| This is a vellum MS. of eighty-six folios,
about six inches long by three broad, discovered in the University Library of Cambridge,
by Mr Bradshaw, the librarian of the University. It had belonged to a distinguished
collector of books, Bishop Moore of Norwich, and afterwards of Ely, whose library was
presented to the University more than a century ago. The chief portion of the book is in
Latin, and is said to be as old as the 9th century. This portion contains the Gospel of St
John, and portions of the other three Gospels. The MS. also contains part of an Office for
the visitation of the sick, and the Apostles' Creed. There is much interest in this
portion of the book as indicative of the state of learning in the Celtic Church at the
time. It shows that the ecclesiastics of that Church kept pace with the age in which they
lived, that they knew their Bible, and could both write and read in Latin. The MS.
belonged to a Culdee establishment, and is therefore a memorial of the ancient Celtic
Church. It is a pity that we possess so few memorials of that Church, convinced as we are
that, did we know the truth, many of the statements made regarding it by men of a
different age, and belonging to a differently constituted ecclesiastical system, would be
found to be unsupported by the evidence. It is strange that if the Culdee establishments
were what many modern writers make them to have been, they should have had so many tokens
of their popularity as this volume exhibits; and we know well that that Church did not
fall before the assaults of a hostile population, but before those of a hostile king. But the more interesting portion of the Book of Deer, in
connection with our inquiry, will be found in the Gaelic entries on the margin and in the
vacant spaces of the volume. These have all been given to the world in the recent
publication of portions of the book by the Spalding Club, under the editorship of Dr John
Stuart. Celtic scholars are deeply indebted to the Spalding Club for this admirable
publication, and although many of them will differ from the editor in some of the views
which he gives in his accompanying disquisitions, and even in some of the readings of the
Gaelic, they cannot but feel indebted to him for the style in which he has furnished them
with the original, for it is really so, in the plates which the volume contains. On these
every man can comment for himself and from his own inferences. We have given us in this
MS.
THE LEGEND OF DEER
Columcille acusdrostán mac cosgreg adálta tangator áhi
marroalseg día doíb goníc abbordobóir acusbéde cruthnec robomormær bûchan aragínn
acusessé rothídnaíg dóib ingathráig sáin insaere gobraíth ómormaer
acusóthósec.tangator asááthle sen incathráig ele acusdoráten ricolumcille sì
iàfallán dórath dé acusdorodloeg arinmormær .i.bédé gondas tabrád dó
acusníthárat acusrogab mac dó galár iarnéré naglerêc acusrobomaréb act mádbec
iarsén dochuíd inmormaer dattác naglerec gondendæs ernacde les inmac gondisád
slánté dó acusdórat inedbaírt doíb uácloic intiprat goníce chlóic petti mic
garnáit doronsat innernacde acustanic slante dó; Iarsén dorat collumcille dódrostán
inchadráig sén acusrosbenact acusforacaib imbrether gebe tisaid ris nabad blienec
buadacc tangator deara drostán arscartháin fri collumcille rolaboir columcille bedeár
áním ó húnn ímác_.
THE LEGEND OF DEER
(English translation)
Columcille and Drostan, son of Cosgreg, his pupil, came
from I as God revealed to them to Aberdour, and Bede the Pict was Mormaor of Buchan before
them, and it was he who gifted to them that town in freedom for ever from mormaor and
toiseach. After that they came to another town, and it pleased Columcille, for it was full
of the grace of God, and he asked it of the Mormaor, that is Bede, that he would give it
to him, and he would not give it,and a son of his took a sickness after refusing the
clerics, and he was dead but a little. After that the Mormaor went to entreat of the
clerics that they would make prayer for the son that health might come to him, and he gave
as an offering to them from Cloch an tiprat (the stone of the well) as far as Cloch Pit
mac garnad (the stone of Pitmacgarnad). They made the prayer, and health came to him.
After that Collumcille gave that town to Drostan and he blessed it, and left the word,
Whosoever comes against it, let him not be long-lived or successful. Drostan's tears came
(Deara) on separtaing from Collumcille. Columcille said, Let Deer(tear) be its name from
hence forward.
Such is the legend of the foundation of the old monastery
of Deer, as preserved in this book, and written probably in the twelfth century. It was in
all probability handed down from the close of the sixth or from a later period, but it
must not be forgotten that a period of six hundred years had elapsed between the events
here recorded and the record itself as it appears. It is hard to say whether Columba ever
made this expedition to Buchan, or whether Drostan, whose name is in all likelihood
British, lived in the time of Columba. The Aberdeen Breviary makes him nephew of the
saint, but there is no mention of him in this or any other connection by early
ecclesiastical writers, and there is every reason to believe that he belonged to a later
period. It was of some consequence at this time to connect any such establishment as that
at Deer with the name of Columba. There is nothing improbable in its having been founded
by Drostan.
It is interesting to observe several things which are
brought to light by this legend of the twelfth century. It teaches us what the men of the
period believed regarding the sixth. The ecclesiastics of Deer believed that their own
institution had been founded so early as the sixth century, and clearly that they were the
successors of the founders. If this be true, gospel light shone among the Picts of Buchan
almost as soon as among the people of Iona. It has been maintained that previous to
Columba's coming to Scotland the country had felt powerfully the influence of Christianity
and the legend of Deer would seem to corroborate the statement. From the palace of Brude
the king, in the neighbourhood of Inverness, on to the dwelling of the Mormaor, or
Governor of Buchan, Christianity occupied the country so early as the age of Columba. But
this is a legend, and must not be made more of than it is worth. Then this legend gives us
some more view of the civil policy of the sixth century, as the men of the twelfth viewed
it. The chief governor of Buchan was Bede, the same name with that of the venerable
Northumbrian historian of the eighth century. He is simply designated as Cruthnec
(Cruithneach) or the Pict. Was this because there were other inhabitants in the country
besides Picts at the time, or because they were Picts in contrast with the people of that
day? The probability is, that these writers of the twelfth century designated Bede as a
Pict, in contradistinction to themselves, who were probably of Scotic origin. Then the
names in this document are of interest. Besides that of Bede, we have Drostan, and
Cosgreg, his father, and Garnaid. Bede, Drostan, Cosgreg, and Garnaid are names not known
in the Gaelic nomenclature of Scotland or Ireland. And there are names of places,
Aberdobhoir, known as Aberdour to this day, Buchan also in daily use, Cloch in tiprat not
known now, and Pit mac garnaid also become obsolete. Aberdobhoir (Aberdwfr) is purely a
British name; Buchan, derived from the British Bwch, a cow, is also British; Pit
mac garnaid, with the exception of the Mac, is not Gaelic, so that the only Gaelic name in
the legend is Cloch in tiprat, a merely descriptive term. This goes far to show what the
character of the early topography of Scotland really is.
Then there is light thrown upon the civil arrangements of
the Celtic state. We read nothing of chiefs and clans, but we have Mormaors (great
officers), and Toiseachs (leaders), the next officer in point of rank, understood to be
connected with the military arrangements of the country, the one being head of the civil
and the other of the military organisation. At this time there was a Celtic kingdom in
Scotland, with a well established and well organised government, entirely different from
what appears afterwards under the feudal system of the Anglo-Saxons, when the people
became divided into clans, each under their separate chiefs, waging perpetual war with
each other. Of all this the Book of Deer cannot and does not speak authoritatively, but it
indicates the belief of the twelfth century with regard to the state of the sixth.
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