Hinba
Encyclopedia
Hinba is an island in Scotland
of unknown location that was the site of a small monastery
associated with the Columba
n church on Iona
. Although a number of details are known about the monastery and its early abbot
s, and various anecdotes dating from the time of Columba
of a mystical nature have survived, modern scholars are divided as to its whereabouts.
The islands of Eileach an Naoimh
and Jura
are the most likely candidates, although Canna
and Oronsay
are also possibilities.
Columba
(521-597), the first patron saint of Scotland, arrived in the kingdom of Dál Riata
in modern Scotland from his homeland of Ireland in 563, and in the same year was granted land on Iona. This became the centre of his evangelising
mission to the Picts
. The Celtic monastic system made use of isolated retreat centres they called 'deserts' and there were two or more smaller monastic settlements associated with Iona. Mag Luigne on Tiree
was one, Hinba the other, the latter being a favourite destination of Columba's for a period of contemplation. There may also have been similar outlying colonies on Elene Insula (off Islay
) and Scia (Skye).
St. Ernan
, Abbot of Hinba was an uncle of St. Columba and one of the twelve who accompanied Columba from Ireland
to Iona. He was appointed head of the community which Columba established on Hinba.
Baithéne mac Brénaind
was the second abbot
of Iona
(597
-600
), and known to have administered the monasteries of both Hinba and Mag Luigne before succeeding to this position.
group in the Firth of Lorn. Columba
is believed to have visited Eileach an Naoimh and it may be the burial site of his mother Eithne. However, Adomnán the chronicler of the life of Columba, describes a settlement that may suggest a larger island than this one, which extends to only 56 ha (138 acres). Adomnán also refers to a place name associated with the island called Muirbolcmar. This is Gaelic for the great sea-bag and its interpretation has proven to be controversial. Watson
took the view that it is not an obvious description of anywhere on the rocky coast of Eileach an Naoimh and that Hinba must therefore have been elsewhere.
.
However, other scholars have taken the view that there is no reason to interpret Adomnán's text to mean that 'Muirbolcmar' is a place on Hinba, but rather that it describes Hinba's position. A 'great sea-bag' is a fair description of the Firth of Lorn. Furthermore the name Hinba, derives from the Gaelic Na Hinba (the isles of the sea). The English version of this name is a modern variant for the Garvellachs, further conflating Hinba with Eileach an Naoimh and its immediate neighbours. Murray (1973) goes so far as to say that Watson was "confused" and quotes four other authorities as being satisfied that Eileach an Naoimh and Hinba are the same.
On the other hand, Marsden (1995) describes Watson's arguments as "a very convincing alternative" noting that Watson records a local name for Jura of t-Eilean Ban ('the blessed isle') and a cave on Jura's shores called Uaimh mhuinn tir Idhe ('the cave of the folk of Hy'). Marsden adds to this that Ernan the one-time prior of Hinba is known to have been buried at Kellernandale on Jura and that an (unidentified) Ancient Monument's Commission report on Iona contains an entry of 'Hinba (Jura?)'.
near Rùm
, about 64 miles north west of the Garvellachs. However, Adomnán notes that Brendan the Navigator set sail from Ireland to visit Columba and unexpectedly found him en route at Hinba. Canna is a most unlikely landfall on such a journey as it is well to the north of and thus beyond Iona and Tiree.
On the other hand, the elderly Brendan might well have chosen to stop off at a monastic settlement he himself had founded many years before on the island of 'Ailech'. As Watson himself agrees, Ailech is 'beyond reasonable doubt' Eileach an Naoimh, suggesting that Hinba may have been Ailech continuing under another name, rather than Canna.
has a "bag-like horn" to the north and it is en route from Ireland to Iona. Indeed, Columba first landed here on his initial journey from Ireland to Iona, but continued onwards when he discovered he could still see Ireland from the summit of Oronsay.
, Brendan saw a luminous globe of fire above Columba's head that "continued burning and rising up like a column of flame, till the Holy Mysteries had been completed". According to the same source, on another occasion whilst visiting Hinba, Columba saw "heavenly visions and revelations" that lasted for three days and nights.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
of unknown location that was the site of a small monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
associated with the Columba
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
n church on Iona
Iona
Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Irish monasticism for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination and a place for retreats...
. Although a number of details are known about the monastery and its early abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
s, and various anecdotes dating from the time of Columba
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
of a mystical nature have survived, modern scholars are divided as to its whereabouts.
The islands of Eileach an Naoimh
Eileach an Naoimh
Eileach an Naoimh, also known as Holy Isle, is an uninhabited island in the Inner Hebrides of the west coast of Scotland. It is the southernmost of the Garvellachs archipelago and lies in Firth of Lorne between Mull and Argyll. The name is Gaelic for "rocky place of the saint".About 542, St...
and Jura
Jura, Scotland
Jura is an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, situated adjacent and to the north-east of Islay. Part of the island is designated as a National Scenic Area. Until the twentieth century Jura was dominated - and most of it was eventually owned - by the Campbell clan of Inveraray Castle on Loch...
are the most likely candidates, although Canna
Canna, Scotland
Canna is the westernmost of the Small Isles archipelago, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is linked to the neighbouring island of Sanday by a road and sandbanks at low tide. The island is long and wide...
and Oronsay
Oronsay, Inner Hebrides
Oronsay , also sometimes spelt and pronounced Oransay by the local community, is a small tidal island south of Colonsay in the Scottish Inner Hebrides with an area of just over two square miles....
are also possibilities.
Founding and early administration
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
(521-597), the first patron saint of Scotland, arrived in the kingdom of Dál Riata
Dál Riata
Dál Riata was a Gaelic overkingdom on the western coast of Scotland with some territory on the northeast coast of Ireland...
in modern Scotland from his homeland of Ireland in 563, and in the same year was granted land on Iona. This became the centre of his evangelising
Evangelism
Evangelism refers to the practice of relaying information about a particular set of beliefs to others who do not hold those beliefs. The term is often used in reference to Christianity....
mission to the Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
. The Celtic monastic system made use of isolated retreat centres they called 'deserts' and there were two or more smaller monastic settlements associated with Iona. Mag Luigne on Tiree
Tiree
-History:Tiree is known for the 1st century BC Dùn Mòr broch, for the prehistoric carved Ringing Stone and for the birds of the Ceann a' Mhara headland....
was one, Hinba the other, the latter being a favourite destination of Columba's for a period of contemplation. There may also have been similar outlying colonies on Elene Insula (off Islay
Islay
-Prehistory:The earliest settlers on Islay were nomadic hunter-gatherers who arrived during the Mesolithic period after the retreat of the Pleistocene ice caps. In 1993 a flint arrowhead was found in a field near Bridgend dating from 10,800 BC, the earliest evidence of a human presence found so far...
) and Scia (Skye).
St. Ernan
Ernan
Ernan is the name of four Irish saints.-St. Ernan, Son of Eogan:Ernan, Son of Eogan, died around 640. Mentioned in the Martyrology of Tallaght on 1 January, he was a nephew of St. Columba. He is thus confused with Ernan of Hinba, an uncle of St...
, Abbot of Hinba was an uncle of St. Columba and one of the twelve who accompanied Columba from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
to Iona. He was appointed head of the community which Columba established on Hinba.
Baithéne mac Brénaind
Baithéne mac Brénaind
Baithéne mac Brénaind was an Irish monk, specially selected by St. Columba as one of the band of missionaries who set sail for what is now Scotland in 563....
was the second abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
of Iona
Iona
Iona is a small island in the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It was a centre of Irish monasticism for four centuries and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. It is a popular tourist destination and a place for retreats...
(597
597
Year 597 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 597 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Education :* The King's School is founded in...
-600
600
Year 600 was a leap year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 600 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Smallpox arrives in Europe for the first...
), and known to have administered the monasteries of both Hinba and Mag Luigne before succeeding to this position.
Possible locations
Eileach an Naoimh
This is a rocky islet in the GarvellachGarvellachs
The Garvellachs or Isles of the Sea form a small archipelago in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Part of the Argyll and Bute council area, they lie west of Lunga and northwest of Scarba and have been uninhabited since World War II.The islands include Garbh Eileach, Dùn Channuill and Eileach an...
group in the Firth of Lorn. Columba
Columba
Saint Columba —also known as Colum Cille , Colm Cille , Calum Cille and Kolban or Kolbjørn —was a Gaelic Irish missionary monk who propagated Christianity among the Picts during the Early Medieval Period...
is believed to have visited Eileach an Naoimh and it may be the burial site of his mother Eithne. However, Adomnán the chronicler of the life of Columba, describes a settlement that may suggest a larger island than this one, which extends to only 56 ha (138 acres). Adomnán also refers to a place name associated with the island called Muirbolcmar. This is Gaelic for the great sea-bag and its interpretation has proven to be controversial. Watson
William J. Watson
Professor William J. Watson was a toponymist, one of the greatest Scottish scholars of the 20th century, and was the first scholar to place the study of Scottish place names on a firm linguistic basis....
took the view that it is not an obvious description of anywhere on the rocky coast of Eileach an Naoimh and that Hinba must therefore have been elsewhere.
Jura
An alternative proposed by Watson is Jura, some 6 miles south east of the Garvellachs. This much larger island is on the main sea route between the heartlands of Dál Riata and Ireland. It contains a large arm of the sea called Loch Tarbert that fits the description of a 'great sea-bag'. An alternative derivation of the name "Hinba" is that it is from the Old Irish inbe meaning 'incision', a description that could fit either Loch Tarbert or the prominent gap between the islands main hills, the Paps of JuraPaps of Jura
The Paps of Jura are three mountains located on the western side of island of Jura, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Their highest point is ....
.
On the other hand, Marsden (1995) describes Watson's arguments as "a very convincing alternative" noting that Watson records a local name for Jura of t-Eilean Ban ('the blessed isle') and a cave on Jura's shores called Uaimh mhuinn tir Idhe ('the cave of the folk of Hy'). Marsden adds to this that Ernan the one-time prior of Hinba is known to have been buried at Kellernandale on Jura and that an (unidentified) Ancient Monument's Commission report on Iona contains an entry of 'Hinba (Jura?)'.
Canna
Another possible site is CannaCanna, Scotland
Canna is the westernmost of the Small Isles archipelago, in the Scottish Inner Hebrides. It is linked to the neighbouring island of Sanday by a road and sandbanks at low tide. The island is long and wide...
near Rùm
Rùm
Rùm , a Scottish Gaelic name often anglicised to Rum) is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, in the district of Lochaber, Scotland...
, about 64 miles north west of the Garvellachs. However, Adomnán notes that Brendan the Navigator set sail from Ireland to visit Columba and unexpectedly found him en route at Hinba. Canna is a most unlikely landfall on such a journey as it is well to the north of and thus beyond Iona and Tiree.
On the other hand, the elderly Brendan might well have chosen to stop off at a monastic settlement he himself had founded many years before on the island of 'Ailech'. As Watson himself agrees, Ailech is 'beyond reasonable doubt' Eileach an Naoimh, suggesting that Hinba may have been Ailech continuing under another name, rather than Canna.
Oronsay
Watson also mentions Oronsay as a possible candidate. This tidal islet had a medieval priory, the tidal bay between the isle and ColonsayColonsay
Colonsay is an island in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, located north of Islay and south of Mull and has an area of . It is the ancestral home of Clan Macfie and the Colonsay branch of Clan MacNeill. Aligned on a south-west to north-east axis, it measures in length and reaches at its widest...
has a "bag-like horn" to the north and it is en route from Ireland to Iona. Indeed, Columba first landed here on his initial journey from Ireland to Iona, but continued onwards when he discovered he could still see Ireland from the summit of Oronsay.
Mystical events
Adomnán records that Columba was visited on Hinba by St. Comgall, St. Cannich, St. Brendan, and St. Cormac. During a MassMass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
, Brendan saw a luminous globe of fire above Columba's head that "continued burning and rising up like a column of flame, till the Holy Mysteries had been completed". According to the same source, on another occasion whilst visiting Hinba, Columba saw "heavenly visions and revelations" that lasted for three days and nights.