The battle of Cúl Dreimhne (also known as the ''Battle of the Book'') took place in the 6th century in the

túath ''Túath'' (plural ''túatha'') is the Old Irish term for the basic political and jurisdictional unit of Gaelic Ireland. ''Túath'' can refer to both a geographical territory as well the people who lived in that territory. Social structure In ...

Cairbre Drom Cliabh Cairbre Drom Cliabh (meaning "Ui Cairbre (the descendants of Cairbre mac Néill, Cairbre) of Drumcliff"), was an Irish ''túath'' in the ancient confederation of Íochtar Connacht (Lower Connacht), now County Sligo in the west of Ireland. It is no ...

(now Co. Sligo) in northwest

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The exact date for the battle varies from 555 AD to 561 AD. 560 AD is regarded as the most likely by modern scholars. The battle is notable for being possibly one of the earliest conflicts over

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

in the world.

Traditional accounts

Traditional accounts ascribe different reasons for this battle. The most famous is the story about the copying of a book belonging to Saint Finnian by Columcille - an account that first appears in the Life written by Manus O'Donnell, written nearly a thousand years after the alleged events supposedly took place, and therefore a highly unreliable source. According to O'Donnell, sometime around 560, the Irish abbot and missionary

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 ...

became involved in a quarrel with Saint Finnian of

Movilla Abbey Movilla Abbey ( ga, Mainistir Mhaigh Bhile "Monastery of the Plain of the Notable Tree") in Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland, is believed to have been one of Ulster's and Ireland's most important monasteries. Movilla should not be confu ...

over a

psalter A psalter is a volume containing the Book of Psalms, often with other devotional material bound in as well, such as a liturgical calendar and litany of the Saints. Until the emergence of the book of hours in the Late Middle Ages, psalters we ...

(traditionally said to be the

Cathach of St. Columba The Cathach of St. Columba, known as the Cathach (meaning "the Battler"),O'Neill (2014), p. 12 is a late 6th century Insular psalter. It is the oldest surviving manuscript in Ireland, and the second oldest Latin psalter in the world. Its cumdac ...

). Columba copied the manuscript at the scriptorium under Saint Finnian, intending to keep the copy. Saint Finnian disputed his right to keep the copy. Thus, this dispute was about the ownership of the copy (whether it belonged to Saint Columba because he copied it or whether it belonged to Saint Finnian because he owned the original). King

Diarmait mac Cerbaill Diarmait mac Cerbaill (died ) was King of Tara or High King of Ireland. According to traditions, he was the last High King to follow the pagan rituals of inauguration, the ''ban-feis'' or marriage to goddess of the land. While many later stor ...

gave the judgement, "To every cow belongs her calf, therefore to every book belongs its copy." Columba disagreed with King Diarmait's ruling against him and reportedly instigated a successful rebellion of the

Uí Néill The Uí Néill (Irish pronunciation: ; meaning "descendants of Niall") are Irish dynasties who claim descent from Niall Noígíallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages), a historical King of Tara who died c. 405. They are generally divided into the ...

clan against the King. The battle was claimed to have caused around 3,000 casualties. Another traditional reason given for the battle concerns the violation of sanctuary. The Annals Of Tighernach for the year 559, record the death of Curnan son of Aed, son of Eochaid Tirmcharna by

, while Curnan was 'ar comairce Coluim chilli - under Colum Cille's protection'. This Curnan was the son of Aed, the king of Connacht. That Diarmait had violated the sanctuary of the

termonn is an Gaelic (Irish) word meaning 'sanctuary, boundary'. Other spellings include '','' and . It denotes land belonging to Irish early Christian monasteries and churches on which right of sanctuary prevailed. The word is common in many place n ...

at the Columban monastery of Kells is given as the reason for the battle. Either way, as a monk who had taken up arms, Colmcille faced judgement for his deeds. It said that the judgement resulted in Columba leaving his homeland for Scotland, where he founded

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 ...

in 563. The sentence stipulated he was to win as many souls to Christianity as had been lost in the battle. The Chronicles of Iona state that "In the second year after the battle of Cul-drebene, the forty-second year of his age, Columba sailed away from Ireland to Britain wishing to be a pilgrim for Christ." This last note rather contradicts the notion that Columba had been sent away as a punishment: he was rather fulfilling a monastic vocation.

Modern investigations

However, these later versions have been disputed by modern scholarship on several grounds, particularly as early mentions of the battle do not refer to the book incident. It may have been a dynastic battle between the Cinel Cairbre and Diarmait Mac cerbaill who had wrested the kingship at Tara from them after the death of Tuathal Maelgarb.

Traditional accounts

Modern investigations

References

Further reading