Born c. 484, Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland
Died c. 577
During the fifth century Christianity blossomed in Ireland. Until that time it was largely a pagan country, but through the missionary efforts of Saint Patrick—a British Christian who became a monk while in France—and other traveling priests, the island was converted. (Christianity had actually been introduced to the British Isles by the Romans centuries earlier.) Monasteries were founded across Ireland, and from there missionary groups were sent out to further spread the teachings of Christ and the Church of Rome. The first converts were in nearby territories, in places like England and Wales. But the Irish religious (members of a religious order, such as monks) also established Christian communities in France, Germany, and northern Italy. Many monasteries in Ireland kept records of these missionary ventures, giving us valuable information about early Irish explorers.
As the Irish religious looked to continue their missionary efforts, they turned their sights west, toward the forbidding Atlantic Ocean. Although ancient classical writers had described beautiful lands located far off in the sea, no Europeans had traveled any farther west than the Madeira Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa. The Atlantic Ocean appeared to extend forever, and few sailors who journeyed beyond the sight of land ever returned. People at that time also had many fearful suspicions that kept them from traveling west: they thought that terrifying monsters inhabited the sea, and—if the world was flat—that they might fall over the edge if they sailed too far. No navigational charts or instruments were available to Europeans at that time. So it was the brave traveler, indeed, who ventured into the vast unknown that was the Atlantic Ocean.
By the sixth century, Irish monks—looking for unknown lands in which to build quiet monastic communities, serve God, and convert the local population—took to the sea. They traveled in simple boats known as curraghs, or coracles: broad, round-bottomed boats with wood or wicker frames, covered with animal hides. While not a sturdy vessel, the curragh maneuvered well in the water, riding lightly above the waves. It could be rowed or sailed. The boat could be built large enough to carry several men, goods, and livestock—all essential for long trips to unknown places.
Irish monk Brendan rode such a vessel as he traveled on religious missions throughout the British Isles. Born around 484 in Tralee, on the southwest coast of Ireland in County Kerry, he was ordained a priest in 512. He founded a monastery at Ardfert, north of Tralee, and another at Clonfert in Galway, Ireland, around 553, where he served as abbot (monastery head). Historical records show that he also did missionary work in Cornwall (southwest England), Wales, Brittany (northwest France), the Hebrides (islands off the west coast of Scotland), and the Shetland Islands (off Scotland’s northern coast).
In several medieval works, most notably the Latin Navigatio Sancti Brendani (The Voyage of St. Brendan), more extensive travels are attributed to the abbot. The Navigatio, which is believed to have been written by an Irishman early in the tenth century, tells of the adventures of Brendan and seventeen other monks as they journey in a thirty-foot curragh through the Atlantic Ocean. Supposedly searching for the legendary Islands of the Blessed, which had been described by ancient writers, the travelers visit many strange places and encounter innumerable unusual sights over the course of their seven-year voyage (possibly taking place between 566 and 573).
The account of Brendan and his companions—text meant for religious instruction—is filled with fantastic details that give the journey a mythic quality. However, the Navigatio also conveys enough realistic details to intrigue historians, some of whom have worked to identify the real geographical places or odd sights that the abbot and his men encountered. In the Navigatio, the travelers come upon islands with giant white sheep and talking birds; these islands may have been the present-day Faeroes, situated in the North Atlantic Ocean between Scotland and Iceland. The pygmies the travelers meet may have been Eskimos off the coast of Greenland. And the remarkable “sea-cats” they observe might well have been walruses.
In the narrative, Brendan and his companions spend five years traveling among the islands of the Atlantic. During that time they are visited every Easter by a friendly whale named Jasconius; and the text describes how they celebrate Easter Sunday mass on the broad back of the whale. The travelers cross a place where the ocean looks like a “thick, curdled mass.” This may be a description of the Sargasso Sea, a place in the North Atlantic Ocean that is so still that it is covered by a vast accumulation of floating seaweed. Farther on, the travelers reach large, flat islands surrounded by clear water; these may be the Bahamas. According to the narrative, there the expedition leaves one monk behind—to serve as a missionary for the native population.
The Navigatio conveys that Brendan and his companions then sail north, where they soon encounter a large land mass, perhaps the North American continent. The expedition members believe they have reached their destination at last, and they go ashore. After exploring the place for fifteen days, they come upon a large river. There, the Navigatio reports, an angel appears to them and tells them that the region’s inhabitants will be converted to Christianity at a later time, and that Brendan and his companions are to return to Ireland. The men do as they are instructed. On the voyage home they pass a tall crystal covered with a silver veil. This stunning sight may have been an iceberg, covered by fog.
During his later years, Brendan worked with Saint Columba, a monk from northern Ireland who had founded a monastery on Iona, a tiny island off the west coast of Scotland. Iona became an important early religious center, for it was used as a base from which Irish missionaries could travel to the British mainland. Word of Brendan’s voyage spread throughout Europe, and for many centuries a “St. Brendan’s Isle” appeared on medieval maps. However, it was placed at various locations in the Atlantic Ocean: off the west coast of Africa or Portugal, in the West Indies, near Ireland, or beyond Iceland. The most popular modern interpretation of the abbot’s travels is that he did, indeed, reach the Western Hemisphere, and landed either on one of the islands of Bermuda in the western Atlantic or on the North American mainland—preceding the arrival of Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) by some 900 years. During the Middle Ages the story of Brendan’s journey kept alive the idea that unknown lands lay waiting to be discovered across the Atlantic Ocean. Along with the tales of the Vikings—Scandinavian warriors and sailors who reportedly traveled to Greenland and North America during the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries—the legend of Saint Brendan spurred the voyages of European explorers like Columbus during the Age of Discovery. Brendan became known as Brendan the Navigator, the patron saint of sailors.
Bohlander, Richard E., ed. World Explorers and Discoverers. New York: Macmillan, 1992.
Delpar, Helen, ed. The Discoverers: An Encyclopedia of Explorers and Exploration. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980.
Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of Discovery and Exploration, Volume 2: Beyond the Horizon, written by Malcolm Ross MacDonald, Freeport, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 1990.
Waldman, Carl and Alan Wexler. Who Was Who in World Exploration. New York: Facts on File, 1992.
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