The Voyage of St Brendan

The Voyage of St Brendan is an Anglo-Norman retelling of an earlier Latin version from around 900AD. The Anglo-Norman version of the story is believed to have been written by a cleric called Benedeit and commissioned by Adeliza: the second wife of Henry I.

Benedeit's version dates from 1121, but the original tale was already popular and this story is suitable throughout our time period.

## Summary

The Voyage of St Brendan tells the story of an abbot named Brendan who goes to sea for seven years in search of a legendary island. He eventually finds it and returns home to tell his story.

## Story

Abbot of a flourishing order of Irish monks, Brendan requests God to

be allowed to visit Heaven and Hell before he dies (19-70). He first

seeks the advice of the hermit Barintus who describes his own sea-

voyage in search of his godson Mernoc which brought him close to

Paradise (102). With fourteen chosen monks, Brendan arrives at the

coast where they proceed to build a currach of timber and oxhide

(184). As they set out in this craft with forty days’ provisions, they are

joined by a further three monks who, according to Brendan’s explicit

prediction, are to perish in the course of the journey (208). After

fifteen days of rowing despite favourable winds, the monks’ boat is

becalmed, but, placing their trust in God, they are able to continue

rowing for a whole month until their food and strength begin to give

out (240). God then sends winds which bring the voyagers to an island

whose high cliffs force them to search for three days before they can

find a suitable place to land (264). Here they discover a splendid city

with many palaces of marble set with gems, and although it proves to

be uninhabited, there is an abundance of food and drink ready for

them (294). One of the intrusive monks steals a golden goblet, and

when, on the fourth day, they are about to leave, he is carried off by the

Devil (354). With fresh provisions provided by a messenger from God

they set out, and after the best part of a year come to a land where they

discover white-fleeced sheep as big as stags (390). The messenger

orders them to take one, but immediately directs them to a nearby

island where the following day they are to celebrate Easter (434). The

monks land, cook their food, and are about to eat when suddenly the

island begins to quake. Brendan pulls them back into the boat, calmly

explaining that they have been sitting on the back of a giant fish (478).

In the next island that they come to, they tow their currach up a river as

far as a marble-white tree covered with beautiful birds (500). One

addresses Brendan telling him that they are fallen angels; it further

predicts that the travellers will not reach Paradise for another six years,

and that every year they will return to celebrate Easter on the whale’s

back (552). The monks praise God and rest until after Whitsun when,

with their boat refurbished and loaded with eight months’ provisions,

they set off for the Isle of Ailbe where they are to celebrate Christmas

(618). When they finally arrive, an old man appears and leads the

travellers to his abbey where they are shown sumptuous treasures and

introduced to the community of twenty-four monks of the order of St

Ailbe, who prove to be sustained by divine providence (762). The

travellers set sail after three weeks, only to be becalmed in the coagu

lated sea. They finally come to land exhausted and hungry, refresh

themselves at an intoxicating spring, but depart again after only a few

days (820). Now they return to the cycle of the previous year, celebrat

ing Easter on the back of the fish and revisiting the island of the

bird-angels (882). Setting out after a stay of eight weeks, they are

attacked first by fire-breathing sea-serpents and then, after landing

briefly to take on provisions, by a griffin which is killed in a sea-battle

by a flying dragon (1030). Escorted by a school of sea-monsters

attracted by Brendan’s joyful songs of praise, their boat arrives at a

great pillar of jacinth set in the middle of the ocean and surmounted by

an altar of emerald under a golden, jewelled canopy. After three days

singing mass, they leave taking with them a crystal chalice (1098). A

pall of foul-smelling smoke announces their arrival in the region of

Hell, where they are assailed by thunderbolts, flames and molten

rock, and by red-hot blades of metal hurled by a monster blacksmith

(1160). Leaving behind them the cries of the damned, they come to a

smoke-capped mountain where the second of the three supernumerary

monks is dragged off by Devils (1202). On a nearby rock they catch

sight of a pitiful naked figure lashed on all sides by the waves and crying

out for mercy. This is Judas, who describes his unending trial of

suffering in his double Hell in full and gruesome detail (1263—462),

moving Brendan to tears. A third monk, last of the three latecomers,

mysteriously disappears as the proceed on their journey. They land on

a mountainous island where they meet Paul the Hermit, who had lived

and been providentially fed there for ninety of his 140 years (1592).

The end of the seventh year of the monks’ odyssey is in sight. They

return for the last time to the giant fish for Easter and to the island of

birds, then set sail eastwards. After forty days they run into thick cloud,

pass through by a narrow channel and emerge, on the fourth day, into

Paradise (1668). Behind a vast white wall stretching up into the clouds

and set with resplendent jewels, is a mountain of pure gold, on top of

which lies the garden of Paradise (1700). They are greeted at the gate

by a youthful guide who accompanies them through the fields of

delicious, sweet-smelling flowers and fruits, flowing with honey and

resounding with angelic song (1781). With this all too brief foretaste of

what is to come, Brendan and his companions are turned back. Leav

ing behind their faithful messenger and the young guide, they embark

joyfully, and within three months are home again in Ireland (1813).

Brendan eventually dies and returns in spirit u Deus lui destinat and

where his exemplarily pious life is to lead many thousands more

[Improve this]

## Notes

This story is an example of an immrama: an Irish legend relating to a sea voyage. (The word immrama translates as 'rowing about'.)