Everything about The Culdee totally explained
The
Culdee,
Kuldee or
Céli Dé (lit. "
vassals of God") formed a
monastic order with settlements in
Ireland,
Scotland and
England. In early Irish manuscripts the name is
Cele De, that is, God's sworn ally. Thence the term was latinized to
Coli dei, leading to
Boece's
culdei, which term seems to have been applied generally to
monks and
hermits.
Early beginnings
It was long fondly imagined by
Protestant and especially by
Presbyterian writers that the Culdees had preserved
Celtic Christianity, free from supposed
Roman corruptions, in one remote corner of western Europe. This view was enshrined in
Thomas Campbell’s
Reullura:
» Peace to their shades. The pure Culdees
Were
Albyn’s earliest priests of God,
» Ere yet an island of her seas
By foot of
Saxon monk was trod.
Another view, promulgated like the above by
Hector Boece in his
Latin history of Scotland (
1516), makes them the direct successors in the 9th to the 12th century of the organised Irish and
Iona monasticism of the 6th to the 8th century. Some have suggested that these views were disproved by
William Reeves (1815–1892),
bishop of Down, Connor and Dromore.
In this regard, very few trustworthy ancient sources of information survive, but one theory suggests the possibility that the Rule of
Chrodegang, archbishop of
Metz (d.
766), was brought by Irish monks to their native land from the monasteries of north-eastern
Gaul, and that Irish anchorites originally unfettered by the rules of the
cloister bound themselves by it. In the course of the 9th century we find mention of nine places in Ireland (including
Armagh,
Clonmacnoise,
Clones,
Devenish and
Sligo) where communities of these Culdees were established as a kind of annex to the regular monastic institutions. They seem especially to have had the care of the poor and the sick, and were interested in the
musical part of
worship. Meanwhile in
Scotland the Iona monks had been expelled by the
Pictish king
Nechtan son of Derile in
717.
However, a different view than that of William Reeves is presented by James A. Wylie (1808-1890). He makes a strong case that the Culdees (Keledei) of Scotland are related to the Celtic Christian spirituality of the monks of Iona. Over the course of several hundred years, the Culdee leaders of the church in Scotland were edged out of positions of authority and temporal support by outside church officials. These officials appear to have been brought into the country for the sole purpose of dispossessing the existing local officials in order to snuff out the independence of the Celtic Christian tradition. Wylie presents numerous historical references for the persecution of the Kelede by the Roman church at large to support this view, as well as noting the opposition of both Queen Margaret and King David I who were staunch supporters of the practices of the continental church and who would have no reason to fear a sect professing the continental practices.
Saint
Aengus the Culdee (or Oengas) lived in the last quarter of the 8th century, and is held in imperishable honour as the author of the
Feliré, or Festology of the Saints.
High Middle Ages
Those who accept the orthodox Roman viewpoint generally believe that the features of their life in Scotland, which would be the most important epoch in the history of the order, seem to resemble closely those of the secular canons of
England and the continent. From the outset they were more or less isolated, and, having no fixed forms or common head, tended to decay. In the 12th century the
Celtic Church was completely metamorphosed on the Roman pattern, and in the process the Culdees also lost any distinctiveness they may formerly have had, being brought, like the secular clergy, under
canonical rule.
The pictures that we've of Culdee life in the 12th century vary considerably. The chief houses in Scotland were at
St Andrews,
Scone,
Dunkeld,
Lochleven,
Monymusk in
Aberdeenshire,
Abernethy and
Brechin. Each was an independent establishment controlled entirely by its own
abbot and apparently divided into two sections, one
priestly and the other
lay and even married. At St Andrews about the year 1100 there were thirteen Culdees holding office by hereditary tenure and paying more regard to their own prosperity and aggrandizement than to the services of the church or the needs of the populace.
A much needed reform, inaugurated by Queen
Margaret, was carried through by her sons
Alexander I and
David I; gradually the whole position passed into the hands of
Thurgot and his successors in the bishopric. Canons Regular were instituted and some of the Culdees joined the new order. Those who declined were allowed a life-rent of their revenues and lingered on as a separate but ever-dwindling body till the beginning of the 14th century, when, excluded from voting at the election of the bishop, they disappear from history.
Crínán of Dunkeld, the grandfather of
Máel Coluim III, was a lay abbot, and tradition says that even the clerical members were married, though unlike the priests of the
Eastern Orthodox Church, they lived apart from their wives during their term of sacerdotal service.
The Culdee of Lochleven lived on
St Serf’s Inch, which had been given them by a Pictish prince,
Brude, about 850. In 1093 they surrendered their island to the bishop of St Andrews in return for perpetual food and clothing, but Robert, who was bishop in 1144, handed over all their vestments, books, and other property, with the island, to the newly founded Canons Regular, in which the Culdees were likely incorporated. There is no trace of such partial independence as was experienced at St. Andrews itself, possibly because the bishop's grant was backed by a royal charter.
In the same fashion the Culdee of Monymusk, originally perhaps a colony from St Andrews, became Canons Regular of the
Augustinian order early in the 13th century, and those of Abernethy in
1273. At Brechin, famous like Abernethy for its round tower, the Culdee prior and his monks helped to form the chapter of the diocese founded by king David I in
1145, though the name persisted for a generation or two.
The most notable survival of the name is in the largest town in the Scottish county of Fife,
Kirkcaldy ('the church of the culdee'). The culdee chapel further east in
St Andrews in the same county can be seen to the north-east of its ruined cathedral and city wall. It is dedicated to 'St Mary on the Rock' and is clearly seen as a
cruciform. It is used by the local
St Andrews churches for their
Easter morning service.
In
Ireland the Culdee of
Armagh endured until the
dissolution in
1541, and enjoyed a fleeting resurrection in
1627, soon after which their ancient property passed to the vicars choral of the
cathedral.
Extract from "St Bryce Kirk" (Kirkcaldy Old Kirk Building) (External Link
) :
In those early days there were several Culdee establishments in Fife, probably small rude structures accommodating 30 or 40 worshippers, and there's a distinct possibility that such a structure stood at or near the site where our church now stands.
In 1075 AD the foundation charter of Dunfermline Church was granted by King Malcolm III, and amongst the possessions he bestowed on the church was the Shire of Kirkcaladinit, as Kirkcaldy was then known.
England and Wales
Similar absorptions no doubt account for the disappearance of the Culdees of
York, a name borne by the canons of St Peter’s about
925, and of
Snowdon and
Bardsey Island in north
Wales, mentioned by
Giraldus Cambrensis (c.
1190) in his
Speculum Ecclesiae and
Itinerarium respectively. The former community was, he says, sorely oppressed by the covetous
Cistercians. These seem to be the only cases where the Culdees are found in England and Wales.
North Atlantic
The
Icelandic
Landnámabók (Book of Settlements) mentions that the
Norse found Irish priests in Iceland when they arrived, together with bells and crosiers. This is also hinted at in the works of
Dicuil. The Norse called the priests
papar, and this name can be found as an element in many placenames of
Orkney,
Shetland, the
Faroes and
Iceland. The traditional accounts state that the
papar left when the Norse arrived. It has been suggested that their influence may have helped Christianity spread in Iceland.
It has also been speculated that the Culdees may have been the first Europeans to visit America. The principal basis of this claim is the existence of over 275 stone built beehive huts in
Maine,
Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, and elsewhere in
New England, as well as in
Pennsylvania. These structures, some well preserved to the present, are seen by some as being quite similar to the Culdee architecture in Ireland and Scotland of the early Middle Ages and earlier (Olsen, 2003). However, all such stone structures are usually considered by professional archaeologists to have been built in the colonial era.
Name "Culdee" in fiction
In
The Railway Series by
Rev. W. Awdry there's a
rack railway called the
Culdee Fell Railway. One of the steam locomotives is named
Culdee. In the Island of Sodor's fictional language of Sudric, 'Culdee' is said to translate as 'Companion of God', the mountain being named for the island's Patron Saint, Machan. The Rev. Awdry often used names from religion and the
Anglican Church as placenames in his books. The island of
Sodor where the series takes place, for example, is named after a
Church of England Diocese.
Stephen Lawhead's novels
Byzantium,
Patrick, and the
Celtic Crusades trilogy focus on the Cele De.
J.P. Moore's short story
"Useful Visions" is set in a Culdee monastery.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Culdee'.
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