Vita Sancti Niniani
Encyclopedia
The Vita Sancti Niniani ("Life of Saint Ninian") or simply Vita Niniani ("Life of Ninian") is a Latin language Christian
hagiography
written in northern England
in the mid-12th century. Using two earlier Anglo-Latin sources, it was written by Ailred of Rievaulx
seemingly at the request of a Bishop of Galloway
. It is loosely based on the career of the early British
churchman Uinniau or Finnian, whose name through textual misreadings was rendered "Ninian
" by high medieval English
and Anglo-Norman
writers, subsequently producing a distinct cult. Saint Ninian was thus an "unhistorical doppelganger" of someone else. The Vita tells "Ninian's" life-story, and relates ten miracles, six during the saint's lifetime and four posthumous.
. Historian John MacQueen raised doubts about this authorship in 1990, pointing out that Ailred's biographer Walter Daniel did not list it among the works of Ailred. Ailred's authorship is still accepted by most historians however, on the basis that Ailred is identified as the author in one of the two manuscripts, while in the other manuscript the Vita forms part of a collection of Ailred's works. It is thought to have been Ailred's first work of hagiography.
published an edition based on the Bodleian manuscript. The Latin text was printed in the following works:
Translations have been made by Forbes, and subsequently by John and Winifred MacQueen (1961, reprinted 1990 and 2005) and Jane Patricia Freeland (2006). According to Archbishop Usher, there was an Irish vita of Ninian, apparently slightly different from Ailred's; this is now lost.
The Vita Niniani is miracle
collection placed in a vaguely biographical format. Book i begins with a prologue and preface, discussing the intentions and sources. The narrative opens by describing how Ninian became a devoted Christian
(chapter one), journeyed to Rome
and became bishop
(chapter two), and, arriving back in Britain
, constructed a stone church at Whithorn (chapter three). Then the text relates that king Tudwallus (British
: Tutagual; Gaelic
: Tuathal) suffered blindness after disparaging Ninian, but was cured of his ailment when he recognised Ninian's power (chapter four). Ninian further demonstrates his saintly power by proving that a pregnant girl who had accused an innocent priest of being her child's father was lying; Ninian does this by making her baby speak to reveal the identity of the true father (chapter five). It is at this point that Ninian's conversion of the "southern Picts
" is recounted (chapter six).
Ailred continues his narrative by relating how Ninian made leek
s appear in a garden (chapter seven), and how the saint resurrected a robber-chief who had been gored by a bull (chapter eight). Subsequently it is related that Ninian would read the psalms
from a little book, and of how when doing so God would protect him and his book from the rain. However, one day while Ninian was travelling with an "equally saintly man" named Plebia, having stopped to sing some psalms in the rain, he "had an unlawful thought" causing God's protection against the rain to disappear; when Ninian and his book got wet, he recovered his senses and the protection reestablished itself (chapter nine). After saving the life of a novice
sailing to Scotia in a coracle
to evade punishment (chapter ten), Ninian dies and ascends to Heaven (chapter eleven).
Book ii consists of four posthumous miracles. A family take their deformed son to Ninian's shrine
, and after being visited by Ninian in a dream during the night, their son's deformities are removed (chapter twelve). A man named Aethelfrith, through prayer, has a skin-disease cured (chapter thirteen). A girl named Deisuit is cured of blindness after being taken to Ninian's shrine (chapter fourteen), while two lepers are cured by Ninian's intervention after bathing at his well (chapter fifteen). Ailred ends the text by stressing that the miracles listed are far from exhaustive, and that more have continued up into the present.
, which mentions Ninian (as Niniau) several times, and another work "in an extremely barbarous style". Ailred mentions a place "called in English Farres Last, in Latin 'Footprint of the Bull'", evidence to some historians that he drew on an earlier source written in English. However, historian Karl Strecker undermined this argument, and it is fairly certain this "barbarous" source was written in some form of Latin.
This "barbarous" source was probably not the Miracula Nynie Episcopi
, an 8th century poem written in Latin
recounting the miracles of "Nyniau". As both Bede and the Miracula reproduce the scribal error that turned Uinniau into Nyniau or Niniau, it is likely that Bede and the Miracula drew on a common source, written by 730, a source historian James E. Fraser called the Liber de Vita et Miraculis. The Liber de Vita may have been authored by Pehthelm
, sometime bishop of Whithorn. It is possible that Liber de Vita was the "barbarous" source used by Ailred, either a Latin original or an English translation. This is turn may have been derived from an earlier Celtic biography of Bishop Uinniau.
It is thought that Ailred authored the work at the behest of one of the new bishops of Galloway, either Gille-Aldan
or Christian
, who were eager to promote their re-established bishopric to the Anglo-Norman
and wider world. Ailred had a relationship with the ruler of Galloway
, king Fergus of Galloway
, according to Walter Daniel mediating a dispute between Fergus and his sons Gille-Brigte and Uhtred.
Ailred's work was the first to produce the spelling "Ninian[us]". This is a scribal error taken from the earlier form Ninia, in turn a scribal error from the form Uinniau. Thus, Ailred's work helped create what was in essence a new saint, based solely on literary texts and scribal corruptions. "Ninian" was probably unknown to either the 12th century Gaelic population of Galloway or its pre-Viking Age British predecessors, which is why the names "Ninian" and "Niniau" do not exist in Celtic place-names coined before the later Middle Ages.
Uinniau is attested as Uinniauus and Vinnianus in a 6th century penitential
used by Columbanus
, Vennianus is mentioned by Columbanus himself, while Adomnán in his Vita Sancti Columbae styles the same man Finnio in the nominative case
, Finnionem and Findbarrum in the accusative case
, and Viniauo in the dative case
. The name Uinniau is a hypocoristic
form of Uindobarros, realised in Old Irish with an F (Finnbar and Finniau, hence Finnian). The saint's variety of names, owing to this and English scribal confusions, contributed to a fragmentation of Uinniau's cult where, in different locations he was venerated under a variety of guises in later periods.
There is strong modern scholarly consensus that Uinniau (thus "Ninian") and Finnian of Moville
are the same person. In one Vita on Finnian of Molville, the Tudwallus of the Vita Niniani is realised as Túathal Máelgarb
, king of Tara. Despite Ailred's work, the cult of the original Uinniau remained strong in south-western Scotland for some time to come, an important centre being Kilwinning
(from the Gaelic for "church of Uinniau") where "Saint Winnin" or "Saint Finan" was worshipped into the later Middle Ages. Nevertheless, supported by a bishopric, the cult of Saint "Ninian" took a life of its own after Ailred's work, becoming one of the most venerated cults in Scotland in the Late Middle Ages
.
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
hagiography
Hagiography
Hagiography is the study of saints.From the Greek and , it refers literally to writings on the subject of such holy people, and specifically to the biographies of saints and ecclesiastical leaders. The term hagiology, the study of hagiography, is also current in English, though less common...
written in northern England
Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North or the North Country, is a cultural region of England. It is not an official government region, but rather an informal amalgamation of counties. The southern extent of the region is roughly the River Trent, while the North is bordered...
in the mid-12th century. Using two earlier Anglo-Latin sources, it was written by Ailred of Rievaulx
Ailred of Rievaulx
Aelred , also Aelred, Ælred, Æthelred, etc., was an English writer, abbot of Rievaulx , and saint.-Life:...
seemingly at the request of a Bishop of Galloway
Bishop of Galloway
The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, was the eccesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7th century or early 8th century, and the first known...
. It is loosely based on the career of the early British
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
churchman Uinniau or Finnian, whose name through textual misreadings was rendered "Ninian
Ninian
Saint Ninian was a medieval Christian bishop who evangelized the Picts.Ninian may also refer to:* Ninian Edwards , former Governor of Illinois* Ninian Stephen , former Governor-General of Australia...
" by high medieval English
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
and Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
writers, subsequently producing a distinct cult. Saint Ninian was thus an "unhistorical doppelganger" of someone else. The Vita tells "Ninian's" life-story, and relates ten miracles, six during the saint's lifetime and four posthumous.
Authorship
The author was almost certainly Ailred of RievaulxAilred of Rievaulx
Aelred , also Aelred, Ælred, Æthelred, etc., was an English writer, abbot of Rievaulx , and saint.-Life:...
. Historian John MacQueen raised doubts about this authorship in 1990, pointing out that Ailred's biographer Walter Daniel did not list it among the works of Ailred. Ailred's authorship is still accepted by most historians however, on the basis that Ailred is identified as the author in one of the two manuscripts, while in the other manuscript the Vita forms part of a collection of Ailred's works. It is thought to have been Ailred's first work of hagiography.
Manuscripts and printed texts
It survives in two manuscripts, the British Library Cotton Tiberius D iii, and Bodleian Library Laud Miscellaneous 668. Apparently other versions may have previously existed. It was first printed in 1789, when John PinkertonJohn Pinkerton
John Pinkerton was a Scottish antiquarian, cartographer, author, numismatist, historian, and early advocate of Germanic racial supremacy theory....
published an edition based on the Bodleian manuscript. The Latin text was printed in the following works:
- John Pinkerton, Vitae Antiquae Sanctorum qui Habitaverunt in ea Parte Britanniae Nunc Vocata Scotia vel in ejus Insulis (London, 1789)
- Alexander Penrose Forbes (ed.), Lives of S. Ninian and S. Kentigern. Compiled in the twelfth century (Edinburgh, 1874), pp. 137–57
Translations have been made by Forbes, and subsequently by John and Winifred MacQueen (1961, reprinted 1990 and 2005) and Jane Patricia Freeland (2006). According to Archbishop Usher, there was an Irish vita of Ninian, apparently slightly different from Ailred's; this is now lost.
Content
Miracle
A miracle often denotes an event attributed to divine intervention. Alternatively, it may be an event attributed to a miracle worker, saint, or religious leader. A miracle is sometimes thought of as a perceptible interruption of the laws of nature. Others suggest that a god may work with the laws...
collection placed in a vaguely biographical format. Book i begins with a prologue and preface, discussing the intentions and sources. The narrative opens by describing how Ninian became a devoted Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
(chapter one), journeyed to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and became bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
(chapter two), and, arriving back in Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, constructed a stone church at Whithorn (chapter three). Then the text relates that king Tudwallus (British
Brythonic languages
The Brythonic or Brittonic languages form one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic language family, the other being Goidelic. The name Brythonic was derived by Welsh Celticist John Rhys from the Welsh word Brython, meaning an indigenous Briton as opposed to an Anglo-Saxon or Gael...
: Tutagual; Gaelic
Goidelic languages
The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...
: Tuathal) suffered blindness after disparaging Ninian, but was cured of his ailment when he recognised Ninian's power (chapter four). Ninian further demonstrates his saintly power by proving that a pregnant girl who had accused an innocent priest of being her child's father was lying; Ninian does this by making her baby speak to reveal the identity of the true father (chapter five). It is at this point that Ninian's conversion of the "southern Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
" is recounted (chapter six).
Ailred continues his narrative by relating how Ninian made leek
Leek
The leek, Allium ampeloprasum var. porrum , also sometimes known as Allium porrum, is a vegetable which belongs, along with the onion and garlic, to family Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Allioideae...
s appear in a garden (chapter seven), and how the saint resurrected a robber-chief who had been gored by a bull (chapter eight). Subsequently it is related that Ninian would read the psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
from a little book, and of how when doing so God would protect him and his book from the rain. However, one day while Ninian was travelling with an "equally saintly man" named Plebia, having stopped to sing some psalms in the rain, he "had an unlawful thought" causing God's protection against the rain to disappear; when Ninian and his book got wet, he recovered his senses and the protection reestablished itself (chapter nine). After saving the life of a novice
Novice
A novice is a person or creature who is new to a field or activity. The term is most commonly applied in religion and sports.-Buddhism:In many Buddhist orders, a man or woman who intends to take ordination must first become a novice, adopting part of the monastic code indicated in the vinaya and...
sailing to Scotia in a coracle
Coracle
The coracle is a small, lightweight boat of the sort traditionally used in Wales but also in parts of Western and South Western England, Ireland , and Scotland ; the word is also used of similar boats found in India, Vietnam, Iraq and Tibet...
to evade punishment (chapter ten), Ninian dies and ascends to Heaven (chapter eleven).
Book ii consists of four posthumous miracles. A family take their deformed son to Ninian's shrine
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....
, and after being visited by Ninian in a dream during the night, their son's deformities are removed (chapter twelve). A man named Aethelfrith, through prayer, has a skin-disease cured (chapter thirteen). A girl named Deisuit is cured of blindness after being taken to Ninian's shrine (chapter fourteen), while two lepers are cured by Ninian's intervention after bathing at his well (chapter fifteen). Ailred ends the text by stressing that the miracles listed are far from exhaustive, and that more have continued up into the present.
Sources
Based on assertions made by Ailred in the text, two sources were used for the Vita: Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis AnglorumHistoria ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a work in Latin by Bede on the history of the Christian Churches in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman and Celtic Christianity.It is considered to be one of the most important original references on...
, which mentions Ninian (as Niniau) several times, and another work "in an extremely barbarous style". Ailred mentions a place "called in English Farres Last, in Latin 'Footprint of the Bull'", evidence to some historians that he drew on an earlier source written in English. However, historian Karl Strecker undermined this argument, and it is fairly certain this "barbarous" source was written in some form of Latin.
This "barbarous" source was probably not the Miracula Nynie Episcopi
Miracula Nyniae Episcopi
The Miracula Nynie Episcopi is an anonymously written 8th-century hagiographic work describing miracles attributed to Saint Ninian. It is considered a non-historical work, and copies are not widely extant....
, an 8th century poem written in Latin
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the liturgical language of the medieval Roman Catholic Church, but also as a language of science, literature, law, and administration. Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors,...
recounting the miracles of "Nyniau". As both Bede and the Miracula reproduce the scribal error that turned Uinniau into Nyniau or Niniau, it is likely that Bede and the Miracula drew on a common source, written by 730, a source historian James E. Fraser called the Liber de Vita et Miraculis. The Liber de Vita may have been authored by Pehthelm
Pehthelm
Pehthelm was the first historical bishop of the episcopal see of Candida Casa at Whithorn. He was consecrated in 730 or 731 and served until his demise...
, sometime bishop of Whithorn. It is possible that Liber de Vita was the "barbarous" source used by Ailred, either a Latin original or an English translation. This is turn may have been derived from an earlier Celtic biography of Bishop Uinniau.
Purpose and influence
Gille Aldan
Gille Aldan , of Whithorn, was a native Galwegian who was the first Bishop of the resurrected Bishopric of Whithorn or Galloway. He was the first to be consecrated by the Archbishop of York, who at that time was Thurstan...
or Christian
Christian of Whithorn
Christian of Whithorn was Bishop of Whithorn , the second incumbent of that Episcopal See since it had been resurrected by King Fergus of Galloway earlier in the 12th century....
, who were eager to promote their re-established bishopric to the Anglo-Norman
Anglo-Norman
The Anglo-Normans were mainly the descendants of the Normans who ruled England following the Norman conquest by William the Conqueror in 1066. A small number of Normans were already settled in England prior to the conquest...
and wider world. Ailred had a relationship with the ruler of Galloway
Galloway
Galloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...
, king Fergus of Galloway
Fergus of Galloway
Fergus of Galloway was King, or Lord, of Galloway from an unknown date , until his death in 1161. He was the founder of that "sub-kingdom," the resurrector of the Bishopric of Whithorn, the patron of new abbeys , and much else besides...
, according to Walter Daniel mediating a dispute between Fergus and his sons Gille-Brigte and Uhtred.
Ailred's work was the first to produce the spelling "Ninian[us]". This is a scribal error taken from the earlier form Ninia, in turn a scribal error from the form Uinniau. Thus, Ailred's work helped create what was in essence a new saint, based solely on literary texts and scribal corruptions. "Ninian" was probably unknown to either the 12th century Gaelic population of Galloway or its pre-Viking Age British predecessors, which is why the names "Ninian" and "Niniau" do not exist in Celtic place-names coined before the later Middle Ages.
Uinniau is attested as Uinniauus and Vinnianus in a 6th century penitential
Penitential
A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christian sacrament of penance, a "new manner of reconciliation with God" that was first developed by Celtic monks in Ireland in the sixth century AD.-Origin:...
used by Columbanus
Columbanus
Columbanus was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil and Bobbio , and stands as an exemplar of Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe.He spread among the...
, Vennianus is mentioned by Columbanus himself, while Adomnán in his Vita Sancti Columbae styles the same man Finnio in the nominative case
Nominative case
The nominative case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or the predicate noun or predicate adjective, as opposed to its object or other verb arguments...
, Finnionem and Findbarrum in the accusative case
Accusative case
The accusative case of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of prepositions...
, and Viniauo in the dative case
Dative case
The dative case is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to whom something is given, as in "George gave Jamie a drink"....
. The name Uinniau is a hypocoristic
Hypocoristic
A hypocorism is a shorter form of a word or given name, for example, when used in more intimate situations as a nickname or term of endearment.- Derivation :Hypocorisms are often generated as:...
form of Uindobarros, realised in Old Irish with an F (Finnbar and Finniau, hence Finnian). The saint's variety of names, owing to this and English scribal confusions, contributed to a fragmentation of Uinniau's cult where, in different locations he was venerated under a variety of guises in later periods.
There is strong modern scholarly consensus that Uinniau (thus "Ninian") and Finnian of Moville
Finnian of Moville
Finnian of Movilla Abbey, Irish Christian missionary, 495–589.-Origins and life:Finnian was a Christian missionary who became a legendary figure in medieval Ireland. He should not to be confused with his namesake Finnian of Clonard...
are the same person. In one Vita on Finnian of Molville, the Tudwallus of the Vita Niniani is realised as Túathal Máelgarb
Tuathal Maelgarb
Túathal mac Cormaic , called Túathal Máelgarb, was said to be a grandson of Coirpre mac Néill. He was High King of Ireland. In the earliest accounts he appears to have been regarded as the man who completed the conquest of what would later be Brega for the descendants of Niall of the Nine...
, king of Tara. Despite Ailred's work, the cult of the original Uinniau remained strong in south-western Scotland for some time to come, an important centre being Kilwinning
Kilwinning
Kilwinning is a historic town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is known as The Crossroads of Ayrshire. The 2001 Census recorded it as having a population of 15,908.-History:...
(from the Gaelic for "church of Uinniau") where "Saint Winnin" or "Saint Finan" was worshipped into the later Middle Ages. Nevertheless, supported by a bishopric, the cult of Saint "Ninian" took a life of its own after Ailred's work, becoming one of the most venerated cults in Scotland in the Late Middle Ages
Scotland in the Late Middle Ages
Scotland in the late Middle Ages established its independence from England under figures including William Wallace in the late 13th century and Robert Bruce in the 14th century...
.