the cathach

Alternate name
"The Battler",  Psalter of St. Columba (also known as Columcille or Columbkille). An Cathach, in Irish.

Date created
560--600 CE, possibly later.

Place created
possibly Durrow, Co. Offaly, Ireland

Subject
Psalter (Psalms 10--13, Vulgate version)

Physical description
27 cm x 19cm, 58 leaves (originally 110)

History
The Cathach is one of the earliest and most important books of this era; it is the oldest known Irish Psalter. Although the text is in Latin, the pages contain descriptive headings in Irish--the earliest written examples of the Irish language.

It is a simple book, in comparison to highly decorated books like the Book of Kells and the Lindisfarne Gospels. There is minimal decoration but for ornate initials, patterns of dots and animal heads.

The Cathach is attributed to Saint Columba (known in Ireland as Columcille) who died in 597. It's said that a divine light allowed him to make a copy of a Psalter owned by his teacher, St. Finnian.  A dispute over the ownership of Columba's copy followed, which led to the Battle of Cúl Dreimhne in 561. The book ended up in the possession of the O'Donnell clan of Co. Donegal, who carried the book as a battle talisman. Columba was blamed for the war and threatened with excommunication. Instead, he was exiled to the island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland. There he founded the monastery of Iona, which became an important center for learning and missionary work and which (much later) produced the Book of Kells.

Scribe
Unknown, possibly St. Columba. It is the work of a single scribe.

Currently housed
Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, Ireland (since 1843)
www.ria.ie

Shelfmark
RIA MS 12 R 33

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Can I see it?
The Cathach is not on display. There is a digitized version (CD-ROM and companion book) produced by the RIA. The 11th century cumdach (book shrine) is on display as part of the permanent collections of the National Museum of Ireland, in Dublin.

Links
Royal Irish Academy: Special Collections

Above: The large letter that looks like a "G" is actually a "Q"--for "Qui habitat", the first words of Psalm 91: "He who dwells".

The earliest mention of the Loch Ness Monster is from a story about St. Columba's life, written in the 7th c. It tells of Scottish tribes (known as Picts) who were converted after seeing Columba drive off the "water beast" with a sign of the cross and the words "Go no further!"  Columcille was also said to have killed a many-eyed monster called the suileach, that lived in Lough Swilly, Co. Donegal.

The story of St. Columba's dispute over the ownership of An Cathach is often cited as one of the earliest recorded case of copyright infringement. The issue of ownership of the copied book was settled by King Diarmait Mac Cerbhaill, saying: "To every cow its calf, so to every book its copy". There was, however no copyright law in the 9th century. Books were indeed fiercely guarded, but they were also freely reproduced, shared, borrowed, stolen, etc.