Abstract
The Irish St. Brendan was known in western Europe from the fifth until the
sixteenth century. From the ‘mother’ of Brendan texts, the Navigatio Sancti
Brendani Abbatis (eighth-tenth century) several translations and reworkings descended, of which the twelfth-century, Dutch-German Voyage of Saint Brendan has been one of the most influential.
In this article the focus is on a series of late-medieval Brendan texts and images
which all originated in northern Germany and which all, in their own way, are
abbreviated forms of Brendan texts. The most important one, the chapter about
St. Brendan that was inserted into the Low German legendary Der Hilligen Levent under the title “Van Sunte Brandanus” (SB), has proven to be an intelligent and subtle reduction. Its author made a remarkably faithful translation of a standard Navigatio text, while reducing it by about one quarter. It is likely that his aim was not so much the publication of a shorter text, but rather to include a more straightforward and simplified version of the Navigatio, geared to the tastes of an audience less interested in psalms and church festivals than the original monastic readership. The drastically reduced Voyage-P version MS. l was bound together with a printed version of Der Hilligen Levent.
This means that MS. London, BL c.107.g.2 combines in one volume all available
latemedieval, Brendan material in a reduced form: i.e., both a Navigatio and
a Voyage text as well as an illustration of Brendan. Finally, woodcuts preceding
the Brendan chapter in Der Hilligen Levent are evidence of the dual influence of
two different Brendan traditions, and of the latemedieval tendency to shorten
references to Brendan by presenting only an image. Depictions of Brendan with
a book show the influence of The Voyage of Saint Brendan, while pictures of Brendan holding a torch are evidence of a Brendan cult along the coasts of the Baltic, where Brendan was venerated and incorporated as a saint who could be invoked in case of fire (without clear textual influence). It can be concluded that in late medieval northern Germany the different branches of Brendan material obviously became fused and met the needs of a new audience and that Brendan changed in the course of time from a monastic seafarer into an icon of people working with fire.
sixteenth century. From the ‘mother’ of Brendan texts, the Navigatio Sancti
Brendani Abbatis (eighth-tenth century) several translations and reworkings descended, of which the twelfth-century, Dutch-German Voyage of Saint Brendan has been one of the most influential.
In this article the focus is on a series of late-medieval Brendan texts and images
which all originated in northern Germany and which all, in their own way, are
abbreviated forms of Brendan texts. The most important one, the chapter about
St. Brendan that was inserted into the Low German legendary Der Hilligen Levent under the title “Van Sunte Brandanus” (SB), has proven to be an intelligent and subtle reduction. Its author made a remarkably faithful translation of a standard Navigatio text, while reducing it by about one quarter. It is likely that his aim was not so much the publication of a shorter text, but rather to include a more straightforward and simplified version of the Navigatio, geared to the tastes of an audience less interested in psalms and church festivals than the original monastic readership. The drastically reduced Voyage-P version MS. l was bound together with a printed version of Der Hilligen Levent.
This means that MS. London, BL c.107.g.2 combines in one volume all available
latemedieval, Brendan material in a reduced form: i.e., both a Navigatio and
a Voyage text as well as an illustration of Brendan. Finally, woodcuts preceding
the Brendan chapter in Der Hilligen Levent are evidence of the dual influence of
two different Brendan traditions, and of the latemedieval tendency to shorten
references to Brendan by presenting only an image. Depictions of Brendan with
a book show the influence of The Voyage of Saint Brendan, while pictures of Brendan holding a torch are evidence of a Brendan cult along the coasts of the Baltic, where Brendan was venerated and incorporated as a saint who could be invoked in case of fire (without clear textual influence). It can be concluded that in late medieval northern Germany the different branches of Brendan material obviously became fused and met the needs of a new audience and that Brendan changed in the course of time from a monastic seafarer into an icon of people working with fire.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Court and Cloister |
| Subtitle of host publication | Studies in the Short Narrative in Honor of Glyn S. Burgess |
| Editors | Jean Blacker, Jane H.M. Taylor |
| Place of Publication | Austin (Arizona) |
| Publisher | University of Arizona Press |
| Pages | 171-192 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |