Notes on the History of the Ruins at Iona. by W. F. Skene, Esq., Ll.D., F.S.A
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2 20 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F SO , APRI , 1873L14 . I. NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE RUINS AT IONA. BY W. F. SKENE, ESQ., LL.D., F.S.A. SCOT. ruine Th s whic t presenha islant e consideree existh b lonf y n do o t ama d e remainasth f fouso r distinct ecclesiastical foundations. Ther , firsteis , e chapet Oranth S f o l, wit e cemeteryhth , calle n Gaelicdi , Eeilig Oran, secondly, the church of St Mary, with the cloisters and monastic buildings connected with it; thirdly e Nunneryth , fourthlyd an ; remaine th , f so buildine th g called Teampull Konaig believed an , havo dt e bee parise nth h church. Any one examining these ruins, and desiring to learn something of their history, wil e surprisedb l verw o fint yho d littl s reallei y known concerning them. He will learn generally that an ecclesiastical estab- lishmen founde s sixte islane wa th tth hn n di i d centur t ColumbaS y yb , and that for several centuries it was the chief seat of the early Scottish Church, till the ravages of the Norwegians and Danes destroyed it in the ninth century t non bu f ;thes eo e ruins belon thao gt t periodrefee h f rI . to his guidebook, he will not get much satisfaction there. Murray's Handbook for Scotland will tell him, for instance, that St Oran's chapel wora s considerablf i ko e antiquity, though probabl t earlieyno r thae nth twelfth century ; that though much later than the time of St Columba, it was the permanent chapel of the cemetery, and therefore older than the cathedral—reasoning not very easily followed; that the Nunnery was founded in the thirteenth century, and the cathedral of St Mary built e fourteentth n i foundeo hsyllabla wh centuryt o t d no s t themea bu ,r o , to what order of clergy or monks they belonged. If he turn to Dr Reeves' able and exhaustive edition of Adamnan's Life of St Columba, probably the ablest and most exhaustive work which has appeared in our time, he will find a full and detailed accoun everf o t y event connected with thi s ecclesiastica it islan d an d l history, down to the end of the twelfth century. The last event recorded e yea r th bEeeve ryD n e thei 1203h s i snd addan , s :—"The passage here partine cite th e Iris s dth i hgn t i i Annalsmentios y a H d f o nan , close a lons g lisf noticeo t s running through nearly seven centuriest i , NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF THE EUINS OF IONA. 203 leaves the island, as it found it, in the hands of Irish ecclesiastics, an im- portant out-pos Irise th f ho t Church,. "&c Chapee t Oran S Th perhapd f o an l, e monastisth par f o t c buildings, may reac htwelte bacth o e hmait k th century nn i thes t bu ,e ruine sar not older than the end of the twelfth or beginning of the thirteenth cen- turies r EeevesD . admirablo ,s therefore s ha o y wh conducte, througs du h histore t Columbth S s successors f hi yo d aan , dow thao nt t period, leaves us without his guidance, just as the history of these buildings probably commenced subsequene th f o d an ,t histor islane dars i d th l kan f dy al o uncertain. The object of this paper is to endeavour to restore some part of this forgotten history. Dr Eeeves, before he parts with us, gives us one important fact in connection t calwit t witchurci no e l e guidt hMaryo th h S th d f I heo . books, the Cathedral Church, because it was not a cathedral till shortly before the Eeformation. ' In a note, he says, " On the capital of the south-east column, unde towere th r , nea soute e anglth rth f heo transept and choir, are the remains of the inscription—' Donaldus O'Brolchan fecic opus,ho tn Lombardi i ' c letter n anothe i . s409 "(p d )an ;r part (p. 411), he says, talking of Flaherty O'Brolchan, Bishop and Abbot of Derry, " Bishop O'Brolchan was busily employed towards the close of e twelftth h century n re-edifyini , ecclesiasticae gth l building f Derryso ; and to a kinsman of his is probably attributable the commencement of e mosth t important structur existinw no e unusua e n Hygi Th . l record capitae otowee nth th f o rl column ' Donaldu, s O'Brolchan opus,fecic ho t ' coincidence th d an thaf eo t record wit obie hDomhnalf th o t Brolchana lU , in the Annals of Ulster at 1203, and of the Four Masters at 1202, are sufficientsatisfo t t e mindyth no f t leasi ,a , afforo t t d materia reasonr fo l - able conjecture as to the builder." In a note, he says " that this capital e mosth s ti ornamented with grotesqu e building,th n i e y relief"an f o s and adds, " could these designs characteristio s , e Iristh hf o cschool e b , opusc f O'Brolchaho o e th n ?" "Without going so far as to limit his work to the capital, it is probable tha onle h t y buil e church parth a t f thesr o t fo , e early churches, whef no considerable size, were usually gradually built in parts, first, the chancel choird an , then transepte th , centrd san e tower finallyd an , navee r th , D . 204 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APEIL 14, 1873. Eeeves thinks that this Donald O'Brolchan was Prior of Derry, but he is not so called in the Annals. The entry as he gives it, is simply " Domhnall Ua Brolchain, prior et excelsus senior, obiit die Aprilis havy xxvii.ema e hel e priorH dth " f lono y s well a . Porduno wh , wrot n 1385i e noticinn i , g Hy Columbkille r lonao , , merely says,"ubi duo monasteria sunt, unum monachorum, aliud monialium, ibidem itaque refugium;" but Bower, who wrote sixty years later, says that two monasteries had been founded there, one " nigrorum monachorum," or of black monks, and the other of holy nuns of the order of Saint Augustine bearin e rochetgth . Bowe s himselrwa f Abbo f Inchcolmo t kned an , w probably what he was talking about when he thus describes them; but he confounds the monastery with the chapel of St Oran, when he adds beed thae placha nth t i tf sepultur o e royad an e l sea f almose o tth l al t Scote king time th d Pict th Malcolf f san eso o o st m Canmore. Maurice Buchanan wroto wh , e some twelve years later, repeat e statementh s f o t Pordim. Now, the first piece of additional information I have to. give you is from the Book of Clanranald, which contains a record kept, from time to time, by the Macvurichs, of the history of the Lords of the Isles and greae th t cla Macdonaldf no . Macvurich say f Eeginaldo s ,e Lorth f o d mose Islesth s t distinguishe, wa that e Gaee "h , r th Galle lfo d th f san do prosperity, sway of generosity, and feats of arms. Three monasteries were founded by him, viz., a monastery of black monks in I, (or lona,) in honour of God and Columchille; a monastery of black nuns in the same place ; and a monastery of grey friars at Sagadal (or Saddle) in Kin- tyre." Somarledf Thio n sso Eeginale regulue th , th f Argylls o s dwa , who was slain at Eenfrew in 1166, and succeeded him in the Lordship of the Isles, which he ruled till the year 1207, when he died. He was thus Lord of the Isles during the greater part of the reign of "William Lione th . "We know fro Paislee mth y chartular foundee th s y tharwa e th of the religious house at Saddle, and there seems no reason to doubt the statement tha foundee h t monastere dth nunnerd yan t lonaya . y blacB k monks e Benedictineth , e meant ar so wer wh e, so-called, and among the documents found by Professor Munch in the Vatican, and printed in his edition of the Chronicle of Man (p. 152), is the confirmatio e foundatioPope th th f ey o b n f thio n s Benedictine monas- NOTES ON THE HISTOEY OF THE EUINS OF IONA. 205 tery. It is dated the 9th December 1203, and is addressed to " Celestinus Abbas Sancti Columbse de Hy insula," aud to the brethren present and future professing a religious,—that is, a monastic life; and he takes under his protection and that of Saint Peter the aforesaid monastery of Saint Columba orden i , r thae monastith t c order whic s beehha n instituten di that place according to God and the rule of Saint Benedict, may be pre- served inviolate in all time to come, and he confirms to them the place itself in which the said monastery is situated, "with its pertinents, consist- ing of churches, island, and lands in the Western Isles. This document throws light upon a charter in the chartulary of Holyrood (p. 41), where King "Willia e Liomth n e grantAbbeth f o t Holyroodo sy , " ecclesias sive capella Galwein si abbatiss a Columcilly ju qn.ee H d a e ed e pertinent, videlicet Kirchecormack, Sancti Andrew, Balincrosd an , Cheletun." These churches are not contained in the Pope's confirma- monasterypossessione w th tione f ne o mus d th an f , sto have belonged prioe toth r abbacy, whic falled ha h n into decay d beean , n grantey db "William the Lion to Holyrood when the new monastery was founded.