The Battle of Cul Dreimhne/ The Battle of the Books
Riverside, Sligo
1. One of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, St. Columba (also known as Columbkill, Columcille, Calum Cille) was an Irish missionary. The twelve apostles were saints who studied at Clonary Abbey under St. Finian.
Columcille had a reputation for studying and praying incessantly. He wrote 300 books by hand, and he is reported to have continued to transcribe until the night before his death.
After visiting Rome in 540, Finnian, Columcilles’ mentor, brought back a copy of Saint Jerome’s Vulgate, the first Latin translation of the Bible to arrive in Ireland. Finnian had intended to translate the Latin into Gaeilge. However, Colmcille had the same notion. Through some means, he obtained the book without Finnian’s knowledge and covertly created a duplicate with the goal of keeping it for himself. However, Finian discovered this and argued that this was theft—illegal copying! He insisted on receiving the copy that Columcille had created, to which Columcille refused.
2. Finian brought the case before Ireland’s High King, King Diarmait mac Cerbhiall, to seek mediation. Columcille agreed, thinking he had done nothing wrong in his efforts to share the gospel. Columcille’s reply was: “It is not right,” he stated, “that the divine words in that book should perish, or that I or any other should be hindered from writing them or reading them or spreading them among the clans.” He informed the court in the closing argument that individuals who possessed knowledge through books had a duty to share and copy it. In his opinion, not sharing knowledge was a far worse sin than copying a book that wouldn’t lose anything in the process.
King Diarmait ruled in Finian’s favour, famously saying, “To every cow belongs its calf; to every book its copy.” In other words, every copy of a book belonged to the owner of the original book. Refusing to accept the King’s decision, Colmcille kept his copy.
3. Colmcille decided to use force to settle the conflict in the year 561 and enlisted the support of the O’Neills, a formidable clan. Despite his monastic status, he led a force of 2,300 soldiers and showed no fear of combat. Colmcille spent the night in prayer, while Diarmait prepared with a Druid ritual on the eve of the fighting at the foot of Benbulben mountain in Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo. By the end of the Battle, Columcille emerged victorious, leaving 3,000 men dead. He had secured what he could not obtain legally through force. He held onto his copy.The violence shocked Church leaders, who held Colmcille accountable. He was exiled from Ireland by a synod of abbots and bishops, but the stubborn monk refused to accept his punishment. He went to the remote island of Inishmurray off the coast of Grange, Co. Sligo to confer with Saint Molaise, his Confessor, who had established an abbey there. The verdict was confirmed by Molaise, who stated that Colmcille should make reparations by converting the same number of people to Christianity as he had murdered. Colmcille took a small boat made of hides and wicker and he and his twelve disciples set out from his beloved Ireland.
Colmcille’s troublesome book copy remained in Ireland, in the hands of his allies, the O’Donnell clan. In keeping with its origins, it was known as the Cathach, or Battler, and for centuries, clan chieftains carried it around the field three times on the eve of battle as a talisman for victory.