days, dying there on November 14, a.d. 612. His relics were removed from the island and placed in Llandaff in a.d. 1120. An interesting point is that medieval legends name Dyfrig as the archbishop who crowned Arthur as king.

Bean Sídhe

[I] Popularly known in English as “banshee.” Literally, “woman of the hills,” or, in modern usage, “women of the fairies.” After the gods went underground and were transformed, in popular mind, to fairies, the banshee became a female fairy attached to a particular family; she warned of approaching death by giving an eerie wail.

Bebhionn

[I] A beautiful giantess, daughter of Treon of the Land of Maidens, who was promised to Aedh against her will and sought help from Fionn Mac Cumhail and the Fianna. Aedh slew her.

Bebo

[I] Wife of Iubdan of the Faylinn, or Little People. She had an affair with the king of Ulster.

Bécuma

[I] She dwelt in the Land of Promise and had an affair with Gaiar, son of Manannán Mac Lir. Because of this she was banished to the human world, where she persuaded Conn of the Hundred Battles to take her as his wife. She grew jealous of his son Art and tried to get him banished.

Bedwini

[W] Arthur’s bishop, mentioned in the “Dream of Rhonabwy.”

Bedwyr

[W] A warrior of Arthur’s court who accompanies Culhwch in his search for Olwen and wounds the giant Ysbaddaden. He appears in the later forms of the Arthurian tales as Sir Bedivere.

Bel

See Belenus.

Belenus

Gaulish god cognate with Bel, Belinos, Beli, and Bíle in Ireland and Britain. Caesar compared Belenus to Apollo and treated him as a solar god, dispenser of light, and a healer. The find at Trunholm shows him conveying a solar disc on his horse-drawn chariot. Numerous sanctuaries and places were named after him, and his image appeared on many Gaulish coins.

There are many places in Europe named after Belenus. In London we have the survival of Belinos’ or Bíle’s Gate, which has come down to us as the famous Billingsgate. His name is also to be found in personal names such as that of one of the most notable Celtic kings of Britain before the Roman invasion—Cunobelinus—Cuno (Hound of) Belinos. Shakespeare has given him greater fame as Cymbeline. See also Beltaine.