the successors of his spiritual and temporal privileges, and eventually the possessor of the land, bearing the name of abbot, whether he were a layman or a cleric. Thus, at A.D. 590, the annals record the appointment of Gregory the Great to be coärb of Peter the Apostle, that is, bishop of Rome. At 606 we have the death of Sillan, son of Caimin, abbot of Bangor and 'coärb of Comgall,' who was its founder. In 654 we find the superior of the church of Aranmore called 'coärb of Enda' its founder; and in 680 the superior of the monastery at Cork is termed coärb of St. Barry, who founded it.22 Here in 737 the abbot of the monastery at Apuorcrosan is termed the heir, that is coärb, of Maelruba, who founded it; and, as we shall see, the abbots of Iona became known under the designation of coärbs of Columcille. Twelve years afterwards a similar catastrophe befell the family of Iona, who were drowned in a great storm in the year 749,23 a not unnatural occurrence if they were caught in their curach between Iona and Colonsay in a southwesterly gale; but which party suffered by this loss we do not know-probably that which supported Cilline the anchorite, as, on his death in 752, we find the abbacy assumed by Slebhine, son of Congal, who was of the race of Conall Gulban, and therefore belonged to what may be termed the Columban party. In the same year Tighernac records the death of Slebhine's brother Cilline in Iona, and of Cuimine, grandson or descendant of Becc the religious of Ego, or the island of Eigg.24 Slebhine, the Columban abbot, appears to have endeavoured to get his authority as the legitimate successor of Columba recognised by the Columban monasteries in Ireland; for we find him going to Ireland in 754, and enforcing the law of Columcille three years after,

22 See King's Introduction to the Early History of Armagh, p. 17.

23 749 Ventus magnus. Dimersio familiæ Iea.-Tigh.

24752 Mors Cilline Droictigh ancoritæ Iea. Cumine hua Becc religiosus Eco mortuus est. Bass Cilline mac Congaile in Hi.-Ib.

A.D.

772-801. Breasal,

son of Seghine,

sole abbot of Iona.

when he seems to have returned to Iona, but again went to Ireland in the following year.25 Feidhlimidh, the rival abbot, dies in the year 759, having completed the eighty-seventh year of his age.26 But this did not terminate the schism: for we find a Suibhne, abbot of Iona, who goes to Ireland in the year 765,27 apparently for the purpose of endeavouring to win the Columban monasteries there; but the death of Slebhine two years after 28 leaves him sole abbot for five years, when, on his own death in the year 772,29 he is succeeded by Breasal, son of Seghine, whose pedigree is unknown; and in him the schism seems to have come to an end. Slebhine appears to have been the last of the abbots who at this time were of the race of Conall Gulban and had thus a hereditary claim to the abbacy; and more than a hundred years elapsed before another of the race obtained the abbacy. The fall of the Scottish kingdom of Dalriada about this time may have contributed to this suspension of the rights of the tribe of the patron saint. But all opposition to the entire conformity of the whole family of Iona to the Roman Church appears now to have ceased, and there is no indication of any further division among them.30

Breasal appears to have held the abbacy without challenge for nearly thirty years; and, five years after his accession, he seems to have been fully recognised by the Columban monasteries in Ireland, as we find that the law of Columcille was enforced in 778 by Donnchadh, king of Ireland, and head of the Northern Hy Neill, and by him as abbot of

25 754 Slebine abbas Iea in Hiber- have in 754 (recte 759) Feidhlimidh niam venit.-Ib. mac Failbe abb lae decc iar secht 757 Lex Coluimcille la Slebine.- mbliadhna ochtmoghat a aeisi.'

Ib.

758 Reuersio Slebine in Hiber- niam venit.-An. Ult. niam.-Ib.

26 For this we have only the Annals of the Four Masters, who

27.766 Suibne abbas Iae in Hiber

28 767 Quies Slebine Iae.—Ib.

29 772 Mors Suibne abbas Iae.-Ib.

30 It may be useful to insert here a table showing these rival abbots from the death of Adamnan in 704 to the accession of Breasal in 772. Those

Iona.31 In 782 we have the first notice of a new functionary in Iona, in the death in that year of Muredach son of Huairgaile, steward of Iona.32 His functions were probably connected with the law of Columcille, which involved the collection of tribute. We find, too, during this period, some incidental notices of two of the other foundations in the Isles. In 775 dies Conall of Maigh Lunge,33 the monastery founded by Columba in Tyree. In 776 the death of Maelemanach, abbot of Kingarth 34 in Bute, and in 790 that of Noe, abbot of the same monastery, are recorded.35 We learn, too, that while Breasal was abbot two Irish monarchs retired to Iona and died there. Niall Frosach, formerly king of all Ireland, died there in 778.36 Airtgaile, son of Cathail, king of Connaught, assumed the pilgrim's staff in 782, and in the following year retired to Iona, and died there after eight years

who belonged to the race of Conall Gulban are printed in old English letters; the strangers in Roman.

Adamnan, abbot of Iona, dies 704.

704-710 Conamhail, son of Failbhe, first abbot of a different race. 710-712 Coeddi, bishop of Iona. 713 Dorbeni obtains chair of Iona, and dies same year.

713-716 Interval of three years. 716-724 Faelchu mac Dorbeni ob. tains chair of Iona 29th August 716. 724-726 Cillene the Long succeeds Faelchu in abbacy.

726-752 Cilline Droichteach the anchorite, abbot of Iona.

752-767 Slebhine, son of Congal, abbot of Iona.

767-772 Interval of five years.

704-707 Interval of three years.

707-717 Dunchadh, son of Cinnfaeladh, abbot of Iona.

717-722 Interval of five years.

722-759 Feidhlimidh mac Failbhe holds abbacy of Iona.

759-766 Interval of seven years.

766-772 Suibhne, abbot of Iona.

772 Breasal, son of Seghine, becomes abbot for thirty years.

31 778 Lex Coluimcille la Donnchadh acus Bresal.-An. Ult.

32 782 Muredach mac Huairgaile equominus Iae periit.—Ib. 33 775 Mors

Luinge.-Ib.

VOL. II.

Conaill Maighe

4776 Mors Maelemanach Ab. Cinngaradh.-Ib.

35 790 Mors Noe abbatis Cinngaradh.-Ib.

36 765 (recte 770) Niall Frosach mac Ferghaile secht mhliadhna os

T

A.D. 794.

First appearance of Danish pirates, and

Iona repeatedly ravaged by them.

A.D.

801-802.

of Iona,

spent in seclusion.37 The last connection of the Scots, too, with Dalriada was severed for the time by the removal of the relics of the three sons of Erc, the founders of the colony, who had been buried in Iona, to the great cemetery of Tailten in Ireland.88

Breasal's tenure of the abbacy, however, was to be characterised by a greater event, which was to exercise a fatal influence on the fortunes of the Scottish monasteries for many a long and dreary year. This was the appearance in the Isles, in 794, of a host of sea pirates from the northern kingdom of Denmark, who were to render the name of Dane equivalent in the ears of the Columban monks to the spoliation of their monasteries and the slaughter of their inmates. In 794 there appears in the Irish Annals the ominous entry of the devastation of all the islands of Britain by the Gentiles, as they were at first called, followed, in 795, by the spoliation of Iae Columcille, or Iona, by them. Again, three years after, the spoliation of the islands of the sea between Erin and Alban by the Gentiles.39 The Danes soon discovered that the richest spoil was to be found in the monasteries, and directed their destructive attacks against them. Breasal, however, though doomed to witness these acts of spoliation, was spared the sight of the total destruction of his monastery; for in 801 he died, in the thirty-first year of his tenure of the abbacy.40

In the following year the Connachtach, abbot Eirinn na righ, co nerbail in I Cholaimchille aga oilithre iar nocht mhliadhna iaromh (was seven years king over Ireland, and died in Iona on his pilgrimage eight years afterwards).-An. F. M.

37 782 Bacall Airtgaile mic Cathail R. Conacht et peregrinatio ejus in sequenti anno ad insulam Iae.An. Ult.

790 Artgal mac Cathail rex Conacht in Hi defunctus est.-Ib.

monastery of Iona was burnt

38 784 Adventus reliquiarum filiorum Eirc ad civitatem Tailten.Ib.

39 794 Vastatio omnium insolarum Britanniæ a gentibus.—Ib.

795 Orcain Iae Choluimchille.— An. Inis.

798 Indreda mara doaibh cene itir Erinn et Albain.-An. Ult.

40 801 Bresal mac Segeni, abbas Iae, anno principatus sui 31 dormivit. -Ib.

A.D.

802-814.

down by the Danes, and the Annals of the Four Masters place in the same year the death of Connachtach, a select scribe and abbot of Iona; and four years afterwards the community of Iona, then consisting of only sixty-eight members, Cellach, were slain by the Danes,41 Cellach, son of Conghaile, the son of Congal, abbot who succeeded Connachtach, having apparently taken abbot of refuge in Ireland. The monastic buildings thus destroyed Iona. belonged, no doubt, to the original monastery, which, as we have seen, had been originally constructed of wood, and repaired by Adamnan. Hitherto there had been no feeling of insecurity in connection with such wooden buildings, but since the ravages of the Danes began there is abundant evidence of the frequent destruction of such buildings by fire; and in the present instance there seems to have been not only the entire destruction of the monastery, but also the slaughter of those of the community who remained behind. So complete was the ruin, and so exposed had the island become to the ravages of the Danes, that the abbot Cellach appears to have resolved to remove the chief seat of the Columban order from Iona to Kells in Meath, of which he had obtained a grant two years previously. The Irish Annals record, in the year following the slaughter of the community, the building of a new Columban house at Kells; and we are told that in 814 Cellach, abbot of Iona, having finished the building of the church at Kells, resigns the abbacy, and Diarmicius, disciple of Daigri, is ordained in his place. This monastery at Kells, which thus took seven years to build, was constructed of stone,43 which now began

42

41 802 Hi Coluimbea cille a gentibus combusta est.-An. Ult.

797 (recte 802) Condachtach, Scribbneoir tochaidhe acus abb. Iae deg.-An. F. M.

806 Familia Iae occisa est a gentibus .i. lx octo.-An. Ult.

42 807 Constructio novæ civitatis Columbæ Cille hi Ceninnus (in Kells).-Ib.

814 Ceallach, abbas Iae, finita constructione templi Cenindsa reliquit principatum, et Diarmitius, alumpus Daigri, pro eo ordinatus est.-Ib.

43 This appears from the term 'templum,' usually applied to a stone church, and from its being afterwards called a Damhliag or stone church.