnus cast a long shadow in British tradition, which remembered him as the man who denuded Britain of its defenses in pursuit of his imperial ambitions.

The text casts Macsen Wledic as the rightful Roman Emperor, who comes to Britain in pursuit of a woman, Elen Luyddog, whom he sees in a dream vision.