Dr lain MacDonald’s talk in the Gaelic Heritage Centre’s Museum room on 25 May 2013 was ironically titled “Among a people rude and barbarous” : the later medieval Bishops of Lismore” reflecting the casual and convenient stereotyping of the highlander as peripheral and barbaric more inclined to fighting than serving God.
Dr MacDonald of Glasgow University traced in some detail the later medieval bishops of Argyll and the importance of Lismore as the centre of Christianity between the 12th and the 16th centuries. This very significant part of Lismore’s pre-reformation history is neglected as far as scholarship and the wider world is concerned and Dr MacDonald’s work is therefore of great importance to the island. He showed just how pre- eminent Lismore and the cathedral were and that many of these churchmen were highly educated men of influence and many (though not all) had Lismore’s and Argyll’s best interests at heart.
The exploring, restoring and preserving of Lismore’s artefacts, history and stories of clerics, clansmen and Liosachs is the reason for the Lismore Gaelic Heritage Centre’s coming into being and continuing to grow. Such speakers are part of the very important work the centre is doing.
In “Clerics and Clansmen” , Iain MacDonald’s book which he has kindly donated to the David White Library at the heritage centre, he shows how the medieval Church in Gaelic Scotland, often regarded as isolated and irrelevant, continued to function in the face of poverty, periodic warfare, and the formidable powers of the clan chiefs. He analyses the life of the Argyll bishopric, as well as considering the parochial clergy and surprisingly he reveals a Church deeply embedded within its host society while remaining plugged into the mainstream of Latin Christendom.
Finally he casts doubt on the reason for Bishopric’s final move from Lismore to Dunoon which was said to be the result of the violent encounter at Killandrist between George Lauder, Bishop of Argyll (1427–73) and two Gaelic speaking clergymen, Gilbert Maclachan, Chancellor, and Maurice MacFadyan Treasurer of Lismore , an incident which is described in the Auchinleck Chronicle. In the ecclesiastical context of the time Dr MacDonald argues that it is wrong to depict this simply as a confrontation between highlander and lowlander, but as the consequence of the ecclesiastical politics pursued by the bishop, which were exacerbated by ongoing political problems in Lorn.
It was amazing to hear this story while sitting only yards from such a pivotal historical incident.
Dr Iain MacDonald with St Moluag
Cathedral status
The Dominican connection
Early 16th century revival
Late medieval bishopric
The flit to Dunoon
