Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1897-11-18
RASMus B. ANDERSON in Murphy's Magazine.


In my last article intimated that
OF of having discovered America be-
fore Columbus, 1t is a large SUBJECT
ana ali am able To do at this time
is to give the particular facts a0d
traditions, and some hints in regard
To their proper interpretation. Surne
OF my readers may be disposed to
take up the question and give II Il
thorough Investigation, The name
of st. Brendan Cor Brandan as Il is
sometimes written) is we'll known, at
least You will find 1t in the larger
cylopedias. He was an Irish monk,
famous for his voyages upon the sea,
to strange lands, The traditions
banded down To us from the middle
ages contain many legends in regard
to him, He belongs to the sixth cen
age where fact and fiction are
strangely mingled. His death is said
tc have occurred A. d, So Report
has ii that he went on n nine years.
voyage, and visited unknown lands,
These lands are described In the
work De Fortunatis insults. published
in the eleventh century, in the Latin
language, and translated into French
about the GEAR ll20, Versions Of his
voyages appeared also in German,
English and Dutch. Popular tradi-
tiCn has identified the Fortunate
islands Of ST. Brendan with America,
and given this Irish saint the credit
of discovering the western continent,
According to ono legend, st. Bren-
dan, conducted by an angel, descend
ed to the lower world, where he wit
messed the torrents of the Devil and
of the damned. and subsequently
he came to the Fortunate islands
and finally he visited Par
adse At the end of the nine years
he returned to Ireland. and gave an
account of his adventures. The less
superstitious interpreted st, Bren-
dams voyages as referring to existing
countries, and | now hasten to de-
clare 1t here as fact that the reports
concerning 81. Brendan constituted
one of the causes which led the
Spanish and Portuguese to undertake
voyages of discovery In the western
ocean. Thus st. Brendan Is one of
the links in that chain Of influences
operating in the mind Of the great
Genocse navigator, To those who
wish to pursue this question further.
would recommend the consultation
Of the following authors st. Bren-
dams Travels, by Wright Q4ondon,
1S4D; Schroeder (Erlangen, 1871;
Blommaert, in Oudvlaemsche Ged-
ichten tGhent. lS34-1SiD; Michel
paris, 1879, Jubnal. Ia Legende de
Saint Brandaine paris, 1886, and
Briel, Van Sinte Brandane (Gronin-
gen, 1870.
There is evolution In history, as
well as in other things. The voyages
Of the Phoenicians and of the Greek
Pytheas were germs that budded in
the explorations of the Irish and of
the Welsh. blossomed in the expcdi-
lions of the Norsemen, and culmin-
ated and bore fruit in the discovery
OF America by Columbus. The Phoe-
nicians and Columbus are the two
ends Of the long chain of events In
the opening Of the new world to civ
ilization. Columbus was, as | have
repeatedly stated, a scholar, who
studied inddstriously all books and
manuscripts that contained any In
formation about voyages and discov-
cries. His searching mind sought out
the writings of Adam OF Bremen and
the works relating to st. Brendan.
1t Is in this wise that we are able to
explain the firm conviction that Col
umbus Invariably expressed in ref
erence to land In the west. In
that way we are able to account for
the absolute certainty and singular
frmness with which he talked OF
land across the ocean, and thus, too,
we can account for his accurate
knowledge OF the breadth OF the
ocean.
1t Is now my privilege 10 call the
attention of my readers once more
to the Icelandic sagas, and show
from them corroborations Of the
above theory concerning the discov-
cry Of America by the Irish There
was powerful chieftain in Iceland,
by name Are Marson, and the sagas
tell us that in the year 9S3. that
is, three years before Vim
land was seen by Bjarne Herjulfson.
he was driven to Great Ireland by
storms, and was there baptized.
The first author OF this account was
his contemporary, Rain. surnamed
The Limerick trader, he having long
resided In Limerick, Ireland. The IL
lustrious Icelandic sagaman, Are the
Wise, descendant in the fourth degree
from Are Marson, states on this sub
ject that his uncle, Thorkel Gellerson
(whose testimony he on another oc-
easion declares To be worthy OF all
credi), had been informed tr Icelan-
GERS, who had their first information
from Thorfin Sigurdson. earl OF Ork-
ney, that Are Marson had been rec
ognized in Great Ireland, and could
not get away from there, but was
held there in great respect. This
~ atenenf fharafnra ahowa that In