The legend of Saint Brendan and his sea voyage was one of the most popular medieval legends, widely disseminated in manuscripts and translated into many vernaculars. This collection of articles examines the transmission and reception history of the legend, particularly in the high and late Middle Ages.

One article that merits special mention is Rossana Guglielmetti, “Reading the ‘Navigatio Brendani’ in the Middle Ages: Text and Contexts (and a Lost Fragment Recovered)” (pp. 105–133). Guglielmetti combines painstakingly detailed scholarship with the sort of insight afforded by an overview. She shows how the Navigatio, the account of Brendan’s legendary journey, spread to the Continent in the later ninth century and was disseminated in reform monasteries in the Rhineland and High-Lorraine, reaching a peak of popularity in the twelfth century and then remaining popular in German-speaking regions in the late Middle Ages. A short text, always accompanied by others, it was joined sometimes by devotional and hagiographic material, sometimes by various forms of fantasy literature. Unexpectedly, it is in the more serious-minded manuscripts that readers sometimes add marginal drawings that show appreciation for the entertainment value of the legend. While late medieval Carthusians often took an indulgent attitude toward the legend, Dominicans were not amused, and Vincent of Beauvais especially found much to criticize. For starters, what sort of abbot abandons thousands of monks to go galavanting about on the sea? Guglielmetti’s article weaves all these aspects of reception history together in an interesting and illuminating article.

Another contribution of particular interest is Katja Weidner, “Im Kloster zur See: Eine historische Lektüre der ‘Navigatio S. Brendani’ im geistigen Nachvollzug” (pp. 219–248). The legend of Brendan’s navigation may have served as propaganda for early medieval wandering monks, but why should high medieval monastic reformers such as the Cistercians, with their strong emphasis on claustration, have cultivated this legend? Weidner argues persuasively that the exercise of reading itself was an occasion for self-reflection (“Arbeit am Text wird Arbeit am Selbst”), and the legend of Brendan’s voyage became an occasion for the kind of immersive reading that was vital to Cistercian life.

Two of the articles analyze the development of particular episodes in the story of the saint. Dorothy Ann Bray, “Saint Brendan and Saint Brigit: The Evolution of a Hagiographical Tale” (pp. 23–43), discusses an encounter involving the two saints against the background of alternative forms of monastic life. Christoph Fasbender, “Der Zaumdieb” (pp. 45–73), shows how the legend of a bridle-thief in Brendan’s community is differently contextualized in various versions.

Brendan’s popularity was considerable in late medieval Germany. Simone Loleit, “Gebote, Verbote, Warnungen: Brandans Komunikation mit den Mönchen in Johannes Hartliebs ‘Navigatio’-Übersetzung” (pp. 75–102), shows how an important fifteenth-century German translation combined the themes of hierarchy and equality within Brendan’s monastic community. And Clara Strijbosch, “Brendan’s Endless Voyage: Late-medieval Brendan Veneration along the Coasts of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea” (pp. 195–217), presents Brendan as among other things a protector against fire, a theme perhaps partially inspired by an imagined link between his name and the Germanic brand (for fire or torch).

Two contributions deal with the artistic representation of the saint. Andreas Hammer, “Das Buch, die Schrift und der Druck: Die Bildprogramme der Prosa-Fassung der ‘Reise des hl. Brandan’ in den Handschriften und Drucken” (pp. 135–164), compares the visual representation of the legend in manuscripts (where text and image are closely linked) and early printed versions (where they mainly mark chapters or sections). Alessandro Scafi, “Saint Brendan’s Island on European Maps (1300–1500)” (pp. 167–94), contrasts the placement of the Island on mappae mundi and on nautical charts and the integration into cartography of the classical notion of the Fortunate Islands.

All of the articles make important contributions, but those by Guglielmetti and Weidner are particularly valuable for their contribution to broader themes in cultural history.