18 March 2025

‘In the second year after the battle of Culedrebina and in the forty-second of his age, wishing to make a pilgrimage for Christ from Ireland to Britain, Columba sailed forth.’ writes Adomnan. Why? We’re not sure but legends abound.

During a visit to the monastery at Moville, he secretly copied a book of the Psalms belonging to Finnian. When he discovered this, he insisted on having the copy. Columba refused. The case went to court. The High King Diarmuid ruled, ‘To every cow her calf and to every book its copy.’

A battle ensued. Hundreds were slaughtered. Columba was blamed. He was called to make amends by converting an equal number of pagans. He opted instead to travel overseas to work among the Picts in Scotland.

Towill considers the breach of copyright a fanciful tale. He suggests that Conall, King of Dal Riata, invited Columba ‘to act as adviser to the Gaelic settlement in Scottish Dalriada in a political and also a religious capacity, a task for which as both a prince and a cleric he was well suited.’

The Irish Annals indicate that it was Conall who gave Columba the island of Iona on which to build his monastery. It seems that this royal patronage was crucial in the development of monastic life in other islands like Tiree and the unidentified, Hinba.

Clearly, Columba wasn’t exiled in Scotland. He returned to Ireland on several occasions. For example, in 575 AD, he attended the Convention of Drumceatth, near Limavady, Co. Derry where questions about the independence of Scottish Dalriada from Ireland were discussed!