NORTH ALBIN GAELS—COLUMBA.
The presence of the Romans in Scotland produced very little effect
in the Highlands. Fringes of the eastern counties had been occupied
for brief periods of time; but the influence of Latin civilisation
was slight and transient. The Christian churches that had begun to
flourish in the Gaelic lowlands under Roman rule showed signs of
decay upon the withdrawal of the Imperial legions which at first
were a sort of protection to the somewhat feeble Christianity of
the earlier ages. The chief source of weakness to this Christianity
was the fact that it had not yet struck its roots deeply into the
independent soil of the native races. A more virile gospel of natural
native growth was needed. And this was now about to be proclaimed by
a man whose name is associated with the most brilliant period and
best aspirations of the history of the Highland people.
This man was Calum, the son of Feidlimidh, son of Fergus, son of
Niall, of the “Nine Hostages,” monarch of Erin, who was slain in the
year 405. He was thus of blood-royal on the father’s side; while his
mother Ethne was also of a princely house. He was born about the year
521 at Gartan, in the county of Donegal. His people in these northern
Highlands of Ireland, belonged to the same race that prevailed at
this period in the southern Highlands of Scotland; so in crossing
the sea to the islands of Argyllshire Columba merely sailed from
one Gaelic country to another. He was a man highly regarded in both
countries on account of his family connections among the powerful
ruling races on both sides of the sea. Before proceeding to detail
the better authenticated and the more suggestive events of his
life, it may help to remove some historical misconceptions and show
more vividly the field of Columba’s operations, if we glance at the
condition of the various races with whom he came in contact, and at
their relations to one another.
When the Highland people first emerge on the canvas of written
records within their present limits, it is in connection with the
proclamation of Christianity among them. We previously get a glance
of their valiant clans in the great national struggle with the
aggressive legions of Rome. The brave soldiers of these legions with
which the Caledonians strove, were in the main of the same race as
those to whom they were opposed. They belonged to the powerful clan
Chatti of ancient Batavia, the modern Netherlands, where the Romans
fixed their base for operations in Britain. It was these Batavian
Celts with their better weapons, and not Latin soldiers, that fought
the ancient Highlanders of the eastern counties. Centuries passed
after this great battle between the Celts of Albin and those of
Batavia who were in Roman pay. Then again the clans of the north
came distinctly into view when the star of Christianity arose in the
west. The sources of our information at this point, are the uncertain
references of classical writers on the one hand—references which
require careful sifting—and the vague glimpses of native Christian
writers on the other.
It is not to be expected that these sources would supply us with
anything like a correct ethnological account. We may feel certain
that race theories in the sixth century were at least as confusing
and mistaken as they are in the present day even among fairly
educated people. So it is only by a careful induction and much
critical attention, that an approximation to the truth can be arrived
at out of those classical passages and sentences which have been
so severely tortured and twisted by Gaels and Goths, Brythons, and
Teutons. Much choleric temper has extended itself over those ancient
fields. In recent times sorely debated questions, however, have
changed faces, and historians have become more humane. The Christ
breath of the sentiment of human brotherhood has very largely soothed
the racial asperities with which the wars of the Picts and the Scots
have been fought again and again.
There is one phase of the history of those early centuries, which
he who runs may read now, and in which the Highland people are
naturally very much interested. It has come distinctly into view as
the result of able discussions during the last ten years. The Celtic
period of our national history used to receive very scant attention
indeed at the hands of the recognised writers on such subjects.
Our latest historians have shown a spirit of greater fairness. The
first volume of Burton’s “History of Scotland” may be said to be
devoted to the Celtic period; and, with the exception of the writer’s
evident anxiety to find the paternity of the higher influences
of civilisation in Teutonic fields, may be regarded as a fair
representation of the events of the centuries described. Even the
publication of such a work as Skene’s “Celtic Scotland,” bearing so
suggestive a title, is a fact of much significance. A learned if not
always discriminating volume, “Celtic Ireland,” by Dr Sophie Bryant,
has also just been published.
In the fifth and sixth centuries we are confronted with a group of
races in north Britain which have formed the subject of bitter and
exhaustive controversies. The terms “Pict” and “Scot” are the chief
monuments of this fierce warfare. No one can pretend to say now
who the races are of whom these terms are the exponents. They were
bestowed on the people by outsiders, and are quite unknown in the
native literature of the country. It is highly probable that they
indicate personal characteristics such as dress rather than race.
The clans or tribes to whom they were applied have been found all
over north Britain and the north of Ireland at different times. To
translate them into native terms will only make the confusion already
existing more hopeless. To render _Pict_ by “Cruthnec” would be as
inaccurate as to render _Scot_ by “Gàidheal.” The most helpful way in
which we can arrive at a fairly satisfactory conclusion at present is
to take a brief survey of the various races from a Gaelic standpoint;
keeping the main results of ethnological inquiry before our minds.
From this position the use of the terms “Pict” and “Scot” must be
altogether discarded. Let us examine the terms which the Gaelic
language supplies:—
1. _Albannaich._—Who were or are the _Albannaich_? The word has come
from Albainn or Albin, and is now generally used to distinguish a
Scotsman, whether Highland or Lowland, from the _Eirionnach_ of
Ireland and the _Sasunnach_ of England. The application of Albion to
the largest of these islands retreated in the course of centuries
to the north-west, where it still indicated the presence of the
pre-Celtic settlers who gave the name to the island. The occasional
application of it by Celtic writers to southern districts, even as
far south-west as the Isle of Wight, or the sea of Ictis, prevailed
as late as the eleventh and twelfth centuries. _Albannaich_, or
people of a distinctively pre-Celtic character still survived in
the west, particularly in south Wales and Cornwall. In the time of
Columba the _Albannaich_ proper possessed and ruled the country from
Drum-Albin northwards. The language they spoke is unknown.
2. _Gaidheil._—“Gaidheil Alba” is an expression which indicates,
what we otherwise know, that the _Gaidheil_ were immigrants to the
country of the Albinians. The precise term for the land inhabited by
themselves is “Gàidhealtachd,” the application of which suggests that
it is a part or district of Albin. A similar expression is “Gàidheil
Eirin,” which shows that Ireland is not more peculiarly the land of
the Gael than Scotland; indeed like “Scots” it is only in the latter
that _the_ “Gaels,” emphatically “na Gàidheil,” can be found. When
we first know them in north Britain we see them in possession of
the south-west Highlands and the Strathclyde valleys. Their Gaelic
tongue prevailed south of Drum-Albin, and particularly in the fourth
and fifth centuries, in that district or county to which they have
given its name, Argyll. They were driven to Ireland in earlier times
as well as into the Argyllshire Highlands under the pressure of the
Brythons on the south-east, mixed up with, and supported by, the
Romans and Roman rule.
3. _Bretunnaich._—At the time of Columba men of this race pushed as
far west as the Clyde. They have left a memorial of their presence
in that ancient capital of their rule, Dunbreton, or Dumbarton.
There were, no doubt, many Gaels still in the district, although
the Brythons asserted for some time a supremacy; and the former
reasserted their presence before the valleys of the Clyde became
finally Saxon in language.
4. _Sasunnaich._—In the land of the Gael very little was known of the
_Sasunnaich_ when Columba landed in Argyllshire. They were well known
to the _Bretunnaich_ on the eastern shores, where they had for some
time established themselves. But to the Gaels in the west they were
as yet a mere shadowy name.
Columba’s missionary enterprises were carried on among the Gaels of
the southern Highlands and the Albinians of the north-west. The two
languages in which he could freely and eloquently preach were Gaelic
and Latin, so among the Gaels he found himself at once at home among
a kindred people, many of whom had already heard of Christianity.
Among the Albinians of the north-west neither his Gaelic nor his
Latin could serve him; and he had to engage an interpreter, who must
have been familiar with Gaelic and Albinic. With the Christianising
of the north-west the area of Gaelic speech extended, and Albinic
gradually became extinct.
The advent of Columba on the shores of the Highlands constitutes a
new era in the national history. In the centuries which elapsed from
his time 553-97 to that of Queen Margaret 1057-93, some 500 years,
we have the truly Celtic period of Scottish national life. In the
course of the preceding 500 years the Romans occupied large tracts
of Scottish territory; and after the withdrawal of their legions the
Albinians maintained a powerful rule in the north-west; so the Gaels
had not as yet played so visible a part on the national canvas. Now,
however, with the evangelisation of the country by Columba the Gaels,
whose language became the organ of sacred eloquence, appeared as the
prevailing people.
The conclusions established by the following facts deserve distinct
attention in our conceptions of our national history:—
1. That the Gaels were the prevailing race in north Britain for 500
years previous to the reign of Malcolm Canmore.
2. That during these centuries the Gaelic language was used in Court
and church, and was the national speech of the people, even when an
English dialect began to develop on the east coast and a Norse one
temporarily prevailed in the western islands.
3. That a native Gaelic church flourished during this half millennium.
4. That it was during these centuries that the permanent foundations
of our Scottish independence and nationality were laid, in the midst
of many fierce struggles and bitter sorrows, and by means of many
battles and much bloodshed. It was the Gaelic conquests of this
period that paved the way for the national throne which Kenneth
MacAlpine ascended, and which exercised sway in the north until its
power merged in that of the British Empire upwards of a thousand
years after the gospel was proclaimed by Columba in the Hebrides.
The missionary advent of Columba, or in his own native language,
_Calum_, on the south-western shores of the Highlands constitutes
one of the earliest and chief dates of our national history. The
evangelical succession of his Christianity has been traced in two
directions. One source has been already touched upon, the Church
of Ninian from which Patrick went forth to evangelize the north
of Ireland. The mother home of this branch of Celtic Christianity
was undoubtedly Ninian’s celebrated monastery of Rosnat, which is
mentioned under several designations, of which “Candida Casa” is the
best known. Other names are the “Magnum Monasterium,” “Alba” and
“Futerna,” the latter being the Gaelic equivalent for the Anglic
“Whithern.” Abbots and bishops trained in this renowned monastery
laboured in Ulster; and founded monasteries there. The last of this
family of ecclesiastics was Finian of the race of Dal Fiatach. This
is acknowledged to be the first channel through which Monachism was
introduced into Ireland, the personal links in the communication
being Martin of Tours and Ninian. The second channel, as well shown
by Dr Skene, was through Bretagne and Wales, the personal links in
this case being “David, Gillas, and Docus, the Britons,” otherwise
David, the patron saint of the Welsh, Gildas, the historian, and
Cadoc, the founder of Llancarvan in South Wales. Finian, an Irish
Pict, repaired to the monastery of Kilmuine, or Manavia, in Wales,
and became the pupil of these three distinguished men; and on his
return to Ireland founded in course of time the well-known monastery
of Clonard in Meath, the Gaelic _Cluainerard_, where no less than
three thousand monks are supposed to have been at one time under
training. This became the source of living Christianity in the
south-west of Ireland after the time of Patrick. Finian had twelve
followers of celebrated name, who have been designated the twelve
Apostles of Ireland. Their names run as follow:—
1. _Ciaran_, the founder of the Saighir monastery in Munster.
2. _Ciaran_, called “Mac-an-t-Saoir,” the “Artificer’s son,”
founder of Clonmacnois, in King’s County, in 548.
3. _Columba_, son of Crimthan of Leinster, founder of Tirrdaglas in
548.
4. _Mobhi Clairenach_, founder of Glasnevin, in Fingall.
5. _Ninnidh_, of Loch Erne.
6. _Brendan_, of Birr.
7. _Brendan_, of the seven years’ voyage, founder of Clonfert.
8. _Laisren_ or _Molaisse_, of Devenish.
9. _Ruadhan_, of Lothra.
10. _Senell_, of Cluain-innis.
11. _Cainnech_, of Achabo.
12. _Columba_, of Iona.
With the exception of Brendan of Birr, Cainnech of Achabo, and the
great Finian himself, who were of the Erinic race, all these were of
the Gaelic race.
Highlanders cannot help feeling much interested in the main facts
of Columba’s life. The exact date of his birth, ascertained is
fixed on the 7th of December, 521. He was baptised by the Presbyter
Cruithnechan, and the church of his youth was _Tulach-dubh-glaise_,
now Temple Douglas, where his frequent attendance procured him
the title “Calum-cille” or “Calum of the Church.” In due time he
became the pupil of Finnbarr, or Finian of Maghbile, where he was
ordained a deacon. He acquired taste for general literature under the
instruction of the bard Gemman. He completed his academic training
under Finian of Clonard, when he became one of the twelve apostles
of Ireland. In his religious course of instruction the influences of
the two British monasteries of Candida Casa and Menavia met in the
persons of the two Finians, respectfully of Maghbile and Clonard.
About the year 545 he founded the monastery of Derry, or of Daire,
and afterwards that of Raphoe in Donegal. Ten years after the date
of the foundation of the church of Derry he started the celebrated
religious centre of Durrow or _Daire-Mag_, distinguished by the
profusion of oaks with which it was surrounded. Cennanus, or Kells,
in Meath, is also associated with his name, as well as a large number
of less famous churches scattered over many other counties.
This is the man who was about to Christianise the north-west of
Scotland, as well as give a fresh impulse to the great missionary
enterprises of the Celtic Church. Christianity was not altogether
unknown in the Western Isles before his arrival. The saintly voyager,
Brendan, one of his contemporaries, had been heard of in these
regions upwards of twenty years before the arrival of Columba; and
left traces of his presence in Bute and the Garvelloch Isles, where
his name has come down to us in that designation of Rothesay folks,
_Brandanes_, as well as in Kil_brandan_ Sound. He is also reported to
have visited the island of Heth or Tyree.
The departure of Columba from Ireland for the Scottish coast was
probably the result of mixed motives. He appears to have been
implicated in some sanguinary struggle, particularly the battle of
Culdremhne; how far it is impossible now satisfactorily to ascertain.
We are informed by Adamnan that the excommunication pronounced
by the Synod of Taillte in Meath was for pardonable and trifling
reasons. The silly story about the transcription of the Psalter, and
the judgment about the cow and its calf are unworthy of the persons
concerned and of the Christianity of the period. The so-called
sentence of exile does not bear the criticism of common sense; and
is the product of very credulous times. That the heart of Columba
yearned for the conversion of his kindred across the sea is highly
credible and natural. Political motives may have entered into his
thought; but we may generally accept the impression of one of his
biographers,—“his native country was left by the illustrious saint
and illustrious sage, and son chosen of God for the love and favour
of Christ.”
In the year 563 Columba, in the forty-second year of his age, left
Ireland for Scotland. The island of Colonsay was the first soil on
which he landed; but finding that he was still within eight miles of
Ireland he sailed further north to Ia or the _Iouan_ island, where he
fixed his abode. He was accompanied by “twelve disciples, his fellow
soldiers,” in the fashion of the missionaries of the Celtic Church
who went forth in their twelves, sometimes in their twenty-fours. At
first on arrival at Colonsay these devoted brethren thought they had
sailed far enough from Ireland and raised _Carn cul ri Eirin_; but a
clearer horizon soon revealed to them their mistake. On the nearest
elevation in Iona they raised a similar _Carn_ bearing the same
title, and they were now satisfied that they had sailed far enough
north from their native place, the vision of which could not tempt
them to return. Had they been able to anticipate the power of modern
glasses they would find that Ireland was still within their sight.
The date of their arrival in Iona was Whitsuneve, which that year
fell on the 12th of May.
The name of Iona is a source of everlasting charm all over the
Christian world. Let us form to ourselves some conception of its
position, size, and character. In his voyage to this islet Columba
sailed by the fertile and low-lying shores of Islay, whence the
high lands of the north of Ireland can be easily seen in the hazy
distance. He landed on the lonely Colonsay, but stayed not there.
Further north he found his future home. This was that isle of fame
and beauty, situated at the south-west corner of the island of Mull.
Iona is separated from the Ross of Mull by a channel about a mile
wide, in which the heavy swell of the ocean sometimes rolls unkindly
for tiny barks. This channel is deep enough for the passage of the
largest ships, but is not free from danger on account of sunken
rocks. The island itself lies north-east and south-west; and is about
three and one-half miles in length, and a mile and a half in breadth.
Its area is about two thousand acres, of which some six hundred
are generally under cultivation, the rest being either pasture or
barren. To see its northern end, as the writer first saw it, gleaming
under the morning sun,—its brows of sand flashing their radiance
afar,—produces an impression that does not readily vanish. The
diapason of the Atlantic and the responsive chorus of the seashores
help to charm and soothe while they solemnize the human spirit. There
truly you can find the spirit of nature’s religion chanting lightly
her morning hymns and rehearsing sweetly her evening psalms. A plain
extends from side to side, at the narrowest part, in the centre of
the island, with a small green hillock in its centre. In this part
of it the soil is fairly fertile; but towards the north the ground
becomes rougher with grassy hollows and rocky rising-knolls which
end in the highest point in the island, Dun-I, 327 feet in height.
From that eminence north a strip of low land extends to the shore,
terminating in a stretch of white sand, which is composed chiefly
of broken shells which the swell of the ocean has rolled and wasted
and worn together until it heaped them there. Along the east side of
the island the ground is low-lying and fertile. South of the central
plain the surface of the soil is irregular, showing stony heights
and grassy dells, which afford good pasture. The shore abounds with
little bays and headlands. The underlying rocks are Laurentian, with
an almost vertical dip, and a strike from north-east to south-west.
There are beds of slate, quartz, marble, with serpentine, and a
mixture of felspar, quartz, and hornblende passing sometimes into a
sort of granite. This is the island of which the proverbial saying
has made Columba so tenderly sing:
“I mo chridhe, I mo ghràidh.”
(Isle of my heart, Isle of my love.)
The name of Iona has appeared under a large variety of forms. The
single capital letter I has stood for it, which pronounced like
double _ee_ as Gaelic requires, represents the universal Gaelic
pronunciation for the island. Here are some of the other forms:
Ia, Ie, Ii, Ieoa; Hi, Hii; Y, Hy; Iona, Yona, Hyona, and Yensis;
I-Chalumchille and Icolmkill. In Adamnan it appears as the _Iouan_
island. This is an adjectival form in which the radix is Iou,
equivalent to the Gaelic I. Adamnan’s Iouan was corrupted by the
mistake of transcribers into the more euphonious Iona, an explanation
which shows, the untenableness of such fanciful etymologies as
I-thonna, “the island of waves,” and _I-shona_, “the island of the
blest.”
These were some of the peculiar developments of the Brito-Irish
Church from whose bosom Columba came. The monasteries were
usually located on grants of land, often very extensively made by
the provincial kings or other chiefs who had been converted to
Christianity, and desired to have the worship of God set up among
their people, and thus became identified with the clan or tribe in
which they were settled. It is in connection with these temporalities
that the remarkable functionary called Co-arb comes into view. He
appears to have been a person of greater consequence than the bishop,
and to have exercised ecclesiastical as well as temporal power. Dr
Todd defines his position and functions thus:—“On the whole it
appears that the endowment in land, which were granted to the ancient
church by the chieftains who were first converted into Christianity,
carried with them the temporal rights and principalities originally
belonging to the owners of the soil, and that these rights and
principalities were vested, not in bishops as such, but in the
co-arbs or ecclesiastical successors of those saints to whom the
grants of land were originally made. In other words, the Co-arbs
became the trustees of the temporalities of the monasteries and of
the missionary enterprises of the church. They were the predecessors
of those who in our own times hold property in trust for our training
schools, colleges, churches, and missionary societies. There were
no mines, docks, or railways in which shares could be held; but the
chieftain and his clan had real property at their disposal which in
their piety and generosity they set apart, as occasion required,
for the support of the gospel. The property the earnest-souled
monks soon transformed into a centre of holy activity and Christian
civilization.”
Columba with his family of Christian brethren in Iona, labouring with
hand and head; studying, writing, and praying; and sending forth to
neighbouring lands and islands Christian workers whose hearts God
had touched, formed a beautiful picture of pious effort which deeply
impressed the imagination of succeeding ages. This band of ancient
Gaelic Christians became known in course of time under the endearing
designation of “The Family of Iona.” The goodly number of twelve
disciples accompanied Columba to Iona, the number being that usually
sent forth together to labour in a district in imitation of the
accidental features of the apostolic system. The names of the twelve
brethren were Baithen, and Cobthach, brothers; Ernaan, the uncle, and
Diarmit the attendant of Columba; Rus and Fechno, brothers; Scandal,
Luguid, Eachaid, Tochann, Cairnaan, and Grillaan.
Iona as a religious centre for the evangelising efforts of these
brethren was admirably situated. It was on the confines of the
Albinic and Gaelic jurisdiction. It was granted to Columba first by
Conall, King of the Gaels, who were largely Christians. The great
missionary also secured the grant by getting the approval of King
Brude of the Albinians, whom he visited soon after his settlement at
Iona. This visit to the king was paid at his fortress at the mouth of
the Ness, and was afterwards repeated several times, which evinces
the unchanging character of the friendship which existed between the
king and the saint.
The interesting story of Columba’s missionary labours in converting
the Albinians and in reviving the drooping Christianity of the
Gaels belongs to the province of Church history and can only be
glanced at here as a fresh transforming factor which entered deeply
into the civil life of the people. It was no doubt the determining
influence in the historic process which ended in Kenneth’s accession
to the united throne in 843. Combined with the superior knowledge
of letters, this factor of Christianity facilitated the Gaelic
conquest of Albin. The struggle described in the popular ballads of
the Finians was a real one—in which the heathen and decadent Féinne,
the brave and chivalrous people of Ossian went forth against the
psalm-singing forces of Christian clerics, but they always went forth
to fall and die. The Gaelic and Christian conquest of the Albinians
or Féinne was complete with the union of the two races in the ninth
century. All through the struggle the members of “The Family of Iona”
played a prominent part.
They had travelled north and east, earnestly labouring among the
various clans and tribes, and founding churches and colleges which
became not only Christianising but nationalising centres, and so
preparing the way for the extension of Gaelic rule. When the proper
opportunity came the nations were evidently well prepared for a
fusion which appears to have been very thorough.
Judging by the number of churches which they founded, and the wide
tracts of country over which their labours extended, the Family of
Iona must have had a very earnest and successful brotherhood. The
northern half of England was Christianised by men who went forth
from Iona, a fact which, it is pleasant to notice, is specially
acknowledged in the Dictionary of English History recently published.
It is to the Family of Iona we are also indebted for the first
literary products to which we can refer. They were the first to
love and cultivate the literature which we now so highly prize. If
there were any such pre-Christian bards as Ossian, it is to the
ancient clerics that we are indebted for the preservation of their
compositions. Indeed it is a question whether the knowledge of the
forms of poetry existed at all in pre-Christian times. There is no
evidence that we possess a scrap of ancient poetry which belongs to
ages before Christian pens began to cultivate letters. The brethren
in Iona were much engaged in writing, which as an accomplishment was
considered as an adornment even for the highest Church dignitaries.
And great value was attached evidently to the products of their
pens. The transcription of sacred literature, particularly of the
Psalter, occupied much of their time. Columba himself was engaged in
this work when death took him. To be a ready _scribhnidh_, or scribe,
was an object of worthy ambition. The position of _ferleighin_, or
praelector, was one of honour in the sacred brotherhood. Many of the
terms used by them in connection with letters have come down to us;
others have been lost, or have since their time received different
meanings and applications. Columba’s Stylus, or pen, was called in
Gaelic _graib_, from the Greek _graphium_; but the _graib_ of modern
times is an agricultural implement. A very poetic legend tells how
this stylus of Columba became the property of Gregory of Rome. The
leather cases in which the service books were kept for travelling
were called _polire_ and _tiagha_. The alphabet they styled _abgiter_
a form which has considerable philologic value; according to one
authority Columba’s _abgiter_ was written on a cake. These waxed
tablets for writing introduced _ceir_ from the Latin cera. The
library was _teach screaptra_; and its keeper _leabhor coimhedach_.
These and many other terms once current in Gaelic literature,
introduced by the Gaelic clerics in the British Isles and on the
Continent, ceased to be used in the centuries of greater ignorance
which succeeded their times.
In their ancient writings and lives occur many other terms which have
their value in shedding light on the social habits and condition
of the people. The family of Iona had their kitchen, _cuicin_, or
_coitchenn_; in which the coquina, _coic_, or cook prepared the
meals of the brethren. Their chief season in the day time was nona,
or _noin_, still occasionally heard in _tra-noin_. Their cows were
sheltered in an outhouse, the Bocetum, or _bathaich_; and in the
neighbourhood was the pasture-ground, or _buaile_. The grain was
stored in the barn, or, _sabhall_, the Gaelic term still in use.
They had also their Molendinum or _Muileann_, in which the grain
was ground by the _bra_, or quern. A caballus, a _capull_, or
_gerran_, was kept on the _faithche_, or green enclosure near at
hand to be in readiness for general purposes. When they wanted to
move along the shores they had their curucae, or _curraich_, whose
light frames covered with skins could so easily glide through the
water. For distant voyages and other purposes they had the scaphae,
or _scadhan_, still applied to a certain class of boats. Visitors
and guests from far-off lands arrived in their barcae, or, _barcan_,
a term still current in Gaelic. The Scologs, or lower order of the
clergy did not refuse to help the _Economus_, or _fertighis_, the
butler, or _pincerna_, or the baker, or _pistor_. It is curious to
find that on one occasion the baker was a stray Saxon. There were
also among the brethren in Iona a smith, or _gobha_, and a brazier,
or _cerd_, which in recent Gaelic has become a term of reproach. The
term for one article of their dress at least, _cochall_, the Latin
cuculla, had survived in familiar Gaelic. It is represented that the
hardy brethren slept on the bare stones, and in their ordinary day
clothes. They were truly a _Milesian_ or soldier race, who by their
persistent labours and self-sacrifices thoroughly deserved the name
and fame which after ages accorded them.
While the name of Columba is that which shines above all the
rest there were other labourers in the Highlands before, and
contemporaneously with him who have left behind them illustrious
memories, fragrant names which have entered very largely into the
nomenclature of the soil. Brendan has been already referred to.
Others like him made missionary journeys through the country, such
as the two Fillans, Flannan and Ronan, whose names are commemorated
in the Highlands and Isles. Moluoc became the founder and celebrated
patron of Lismore; and Kilmaluac in Tiree has preserved his memory.
His death took place in 592. Maelrubha’s labours are chiefly
associated with Wester Ross, but he was honoured all over the
Highlands. In 673 he founded a church and college at Applecross
where he laboured zealously till he “rested,” as the chronicles say,
in 722 in the eightieth year of his age. He and Columba were the
chief patron saints of Skye. The north-eastern part of the island
was peculiar to Columba, the south-eastern to Maelrubha whose name
survives in Kilmaree in Strath, and in Kilmolruy in Bracadale. As
far south as Islay we find him venerated in the central parish of
that Island, in Killarrow, where he may have laboured on his way from
Ireland before he settled at Applecross. Another heroic character in
the same age was Donnan whose brave spirit and individuality have
evoked admiration throughout the whole of Scotland. He was younger
than Columba whom he regarded with ardent feelings of friendship,
and among whose Christian family at Iona he desired to be enrolled.
“This Donnan went to Columcille to make him his soul’s friend;
upon which Columcille said to him, I shall not be soul’s friend to
a company (heirs) of red martyrdom, and thy people with thee. And
it was so fulfilled.” In the far north his figure emerges in _cric
Chat_, or “regions of Catt,” which included Sutherland and Caithness.
The parish bearing his name, Kildonan, was the chief scene of his
enterprise in the north. He closed his life truly in “red martyrdom”
in the island of Eigg.
“To glorious martyrdom ascended,
With his clerics of pure lives,
Donnan of cold Eig.”
An account already quoted says—“Donnan then went with his people to
the Hebrides; and they took up their abode there, in a place where
the sheep of the queen of the country were kept. This was told to
the queen. Let them all be killed said she. That would not be a
religious act, said her people. But they were murderously assailed.
At this time the cleric was at mass. Let us have respite till mass is
ended, said Donnan. Thou shalt have it, said they. And when it was
over, they were slain every one of them.” Another version runs thus:
“Donnan the great with his monks. Fifty-two were his congregation.
There came pirates of the sea to the island in which they were,
and slew them all. Eig is the name of that island.” In these west
Highlands his memory was preserved in Little Bernera, off Lewis,
in South Uist, Loch Broom, and Snizort, Skye, in each of which
Kildonnans are found. In the southern Highlands in Arran and Kintyre
as well as in Wigtonshire and Ayrshire we come across Kildonnans, or
churches dedicated to his memory. At Auchterloss in Aberdeenshire his
pastoral staff was preserved until it was broken by the Reformers.
His martyrdom took place on Sunday the 17th of April, 617; and must
have, along with that of the fifty-two brethren who were with him,
cast deep gloom on the prospects of Christian enterprise in the West
Highlands.
The journeys, the holy labours with their great results, of Columba
himself, and of his brethren from Iona, have been minutely and
eloquently described by various writers. The name of the founder
of Iona is associated with upwards of 60 religious establishments
or places in Scotland, and with as many in Ireland. He died on the
9th of June, 597, seventy-six years of age. And as we think of the
memory which he left behind him for the veneration of his countrymen
we are reminded of the bright pillar that was seen to glow upon his
head on one occasion after reading the Gospel in common with brethren
from a distance, who visited him in Eilein-na-Naoimh: “Brenden
Mocu Alti saw, as he told Congell and Cainnech afterwards, a ball
of fire like a comet burning very brightly on the head of Columba,
while he was standing before the altar, and consecrating the holy
oblation, and thus it continued burning and rising upwards like
a column, so long as he continued to be engaged in the same most
sacred mysteries.” So has the name of the saint burned and risen
upwards like a monumental column upon the brow of Scotland. He has
had a devoted, if an incredulous biographer in Adamnan, his eighth
successor in the abbacy of Iona. To this writer we are indebted for
the most ancient piece of writing produced in the Highlands that
has been preserved. His name, which has undergone several curious
transformations, has been embalmed in the designations of eight or
ten places under the modifications of Teunan, Eunan, Arnold, Avonia,
and many. It has passed into personal names of modern times in
Gill-Adhamnain, or Gilleonan, borne by a MacNeill of Barra in 1495.
Adamnan was born in 624; succeeded Columba in Iona in 679; and died
on the 23d of Sept., 704. His veneration and estimate of his great
predecessor may be gathered from the following eloquent sentences
taken from the preface of his interesting work: “From his boyhood he
(Columba) had been brought up in Christian training in the study of
wisdom, and by the grace of God had so preserved the integrity of
his body, and the purity of his soul, that though dwelling on earth
he appeared to live like the saints in heaven. For he was angelic in
appearance, graceful in speech, holy in work, with talents of the
highest order, and consummate prudence; he lived a soldier of Christ
during thirty-four years in an island. He never could spend the space
of even one hour without study, or prayer, or writing, or some other
holy occupation. So incessantly was he engaged night and day in the
unwearied exercise of fasting and watching, that the burden of each
of these austerities would seem beyond the power of human endurance.
And still in all these he was beloved by all, for a holy joy ever
beaming on his face revealed the joy and gladness with which the Holy
Spirit filled his inmost soul.” Columba, notwithstanding the strong
martial element of his nature, was evidently capable of attaching
disciples very powerfully to his person. We find this illustrated
also in the legend preserved in the _Book of Deer_ about his founding
the mission-station of Aberdour in Aberdeenshire: “_Drostan’s tears
came on parting from Columcille_. Said Columcille ‘Let Deur (Deer) be
its name henceforward.’”
Among the relics associated with the person of Columba is the
Cath-bhuaidh, or _Battle-Victory_, a celebrated crosier. The
following passage from a legend of the ninth century reminds us of
the great veneration with which the relic was regarded, as well as
of the spirit in which his followers, three or four centuries after
his death, went forth to meet the enemies of their country. “About
the same time the Fortreens and Lochlanns fought a battle. Bravely
indeed the men of Alba fought this battle, for Columkille was aiding
them; for they had prayed to him most fervently, because he was
their apostle, and it was through him that they received the faith.
One time when Imhar Conung was a young man, he came to Alba, with
three great battalions to plunder it. The men of Alba, both lay and
clerics, fasted and prayed to morning to God and Columkille; they
made earnest entreaty to the Lord; they gave great alms of food and
raiment to the churches and the poor, received the body of the Lord
at the hands of the priests, and promised to do all kinds of good
works, as their clergy would order them, and that their standard
in going forth to any battle should be the crosier of Columkille.
Wherefore it is called the _Cath-bhuaidh_ from that day to this. And
this is a befitting name for it; for they have often gained victory
in battle by it, as they did at that time, when they placed their
hope in Columkille. They did the same on this occasion. The battle
was bravely fought at once. The Albinians gained victory and triumph,
killed many of the Lochlanns after their defeat; and their king was
slain on the occasion, namely, Ottir, son of Iargna. It was long
after until either the Danes or Lochlanns attacked them; but they
were at peace and harmony with them.”
Writers in after ages have attributed poems and prophecies to
Columba which such a good authority as O’Curry declares not to be
the productions of the Saint, whose chief literary functions are
associated with the transcription of the sacred writings.
In his Life of the Apostle of the Highlands, Dr John Smith of
Campbeltown, has given translations of some of the Latin poems
attributed to Columba; the following abstract exhibits their manner:—
“The God omnipotent, who made the world,
Is subject to no change. He was, He is,
And He shall be: th’ Eternal is his name.
Equal in Godhead and eternal power,
Is Christ the Son; so is the Holy Ghost.
These sacred glories three are but the same,
In persons different, but one God and Lord.
This God created all the heavenly hosts:
Archangels, angels, potentates, and powers;
That so the emanations of His love
Might flow to myriads diffusing good.
But from this eminence of glory fell
Th’ apostate Lucifer, elate with pride,
Of his high station and his glorious form.
Fill’d with like pride, and envying God himself,
His glory, other angels shared his fate,
While the remainder kept their happy state.
Thus fell a third of the bright heavenly stars,
Involv’d in the old serpent’s guilt and fate;
And with him suffer, in th’ infernal gulf,
The loss of heaven, in chains of darkness bound.”
Further remarks on the poetry attributed to Columba will be found in
the next chapter.
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