Editing Columba (section)

==Scotland==
In 563, he travelled to [[Scotland]] with twelve companions (said to include [[Odran of Iona]]) in a wicker [[currach]] covered with leather. According to legend he first landed on the [[Mull of Kintyre|Kintyre]] Peninsula, near [[Southend, Kintyre|Southend]]. However, being still in sight of Ulster, he moved farther north up the west coast of Scotland. The island of [[Iona]] was made over to him by his kinsman [[Conall mac Comgaill]] [[List of kings of Dál Riata|King of Dál Riata]], who perhaps had invited him to come to Scotland in the first place.<ref name=crawley/> However, there is a sense in which he was not leaving his native people, as the Ulster [[Gaels]] had been inhabiting the west coast of Scotland for the previous couple of centuries.{{sfn|Fletcher|1989|pp=23-24}} Aside from the services he provided guiding the only centre of [[literacy]] in the region, his reputation as a holy man led to his role as a diplomat among the tribes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stcolumbaretreathouse.com/saint_columba.htm|title=Who is St. Columba?|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113152508/http://www.stcolumbaretreathouse.com/saint_columba.htm |archive-date=13 January 2009|publisher=St. Columba Retreat House|access-date=6 October 2008}}</ref>

There are also many stories of miracles which he performed during his work to [[religious conversion|convert]] the Picts, the most famous being his encounter with an unidentified animal that some have equated with the [[Loch Ness Monster]] in 565. It is said that he banished a ferocious "water beast" to the depths of the [[River Ness]] after it had killed a Pict and then tried to attack Columba's disciple, Lugne (see Vita Columbae Book 2 below). He visited the [[pagan]] King [[Bridei I of the Picts|Bridei]], King of [[Fortriu]], at his base in [[Inverness]], winning Bridei's respect, although not his conversion. He subsequently played a major role in the politics of the country.

He was also very energetic in his work as a missionary, and, in addition to founding several churches in the [[Hebrides]], he worked to turn his monastery at Iona into a school for missionaries. He was a renowned [[man of letters]], having written several [[hymns]] and being credited with having [[Calligraphy|transcribed]] 300 books. One of the few, if not the only, times he left Scotland was towards the end of his life, when he returned to Ireland to found the [[Durrow Abbey|monastery]] at [[Durrow, County Offaly|Durrow]].

According to traditional sources, Columba died in Iona on Sunday, 9 June 597, and was buried by his [[monk]]s in the [[abbey]] he created. However, Dr. Daniel P. Mc Carthy disputes this and assigns a date of 593 to Columba's death.<ref>Mc Carthy, Daniel P.,'The Chronology of Saint Columba's Life', in Moran, P. & Warntjes, I. (eds), ''Early Medieval Ireland and Europe: Chronology, Contacts, Scholarship – Festschrift for Dáibhí Ó Cróinín'', (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2015), pp. 3–32</ref> The Annals record the first raid made upon Iona in 795, with further raids occurring in 802, 806 and 825.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Jennings |first=Andrew |date=1988 |title=Iona and the Vikings: Survival and Continuity |journal=Northern Studies |volume=33 |pages=34–54}}, see pp. 37-38.</ref> Columba's relics were finally removed in 849 and divided between Scotland and Ireland.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/articles/columba/ |title=Scotland's History – Columba |publisher=BBC |date=1 January 1970 |access-date=17 August 2012 |archive-date=16 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120216073444/http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/history/articles/columba/ |url-status=live }}</ref>