Brendani
versibus rhythmi-
Cott.
Cott.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v5
Bodl.
Laud, Misc.
4IP, Ff.
40 b—68 b, vel.
4to, xii.
cent.
; MS, Bodl.
e Musreo, 3.
f.
213 (3496) ; MS.
Bodl.
Rawl. B. 505, p. 24, veil, folio, xiv. cent. :
Harl. io8,Ff 42—59 b. veil. 4to, xiv. cent. ;
MS. Harl. 3958. Ff. 103 b—121 b, veil, cent.
—; ;
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [May i6.
among the Harleian,'' Cottonian,^^ and British Museum '3 collections, several other Codices. Oneof thelatter^'* is exceeding curious, and it has lately been printed. ^5 In addition to these, Lambeth,^^ York,^7 and Stowe,^^ have copies. Among the Ashmole ^9 and Arundel 3° RISS. are others. In the Library of St. Benedict's College, England, there is a Manuscript, which contains " Vita S.
Brandani et oratio ejusdem. "^' Nearly all the great public Libraries of Europe contain Codices, relating to the Life and Navigation of St. Brendan. Thus, in France, the National Library, at Paris, has several very fine copies. 3^ ThecityofChartrespossesseditscopy;33 sodidthatofLaon,34andofCam- brai,35 nor can we have any reasonable doubt, that before the French Revolution, many existed in the religious houses, and in the other archivist depositories, that are now lost or destroyed. At Mentz,36 at Augsburg, at Monte Cassino, at Leipzig, at Strasbourg, and in the Vatican Library, at Rome, were various copies of the Vita S. Brendani. 37 There are three different Lives of St. Brendan, Abbot, in the Burgundian Library, Bruxelles. 3S It may be observed, that there is an Irish Life of St. Brendan, of Clonfert, transcribed, among
Laud,Misc. io8(i486), Ff. 104—in,veil,
17. paper, large 4to, xv. cent.
•8 Among MS. Coll. Balliol, Oxon. 226,
Ff. 72—86. veil, folio, dble. cols. , xiii. cent. '9 Among MS. Coll. Lincoln, Oxon. 27, Ff. 186. b—205 b veil. , 4to, xi. and xii. cent. Versus Rhythmici de S. Brendani Vita Met- rica, fabulis pullulante anilibus. ^LS. Lin- coln, 27 Ff 2 b—6 veil. 4to, xi. and xii. cent. "" Among MS. Coll. Trinit. Oxon. 57, f.
39, veil, folio, XV. cent.
" Among these are described : MS. Harl.
392
MS. Bodl. Laud. Misc.
withacesuralpause,inthemiddleofeachline, =5 In the Most Rev. Patrick F. Moran's
folio, xiv. cent.
463 (1596), Ff. 46—50, veil, folio, xiv. cent.
MS. Bodl. Tanner, 17. Ff. 99 b—107 b. veil,
small folio, xv. cent. In this is a full length
figure of St. Brendan, with an oar in his
right hand. MS. Bodl. 779. (2567) Ff. 2— 2. This is the Gallic version, a poem con-
;
3776, Ff 67—75 b,vell. 4to, xiii. cent. ; MS. Ludovici de Tarney, veil. xiv. cent. ; 3784.
folio, xiii. cent. ;MS. Harl. 2277. Ff 41 b 51, veil, 4to, xiv. cent.
" There is a curious Gallic poem, ori- ginally composed in the twelfth century, in a MS. Cott. Vesp. B. x. Ff. I—1 1, veil. 8vo, dble. cols. , xiii. cent. We also find " Vita
S. Brendani. " A MS. Cott. Tiber. D. iii. Ff. 107—118, veil, folio, xii. cent. ; MS. Cott. Vespas. A. xiv. , f. loi b. veil. 4to, xii. cent. ; MS. Cott. Vespas. B. x. Ff 11 b —21, veil. 8vo, dble. cols. , xiii. cent. ; MS. Cott. Tiber. E. i. ff. 128—134.
-3 La Vie Monseigneur S. Brandan. MS.
Addil. Brit. Mus. 6524, Ff 129 b—137 b. 735. veil. 4to, xiii. cent. ; as also 744.
veil, folio, dble. cols. xiii. cent. ; MS. Addit. Brit, Mus,, 6047. Ff, 225—266 b. paper, small folio, xvii. cent.
Acta Sanc- torum IIiberni;v:," Marlii xxii. , De Egres- cis. It is classed among the MSS. sione Familicc S. Brendani, cap. ii,, p,
''^ Vila S.
Brendani versibus rhythmi-
Cott. Vespes. D. ix. Ff i to 9. veil, smal! 4to, xiii. cent. The title, " De S, Brendano," is added, in a hand of the fifteenth century ; another hand of the eighteenth century hascntercd " VitaS. Bren- dani. " It runs in stanz. as of four Latin lines,
721.
37 See Sir Thomas DufTus Hardy's " De-
scriptive Catalogue of Manuscript Materials relating to the History of Great Brit. ain and Ireland," vol. i. , part i. , i)p. 159 to 164.
^^ Some of these are noted at fol. 69, 192,
"Acta Sancti Brendani," pp. 45 to 84.
-* A Memorial of St. Brandan and other
saints. MSS. Lambeth, 621, f 11, paper. ^^ MSS. Dec. et Cap. Eborac. 16, il. 5. i,
sisting of about 1,800 lines.
^* Vita S. Brendani, MS. Stowe, No. xxxvi,
^9 MSS Ashmole, 43. Ff 71 b—80 b. , veil, 4to, circa 1300.
3" Legenda brevis de S. Brandano, MS. Arundel, 330, f 24.
3' No. 1280,
3= There do we find, under the head, " Vita S. Brendani, "the enumeration, and descrip- tion from the catalogue, viz. : No, 2444. 2. olim Colbert, veil. xiii. cent. ; 2845. 2. olim
20. olim S. Martial. Lemovicensis. veil, xi,
;
48S7. 8. olim Putean. veil. xii. cent.
5138. 3. olim S. Martial. Lemovicensis, veil,
xiii. cent. ; 5284. 28. olim Colbert, veil.
xiii. cent. 534S. 2. olim Colbert veil, xiii.
;
cent. 5371. 2. olim Baluz. veil. xiii. cent. ;;
5572. 10. olim Faurian. veil. xi. cent. ; Ap- pend. 2333 a. 3. olim Philiberti de la Mare, veil. xiv. cent. ; 6041 a, veil. xiv. cent. , olim Rog. de Gaigniers.
53 Among the MSS. Bibl. de la Ville de Chartres.
3^ Among the MSS. Bibl. de la Ville de Laon, 345, veil, folio, xiii. cent,
veil. 4to, xv. cent.
3* Colgan alludes to it, as belonging to the
"'
35 Among the MSS. Bibl. de Cambrai,
Carthusians of this city. See
197, in vol, xxii. ; but, it is doubtful— although probable from Mr. Bindon's de- scription—that all of these refer to St. Bren- dan the Navigator. One or more might refer to St. Brendan, Abbot of Birr.
39 See also, MS. Bibl. Ducum Burgundioe, S638, XV. cent.
4" At the commencement, and also at the end, of the MS. , may be found the following note : " Pertinet Monasterio Canonnor. Re- gularum. in Bethleem, ppe Lovanium.
4' The contents of the volume are given, upon the first fly-leaf, and they are as follows, viz. : 1 160. It navigatio S. Brendani abbatis ad diversas insulas ; 1 162. It epistola Presbi- teri Joannis imperatoris majoris; 1 163. It itinerarium Joannis de Mandeville militis. The initial letters of the four different pieces are about two inches in diameter, while orna- mented in vermilion and pink colours, but not very neatly executed, and the observation applies to the penmanship. Mandeville and Tungdalus are in the text styled " milites. " The date, or the name of the scribe, could notbefoundintheMS. ; but,bycompari- son with MSS. of a known date, it appears as old as the " Inventaire " states, namely,
the close of the fifteenth century.
4- See vol. xxii. , fol. 89.
"3 See "Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy,'' vol. iii. , pp. 477 to 452.
44 Held, on the 24th of May, 1847.
45 See L. Tachet de Barneval's " Historic
Legendaire de I'lrlande," chap, xxii. , pp. 246, 247.
4* His name is unknown but, he was pro- ;
bably an ecclesiastic, as the character of his narrative and his style of relating it indi-
cate.
47 This poem begins with these lines s—
" Donna Aaliz la reine,
Par qui valdrat lei divine. "
In Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, for 1836, vol. xxxix. , No. ccxlviii. , under the heading "The Anglo-Norman Trouveres,"
appear English translations of the foregoing, as taken from the Cotton Library copy, classed Vespasian, B. x. The following rendering of the opening lines—forming a very fair specimen of the remaining portion
—is "
here submitted : —
Lady Adelais, who queen
By the grace of heav'n hath been Ycrowned, who this land hath blest With peace, and wholesome laws,
and rest,
Both by King Henry's stalwart might And by thy counsels mild and
right ;
For these, their holy benison MaytheApostlesshedeachone
A thousand, thousand-fold upon
thee :
And, since thy mild command hath
won me
To turn this goodly historic
Into romanz, and carefully
To write it out, and sootlily tell What to St. Brandan erst befell,
At thy command I undertake
The task right gladly, but will make No light or silly pleasantrie.
Unfit in such grave work to be. "
—See pp. 807, 808.
——
May i6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
these. It is the work of Michael O'Clery. Among the Burgundian MSS. 39 vol. ii. , there is a middle size folio, in the Latin language, bound in wood, covered with calf-skin, and ornamented with brass clasps. '° This volume is intituled, in the classing of the old library, to which it belonged, as follows: " Naviga- tio S. Brendani ad varias Insulas cum aliis—Beth. Louv. 48. "4' Tiie first leaf of this MS. is vellum, then follow four leaves of paper, and then two of vellum, and so on, until the eightieth, which is of vellum, also, and which is the last in the volume. Again, among the Burgundian Library Manuscripts, Bruxelles, there is a dissertation, "De S. Columba et Brendano. "42 The foregoing have been noticed, by Mr. Bindon,43 at a meeting of the Royal Irish Academy. ''4
Various readings are to be found, in the different Manuscript Lives, which are scattered in so many places; and, even >he order and subject matters for narrative have been modified, or changed, according to the taste or fancy of composers and scribes. If we apply to the Navigation of St. Brendon, the ordinary critical analysis of poems, remarks a French writer, it will not be difficult to find, in the mystic and marvellous parts of that legend, the origin and historic realities of a monastic and spiritual Odyssey, so celebrated among the romances of Ireland. ^? An Anglo-Norman bard 4^ produced this cele- brated voyage in French, long before the hermit of Hampede, Robert of Gloucester, Gower, or Chaucer, attempted English versification, and a distinc- tive English literature. It seems to have been composed, at the request of
Auliz la Bele,47 or the beautiful Adelais of Louvain, the Queen of Henry I. ,
393
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [May i6.
KingofEngland,andsurnamedBeauclerc. VariousActsofdifferentIrishcon- temporaneous saints serve to throw a reflected light on the history of St. Bren- dan and his time. Among others, Augustin Magraidin^^ prepared a Life of St. Brendan,intheIslandofAllSaints,LoughRee,countyofLongford. Jaco- bus de Voragine/9 who was born about a. d. 1230, and who became Provin- cial of the Dominicans and Bishop of Genoa—the native city of Columbus gave St. Brendan's land a special prominence, in the thirteenth century, by writing his " Golden Legend. "s° In the version of it, published by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1483, we find the " Lyfe of Saynt Brandon. "5' Also, John Capgravehasabriefaccountofoursaint,5^ alsoJohnofTriltenheim,53John Bale,=* Archbishop Ussher,55 Thomas Dempster,s^ and Sir James Ware. 57 From that list,^^ belonging to Colgan, we can ascertain, that he left Acts of St. Brendan, of Clonfert, which were intended for publication, at the i6th of May.
Rawl. B. 505, p. 24, veil, folio, xiv. cent. :
Harl. io8,Ff 42—59 b. veil. 4to, xiv. cent. ;
MS. Harl. 3958. Ff. 103 b—121 b, veil, cent.
—; ;
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [May i6.
among the Harleian,'' Cottonian,^^ and British Museum '3 collections, several other Codices. Oneof thelatter^'* is exceeding curious, and it has lately been printed. ^5 In addition to these, Lambeth,^^ York,^7 and Stowe,^^ have copies. Among the Ashmole ^9 and Arundel 3° RISS. are others. In the Library of St. Benedict's College, England, there is a Manuscript, which contains " Vita S.
Brandani et oratio ejusdem. "^' Nearly all the great public Libraries of Europe contain Codices, relating to the Life and Navigation of St. Brendan. Thus, in France, the National Library, at Paris, has several very fine copies. 3^ ThecityofChartrespossesseditscopy;33 sodidthatofLaon,34andofCam- brai,35 nor can we have any reasonable doubt, that before the French Revolution, many existed in the religious houses, and in the other archivist depositories, that are now lost or destroyed. At Mentz,36 at Augsburg, at Monte Cassino, at Leipzig, at Strasbourg, and in the Vatican Library, at Rome, were various copies of the Vita S. Brendani. 37 There are three different Lives of St. Brendan, Abbot, in the Burgundian Library, Bruxelles. 3S It may be observed, that there is an Irish Life of St. Brendan, of Clonfert, transcribed, among
Laud,Misc. io8(i486), Ff. 104—in,veil,
17. paper, large 4to, xv. cent.
•8 Among MS. Coll. Balliol, Oxon. 226,
Ff. 72—86. veil, folio, dble. cols. , xiii. cent. '9 Among MS. Coll. Lincoln, Oxon. 27, Ff. 186. b—205 b veil. , 4to, xi. and xii. cent. Versus Rhythmici de S. Brendani Vita Met- rica, fabulis pullulante anilibus. ^LS. Lin- coln, 27 Ff 2 b—6 veil. 4to, xi. and xii. cent. "" Among MS. Coll. Trinit. Oxon. 57, f.
39, veil, folio, XV. cent.
" Among these are described : MS. Harl.
392
MS. Bodl. Laud. Misc.
withacesuralpause,inthemiddleofeachline, =5 In the Most Rev. Patrick F. Moran's
folio, xiv. cent.
463 (1596), Ff. 46—50, veil, folio, xiv. cent.
MS. Bodl. Tanner, 17. Ff. 99 b—107 b. veil,
small folio, xv. cent. In this is a full length
figure of St. Brendan, with an oar in his
right hand. MS. Bodl. 779. (2567) Ff. 2— 2. This is the Gallic version, a poem con-
;
3776, Ff 67—75 b,vell. 4to, xiii. cent. ; MS. Ludovici de Tarney, veil. xiv. cent. ; 3784.
folio, xiii. cent. ;MS. Harl. 2277. Ff 41 b 51, veil, 4to, xiv. cent.
" There is a curious Gallic poem, ori- ginally composed in the twelfth century, in a MS. Cott. Vesp. B. x. Ff. I—1 1, veil. 8vo, dble. cols. , xiii. cent. We also find " Vita
S. Brendani. " A MS. Cott. Tiber. D. iii. Ff. 107—118, veil, folio, xii. cent. ; MS. Cott. Vespas. A. xiv. , f. loi b. veil. 4to, xii. cent. ; MS. Cott. Vespas. B. x. Ff 11 b —21, veil. 8vo, dble. cols. , xiii. cent. ; MS. Cott. Tiber. E. i. ff. 128—134.
-3 La Vie Monseigneur S. Brandan. MS.
Addil. Brit. Mus. 6524, Ff 129 b—137 b. 735. veil. 4to, xiii. cent. ; as also 744.
veil, folio, dble. cols. xiii. cent. ; MS. Addit. Brit, Mus,, 6047. Ff, 225—266 b. paper, small folio, xvii. cent.
Acta Sanc- torum IIiberni;v:," Marlii xxii. , De Egres- cis. It is classed among the MSS. sione Familicc S. Brendani, cap. ii,, p,
''^ Vila S.
Brendani versibus rhythmi-
Cott. Vespes. D. ix. Ff i to 9. veil, smal! 4to, xiii. cent. The title, " De S, Brendano," is added, in a hand of the fifteenth century ; another hand of the eighteenth century hascntercd " VitaS. Bren- dani. " It runs in stanz. as of four Latin lines,
721.
37 See Sir Thomas DufTus Hardy's " De-
scriptive Catalogue of Manuscript Materials relating to the History of Great Brit. ain and Ireland," vol. i. , part i. , i)p. 159 to 164.
^^ Some of these are noted at fol. 69, 192,
"Acta Sancti Brendani," pp. 45 to 84.
-* A Memorial of St. Brandan and other
saints. MSS. Lambeth, 621, f 11, paper. ^^ MSS. Dec. et Cap. Eborac. 16, il. 5. i,
sisting of about 1,800 lines.
^* Vita S. Brendani, MS. Stowe, No. xxxvi,
^9 MSS Ashmole, 43. Ff 71 b—80 b. , veil, 4to, circa 1300.
3" Legenda brevis de S. Brandano, MS. Arundel, 330, f 24.
3' No. 1280,
3= There do we find, under the head, " Vita S. Brendani, "the enumeration, and descrip- tion from the catalogue, viz. : No, 2444. 2. olim Colbert, veil. xiii. cent. ; 2845. 2. olim
20. olim S. Martial. Lemovicensis. veil, xi,
;
48S7. 8. olim Putean. veil. xii. cent.
5138. 3. olim S. Martial. Lemovicensis, veil,
xiii. cent. ; 5284. 28. olim Colbert, veil.
xiii. cent. 534S. 2. olim Colbert veil, xiii.
;
cent. 5371. 2. olim Baluz. veil. xiii. cent. ;;
5572. 10. olim Faurian. veil. xi. cent. ; Ap- pend. 2333 a. 3. olim Philiberti de la Mare, veil. xiv. cent. ; 6041 a, veil. xiv. cent. , olim Rog. de Gaigniers.
53 Among the MSS. Bibl. de la Ville de Chartres.
3^ Among the MSS. Bibl. de la Ville de Laon, 345, veil, folio, xiii. cent,
veil. 4to, xv. cent.
3* Colgan alludes to it, as belonging to the
"'
35 Among the MSS. Bibl. de Cambrai,
Carthusians of this city. See
197, in vol, xxii. ; but, it is doubtful— although probable from Mr. Bindon's de- scription—that all of these refer to St. Bren- dan the Navigator. One or more might refer to St. Brendan, Abbot of Birr.
39 See also, MS. Bibl. Ducum Burgundioe, S638, XV. cent.
4" At the commencement, and also at the end, of the MS. , may be found the following note : " Pertinet Monasterio Canonnor. Re- gularum. in Bethleem, ppe Lovanium.
4' The contents of the volume are given, upon the first fly-leaf, and they are as follows, viz. : 1 160. It navigatio S. Brendani abbatis ad diversas insulas ; 1 162. It epistola Presbi- teri Joannis imperatoris majoris; 1 163. It itinerarium Joannis de Mandeville militis. The initial letters of the four different pieces are about two inches in diameter, while orna- mented in vermilion and pink colours, but not very neatly executed, and the observation applies to the penmanship. Mandeville and Tungdalus are in the text styled " milites. " The date, or the name of the scribe, could notbefoundintheMS. ; but,bycompari- son with MSS. of a known date, it appears as old as the " Inventaire " states, namely,
the close of the fifteenth century.
4- See vol. xxii. , fol. 89.
"3 See "Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy,'' vol. iii. , pp. 477 to 452.
44 Held, on the 24th of May, 1847.
45 See L. Tachet de Barneval's " Historic
Legendaire de I'lrlande," chap, xxii. , pp. 246, 247.
4* His name is unknown but, he was pro- ;
bably an ecclesiastic, as the character of his narrative and his style of relating it indi-
cate.
47 This poem begins with these lines s—
" Donna Aaliz la reine,
Par qui valdrat lei divine. "
In Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, for 1836, vol. xxxix. , No. ccxlviii. , under the heading "The Anglo-Norman Trouveres,"
appear English translations of the foregoing, as taken from the Cotton Library copy, classed Vespasian, B. x. The following rendering of the opening lines—forming a very fair specimen of the remaining portion
—is "
here submitted : —
Lady Adelais, who queen
By the grace of heav'n hath been Ycrowned, who this land hath blest With peace, and wholesome laws,
and rest,
Both by King Henry's stalwart might And by thy counsels mild and
right ;
For these, their holy benison MaytheApostlesshedeachone
A thousand, thousand-fold upon
thee :
And, since thy mild command hath
won me
To turn this goodly historic
Into romanz, and carefully
To write it out, and sootlily tell What to St. Brandan erst befell,
At thy command I undertake
The task right gladly, but will make No light or silly pleasantrie.
Unfit in such grave work to be. "
—See pp. 807, 808.
——
May i6. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
these. It is the work of Michael O'Clery. Among the Burgundian MSS. 39 vol. ii. , there is a middle size folio, in the Latin language, bound in wood, covered with calf-skin, and ornamented with brass clasps. '° This volume is intituled, in the classing of the old library, to which it belonged, as follows: " Naviga- tio S. Brendani ad varias Insulas cum aliis—Beth. Louv. 48. "4' Tiie first leaf of this MS. is vellum, then follow four leaves of paper, and then two of vellum, and so on, until the eightieth, which is of vellum, also, and which is the last in the volume. Again, among the Burgundian Library Manuscripts, Bruxelles, there is a dissertation, "De S. Columba et Brendano. "42 The foregoing have been noticed, by Mr. Bindon,43 at a meeting of the Royal Irish Academy. ''4
Various readings are to be found, in the different Manuscript Lives, which are scattered in so many places; and, even >he order and subject matters for narrative have been modified, or changed, according to the taste or fancy of composers and scribes. If we apply to the Navigation of St. Brendon, the ordinary critical analysis of poems, remarks a French writer, it will not be difficult to find, in the mystic and marvellous parts of that legend, the origin and historic realities of a monastic and spiritual Odyssey, so celebrated among the romances of Ireland. ^? An Anglo-Norman bard 4^ produced this cele- brated voyage in French, long before the hermit of Hampede, Robert of Gloucester, Gower, or Chaucer, attempted English versification, and a distinc- tive English literature. It seems to have been composed, at the request of
Auliz la Bele,47 or the beautiful Adelais of Louvain, the Queen of Henry I. ,
393
LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [May i6.
KingofEngland,andsurnamedBeauclerc. VariousActsofdifferentIrishcon- temporaneous saints serve to throw a reflected light on the history of St. Bren- dan and his time. Among others, Augustin Magraidin^^ prepared a Life of St. Brendan,intheIslandofAllSaints,LoughRee,countyofLongford. Jaco- bus de Voragine/9 who was born about a. d. 1230, and who became Provin- cial of the Dominicans and Bishop of Genoa—the native city of Columbus gave St. Brendan's land a special prominence, in the thirteenth century, by writing his " Golden Legend. "s° In the version of it, published by Wynkyn de Worde, in 1483, we find the " Lyfe of Saynt Brandon. "5' Also, John Capgravehasabriefaccountofoursaint,5^ alsoJohnofTriltenheim,53John Bale,=* Archbishop Ussher,55 Thomas Dempster,s^ and Sir James Ware. 57 From that list,^^ belonging to Colgan, we can ascertain, that he left Acts of St. Brendan, of Clonfert, which were intended for publication, at the i6th of May.
