Texts
Vita sancti Brendani
Incoming data
The catalogue entry for this text has not been published as yet. Until then, a selection of data is made available below.
Latin Life of St Brénainn, abbot of Clonfert, of which there are five main recensions.
Manuscript witnesses
MS
Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, MS 7672-7674
Life (II) of Brendan of Clonfert, ed. Heist: 324-331. Cf. the version in this MS on ff. 69r–77v.
f. 189ra–
MS
Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, MS 7672-7674
A version of the Life of Brendan conflated with the Navigatio sancti Brendani, ed. Heist: 56-78. Cf. the version on ff. 189r–191v.
f. 69rb–
Text
Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, MS 7672-7674
context: Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae Sharpe's Vita prior (S1) and Kenney's VB4.
ff. 69r–77v
Text
Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, MS 7672-7674
context: Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae Sharpe's Vita altera (S2) and Kenney's VB1. The only version not to be conflated with the Navigatio, but heavily abbreviated.
ff. 189r–191v
Text
Dublin, Marsh's Library, MS Z 3.1.5
context: Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae Sharpe's siglum O, Kenney's VB3.
Text
London, British Library, MS Cotton Tiberius E i/1
context: Sanctilogium Angliae Walliae Scotiae et Hiberniae (John of Tynemouth) Abridged version (BHL 1446).
ff. 128r–134r
Text
Oxford, Magdalen College, MS F 4. 14/ff. 82-129
rubric: Vita S. Brendani abbatis incipit: Sanctus enim Brendanus abbas in occidentali parte Hibernie
ff. 116v–128r
Sources
Primary sources Text editions and/or modern translations – in whole or in part – along with publications containing additions and corrections, if known. Diplomatic editions, facsimiles and digital image reproductions of the manuscripts are not always listed here but may be found in entries for the relevant manuscripts. For historical purposes, early editions, transcriptions and translations are not excluded, even if their reliability does not meet modern standards.
[ed.] Heist, W. W. [ed.], Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae: ex codice olim Salmanticensi, nunc Bruxellensi. Lives of the saints of Ireland, from the Salamanca manuscript now of Brussels, Subsidia Hagiographica, 28, Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1965.
56–78 S1.
[ed.] Heist, W. W. [ed.], Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae: ex codice olim Salmanticensi, nunc Bruxellensi. Lives of the saints of Ireland, from the Salamanca manuscript now of Brussels, Subsidia Hagiographica, 28, Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1965.
324–331 S2.
[ed.] Plummer, Charles, Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae, partim hactenus ineditae, 2 vols, vol. 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.
Internet Archive: <link>
98–151 (text); O.
[ed.] Moran, Patrick F., Acta sancti Brendani: original Latin documents connected with the life of Saint Brendan, Dublin: William Bernard Kelly, 1872.
Internet Archive – originally from Google Books: <link>
1–26 D, but without the Navigatio. The latter is edited separately (pp. 85-131) from a different base text, with variant readings from several manuscripts, including D (designated as F), in the footnotes.
[tr.] OʼDonoghue, Denis, Brendaniana: St. Brendan the Voyager in story and legend, 2nd ed., Dublin: Brown & Nolan, 1895.
Internet Archive: <link>
182–269 D.
[tr.] OʼDonoghue, Denis, Brendaniana: St. Brendan the Voyager in story and legend, Dublin: Brown & Nolan, 1893.
182–269 D.
Secondary sources (select)
Sharpe, Richard, Medieval Irish saints’ lives: an introduction to Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
esp. 95–96 (D), 106–111 (D), 231–236 (S1–S2), 249–252 (O)
Kenney, James F., “Chapter V: The monastic churches: II. The churches of the sixth to ninth centuries; general treatises”, in: James F. Kenney, The sources for the early history of Ireland: an introduction and guide. Volume 1: ecclesiastical, Revised ed., 11, New York: Octagon, 1966. 372–485.
412–414
Plummer, Charles, “A tentative catalogue of Irish hagiography”, in: Charles Plummer, Miscellanea hagiographica Hibernica: vitae adhuc ineditae sanctorum Mac Creiche, Naile, Cranat, 15, Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 1925. 171–285.
Plummer, Charles, Vitae sanctorum Hiberniae, partim hactenus ineditae, 2 vols, vol. 1, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.
Internet Archive: <link>
xxxvi–xlii
