Adamnan was then at the head of the church of Iona, the first elder of that religious house. He was virtuous and learned, but weak and somewhat vain, and his religion had little spirituality. To gain him was in the eyes of Rome to gain Scotland. A singular circumstance favoured the plans of those who desired to draw him into the papal communion. One day during a violent tempest, a ship coming from the Holy Land, and on board of which was a Gaulish bishop named Arculf, was wrecked in the neighbourhood of Iona.[92] Arculf eagerly sought an asylum among the pious inhabitants of that island. Adamnan never grew tired of hearing the stranger's descriptions of Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and Golgotha, of the sun-burnt plains over which our Lord had wandered, and the cleft stone which still lay before the door of the sepulchre.[93] The elder of Iona, who prided himself on his learning, noted down Arculf's conversation, and from it composed a description of the Holy Land. As soon as his book was completed, the desire of making these wondrous things more widely known, combined with a little vanity, and perhaps other motives, urged him to visit the court of Northumberland, where he presented his work to the pious King Alfred,[94] who, being fond of learning and of the Christian traditions, caused a number of copies of it to be made. [92] Vi tempestatis in occidentalia Britanniæ littora delatus est. Beda, lib. v, cap. xvi. [93] Lapis qui ad ostium monumenti positus erat, fissus est. (Ibid. cap. xvii.) The stone which was laid at the door of the sepulchre is now cleft in two. [94] Porrexit autem librum tunc Adamnanus Alfrido regi. Ibid. cap. xvi. [Sidenote: RESISTANCE OF IONA.] Nor was this all: the Romish clergy perceived the advantage they might derive from this imprudent journey. They crowded round the elder; they showed him all the pomp of their worship, and said to him: "Will you and your friends, who live at the very extremity of the world, set yourselves in opposition to the observances of the universal church?"[95] The nobles of the court flattered the author's self-love, and invited him to their festivities, while the king loaded him with presents. The free presbyter of Britain became a priest of Rome, and Adamnan returned to Iona to betray his church to his new masters. But it was all to no purpose: Iona would not give way.[96] He then went to hide his shame in Ireland, where having brought a few individuals to the Romish uniformity, he took courage and revisited Scotland. But that country, still inflexible, repelled him with indignation.[97] [95] Ne contra universalem ecclesiæ morem, cum suis paucissimis et in extremo mundi angulo positis, vivere præsumeret. Beda, lib. v, cap. xvi. [96] Curavit suos ad eum veritatis calcem producere, nec voluit. Beda, lib. v. cap. xvi.