Queeste. Tijdschrift over middeleeuwse letterkunde in de Nederlanden. Jaargang 2005

The mother of all pilgrimages
Livia Visser-Fuchs

Naar aanleiding van: W.R.J. Barron & Glyn S. Burgess (eds.), The Voyage of St Brendan. Representative Versions of the Legend in English Translation, University of Exeter Press, 2002. ISBN 0 85989 656 0. £45 / $75. [e-mail] / www.ex.ac.uk/uep/

The early Bollandists, who were used to miraculous stories, nevertheless refused to include the Navigatio Sancti Brendani in their vast collection of official Acta sanctorum - it was too incredible. William Caxton, however, who published his compilation of the Legenda aurea in 1484 and included St Brendan's voyage, considered his new book a companion volume to the Polychronicon, his serious history of England, which had come out in 1482, probably when he had already started editing and translating the vast Golden Legend. To him both texts were precious and also proffytable, for both were hystorye.¹

However fantastic, or rather because it is so fantastic, the story of St Brendan's voyage has never suffered from a lack of popularity, and the present book is another piece of tangible evidence of its success. It contains ten versions of the Navigatio, translated from nine languages; four translations are printed with a (new) edition of their original text on the opposite page. A useful and readable introduction by Glyn Burgess surveys the general history of the story, of the Navigatio as well as the Vita Brendani, the actual saint's life, which became conflated with the ‘Voyage’. All controversial aspects are briefly touched on: did St Brendan discover America, where are St Brendan's Isles and why should we read the Navigatio?

The Latin text has an introduction by Jonathan Wooding, who pays much attention to the vexed question of authorship, but is understandably unable to conclude anything beyond the fact that the author was an Irishman not necessarily living in Ireland and had himself made long sea voyages. Selmer's theory, that he can be identified as Israel Episcopus,² an Irishman living in Lotharingia in the tenth century, is rejected. Wooding analyses the structure of the Latin version, which is supported by the great festivals of the year, but also by the author's knowledge of the geography of ‘his’ ocean - which is not arbitrary - and of his own chronology vis-à-vis the lives of other saints. After ‘Sources’ and ‘Genre’ follows ‘The Author's Purpose’, here taken to be a wish to describe the monastic life, with its daily rhythm, its trials and temptations, its quest and mission, and for the deserving, fulfilment. The translation was made by John O'Meara from the edition by Selmer; the Latin itself is not given, nor are there any notes, explanatory or otherwise to the text (though you may not realise this before you come to page 345).

The second version in this collection is the very elaborate Anglo-Norman one, introduced and

1 N.F. Blake, Caxton's Own Prose, London, 1973, p. 131, lines 116 ff.

2 C. Selmer, Navigatio sancti Brendani abbatis from Early Latin Manuscripts, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1959, repr. Dublin 1989.

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translated by Glyn Burgess.³ The maker of this text, who calls himself Benedeit, may have dedicated his work to one or the other of the two wives of Henry I of England, but certainty cannot be obtained. Here, too, structure, genre, sources and the author's purpose are discussed. The author is assumed to have wished to encourage the search for God and to entertain his audience. Knowledge, selfknowledge, foreknowledge, are regarded as the Leitmotive of this redaction. The original text is not given, but there are a limited number of notes, printed towards the end of the book.

The anonymous Dutch version of c. 1400 does not have to prove its popularity either, not even today: the modern translation by Willem Wilmink et al. of 1994 has since been re-published in paperback. To English readers it is made available in the present book for the first time, as is the German version. The Dutch text is introduced by Wim Gerritsen and translated by him and Peter King, the German one is introduced and translated by Gerritsen and Clara Strijbosch. The relationship between the two versions is close but complicated; apart from the Navigatio other sources were used and episodes lacking in the Dutch text appear in the German one and vice versa. Both redactions are more ‘adventurous’ than the ‘original’ and concentrate on the wonderful, natural and supernatural aspects of the story. Again the original texts are not included, but there are some notes to both texts.

No less than four versions were produced in Italy in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, of which the longest and most original is presented here, introduced and translated⁴ by Mark Davie. The author of this version leaves little doubt that his world is centred on Venice, and he also explains and expands some liturgical texts. Towards the end of the story he actually adds in long sections, most notably a detailed description of the Paradise of Delights, where, Davie says, ‘we are in recognizably the same spiritual climate in which Dante wrote the Divine Comedy’. By then the author is taking so much pleasure in his own creation that he cannot refrain from leading the pilgrims further and further into this land of scenic, natural and musical joys, even though he knows they should be going home. His Venetian audience must have been mesmerized by his tale, which reminds one of Marco Polo's adventures. The (long) Italian text is not given, and notes are few.

Of the Occitan and the shorter of two Catalan versions of the Navigatio, both edited and translated by Margaret Burrell, the first is so close to the abridged Latin redactions that it can be regarded as a mere translation. Both texts are here given in the original language as well; the longer Catalan text is so similar to the Occitan one that inclusion was considered unnecessary. The Catalan text again emphasises the miraculous elements of the story and it was the undoubted aim of the narrator to entertain his audience. Textual notes support the editions of both.

Of the Norse Navigatio only one damaged leaf of a thirteenth-century manuscript survives, but it is enough to show that this is a ‘reasonably faithful’ and intelligent rendering of the original Latin, with some improvements and catering for the needs of a Norse audience. The original text is edited and translated by Andrew Hamer, and there are a couple (literally) of textual notes.

Finally W.R.J. Barron presents the two English renderings: the one included in eighteen of the more than sixty known manuscripts of the huge verse collection of saints' lives known as the South English Legendary (2nd half 13th century), and the other the text added by William Caxton to his equally large compendium of hagiography based mainly on Jacobus de Voragine's Golden Legend and produced in 1484. The SEL text is given in the original and in modern English translation, Caxton's very readable and entertaining redaction is printed in the original only. Both editions are supported by textual notes.

The purpose of the editors of this collection is clear: making available, to academic and non-academic readers alike, as many of the important texts of this fascinating and almost timeless story as possible in one book. They have succeeded, but this is not a book for dummies. The reader is not led by the hand and to produce results and compare the individual authors' aims and preferences one would have to read every version in full - which I have not done. Let me give one example: how does Judas, discovered by Brendan and his companions on his icy rock while ‘on holiday’ from hell, introduce himself.

3 The translation was made from the edition by I. Short en B. Merrilees, The Anglo-Norman Voyage of St Brendan, Manchester, 1979.

4 From the edition by M.A. Grignani, Navigatio sancti Brendani, La Navigazione di San Brandano, Milan, 1975, repr. 1992, 1997.

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Latin: ‘I am unhappy Judas, the most evil trader. I am not here in accordance with my deserts, but because of the ineffable mercy of Jesus Christ. This place is not reckoned as punishment, but as an indulgence of the Saviour in honour of the Lord's Resurrection’.

Anglo-Norman: ‘I am Judas who once served Jesus whom I betrayed. I sold my lord and hanged myself out of grief. I feigned affection in order to kiss him and created discord when I ought to have created peace. I am the one who had the keeping of his money and squandered it by stealth’. ... [and so on for many lines] ... ‘This is a period of respite from my pains, which I have on a Saturday evening’ ... [followed by a detailed description of the torments of hell].

Dutch: ‘I am poor Judas, the sinner answered, paying now for my treachery. For selling to no good purpose him who created me and gave me life. I have now to endure this fearful punishment’. ... [and so on for a number of lines] ... ‘At the moment all is well with me because of the grace allowed me in honour of Sunday’ ... [followed by mere mention of the torments of hell].

German: ‘I am the poor sinner Judas, who betrayed God, the man said. I hanged myself in desperation. If I had not killed myself but had felt real remorse, God would have shown mercy to me. So I have to suffer pain eternally; I am forever beyond help. But because God shows me a little mercy I am enjoying a short respite until noon tomorrow’. ... [followed by mere mention of the torments of hell].

Venetian: ‘I am dead, not alive, he replied; I am Judas Iscariot. I killed my father with a stone and lived for a long time with my mother as my wife, without knowing it, and had many children with her’. ... [and so on] ... ‘This state in which you see me now is not the one which I deserve, but is given me as a special grace from God, who does with me as he pleases’.

Occitan: ‘I am the misbegotten Judas. I am not here in this place because of any merit of mine, but through the great mercy of Jesus Christ this place is given me for my penance’.

Catalan: ‘I am the ill-begotten Judas Iscariot who deservedly dwells in this place, and through the great mercy of Jesus Christ I am granted this place as a penance’.

South English Legendary: ‘I, he said, am a sorry soul, the vile Judas who sold our Lord for money, and was with him upon earth. This is not my rightful place, but our Lord does me the kindness of having my Paradise here in this place as you see; not for any good deed that I have done, but out of our Lord's mercy and grace, for I do not have so much pain that I have not deserved more’.

Caxton: ‘My name is Judas that solde our Lord Jhesu Cryst for xxx pens, whiche sytteth here thus wretchedlye; how be it I am worthy to be in the grettest payne that is, but our Lord is so merciful, that he hath rewarded me better thenne I have deserved, for of my right my place is in the brennyng of Hell’.

Even from such a small survey it is obvious how different the priorities of the authors were: in this instance a few considered the story good enough as it was, many could not resist shocking their audience with tales of horror and misery when the opportunity arose, adding in a full fictional biography of Judas - which enabled them to list every heinous crime a man can commit - and detailing all the pains of hell. There is food here for many kinds of students, literary, social, art historical, and we are grateful to the editors for providing it, together with an up-to-date survey of the subject as a whole. The only objection one could make - as so often in the case of such collections meant for a wider readership - is the book's editorial format, and perhaps a lack of editorial resolution, even selfishness. Why not indulge in more explanatory notes? Why not have proper footnotes on every page? Surely, even non-academic readers do not tremble at the sight of proper notes any more? Why not include the information concerning the manuscripts and editions of each version at the end of each introduction, instead of hiding it away at the end? The scholarly levels of both sets of information are well matched and running them together would have made the collection easier to use. The curious use of asterisks for different purposes could have been avoided - and I still do not know why some phrases in the translation of the German text are in italics! It should not be expected of the reader that he or she should hunt through the whole book to find the explanation of such mysteries.

The choice of which texts should be accompanied by an edition of their original must have been a difficult one. Money and space and the accessibility of some editions came into it, and as a result we

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have ended up with an ‘incomplete’ book, but that is understandable and my only real doubts are about the necessity of including the South English Legendary text, which does not seem to offer more than the Early English Text Society edition (reprinted in 1967 and available in most good libraries).

St Brendan's voyage has lost nothing of its attraction, even to modern readers. Though we seem to have mapped the whole world and travelled to every corner of it, the mysterious longing for truly unknown shores remains with us all. To read about such travels, of any age and however incredible, makes one share in the intense fears and joys of the traveller himself, and perhaps also feel some of the boredom of those that had to listen to the traveller's tales a little too often:

He often told them of his journeying, where things went well and where there were difficulties; he told them how, whenever he had needed to ask God for something, it had been provided, and he related the whole story of how he found what he had been looking for.

Adres van de auteur. Faas Eliaslaan 43, nl-3742 as Baarn, [e-mail]