Eilean nam Ban and the women religious of Iona

Abstract

This chapter will examine the women religious of Iona through the lens of place-names, with a particular focus on microtoponyms. The second part of the chapter turns to Eilean nam Ban (‘island of the women’), an island located in the Sound of Iona. One of the most enduring stories associated with it relates how Eilean nam Ban was thus named because St Columba banished all women to the island, refusing to suffer their presence on Iona. Through a study of early modern and later accounts I will consider questions relating to authority of naming: who has the authority to create and transmit narratives in an Iona context? For whom and what purpose are they created? How do authors in different time-periods provide a sense of authenticity in their accounts? Detailed analysis of these accounts is particularly valuable in demonstrating the richness of early modern sources for the place-names of Iona.