Note 334 — Chapter V · THE FOUR KINGDOMS.

Ib., B. iii. c. xxvi. His expression is ‘in Scottiam regressus est.’ In another place (B. iv. c. iv.) he says ‘Interea Colmanus, qui de Scottia erat episcopus, relinquens Britanniam, tulit secum omnes quos in Lindisfarnensium insula congregaverat Scottos; sed et de gente Anglorum viros circiter triginta, qui utrique monachicæ conversationis erant studiis imbuti. Et relictis in ecclesia sua fratribus aliquot, primo venit ad insulam Hii, unde erat ad prædicandum verbum Anglorum genti destinatus. Deinde secessit ad insulam quandam parvam, quæ ad occidentalem plagam ab Hibernia procul secreta, sermone Scottico Inisboufinde, id est, insula vitulæ albæ, nuncupatur. In hanc ergo perveniens, construxit monasterium, et monachos inibi, quos de utraque natione collectos adduxerat, collocavit.’ It might be thought that by the expression ‘in Scottiam regressus,’ Bede considered Hii or Iona as being in Scottia, but Bede elsewhere uses Scottia invariably for Ireland, and in narrating Saint Columba’s mission to Iona he says, ‘venit de Hibernia Britanniam.’ He therefore probably, when he says Colman was de ‘Scottia,’ meant that he came from Ireland and returned there eventually, merely visiting Iona on his way.