Didnhe, or didn’t he?
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nProbablynSaint Brendan of Ireland didn’t actually sail to North Americanearly in the sixth century. But he might have—and if he did leadnsuch an expedition, he and his crew would have been the firstnEuropeans to see North America!
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nIt’snjust a tall tale…
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Therenis a kind of Irish folktale called an immram. It is a series ofnadventures that the hero of the story has on a boat. The story of thenvoyage of St. Brendan has a lot of similarities to other immrams. Fornexample, at one point in the journey the boat lands on an island—butnthe island turns out to be a giant sea monster! Later they light anfire on another island, and the island sinks into the sea; it turnsnout that this island is a whale! In addition to visiting islands fullnof people and animals and plants, Saint Brendan and his crew see angryphon, a devil, magic loaves, and a silver pillar in the sea.
Therenis a kind of Irish folktale called an immram. It is a series ofnadventures that the hero of the story has on a boat. The story of thenvoyage of St. Brendan has a lot of similarities to other immrams. Fornexample, at one point in the journey the boat lands on an island—butnthe island turns out to be a giant sea monster! Later they light anfire on another island, and the island sinks into the sea; it turnsnout that this island is a whale! In addition to visiting islands fullnof people and animals and plants, Saint Brendan and his crew see angryphon, a devil, magic loaves, and a silver pillar in the sea.n
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nSoundsnlike a folktale to me!
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nItncould be based on a real voyage…
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nManynlegends do have something real at the very center of story. Fornexample, the tales about Robin Hood probably got their start with anreal bandit or rebel—but surely most of the details of all thenvariations of the Robin Hood legend are additions the real man andnhis exploits.
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AnBritish explorer and writer named Tim Severin was convinced that thenBrendan voyage was based on some truth. In 1976 he used traditionalntools to build a currach, a two-masted boat based on thendescription in Brendan legends. The boat was made of Irish ash andnoak wood, and it was hand-lashed together with leather thongn(actually, almost two miles of leather thong!!!). Severin wrapped thenboat with tanned ox hides and water sealed it using wool grease, justnas described.
AnBritish explorer and writer named Tim Severin was convinced that thenBrendan voyage was based on some truth. In 1976 he used traditionalntools to build a currach, a two-masted boat based on thendescription in Brendan legends. The boat was made of Irish ash andnoak wood, and it was hand-lashed together with leather thongn(actually, almost two miles of leather thong!!!). Severin wrapped thenboat with tanned ox hides and water sealed it using wool grease, justnas described.n
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nSeverinnand his small crew sailed the currach 4,500 miles (7,200 km) fromnIreland to an island in Newfoundland, Canada. They made some stopsnalong the way, just as the Brendan voyage did. Severin made the pointnin his book that their stops at the Hebrides Islands and Icelandncould account for some of the adventures recorded in the tale of St.nBrendan.
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nBynthe way, the voyage took a bit more than a year to complete! Inimagine that they stopped for a while at each island, perhapsnoverwintering in Iceland.
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nSo…whatndo you think…?
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nDidnSt. Brendan travel from Ireland to North America…or didn’t he?
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nFindnout more…
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nWatchnsome or all five parts of the video about Severin’s voyage that wasnsupposed to copy St. Brendan’s voyage.
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nPlannAhead…
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards of Maynholidays, historicalnevents in May,nand Maynbirthdays.
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nAlsonon this date:
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nNational Sea Monkey Day
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MathematiciannMaria Agnesi’s birthday
MathematiciannMaria Agnesi’s birthdayn
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Anniversarynof the first large wagon train bound for Oregon
Anniversarynof the first large wagon train bound for Oregonn
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