Máel Brigte mac Tornáin, also known as Maelbrigte mac Durnan (died 22 February 927), was an Irish clergyman who served as
abbot of Armagh from 883 and, in his role as Coarb of
Colum Cille, as the
Abbot of Iona, non-resident from 891, holding both positions until his death.[1][2] He is likely responsible for commissioning and may have worked on the Mac Durnan Gospels,[2] an
illuminated manuscript now held in the
Lambeth Palace Library in London.[3]
Origins
Máel Brigte was a distant member of the royal lineage of
Colum Cille of the
Uí Néill of
Tyrconnell and a member of the
Cenél mBógaine a
sept of the
Cenél Conaill. Two of his cousins were also members of the paruchia of Colum Cille; Dubhthach mac Dubáin († 938), abbot of
Raphoe, would succeed him as abbot of Iona and Caencomhrac († 929), abbot and bishop of Derry.[4]
Abbot of Armagh and Iona
Máel Brigte began his career at several monasteries, including Lusk and Devinish, according to the 10th century text
Baile Bricin. He was made
Archbishop of Armagh in 883 on the death of Cathassach mac Robartaig.[4] Following the death of Flan mac Máele Duin, he was named "
Abbot of Iona in Ireland and Scotland." The appointment of one man to both positions demonstrates the disarray the Irish clergy found themselves in at the
turn of the 9th century, faced with the devastating raids by
Vikings in the
Irish Sea and the resulting impoverishment or even destruction of religious communities. Iona even seems to have been unoccupied at that time.[5]
In 893, Máel Brigte intervened to settle a tribal conflict during
Whitsuntide in
county Armagh by imposing on one of the parties a tribute of 630 cows and by
hanging four
Ulstermen. In 913, he traveled south to
Munster to pay the ransom of a
Breton pilgrim, probably another victim of the Vikings.[5]
^
abMoody, T.W.; Martin, F.X.; Bryne, F.J. (2011). A New History of Ireland IX Maps, Genealogies, Lists. A companion to Irish History part II. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 239–257.
ISBN978-0-19-959306-4.
^
abWilliams, Ann; Smyth, Alfred P.; Kirby, D. P. (1991). "Máelbrigte mac Tornáin (Mac Durnan) abbot 888-927". A biographical dictionary of dark age Britain : England, Scotland, and Wales, c. 500-c. 1050. London: Seaby. p. 175.
ISBN1-85264-047-2.