300 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VOL. V. 



of the reign of Bridius, who was the son of Meilochon and the powerful 

 king of the Pictish nation, and he converted that nation to the faith of 

 Christ by his preaching and example ; whereupon he also received of them 

 the aforesaid island for a monastery. Now, Columba was the first 

 teacher of Christianity to the Picts beyond the mountains northward 

 and the founder of the monastery in the island Hii which was for a long 

 time much honoured by many tribes of the Scots and Picts." It is said 

 that the dominion of Brude or Bridus extended from the Forth to the 

 extremity of Caithness and the Orkneys. Brude died in 586, having 

 reigned thirty-eight years. His successor Garnard and all the following 

 kings of the Picts were Christians. Columba founded many monasteries 

 in Ireland. He was the teacher of the British Scots and the apostle of 

 the northern Picts. He became the chief ruler both of the Scottish 

 and Pictish church and at the same time exercised great authority in 

 Ireland. 



The Book of Deer possesses a unique importance in Gaelic literature. 

 It was discovered and secured by Bishop Moore of Norwich, whose 

 library was presented to the University of Cambridge some hundred and 

 fifty years ago. The Librarian of that University found it in the library, 

 and through him it was brought to the knowledge of the literary world. 

 In addition to its other contents, it has an account of the foundation of 

 the old monastery of Deer. An edition of the Gaelic portions at least of 

 the book has been published by the Spalding Club, under the able 

 supervision of Dr. John Stuart. Whitley Stokes, in his Goidelica, gives 

 a translation of the six Gaelic entries in the book, believing as he does 

 that the philological value of the book lies in the Gaelic portions of it. 

 The first sentence of the entry that narrates how the monastery was 

 founded, is to this effect : " Columcille agus Drostan mac cosgreg adalta 

 tangator ahi marroalsegdia doibh gonic abbordoboir agus bedeCruthnec, 

 robo mormaer buchan araginn agus efse rothidnaig doibh ingattirag 

 sain insaere gobraith o mormaer agus o thosec," i.e., Columcille and 

 Drostan, son of Cosgrach, his pupil, came from Hi (lona) as God had 

 shown to them, to Aberdeen ; and Bede, the Pict, was grand steward 

 (or Mormaor) of Buchan before them, and it was he that gave them that 

 town in freedom for ever from Mormaor and toiseach." 



The Gaelic which the Book of Deer contains is unmistakably the 

 Gaelic of the Highlands of Scotland. It is difficult to determine with 

 accuracy where the book in question was written. At any rate, whether 

 it was written in the ninth century or not later than the twelfth century, 

 it must be regarded as setting forth the tradition in reference to the 

 founding of the monastery of Deer. In his elaborate work, Celtic 

 Scotland, Skene traces the gradual growth and subsequent power and 



