Hinba

Hinba is an island in Scotland of uncertain location that was the site of a small monastery associated with the Columban church on Iona. Although a number of details are known about the monastery and its early superiors, and various anecdotes dating from the time of Columba of a mystical nature have survived, modern scholars are divided as to its whereabouts. The source of information about the island is Adomnán's late 7th-century Vita Columbae.Adomnan

The islands of Eileach an Naoimh, Jura, Colonsay and Oronsay are the most likely candidates, although Seil and Canna are also possibilities.

The origin of the name 'Hinba' appears to be Goidelic. The Hebrides remain the stronghold of the modern Gàidhealtachd and unsurprisingly this language has had a significant influence on the island names still found there. Why then would an island name vanish from the records? As a result of the Norse impact on Scotland from some point prior to 900 AD and for several centuries thereafter many of the Hebridean island names were altered or replaced. It has been argued that these changes to the onomasticon only applied to the islands north of Ardnamurchan and that original Gaelic place names predominate to the south.Woolf, Alex "The Age of the Sea-Kings: 900-1300" in Omand (2006) p. 95 However, recent research suggests that the obliteration of pre-Norse names throughout the Hebrides was almost total and Gaelic derived place names on the southern islands are of post-Norse origin.Jennings and Kruse (2009) pp. 83–84King and Cotter (2012) p. 4 Some islands names have been more persistent, especially amongst the larger islands, but it is clear that that is not the case for Hinba.Kilpatrick, Kelly (2013) quoted by Broderick (2013) p. 17

Etymology Watson states that the name "Hinba" is "readily explained as a latinised form" of the Old Irish inbe meaning an incision.Watson (1926) p. 84 This was one of the factors that led him to support the deeply indented Jura as the most likely location and in this he was followed by Broderick.Broderick (2013) p. 17 However, it is clear that Scottish island names have involved frequent etymological reinterpretation and some of them are pre-Celtic in origin - perhaps even pre-Indo-European - which "leaves us with the thought that practically all the major islands in the Northern and Western Isles have very old names, so old and so linguistically and lexically opaque that we do not have any plausible referents for them elsewhere. They are linguistic fossils, perhaps some three thousand years old or even older."Broderick (2103) p. 21 quoting Nicolaisen (1992) "Arran Place-Names: a fresh look". Northern Studies 28 p. 2 Etymology may therefore not be the best of guides to rely too heavily on in these circumstances.

According to Murray, the name Hinba, derives from the "old" Gaelic in (island) and ba (sea). He speculates that the original name would have been Na Hinba, meaning "the isles of the sea".

Founding and early administration

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 were also similar outlying colonies on Elene Insula (see below) and Scia (Skye).Ireland, William W. (9 March 1903) "A Visit to Eileach an Naoimh (Hinba)". (pdf) Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.

It is uncertain when Hinba was founded, but the best estimates put it between 564 and 574, as there is a story (see below) of Columba receiving a message from an angel to ordain Aedan mac Gabrain as King of Dal Riata, which occurred in the year 574. The text of Adomnan's book, also seems to be written as though there was only one monastery on Hinba along with a smaller hermitage.

St. Ernan, superior (praepositus) 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.Ernan Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 9 December 2007.

According to Columba's biographer, Ernán was only superior for a few days. In the story recorded, he was told by his nephew before leaving to Hinba that he did not expect to see him again in this life, and several days later, Ernán became sick and went back to Iona to see his nephew, according to his own wish. When Columba was told his uncle had returned, Columba happily went out to meet him in the harbour, but when they were only 50 yards distant, Ernán fell down dead.Sharpe (1995) "Life of St Columba".

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.

Adomnán recorded several stories about Columba in relation to the monastery on Hinba. In one, Columba arrived there and granted a relaxation of the dietary rule for penitents. But one individual, named Neman mac Cathir, refused to take this indulgence. Columba then told him that both he and Baithene had given him this relaxation, and someday Neman would find himself in the forest among thieves eating the flesh of a stolen mare. After his penance was finished and he returned to the world, this came to pass.

In another story Columba was on Hinba, excommunicating the sons of Conall mac Domnaill due to their attacks on churches and one of these men came to Columba and attacked him with a spear. One of the monks, who was wearing Columba's cowl, jumped in the way of the attacker and miraculously this garment prevented the spear from penetrating. The attacker then left, thinking he had killed Columba.

Possible locations

Eileach an Naoimh This is a rocky islet in the Garvellach 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.Pallister (2005) pp. 120, 133Marsden (1995) p. 110 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).Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 67 Adomnán also refers to a place name associated with the island called Muirbolcmar, which is where the hermitage was located. This name 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.Watson (2004) pp. 81–84

However, Adomnán notes that Brendan the Navigator set sail from Ireland to visit Columba and found him en route at Hinba. 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". Ailech is "beyond reasonable doubt" Eileach an Naoimh, suggesting that Hinba may have been Ailech continuing under another name. However, Watson suggests that it is "most improbable" that Adomnan would have changed the name "Ailech", the use of which "probably" predates Columba's arrival in the Hebrides, to Hinba and points out that tiny Eileach an Naoimh is "fitted for a penitential station rather than for a self-supporting community such as Columba's monasteries were". Undaunted, writing in 1973 Murray insisted the identification of this island with Hinba "is agreed by all authorities" including William Reeves (1857) and Skene (1876).

Jura An alternative proposed by Watson is Jura, some 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 Loch Tarbert, a large arm of the sea 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 island's main hills, the Paps of Jura.

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.Murray (1973) pages 262–5. Murray notes that the English version of his proposed derivation from "isles of the sea" is a modern variant name for the Garvellachs, further conflating Hinba with Eileach an Naoimh and its immediate neighbours. Murray 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.The sources Murray quotes are: Reeves, William (ed.) (1857) Adomnan's Life of St Columba. Dublin. Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society; Skene, W.F. (1876) Celtic Scotland; a 1930 report by the Glasgow University Archaeology Society; and Simpson, W. Douglas referring in the text to a 1953 and a 1955 document neither of which are in Murray's bibliography.

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 mhuinntir Idhe ('the cave of the folk of Hy [Iona]'). 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?)'.

Oronsay

Watson also discusses Oronsay as a possible candidate. This tidal islet had a medieval priory, the tidal bay between the isle and Colonsay 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.

The derivation of the name Oronsay may be from Oran's Isle, St Oran being a companion of Saint Columba and the founder of the island's original monastery in 563.Haswell-Smith (2004) p. 52. Murray states that the original Gaelic name was Eilean OrainMurray (1966) p. 49 (although no source is provided for this statement). Oran's original monastery may have been a dependency of Kiloran Abbey on nearby Colonsay.Murray (1966) p. 50 However, there are other examples of this name elsewhere in the Hebrides where the name comes from Örfirisey which translates from Old Norse as "tidal" or "ebb island"Watson (2004) p. 505. so once again etymology is not conclusive evidence.

The micro-climate of Colonsay/Oronsay is also similar to that of Iona and Tiree, being both sunnier and drier than Jura or Seil."UK Climate: Averages maps". Met Office. Retrieved 2 October 2016.

Canna Another possible site is Canna near Rùm, about north west of the Garvellachs.

Watson wrote that Hinba "appears to have lain in the track of vessels coming from Ireland, at least that seems to be the inference from the fact that Comgell, Cainnech, Brendan, and Cormac, coming from Ireland to visit Columba, found him in Hinba".Watson (1926) p. 82 Canna is a most unlikely landfall if this is the case as it is well to the north of and thus beyond Iona and Tiree he and concluded that the choice of location for Hinba therefore "seems to lie between Colonsy and Jura."

Nonetheless, a strong case has been made for Canna based in part on the relative abundance of early Christian artefacts found on the island. O'Neil also argues that the oft-quoted passage from Adomnán's Life: