Little is known of the life of this
Scottish saint and
martyr. He is held by some to have been an
Irish monk and
bishop, with the
Gaelic name of
Ethernan, who, though he might have been the Bishop of St. Andrews, was drawn to remote locations and had built a series of monasteries and hermitages on the
Isle of May (which is out to sea in the
Firth of Forth) and along the coast of
Fife. Later he withdrew from his see of
St. Andrews due to the invading
Danes and took refuge on the island. What is known is that about AD 875, marauding
Vikings invaded the island of May. They then slaughtered the entire population of the monastery, traditionally numbered at six thousand six hundred. The island was then abandoned for centuries. In 1145, King
David I of Scotland gave the island to
Reading Abbey in
Berkshire,
England, at which point, the island again became a religious centre. The English monks started the erection of a small
monastery dedicated to St. Mary the Virgin, with a shrine to St. Ethernan. Early building was hampered due to raiding parties of Scandinavians who had settled in
Orkney. The privations and isolation of the location finally led the monks to transfer the island in some manner to the Bishop of St. Andrews in AD 1288. Shortly thereafter, in 1296, war broke out between the Kingdoms of Scotland and England over territorial claims along the border between the two realms. This was paralleled in a legal fight between the abbey and the bishop over who actually owned the island. Initially, the abbey was confirmed as the lawful owner. This, however, was overturned in 1313 and the island was declared a part of the
diocese. In consequence of this, English forces attacked the island and destroyed the monastery. After the conclusion of hostilities, the island became an important symbol of national pride, and pilgrimages to May became a common feature of religious life for the Scottish people. ==Royal pilgrims==