Scottish Gaelic Literature - Before 1200

Before 1200

Gaidhlig was spoken in Scotland at least as early as the sixth century, when settlers from Ireland moved to the west of Scotland. There has been some debate on when the Gaidhlig language spoken in Scotland had become sufficiently distinct from that spoken in Ireland to justify calling it Scottish Gaelic. For much of the Middle Ages, the learned Gaelic elites of both Scotland and Ireland maintained close contacts and shared a literary form of Gaelic, which diverged from the spoken form.

The bulk of early Gaelic verse to which Scottish origins can be ascribed was produced by the monastic community (familia) of St Columba at Iona. Dallán Forgaill (fl. late 6th century) was responsible for a eulogy of Columba, Amra Choluim Chille, which takes pride of place as one of the earliest literary works produced in Irish, and Beccán mac Luigdech (fl. 7th century) composed at least two poems in praise of the patron saint. Of the many vernacular poems written about Columba or attributed to him, only few can be claimed to be of Scottish origin. The Betha Adamnáin ("Life of Adomnán") incorporates anecdotal material which has been shown to come from Iona.

A Scottish background has been suggested for the story related in the 9/10th-century prose text Scéla Cano meic Gartnáin, about the wanderings of the exiled Scottish king Cano mac Gartnáin. The Lebor Bretnach, an 11th-century Gaelic translation of the Historia Brittonum, has been regarded as the product of a flourishing Gaelic literary establishment at the monastery of Abernethy.

It is possible that more Middle Gaelic literature was written in medieval Scotland than is often thought, but has not survived because the Gaelic literary establishment of eastern Scotland died out before the 14th century. Some Gaelic texts written in Scotland have survived in Irish sources.

There survives a small body of medieval Scottish poetry. There seems to have been some patronage of Gaelic poetry by the later Pictish kings. In the thirteenth century, Muireadhach Albanach, Irish poet of the O'Dálaigh clan of poets wrote eulogies for the Mormaers of Lennox. He founded the MacMhuirich bardic family, a Scottish dynasty of poets. Muireadhach may have played a large role introducing the new "reformed" style of poetry which had been developing in Ireland in the twelfth century. Muireadhach's friend, Gille Brighde Albanach, was perhaps the most prolifically extant native Scottish poet. About 1218, Gille Brighde wrote a poem - Heading for Damietta - on his experiences of the Fifth Crusade.