The original settlement of St. Columba in Iona took place A.D. 563.[30]
Dr Skene has shown[31] that the place where the monastery was first
situated lay a short distance to the north of the existing ruins. The
vallum which enclosed the establishment can still be traced, as well as
the burying-ground, the site of the mill, and other features; but the
principal erections, being constructed of wood and wattle, have
necessarily disappeared. Owing to the destruction of the buildings by
fire in 802 and the slaughter of the monks, it was thought desirable, in
818, to rebuild the monastery in stone for greater security, and also to
remove it to the present site, which is better protected by nature. But
the buildings were again destroyed by the Northmen, and seem to have
remained in a ruinous state till 1074, when some attempt to restore the
monastery was made by Queen Margaret.
In 1099 the last of the old order of abbots died, and for more than
fifty years there is an unbroken silence regarding Iona. All the Western
Islands had at this time passed under the rule of the Norwegian King of
the Isles, by whom nothing was done to maintain the religious
establishments, and Iona fell into a state of decay. The rule of the
Norwegian Kings of the Isles having become oppressive, Somerled, King of
Argyll, was applied to for protection, and after a great naval battle,
fought between him and Godred, King of the Isles, in 1156, all the
islands south of Ardnamurchan Point were ceded to Somerled. Amongst
these was Iona, where Reginald, the son of Somerled, undertook the
rebuilding of the monastery on a larger scale. He adopted the policy of
the Scottish kings, and introduced one of the religious orders of the
Roman Church.
“Macvurich tells us that ‘three monasteries were formed by him--the
monastery of Black Monks in I or Iona, in honour of God and Saint
Columchelle; a monastery of Black Nuns in the same place; and a
monastery of Gray friars in Sagadul, or Saddle, in Kintyre;’ and he
appears to have established the Benedictines or Black Monks in Iona in
the year 1203.”
“The deed of confirmation of the Benedictine Monastery still exists in
the Vatican. It is dated the 9th December 1203, and is addressed to
Celestinus, abbot of Saint Columba, of the island of Hy, and his
brethren professing a religious life; and the pope takes the monastery
of Saint Columba under the protection of Saint Peter and the pope, in
order that the monastic order which has been instituted in that place,
according to the rule of Saint Benedict, may be preserved inviolate in
all time to come; and he confirms to them the place itself in which the
said monastery is situated, with its pertinents, consisting of churches,
islands, and lands in the Western Isles.”[32]
Celestine, the abbot of this monastery, appears to have attempted to
thrust out the prior Celtic community; but the latter, with the support
of the clergy of the north of Ireland, resisted and vindicated their
right to remain in the monastery. The Celtic community, however, appear
to have ultimately adopted the Benedictine rule, “while the functionary
formerly known as the Head of the Culdees was represented by the prior
of Iona, whom we afterwards find in the monastery.”
About 1200 the districts to the west of the great range of Drumalban,
which formerly belonged to the diocese of Dunkeld, were separated from
it and formed into a new bishopric, first called of Argyle and
afterwards of Lismore.
During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Iona was under the Bishop
of Dunkeld, but in 1507 John, Bishop of the Isles, obtained the
annexation of Iona to his see, and the Abbey Church became the cathedral
of the diocese, and so continued till the Reformation.
In 1561 the abbey suffered from the Act anent “demolishing all the
abbeys of monks and friars, and for suppressing whatsoever monuments of
idolatrie were remaining in the realm.” The carrying out of this Act was
remitted to Argyll and Glencairn, and much has been written with regard
to the great damage caused by the mob to the buildings and monuments and
the valuable library.
The island passed into the hands of M‘Lean of Duart, but from 1567
onwards the Protestant bishops of the Isles seem to have had the abbey
in their possession. The buildings, however, appear to have been
neglected, and Charles I., in 1635, directed £400 to be spent in
repairing them. But that does not appear to have been done, and by the
end of the seventeenth century the edifices had fallen into ruin. In
1693 the island came into the hands of the House of Argyll, and within
recent years the ancient buildings have been put in a good state of
preservation by the present Duke.
The edifices which still survive in the island, although ruinous,
exhibit probably the completest and most interesting group of ancient
ecclesiastical structures in Scotland.
There is first the Chapel of St. Oran, a small twelfth century
structure, surrounded by the very ancient churchyard, which contains so
many beautiful specimens of Highland carved tombstones,[33] admirably
illustrated by the late James Drummond, R.S.A., in his work on Highland
monuments. Then there are the remains of the Benedictine Monastery, and
those of the Benedictine Nunnery, at a short distance on each side of
St. Oran’s, both of which, though sadly mutilated, still show the
general plan of the church and domestic edifices of these monastic
establishments more completely than any other Scottish examples.