The Vision of Adamnán
Gaelic literature
Also known as: “Fís Adamnáín”, “Fisadamnain”
- Irish:
- Fís Adamnáín
The Vision of Adamnán, in the Gaelic literature of Ireland, one of the earliest and most outstanding medieval Irish visions. This graceful prose work dates from the 10th century and is preserved in the later The Book of the Dun Cow (c. 1100). Patterned after pagan voyages (immrama) to the otherworld, The Vision of Adamnán vividly describes the journey of Adamnán’s soul—guided by an angel—first through a delightful, fragrance-filled heaven, through the seven stages through which a sinful soul passes to reach perfection, and then through the monster-ridden Land of Torment. The work is often attributed, erroneously, to St. Adamnan, the abbot of Iona.