DISCOVERY OF AMERICA BY THE IRISH

The geography of the western world, according to the old Norsemen, consisted of

The name of St. Brendan (Brandan) is well known, at least it may be found in the larger cyclopedias. He was an Irish monk, famous for his voyages upon the sea to strange lands. The traditions handed down to us from the Middle Ages contain many legends in regard to him. He belongs to the sixth century after Christ, and hence to an age where fact and fiction are strangely mingled. His death is said to have occurred A. D. 577. The name of St. Brendan, the navigator, which probably occurs in Mann the name of the parish of Braddan. Colman, son of Lenin, lived from 522 to 604 A.D. He had been a poet and bard at the court of Caomh, King of Munster at Cashel. Influenced by St. Brendan and St. Ita, he left Palace life to become a priest. It was St. Brendan of Clonfert that induced Colman to become Christian. The Irish have some claim to the honor of having discovered America before Columbus. Inisdadroum (Coney Island), shows the remains of two churches; one of these was founded by St. Brendan of Ardfert, about A.D. 550. St. Brendan saw an 'Island of Sheep' and a 'Paradise of Birds', which some say could be the Faroes with its dense bird population and sheep. The monk Fidelis who (762) journeyed along the canal then still existing, between the Nile and the Red Sea; from clerics who had lived in Iceland for six months. The ancient pilgrimage to the summit of Mount Brandon was ritualistically done on the last Sunday of July, known locally as Domhnach Chrom Dubh. Initially it was part of a worship to the Celtic God Lughnasa as part of the harvest festival. Later it became Christianised and was dedicated to St. Brendan the Navigator, a 6th century monk who is said to have sailed to America long before Columbus. The story of his voyage was translated into every European language by the 12th century, and made Brendan famous as a seafaring saint. It was from the summit of Mount Brandon that Brendan had a vision of "the land to the west". The islands of Inishdadroum and Inishmacowney, in this parish, had each a castle, belonging in 1580 to Teige MacConor O’Brien, ancestor of the Ballycorick family of that name. Crovraghan also had a castle, now levelled to the ground, which was owned by him.

Report has it that he went on a nine years' voyage, and visited unknown lands. These lands are described in the work De Fortunatis Insulis, published in the eleventh century, in the Latin language, and translated into French about the yeare 1120. Versions of his voyages appeared also in German, English and Dutch. Popular tradition has identified the Fortunate Islands of ST. BRENDAN with America, and given this Irish saint the credit of discovering the western continent.

According to one legend, St. Brendan, conducted by an angel, descended to the lower world, where he witnessed the torments of the Devil and of the damned, and subsequently he came to, the Fortunate Islands, and finally he visited Paradise. At the end of the nine years he returned to Ireland, and gave an account of his adventures. The less superstitious interpreted St. Brendan's voyages as referring to existing countries, concerning St. Brendan constituted one of the causes which led the Spanish and Portuguese to undertake voyages of discovery in the western ocean. Thus St. Brendan is one of the links in that chain of influences operating on the mind of the great Genoese navigator. The voyages of the Phœnicians and of the Greek Pytheas were germs that budded in the explorations of the Irish and of the Welsh, blossomed in the expeditions of the Norsemen, and culminated and bore fruit in the discovery of America by Columbus. The Phœnicians and Columbus are the two ends of the long chain of events in the opening of the new world to civilization. At around 320, Pytheas of Massalia sailed around Britain and along the northern coast of Europe, and what he found on his journeys were so unbelievable that later writers refused to believe him. He may have been the first Mediterranean to distinguish the Germanic people from the Celts... Brandenburg is situated in territory known as Magna Germania (west bank of the Rhine)... Columbus' searching mind sought out the writings of Adam of Bremen and the works relating to St. Brendan. Adam of Bremen mentions Prussians in 1072. The regions of Prussia and their peoples are said to bear Widewuto's sons' names. These peoples include the Yatvingians and Sudovians. It is in this wise that we are able to explain the firm conviction that Columbus invariably expressed in his reference to land in the west and in Historia Ecclesiastica, Leif and Tyrker to give the country the name of Vinland.

NAMES OF PLACES STILL IDENTIFIED

  • Almhuin Hill of Allen, co. Kildare.
  • Ardmacha Armagh.
  • Beinn Edair Hill of Howth.
  • Boinne The Boyne.
  • Beinn Gulbain Near Sligo.
  • Bregia Bray.
  • Carraige Luachra Co. Kerry.
  • Corca Dubhne Corcaguiny, co. Kerry.
  • Cenacles Kells, co. Meath.
  • Cluain Eraird Clonard.
  • Corcomruadh Near Burren, co. Clare.
  • Cruachan Rathcroghan, co. Roscommon.
  • Druimcliab Drumcliff, co. Sligo.
  • Druim Ceta The Mullagh, near Newtownards Doire Derry.
  • Hill of Usnach West Meath. Laighis Leix.
  • Loch Lene Killarney.
  • Loch Febhail Lough Foyle.
  • Loch Neach, Lough Neagh.
  • Magh Femen Near Sieve-na-Man.
  • Magh Breg East Meath.
  • Moen Moone, east of Athy.
  • Monaster Boite Monasterboice, co. Louth.
  • Rathboth Between Donegal and Ballyshannon.
  • Sord Swords.
  • Sionnan The Shannon.
  • Tailltin Telltown.
  • Toraig Tory Island, co. Done
  • Uaran
  • Garaid River
  • Cruind Wood of Fochlad North West of Sligo.

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