Jacopo Bisagni’s Amrae Coluimb Chille

Abstract

Almost all the fundamental facts about the Amrae, the most intriguing and the most difficult of early Irish texts on Columba of Iona, are disputed: its date, its authorship, whether it is a poem or prose, for what audience or readership it was intended, and even the meaning of the title. Hitherto, discussion has been hampered by the absence of a reliable critical edition, one that takes into account all the surviving copies and situates them in the manuscript tradition of the text. This task has been admirably performed by Bisagni. His edition includes a book-length introduction which advocates an early ninth-century date for the main text of the Amrae, locates its composition at the Columban monastery of Durrow, and interprets it as a response by the Columban familia to the threat posed to its interests by the church of Armagh in a period when Áed Oirdnide of Cenél nÉogain reigned as king of Tara. Bisagni’s arguments are considered in the light of the text he has provided.