Breca the Bronding

Breca (sometimes spelled Breoca) was a Bronding who, according to the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, was Beowulf’s childhood friend. Breca defeated Beowulf in what, by consensus, is described as a swimming match.

While dining, Unferth alludes to the story of their contest as a reproach to Beowulf’s impulsiveness and foolhardiness, and Beowulf then relates it in detail, explaining how he needed to stop and defeat multiple sea monsters (nicors) during the match, so, although he arrived at the goal after Breca, his was the more worthy journey.

In line 522 of Beowulf, Breca is identified as lond Brondinga (“of the Brondings’ land”). Breca is also mentioned in Widsith, an Anglo-Saxon poem (also known, usually by the translations of Benjamin Thorpe, as The Skôp, or The Gleema’s Tale, or The Skald’s Tale) known only from a 10th Century copy, as the ruler (in some unspecified previous century) of the Brondings (line 25 of Widsith):

This is presumably the same Breca as mentioned in Beowulf. In Beowulf, Breca is further identified, in line 524, as sunu Bēanstānes (“Beanstan’s son”), as if the name Breca and the mention of Beanstan would be familiar enough to Unferth’s audience to adequately identify him (although Beanstan is not otherwise mentioned in any surviving document ).

It was long ago theorized that the Brondings and Breca lived on the island of Brännö outside of modern Gothenburg (the second largest city in Sweden). On the other hand, from the mention in Widsith, with the Brondings mentioned immediately before the Wernas (and the Wernas supposedly being the Varini on the Elbe), it has been suggested that the Brondings might have located near them, perhaps in Mecklenburg or Pomerania. It has even been suggested that the Brondings, whose name suggests the crashing of waves, are entirely mythical.

Some scholars have debated whether Beowulf and Breca competed in a swimming match or a rowing match. Ambiguities in the translation of Beowulf have left scholars with multiple interpretations for the Beowulf-Breca “swimming” episode. Karl P. Wentersdorf of Xavier University writes, “An adventure in which two youths spend seven days and nights swimming at sea is more than extraordinary, particularly since they are carrying heavy iron swords and wearing cumbersome coats of chain mail.” Such a remarkable feat would not, however, be very incongruous with the poem’s other portrayals of Beowulf’s heroic prowess. Unferth describes this as a foolhardy contest or race, but when Beowulf offers his own version of events, it becomes a youthful confidence-building or team-building shared challenge, much like a camping or mountaineering trip, in which the two participants endeavored to stay together rather than one leave the other far behind.

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Wikipedia