The Legend of St Brendan: A Comparative Study of the Latin and Anglo-Norman Versions (The Northern World)

367 Pages·2008·1.34 MB·English

by  J.S. Mackley

The Legend of St Brendan
The Northern World
North Europe and the Baltic c. 400–1700 A.D.
Peoples, Economies and Cultures
Editors
Barbara Crawford (St. Andrews)
David Kirby (London)
Jon-Vidar Sigurdsson (Oslo)
Ingvild Øye (Bergen)
Richard W. Unger (Vancouver)
Piotr Gorecki (University of California at Riverside)
VOLUME 39
The Legend of St Brendan
A Comparative Study of the Latin and
Anglo-Norman Versions
By
J.S. Mackley
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2008
Cover illustration: “A whale mistaken for an island.” Sailors moor their boat and build a
fi re on its back, but when it senses the heat, it plunges to the depths taking men and
vessel with it. It also entices small fi sh into its mouth and swallows them.
Image taken from Bestiary. Originally published/produced in England (Salisbury?);
1230–1240. (Shelfmark/Page: Harley 4751, f. 69).
With kind permission of the British Library.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mackley, Jude S.
The legend of St. Brendan : a comparative study of the Latin and Anglo-Norman
versions / by Jude S. Mackley.
p. cm. — (The northern world, ISSN 1569-1462 ; v. 39)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-90-04-16662-2 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Navigatio Sancti Brendani—Translations. 2. Brendan, Saint, the Voyager, ca.
483-577. I. Title. II. Title: Legend of Saint Brendan. III. Series.
BR1720.B73M33 2008
873’.03—dc22
2008009739
ISSN 1569-1462
ISBN 978 90 04 16662 2
Copyright 2008 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
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Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
This project is dedicated to Jackie Tasioulas
and Nick Havely who paved the road for my research;
also to the memory of Ray Barron whose friendship,
kindness and dedication to medieval scholarship will be
sorely missed.

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ..................................................................... xi
Abbreviations .............................................................................. xiii
Introduction ................................................................................ 1
The aims of the study ................................................................. 1
Summary of the narratives ........................................................... 3
Methodology ............................................................................... 5
A previous study of ‘Elements of the fantastic’ in the Brendan
narrative ................................................................................ 8
Other scholarship ......................................................................... 8
Chapter One St Brendan: the man and the manuscripts ...... 13
Part One The authors and manuscripts of the Navigatio
and the Anglo-Norman Voyage ............................................ 13
Introduction ............................................................................ 13
The dates, manuscripts and audience of the Navigatio .......... 14
Genres of the two narratives .................................................. 19
The author, dates, manuscripts and audience of the Anglo-
Norman Voyage .................................................................... 31
Part Two Historical and Literary Sources .......................... 43
Before the Voyage ................................................................... 43
Peregrinus and Exile .................................................................. 50
The Voyage of Brendan: an actual journey or fantastic fi ction? .... 53
The Voyage of Brendan and the immrama .................................. 55
The Otherworld and other early infl uences .......................... 59
The Voyage Home ................................................................. 62
Conclusion .............................................................................. 67
Chapter Two Accepting the fantastic: from the familiar to
the fantastic-uncanny ........................................ 69
Introduction ............................................................................ 69
Todorov’s model ....................................................................... 70
Application of the model .......................................................... 75
Defi nition of the ‘uncanny’ ....................................................... 76
viii contents
The opening scenes of the Brendan narratives ..................... 77
Mundane or uncanny? .............................................................. 77
Uncanny-familiar .................................................................... 81
Establishing the coracle as ‘familiar’ .......................................... 84
Claustrophobia: the late-coming monks and the confi nement
of the coracle ...................................................................... 86
The Supernumeraries ................................................................ 86
The patterns of the journey ...................................................... 95
The ‘pure uncanny’ .................................................................. 98
Uncanny silence and spiritual darkness: the Deserted
Citadel ................................................................................. 99
Religious symbolism and preordination ........................................ 100
The uncanny ........................................................................... 102
Fantastic-uncanny .................................................................... 104
Leading towards the fantastic-uncanny ........................................ 106
Enormous creatures: the Island of Sheep and Jasconius ...... 107
From the uncanny to the fantastic-uncanny .................................. 108
Gradation towards the fantastic ................................................. 115
The Neutral Angels ................................................................ 116
Sources ................................................................................... 117
A respite from the fantastic imagery? .......................................... 119
Conclusion .............................................................................. 124
Chapter Three The marvels of the ocean: from the fantastic-
uncanny to the marvellous ............................. 127
Introduction ........................................................................... 127
The transition from the ‘fantastic-uncanny’ to the ‘pure
fantastic’ and the monastic ideal ........................................ 130
The Isle of Ailbe .................................................................... 131
The ascent towards the pure fantastic ......................................... 137
The pure fantastic: the mysterious provision of food and the
fl aming arrow ...................................................................... 138
The provision of food ............................................................... 139
The fl aming arrow and other elements ........................................ 142
A vital ingredient in the gradation towards the fantastic ................ 145
The negative connotations of water ...................................... 146
The spring on the Paradise of Birds .......................................... 147
The springs on the Isle of Ailbe ................................................ 147
The Intoxicating Spring ............................................................ 150
contents ix
The Coagulated Sea ................................................................. 154
The signifi cance of these scenes ................................................. 156
The confl icts of monsters ....................................................... 158
The fi rst confl ict ...................................................................... 160
The second confl ict of monsters ................................................. 163
The credibility of the confl icts of monsters .................................. 164
The rewards of faith—a temporary respite from the
fantastic? .............................................................................. 166
Conclusion .............................................................................. 171
Chapter Four The mirrors of salvation .................................. 175
Introduction ............................................................................ 175
Todorov’s model ....................................................................... 176
The three parts of the chapter ................................................... 177

Part One Natural Exotica as supernatural forms ............... 177
The Crystal Pillar ................................................................... 177
A natural phenomenon .............................................................. 178
Fantastic-uncanny .................................................................... 180
Religious symbolism ................................................................. 181
Sources ................................................................................... 182
Unlocking the symbolism ........................................................... 184
The Smithy of Hell as a representation of evil .................... 187
A natural phenomenon or a supernatural experience? ..................... 187
Religious signifi cance ................................................................ 191
Claustrophobia ........................................................................ 192
A safe environment for discussing damnation ................................ 193
The signifi cance of the Crystal Pillar and the Smithy of
Hell ...................................................................................... 195
Part Two Human representations of the diabolical and
the divine ............................................................................. 196
Judas Iscariot ........................................................................... 197
Sources ................................................................................... 197
The moral treatment ................................................................. 201
The punishments ..................................................................... 202
Christ’s mercy .......................................................................... 205
Judas on the ‘threshold’ ............................................................ 206
The moral .............................................................................. 214