Harlech plays a role in Medieval Welsh mythological literature. In the second branch of the Mabinogi “Branwen, Daughter of Llŷr,” Harlech is the seat of Bendigeidfran, Branwen’s brother and king of the “Isle of the Mighty.” Towards the ending of the tale, the seven survivors of the war between the Irish and the Welsh are requested by the wounded Bendigeidfran to have his head cut off and carried to Gwynfryn in London. As instructed the seven men first return to Harlech and feast for seven years, entertained by the three birds of Rhiannon, and later spend another eighty years at Gwales. The otherworldly feasting at Harlech and Gwales, with boundless supply of food and drink, heavenly music, and the absence of grief and sorrow, is known in the early Welsh tradition as “The Assembly of the Noble Head.”
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