[kenney] the legend OF ST. BRENDAN 59 



St. Malo,^ originally written in the ninth century, contain considerable 

 matter drawn from the Brendan Legend in both its forms, but this 

 matter may well be interpolated, and therefore not much older than 

 the earliest manuscripts, which are of the tenth century. It can be 

 inferred that the Navigatio Brendani was composed not later than the 

 first half of that century. The voyage portions of Vita Brendani seem 

 older than the Navigatio, and it is very probable that those sections were 

 themselves an interpolation into a still older Vita which contained no 

 voyage matter except the account of the journey to Britain found in 

 the later chapters. There can be little doubt, then, that the Brendan 

 Legend had taken form at latest in the ninth century .^ 



The place of origin undoubtedly was Ireland. It is possible that 

 the Navigatio Brendani may have been composed by an Irishman on 

 the continent. Schroder thought he could trace its centre of dissemin- 

 ation in Europe to the lower Rhine valley, a region in which Irish 

 scholars and ecclesiastics were numerous in the ninth and early tenth 

 centuries. 



In the Vita Brendani the saint's oceanic adventures are divided 

 into two voyages, the first unsuccessful, the second successful. 



The First Voyage ^ takes place soon after Brendan's ordination to the priest- 

 hood. He remembers the command to Abraham, is filled with a great desire to go on 

 pilgrimage, and prays the Lord to show him a hidden land to which he may retire. 

 He is told in sleep that his wish will be granted. Ascending a high mountain, he 

 sees a beautiful island, and hears a yoice saying: "As I promised the land to the 

 people of Israel, and was their help that they should attain it, so do I promise you 

 the island which you have seen, and will make good the promise in deed." Brendan 

 then builds three skin-covered coracles, each holding thirty men, and sets forth. 



1 Edited by Dom F. Plaine and Arthur de la Borderie in Bulletin de la Société 

 archéologique d'Ile et Vilaine, vol. XVI (Rennes, 1884), pp. 138-312. 



* That is, more than one hundred years before the date at which Leif the Lucky 

 is said to have discovered Ameiica. 



' The following are the principal versions of Vita Brendani: 



Two versions in Codex Salmenticensis {s. XIV), published by C. de Smedt and 

 J. de Backer Acta Sanctorum Hiherniae ex Codice Salmanticensi (Edinburgh, etc., 

 1888) cols. 759-772, 113-154. 



Version in the Irish language in the Book of Lismore {s. XV) and other MSS: 

 Whitley Stokes Lives of Saints from the Book cf Lismore (Anecdota Oxcniensia: 

 Oxford, 1890) pp. 99-115, 247-261, 349-354. 



Version in the Eodlcian MS?. Rawlinson B485 (5. XIII or XIV) and B505 

 (5. XIV): C. Plummer Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (Oxford, 1910) vol. I, pp. 98-151. 



Version in Codex Kilkenniensis (s. XIV): P. F. Moran Acta Sancti Brendani 

 (Dublin, 1872), pp. 1-26. 



John of Tynemouth's version in Neva Legenda Anglie: edited by Carl Horst- 

 man (Oxford, 1901), vol. I. pp. 136-153. 



Version in the Irish language in various MSS. of the fifteenth century and 

 later: R. Thurneysen Zeitschrift fiir Celtische Philologie, vol. X (1915), pp. 408-420. 



