The book Arran; - Cook Clan

12 THE BOOK OF ARRAN
Probably Arran was untouched by the earliest raids of
the beginning of the ninth century, in which a notoriously
rich centre like lona suffered a plundering on three occasions
in less than a quarter of a century. These men knew what
they were about, and they no doubt knew that the cave-cell
of St. Molaise in Holy Isle, the chief place of the kind in
Arran, held nothing worth taking. Had there been any
desecration at that place the monkish annalists would certainly
have left it on record. But by the middle of the ninth
century expeditions growing in size and number became
systematised into deliberate conquest and occupation. Norse
and Danes are together in the work, which goes on simultaneously
in England, Ireland, and Scotland. The outstanding
figure in these operations is Ivar the Boneless, who, as the
Sagas say, ' had no bones in his body but was very wise,'
a Dane, with whom we find associated Olaf the White, a
Norse king of Dublin. It is Olaf who takes the initiative,
though he is presently associated with the actively touring
Ivar in raids upon Alba from the base in Ireland ; and the
route of these is up the natural highway of the firth and
river of Clyde. In 870 the two conduct a four months'
siege in getting rid of the obstacle of Alcluyd, the fortified
rock of Dumbarton. These raids with their tale of slaughter,
of plunder, of the bearing away of men and women to be
sold as slaves—these successive strokes of the raven beak
deep into the bleeding side of Alba—continue well into the
first quarter of the tenth century.
Now of all this Arran must have had passing witness
and probably a share.
his way to the island
It may be the Norseman had found
earlier, though the rude and barren
shelter of a hermit in Holy Isle had not the attractions of
Rathlin or lona. The grave-mound at Lamlash yielded
remains of apparently the early ninth century : ^ the first
sacking of lona was in 802. Possibly before the great fleets
' Vol. i. p. 171.