appearing at Kells about the same time as that of Disertach makes its first appearance in connection with the family of Iona, and that in the former case it originated from the abbot of Kells, Domnall Ua Robartaigh, in conjunction with the king of Ireland, founding what was called a Disert for pious Deoradh, or pilgrims, and that this Disert became known by the name of Disert Coluimcille. The old buryingground in Iona, which, along with the remains of the vallum, is the sole relic of the original monastery of Columcille, bears the name of Cladh an Disert, or the burying-ground of the Disert; and as Domnall, the abbot of Kells, was coärb of Columcille from the year 1062 to 1098, that is, during the entire life of Margaret as queen, who had shown such a warm interest in the anchorites and pilgrims of Scotland, it is not an unreasonable supposition that she too, in conjunction with the coärb of Columcille, had included in her work of restoration at Iona the foundation here of a Disert for pious pilgrims.

Of the Cele De there is no trace at Kells, at least under that name, for by this time the name of Cele De had long passed in Ireland from the Deoradh, or pilgrims, to the Secular canons, nor do they appear in connection with any of the Columban monasteries in Ireland; but we find the type of the Iona Cele De in another Irish monastery. This was the celebrated monastery of Clonmacnois, which was founded on the banks of the Shannon in the sixth century by St. Ciaran, one of the twelve apostles of Ireland, and where St. Columba had been received with so much honour in the later years of his life. And here, with the exception of the Disert and its Disertach, which, as we have seen, had been derived from the Columban monastery of Kells, we find the same ecclesiastical functionaries in the community as appear in that of Iona.

ticam seu præscriptum fratribus scripsit.' It cannot be connected with St. Columba himself, and it is probably a rule compiled

for the Deoradh De at the time the
Disert Columcille was founded at
Kells. It will be found in the
Appendix.

The Sacart, or priest, makes his appearance at Clonmacnois before the year 914, when the death of Maelbairrfinn, Sacart, or priest, of Clonmacnois, is recorded. In 948 we have the death of a prim-sacart, or chief priest of Clonmacnois; and in 1109 he appears under the same designation as he bears in Iona, and in the same position of being, in the absence of an abbot, at the head of the community; for in that year died Flaithbertach Ua Loingsigh, coärb of Ciaran, and Sacart mor, or great priest, of Clonmacnois. We also find the Ferleighinn frequently mentioned both under that title and that of Scribnidh, or scribe, during the eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries, as one of the community of Clonmacnois; and here, as elsewhere, this office was frequently combined with others in the community. But the most remarkable feature of the community at Clonmacnois is the appearance of a line of hereditary Anchorites, descending from father to son for several generations, and finally merging in the title of Cenn na Cele De, or head of the Culdees. The first of these is Eoghan, Anchorite of Clonmacnois, who died in 845. His son Luchairen appears as scribe and anchorite at Clonmacnois. Egertach, the son of the latter, is Erenagh of the little church of Clonmacnois, and his son Dunadhach is bishop of Clonmacnois; but Dunadhach's son Dunchadh is first Ferleighinn, or lector, of Clonmacnois and afterwards its Anchorite. His son Joseph appears as Anmchara, or soul-friend, of Clonmacnois, and he was father to Conn na mbocht, or of the poor, whose death is recorded in 1031 as Cenn na Cele De, or Head of the Culdees, and Anchorite of Clonmacnois. 87 A century later we find this title of Head of the Cele De of Clonmacnois hereditary in a family called Ua Neachtain; for in 1132 is recorded the death of Uareirghe Ua Neachtain, Cenn Cele De, or Head of the Culdees of Clonmacnois. In 1170 that of Maelmordha, son of Uareirghe, 'a learned charitable senior, the 87 See antea, p. 342.

prosperity and affluence of Clonmacnois and Cenn na Chele De,' or Head of the Culdees; and in 1200 that of Uareirghe, son of Maelmordha, son of Uareirghe Ua Neachtain, 'one of the noble sages of Clonmacnois, a man full of the love of God and of every virtue, and Cenn Cele De,' or Head of the Culdees of Clonmacnois,88

We thus find this title of Head of the Culdees emerging in the eleventh century out of that of Anchorite at Clonmacnois; and at Iona we likewise find that there were Anchorites in the tenth century who occupied an important position in the community, while a century later the same title of Cenn na Cele De, or Head of the Culdees, appears there also. The origin and position of the Cele De were probably the same in both communities.89

88 These notices are taken from the Annals of the Four Masters, where they will be found under their respective dates.

89 St. Ciaran, the founder of Clonmacnois, has left a trace of his name in Iona; for a rising ground south of Martyr's Bay is called Cnoc Ciaran.

CHAPTER IX.

EXTINCTION OF THE OLD CELTIC CHURCH IN SCOTLAND.

which

Church to

an end.

THE causes which combined to bring the old Celtic Church Causes to an end may be classed under two heads-internal decay brought and external change. Under the first head the chief cause the Celtic was the encroachment of the secular element upon the ecclesiastic, and the gradual absorption of the latter by the former. As long as the old monastic system remained intact there was a vitality in its ecclesiastical organisation which to a great extent preserved the essential character of these monasteries as great ecclesiastical foundations; but this was to some extent impaired by the assimilation of the church to that of Rome in the seventh and eighth centuries, which introduced a secular element among her clergy; and the Danish invasions, with all their devastating and destructive consequences, completed the total disorganisation of the Monastic Church. The monasteries were repeatedly laid waste and destroyed, and her clergy had either to fly or to take up arms in self-defence; her lands, with their ruined buildings and reduced establishment, fell into the hands of laymen, and became hereditary in their families; until at last nothing was left but the mere name of abbacy applied to the lands, and of abbot borne by the secular lord for the time. The external change produced in the church was the result of the policy adopted towards it by the kings of the race of Queen Margaret. It was in the main the same policy as that adopted towards Ireland by the Norman kings of England. It mainly consisted, first, in

A.D. 1093-1107.

See of St. Andrews remains

vacant

and

churches

Lothian

only.

placing the church upon a territorial in place of a tribal basis, and substituting the parochial system and a diocesan episcopacy for the old tribal churches with their monastic jurisdiction and functional episcopacy; secondly, in introducing the religious orders of the Church of Rome, and founding great monasteries as centres of counter influence to the native church; and, thirdly, in absorbing the Culdees, now the only clerical element left in the Celtic Church, into the Roman system, by converting them from secular into regular canons, and merging them in the latter order.

During the war of succession which followed the death of Malcolm the Third and ended in the firm establishment of the sons of the Saxon Queen Margaret upon the throne of Scotland in the person of Edgar, her eldest son, no successor appears to have been appointed to Fothad, the last native founded in bishop of St. Andrews, and no attempt appears to have been made to follow out the policy which had been inaugurated by that queen of assimilating the native church to that of Rome. During this interval Scotland north of the Firths of Forth and Clyde was left without a bishop, and the conflict between the Celtic and the Saxon element in the population of the country, which was to determine whether Scotland was to remain a Celtic or a Teutonic kingdom, probably threw the northern portion of it into too great a confusion to render any attempt to reorganise the church possible. The only ecclesiastical foundations made during this period were confined to the southern districts, where the sons of Malcolm, who owed to English assistance the vindication of their right to the throne, showed their gratitude by grants to the church of Durham. Duncan, the eldest son of Malcolm, made over to the monks of Durham Tiningeham, Aldeham, Scuchale, Cnolle, Hatherwich, and all right which Bishop Fodan had in Broccesmuthe.1

1 National MSS., part i. p. 4. This is the charter which has

These lands are in

formed the subject of so much controversy, in which Duncan calls