Heather Jane Macdonald
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CAIN ADOMNAIN: TmFAMILIA COLUMBAE AND THE POLITICS OF PIETY A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of The University of Guelph BY HEATHER JANE MACDONALD In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts July, 2001 a Heather J. MacDonald, 2001 National Library Bibliothèque nationale I*I of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Oitawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Voire rtiference Our Gle Narre réftir~ The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Librq of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sen reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/fïlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyxight in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substanîial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT CAIN ADOMNAIN THE FAMILIA COLUMBA€ AND THE POLITICS OF PlElY Heather Jane MacDonald Advisor: University of Guelph, 2007 Professor E. Ewan This thesis will argue that the late seventh-century ecclesiastical law, Cain Adomnain, was promulgated in AD. 697 by the ninth abbot of lona to bolster Columban interests: the flagging power and authority of the Columban church following the defeat in 664 of the Celtic Church in favour of Rome's style of administration and the timing of Easter, and concem for secular society and a desire for peace are some of the motives to be examined. In promulgating the law, Adomnan must have anticipated certain outcomes that would ensure and preserve the Columban familia's continuing supremacy. By tracing the history of lona, the saint's cult, the law and Life of St. Columba, which was written by Adomnan about the same time as he created his law, this thesis shows that, as a result of the challenges presented to the lona community after 664, and as an act of piety for the society the familia served, the ninth abbot, in gamering the support of prominent churchmen and secular leaders, ensured the continuing authority of the familia for decades to corne through this particular law. 1 gcuimhne ar m 'afhair Table of Contents Chapter 1 - St. Columba - A Celtic Legacy -------- pgs 1 - 23 Chapter 2 - The History of the Columban Church pgs 24 - 54 Chapter 3 - The Cult of Columba -------- pgs 55- 88 Chapter 4 - Cain Adomnain as an Irish Law pgs 89-121 Chapter 5 - After the Promulgation ------ pgs 122-131 1 Chapter 1 - St. Columba -ACeltic Legacy The latter part of the seventh century saw the Celtic church, with its unique insular, ascetic and monastic traditions, facing a challenge from the growing power of the Roman authority of the church. St. Augustine had arrÏved in Kent from Rome the year St. Columba died at lona in 597, and in the ensuing decades the Rome-influenced institution made great inroads in the south, building foundations and churches and establishing a distinctly different Christian tradition with its base at Canterbury. This was a period of violence and great change: In England, Saxon kings in the north fought pagan rulers to the south and west and raids between the people of Northumbria and Dalriada were commonplace; in Ireland, wars and power struggies between great clans or famiiies were constant. And although there was Iittle peace anywhere for the inhabitants of either island, there did exist a vibrant and fiourishing monastic tradition that encompassed foundations in lreland, Dalriada and in the north of England. The two traditions -the Celtic, or Irish church and the Rome-based church - manifested themselves differently in ideology, appearance and practice: the monks of the Roman foundations scattered thoughout the south of England believed in discipline, order and organization; they wore circlet tonsures; their nile was usually Benedictine, and they looked to dioceses and associated bishops for guidance and administrative decisions. More importantly, they celebrated Easter at a different date from the CeRic church. a date they believed was the correct one. The monks of the Celtic foundations could not have been more different; they believed in the ascetic practices of prayer, fasting and pilgrimage and their organizations were headed by abbots. 2 The two worlds finally collided in 664 during a synod held at Whitby, in the north of England. The Cekic church lost its argument on the dating of Easter and the growing power of the episcopal Roman church, according to the evidence provided by the monk Bede at Jarrow, was securely established. It rnust have been a blow to the Celtic church, its supporters and adherents, yet the decades after the defeat saw a flowering of activity at the lona foundation that may have helped keep the Columban tradlion, and the Irish church, alive for several hundred years. About 696 or 697, Adomnan, some seventeen years into his abbacy and just a scant seven years before his death, wrote both the Life of Columba and the Law of Adornnan, which guaranteed the protection of women, children and clerics - society's non- combantants - from warfare. These actions would bring social and ecclesiastical focus back to the Columban panrchia. The Law of Adomnan was proclaimed in 697 at the Synod of Birr, on the centenary of the death of Columba, or Colum Cille, of lona. At that time, the Columban church was a powerful institution with a widespread paruchia that had always been headed by members of the northern Ui Neill. Cain Adomnain, Lex lnnocentia or Law of the Innocents, as it was known, was promulgated with the consent of many of the chief rulers of lreland and Dalriada. This thesis will contend that the promulgation of Adomnan's law, a political move in itseff, was undertaken on the part of the ninth abbot to enhance and improve Columban interests; it was carried out with pious intention and concern for the women, children and clerics of society, but mile Adornnan may well have had serious concems regarding violence, he must have anticipated the effect the law would have on the position of the Columban church as a power in ecclesiastical circles. The support garnered in Dalriada, lreland and Brïtain for this piece of jurisprudence would have helped to offset the results of the Synod of Whitby, restoring and maintaining sorne of the foundation's power in ecclesiastical and social circles. The law undoubtedly had a range of impacts on church and society, some of which must have been expeded by Adomnan as he wrote the law. The air of piety is evident for the text tells the reader it wasenacted with 4he prayers of al1 the men of khd, both layfolk and clergy."' That Adomnan envisioned any other benefits - the protection of women and children aside - is suggested in the paragraph following the extensive list of guarantors, who were key secular and leading churchmen from Ireland. Dalriada and Northumbria: "They al1 (the ninety-one powerful members of church and society) swore on behalf of the laity and clergy to fulfill the whole of the Cain Adomnain until Judgment ... and to every heir who should occupy the see until Judgment."* Judged from a distance of 1300 years, the actions of lona's ninth abbot appear to have been undertaken to bolster Columban interests: a concern for the secular world and a desire for peace; to reinforce the supremacy of the Columban familia; and to protect society's future - mothers and children. and the clerics who were needed to guide them in the Christian life. By examining this law, or cana (the Old Irish terni for church law), within the contex?of the promulgation of ecclesiastical, and to some extent, secular law in seventh- and eighth- century Dalriada and Ireland, this thesis will attempt to answer two closely connected Gilbert Mirkus, Adomnh's 'Law of the Innocents' - Cain Adomnain, Department of Celtic, University of Glasgow, 1997 Mibkus, Cain Adomnain, p 17 4 questions: Was the law a measure of Adomnan's piety? And was this abbot trying to bolster the importance of the Columban familia, which was the last holdout in Western European Christianity on the question of when Easter should be celebrated? There is a great deal of secondary literature which speculates or hints at Adomnan's motives in creating the Life and his law. None is conclusive, but this thesis intends to consider the prÎmary evidence and move one small step further toward suggesting that there rnay have been other motives behind Adomnan's work. To find answers to these specific queries, it will be necessary to place the law within the context of the insular society for which it was intended, and to examine Columban church tradition and Adomnan's position as abbot of lona at the time the law was made. The law, in a modern editi~n,~fons but a scant twenty-two pages of material and includes the extensive guarantor list - narnes of prominent seventh-century clan leaders, kings and churchmen - as well as a list of punishable offences against women, children and clerics, and the fines that were to be paid. It consists of fm-three paragraphs, or points; the first twenty-eight short paragraphs. which precede the guarantor Iist, are beiieved to have been added in the few centuries after the law's first promulgation.