Today's post will leave the realm of genetics and population statistics, which have been the subject of my last series of posts, and return to the Medieval voyages that plied the Atlantic, some by chance, others driven by storms, others to expand Christian faith; today I will write about Saint Brendan.
Saint Brendan
Brendan, who was later known as the Navigator, was born in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland c.484 AD. His biography and adventures were set down in paper roughly three centuries after his death in a text called Navigate Sancti Brendani Abbatis, (The Voyages of St. Brendan the Abbot).
Brendan was brought up to be a Catholic. Saint Patrick, who contributed to the erradication of the heathen in Eire had died 10 years before Brendan's birth. Brendan entered the cloister, founded a monastery in Clonfert, Ireland (click for map), where he served as abbot.
He was eager to expand the faith, and after a monk named Berrind visited Clonfert, his missionary zeal increased. Berrind told Brendan and his monks that he had sailed west in the company of a hermit named Mernocatus in search of the Promised Land of the Saints. They reached "A spacious, grassy, and fertile land.. and resolved to explore it, which we did for about fifteen days, as it seemed to us, without being able to find its ends. We found no plant without flowers nor tree without fruit. The stones there are precious. After the fifteenth day, we came to a river that flowed from the east towards the west. We hesitated about what we should do and finally decided to cross it." But there they met a man who told them not to ford it, that it cut the island in two, and that they should return home. They sailed back to Ireland.
Brendan decided to visit this land, and he chose fourteen monks from his abbey, went west and built a ship. Just as they were going to set sail, they were approached by three strange monks, who asked to go with them. Brendan took them on board, but in a dark omen warned that only two would return home from the voyage. (Source)
The Ship
St. Brendan's men built their vessel as follows: "They then took their tools and built a small boat using wood from the nearby forest, as was the custom in those parts, and covered it with tanned cowhides. They caulked the hides with lard and loaded spare hides, rigging, provisions for forty days, grease, and other necessary utensils. They raised the mast and attached the sails and the necessary rigging for steering the vessel."
The vessel was a traditional Irish Celtic boat known as a curragh or currach. It was very different from a Viking longboat (a ship built with clinker boards (overlapping wood planks), with a sail and oars. The curragh was a wood-frame covered with oak-tanned ox-hides, waterproofed with fat or tar. They had a linnen sail.
Some curraghs had double or even triple hide layers and a wicker structure that was flexible and strong. Some had oars and decks. Counter to what one would expect, they were "Light, seaworthy and extremely manoeuverable they also had an astonishing load capacity." (Source)
The Voyage
The following is a translation from Navigatio fabulosa sancti Brendani ad terram repromissionis scripta est ab ignoto irlandico circa annum 900, it is written in Latin and Spanish.
Azores?
They sailed for 40 days and ran out of food and water, finally they reached an island with sheer cliffs along the coast (As they approached the shore, they noticed it was like a very high wall over which several streams plunged into the sea, flowing down from the highest part of the island. They could find no place to land.") Was it a volcanic island like those of the Azores or Canary Islands? they found an inlet ("They sighted a narrow harbor, large enough for a ship. Saint Brendanus immediately rose, blessing that entrance. It was carved in stone, very high on both sides, like a wall."), and a dog led them to an empty castle where God provided food and water. A monk who stole some silver, and after ejecting an Ethiopian demon that possessed him, died and was buried there. As they left, a young man (Native?) approached them and gave them bread and water for their voyage. The cliffs and inhabitants suggests it was one of the Azores Islands, volcanic, possibly peopled by Norsemen at that time.
Faroes? Shetland? Orkneys?
They then visited the island of white sheep which were larger than oxen (some have identified it with the Faroe Islands) where they met a man, and they celebrated Easter, then they went to a nearby Island, now known as Saint Brendan's Island, which "was rocky without any grass. The forest was rare there and there was no sand on its shore." they celebrated Mass and lit a fire to cook some fish and meat, suddenly, as "the water boiled, the island began to move, like a wave. The brothers ran to the ship.. and resumed their voyage as the island drifted across the ocean. From two miles away, they could still see the fire they had lit on the island burning. Saint Brendanus explained what had happened to them with these words: "Were you amazed at what the island did?... It is not an island where we were, but a fish, the greatest Of those who live in the ocean, always trying to join their head to their tail, something they cannot achieve due to their great size. Their name is 'Iasconius'." This event is depicted in the image further up.
Madeira?
They headed west to the Bird's Paradise Island (insula paradysus avium), where the same man they'd met before gave them supplies (he is later mentioned as the procurator or steward). There, Bendan learned that he and his companions would search seven years before reaching the Promised Land of the Saints. They sail for three months and reach an island (insula Albei) which in a biblical manner they can't land on for another 40 days. They meet a man who takes them to a abbey whose monks had arrived there 80 years ago, the island was named after Saint Ailbe of Emly (or ST. Elvis), an Irish saint and bishop.
Congealed sea? (Sargasso Sea?)
They sailed from there until Lent and reached an island, where they found water, but as they all felt very sleepy and slept for 2 or 3 days, Brendan urged them to leave. Then, "Now, having loaded the ship with all that the man of God had commanded, they set sail and began to sail out into the ocean toward the north. After three days and nights, the wind ceased and the sea began to be as if congealed because of the great calm. The holy father said: "Send the oarsmen into the ship and lower the sails. For wherever God wants to steer her, let him do it." So the ship was carried through various parts of the ocean for about twenty days. After this, God raised up a favorable wind for them from the west toward the east." Was this an encounter with the seaweeds of the Sargasso Sea?
They continued until they reached the same island where the previous year they had met the proucrator (This is the first time the name is mentioned in the text).
They sailed on, and after 40 days saw a gigantic beast that foamed at the mouth producing great waves and moving fast towards them. They prayed for help, and a second flame-throwing beast appeared and collided with the first one, saving them. Then they came to an island, and found the remains of the beast, and ate it. There was a spring too. They stayed there for 3 months as the sea was choppy. They sailed north and came across an island inhabited by three groups, children dressed in white, young adults dressed in violet, and old people in purple who chanted to the Lord. It had dark and white grapes, large, and sweet. They took them on board and sailed awway. On their journey, a gigantic bird flew over them and dropped large grapes, which they ate. Then they came to an island with grapes the size of apples and three springs. They stayed there for 40 days.
After they left, a griphon flew towards them to attack them, but it was intercepted and killed by the bird that had brought them grapes. Then, for Christmas they reached the Island of St. Albes.
Manatees?
They left in Lent, and repeated the cycle, only landing during the Christian festive days. Once, during St. Peter's celebrations, they came to a spot in the ocean where the water was so clear that they could see everything beneath the ship. When they peered over the edge, they saw various kinds of beasts resting on the sandy bottom. The water was so transparent that it seemed they could touch them. They looked like a flock in a meadow, moving in circles" (Were these manatees? If so, they are found in the Caribbean and Florida, USA.
Iceberg
"One day, when they had celebrated mass, a pillar appeared to them in the sea, and it seemed not far from them, but they could not approach it for three days. But when the man of God approached, he looked at its top, but he could not see it at all because of its height. For it was higher than the air. Moreover, it was covered with a rare canopy, which was so rare that a ship could pass through its openings. But they did not know from what creature the canopy itself was made. For it had the color of silver, but yet it seemed harder than marble. The pillar was indeed made of crystal, very clear." Was this an iceberg?
Volcano
They reached an island with forges, and where gigantic men threw chunks of red-hot iron and slag at the boat, this went on all day: "it seemed as if the whole island was burning like one oven, and the sea was boiling like a cauldron full of meat, boiling when it is served by fire, and they heard, for a whole day, a great howl from that island, and even when they could not see it, and the howl of those who lived there reached their ears, and a great stench reached their nostrils." It seems like they encountered a volcano, erupting, this could be in Iceland, or even the volcano on Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, or in the Caribbean, where there there are several active volcanoes: Soufrière Hills (Montserrat), La Soufrièère (St. Vincent), and Mount Pelée (Martinique).
They sailed and met another island, but left after losing a monk there "when they looked back from afar at the island, they saw a mountain covered with smoke, and a flame spewing from itself into the air, and then breathing the same flame back again, so that the whole mountain appeared to be one pyre." Perhaps another volcano.
After six years they reached an island where a hermit named Paul lived, he was an old man, and had arrived there 90 years ago, from a monastery in Ireland. He told them they'd sail and meet their steward*. Which they did, and in his company they reached the island-fish Jasconius and celebrated mass there. Then they reached the Birds' Island, and from there after Pentecost, the steward offered to accompany them and guide them to the land of the Promise of the Saints.
* Note. The Latin name used here is procurator, a noun that derives from the verb prōcūrō which means "to take care of", "manage", or "administer". It was used to nae a manager, agent, steward, overseer, someone who acts on behalf of another person, especially in legal matters (was he an agent of God?).
First they went to the "island of the steward, and he himself with them spent forty days there." Then they set sail again:
"Now their boat was sailing towards the east for forty days. Moreover, their procurator himself went ahead of them. But after forty days had passed, at the approach of evening, a great darkness overtook them, so that one could scarcely see the other. And the procurator said to Saint Brendan: “Do you know what this darkness is?” Saint Brendan said: “What is it?” Then he said, "That darkness has surrounded that island you are looking for for seven years." After the space of an hour, a great light shone around them again, and the ship stood on the shore. And when they came out of the ship, they saw a beautiful land, full of fruit trees, as in the autumn season. And when they had gone around that land, there was no night for them."
"They took only the fruits and drank from the springs. And so for forty days they explored the land and could not find (its end). One day, however, they found a large river flowing through the middle of the island. Then Saint Brendan turned to his brothers and said: "We cannot cross this river and we do not know the size of that land." When they had thought this over, the young man immediately came to meet them, kissing them with great joy and calling each one by name and saying: "Blessed are those who dwell in your house for ever and ever." When he had said this, he said to Saint Brendan: "Behold the land which you have sought for a long time. For this reason you could not find it at once because God wanted to show you his various secrets in the great ocean. Return therefore to the land of your birth, carrying with you as much of the fruits of this island and of the gems as your little boat can carry. For the days of your pilgrimage are approaching, that you may sleep with your fathers. But after many years this land will be declared to your successors when the persecution of Christians has come upon them. This river which you see divides this island."
They gathered fruit, some gems, bid farewell to the young man and the steward and returned home to Ireland. There, he wrote down his adventures and the omen of the young man, and prepared for his coming death. Once he had finished his preparations, he received the sacraments, and passed away c. 570 AD.
Comments
The story of Brendan's voyage is full of religious content, demons, beasts, messages from God, symbols, forty day-spans, seven-year-long voyage (symbolic numbers), and the celebration of Christian festivities. It is embelished and also included an encounter with Judas (I ommitted in the translation further up - it is mentioned in Chapter XXXII).
These events took place 1,500 years ago, they were written 1,100 years ago. We can only speculate where Saint Brendan went, and what he saw. However, the details, like the island of white sheep, volcanos, manatees, Sargasso, islands with rivers (which can only mean an continent, and that can only be America) suggest that there is some truth deeply hidden in this story. It may be based on historic facts. It could be possible that Brendan and his companions reached North America.
An expedition organized by Tim Severin, Irish author and explorer (1940-2020) navigated across the North Atlantic and reached Newfoundland in 1977 in a replica of St. Brendan's ship. Severin proved that the voyage was feasible using early Medieval technology. Below is a picture of this replica of a curragh used by Severin.
Aftermath
There were some attempts to locate these islands, starting in 1130 AD with Honorius of Autun (also known as Honorius Augustodunensis) who in his work Imago Mundi (Image of the World) specifically mentions it: "A certain island in the Ocean called Lost" and adds, "Brandamis is said to have come to this... Another island is that one cannot see how one goes, and never is seen: It is called the Lost Island; That island found Saint Brendan, Who saw many a marvel" (Source).
The Portuguese and Spanish sent several expeditions to find the Island of Sancti Brandani, which was also given similar names, such as: Brendán, Brandain, Barandán, Balandrán, Borondó,;n. The name can even be found in a bay in Argentina's Buenos Aires province, in the River Plate, Samborombón bay, with the Samborombón River flowing into it!
The Alcacovas Treaty signed in 1479 between the kings of Castille and Portugal established that if the island was found, it would become part of the Castillian Crown, as it belonged to the Canarian archipelago.
Some have affirmed that either Americo Vespuccio or Magellan's expedition named the bay in Argentina after San Borondó,n (deformed into Samborombón) because it appeared in maps, now lost, that showed it, or perhaps because they found evidence of the Irish monks on the coast there. (Source)
Among those who set out to find it were Fernando de Viseu, nephew of the Infante Don Enrique el Navegante, the Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator (1394-1460), who sailed in the late 1400s. Hernando de Troya and Francisco Alvarez, in 1523, from the Canary Islands. In 1530 Hernán Pérez de Grado, Regent of the Royal Audience -highest Court of Law- of the Canary Islands says he visited the island of St. Brendan and lost part of his crew there. Pedro Vello, a Portuguese captain also said he landed on the mysterious island but had to leave it quickly after the wind changed. Fernando Villalobos, from La Palma, Alonso de Espinosa, governor of El Hierro, Gaspar Pérez de Acosta and Lorenzo de Pinedo, set out in 1604.
Dutch navigator, Van Linschoten, noted in 1589 that the people in the Canary Islands believed that St. Brendan's Island was 100 leagues west of their archipelago (500 km or 310 mi.)
None of them pinpointed its location.
I support the idea of an Irish transatlantic voyage c.550. My next post will look into the association between the supposed discovery of Brazil by Sancho Brandão in 1343 (157 years before its "official" discovery date) and St. Brendan.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2026 by Austin Whittall ©
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