'^st •. iA?E?^w FROM Till-. BOOK OK UKER. THE CELTIC CHURCH IN SCOTLAND; BEING AN INTRODUCTION TO TH?: HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN SCOTLAND DOWN TO THE DEATH OF SAINT MARGARET. Richard Clay & Soxs, Limited, London & Hi'ngay. PREFACE. The following pages, some of which were read in a series of Lectures delivered in the Chapter House of St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, are intended chiefly for those who, while possessing such general information in regard to the history of Scotland as may be reasonably looked for in persons of education, have not made any special acquaintance with the early history of the Church in this country. I have also, however, had in view the interests of Theological Students, and those of the Clergy and others, who may be induced to investigate the subject more minutely for them- selves ; and I have accordingly treated with some fullness the original sources of our knowledge in respect to the Celtic Church in Scotland, and have attempted to estimate their value. For the sake of both classes of readers, I have in many places thought it an advantage to allow the original records to tell their own story. A modern rehandling of the contents of the ancient documents is, no doubt, to a very large extent inevitable, but it is not unattended with loss; and as far as it is VI PREFACE. feasible there is a real gain in coming, so far as may be, into direct contact with our historical sources. The true character of the episcopate in the- Celtic Church, having been long the subject of an animated controversy, not yet wholly extinct, has been dealt with at a greater length in Chapter XIV. than could otherwise be reasonably claimed for it. It is hoped that the chapter on the archaeology of the Celtic Church may serve to interest some who may be impatient of the treatment of merely documentary evidence. The fact that the early chapters were delivered as Lectures may be offered as some excuse for the somewhat colloquial style in which they are cast. I have to express my thanks to Rev. H. J. Lawlor, B.D., Senior Chaplain of Edinburgh Cathedral, for the care he has bestowed upon the revision of the proofs, and for many valuable suggestions ; but it would be unfair to him to hold him in any degree responsible for the statements of fact and opinion in the following pages. My thanks are also due to the Rev. Edmund McClure for the valuable Appendix IV. on the epigraph of one of the Kirkmadrine stones. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. The Roman Possession of Scotland—The Christian Monumental Sculptures at Kirkmadrine, Wigtonshire —The Native Peoples—Their Religion—The Labours of St. Ninian p. \i CHAPTER H. St. Patrick a Child of the British Church in Scotland P- 33 CHAPTER HI. St. Palladius, and his Disciples, St. Ternan and St. Serf —The Origin of the Myth of a non-Episcopal Church in Ancient Scotland A 4° CHAPTER IV. St. Mungo (or Kentigern) A 49 CHAPTER V. The Historical Character of the Documentary Authorities for the Lives of St. Ninian and St. Mungo p. 59 CHAPTER VL St. Columba p.'^o CHAPTER VH. lona : its Physical Features —The Constitution of the Columban " Family "—Life in the Brotherhood at lona p. 122 CHAPTER VHL The Historical Character of Adamnan's Life of St. Coliunba : The Miraculous Element ... p. 135 — Vlll CONTENTS. CHAPTER IX. St. Adamnan—lona in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries p. 144 CHAPTER X. Influence of lona in the South : St. Cuthbert in Lo- thian p. 157 CHAPTER XI, The End of the Cokimban Episcopate in Northumbria The Diocese of Lindisfarne north of the Tweed Melrose— Coldingham—Abercorn—The See of Can- dida Casa as an English Foundation ... P- ^77 CHAPTER XII. The Church in Scotland in the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Centuries—The Culdees ... A 193 CHAPTER XIII. The Faith and Ritual of the Celtic Church—The Tonsure and Easter Computation ... ... ... p. 208 CHAPTER XIV. The Episcopate in the Celtic Church ^.250 CHAPTER XV. St. Margaret of Scotland p. 267 CHAPTER XVI. The Architology of the Celtic Church in Scotland in its Historical Relations p. 292 APPENDICES. 1. The A/^its of St. Columba A 321 11. The Legend of St. Regulus 329 HI. St. Margaret's Gospel Book 331 IV. The Kirkmadrine Epigraph 333 Index ... 335 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 1. Representation of St. Luke from the Book of Deer. The square ornament on the breast of the figure has been supposed to represent a case, containing the Gospel, suspended from the neck ... Frontispiece 2. Sculptured Stone at Kirkmadrine, Wigtonshire p. 17 3. Remains of the ancient Celtic Church on Eilean-na- Naoimh, from a photograph in the possession of Dr. J. Anderson, Keeper of the National Museum of the Antiquaries of Scotland A 1^3 4. Double Bee-hive Cell on Eilean-na-Naoimh, from a photograph in the possession of Dr. J. Anderson P' 293 5. {a) The Bell of St. Ninian (hammered iron), ib) The Bell of St. Fillan (cast bronze) p. 309 6. The " Bachul More." The metal covering has almost disappeared, many rivets are still visible ... ^ 313 THE EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF SCOTLAND. Stanford^ Geog.'^iEstdh^ THE CELTIC CHURCH IN SCOTLAND. CHAPTER I. THE ROMAN POSSESSION OF SCOTLAND—THE CHRIS- TIAN MONUMENTAL SCULPTURES AT KIRKMADRINE, WIGTONSHIRE—THE LABOURS OF ST. NINIAN. With a view to our understanding aright the early history of Christianity in Scotland, it is well to recall to mind that the present boundary line between Scot- land and England had no existence in the days of the Roman occupation of Britain, nor indeed for many centuries after the last of the Roman legions had quitted the country for ever. The whole island as far as the line between the Firths of Forth and Clyde was known as Britain : north of that line was the region known as Caledonia, or Alban. The Roman conquest of the island, so fruitful in the beneficent results of civilization, was not per- manently effective in the most northern part. In Edinburgh we are close by the furthest outposts of the Empire. The line of forts originally constructed — 12 THE CELTIC CHURCH IN SCOTLAND. by Agricola, and strengthened in the reign of An- toninus Pius, some fifty years later, by the great rampart stretching from Borrowstowness on the Forth to Kilpatrick on the Clyde, marked for a time the practical limits of the Roman occupation. Occasional military demonstrations, partial and temporary con- quests, marchings, counter-marchings, the construction of roads, and encampments of troops in the regions north of the wall might overawe, but could not civi- lize, the barbarian tribes. In Scotland, north of the wall, there are to be found only some few scanty indications of the existence of Roman civiHzation. The rampart of Antonine was not continuously, or for any very lengthened period, maintained as a complete barrier against the barbarian warriors of the north. The northern boundary of the Roman occu- pation shifted backwards and forwards. We have no reason to suppose that the part of Scotland south of the line that joins the Firths of Forth and Clyde was for any great length of time continuously subjected to Roman control and the beneficent influence of Roman civilization. For long stretches of time the northern boundary was drawn back from the wall of Antonine to the defences of the far greater work far greater in every sense—the wall of Hadrian, extending between Tynemouth and tlie Sol way, whose massive remains still fill the visitor with wonder, and convey to him a sense not otherwise to be gained in this country of the vast resources and vast power of the Roman Fmpire. It is south of this southern wall we must look for such remains of civilized life as THE ROMAN POSSESSION OF SCOTLAND. 13 need for their growth a long-sustained feeling of security. It was not till approaching the time of the final withdrawal of the Roman troops from Britain that by a great effort of an able commander the debatable land between the two walls—the scene of many con- tests between the barbarians and the soldiers of the Empire—was again subdued, and formed (a.d. 368) into the fifth Province of Roman Britain, Valentia by name. Unhappily, at longest, only some forty years were now to pass before the urgent necessities of the Empire nearer her centre and capital de- manded, for her own protection, the recall of the Roman troops from Britain. In that interval there was little time for doing anything considerable toward the civilizing or Christianizing of the half-subjugated and ever-turbulent British tribes between the walls. South of the southern wall, the wall of Hadrian, when subsequently the Saxons and Angles ravaged the land, it was the invasion of a Christian country by a heathen foe. During the Roman occupation, Roman Britain, speaking generally, had been Chris- tianized. But, in default of positive evidence, it would be hazardous to venture on any large infer- ences from this fact as to the spread of Christianity, even in that part of Scotland where Roman influence was most felt. It is, however, surely not unreason- able to conjecture that the Roman Christians in the northern settlements, when opportunities offered from time to time, would not have been so entirely de- ficient in missionary zeal as to make no effort to win 14 THE CELTIC CHURCH IN SCOTLAND. to Christ the natives with whom they were brought in contact. The researches of archaeologists have not dis- covered any Roman remains in Scotland that can with absolute confidence be assigned to the Christianity of the Roman occupation ; but there exist some two or three that may possibly belong to that early period.