|
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
St Brendan
|
|
(c.485–c.578) Irish monk who founded the monastery at Clonfert in Galway and who certainly travelled as far as Scotland, but whose lasting fame derives from a 9C Latin narrative in which he is the hero of a great sea journey westwards to find the 'promised land of the saints'. This has led to excited speculation that the Irish might have reached America before any other Europeans. The Atlantic was crossed from Ireland in 1977 by Timothy Severin and others in a leather boat of a kind that existed in Brendan's time, proving that it was at least possible. His feast day is May 16.
|
|
|
|