795–807
Iona and Ireland, 795–807
In 795 the Annals of Ulster record "the burning of Rechru by heathens", the first Viking raid on Ireland. Rechru is identified with Rathlin off the coast of Antrim or with Lambay north of Dublin. In the same year raiders strike Iona, the monastery founded by Columba off the Isle of Mull, and Inishmurray off the coast of Sligo. They probably come from the fjords of western Norway by Shetland and Orkney and down the Atlantic coast of Scotland.
The ruins of the medieval abbey and St Oran’s Chapel on Iona, on the site of Columba’s monastery, about 1890Wikimedia Commons, unknown photographer, Public domain (Iona Abbey C19 Ruin.jpg)
Raids follow on the coast of Brega in 798 and on the coast of Connacht in 807, when Inishmurray is attacked again. They are small and quick, aimed at monasteries on islands and headlands. Iona is plundered again in 802 and in 806, when 68 monks are killed at the place now called Martyrs’ Bay.
In 807 the Columban community begins a new monastery inland, at Kells in Meath. Its church is consecrated in 814, when Abbot Cellach of Iona retires there, and Iona remains the main Columban house for decades: Abbot Blathmac and the monks with him are killed there in 825, and Columba’s relics go to Kells only in 878. The Book of Kells, made around 800, may have been begun on Iona and finished at Kells.
The Chi Rho page, folio 34r, of the Book of Kells, made around 800, Trinity College Library, DublinWikimedia Commons, unknown artist, Public domain (KellsFol034rChiRhoMonogram.jpg)
The raids are known from the Irish annals, which record the events of each year in a few words. They derive from the Chronicle of Ireland, which drew on annals kept on Iona until about 740 and was compiled in the Irish midlands from about 800. The Annals of Ulster preserve it most fully, and the first raider they name is Saxolb, in 837.
A page of the Annals of Ulster in the manuscript copied in the late 15th century, Trinity College Library, DublinWikimedia Commons, unknown scribe, Public domain (Annals-of-ulster.jpg)
Sources
- Annals of Ulster, years 795 to 807.
- Thomas Charles-Edwards (trans.), The Chronicle of Ireland (2006).
- Angelo Forte, Richard Oram and Frederik Pedersen, Viking Empires (2005).
Prev: Lindisfarne, 793Next: Godfred and Charlemagne, 804–810