Issey and as Teath. She was a remarkable person,
as it was she who sent her foster-son Brendan with
three ships, manned by thirty in each, on an exploring
excursion across the Atlantic to the west, which,
possibly, led to the discovery of Madeira in the sixth
century. But the truth is so disguised by fable that
little certainty can be obtained as to the results of
the voyage. Brendan made, in fact, two expeditions;
in the first his ships were of wicker, with three coats
of leather over the basket frame; the second time,
by Itha's advice, he made his boats of timber.
Itha never was herself in Cornwall, her great foundation was Kill-eedy in Limerick, and she was taken as the tutelary saint or patroness of Hy-Conaill, but there were establishments, daughters of the parent house, what the Irish called daltha (i.e. pupil) churches, enjoying much the same rights as the mother house.
Camelford has by some been supposed to be the Gavulford where the last battle was fought between the West Welsh and Athelstan; but there was no reason for his advancing into Cornwall this way, where all was bleak, and by no old road.
There is, however, a Slaughter Bridge on the Camel, but this is taken to have acquired its name from having been the scene of the fight between King Arthur and his rebellious nephew Mordred, circ. 537.
King Arthur is a personage who has had hard measure dealt out to him. That there was such an individual one can hardly doubt. There is a good deal of evidence towards establishing his existence. He was chief king over all the Britons from Cornwall
