Disguising natural exotica: St Brendan's travels to 'Iceland'

Commentators on the Voyage of St Brendan, including Tim Severin, have suggested that Brendan’s journey represents an ACTUAL voyage across the North Atlantic. This paper considers some of Brendan’s encounters in relation to natural exotica. In considers the writings of contemporary geographers such as Dicuil, (and earlier geographers such as Tacitus, Strabo and Pytheas) and locations such as the Faeroe Islands (in particular Vargr), the Northern Ice pack and icebergs, and Icelandic volcanoes and how these might be translated into descriptions that appear in the Latin Navigatio sancti Brendani abbatis