|
These
notes here have been prepared by Dr. Alistair Ross to
explain and amplify topics and aspects of the prevailing
culture of the times when the "Book of Deer"
was in use.
Picts|
Gaels & Scots | Norse|Anglo-Saxons
| Gaelic |Medieval
Monastic Orders
Medieval
Monks and Monasteries |The Medieval
Church in Scotland
Landholding
in early Gaelic Society|Early Medieval
Society in the North East of Scotland
|Charters |Grants,
Deeds, Rights, Dues and Exemptions |Saints
Legend
of the Origin of Deer |The "Celtic
Church"
The notes are followed by two short essays,the first
prepared by Andrew Kellock, project worker, for distribution
to the visitors to the book of Deer Centre in Aden Country
Park, Mintlaw, Aberdeenshire; and the second by Arleen
McCombie who explains the cultural influences at work
in Europe from 800 to 1199A.D
THE
BOOK OF DEER
and CULTURAL INFLUENCES.
PICTS
The
Latin term Picti was first used by Eumenius
in 297 AD to describe people living somewhere beyond
the northern frontier of Roman Britain. It is unknown
whether this word was originally derived from a native
name. Fourth-century commentators provide slightly more
information: Ammianus Marcellinus stated that the Picti
were divided into two peoples - Dicalydones
and Verturiones - and another author
wrote about " Calidones and other Picti
." At least one of these names, Calidones
, has been preserved in a number of place-names,
including Dunkeld (fort of the Caledonians) and Schiehallion
(fairy hill of the Caledonians).
Early
references to contacts between Picts and Gaels indicate
that an interpreter was needed. It is generally thought
this may have been necessary because Pictish was a P-Celtic
language whereas Gaelic is a Q-Celtic language.
While the Pictish language has been lost, some words
of Pictish origin have been preserved in modern Scottish
Gaelic and in place-names. Probably the
most important of these words is the prefix Pit- (or
Pett-), indicating a portion of land. Place- names
of this type can be found near Old Deer, for example
Pitsligo, and others are contained in the Gaelic
notes written into the Book of Deer.
Very
little is known about the Picts before the seventh century
although a royal fortress belonging to an important
late-sixth-century king, Brude mac Maelchon, was probably
located near the river Ness, in Inverness-shire. Between
c.600 AD and c.800 AD the Gaelic annals of
Ulster and Tigernach contain a number of references
to kings of Pictland and to wars between Picts,
Britons, Gaels,and Anglo-Saxons. In probably one
of the most significant battles during this period,
king Ecgfrith of Northumbria was defeated by the Picts
at Nechtanesmere, near Forfar, in 685 AD. Thereafter,
it is possible that Picts ruled in eastern Scotland
until 848 AD when Cináed mac Alpín (Kenneth
I) gained the undisputed kingship of both Pictland and
Dál Riata, possibly with help from the Norse.
This assumption of Pictish kingship by a Gael
did not mean the kingdom of the Picts came to an end.
Both Cináed and his descendants continued to
be described as kings of Picts in Gaelic annals
until the end of the ninth century when the name of
the kingdom changed from Pictland to Alba.
The
Pictish people are probably best known for their enigmatic
symbol stones which can be found throughout much of
mainland Scotland (north of the Forth-Clyde line) and
the Islands . The stones are divided into three categories:
Class I, Class II and Class III. Class I stones are
typically un-dressed slabs or rough boulders which display
only incised Pictish animal and abstract symbols. Class
II stones usually consist of shaped slabs carved in
relief with Pictish symbols on one side and a Christian
cross on the reverse. Class III stones are again dressed
and carved in relief although they display no Pictish
symbols. One of these stones, six feet in height but
now lost, was located in the grounds of the Cistercian
Abbey of Deer until the nineteenth century and
probably belonged to Class I even though a cross was
carved on the opposite side of the slab from the symbols
(the cross was inverted in relation to the Pictish symbols,
which might suggest that the original stone had been
turned upside-down before the cross was added). Other
Class I stones in Banff and Buchan have been found at
Fetterangus, Tirie, Turriff and Fyvie.
NORTH BRITONS
Before
the seventh century there were three main North British
kingdoms: Gododdin, Rheged and another centred on Dumbarton
rock. They are called 'North British' mainly because
Welsh texts and compositions usually refer to the P-Celtic
speaking inhabitants of these three kingdoms as Gwyr
y Gogledd (men of the North). Essentially, these
three North British kingdoms covered all the territory
stretching from the Forth-Clyde line in central Scotland
to southern Yorkshire . Gododdin probably originally
comprised all of Lothian and Northumberland and the
boundaries of Rheged at their greatest extent may have
stretched from Rochdale in Yorkshire to north Ayrshire.
The borders of the kingdom based on Dumbarton rock are
more complex during this period. In Gaelic
and Welsh texts relating to the period before 872 AD,
kings of Dumbarton rock are never given a wide territorial
designation. They are always referred to as kings of
"the rock of the Clyde ".
By
the mid-seventh century two of these kingdoms, Rheged
and Gododdin, had been absorbed into the Anglo-Saxon
kingdom of Northumbria , probably by a combination of
military superiority and inter-marriage between ruling
dynasties. When king Ecgfrith of Northumbria was defeated
by the Picts at Nechtanesmere in 685 AD, Northumbrian
bishoprics had already been established at Abercorn
on the Forth estuary and at Whithorn in Galloway . Only
the North British kingdom based on Dumbarton rock seems
to have survived until 870 AD when the fortress was
destroyed by two Norse kings after a four month
siege.
There
is some evidence to indicate that the king of Pictland,
Causantín mac Cináeda (Constantine I)
- son of Cináed mac Alpín (Kenneth I)
- may have been involved in the death of Arthgal, the
ruling king of Dumbarton, in 872 AD. A relatively late
Gaelic source states that one of Causantín's
sisters was married into the ruling Dumbarton kindred.
If this information is accurate, the events of 872 AD
may represent a Pictish coup by which her husband, Rhun,
became king of the North Britons of Dumbarton. It is
noticeable that the name of the kingdom also changes
in 872 AD (to Strathclyde) and it is possible that Govan,
which has a remarkable collection of sculptured stones,
may have become the new sacral centre of the kingdom
after this date. The last king of Strathclyde, Owen
the Bald, died c.1018 AD at the battle of Carham; thereafter,
the kingdom seems to have been absorbed by the king
of Scots.
Scholars
are extremely fortunate that a number of panegyric (praise)
compositions relating to people and events in the North
British kingdoms during the late sixth and early seventh
centuries have been preserved in medieval Welsh texts.
Although now available in written form, these compositions
by two professional poets, Taliesin and Aneirin, were
originally designed to be transmitted orally. Taliesin
would seem to have been mainly associated with the kingdom
of Rheged , Aneirin with Gododdin. Aneirin's only surviving
work, Y Gododdin (The Gododdin), is a long
composition where each stanza praises the warlike abilities
of individual warriors. Essentially, the whole composition
relates the story of a warband setting out from a fortress
on Edinburgh rock to fight an enemy force in the South,
probably Anglo-Saxons. Many of Taliesin's twelve
surviving compositions praise one particular king of
Rheged, Urien, and the close nature of the relationship
between king and poet is highlighted by a refrain which
appears at the end of seven of Taliesin's compositions:
"And until I die, old, By death's strict demand,
I shall not be joyful, Unless I praise Urien."
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GAELS
AND SCOTS
It
was the Romans, who occupied Britain for approximately
four hundred years that called people living in Ireland
by the Latin term Scotti : the names ‘Scot'
and ‘ Scotland ' are derived from this word. Although
the origin of the word Scotti is unknown,
it is known that the Scotti spoke a Q-Celtic
language and that they called themselves Goídil
(Gaels). Therefore, the words ‘Scot' and ‘Gael'
mean the same. Some of these Gaels in Ireland lived
in a kingdom in northern Ulster called Dál Riata.
Shortly after, or possibly even before, the Romans left
Britain (c.410 AD), Dál Riata expanded across
the Irish sea to occupy territory in Argyllshire. However,
by c.500 AD the focus of the kingdom seems to have shifted
from Ulster to Argyll, possibly because more powerful
tribes in Ireland were expanding northwards into Ulster
. Whatever the case, the original Scots who first came
to Scotland , and gave it its name, spoke Old Gaelic
, and it is therefore true to say that Gaelic
is the original Scottish language.
An
important document originally written in the late seventh
century, Senchas Fer nAlban (the History of
the Men of Scotland), divides the kingdom
of Dál
Riata (in Scotland
) into three main kin-groups:
Cenél nGabráin (Kintyre, Gigha, Jura and
Cowal), Cenél nOengusa ( Islay
) and Cenél Loairn
(Lorn, Colonsay, Mull ,
Tiree, Coll and Ardnamurchan). According to surviving
king-lists and genealogies, most of the kings of Dál
Riata belonged to Cenél nGabráin, apart
from a period c.700 AD when Cenél Loairn gained
temporary supremacy. There are a number of important
fortified sites associated with the kingdom
of Dál
Riata , including Dunadd,
Dunollie and Dundurn. Some of these sites have been
excavated and archaeologists have found evidence of
relatively large quantities of Gaulish and Mediterranean
trade goods like glass,
dye and pottery. This would indicate that these fortified
sites were important trading centres.
One
reason which would partly account for this international
trade could have been the presence of the early Celtic
Church foundation on í ( Iona ) which seems
to have been set up by Colum Cille (Columba) under the
protection of the kings of Dál Riata. Monks on
í would have needed a wide range of dyes to illustrate
manuscripts and gospel books like the Book of Kells.
Successive abbots of the monastery on í also
took a great interest in the political affairs of Dál
Riata. Therefore, the deaths of important people and
other events connected to the kingdom are frequently
mentioned in the Gaelic annals of Ulster and
Tigernach. Entries in these annals indicate that kings
of Dál Riata attempted to extend their authority
eastwards into Pictland from an early period. One king,
Aedán mac Gabráin (c.574-608 AD) is recorded
as having fought both Picts and Anglo-Saxons
and one of his sons, Gartnait, is stated to have been
a "King of Picts" when he died c.602
AD. Although the kingdom of Dál Riata was conquered
by a powerful Pictish king, Onuist, in 741 AD, by 789
AD it is possible that a Gaelic dynasty, headed
by Causantín mac Fergusa, had established their
overlordship in the kingdom of Fortriu in southern Perthshire.
If this interpretation is correct, it is possible that
Gaelic overlordship was established in parts
of Pictland before the beginning of the reign of Cináed
mac Alpín (Kenneth I) c.848 AD.
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NORSE
The
Viking raid on the island of Lindisfarne in 793 AD is
traditionally regarded as the beginning of the Viking
age in Britain , although it has been suggested that
these early raiders may already have been settled in
the Northern Isles rather than sailing directly from
Norway . During the next three to four decades the
Gaelic annals record a large number of Viking raids
in the Hebrides and Ireland and a number of monasteries,
including í ( Iona ), were attacked and looted
and monks were killed. While activities of this nature
figure prominently in popular accounts about the Vikings,
it is clear that raiding was not the only concern of
these Scandinavian peoples. Trade may also have played
a major role in this process. For example, in Ireland
after 841 AD, the major trading ports of Dublin , Wexford,
Waterford , Cork and Limerick all originated as Viking
naval bases ( longphoirt ). In theory, and
at a slightly later period, a trader from Dublin could
have sailed up the Irish sea , crossed the North sea
and entered Scandinavian-controlled river systems in
Russia to emerge eventually in the Black sea and sell
his goods in Constantinople .
By
c.850 AD the Gaelic annals record the appearance
of a new group of people called the Gall-Ghaidheil
(foreign Gaels) who seem to have been
mainly resident in the Hebrides
and south-west Scotland . It is likely that these people
were of mixed Norse and Gaelic blood
which indicates a degree of integration and settlement
between the two peoples within a short period of time.
Scandinavian bases and trading ports were also established
on the east coast of Britain . In England , York was
captured in 866 AD and it is possible that the devastation
of the North-British fortress on Dumbarton
rock in 870 AD was an attempt to establish a maritime
link between York and Dublin via the Clyde-Forth headwaters.
By the end of the ninth century, Norse control of the
Northern Isles led to the creation of the earldom of
Orkney and successive dynasts from this province attempted
to extend their authority southwards into Caithness
(which included Sutherland during this period) and Moray
over a long period of time. It has been suggested that
this Norse push southwards towards the Great Glen was
motivated by economic considerations: namely, a desire
to control the extensive timber resources found in Easter
Ross for the maintenance, repair and building of shipping.
It
is still not clear whether the North-East was ever affected
to the same extent. We do know that a fortification
near Dunottar, south of Stonehaven, was attacked by
Vikings c.900 AD and archaeological evidence suggests
that the Pictish fort at Burghead, near Elgin
, could have suffered a similar fate. Although the North-East
does not appear to have any Scandinavian place-names,
in contrast to other areas like Caithness and Galloway
, the name of one of the mormaír (earls)
of Buchan, Colbán, mentioned in the Gaelic
Notes in the Book of Deer appears to be derived
from the Old Norse name Kolbeinn . At least
one of his sons, Magnus, was also given a Norse name.
Recently, it has been argued that many of the so-called
"Pictish" ogam inscriptions, which
have largely defied translation, are Scandinavian in
origin and can be read using Old Norse. If this new
theory is proved to be correct, and given that many
of the inscriptions appear in the North-East, it is
possible that some Scandinavians may indeed have settled
in north-east Scotland .
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NORMANS
The
first record of Normans appearing in Scotland is in
1054 AD in a battle between the king of Scots, MacBethad
mac Findlaích, and Máel Coluim mac Donnchada
(later Malcolm III). These particular Normans were mercenaries
and were all killed in the battle. Nevertheless, during
the successive reigns of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada's
three sons, Edgar, Alexander and David mac Máel
Coluim, the Norman settlement in southern Scotland
becomes noticeable. One of the most famous surviving
charters in Scottish history was issued when David
mac Máel Coluim (David I) was inaugurated at
Scone
in 1124 AD. This was the grant of Annandale
to Robert de Brus, a Norman
knight in the entourage
of the new king.
It
is, however, during the reign of William I (1165-1214
AD) that the Norman presence in northern Scotland becomes
particularly noticeable. There are probably two main
reasons for this. Firstly, under the terms of the Treaty
of Falaise (1174), William I was forced to temporarily
abandon Scottish claims to lands in Northern England
(particularly Northumberland). At least in the short
term, the King of Scots was able to focus on
extending royal authority north of the Mounth in areas
like Moray and Ross. The second reason was the actions
of the MacWilliam kin-group who challenged the authority
of William I and Alexander II in Moray and Ross until
c.1230 AD. As each 'rebellion' was defeated, lands in
Moray, Ross, Sutherland and Caithness were granted to
families - usually of Norman or Flemish extraction -
loyal to the kings of Scotland.
In
the North-East probably the best example of this process
was the granting of the Lordship of the Garioch before
1182 to the brother of William I, David earl of Huntingdon.
In turn, earl David granted lands within his new Lordship
to Norman and Flemish families like de Boiville, de
Audri, le Bret and Bertolf. More importantly perhaps,
royal control of this Lordship, together with the building
of a new motte and bailey fortification at Inverurie,
meant that the kings of Scotland
effectively controlled
the main overland routes from Aberdeenshire to Moray.
As far as Buchan is concerned, the province remained
under the control of the native family of mormaír
(earls) until c.1212 AD when Marjory, heiress
of Fergus, married William Comyn. Consequently, William
Comyn was the first Norman earl of any Scottish province
and the marriage may have been a reward from William
I to William Comyn for supporting the king against the
MacWilliams in Moray and Ross c.1211 AD. By 1286 AD
another four Scottish earldoms were controlled by families
of Anglo-Norman origin.
This
phenomenon is not extraordinary in a European context.
During the period c.950 to c.1300 AD Norman families
spread out through Christendom to rule kingdoms from
the Atlantic to the Outremer. What is perhaps unusual
about 'Norman' Scotland , particularly in contrast to
other areas of Norman colonisation, is that native kin-groups
in a number of earldoms seem to have continued to play
a prominent role in society. Although the heads of these
kindreds do not often appear in the primary documentation
available to historians, when records of their role
in government and society do appear they can be seen
to be acting on behalf of an earl and leading the fighting
men of the kindred in war.
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ANGLO-SAXONS
One
of the first historical references to Saxons occurs
in a description of a 'barbarian conspiracy', consisting
of Picts, Scots and Saxons, attacking Roman
Britain ( Yorkshire ) in 367 AD. It is possible that
the number of Saxon invaders who settled in Yorkshire
had been augmented by Germanic mercenaries who had originally
been employed by the Romans to defend their Northern
frontier from these very same Picts and North
Britons. In any event, by the sixth century Anglo-Saxon
colonies on the east coast of Britain had been organised
into two separate kingdoms of Bernicia (north of the
Tyne ) and Deira (south of the Tyne ). By the mid-seventh
century the Anglo-Saxon kings of Northumbria ( Bernicia
and Deira) had established their overlordship in the
North-British kingdoms of Rheged and Gododdin.
During this period the Northumbrians also came into
conflict with a king of Dál Riata, Aedán
mac Gabráin, at Degsastan . The site
of this battle has not yet been identified.
Before
685 AD it is clear that Northumbrian overlordship was
firmly established in the area of central Scotland known
as Manau.This name is preserved in at least
two place-names, Slamannan and Clackmannan, on either
side of the Forth estuary, and a Northumbrian bishopric
was established at Abercorn under bishop Trumwine. A
number of early Anglo-Saxon place names in
Lothian, including Whittinghame, Coldingham and Haddington,
probably date from this period. However, in 685 AD king
Ecgfrith of Northumbria was defeated by Bruide son of
Bili, king of the Pictish province of Fortriu
, at Nechtanesmere near Forfar. According to one early
eighth-century English source (Bede), the Picts,
Scots and some North Britons recovered
their freedom as a result of this victory. Eventually,
during the reign of Causantín mac á eda
(Constantine II: 900 to c.942 AD), king of Alba, the
rulers of Northumbria accepted Scottish overlordship
and the entire territory of Lothian was annexed to Scotland
when Máel Coluim mac Cináeda (Malcolm
II) won the battle of Carham in 1018 AD.
The
language the Northumbrian Anglo-Saxons spoke was called
Inglis . After 1018 AD, Inglis (which
became known as Scottis (Scots) during the
fifteenth century) began to spread into other areas
of Scotland , particularly in burghs where it became
the favoured language of trade. For example, it is likely
that the burgh of Aberdeen was founded and settled by
people of Anglo-Saxon or Flemish origin and Eadward
(an Anglo-Saxon) became bishop of Aberdeen before 1150
AD, just after the Gaelic Notes had been inserted
into the Book of Deer. Of course the vast majority
of the people in north-east Scotland during the twelfth
century would have spoken Gaelic; the trading
burghs would have been considered large if they had
a population of a few hundred people. However, Buchan
seems to have shifted more towards the Inglis
language during the fourteenth century. One possible
reason behind this shift in language may have been the
actions of Robert I. After 1306, when he seized the
throne from the rightful king of Scots, John I Balliol,
and murdered his main political rival, John Comyn of
Badenoch, he systematically dismembered the Comyn earldom
of Buchan. Thereafter, he granted a large number of
lands in Buchan to families from southern Scotland ,
like Gordon, Hay, Douglas and Keith, whose first language
would probably not have been Gaelic. The use
of Gaelic has been retreating westwards from
the North-East ever since.
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GAELIC
A
number of different language groups, including Celtic,
are classed as Indo-European languages. According to
linguists, at some point during the prehistoric period
a hypothetical Common Celtic language became divided
into two main linguistic groupings: Q-Celtic and P-Celtic.
One of the main distinguishing features between Q- and
P-Celtic is that one branch, Q-Celtic, preserved a sound
which is pronounced [ q u or k w ]
(now written c ), whereas P-Celtic speakers
changed this sound to [ p ]. One of the best
examples of this linguistic division is the word for
'head': ceann in Gaelic and penn
in Welsh. All of the modern Celtic languages belong
to one of these two branches: Irish, Manx and Scottish
Gaelic are Q-Celtic languages whereas Welsh, Cornish
and Breton are P-Celtic languages.
Although
there is a strong tendency nowadays to think of Gaelic
as the language of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,
when the Gaelic Notes were written into the Book
of Deer c.1130 AD, Gaelic was the common language
of the rest of Scotland, including the Lowlands, Ireland
and the Isle of Man. Naturally, the form of the Gaelic
language changed over many centuries and in different
places. One important factor in the history of any language
is the introduction of writing. Once a language is written,
its written form quickly gets adopted as the only 'correct'
form by those who can write, and it becomes a standard.
In the case of Old Gaelic, the alphabetic system set
up c.600 AD remained unchanged for three hundred years.
Even if the real language - the spoken Old Gaelic language
- changed constantly, the standard written form remained
unchanged and became progressively out of date. Perhaps
the only surviving evidence of Old Gaelic written in
Scotland , possibly c.900 AD, is found in the Book
of Deer where the main scribe asks his readers
to pray for him.
The
phase c.900 to 1200 AD is known as the Middle Gaelic
period. A sizeable body of Gaelic literature survives
from this time, and the language reflected in this literature
has moved away, to some extent, from the strict Old
Gaelic standard. This partly reflects a weakening of
the control of the óes dána
(men of learning) over the language. No new standard
was set up c.900 AD, and writers of Middle Gaelic felt
free to use innovations of all kinds, as well as retaining
archaic conservative forms as they wished. But this
freedom, as far as we know, never resulted in any writer
accurately writing, or trying to write, the language
that was spoken. Consequently, we really know next to
nothing of the dialect speech of this period.
It
was during this Middle Gaelic period, c.1130 AD, that
the Gaelic Notes were inserted into the Book of
Deer and they are the earliest considerable body
of Gaelic writing known to emanate from Scotland . Doubtless,
the scribes spoke the local Gaelic of the North-East,
which was almost certainly slightly different from the
Gaelic of other areas. Recently, scholars examining
the Notes have begun to recognise characteristics which
are similar to distinctive features in Modern Scottish
Gaelic. This study is still continuing and will have
important implications for the history of the divergence
of Gaelic into its three component parts, Scottish,
Irish and Manx.
MEDIEVAL
MONASTIC ORDERS
During
the eleventh century, particularly under Pope Gregory
VII (1073 to 1085 AD), the Roman church underwent a
period of reform during which papal power and ritual
uniformity increased. The intellectual footing behind
this spiritual revival in Latin Christendom was provided
by monasticism and monks quickly gained a reputation
for piety and purity. The Benedictine Rule stated how
each monastery should be governed and also prescribed
how monastic life should be approached. During the first
phase of this process, each Benedictine monastery was
an independent establishment and the abbot was the supreme
internal authority. The Benedictines (and Cluniacs)
were supported by gifts of lands which would provide
produce and money to support the monastery. As more
secular landowners made gifts of lands to these monastic
establishments, so each monastery became richer and
more powerful.
However,
the ideals of St Benedict could be interpreted in different
ways. Some monks, unhappy with the wealth and power
of the monasteries in which they were cloistered, chose
to found new monastic communities which would return
to the basics of Benedictine Rule. Consequently, during
the eleventh and twelfth centuries a number of different
international monastic orders were founded, each of
which interpreted the Benedictine Rule with increasing
degrees of severity: essentially a return to poverty,
discipline and manual labour. These new orders included
Tironesians and Cistercians.
In
1098 AD Robert, prior of the Cluniac monastery of Molesme,
together with an Englishman, Robert Harding, left to
form a new community which would return to the roots
of the monastic ideal. The site they chose was a marsh
called Cîteaux, south of Dijon
, in France
. Harding's strict interpretation
of the Benedictine Rule (codified in the Cistercian
constitution Carta Caritatis - Charter of
Love) seems to have attracted large numbers of recruits
to the new monastic order and by 1115 AD another four
Cistercian colonies had been established - La Ferté,
Pontigny, Morimond and Clairvaux - each of which was
a 'daughter' house of Cîteaux (the 'mother' house).
Every 'daughter' house was the responsibility of the
abbey from which it had been founded and the abbot of
the 'mother' house had to visit the 'daughter' house
annually to ensure that the Cistercian rules were being
followed. Cistercian monks chose to wear a habit of
undyed wool and they became known as the 'white monks'.
This distinguished them from the Benedictine and Cluniac
orders who wore black habits.
Although
Harding provided the Cistercian order with their model
of monastic reform, it was the founding abbot of Clairvaux,
Bernard de Fontaine (Bernard of Clairvaux), who oversaw
the dynamic expansion of the order throughout Christendom.
Under his direction all Cistercian abbots attended a
General Chapter meeting at Cîteaux every September
to enforce collective discipline, mutual support and
to enact legislation to control the order. The popularity
of the new order meant that in the first century of
their existence the Cistercians founded over five hundred
new religious houses (including nunneries). The first
Cistercian foundation in Britain
was founded in 1128 AD
in Surrey :
Waverley
was a 'daughter' house of L'Aumône in Normandy
which, in turn, was a 'daughter'
house of Cîteaux. In 1132 AD a group of monks
from Clairvaux founded the abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire
and Melrose
abbey, the first Cistercian
establishment in Scotland
, was founded as a 'daughter'
house of Rievaulx in 1136 AD.
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MEDIEVAL
MONKS AND MONASTERIES
By
1113 AD the Cistercian order had ruled that
any new monastery must have an oratory, a porter's cell,
a dormitory, a refectory and a guest-house before it
could be occupied. This would immediately allow the
new community to serve God and live in religious discipline.
In general, monks were expected to remain cloistered
within their monastery and perform liturgy on behalf
of all Christians. Consequently, they were viewed by
the general populace as being closer to God and more
likely to secure divine intercession on behalf of mankind.
If monks were to remain cloistered they needed land
or estates, worked by lay-brothers, which would produce
income to pay for clothing, buildings, vestments and
books.
A
monastery was sustained by revenues and produce from
lands granted to the house by the founder and subsequent
secular patrons. Often, these lands formed a discrete
block of territory and surplus cash revenue belonging
to the monastery could be used to make further investments
in land and property. Monasteries probably specialised
in particular economic fields: Melrose ,
for example, found a ready market for wool in Berwick
and quickly concentrated on sheep farming. Initially,
it is clear that the Cistercian order developed
a simple framework for their ideal of monastic life.
The first Cistercian buildings in France
were wooden structures, built to an exact plan, and
roofed with thatch. Archaeologists have also found traces
of such buildings in some of the early Cistercian
establishments in England . However, as soon as
a new establishment acquired sufficient lands, monks
and lay-brothers to ensure that the foundation would
succeed, new buildings were built in stone. As with
the original wooden structures, the Cistercians
built in stone to an exact plan and, on occasion, communities
were ordered to demolish buildings that did not conform
to the Cistercian norm.
It
would appear that from c.1150 AD the Cistercians
built two different types of monasteries in Britain.
Larger establishments, like Rievaulx and Melrose , housed
communities of more than one hundred monks, and smaller
communities might consist of around fifty monks. Judging
by the architecture, Deer abbey would have been one
of these smaller communities. In a monastery the lay-brothers
occupied the west range of buildings: archaeological
evidence from Rievaulx and Melrose shows that the west
range could be two stories high but that internal walling
kept the lay-brothers quite separate from the cloister
and contact with the monks. It is likely that the nave
of the church would also have been divided into two
discrete areas by a screen: one area for lay-brothers
and one for monks. Contact with lay-brothers would have
diverted the monks from their allotted tasks.
However,
unlike the twelfth-century Cistercian foundations
in Scotland, such as Melrose, Kinloss, Dundrennan and
Newbattle, the thirteenth-century foundations - Balmerino,
Deer and Sweetheart - do not seem to have built extensive,
or any, West ranges to accommodate lay-brothers. There
is some evidence to suggest that by the late twelfth
century lay-brothers had begun to resent the harsh working
and living conditions imposed on them by the Cistercian
order. From c.1208 AD, Cistercian monasteries
began to lease out some of their lands rather than rely
on lay-brothers to work them. Another factor in the
decline in recruitment of lay-brothers may have been
the formation (around 1200 AD) of orders of Friars,
particularly Franciscans and Dominicans. Initially,
these new orders did not need endowments of lands and
Friars were not cloistered. They could move freely throughout
Christendom to wherever they would do most good. Consequently,
the monastic orders began to decline in popularity and
the orders of Friars largely took over the job of advancing
the frontiers of Latin Christendom.
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THE
MEDIEVAL CHURCH IN SCOTLAND
For
Christians, the approach of the first millennium sparked
a revival in spirituality throughout Latin Christendom.
Monasticism, according to the rule of St Benedict, was
at the forefront of this process. In Scotland
, the person frequently
credited with introducing reformed monasticism is Margaret,
queen of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada (Malcolm III).
While there is little doubt that Margaret did found
a new Benedictine priory at Dunfermline
with monks from Canterbury
, this initiative failed
between 1093 and 1100 AD (though later revived by her
sons). Consequently, scholars are still debating the
exact effect Margaret had on the transformation of the
Scottish church.
What
is perhaps remarkable about Margaret was the devotion
to reformed monasticism that she inspired in her sons,
Edgar, Alexander and David mac Máel Coluim. It
was during the reigns of these three kings, particularly
David mac Máel Coluim (David I - 1124 to 1153
AD), that large-scale endowments were made to the Augustinian,
Tironesian and Cistercian orders. The first
foundation David made in Scotland
before 1124 AD, as earl of Huntingdon, was at Selkirk
- the community later moved to Kelso - with monks from
Tiron, near Chartres . After 1124 AD, as king, David
also founded the Augustinian houses of Holyrood, Jedburgh
and Cambuskenneth, a community of Cluniacs on the Isle
of May, a Benedictine foundation at Urquhart in Moray
and three Cistercians abbeys: Melrose (1136
AD), Newbattle (1140 AD) and Kinloss (1150 AD). Both
Newbattle and Kinloss were 'daughter' houses of Melrose
, and Deer was founded by William Comyn, earl of Buchan,
as a 'daughter' house of Kinloss c.1219 AD.
The
link between these new orders of regular clergy and
the reform of the Scottish episcopate is clear: a number
of abbots were chosen as bishops in sees like Glasgow
and St Andrews . David mac Máel Coluim, clearly
concerned with the religious reform of Scotia , chose
men renowned for their piety and simplicity to undertake
a programme of diocesan reconstruction and to encourage
the erection of a parochial structure with attendant
churches served by secular priests. However, this revolutionary
restructuring did not necessarily mean the end of the
Celtic Church. There is clear evidence that at
least one community of céili Dé
(clients of God) secular priests survived, at least
in name, at St Andrews until the fourteenth century.
However, it is likely that the early Columban monastery
at Deer did not survive beyond the foundation of the
new Cistercian house. If it did, there is no record
of it in primary sources.
Nevertheless,
although the church in Scotland
was re-organised during
this period there was no archbishop who could exercise
metropolitan status (superiority over the others). Until
the end of the twelfth century, Scottish bishops (and
kings) had to resist the claims of successive archbishops
of York
that they exercised metropolitan powers over the bishops
of Scotland .
However, in 1192 an agreement was reached - pronounced
by Pope Celestine III in his bull Cum universi
- whereby the diocese of Galloway would remain subservient
to York and the remaining ten Scottish bishoprics became
'special daughters' of Rome, subject only to the papacy
(the diocese of the Isles, as lands belonged to Norway,
remained subject to Trondheim until c.1350 AD). By 1225
AD, Scottish bishops had also secured the right to hold
a provincial council for self-government. Thus, by the
beginning of the thirteenth century the medieval church
in Scotland
occupied a unique position in Latin Christendom.
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LANDHOLDING
IN EARLY GAELIC SOCIETY
Most
of what we know about early Gaelic society
is based on the contents of seventh and eighth century
Old Gaelic Law texts from Ireland
, like Críth Gablach , many of which
only survive in fourteenth to sixteenth century copies.
Therefore, the information they contain may have become
corrupted in transmission over time. Nevertheless, it
appears that early Gaelic society was tribal,
rural, hierarchical and familiar. Tribal, because the
basic territorial unit was the túath
(usually translated as tribe); rural because there seem
to have been few areas of dense settlement; hierarchical
because society was strictly divided into ranks (each
with their own honour-price), and familiar because society
was kin-based. The most common kin-group referred to
was the derbfine (true kin): descendants through
the male line of a common great-grandfather, up to and
including second cousins.
According
to the law texts, the kin-group attached great importance
to the principle of private land ownership. The word
used for a unitary area of land was the cumal
(originally meaning a female slave) and the value of
a cumal of land varied: for example, good
arable land was worth twenty-four milch cows and bogland
was worth eight dry cows. When kin-land was being divided
after a death, each male heir was provided with a share.
A female could only inherit land (for her lifetime)
if there was no brother. Although each landholder farmed
as an individual, his kinsmen were able to control what
he did with the land. No member of a kin-group could
dispose of his share of kin-land without the agreement
of the rest of his kinsmen, and kinsmen could be held
responsible if one of their relations misused his portion
of kin-land.
The
rí (king) of each túath
was assigned a portion of land and, in turn, could
give some of this portion to his judge, poet, harper
or doctor. All freemen of the túath
owed loyalty to the rí and paid dues
to him. The rí could summon them
to a slógad (hosting) for either attack
or defence. A rí could also owe loyalty
to a ruiri (king of a few túatha
) and the rí would give hostages
and tribute to the superior king. The law-texts also
include a number of different grades of flaith
(lord), the lowest grade of which must have ten céili
(clients, who could also be kinsmen). Each lord
advanced a parcel of land or stock to his clients in
return for dues including food-rent, manual
labour, military duties and hospitality. If a lord did
not treat his clients justly, he could be reduced in
rank.
In
the Book of Deer there are two different names
used to describe a unit of land: a pett or pit (estate)
and a dabhach (a large vat, possibly a fixed
amount of grain). One of these terms (pett), is definitely
Pictish in origin and dabhach may
also have originally been a Pictish word. However,
despite these differences in terminology, it is likely
that there were strong similarities in the social pattern
of landholding in Ireland
and Scotland . There is a lot of evidence relating to
the granting of lands to members of the óes
dána (men of learning) in Scotland , in
return for professional services. Obligations on land,
like common army service ( slógad ),
became incorporated into the legal terminology of Scottish
charters and continue to be used for a considerable
period of time. Other evidence is found in the Book
of Deer - for example, when Donnchad gave Auchmachar
to the religious settlement 'in freedom till Doomsday',
he may have been stating that he did not expect the
monks to perform any dues - like food-rent
or manual labour - in return for the grant of land.
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EARLY
MEDIEVAL SOCIETY IN THE NORTH-EAST OF SCOTLAND
Early
medieval society in the north-east of Scotland
would have been very different from what we are familiar
with today. Undoubtedly, the vast majority of people
would have lived in the countryside and they would have
been of mixed cultural heritage - Pictish and Gaelic.
This is partly why the Book of Deer is so important;
it provides many clues towards understanding the structure
of this mix of cultures in the North-East during the
early twelfth century, at least among the upper ranks
of society.
The
evidence from the Gaelic Notes implies that
early medieval society in the North-East was hierarchical.
Two 'Clanns' are mentioned, Clann Chanann
and Clann Morgainn . 'Clann', Gaelic
for 'children', when used in this context, is probably
closer in meaning to the word 'Cenél': a kindred
believed to be descended from a common ancestor. Therefore,
it is likely that Comgell mac Cainnich and Donnchad
mac Síthich, the toísig (leaders)
of these groups, were the heads of their respective
kindreds ( Morgann is probably originally
Pictish and Morgan is still a common surname
in the North-East. It occurs in at least one place-name
in Aberdeenshire, Tillymorgan). Here, in the case of
Donnchad mac Síthich, we appear to have good
evidence for a man with a Gaelic name and title
leading a kin-group whose name is of Pictish
origin.
However,
the word toísech also seems to occur
in the Gaelic Notes in a different context
where it is not associated with a kin-group. In these
other instances, the tóisech functions
as an official, who was owed dues from land,
but inferior in rank to a mormaer . It has
been suggested that this type of toísech
was the leader of the kindred in battle and his
position has been equated with the Anglo-Saxon
rank of thane. In medieval Scotland, the thane was usually
a subordinate official of the king, charged with managing
a piece of territory in return for a share of the produce,
whose main functions were the administration of justice,
the collection of taxes (not money) and with leading
the men of the thanage in war. This may be why the men
identified as a toísech of this type
in the Notes do not explicitly grant lands to Deer,
only dues.The land they managed was not theirs
to give away.
The
third level of society mentioned in the Notes is the
mormaer , 'great steward'. In Latin sources
the equivalent of this rank is comes , translated
'earl'. Mormaír were rulers, often
related to the king, of districts of Scotland (like
Buchan, Atholl and Mar) and they may have been of equivalent
rank to the highest grade of king in Ireland, the rí
ruirech or rí cóicid ,
king of a province like Ulster or Leinster. Representatives
of the highest level of society in Scotland, kings,
also appear in the Notes, such as Máel Coluim
mac Cináeda (Malcolm II). Like the mormaír
, kings were entitled to dues from landowners
who acknowledged their superiority.
We
are also fortunate that a member of the óes
dána (men of learning) appears in the Gaelic
Notes. This is Matadín brithem ,
Matadín the judge (the Latin equivalent of brithem
is judex ). Evidence from elsewhere in
Scotland indicates that a number of judges (including
the king's judge) could be attached to a particular
province. The judges of a province played an important
role in the administration of law and justice and one
of their main duties seems to have been the perambulation
of marches to determine estate boundaries. It is perhaps
likely that Matadín was the name of
the judge employed by the mormaer of Buchan,
in return for land.
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CHARTERS
A
charter is basically a legal document, issued by kings,
ecclesiastics or laymen, written on parchment, perhaps
sheep or goat skin, in either French, Gaelic
or Latin (also Scots from the late fourteenth century).
Charters could record a number of different things,
such as a grant of lands in return for military service,
a resignation of lands in favour of a third party, a
forfeiture of lands, or a confirmation of lands or privileges.
These were important documents and both secular (like
earls, lords and barons) and ecclesiastic (like bishops
and abbots) landowners owned charter rooms and charter
chests. If a landowner lost a charter he could not legally
prove that he held title to the land in question, unless
there was a copy in the governmental chancery. It has
been suggested that to begin with, during the eleventh
and early twelfth centuries, the charter was a document
which conveyed information and recorded a grant or privilege.
It did not physically constitute a grant but preserved
a record of a ceremony (possibly a perambulation, where
the boundary markers of an estate were either fixed
or examined to check that they had not been altered)
which had already occurred.
The
earliest surviving Scottish charter has been dated to
1094 AD and records (in Latin) a grant to the church
of Durham by Donnchad mac Máel Coluim (Duncan
II). During this early period, writing would have been
the preserve of a very small body of people, essentially
churchmen, and it is probable that the king's personal
chaplains would have written royal charters until clerks
first appear in the late twelfth century. Charters always
conclude with a witness list: a selective list of names
of people who were present when the grant was made and
who could bear witness to it. The final act was the
authentication of the document, achieved by attaching
the donor's seal to the charter. Witness lists are of
great importance to historians. They can provide names
and titles of people not known from other evidence and,
as the names are listed in order of importance, a witness
list shows exactly where a certain person was ranked
in society at a particular point in time. For example,
in the charter of David mac Máel Coluim (David
I) in the Book of Deer, the name of Gregory,
bishop of Dunkeld, appears first among the ecclesiastic
witnesses. He would have been the senior bishop present.
Likewise, because the name of Donnchad, earl of Fife,
appears first among the secular witnesses, he would
have been the senior earl present.
However,
charters are also very important to historians for other
reasons. Often, they preserve early forms of place-names
and some charters contain records of the boundary markers
by which lands were perambulated. Information of this
nature allows a historian to trace the exact extent
of a particular estate. Charters can also tell us why
lands were taken away from one individual and given
to another, or what an individual had to do in return
for being given a grant of land. Often, this took the
form of some kind of military service: knight, archer
or boat.
In
the case of the Latin charter in the Book of Deer,
it is impossible to decide why the grant was copied
into the book. One possible explanation might be that
although a judgement had been made in their favour,
the community had not yet received their charter from
David mac Máel Coluim's chancery and were making
their own record of the outcome. Equally, the charter
may have been copied into the book as a safeguard in
case the original charter was lost or destroyed.
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GRANTS,
DEEDS, RIGHTS, DUES AND EXEMPTIONS
It
is thought that there are three different types of grant
made to the early community of Deer and recorded in
the Gaelic Notes (which probably acted as deeds).
The first type of grant is a gift of land or an estate,
defined by fixed boundaries, for which the community
would render fixed dues to the owner, probably in food-rent.
Occasionally, the grant is made by more than one person.
There could be two possible reasons for this, if it
is assumed that there were parallels between the structure
of Gaelic society in the North-East and the
information concerning land transactions contained in
the Old Gaelic law-tracts from Ireland. Firstly,
the grant made to the community may have been of kin-land
and the grantor would have needed the permission of
his kin to make the donation. Secondly, one of the named
grantors could have been standing as surety for the
transaction.
The
second type of grant is a gift of the grantor's cuit
(share or cut) of the dues liable to be rendered
by the tenants of a named estate. This cuit
could belong either to a king, mormaer or
toísech . If the community of Deer already
owned the land from which the cuit had been
renounced, it meant that they no longer had to pay dues
to the grantor. For example, the gift from Máel
Coluim mac Cináeda (Malcolm II) of the king's
dues in Biffie (Biffie had already been granted to the
community by two other people) may have been the royal
cuit of cain (regular tribute on territory
acknowledging the king's superiority) and conveth (obligation
of hospitality owed to the crown from royal estates,
which could include dues of cattle, pigs, poultry, cheese
and malt).
The
third type of grant mentioned in the Gaelic Notes
is one where the grantor 'quenches' (extinguishes)
particular things. These examples seem to imply that
in return for doing something on behalf of the community,
the grantor expects some sort of benefit or right. One
possibility is that the grantor undertook to pay in
future all the dues from a particular estate or piece
of land which he had granted to the community to toísech
, mormaer and king, thereby exempting
the monks from the responsibility. Unfortunately, only
one of these 'rights' is mentioned by name and we are
left to speculate on what the rest might have been.
However, at least two 'quenchings' seem to have been
made so that the grantors might earn the goodwill of
St Drostán. Presumably, one interpretation may
be that they had previously done something which had
angered the monastic community and earned themselves
the disfavour of the Saint.
The
'benefit' or 'right' that is specified occurs in a grant
by Colbán, mormaer of Buchan, probably
dateable to the late twelfth century. In this grant,
Colbán, his wife, and the toísech
of Clann Morgainn, 'quench' all the grants from
all imposts in return for the dues on four davochs which
should devolve on the chief religious houses of Scotland
and on its chief churches. The 'dues' mentioned in this
instance may be a reference to teinds (taxes). When
David mac Máel Coluim (David I) initiated a series
of reforms in the Scottish church he introduced teinds
as a method of providing financial support for the new
parishes and their churches. Basically, this was a tenth
part of the annual production of animals, animal products
and crops. If this suggestion is correct, Colbán
may have been asking for tax-relief (exemption) for
some of the land he possessed from this system of taxation.
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SAINTS
Saints
occupy a special place in the early medieval church,
including the Celtic Church. The sixth and
seventh centuries are often regarded as the 'Age of
the Saints'. The term is used of men (for example, Colum
Cille [Columba], Patrick, David) and women (like Brigid)
who were thought to have lived particularly holy lives
and were given special status by their successors. There
was no formal procedure for canonisation (the official
process for recognising worthy candidates as saints)
before the tenth century, when Rome introduced a formal
means for recognition and regulation; until then 'saints'
in Europe were created by popular acclaim. The special
qualities which made candidates worthy of recognition
as saints included their authority as monastic founders
and leaders; their purity and moral stature, as models
of an exemplary way of godly living; their asceticism;
and their power in commanding the elements (like wind
and rain), the natural world (including animals on sea
and land), and humanity itself. Saints in Celtic tradition
revealed their power in their ability to work miracles,
to bless and to curse, and to impose stiff penances,
thus controlling not only their own monasteries but
also the surrounding districts.
The
saints commonly attained their greatest power after
their deaths. Cults of the saints were developed, often
to increase the status and power of a particular church
or monastery, or set of monasteries, with which the
saint was associated. An important part of a saint's
cult was the writing of his or her Vita ('Life'),
that is, a biography which set out the main features
of the saint's achievements. The Life of Colum Cille
(Columba), a Gael from Ireland who established
his best known monastery in í (Iona) in 563 AD,
was written a century after his death (597 AD) by Adomnán,
ninth abbot of í . Adomnán made determined
efforts to discover as much as he could about Colum
Cille from earlier writings and oral tradition. In constructing
his account, he also followed patterns for saints' Lives
which were known elsewhere in Christendom. Adomnán's
Life of Colum Cille gave the saint immense prestige
and wide recognition. Among many other incidents, it
describes some of his travels in Pictland, though Adomnán
does not say that Colum Cille converted the Picts.
The Origen Legend of Deer gave a special place
to Colum Cille. The cults of the saints also expressed
themselves beyond the written word. Frequently the names
of prominent saints were used in the dedications of
churches and in place-names. Commemoration
of the saints was thought to bestow blessing, prestige
and protection.
In
medieval Scotland, some saints were apparently more
important than others. Much depended on how far and
how effectively the saint's cult could be spread. Some
saints, such as Colum Cille, were well known across
Scotland. Others, like Drostán, associated with
Aberdour and also Glenesk (where he was said to have
been a hermit), had a more localised significance, though
they were afforded considerable prestige in their own
areas. In the Book of Deer, Drostán
is said to have been Colum Cille's disciple. This, together
with the honour given in the book to Colum Cille as
a monastic founder, indicates that the cult of Colum
Cille was of considerable significance in the north-east
in the early twelfth century. Other saints associated
with the north-east include Machar and Devenick. Machar
was reputed to have preached to the Picts in
Aberdeenshire, but it is not at all clear that he actually
existed as an historical entity. Some saints are very
shadowy figures; others are mere 'ghosts', whose names
are derived from place-names, and still others are 'doublets'
of more important saints.
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ORIGIN
LEGEND OF DEER
Origin
legends were of considerable importance when individual
churches laid claim to special privileges. Thus, in
the early twelfth century, the monastery at Deer in
Aberdeenshire inscribed its own origin legend in Gaelic
in the margins of the Book of Deer, cleverly
making the case for the intervention of Colum Cille
(Columba) in the foundation of the monastery - 'Columba
and Drostán son of Coscrach, his disciple, came
from Iona, as God guided them, to Aberdour; and Bede
the Pict was mormaer of Buchan on their arrival; and
it was he who bestowed on them that monastery, in freedom
till Doomsday from mormaer and toísech. They
came after that to the other monastery [Deer], and it
pleased Columba, for it was full of the grace of God.
And he begged the mormaer, that is, Bede, that he should
give it to them, and he did not. And a son of his took
a sickness, after the clerics had been refused, and
was all but dead. Thereupon the mormaer went to beseech
the clerics that they should make a prayer on behalf
of the boy, that health might come to him; and he gave
them [land] as a grant from Cloch in Tiprat
as far as Cloch Peitte Meic-Gartnait . They
made the prayer, and health came to him. Thereupon Columba
gave Drostán that monastery, and blessed it,
and left the curse that whoever should go against it
should not be full of years or success. Drostán's
tears [ déra ] came as he was parting
from Columba. Columba said, "Let Deer be its name
from this on."'
This
- the first Gaelic Note in the Book of
Deer - intermingles features of various literary
genres which were commonly practised in early medieval
Ireland and Scotland. Though he does not provide much
detail, the writer was evidently aware of traditions
relating to Colum Cille's visits to Pictland, as described
in Adomnán's Life of the Saint, and
he probably had some knowledge of the alleged existence
of Columban monasteries in the area. Recognition of
Colum Cille's authority over secular and sacred rulers
is also evident, and this reveals two contrasting dimensions
of the Celtic Saint, namely his powers to heal
and to curse. The saint's curse is a weapon for the
present, since it (allegedly) continues to affect 'whoever
should go against' the monastery. These are features
commonly mentioned in the Life of a Celtic Saint.
The
names of Colum Cille and Drostán are well known,
but that of Bede the Pict, mormaer
of Buchan, is otherwise unrecorded. It may be Pictish,
but it is also comparable with that of the celebrated
Anglo-Saxon historian and hagiographer, Bede,
who wrote his Ecclesiastical History of
the English People c.
731 AD. It is thus possible that the writer of the origin
legend is fabricating his material on the basis of his
knowledge of some widely recognised names in Gaelic,Pictish
and Anglo-Saxon tradition.
The
writer concludes the section with a coda in the manner
of 'popular etymology', purporting to describe how Colum
Cille gave the monastery its name. The story serves
to make an even closer connection between Colum Cille
and Deer, and it is also used to underline the close
relationship between Colum Cille and Drostán.
This element of popular etymology reflects the medieval
Gaelic tradition of dindshenchas
(lore of famous places), which consisted of tales and
stories about particular place-names, and often
explained the origins of the names. It needs to be said,
however, that this convention was by no means unique
to the Gaelic world; it was common also in
Wales, but it was equally common in Hebrew literature,
as can be seen in the Old Testament, with its many accounts
of how famous places were given their names.
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thTHE
'CELTIC CHURCH'
This
is a term of convenience generally used to describe
the ecclesiastical practices and structures which were
to be found in the Celtic areas of the British Isles
and Brittany (those areas in which P- and Q-Celtic languages
were spoken in the period c. 400 to 1100 AD). It is
misleading in a number of respects. The main problem
is that it implies a single church, when in fact there
was no such uniformity. The concept of a Celtic unity,
deriving from a shared language or culture or faith,
would have been unacknowledged, and indeed unknown,
in this period, and there was no single metropolitan
with power over the churches in all the Celtic areas.
The term is also often taken to imply that the 'Celtic
Church' was a quite different entity from the 'Roman
Church', not only in structure but also in belief. This
too is incorrect. Although the churches in the Celtic
areas did differ from Rome on matters such as the dating
of Easter, the form of tonsure, and baptism, there were
no major differences in matters of doctrine, and the
churches of the Celtic areas were in touch with Rome.
Much
of the popular understanding of the 'Celtic Church'
is based on what is known about the Gaelic
church, which was to be found in Ireland and Scotland,
but it is best to distinguish this church from that
in Wales |
