Bethóc ingen Somairle was a 13th-century Scottish prioress, considered to have been the first of Iona Nunnery. She was a daughter of

Somairle mac Gilla Brigte 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 ...

. In about 1203, Bethóc's brother,

Ragnall mac Somairle Ragnall is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 102, increasing to 146 at the 2011 census. It is located on the A57 road one mile west of the River Trent. The parish churc ...

, founded the Benedictine Iona Abbey. Sometime afterwards, he founded the Augustinian nunnery on Iona. The precise foundation date of the Benedictine and Augustinian houses are unknown. According to the ''

Book of Clanranald The Books of Clanranald are two paper manuscripts that date to about the early 18th century. The books are written in Classical Gaelic,. and are best known for their traditional account of the history of Clan Donald.. The manuscripts are commonly ...

'', Bethóc was a "black nun", while the ''

History of the MacDonalds The ''Sleat History'', also known as the ''History of the MacDonalds'', is a seventeenth-century historical source documenting the history of Clan Donald. The history is preserved in one manuscript, NLS Advocates' MS 73.1.12. The work appears to ...

'' states that she was prioress of Iona. That Bethóc was associated with Iona, as claimed by these clan-traditions, is corroborated by an inscribed stone on Iona. In about 1695, Martin Martin described the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

inscription to have read "''Behag nijn Sorle vic Ilvrid priorissa''" (which translates as "Prioress Bethóc, daughter of Somairle, son of Gilla Brigte"). The transcription was still legible in the 19th century. According to Bill Lawson, an entry in the Red Book of Clanranald reads, ''Beathog inghen Shomhuirle do bhi na mnaoi riagalta & na cailligh duibh. Also do thoguibh Teampall Chairinis anuibhist.'' "Beathag, daughter of Somerled, was a religious woman and a Black Nun. It is she that erected Teampall Chairinis in Uist." Bill Lawson writes, "It is known that Beathag was prioress 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 ...

in about 1203, the only problem in the ascription to her being that the Islands were still under Norse rule, though of course many of the Norse families would have become Christianized by then." It has been suggested that Bethóc was the original owner of the Iona

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 ...

, now preserved in the

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

. McDonald 1995: pp. 208–209. The psalter appears to have been illuminated in Oxford, in the 13th century. Perkins 2006: p. 34. If it was indeed intended for an Ionan prioress, it is uncertain if the psalter ever made it to Iona. Higgitt 2000: p. 278.

Notes

References

Footnotes Bibliography *. *. *. *. *. Further reading *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bethoc, Prioress Of Iona Augustinian nuns Clann Somhairle People of the Kingdom of the Isles Scottish Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns 13th-century Scottish people 13th-century Scottish women 13th-century Christian nuns