Bren [bren] as a girls' name (also used as boys' name Bren) is of Old Norse, Gaelic and Welsh derivation, and the name Bren means sword; little drop of water; raven or black-haired; hill. Bren is an alternate form of Brenda (Old Norse): related to the English word brand. Bren is also a variant of Brenna (Gaelic).
This was a widespread epidemic of the Bubonic Plague that passed from Asia and through Europe in the mid fourteenth century. The first signs of the Black Plague in Europe were present around the fall of 1347. In the span of three years, the Black Death killed one third of all the people in Europe. This traumatic population change coming into the Late Middle Ages caused great changes in European culture and lifestyle.
The first catastrophic epidemic of the plague during the late Middle Ages has become known as the Black Death. It apparently originated in Asia and moved westward along the trade routes, entering Europe in 1347 during a period of inadequate harvests, when the poor had little natural resistance to combat the disease.