Adomnán

Adomnán (Eunan; Latin Adamnanus) (c.628–704), from the same Donegal family as Colum Cille, was Iona's ninth abbot (679). Adomnán is best remembered for his Vita Columbae (Life of Colum Cille) which, despite hagiographical commonplaces, is a major source for the history of Iona and insular monasticism. Its account of royal anointing influenced the development of kingship in Europe. His other book, On the Holy Places, deals with places mentioned in the Bible. Posing as the account of a pilgrim ‘gallic bishop, Arculf’, it is a complex manual for solving exegetical problems using geographical knowledge. His medieval reputation as a scholar, one of the few Irish writers who was labelled ‘illustrious’, rested on this work. It was one of the first early Irish works in print. His diplomatic and legal interests took him to Northumbria on behalf of Irish captives, and to the Synod of Birr (697) which produced the Lex innocentium, his cáin, protecting women, children, and non‐combatants. He compiled a series of Canones, and is the latestnamed authority in some recensions of the Collectio canonum Hibernensis (which he may have helped formulate). He is praised by Bede for accepting the Roman calculation of Easter.

Thomas O'Loughlin