The first referred to the long-vexed question whether the Scottish colony of Alba should still be considered dependent on the mother country.

The saint, foreseeing the annoyances to which a continuance of this dependence must give rise, advised that it should be henceforth respected as an independent state.
The second question was one of less importance in the abstract, but far more difficult to settle satisfactorily.

The bards, or more probably persons who wished to enjoy their immunities and privileges without submitting to the ancient laws which obliged them to undergo a long and severe course of study before becoming licentiates, if we may use the expression, of that honorable calling, had become so numerous and troublesome, that loud demands were made for their entire suppression.
The king, who probably suffered from their insolence as much as any of his subjects, was inclined to comply with the popular wish, but yielded so far to the representations of St.Columba, as merely to diminish their numbers, and place them under stricter rules.
Hugh Ainmire was killed while endeavouring to exact the Boromean Tribute.

The place of his death was called Dunbolg, or the Fort of the Bags.

The Leinster king, Bran Dubh, had recourse to a stratagem, from whence the name was derived.