ism in Gaul; to connect that with the stone monumentsthose silent records of a remote age, and possibly of a different race, which have outlived all record of their time; and to assume that the stone circles and cromlechs, which are undoubtedly sepulchral monuments,71 represent temples and altars. Add to this some false etymologies of terms which are supposed to contain the name of Bel or Baal,72 and we have at once the popular conception of the Druidical religion, with its hierarchy of Archdruids, Druids, Vates, and Eubates, and all its paraphernalia of temples, altars, human sacrifices and the worship of Baal.73 in convert northern Adamnan, unfortunately, gives us no details of the con- Proceedings of St. version of the nation of the northern Picts from the pagan Columba system which prevailed among them; but so powerful a ing the monarch as their king, Brude mac Maelchon, having been Picts. won over to the Christian faith, the task of spreading the knowledge of the true religion among the nation at large. would be greatly facilitated, and less reluctance would 71 This Dr. John Stuart has most conclusively shown in the very able papers in the appendix to his preface to the Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. ii. It is to be regretted that these valuable essays have not been given to the public in a more accessible shape. 72 Dr. Todd, in a note as to the meaning of the word Beltine, says, This word is supposed to signify “lucky fire,” or “the fire of the god Bel" or Baal. The former signification is possible; the Celtic word Bil is good or lucky; tene or tine, fire. The other etymology, although more generally received, is untenable.Petrie on Tara, p. 84. The Irish pagans worshipped the heavenly bodies, hills, pillar stones, wells, etc. There is no evidence of their having had any personal gods, or any knowledge of the Phoenician Baal. This very erroneous etymo- 73 Dr. John Hill Burton was the basis on which the popular concep- Christian inhabitants of Scotland be shown to follow his example. Columba, no doubt, proceeded in the usual way by establishing monasteries, or small Christian colonies, among the Pictish tribes. Adamnan records but two instances of conversion beyond the districts which more immediately surrounded Iona; but as we find, in the former, Columba in friendly intercourse with the families of peasants whom he had won over to the Christian faith, so, in the latter, the conversions are of those in the rank of chiefs. In the one case he was travelling near Loch Ness, and hearing that an old man, who was a heathen, but 'who had preserved his natural goodness through all his life even to extreme old age,' was at the point of death, he hurried on to the district of Airchartan, or Glen Urquhard, on the north side of the lake, where he found an aged man called Emchat, who, on hearing the Word of God preached by the saint, believed and was baptized, and immediately after, full of joy and safe from evil and accompanied by the angels who came to meet him, passed to the Lord. His son Virolec also believed and was baptized with all his house.'74 In the other instance he was staying for some days in the Island of Skye, when a boat came into the harbour, on the prow of which sat an aged man, the chief of the Geona cohort. Two young men took him out of the boat and laid him at the feet of the saint. After being instructed in the Word of God, through an interpreter, the old man believed and was at once baptized by him; and when the baptism was duly administered, he instantly died on the same spot, and was buried there by his companions, who raised a heap of stones over his grave.7 75 In both cases these old men, who were obviously of the Flaith, or chieftain class, seem to have been prepared to accept the true religion, and probably partially instructed in its truth, and hastened to be received into the church before death carried them off. The position which Columba appears now to have held at the court of King Brude, and the disappearance of the 'Magi,' or Druadh, from the struggle, show the extent to which the Christian Church had been adopted in the land; ; for we find him staying among the Picts, and addressing King Brude in the following terms, in the presence of the ruler of the Orkneys :-Some of our brethren have lately set sail, and are anxious to discover a desert in the pathless sea. Should they happen, after many wanderings, to come to the Orcadian islands, do thou carefully instruct this chief, whose hostages are in thy hand, that no evil befall them within his dominions. The saint took care to give this direction because he knew that, after a few months, Cormac would arrive at the Orkneys.'76 This is the language of one in a position of influence and authority. It is unfortunate that Adamnan should tell us so little of St. Columba's real history and work among the heathen Picts, and so much of his miracles, prophetic utterances, and the manifestations of angels towards him; but his work is rather a panegyric than a biography, and his object is more to throw light upon his character, and to demonstrate his superior holiness, than to contribute a detail of historical events. The early period at which he wrote makes every hint, however slight, of great value; and we must be thankful for what we have got. Columba seems to have been mainly engaged in the work of spreading the truth among the Pictish tribes for nine years after the conversion of King Brude, when he appears to have at length also attained the political object of his mission. In the year 574 died Conall, son of Comgall, king of Dalriada, in the thirteenth year of his reign. The territories over which he ruled were, as we have seen, greatly restricted in extent, as compared with those of the previous rulers, who were termed kings of Alban; and Saint Berchan says of him— 77 76 Adamnan, B. ii. c. 43. 77 Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 67. A.D. 574. King Aidan Thirteen years altogether Against the hosts of the Cruithnigh ruled the illustrious. When he died he was not king, On Thursday in Kintyre.78 According to the law of Tanistry, the succession fell to his cousin Eogan, son of that Gabran who had been defeated and slain by King Brude in 560; and Columba would have preferred to see him succeed, as he regarded him with affection; but he probably thought that his brother Aidan would suit his purpose better. Aidan was connected through his mother with the Britons of Strathclyde, and had played his part for a few years in the British wars. Columba announced that he had seen, 'on a certain night, in a mental ecstasy, an angel sent to him from heaven, and holding in his hand a book of glass, containing the appointment of kings; and having received the book from the hand of the angel, had read therein the name of Aidan; and on his being reluctant to appoint him king, the angel had struck the saint with a scourge,' and added these words,- Know for certain that by God am I sent to thee with the book of glass, that in accordance with the words thou hast read therein, thou mayest inaugurate Aidan into the kingdom.' This was repeated three times. There was no gainsaying such a statement by one in inaugurates Columba's position. Aidan came to Iona, and Columba and attends there ordained him king. During the words of consecration, the assem- he prophesied that the throne would remain to his children, Drumceatt. grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and, laying his bly of hand upon his head, he consecrated and blessed him.79 Columba's object in inaugurating Aidan with this solemn rite was to place him in the rank of an independent king, 78 Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 83. Adamnan, B. iii. c. 6. In Smith's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, the author of the article Coronation says, Aidan was made king by and to induce the Pictish monarch to recognise him as such over the whole of the Dalriadic territories. In order to secure the former object, he took advantage of an approaching synod, summoned to meet at Drumceatt, a mound on the river Roe, in the county of Londonderry. This great convention was called together by Aedh, son of Ainmire, king of Ireland, in the year 575,80 and consisted of all the petty kings and heads of tribes, and of the principal clergy of Ireland. Columba attended it, accompanied by King Aidan, and by a retinue who are thus described by the poet Dallan Forgaill: Forty priests was their number, Twenty bishops, noble, worthy, For singing psalms, a practice without blame, The assembly was held not far from Columba's monastery of Derry; and no doubt this retinue would consist of persons taken from his Irish monasteries, as well as of those who accompanied him from Iona. Columba's object would be to make as imposing an appearance as possible; and there is no improbability in its having been composed not only of priests but of bishops. According to the ancient tract called the Amra Columcille, there were three causes for which Columcille came him on the celebrated Stone of Destiny, taken afterwards from Iona to Dunstaffnage, and thence to Scone,' and refers to Adamnan; but there is not a syllable about the stone in Adamnan. For its removal from Iona to Dunstaffnage there is no authority whatever, and that from Dunstaffnage to Scone is part of the exploded fable originated by Hector Boece. The subject is fully discussed in the author's tract on theCoronation Stone.' 80 575 Magna mordail, .i. conventio Drommacheta, in qua erant Colum Cille ocus Mac Ainmireach. -An. Ult. It is three times referred to by Adamnan, B. i. c. 38; B. ii. c. 6. He calls it 'condictus regum.' 81 These lines are quoted in the old Irish Life as giving the retinue with which Columba went to Iona; but Dallan Forgaill's poem relates to the convention of Drumceatt. |