ABSTRACT
This chapter depicts Fructuosus as a founder of monasteries, which he chooses to locate not only inland, but on the coast and even islands. Even though the majority of monasteries throughout most of the Middle Ages, and particularly during the first centuries, were founded in interior regions, the fact remains that there were also insular monasteries. However, without a doubt, the geographical and cultural setting for the most numerous and important insular monasteries was the islands of Britannia, and most especially, Ireland. The idea of the geographical proximity between Galicia and the British Isles seems to be an ancient inheritance preserved in the Middle Ages. Consequently, stone vessels finally appeared in Galician traditions. The chronology of the hagiographic stories ranges from the end of the eleventh century to the thirteenth century and a common trait among almost all of them is sailing rocks that undertake magical crossings between different points in the so-called Celtic countries.
