An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Gaidheal > Volume 26, October 1930--September 1931

AN GAI1)H£AL.
An iDudiacild, 1930.
foundation of Sandallum in Cantyre and the
diocese of Dunkeld, situated in Scotland,
No. D.L. XXXI..; and Reginald, his son, is
said to have completed the foundation
about the year 1220.” (Jananscheck was
obviously unaware of Reginald’s previous
death, and that his son Donald was the Lord
of the Isles at the actual occupation of the
Abbey.)
‘‘Our conjecture is that Saddell was a
daughter Abbey of Russin (of the line of
Olaroe Vallis), while others favour Furness
or Mellifons. Dempster (a noted monastic
chronicler) mentions an Abbot Thomas who
flourished in the year 1257, whom, he
asserts, so bore himself that that age yielded
no one more learned or holier in character.”
Thus far Jananscheck, and before passing
to references elsewhere to Saddell Abbey, I
think it well to acknowledge my indebted¬
ness for the excerpt to Campbell of Saddell,
to whose honoured grandfather, Colonel
Macleod, the copy of the Latin original was
transmitted by Prater M. Paul of the
Cistercian Abbey of Notre Dame de Lerns.
Frater Paul’s letter itself is worthy of repro¬
duction. It reads as follows : —
‘‘N-D le Lems, 13 March, 1887.
‘‘Dear Sir,
‘‘The enclosed extract taken from a
work lately published by one of our fathers
in Austria will, I trust, prove interesting
to you. From it you will see (1st) that
Saddell was the 581st Cistercian
Monastery that was founded after
Citeaux.
‘‘(2nd) That the name has had various
forms.
‘‘(3rd) That the date of its foundation
is differently stated by different authors.
‘‘(4th) That it was in all probability
founded from Ross in the Isle of Man. In
another part of the work when writing of
Ross, the writer states distinctly that
Sandal was a daughter of Ross.
‘‘(5th) That it was from the line of
Clairvaux.
‘‘It was with much pleasure that I
looked out this short account of Saddell;
a longer description may be found in the
authors quoted at the foot of the extract.
—With kind regards, I remain, etc.,
“Fr. M. Paul O. Cist.”
‘‘To J. Macleod, Esq., of Saddell.
‘‘P.S.—I ought to have added that you
will see that the Abbey was commenced
by Sourle Maclerdy, Lord of the Isles, and
completed by his son, Reginald.”
From other authorities, including Skene, it
is gathered that Abbot Thomas was
designated Thomas Sandalius (obviously
from his connection with the Abbey); also
that he was the author of many works which
were preserved in the Library of St.
Andrews. There is no trace of these works
now, but it may be hoped that they were
taken possession of at the Reformation by
Monks who left Scotland for a Continental
Monastery of their Order, and one day, like
the discovery in 1860 of the Book of the
Celtic Abbey of Deer in the Library of Cam¬
bridge University, the MSS. of Abbot
Thomas may be unearthed in one or other
of the great Monastic or Academic Libraries
of Continental Europe.
The next incident in the story of Saddell
of which notice is taken by the writers of
history is related to the Expedition of the
Norwegian King Haco, which culminated in
the Battle of Largs. And here I may be
pardoned for a slight digression. Through¬
out my study of the period comprehended
in this paper, I have profited greatly from
the researches and commentaries of the late
Mr. R. S. Bremner, as these are in consider
able measure attested and contained in his
posthumous volume, ‘‘The Norseman in
Alban.” Mr. Bremner died in 1918 in the
flower of his manhood, and his death was
a grievous loss to Celto-Scandinavian
scholarship. He was an historian whose
freedom from bias was ever apparent, and
whose judgments consequently are worthy
of the highest respect. For these reasons I
am constrained to cite the passage in which
Mr. Bremner sums up his conclusions
respecting the Expedition of Haco, for it
seems to me that Mr. Bremner has given
expression to historical facts which it does
no injury to our national pride to recognise.
‘‘Despite,” writes Mr. Bremner, ‘‘repeated
assertions to the contrary, the Battle of
Largs was not the end of the political
domination of the Norsemen in the Isles.
That was doubtless hastened by the death
of Hakon at Orkney, on his way home, and
by the submission of Magnus, King of Man,
to the Scots King, in the following year, and
his death in 1265. The actual end came
three years later when, after long
negotiations, Magnus, Hakon’s son and suc¬
cessor, agreed to sell the superiority (of the
Isles, including Man, but excepting Orkney
and Shetland) to the Scottish Crown for 4000
merks payable within four years, and 100
merks annually thereafter in perpetituity
The historical fact attested by this notabL