1891-92]. COLUM CILLE. ey 
bore sway in Iona, and contributed very largely towards making the 
Gaels of Ireland and Scotland, one in language, one in literature, and one 
in religious belief. In the Monasteries of Iona, Oransa, Archchattan, 
Uist, Melrose, etc., the Gaelic as well as the Latin language was culti- 
vated. In Iona itself there must have been numerous MSS. of a very 
valuable character. So far as Scotland, however, is concerned, little or 
nothing of what must have been an extensive and valuable literature has 
escaped the ravages of the Scandinavians, and the spoliation of Edward 
I. in 1296, who with ruthless severity gave orders for the destruction of 
the records and all those monuments of antiquity which might preserve 
the memory of the independence of Scotland, and refute the English 
claims of superiority. To complete his task of literary vandalism, the 
same monarch subsequently ordered such records or histories as had 
escaped his former search—the MSS. of Iona doubtless among the rest— 
to be burnt or otherwise destroyed. Aikman, the translator of Buchanan’s 
History of Scotland, remarks in the preface, “ That he has the firm con- 
viction that Buchanan had the use of records which now no longer exist.” 
In foot-notes he also remarks: “I cannot refuse my belief to the assertion 
that Edward the I. did carry away a number of valuable records per- 
taining to this period—the loss of which is irretrievable. . . . It can- 
not be denied that Cromwell swept the country of whatever documents 
he thought of value. That Edward I. carried away the records of Scot- 
land is allowed, that he preserved whatever suited his own purpose and 
that we have a list of them is also not denied. . . . What Cromwell 
carried off cannot be ascertained, but this much is known that several 
large hogsheads full of papers connected with Scottish history which had 
been carried out of the kingdom, were shipwrecked in the time of Charles 
II., in their passage from London to Scotland.” 
Eugene O’Curry remarks, “That we have three lives of St. Colum Cille 
written on vellum: one in Leabhar mor Dun& Doighre, in the Royal 
Irish Academy; one in the Book of Lismore; and O’Donnell’s great life 
of his patron saint and illustrious relative, now in the Bodleian Library 
at Oxford.” Cuimine Ailbhe, or as Adamnan writes, Cummeneus Albus, 
who was the seventh abbot of Iona, 657-669, gathered into a small book 
the leading incidents in the life of Columba: De Virtutibus Sancti 
Columbae. Adamnan who was the ninth abbot, (679-704) wrote another 
life of St. Columba. It is written in Latin and is divided into three 
books. Alcuin places Adamnan in the same category with the most 
eminent men of his nation. 
Patricius, Cheranus, Scotorum gloria gentis, 
Atque Columbanus Congallus, Adamnanus atque, 
Praeclari patres Morum Vitaque Magistri. 
