The Abbot of Iona was the head of
Iona Abbey
Iona Abbey is an abbey located on the island of Iona, just off the Isle of Mull on the West Coast of Scotland.
It is one of the oldest Christian religious centres in Western Europe. The abbey was a focal point for the spread of Christianit ...
during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
and the leader of the monastic community of
Iona
Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there ...
, as well as the overlord of scores of monasteries in both Scotland and Ireland, including
Durrow,
Kells and, until the
Synod of Whitby
In the Synod of Whitby in 664, King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome rather than the customs practiced by Irish monks at Iona and its satellite ins ...
,
Lindisfarne
Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...
. It was one of the most prestigious clerical positions in
Dark Age
The ''Dark Ages'' is a term for the Early Middle Ages, or occasionally the entire Middle Ages, in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that characterises it as marked by economic, intellectual and cultural decline.
The conce ...
Europe, and was visited by kings and bishops of the
Picts
The Picts were a group of peoples who lived in what is now northern and eastern Scotland (north of the Firth of Forth) during Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Where they lived and what their culture was like can be inferred from ea ...
,
Franks
The Franks ( la, Franci or ) were a group of Germanic peoples whose name was first mentioned in 3rd-century Roman sources, and associated with tribes between the Lower Rhine and the Ems River, on the edge of the Roman Empire.H. Schutz: Tools, ...
and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. The Ionan abbots also had the status of
Comarba
A coarb, from the Old Irish ''comarbae'' (Modern Irish ''comharba'', Latin: ''hērēs''), meaning "heir" or "successor", was a distinctive office of the medieval church among the Gaels of Ireland and Scotland. In this period coarb appears intercha ...
of Colum Cille, i.e. the successors of that Saint,
Columba
Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is toda ...
.
[Some sources refer to earlier abbots as Abbot of Hy. "Hy" being an early name for Iona (see Iona: Etymology and "He considered him as contemporary with Mugron, abbot of Hy (''d''. 980)..." ())]
Iona's position as head of the Columban network (''familia'') of churches declined over time, with abbots based at Derry, Raphoe, Kells and Dunkeld. In Scotland, the
abbots of Dunkeld
The Bishop of Dunkeld is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Dunkeld, one of the largest and more important of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Cormac. However, the first ...
ruled much of central Scotland in the 11th century, and functioned as some of the most important politicians of northern Britain. One of the abbots,
Crínán, married
Bethóc ingen Maíl Coluim, the daughter of King
Máel Coluim II, and became the progenitor of the so-called
House of Dunkeld
The House of Dunkeld (in or "of the Caledonians") is a historiographical and genealogical construct to illustrate the clear succession of Scottish kings from 1034 to 1040 and from 1058 to 1286. The line is also variously referred to by historians ...
, which ruled Scotland until the later thirteenth century. Dunkeld became a bishopric, and the monks based at
Inchcolm Abbey
Inchcolm Abbey is a medieval abbey located on the island of Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. The Abbey, which is located at the centre of the island, was founded in the 12th century during the episcopate of Gregoir, Bishop of Dunkeld. ...
became
Augustinians
Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...
.
At the beginning of the thirteenth century, the monks of Iona adopted the
Benedictine rule
The ''Rule of Saint Benedict'' ( la, Regula Sancti Benedicti) is a book of precepts written in Latin in 516 by St Benedict of Nursia ( AD 480–550) for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot.
The spirit of Saint Benedict's Ru ...
. Iona was re-endowed in 1203 by
Raghnall mac Somhairle
''Ragnall'', ''Raghnall'', ''Raonall'', and ''Raonull'' are masculine personal names or given names in several Gaelic languages.
''Ragnall'' occurs in Old Irish, and Middle Irish/Middle Gaelic. It is a Gaelicised form of the Old Norse '' Røgnva ...
, son of
Somerled
Somerled (died 1164), known in Middle Irish as Somairle, Somhairle, and Somhairlidh, and in Old Norse as Sumarliði , was a mid-12th-century Norse-Gaelic lord who, through marital alliance and military conquest, rose in prominence to create the ...
, king of Argyll and the Isles.
List of abbots of Iona to 891
List of comarbai Coluim Cille and abbots of Iona, 891–1099
During the abbacies of Diarmait and Indrechtach, almost certainly because of
Viking
Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
attacks, the relics of Columba were moved to other monastic houses in the Columban ''familia'', such as
Kells, Raphoe and
Dunkeld
Dunkeld (, sco, Dunkell, from gd, Dùn Chailleann, "fort of the Caledonians") is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The location of a historic cathedral, it lies on the north bank of the River Tay, opposite Birnam. Dunkeld lies close to t ...
. The position of abbot on Iona ceases to have the same significance within the Columban monastic familia, and many comarbai are not based on the island.
List of comarbai Coluim Cille at Kells and Derry
None of the following comarbai Coluim Cille are based at Iona, but rather Kells and Derry.
List of Benedictine abbots of Iona
List of abbot-commendators
Notes
References
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External links
*http://foundationsirishculture.ie/record/?id=52
{{Scottish Church
Iona
Iona (; gd, Ì Chaluim Chille (IPA: iːˈxaɫ̪ɯimˈçiʎə, sometimes simply ''Ì''; sco, Iona) is a small island in the Inner Hebrides, off the Ross of Mull on the western coast of Scotland. It is mainly known for Iona Abbey, though there ...
Iona
Iona, Benedictine
Irish abbots