of their right of choosing the bishops, till they were deprived of it at the time of Wishart's election.

It is vain to say, that Fordun, and the other writers last mentioned, lived too late to know any thing certain as to the original government of the Culdees. When we find them exhibiting a testimony in favour of a model directly opposed to their own, we may be assured that this is not done wantonly. In this case, though we knew of no early records to which they could have had access, we would be bound to suppose, that it was from such documents that they had formed their judgment. How many chartularies and annals might these writers have seen, which may have all perished since their time! But if we find that these later writers give substantially the same testimony with others of a far earlier date, who are of undoubted credit, especially if there has been a succession of these; we are under a necessity of concluding, that they acted both an honest and a judicious part, and of admitting their testimony, as at least of the nature of corroborative evidence.

Before leaving this important branch of our subject, it may be proper to take notice of what has been advanced by Goodall; whose account of the Culdees, according to Mr Pinkerton, is " the best yet given." He is at great pains to shew, that, in a very early period, there were in Scotland a considerable number of diocesan bishops living at the same

1

time. In order to prove this, he refers to two passages in Bede, which we have not yet considered.

66

Bede," he says, "gives us a letter from Laurence Archbishop of Canterbury, directed to the bishops and abbots throughout all Scotland in the year 604, Hist. ii. 4.” 1 From the confidence with which this is brought forward, I was inclined to suspect that I might be mistaken in my preceding conclusions; but, on looking into it, I found, not without some degree of surprise, that it has no relation to the point in hand. The letter, indeed, bears this address; "To the lords our dearest brethren, the bishops, or abbots, through all Scotland." But the only judgment we can form, favourable to this writer's integrity, is, that he had not read the chapter that contains the letter to which he refers. For Bede, speaking of Laurence, says; "He not only watched over the church, which was newly gathered from among the Angles, but also over the ancient inhabitants of Britain; and even exercised a pastoral solicitude with respect to the Scots who inhabit Ireland, the island nearest to Great Britain.":

2

He refers to another letter, but not more happily. "Bede," he says, "has preserved to us a letter from Pope John in the year 640, directed to five Scottish Bishops, and six Presbyters by name, and one of these Segenus, Abbot of Hii, about

* Pref. to Keith's Catalogue, xvii.

• Necnon et Scottorum qui Hiberniam, insulam Britanniae proximam incolunt, &c.

the observation of Easter, and about Pelagianism, Hist. ii. 19." :

This letter is addressed, indeed, Dilectissimis et sanctissimis Tomiano, Columbano, Cromano, Dinnao, et Baithano Episcopis; Cromano, Ernianoque, Laistrano, Scellano, et Segeno Presbyteris; Sarano, ceterisque Doctoribus seu Abbatibus Scottis, &c. But Bede evidently uses the term Scottis here, in the very same sense as in the passage last quoted. Accordingly, Smith observes in his notes, that Tomianus was Archbishop of Armagh, Dinnaus, Bishop of Connor, Baithanus, of Clonmacnois; Cronan, Abbot of Roscree, and Segeof Hii. "The seats and titles of the rest," he adds, "I have not discovered." Thus, three, at least, of the bishops were Irish. This is admitted by Archbishop Usher, and by the Bishop of St Asaph."

nus,

2

3

Gillan claims a right to conclude, that, " because they confess they cannot find the sees of the other two bishops, they at least had their bishoprics in Scotland, especially" as it is granted, "that Segianus the priest was the same with Segenius, Abbot of Icolmkill." But it must be obvious, that the presumption lies entirely on the other side;-that, because three of these bishops were Irish, the rest were so. Nothing can be inferred from the circumstance of Segianus being joined with them. For it cannot be denied, that the connection of Hii with Ireland was not less than with NorthBritain.

Pref. to Catalogue, xviii.

2 Primord. p 938, 969, 702. Histor. Account, p. 96.

3 Remarks, p. 52.

CHAPTER VI.

Of the principal Seats of the Culdees.—Of Abernethy.—Antiquity of this Foundation.—Of St Bridget.-Whether Abernethy was a Bishopric?-Of the University here.-Of the Collegiate Church.-Property of the Abbey given to that of Aberbrothoc.-Controversy on this head.-Temporal Lords of Abernethy.

THE seats of the Culdees now claim our attention. They had monasteries, or cells, in a variety of places in Scotland; some of which afterwards became episcopal sees. Lloyd, indeed, and other writers on the same side of the question, wish it to be believed, that, wherever there was a bishopric, the Culdee Abbot, and his monks, can only be viewed as the dean and chapter of the diocese. With this view, it is asserted, that we do not find them at St Andrews, " till it had been many years the see of a diocesan bishop." But it is certain

Histor. Account, p. 140.

that, before the name of St Andrews was known, and before the erection of any place of worship there, Abernethy was a principal seat of the Culdees.

High antiquity has been ascribed to this religious foundation. The Pictish Chronicle carries it back to the third year of Nethan I., or A. 458.' But, as this erection is made coeval with the time when St Bridget flourished, it is evidently antedated when ascribed to Nethan I., King of the Picts. For, it would appear, that she died about the year 520.2 That a monastery had been erected here about the year 600, there seems to be no good reason to doubt. Fordun says, that it was founded by Garnard, the son of Dompnach, who began to reign A. 587. But, according to the Register of St Andrews, the honour of this foundation belongs to Nethan, Naitan, or Nectan, II. who succeeded Garnard A. 598. The last account seems preferable to that of Fordun ; on this ground, that it may easily be conceived that, in the Pictish Chronicle, the one

"Necton morbet filius Erp xxiiii. reg. Tertio anno regni ejus Darlugdach, abbatissa cillae Daradae, Hibernia exulat proxime ad Britanniam. Secundo anno adventus sui immolavit Nectonius Aburnethige Deo et Sanctae Brigidae, praesente Dairlugtach, quae cantavit Alleluia super istam hostiam. Optulit igitur Nectonius magnus filius Wirp, rex omnium provinciarum Pictorum, Apurnethige sanctae Brigidae, usque ad diem judicii; cum suis finibus, quae positae sunt a lapide in Apurfeirt, usque ad lapidem juxta Carfuill, id est, Lethfoss; et inde in altum usque ad Athan. Causa autem oblationis haec est. Nectonius in Vita Juliae manens, fratre suo Drusto expulsante se ad Hiberniam, Brigidam sanctam petivit, ut postulasset Deum pro se. Orans autem pro illo dixit: "Si pervenies ad patriam tuam Dominus miserebitur tui: regnum Pictorum in pace possidebis." Chron. Pict. V. Pinkerton's Enquiry, i. 490, 491.