Archaeological Essays Part 7

[Footnote 68: I would say yes, beyond question! It was both oratory and house, like that of St. Cuthbert on Farne island, described in the pa.s.sage quoted _ante_, p. 101, note.--P.]

[Footnote 69: St. Colume, as translated by Mageochagan or Macgeoghegan.

In the original this would be Columbkille, as in all the other Annals.--P.]

[Footnote 70: In treating of the subsequent fate of the old Irish oratories, Dr. Petrie remarks, "Such structures came in subsequent times to be used by devotees as penitentiaries, and to be generally regarded as such exclusively. Nor is it easy to conceive localities as such better fitted, in a religious age, to excite feelings of contrition for past sins, and of expectations of forgiveness, than those which had been rendered sacred by the sanct.i.ty of those to whom they had owed their origin. Most certain, at all events, it is, that they came to be regarded as sanctuaries the most inviolable, to which, as our annals show, the people were accustomed to fly in the hope of safety--a hope, however, which was not always realised."--(P. 358.)]

[Footnote 71: _Scotichronicon_, lib. v. cap. 36. Goodall's edition, vol.

i. p. 286.]

[Footnote 72: Such cells or oratories, as relics of the holy men who had been their founders, were always regarded by the Irish, like every other kind of relics, as their bells, croziers, books, etc. etc., with the deepest sentiments of veneration, and their injury or violation--"dishonouring,"

as the annalists often term it--was regarded as a sacrilege of the most revolting and sinful character. And to this pious feeling we may ascribe the singular preservation to our own times of so many of such buildings--though, indeed, in many instances, they may only retain the general form, or a portion of the walls, of the original structure--owing to the injuries inflicted by time, or, as more frequently, by foreign violence. Thus, in the great Aran of the _Tiglach Enda_, or "House of Enda," a portion only--the east end--is of the Saint's time, the rest is some centuries later; and of St. Ciarn's oratory at Clonmacnoise--called in the _Irish Annals_ "Temple Ciaron," or "Eaglais-beag," and, sometimes, "_Temple-beg_," or "The Little Church," though the original form was carefully preserved, there was, when I first examined it, more than forty years ago, apparently no portion of its masonry that was not obviously of much later times--in parts even as late as the seventeenth century. Our annalists record the names of Airchinneachs of this oratory from 893 to 1097.--P.]

[Footnote 73: In reference to this observation, it is scarcely necessary to refer to the teachings in Scotland of St. Kentigern of Strathclyde in the first half of the sixth century, of St. Serf of Culross in the latter, and of St. Palladius and St. Ninian in the earlier parts of the fifth century, with the more immediate converts and followers of these ancient missionaries. In his _Demonstratio quod Christus sit Deus contra Judaeos atque Gentiles_, written about the year 387, St. Chrysostom avers that "the British Islands ([Greek: Bretanikai nesoi]), situated beyond the Mediterranean Sea, and in the very ocean itself, had felt the power of the Divine Word, churches having been found there, and altars erected." (_Opera omnia_, vol. i. p. 575, Paris edition of Montfaucon, 1718.) Perhaps St. Chrysostom founded his statement upon a notice in reference to the alleged extension of Christianity to the northern parts of Britain, given a hundred and fifty years previously by Tertullian, when discussing a similar argument. In his dissertation _Adversus Judaeos_, supposed to be written about 210, Tertullian, when treating of the propagation of Christianity, states (chap. vii.), that at that time already places among the Britons, inaccessible to the Romans, were yet subject to Christ--"Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca, Christo vero subdita." (Oehler's edition of _Tertullian_, vol. iii. p. 713.) Among the numerous inscriptions and sculptures left here by the Romans while they held this country during the first four centuries of the Christian era, not one has, I believe, been yet found containing a single Christian notice or emblem, or affording by itself any direct evidence of the existence of Christianity among the Roman colonists and soldiers in Britain. But there is indirect lapidary or monumental evidence of its propagation in another manner. In England, as in Germany, France, etc., there exist among the old Roman remains, altars and temples dedicated to Mithras, originally the G.o.d of the Sun among the Persians, with sculptures and inscriptions referring to Mithraic wors.h.i.+p. They have been found in the cities along the Roman wall in Northumberland; at York, etc. Various references among the old Fathers seem to show that when a knowledge of the Christian religion began to spread to the Western Colonies of Rome, the wors.h.i.+p of Mithras was set up in opposition to Christianity, and Christian rites were imitated by the Mithraic priests and followers. Thus, for example, the author whom I have just cited, Tertullian, tells us, in his tract _De Praescriptione Haereticorem_, chap. 40, that the wors.h.i.+ppers of Mithras practised the remission of sins by water (as in baptism), made a sign upon their foreheads (as if simulating the sign of the cross), celebrated the offering of bread (as if in imitation of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper), etc. (See his _Works_, vol. iii. p. 38, of Oehler's Leipsic edition of 1854.)]

[Footnote 74: See Dr. Reeves' admirable edition of Ad.a.m.nan's _Life of St. Columba_, pp. lxxiv and lxxv,--a book which is a perfect model of learned annotation and careful editing.]

[Footnote 75: I think it might be well to strengthen your statement by adducing a few examples--thus, as for example, the remains of a monastery of Columba's time on an island--now drained--called Lough Columbkill, in the island of Skye--the churches and clochans, or stone-houses of the monks, on St. Kilda, and probably many similar remains on other islands of the Hebrides.--P.]

[Footnote 76: Of St. MacDara of Cruach MicDara, an island off the coast of Connamara, of St. Brendan in Inis Gloria, an island off the coast of Errus, and very many more.--P.]

[Footnote 77: Colgan's _Trias Thaumaturga_, p. 129.]

[Footnote 78: _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, p. 195.]

[Footnote 79: _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, p. 194.]

[Footnote 80: And which, moreover, had often chancels attached to them.--P.]

[Footnote 81: _Ibid._, pp. 365, 351.]

[Footnote 82: _Ibid._, p. 351.]

[Footnote 83: I should, perhaps, have written _almost_ always. The very few exceptions did not at the moment occur to me. Perhaps, indeed, there is but one exception, that most important one, on Bishop's Island, the others belonging rather to churches.--P.]

[Footnote 84: _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, p. 352.]

[Footnote 85: South doorways are certainly very rarely to be met with in the very ancient churches or oratories in Ireland. In addition to this important one on Bishop's Island, I can only call to mind three others, namely, in Kilbaspugbrone, near Sligo; the Templemor, or great church of St. Mochonna, in Inismacnerin, or, as now called, Church Island, in Lough Key, county of Roscommon; and Killcrony, near Bray, in the county of Wicklow. The two last named are fine specimens of doorways of Cyclopean style and masonry.--P.]

[Footnote 86: Wakeman's _Archaeologia Hibernica_, pp. 59, 60.]

[Footnote 87: My pupil is in error in this supposition. He should have remembered--for he drew it on the block for me--that the window in the oratory near the church of Kilmalkedar, county of Kerry, which is built without cement, splays both externally and internally.--See my work, p.

184.

I should also observe another feature common to both these windows, namely, that it is only the jambs that are splayed.--P.]

[Footnote 88: _Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland_, p. 186.]

[Footnote 89: _Ibid._ p. 437.]

[Footnote 90: Was.--P.]

[Footnote 91: But now considers as of the tenth or perhaps eleventh.--P.]

[Footnote 92: See his _Ill.u.s.trated Handbook of Architecture_, vol. ii.

p. 918.]

[Footnote 93: I confess that I should not like to adduce this stone-roofed church of Killaghy in support of the antiquity of the oratory; for I could never bring myself to believe that it was of an age anterior to the thirteenth century.--P.]

[Footnote 94: See Dr. Petrie's work (p. 291) for full quotations in confirmation of this date, from the _Annals of Clonmacnoise and Kilronan_, the _Annals of Munster_, the _Annals of the Four Masters_, the _Chronicon Scotorum_, etc.]

[Footnote 95: When discussing the history of the pointed arch, Mr.

Parker observes: "The choir of Canterbury Cathedral, commenced in 1175, is usually referred to as the earliest example in England, and none of earlier date has been authenticated."--_Glossary of Terms in Architecture_ (1845), p. 28.]

[Footnote 96: Dr. Petrie's _Ecclesiastical Architecture_, p. 133.]

[Footnote 97: Pointed arches, constructed both on the radiating and horizontal principles, are found still standing in the antiquated mason-work of a.s.syria, Nubia, Greece, and Etruria. (See drawings and descriptions of different specimens from these countries in Mr.

Fergusson's _Handbook of Architecture_, vol. i. pp. 253, 254, 257, 259, 294, 381, etc.) The pointed arch was used in the East in sacred architecture as early as the time of Constantine, as is still witnessed in the oldest existing Christian church, namely, the church built by that emperor, in the earlier part of the fourth century, over the alleged tomb of our Saviour at Jerusalem.[99] For notices of the prevalence of the pointed arch in early Eastern and in Saracenic architecture, see Fergusson's _Handbook_, p. 380, 598, etc.]

[Footnote 98: In this opinion of Mr. Brash's I fully concur.--P.]

[Footnote 99: I must confess that I am very sceptical as to any portion now existing of the church of the Holy Sepulchre being of the time of Constantine, and also as to the early age of any portion of it in which a pointed arch is found. More walls of the original edifice may _possibly_ exist; but it is certain that the church was more than once modified, and the ornamental work is a.s.suredly of a much later age.--P.]

[Footnote 100: "Ala.n.u.s de Mortuo Mari, Miles, Dominus de Abirdaur, dedit omnes et totas dimidietates terrarum Villae suae de Abirdaur, Deo et Monachis de Insula Sancti Columbi, pro sepultura sibi et posteris suis in Ecclesia dicti Monasterii." (Quoted from the MS. Register or Chartulary of the Abbey by Sir Robert Sibbald in his _History of Fife_, p. 41.) The same author adds, that, in consequence of this grant to the Monastery of Inchcolm for leave of sepulture, the Earl of Murray (who represents "Stewart Abbott of Inchcolm," that sat as a lay Commendator in the Parliament of 1560, when the Confession of Faith was approved of) now possesses "the wester half of Aberdour." Sir Robert Sibbald further mentions the story that "Alain, the founder, being dead, the Monks, carrying his corpse in a coffin of lead, by barge, in the night-time, to be interred within their church, some wicked Monks did throw the samen in a great deep betwixt the land and the Monastery, which to this day, by the neighbouring fishermen and salters, is called _Mortimer's deep_."

He does not give the year of the preceding grant by Alain de Mortimer, but states that "the Mortimers had this Lords.h.i.+p by the marriage of Anicea, only daughter and sole heiress of Dominus Joannes de Vetere Ponte or Vypont, in anno 1126." It appears to have been her husband who made the above grant. (See Nisbet's _Heraldry_, vol. i. p. 294.)]

[Footnote 101: Thus, in 1272, Richard of Inverkeithing, Chamberlain of Scotland, died, and his body was buried at Dunkeld, but his heart was deposited in the choir of the Abbey of Inchcolm. (_Scotichronicon_, lib.

x. c. 30.) In Hay's _Scotia Sacra_ is a description of the sepultures on this monument in Inchcolm Church, p. 471. In 1173, Richard, chaplain to King William, died at Cramond, and was buried in Inchcolm. (Mylne's _Vitae_, p. 6.) In 1210, Richard, Bishop of Dunkeld, died at Cramond, and was buried in Inchcolm. (_Scotichronicon_, lib. viii. c. 27); and four years afterwards, Bishop Leycester died also at Cramond, and was buried at Inchcolm (_Ibid._ lib. ix. c. 27). In 1265, Richard, Bishop of Dunkeld, built a new choir in the church of St. Columba on Inchcolm; and in the following year the bones of three former bishops of Dunkeld were transferred and buried, two on the north, and the third on the south side of the altar in this new choir. (_Scotichronicon_, lib. x. c. 20, 21.) See also the _Extracta e Cronicis Scocie_ for other similar notices, pp. 90, 95, etc.; and Mylne's _Vitae Dunkeldensis Ecclesiae Episcoporum_, pp. 6, 9, 11, etc.]

[Footnote 102: Many, if not all of.--P.]

[Footnote 103: "There are" (observes Father Innes) "still remaining many copies of Fordun, with continuations of his history done by different hands. The chief authors were Walter Bower or Bowmaker, Abbot of Inchcolm, Patrick Russell, a Carthusian monk of Perth, _the Chronicle of Cupar_, the Continuation of Fordun, attributed to Bishop Elphinstone, in the Bodleian Library, and many others. All these were written in the fifteenth age, or in the time betwixt Fordun and Boece, by the best historians that Scotland then afforded, and unquestionably well qualified for searching into, and finding out, what remained of ancient MSS. histories anywhere hidden within the kingdom, and especially in abbeys and monasteries, they being all either abbots or the most learned churchmen or monks in their respective churches or monasteries." (Innes'

_Critical Inquiry_, vol. i. p. 228.)]

[Footnote 104: I confess I have still some doubt as to this island having received its name from a church founded by S. Columba-_cill_, or that he ever resided in it, and I should like to have your present opinion upon the matter. Fordun _alone_ seems to me a very insufficient authority for a fact which is very improbable; and the legend of the seal, which I published, appears to me to be a better authority for the ancient name of the island--"_Colma.n.u.s nomine, qui ab alijs Mocholmocus._ Quia Colmoe & Colman sunt diminutiva, a _Colum._ 1.

Columba, et affectus vel venerationis causa additur _mo_; et hinc _Mocholmocus_," Colgan, vol. i. p. 155. Colgan's authority is of no value, as his statement is wholly founded on Fordun. This is proved by his notice of the monastery in his catalogue of the churches founded by Columba. "Colmis-inse Monasterium canonicorum Regularium in aemonia insula inter Edinburgum et InverKithin. _Fordonus, ibid._" As the cautious Dr. Lanigan observes--"Colgan was, to use a vulgar phrase, bewitched as to the mania of ascribing foundations of monasteries to our eminent saints." Further, it should not be forgotten that Fordun tells us that in his time the island was called "_Saint Colmy's Inche_." See the pa.s.sage quoted by Ussher, _De Brit. Ec._, p. 704. Now, I know of no instance of the corruption of Columb, or Columba, into Colmy, which appears rather a corruption of Colmoc or Colman.

If this be not the Insula Colmoci of the _regal_ seal--"round seals have something royal"--where are we to find it? Not in Ireland, certainly, though our calendars record the names of two islands called Inch Mocholmoc, from saints of that name. One of these was in Leinster; the locality of the other is unknown. They also record the patron day of a St. Mocholmoc, _na hainse_, "of the island," at the 30th October. Could we find what was the patron day of the saint of Inche Colm it might help to settle the matter. One of the above saints is called Colman _Ailither_, or the pilgrim. Chattering in my discursive way, let me add that a Saint Mocholmoc appears to have been a favourite with the Danes of Dublin in the twelfth century, for we find in the lists of the Danish Kings of Dublin that of Donald MacGilloholmoch as reigning from 1125 to 1134; and another of the name is noticed by Regan as an Irish king, who lived not far from Dublin, and who offered his services to the English against the Irish and Danes in 1171. There was a Gillmeholmoc's Lane in Dublin, near Christ's Church, where, as Harris conjectures, he, or some of his family, inhabited. Did this royal Danish family adopt its surname in honour of St. Colman of Lindisfarne, of whom it must have heard a great deal during the Danish occupation of Northumbria, the kings of which were for a long time also kings of Dublin? Or may it have been from a remembrance of the shelter and honourable interment to their dead, given to their predecessors in the little island of St. Colme (or Colmoch!) something more than a century before--said island having derived its name from the Lindisfarne Saint, who may have occasionally occupied it as his desert or hermitage? I do not expect that you will not laugh at all this! but a hearty laugh is not a bad thing in this gloomy weather.--P.]

[Footnote 105: See extract in Goodall's edition of the _Scotichronicon_, vol. i. p. 6. (footnote), and in Colgan's _Trias Thaumaturga_, vol. ii.

p. 466.]

[Footnote 106: Dr. O'Donovan's _Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland_, vol.

i. p. 557.]

[Footnote 107: In Scotland we have various alleged instances of caves being thus employed as anchorite or devotional cells, and some of them still show rudely cut altars, crosses, etc.--as the so-called cave of St. Columba on the sh.o.r.es of Loch Killesport in North Knapdale, with an altar, a font or piscina, and a cross cut in the rock (_Origines Parochiales_, vol. ii. p. 40); the cave of St. Kieran on Loch Kilkerran in Cantyre (_Ibid._ vol. ii. p. 12); the cave of St. Ninian on the coast of Wigtons.h.i.+re (_Old Statistical Account of Scotland_, vol. xvii. p.

594); the cave of St. Molio or Molaise, in Holy Island, in the Clyde, with Runic inscriptions on its walls (see an account of them in Dr.

Daniel Wilson's admirable _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_, pp. 531 to 533, etc). The island of Inchcolm pertains to Fifes.h.i.+re, and in this single county there are at least four caves that are averred to have been the retreats which early Christian devotees and ascetics occupied as temporary abodes and oratories, or in which they occasionally kept their holy vigils; namely, the cave at Dunfermline, which bears the name of Malcolm Canmore's devout Saxon queen St. Margaret, and which is said to have contained formerly a stone table or altar, with "something like a crucifix" upon it (Dr. Chalmers' _Historical Account of Dunfermline_, vol. i. pp. 88, 89); the cave of St. Serf at Dysart (the name itself--Dysart--an instance, in all probability, of the "_desertum_" of the text, p. 124), in which that saint contested successfully in debate, according to the _Aberdeen Breviary_, with the devil, and expelled him from the spot (see _Breviarium Aberdonense_, Mens. Julii, fol. xv, and Mr. Muir's _Notices of Dysart_ printed for the Maitland Club, p. 3); the caves of Caplawchy, on the east Fifes.h.i.+re coast, marked interiorly with rude crosses, etc., and which, according to Wynton, were inhabited for a time by "St. Adrian wyth hys c.u.mpany" of disciples (_Orygynale Chronykel of Scotland_, book iii. c. viii.); and the cave of St. Rule at St.

Andrews, containing a stone table or altar on its east side, and on its west side the supposed sleeping cell of the hermit excavated out of the rock (_Old Statistical Account_, vol. xiii. p. 202). In _Marmion_(Canto i. 29) Sir Walter Scott describes the "Palmer" as, with solemn vows to pay,