Iona Danes. Shrine of umba monastery after the Irish model, in which form the Scottish foundations after the accession of Kenneth mac Alpin appear to have been made, with which was now combined a college of Cele De, and that it has left us, as a mark of its early connection with Ireland, the only other specimen of the round towers to be found in Scotland, besides that which had been erected at Abernethy. The churches, too, which afterwards formed the diocese of Brechin, were probably, even at this early period, possessions of the new foundation at Brechin. In the districts of Angus and Mearns the churches were shared between the dioceses of Brechin and St. Andrews, in a manner so irregular and unsystematic as to point to a mixed population in which some of the villages were still Pictish and others had now a Scottish colony. It seems to have been through the medium of the recovery of the old foundations, and the creation of new, that a Scottish population was spread over the country; and the object of King Kenneth in this foundation may have been to bring a Pictish population more under the direct influence of the Scots. The church of Brechin was founded during the time that Mughron was coärb of Columcille both in Erinn and Alban, when probably there was freer intercourse between the Scotch and Irish Churches; but his death, after he had held the coärbship for sixteen years, was followed by events fatal for Iona. At this time the Western Isles, including the Isle of ravaged by Man, were the subject of a constant struggle between the Danes and the Norwegians, for their acquisition by the former and their retention by the latter. The Danes of transferred Limerick had, during the latter part of this century, acquired possession of the Isle of Man, and, as early as the year 973, we find Maccus, son of Aralt, who was at their head, called king of many islands;28 but how far his sway over the Western Isles extended we do not know. Of the two to Down. → Florence of Worcester terms him, in 973, rex plurimarum insularum. pagan races who infested Ireland and the West of Scotland, the Danes were by far the more cruel and destructive in their attacks upon the monasteries, and appear to have been most dreaded. The last year of Mughron's life had witnessed the arrival at Iona of one of the most powerful kings of the Danes of Dublin, Anlaf Cuaran, who in that year 'went on a pilgrimage to Hi Coluimcille,' where he died, after penance and a good life;'29 he was, however, closely connected with the Scottish royal family, having been son-inlaw of King Constantin, and in close alliance with him, and had been baptized when king of the Northumbrians; but Mughron's successor, Maelciarain ua Maigne, coärb of Columcille, 'suffered red martyrdom from the Danes at Atheliath, that is, was slain by the Danes at Dublin in 986; and in the same year Iona is plundered by the Danes, on the eve of the nativity, and the abbot and fifteen of the clergy of the church were slain.30 These were the Danes of Limerick, who were now under the rule of Gofraigh mac Aralt, the brother of Maccus, and who is termed by the Irish Annalists king of Innsigall, or the Western Isles. But he was encountered by Sigurd, earl of Orkney, and we find that in the following year a great slaughter was made of the Danes who had plundered Iona, and three hundred and sixty of them were slain; while two years later their king, Gofraigh, was himself killed in Dalriada, and the Isles once more passed into the undisturbed possession of the Norwegians, and were governed by the earls of Orkney.31 The monastery which had been plundered was of course that stone monastery which had been built after the destruction of the wooden monastery by fire, and the small number of 29 Wars of the Gaedhel with the Gaill, p. 47; Annals of the Four Masters, p. 713. See also Tigher nac. 30 985 (recte 986) Maolciarain Va Maighne Comharba Coluimcille do dul i ndergmhartra las na Danaraibh i nAtheliath.-An. F. M. 986 I Coluimcille do arcain do Danaraibh aidhchi n-otlac coromarbhsat in Apaidh et xv. viros do Sruithibh na Cille.-An. Ult. 31 See vol. i. p. 376. monks slain indicates that the greater part had taken refuge in the fort; but, like Blathmac, the abbot, whose name is not recorded, remained at his post, and tradition still points out a bay in the north end of the island, remarkable for its pure white sand, and called Traith ban na manach, or the White Bay of the Monks, as the scene where an abbot and fifteen monks were slain by the Danes. As this was the last time that Iona was plundered by the Danes, who not many years after were converted to Christianity, it is probably to this occasion that the tradition regarding the shrine of Saint Columba, given by Colgan on the authority of St. Berchan, may be referred. The story is this: Manderus, son of the king of Denmark and leader of a fleet of Northmen, wasting the northern parts of Britain with fire and sword, came to Iona, where these satellites of Satan, mixing sacred things with profane, and pillaging everything which they met, excavated the ground in search of hidden treasure. Among others they found the sarcophagus, or shrine, in which was a true treasure, viz. the body of Saint Columba. They took the shrine on board, and on their way to Ireland opened it; but, finding nothing but the bones and ashes of a man, shut it again and threw it into the sea. It was cast by the waves upon the shore at Downpatrick, and the abbot, having found it, and being instructed by a divine revelation that it contained the relics of Saint Columba, placed it along with those of Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget.' 32 Certain it is that in the following century the shrine was believed to be at Downpatrick. In the old tract called the Amra Coluimcille we find the following statement: In Dun'-that is Downpatrick-again, some say, the resurrection of Coluimcille will be, as the poet has said 32 Colgan, Tr. Th, p. 446. Though this appears in Colgan's Latin version of Magnus O'Donnel's Life of St. Columba, it is not to be found in the Irish text. Hy (Iona), with the multitude of its martra (relics), Of which was Colum, beauteous disciple; He went out yet at last, So that Dun is his blessed church.33 St. Berchan, writing in the end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century, repeats as a saying of Saint Columba My grace on Hi (Iona) without crime, And my soul in Derry, And my body under the stone, Under which are Bridget and Patrick.34 And we find that in the year 1127 'the shrine of Coluimcille was carried off into captivity by the Galls of Atacliath' -or Danes of Dublin-' and restored again to its house at the end of a month,' 35 which certainly implies that it was then in Ireland. During the three years that followed this plundering of the monastery, we find Dunnchadh Ua Robhacain coärb of Columcille and Adamnan, which implies that he was abbot of Raphoe; but, on his death in 989, we find that Dubdahthe, the abbot of Armagh, takes the coärbship of Columcille by the advice of the men of Erinn and Alban.36 The monastery of Iona, however, appears soon after in an efficient state, as we find it governed by a local abbot whose death is recorded in 1005.37 In the same year Malcolm the Second commenced his thirty years' reign over Alban, now for the first time called Scotia. He is said, in a chronicle of the twelfth century, after the great battle of Carham in 1018, 'to have 33 Amra Coluimcille, by O'Byrne Crowe, p. 39. 34 Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 81. 35 Annals of the Four Masters, p. 1027. Among the relics said to have been preserved at Durham we find 'De ossibus et reliquiis Sancti Columkelli abbatis. De ossibus Sanctæ Brigidæ gloriosæ virginis. De ossibus et reliquiis Sancti Patricii episcopi et Hyberniæ apostoli.'-Hist. Dun. Script. Tres, p. cccxxx. These are obviously the same relics which were said to be at Down, but how they came to be claimed by the coärbs of Durham we cannot tell. 36 989 Dunchadh hua Robacan Comhorba Coluimcille mortuus est. Dubdalethe Comharba Patraicc do gabhail Comharbain Columcille a comhairle fer n-Erenn acus Albain. -An. Ult. 37 1005 Maelbrigda hua Rimedha abbas Ia in Christo. -Ib. A.D. 1025-1028. Alwynus bishop of Alban. on that day distributed many oblations to the churches as well as to the clergy.' 38 In Iona he appears for the time to have restored to the abbot the title of coärb of Columcille, for we find that in 1007 Muredach mac Crican resigns the coärbship of Columcille for God'—that is, becomes a recluse; and Ferdomnach is elected to the coärbship by the advice of the men of Erinn at the fair of Taillten,39 which implies that his coärbship was limited to Ireland; and we find that he was in fact abbot of Kells, as was his successor; while, on the other hand, the death of Flannobra, coärb of Iona, is recorded in 1025.40 In the following year Maelruanaidh Ua Maeldoraigh, lord of Cinel Conall, that is, of the tribe of Conall Gulban, went over the sea on his pilgrimage.11 The expression over the sea' implies that he went to Iona. Cellach, the bishop of Alban, is said to have filled that office for twenty-five years, which brings his death towards the end of the tenth century. The first bishop to whom we can assign a fixed date after that is Alwynus, who is said to have been bishop three years, and whose death must have taken place in 1028, which places his election as bishop in the year 1025. Between Cellach and Alwyn we have two names given us by Bower and Wyntoun, those of Malmore and Malisius; but we know nothing beyond their names. During the tenure of one or other of them, the district of Lothian was ceded to Malcolm the Second by Eadulf Cudel after the battle of Carham in 1018, and the churches of Lothian naturally fell under the superintendence of the 38 Ipse etiam multas oblationes tam ecclesiis quam clero ea die distribuit.-Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 131. 39 1007 Muredach Mac Cricain do deirgiu comarbus Coluimcille ar Dia. Ferdomnach i comorbus Coluimcille con a comairle fern-Erinn isin oenach sin.--An. Ult. 40 1025 Flannobra Comharba Ia in Christo quievit.—An. Ult. In the Annals of the Four Masters he is called Comharba Ia Cholumcille, and the death of Maeleoin Ua Torain, Comharba Doire Cholumcille, follows, which shows the division of the coärbship of Columcille at this time. 42 1026 Maolruanaidh Ua Maoldoraidh tigherna Cenuil Conaill, do dul tar muir dia oilitre.—An. F. M. |