Cellach II is the fourth alleged Bishop of the Scots (fl. mid-10th century), the predecessor of the later

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourt ...

bishopric (the bishopric may not actually have been fixed at St Andrews at this period). He is mentioned in the bishop-lists of the 15th-century historians

Walter Bower Walter Bower (or Bowmaker; 24 December 1449) was a Scottish canon regular and abbot of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scot ...

and

Andrew of Wyntoun Andrew Wyntoun, known as Andrew of Wyntoun (), was a Scottish poet, a canon and prior of Loch Leven on St Serf's Inch and, later, a canon of St. Andrews. Andrew Wyntoun is most famous for his completion of an eight-syllabled metre entitled, ...

as the successor of Máel Ísu I, and it is claimed by both sources that he reigned as bishop for twenty-five years after his confirmation at

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Bower calls Cellach's father "Ferdlag", and says that Cellach "was the first to go to Rome for confirmation". If Cellach's predecessor's (i.e. Máel Ísu's) predecessor Fothad I did get expelled from the bishopric in 955, (and Máel Ísu succeeded immediately), and if Máel Ísu's reign really was eight years, then Máel Ísu would have held the bishopric between the years 955 and 963. This would mean, on similar logic, that Cellach would have been reigning from 963 until at least 988. The early 11th century ''

Chronicle of the Kings of Alba The ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'', or ''Scottish Chronicle'', is a short written chronicle of the Kings of Alba, covering the period from the time of Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) (d. 858) until the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac ...

'' (CKA), in a passage referring to the reign of King Cuilén mac Iduilb (r. 966-71), says "Cellach filius Ferdalaig reg

avit Avit (russian: Ави́т) is a Russian male first name.Superanskaya, p. 33 It was included into various, often handwritten, church calendars throughout the 17th–19th centuries, but was omitted from the official Synodal Menologium at the e ...

, i.e. "Cellach the son of Ferdalach reigned". This more contemporary source supports the idea that Cellach was ruling in the 960s and confirms the patronymic given by Bower. However, the CKA appears to suggest that Cellach's predecessor was a man called Máel Brigte, as the sentence "Cellach filius Ferdalaig reg

follows on from the sentence "Maelbrigd' episcopus pausavít", that is, "Bishop Máel Brigte rested".See previous note. However, nothing more is known of this Máel Brigte; this suggestion is besides far from certain, and may refer to another bishopric. The number of years for Cellach's bishopric after 988 would be dependent on the number of years between Cellach's appointment to the bishopric, and his alleged confirmation at Rome. The next bishop on the list is Máel Muire.

Notes

References

* Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286'', 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. i *Anderson, Marjorie O., ''Kings and Kingship in Early Scotland'', (Edinburgh, 1973) *MacQueen, John, MacQueen, Winifred & Watt, D.E.R. (eds.), ''Scottichronicon by Walter Bower in Latin and English'', Vol. 3, (Aberdeen, 1995)

External links

Original Chronicle at U Texas
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cellach 02 Of Cennrigmonaid 10th-century births 980s deaths Bishops of St Andrews Medieval Gaels from Scotland 10th-century Scottish bishops