IMMRAMAliterature in the Irish language.
Immram curaig Úa
Corra
,
in its extant form, is dated near to the end of
the middle ages, though there can be little doubt that
a much earlier version of this story existed: the Uí
Chorra are commemorated in the “Litany of Pilgrim
Saints” (
c.
800
C
.
E
.) and the tale itself is referred to
in medieval lists of titles of Irish tales. The older of
the versions of
Immram curaig Maíle Dúin
(prose)
and
Immram Snédgusa ocus Maic Riagla
(poetry)
date from around the ninth and tenth centuries,
respectively. The medieval tale lists also imply the
past existence of at least one other
immram
,
which
is now lost, concerning Muirchertach Mac Erc—whose
surviving “death-tale” (
aided
) includes a dream-
voyage episode.
Ocean voyages feature in tales of several genres,
for example tales of exile (
loingsea
) and otherworldly
excursions (
echtrai
). What distinguishes the
immrama
from these genres is that in the
immram
, the voyage
becomes the central motif, and the islands and marine
phenomena encountered are the principal measure of
progression in the narrative. The hero of the immram
is drawn into a prolonged, often seemingly aimless
voyage of exile, encountering perilous creatures and
situations.
If past scholarship tended to identify “otherworld”
genres in general with a pre-Christian cosmology,
recent research has tended to note the largely Christian
context of the immrama. Immram Snédgusa ocus Maic
Riagla is a tale of two monks of Iona who send them-
selves into voluntary exile; Máel-dúin is the child of
a (violated) nun; the Uí Chorra go into voluntary exile
as atonement for their looting of churches—a crime
for which texts such as the Vita Patricii (Life of
Patrick) by Muirchú and Cáin Adomnáin (Law of
Adomnán) describe exile as a specific penance. Even
Immram Brain Maic Febuil, the earliest and least
overtly Christian of the immrama, makes reference to
the Biblical Fall and to birds who sing the monastic
hours. References to inundated lands and the Tír inna
mBan (Land of Women, a land of sinless pleasure) in
Immram Brain maic Febuil, and also in Immram
curaig Maíle Dúin, have been controversially held to
represent pre-Christian religious conceptions; but we
should note that even these putatively “native” motifs
are accommodated within an undoubtedly Christian
cosmology. All the immrama should be regarded as
ecclesiastical in the greater part of their setting and
causality.
Recent studies have, moreover, demonstrated that
the immrama owe much to a Hiberno-Latin tradition
which achieves its most developed form in the Latin
prose tale Nauigatio sancti Brendani abbatis (the
voyage of St. Brendan the abbot), written circa 800
C.E. This account of a fantastic voyage by Brendan
to the terra repromissionis sanctorum (Promised
Land of the Saints) expands upon an earlier sub-genre
of voyage narratives found in Latin saints’ lives such
as the Vita Columbae (Life of Columba) of Adomnán,
Vita Albei (Life of Ailbe), Vita Fintani seu Munnu
(Life of Fintan or Munnu) and the Vita Brendani (Life
of Brendan). The voyage episodes in these Latin
saints’ lives also exhibit many basic similarities with
the immrama, to the extent of sharing some of the
same locations and episodes. Saints Ailbe and Brendan
themselves are also referred to in some of the
immrama. An especial point of similarity lies in the
initiating motifs of the Latin voyages and those of
the immrama. Many of the Latin and Irish voyage
narratives present some or all of their voyagers as
going against the advice of mentors or spiritual direc-
tors, including stock characters who are supernumer-
ary to the inital makeup of the crew and who for this
reason bring judgement upon themselves. Likewise,
both Latin and Irish voyage narratives appear to
present parables concerning the balance between the
personal desire for pilgrimage and the requirement
to provide leadership. A distinctive expression of the
monastic vocation through self-exile and pilgrimage
(peregrinatio) presented problems for the early Irish
monks in balancing the desire for peregrinatio with
responsibilities towards their communities—as noted
in theological writings from the time of Gildas and
Columbanus onward. In the secular immrama the
aspirations of lay heroes present allegories of monas-
tic ideals—much as the aspirations of heroes of some
later French romances seem to present secular,
heroic, endeavor in terms of monastic ideals of puri-
fication and perfection.
Outside of this specific religious context, the
immrama may be seen to have the timeless appeal of
all travellers’ tales that depict journeys upon the mar-
gins of the known world and which occasionally ven-
ture across the threshold of the “otherworld.” While—
particularly in the face of futile attempts to “retrace”
these largely imaginary voyages—we should keep in
mind that the immrama’s seeming evocation of the life
lived on the sea is mostly a product of literary creation
and subtle narrative transitions, we should nevertheless
also observe that the earliest immrama and Latin voy-
age tales emerge in a period (c. 700–800) when Irish
peregrini are described by Dícuil as exploring deserted
islands in the Atlantic. Accounts of voyages to islands
such as the Faroes (c. 730) and Iceland (c. 795) appear
to have contributed to some scenes in the immrama;
though many more islands in the tale are of mythic
origin or simple invention.
Though the immrama were little known outside of
Ireland until the modern period, their Latin counter-
part, Nauigatio sancti Brendani, was Ireland’s most