Early mechanisms of abbatial succession: the case of Iona (563–704)

Comments about succession to the Iona abbacy rarely go beyond the observation that most of the early abbots – but not all – belonged to the Cenél Conaill, the kindred of Iona’s founder, Saint Columba. This point privileges the role of eligibility criteria in the succession process at the expense of agency. This paper concerns itself with the specific mechanism that mediated the Iona abbacy: the central question is not ‘who’ could succeed, but rather ‘how’ they succeeded. It will be suggested that abbatial authority was passed from one abbot to the next via designations, whereby the reigning abbot appointed his own successor.