Scotia minor for Scotland and Scotia maior for Ireland,
to show support for Edward Bruce’s invasion of Ireland.
NICHOLAS EVANS
References and Further Reading
Anderson, Alan Orr, editor, and Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson,
translator. Adomnán’s Life of Columba (Oxford: Clarendon
Press, revised edition, 1991).
Hood, A. B. E., editor and translator. St. Patrick: His Writings
and Muirchú’s Life (London and Chichester: Phillimore,
1978).
Howlett, D. R., editor and translator. The Book of Letters of
Saint Patrick the Bishop (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 1994).
Broun, Dauvit. “Gaelic literacy in eastern Scotland,
1124–1249.” In Literacy in Medieval Celtic Societies. Edited
by Pryce. (Cambridge 1998).
Dumville, David N. “Ireland and Britain in Táin Bó Fraích,”
Études Celtiques. 32 (1996), 175–187.
Rivet, A. L. F., and Colin Smith, The Place-Names of Roman
Britain (London: B.T. Batsford Ltd, 1979).
See also Invasion Myth; National Identity;
Patrick
SCOTTISH INFLUENCE
Throughout the medieval period there were close con-
nections between Ireland and Scotland, largely
because many areas of Scotland shared a common
Gaelic culture with Ireland. This led to a considerable
degree of cultural interaction, although in general Irish
culture was more influential in Scotland than vice
versa. The peoples of medieval Scotland held a place
in the geographical consciousness of the Irish, as the
frequent journeys in tales of Irish heroes to Dál Riata,
Pictland, and Alba indicate, but there are fewer clear
examples where the Irish were influenced by those in
Scotland.
In the Early Medieval period much of the influence
probably came through Dál Riata in western Scotland,
which had important ecclesiastical establishments
among the Picts and Northumbrians. It is likely that
Dál Riata was a crucial intermediary in the seventh-
century development of the Hiberno-Saxon art style
shared by Dál Riata, Pictland, Northumbria, and Ireland,
combining artistic attributes from each region. Iona,
founded by the Irish Columba, seems to have been
particularly significant. The Iona Chronicle, kept from
at least 660 to 740, forms a significant element in all
the surviving Irish chronicles of the period, and
Adomnán’s Life of St Columba was probably a model
for later Irish saints’ lives, such as the late eighth-
century Life of St Cainnech. The descriptions of rulers
as “kings of Ireland” in both of these Iona texts are
the first explicit references to the concept of a high-
kingship of Ireland.
Later in the Middle Ages a number of historical
texts from Scotland were transmitted to Ireland, then
copied and sometimes adapted in Ireland so that they
became part of the Irish historical tradition. The clearest
case of this is Lebor Bretnach, a Gaelic version of
the Latin Historia Brittonum, or “The History of the
Britons.” This text was produced in lowland Scotland
in the late eleventh century specifically for an Irish
audience, and survives in a number of Irish manu-
scripts. Other Scottish texts are found in Irish manu-
scripts, including the tenth-century Míniugud Senchasa
Fher nAlban, whereas versions of the Pictish king-
list occur in Lebor Gabála or accompany Lebor
Bretnach. In some cases, such as the late-eleventh
century Duan Albanach, the genealogy of the rulers
of Moray and the Alba king-lists, Scottish materials
were adapted for the creation of texts in Ireland.
The effect of these Scottish texts on Irish historical
thinking is at present unclear, but they may reflect
an increased interest in Scottish affairs caused by the
dominance of Gaelic culture in formerly Pictish
areas and the prestige of the expansionist Gaelic
kings of Alba.
From the twelfth century onward lowland Scotland
became increasingly English-speaking, so that there
was less cultural interaction with Ireland. However, the
Highlands and the Isles of Scotland maintained a high
degree of contact with Ireland, with bards often trav-
elling between Ireland and Scotland and maintaining
a single poetic culture, but the degree to which Ireland
was influenced by Scotland in terms of literature dur-
ing this time is uncertain.
NICHOLAS EVANSReferences and Further Reading
Bannerman, John. Studies in the History of Dalriata (Edinburgh:
Scottish Academic Press, 1974).
Thomas Clancy. “Scotland, the ‘Nennian’ recension of the His-
toria Brittonum, and the Lebor Bretnach.” In Kings, Clerics
and Chronicles in Scotland, 500–1297: Essays in Honour
of Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson on the Occasion of Her Nine-
tieth Birthday. Edited by Simon Taylor. (Dublin: Four Courts
Press, 2000).
Henry, Françoise. Irish Art in the Early Christian Period (to
800 A.D.) (London: Methuen and co., revised edition, 1965).
Herbert, Máire. Iona, Kells and Derry: The History and Hagiog-
raphy of the Monastic Familia of Columba. (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1988; reprinted Dublin: Four Courts Press,
1996).
Herbert, Máire. ‘The Vita Columbae and Irish Hagiography:
A Study of Vita Cainnechi.” In Studies in Irish Hagiogra-
phy: Saints and Scholars. Edited by John Carey, Máire
Herbert, and Pádraig Ó Riain. (Dublin: Four Courts Press,
2001).
See also Annals and Chronicles; Early Christian
Art; Hagiography and MartyrologiesSCOTTI/SCOTS