Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum

Chapter XXIV (Continued)

Other Distinguished Scholars of Our Gaedhlic Schools

“I’d rather turn one simple verse
True to the Gaelic ear,
Than classic odes I might rehearse
With Senates list’ning near.”

—M‘Gee.

I.—Gaedhlic Scholars of the Sixth and Seventh Centuries.

Besides Cennfaeladh and Cormac Mac Cullinan, there were from the sixth to the seventh century at least twelve or thirteen other Gaedhlic writers, whose names cannot be passed over without some notice in a work like this. Our account of these writers, however, must necessarily be very brief, for in many cases little or nothing is known of the history of their lives, and to a great extent their writings are still unpublished. O’Curry453 and O’Reilly454 are the two principal authorities in this part of our subject.

The first on O’Curry’s list is Amergin Mac Awley (Amalgaidh), the author of the celebrated work known as the Dinnsenchus. This ancient and highly interesting topographical poem was, it is said, compiled at Tara, so early as the year A.D. 550, that is, during the reign of Diarmaid Mac Cearbhaill, but it has certainly received some additions from later hands.

Amergin himself is described as chief poet of that monarch; but according to O’Reilly, he must not be confounded with another Amergin Mac Awley, who flourished towards the end of the seventh century, and was the author of some law tracts, copies of which are still extant in the library of Trinity College. The Dinnsenchus has been recently published in fac simile by Professor Atkinson of Trinity College. The work is specially interesting and valuable on account of the incidental historical references, which it contains, and the topographical information which it supplies. The stories themselves, though in many instances far-fetched and improbable, are not without their value in illustrating the habits and thoughts of our Celtic ancestors. Copies of this ancient tract are found in the Book of Leinster, the Book of Ballymote, and there is also an imperfect copy in the Book of Leacan, which shows the value that was set upon it by our ancient scholars. The published fac simile copy is taken from the Book of Leinster.

Of Dallan Forgaill, who flourished towards the end of the sixth century, we have already spoken in connection with the Columbian Schools. Besides the Amhra Cholumchille, which is still extant, Dallan also composed an Amhra, or Elegy, on the death of St. Senan, or Senanus, of Scattery Island, in the estuary of the Shannon. He was recognised during his life as chief poet of all Erin, and he appears to have been on terms of friendly intimacy with Columcille. His death is said to have taken place in A.D. 598, shortly after that of Columcille himself.

Senchan Torpeist, then a young poet of known talents, was called upon to pronounce the usual bardic elegy on the death of the Chief Poet of Erin, and acquitted himself so creditably that he was unanimously chosen to take the vacant chair of Dallan Forgaill.455 He was not insensible to the responsibilities of his high office; and hence, according to the account in the Book of Leinster, shortly after his acceptance of the post of chief poet, he called a meeting of all the Files of Erin in order that they might take measures to recover the lost work known as the Cuilmenn, and which, it appears, contained the only complete copy of the celebrated historical tale known as the Tain bo Chuailgne. How it was recovered is told in prose by O’Curry, and by Ferguson456 in a poem of marvellous imaginative power, which might have been fitly pronounced, if written in Gaedhlic, by Senchan himself. Senchan flourished during the first half of the seventh century, and though his travelling school was a large one, he appears to have always found a welcome in the court of the King Guaire the Hospitable, who dwelt at Durlus, near Gort, in the county Galway. O’Reilly says that one of Senchan’s poems, in which he celebrates the victories of Fergus Mac Roy, is still extant in the Book of Leacan.

II.—Gaedhlic Scholars of the Ninth and Tenth Centuries.

The ninth was more remarkable than the eighth century for Gaedhlic scholars of distinction. Of these one of the most celebrated was Maelmura of Fathan, called also Maelmura of Othan, for it is the same name when the letter F is aspirated and omitted as silent in the pronunciation. Maelmura merely means servant of Mura, the patron saint of Fathan. The parish of Fahan, which takes its name from St. Mura’s ancient monastery near the village, is situated on the eastern shore of Lough Swilly, under the shadow of Slieve Snaght, the loftiest mountain of Inishowen. The death of Maelmura is noticed by the Four Masters, A.D. 884, and he is described as “a truly intelligent poet, and erudite historian in the Scotic language.” The Masters also quote a rann, which declares that—

“There trod not the charming earth, there never flourished at affluent Tara,
The great and fertile Erin never produced a man like the mild fine Maelmura;
There sipped not death without sorrow, there mixed not a nobler face with the dead;
The habitable earth did not close over a historian more illustrious.”

These testimonies are extracted from the Leabhar Gabhala of the O’Clerys, and sufficiently show the estimation in which Maelmura was held by our ancient Celtic scholars.

There is a poem published in the Irish Nennius,457 which is attributed to Maelmura, and which really appears to be a composition of very considerable merit. The language is very striking, and the Gaedhlic original has a stately rhythm, as well as much vigour both of thought and language. It contains 335 lines, and purports to give poetical account of the origin of the Gaedhil, “men of high renown in stiff battles, whom the mighty stream of Ocean wafted hither to Erin.” These epithets are quite Homeric, and are not lavished with the prodigality too common to our Irish bards, but employed with discriminating intelligence to lend a poetic vigour to the historical narration. There is another poem of Maelmura quoted by O’Reilly in praise of Tuathal Techtmar, whom he describes with similar vigour as a flowing ocean, in strength a lion, a wily serpent, and a wounding warrior.

In another poem he gives a catalogue of all the monarchs, of Erin from this Tuathal to Flann Sionna, the reigning king in his own time. It is highly probable that Maelmura was educated at the monastic School of Fahan, which from its foundation by St. Mura seems to have been a very celebrated establishment. The founder’s Book and Bell were long treasured as precious relics in Inishowen.

Flann Mac Lonan was another celebrated historical poet, who flourished during the latter half of the ninth century. He appears to have been a native of South Connaught, and held the high office of Chief Poet of Erin during the earlier years of the reign of Flann Sionna. He is described as Flann O’Guaire in the Annals of Ulster; and the Genealogies of the Hy-Fiachrach represent him as ninth in descent from Guaire Aidhne, the celebrated king of the Southern Hy-Fiachrach, who flourished during the first half of the seventh century. It was from the same stock that the O’Clerys derived their descent, so that a love of poetry and history seems to have been hereditary in that tribe. It is evident also from the writings of Flann that he was patronised by Lorcan, king of Thomond, the grandfather of Brian Boru, and also by his son, Cinnedigh, the father of the hero of Clontarf. This King-poet, as he is called, met with an untimely end. He was assassinated by the Ui Fothaith at Loch-Dachaech in Desmond. Loch-Dachaech, the Lake of the two Blind Men, appears to be a part of the estuary of Waterford Harbour;458 but what motive can have instigated the sons of Corrbuidhe to murder the harmless poet does not appear. He is described by the Four Masters as the Virgil of the race of Scota—the Milesian Irish—Chief Poet of the Gaedhil, and the best poet that was in Ireland in his time. The Annals of Ulster give the true date of his death at A.D. 895, where they record how “Flann, son of Lonan O’Guaire, was slain by the Desi of Munster.”

Copies of three poems written by Flann still remain in manuscript. The first is a poem of eighty-eight verses, celebrating a great victory, which Lorcan of Kincora gained over Flann Sionna, the King of Erin. The second also, containing forty-eight verses, celebrates the warlike exploits of the same hero, and the third describes his royal residence of Kincora so rich in wealth, and harvest stores, and so beautifully situated on the Shannon just where Lough Derg contracts its waters to force a passage through the hills of Ara to the sea.

The two most distinguished poet-historians of the tenth century were Cinaeth O’Hartigan and Eochaidh O’Flinn. Cinaeth is described by Tighernach as the chief of the learned men of Leath Cuinn. He was also Chief Poet of Erin, and was the son of Cernach the Haughty,459 who was grandson of Aedh Slaine, High King of Tara. Sprung from the royal race of the Southern Hy-Niall, it was only natural that Cinaeth should devote his talents to celebrate the ancient glories of the then deserted Tara, and of the heroes and heroines who once thronged its waste and silent halls. These poems are preserved in the Dinnsenchus, and are especially valuable for the information they contain with reference to Tara and the reign of Cormac Mac Art. He also gives an account of the origin of Aicill, and of the Book which takes its name from the hill, and has been published in the third volume of the Brehon Law series.460

Eochaid O’Flinn was a still more celebrated poet-historian, and it is quite evident from the care that was taken to preserve his numerous compositions that his works were very highly valued by all our ancient Celtic scholars. We find copies of his poems in the collections at all the great schools, and preserved by our greatest scholars. They are to be found in the Dinnsenchus, the Book of Invasions, the Book of Leacan, the Book of Ballymote, the Book of Glendaloch, as well as in several other compilations and manuscripts. One of the most important of these is a chronological poem contained both in the Book of Leinster and the Book of Leacan, in which the writer gives a list of the Ulster Kings from Cimbaoth to Fergus Fogha. Tighernach recognises the historical authority of this poem, which he follows in his own great work, and which, so far as it goes, seems to have been his chief source of information both for his facts and his dates, at least as regards the kings of Emania.461 In another poem he gives an interesting account of the invasion of Ireland by Partholanus, which has been copied into the Book of Invasions by the O’Clerys.

Keating, too, borrows largely from the poems of O’Flinn, of which a very full list may be seen in O’Reilly’s Writers,462 but which it is unnecessary for us to reproduce here. We must not suppose that O’Flinn and his contemporaries drew largely on their imagination for the contents of those poems. They did nothing of the kind. They simply put in form the bardic traditions that were handed down in writing with the greatest care from time immemorial. If they had dared to invent anything new to their learned contemporaries, they would at once have been dismissed from the office of Chroniclers of Erin, and would besides have been severely punished. It is evident, too, that they had earlier documents which they made use of in the composition of their own poems, but which were all unfortunately lost during the Danish invasions. There was, however, always a regular succession of these poets whose duty it was to get by rote the historical traditions of their predecessors, which were thus preserved for posterity.

III.—Gaedhlic Scholars of the Eleventh Century.

Mac Liag, Secretary of Brian Boru, held that office during the reign of Brian in the kingdom of Thomond, and his extant work—The Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill—shows how thoroughly and conscientiously he discharged his official duties. It was one of the very earliest compositions of this character written in prose; but when he wishes to be particularly eloquent and impressive, and rise to the dignity of some great theme, he has recourse to poetry. To record the events of his own time in Thomond was not, however, his only duty and his only task, although it was undoubtedly his primary work, for the vigorous and warlike Brian kept his hands as a contemporary chronicler pretty full of work. His ‘Lament’ for Brian after the battle of Clontarf is one of the most beautiful and pathetic poems to be found in any language. Even Clarence Mangan could not reproduce all the touching pathos of the original.

“Oh, where, Kincora! is Brian the Great?
And where is the beauty that once was thine?
Oh, where are the princes and nobles that sate
At the feast in thy halls and drank the red wine?

“They are gone, those heroes of royal birth,
Who plundered no churches, and broke no trust,
’Tis weary for me to be living on earth,
When they, oh, Kincora, lie low in the dust.

“I am Mac Liag, and my home is on the Lake;
Thither often to that palace whose beauty is fled,
Came Brian to ask me, and I went for his sake,
Oh, my grief that I should live and Brian be dead.”

Neither Colgan, Keating, nor the Four Masters expressly name Mac Liag as the author of the Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill.463 Dr. Todd, the editor of that work in the Rolls Series, declares that Dr. O’Connor had no sufficient authority to justify him in attributing the work to Mac Liag, and declines to do so himself, although he admits that the work was originally compiled by one, who was either an eye-witness of the battle of Clontarf, or who had certainly derived his information from those who were eye-witnesses. Our own opinion is that although there is no direct evidence to prove that the book was written by Mac Liag, the circumstantial evidence, to which we cannot now refer at length, is entirely in favour of that supposition.

This work is exceedingly valuable as the trustworthy record of a contemporary writer during one of the most important epochs of Irish history, and its careful perusal will be found to throw much light on the history of that period. The author is much too fond of indulging in high-flown descriptions, and of unduly multiplying bombastic compounds. But, on the other hand, notwithstanding this wordiness, he frequently writes in a spirit of genuine eloquence, as for instance when he describes the Danish oppression in Ireland, and “the excess of their thirst and hunger for the brave, fruitful, nobly-inhabited, cataractful rivers and bays, and for the pure, smooth-plained, sweet-grassy land of Erinn.” He tells how, if there were but one milk-giving cow in the house, she durst not be milked for an infant of one night, nor for a sick person, but must be kept for the steward, or bailiff, or soldier of the foreigners. And however long he might be absent from the house, his share or his supply durst not be lessened; “although there was in the house but one cow, it must be killed for the meal of one night, if the means of a supply could not otherwise be procured.”464

But the good sword of King Brian soon changed all that. “He conquered, exterminated, enslaved, and bondaged them, so that there was not a winnowing sheet from Benn Edair to Tech Duinn in Western Erin, that had not a foreigner in bondage on it, nor was there a quern without a foreign woman. So that no son of a soldier, or of an officer of the Gaedhil, deigned to put his hand to a flail, or any other labour on earth; nor did a woman deign to put her hands to the grinding of a quern, or to knead a cake, or to wash her clothes, but had a foreign man or a foreign woman to work for them.”465

This is no doubt a highly-coloured description, but it is graphic in its details, and gives us valuable information as to the state of social life at that period.

Equally graphic and interesting is the sketch which Mac Liag gives of the great achievements of Brian Boru. He tells how after Brian’s royal visitation throughout Erin, all his enemies were brought into subjection, and the country enjoyed a period of profound peace and much-needed repose. He enforced the law with a strong hand, and repressed trespass, robbery, and murder. ‘He hanged, killed and destroyed’ all thieves, robbers, and plunderers throughout Erin. He banished or enslaved the foreigners throughout the length and breadth of the land—their stewards and collectors, their swordsmen and their mercenaries, their tall and comely youths, and their fair and graceful maidens became the bond-servants of the victors. It was then that Erin enjoyed such peace and security that a lone woman journeyed from Tory Island in the north to Cliodhna’s loud-voiced wave in the south of Erin, carrying a golden ring on the top of the wand; yet no man ventured to rob, or to insult her. This blessed period of justice and peace, so rare in Erin, has been celebrated both by ancient and by modern bards.466

Nor was Brian less enlightened and munificent in cultivating the arts of peace. He erected many noble churches and church towers in Erin, as at Killaloe, Iniscaltra, and Tuam Greine, where the remains of the buildings erected by Brian are still to be seen. He constructed several bridges, causeways, and high roads. He strengthened all the royal fortresses of Munster both in the islands and on the mainland. He sent professors and masters to teach wisdom and knowledge, also to buy books in foreign countries, and bring them home from beyond the great sea. This was all the more necessary as the writings and the books in every church and sanctuary of Erin where they were, were all burned or thrown into the lakes and rivers by the plundering Danes. It was Brian himself, who from his own resources gave the means of purchasing this new supply of books beyond the seas.

Such was Brian Boru, a hero in peace and in war, the sword and shield of his country, during whose glorious reign Ireland reached the zenith of her power and prosperity. Mac Liag died shortly after his royal master in A.D. 1016.

Cuan O’Lochain was another very celebrated scholar who flourished during the first quarter of the eleventh century. His writings, his talents as a statesman, and his tragic end have all contributed to his celebrity. The family which derived its descent from Cormac Gaileng, son of Tadhg, grandson of Ollioll Olum, was at first settled in the territory of Ely; but afterwards removed to Gailenga Mor, on the borders of Meath and Longford. This territory took its name from Cormac Gaileng, and retains it to the present day in the name of the barony of Morgallion, which is merely another form of Gailenga Mor. It appears that the O’Lochains were chiefs of this district, and that the poet’s family was held in high esteem in Meath.

After the death of King Malachy II. (Maelseachlainn), in the year A.D. 1022, an interregnum of twenty years intervened, during which there was no recognised High King of Erin. A joint government was established during the interregnum; and it is said the regency was administered by Cuan O’Lochain, the Chief Poet of Erinn, and Corcran the Cleric; or, as it is quaintly put in Macgeoghegan’s Annals of Clonmacnoise—“A.D. 1022—After the death of King Moylesleaghlyn, this kingdom was without a king for twenty years, during which time the realm was governed by two learned men, the one called Cwan O’Lochan, a well-learned temporall man, and chiefe poet of Ireland; the other, Corcran Cleireagh, a devout and holy man, that was chief anchorite of all Ireland, whose most abiding was at Lismore. The land was governed like a free state, and not like a monarchie by them.” It is curious that we find no reference to this interregnum in any of our Annals, and hence the truth of Macgeoghegan’s statement has been questioned by certain writers. But O’Curry shows467 that the same statement is made in the Book of Leinster, an almost contemporaneous record, although it is there stated, probably by a mistake of the scribe, that this joint government continued for forty or fifty instead of for twenty years.

It was the form of government, however, not the two governors themselves, which continued for twenty years, for the poet-regent was soon slain by the men of Teffia on the borders of his native territory in the County Longford. The sword of justice, which the great Brian had wielded so well, was broken at Clontarf and buried in the hero’s grave. Once more outrage and lawlessness with the evil spirit of discord spread throughout the land. We know not the motive or circumstances of this great crime perpetrated by the men of Teffia, but Providence itself avenged the poet’s death. According to one authority468 God manifestly wrought a poet’s power upon the parties who killed him, for they were put to a cruel death, and their bodies putrified until the wolves and vultures devoured them—a fitting end for the wretches who violated the sacred person of the poet. Macgeoghegan says that he was killed by one of the land of Teffia, and he most probably had heard the living local tradition; “after committing which evil fact, there grew an evil scent and odour of the party that killed him, so that he was easily known amongst the rest of the land. His associate Corcran lived yett, and survived him for a long time after”—that is until A.D. 1040.469

O’Curry gives a very full account of six historical poems of which Cuan O’Lochain was the author. One of them to which we have already referred470 gives an exceedingly interesting account of Cormac Mac Art, and of his great palace at Tara, which the poet describes with great fidelity and minuteness. It has been printed in Petrie’s Antiquities of Tara Hill. Another highly interesting poem of O’Lochain gives an account of the ‘prohibitions’ and ‘prerogatives’ of the High King of Tara, and the provincial sub-kings. This poem may be seen in the Book of Rights, edited by O’Donovan. Some of the prohibitions certainly savour of a pagan and superstitious origin, as, for instance, when the High King is forbidden to alight on the plain of Bregia on a Wednesday, or to traverse Cuillenn after sunset, or to launch a ship on the Monday after May-day. But his privileges are innocent enough—to have the salmon of the Boyne, which was a royal river; to eat the fruit of Man, and the deer of Luibnech; to get the bilberries of Bri-Leith, and the cresses of the river Brosnach; to drink of the spring water of Tlachtga, and hunt the hares of Naas. Cuan’s legendary poems on the Shannon are also highly interesting, but we cannot refer to them further at present.

Errard Mac Coisé was chief poet to King Malachy II., who died in A.D. 1022, and hence he was a contemporary both of Mac Liag and Cuan O’Lochain. Both Mac Liag and Mac Coisé were natives of Hy-Many, in the County Galway, and appear to have been rivals in genius, but intimate friends and associates in social intercourse. One of Mac Coisé’s most interesting works is a poetic dialogue between the two poets, which reveals their friendship, their talents, and their common love for the history and antiquities of Erin. He appears to have died the year after his royal master in A.D. 1023.

Flann of the Monastery, is, perhaps, the most justly celebrated of all those poet-historians of ancient Erin. O’Reilly calls him “Abbot of the Monastery of Bute,” and gives a list of fourteen considerable historical poems still extant in manuscript, of which he is the reputed author. It does not appear, however, that Flann was either an abbot or a monk in holy orders, although he certainly sojourned and taught at Monasterboice, in the County Louth, just as his contemporary, Conn-na-m-Bocht, did at Clonmacnoise. The death of Flann is marked in the Chronicon Scotorum at A.D. 1054; and he is described as Ferlegind, or professor of the monastery, and “the last sage of the Gaedhil both in reading and history.” In the Annals of Ulster he is called Chief-lector of Monasterboice and historical sage—sai senchusa—of Erin, under date of A.D. 1056, which is the true date. The Four Masters also describe him as a lector of the monastery of Buite, and the ‘paragon’—sai egna—of the Gaedhil in literature, in history, in poetry and in science. There is no doubt that here we have a complete list of the subjects taught in what may be called the schools of general literature in ancient Erin. In the Book of Aicill,471 as we have already seen, it is expressly stated that Cennfaeladh attended three schools in Tuaim Drecain, a School of Literature (leigind), a School of Law (feinechais), and a School of Poetry (filidechta); these schools were held in different houses, and taught by three different professors. Cennfaeladh was a soldier, and, therefore, a layman, and hence there is no reference here to a School of Divinity, of the Canons, or of the Scriptures. In the subjects taught by Flann at Monasterboice we find no reference to the feinechas or Brehon Laws, because there does not appear to have been a School of Law in the Monastery of Buite. But there was clearly a School of General Literature, and a School of Poetry, and although Flann is described as chief professor in the former school, he is also said to have been—and his writings prove that he was—an accomplished poet. As Ferlegind, it is clear that his duty was to teach classics, including in that term the vernacular Gaedhlic tongue; for it is described as one of the four principal languages of the world. These are Gaedhlic, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. We have already furnished abundant proofs of the cultivation both of Latin and Greek in our Irish schools; and they tried their hand at Hebrew also, but we cannot say much for their success in studying that difficult language, which was then almost entirely unknown in the Western Empire.

It is quite evident, too, that great attention was paid in these schools to the careful and systematic cultivation of the Gaedhlic tongue. This would be essential not only for the successful study of the classical languages, but also for success in the Schools of Poetry and of Law, on both of which so much attention was bestowed.

We have abundant evidence on this point. Besides those scholars already referred to as Ferlegind, in A.D. 937 is recorded by the Four Masters the death of “Finnachta, son of Ceallach, Comarb of Doire, bishop and doctor in the Bearla Feine.” This is the second bishop of Derry referred to in our Annals, and it will be observed that he is not described as bishop of Derry, but as comarb of Derry, i.e., of Columcille, who happened, on account of his merit, to be raised to the episcopal rank, although his official title is abbot of Doire-Columcille. It is evident that he must have been a man of great learning, especially in native literature, as he is described as a saoi, or doctor, in the bearla-feine. O’Donovan thinks that by this is understood the ancient technical dialect of the Brehon Code, and Thady O’Roddy translates the expression as “the law or lawyers’ dialect.” Zeuss472 with more probability regards it as the ancient written tongue of the Men of Erin, which, in process of time, became corrupted, and varied into different dialects. The ancient tongue of the Men of Erin was, as the evidence of the glosses in existing MSS. proves, a language which, in the words of Zeuss,473 was a language regulated by fixed rules and determinate inflections. It was the language of the bards and scholars up to the ninth century, but the ravages of the Danes, and the breaking up of the ancient monarchy caused various dialects to spring up, and destroyed the fixity and purity of the ancient tongue of the Feine. There were, however, still many scholars who gloried in cultivating the pure and ancient language of Erin—the language of its Bards, its Brehons, and its Sages—and these men came to be regarded in course of time as recognised authorities on the ancient tongue, and hence were called saoi, or sages, in language. Such was Finnachta, abbot of Derry, and successor of Columcille; and such also was Flann, of whom we have just been speaking.

It is clear, however, that Flann cultivated the study both of our native and general history with marked success, so that he came to be recognised as one of our highest authorities both by his contemporaries and by his successors. O’Curry474 gives a very full and interesting account of Flann’s most important work—the historical Synchronisms. We need not discuss the subject here beyond observing that this treatise by itself furnishes a clear proof of the wide range of historical studies cultivated in the schools of ancient Erin. The work is, in fact, as O’Curry observes, an abridgment of universal history, and certainly goes to show that the author was not only an accomplished Gaedhlic scholar, but also that he must have been familiar with the principal Greek and Latin historians, both pagan and Christian.

Of Flann’s personal history little is known. He was of Munster extraction, but seems to have been a native of Eastern Bregia, where his great ancestor Tadhg, son of Cian, son of Ollioll Olum, had established himself as early as the third century of the Christian era. We need not enter into any details regarding his historical poems.475 Although highly interesting these subjects will never become popular, until the study of our ancient Gaedhlic tongue shall be more generally cultivated both in our schools and in our homes. Most of these poems are preserved in the Book of Leinster, and several of them are to be found in the other great Gaedhlic repositories of our ancient literature. It would be difficult, says O’Curry, to over-estimate the historical value of some of those poems. “They are precisely the documents that supply life and the reality of details to the blank dryness of our skeleton pedigrees. Many a name lying dead in our genealogical tracts, and which has found its way into our condensed chronicles and annals, will be found in these poems, connected with the death, or associated with the brilliant deeds, of some hero whose story we should not willingly lose; while, on the other hand, many an obscure historical allusion will be illustrated, and many an historical spot, as yet unknown to the topographer, will be identified, when a proper investigation of these and other great historical poems preserved in the Book of Leinster shall be undertaken as a part of the serious study of the history and antiquities of our country.”476

Flann’s monastery and school were founded about the beginning of the sixth century by St. Buite or Boetius, who, like Flann himself was sprung from the race of Ollioll Olum, and is said to have died on the same day (December 7, A.D. 521) on which St. Columba was born. He travelled much in Italy, Germany, and Britain and then returned to found a monastery which was to be the place of his resurrection, in his native district. Though founded so early in the fertile plains of Louth, we do not find that St. Buite’s monastery produced any distinguished scholars down to the period of Flann himself, whose learning has made it so celebrated. That it was, however, always a place of considerable wealth and influence is sufficiently proved by the highly interesting remains which still exist at Monasterboice. These include a portion of the walls of two very ancient oratories, a round tower, and two sculptured High Crosses, one of which, locally known as St. Boyne’s Cross, is considered to be one of the very finest of its class in Ireland.

Of Gilla Coemhain, whose latest poem was written in A.D. 1072, it is unnecessary to speak at length. Like Flann and Mac Liag, he was a historical poet and a cultured Gaedhlic scholar. A Chronological Poem composed by Gilla Coemhain, in A.D. 1072, has recently been published with a translation by Dr. Whitley Stokes.477 The reader will readily perceive that the author of this poem was a writer of considerable culture and of very general information.

IV.—Discipline of the Lay Colleges.

The discipline in our ancient schools was neither so elaborate nor so minute as in modern seminaries; still in many respects it was perhaps more satisfactory. In the monastic schools the great principle of obedience was the fundamental rule, the observance of which from a sense of religious duty rendered the observance of all other rules easy and even pleasant.

But in the lay professional schools, of which we have already spoken, the law took formal cognisance of the relations between the professor and his pupils. It established the general principles which were to guide these relations, and severely punished any grievous infraction of these principles.

In the Senchus Mor478 we find the following important passage:—“The social connection that is considered between the foster-pupil, and the literary foster-father is, that the latter is to instruct him without reserve, and to prepare him for his degree, and to chastise him without severity; to feed and to clothe him whilst he is learning his lawful profession, unless he obtains it (food and clothing) from another person—and such has been the custom from the school of Fenius Forsaidh onwards. On the other hand, the foster-pupil is to assist his tutor in poverty, and to support him in his old age and (to give him) the honour price of the degree for which he is being prepared, and all the gains of his art whilst he is learning it, and the first earning of his art after leaving the house of his tutor; and moreover, the literary foster-father has power of judgment, and proof, and witness, upon his foster-pupil, as the father has upon his son, and the Church upon the tenant of the Church lands.”

The principles enumerated in this passage are eminently just in themselves; they were well suited to the circumstances of the times, and admirably calculated to put down a mercenary spirit, and foster the growth of tender affection between the pupils and their master. As we have already shown, the professional schools were to a great extent peripatetic; and when actually on their rounds the pupils were to be fed, and lodged, and taught by the master. He was bound to communicate all his knowledge and all his art, both theoretical and practical, to his pupils without reserve; and thus prepare them for their professional degree or formal admission to the ranks of the Bards, Brehons, Chroniclers, or Readers, as the case might happen to be. He might chastise the pupil for misconduct, but in so doing the teacher was not to be unduly severe, so as to cause injury to the mind or body of his scholar. He was also to supply him with food, clothing, and lodging, except provision were otherwise made for these purposes. The law even prescribes the quality of the food to which the pupil is entitled as a matter of right. No professor in ancient Erin could keep a Do-the-Boys Hall with impunity. The teacher was a literary foster-father, and as such, he was bound by the laws of fosterage to supply wholesome food in abundance to his pupils according to the rank of their parents. “What are their victuals? Stirabout (lithe) is given to them all, but the flavouring was to be different.” It was salt butter for the sons of inferior grades; fresh butter for the sons of chieftains; honey for the sons of kings. The stirabout of oat-meal might be made on water, or on butter-milk, or on new milk, and given to the different classes in like manner.

On the other hand the teacher, or professor, was amply provided for. That provision of the law which compelled the foster pupils to assist their tutors in poverty, and maintain them in old age, was an admirable institution, calculated to preserve the most kindly feelings between both all through their lives. Then the honour price of the degree, and the first fees earned after obtaining it, were no doubt considerable, in order to enable the professor to maintain his pupils at home, whenever they were not at free quarters during their learned excursions and other official visits.

Corporal punishment was certainly not unknown in the monastic schools, as well as in establishments of later date; it was sometimes found necessary to have recourse to corporal punishment even when dealing with young ‘saints.’ We are told in the Life of St. Colman Ela of Lynally in the King’s County, that he once punished St. Baithen, the nephew of St. Columcille and his successor in the abbacy of Hy, for neglecting his studies. The boy thereupon fled from the church, in which the school it seems, was taught, to the woods, no doubt, to hide, and avoid both his lessons and the chastisement of his master. There he saw a man building one of the circular wicker-work houses then very common, and observed that although he only worked one rod at a time, the wicker-wall rose up steadily to the roof. “Ah,” he said, “if I only learned a little each day, I too should grow learned.” Then he took shelter from a shower under the spreading branches of an oak tree. While standing beneath the boughs he observed a drop of water dripping from a leaf and falling on the ground. He made a hole with his heel on the spot where the drop was falling, and soon noticed that the hole was filled. Here he made a similar mental reflection, and, vowing that never again would he neglect his daily task, he returned to his master and grew up to be a very learned and a very holy man.479

We have not in the foregoing pages by any means exhausted the list of our ancient Schools and Scholars. But we have sought to notice all the more frequented schools, and the most celebrated scholars of ancient Erin, who flourished in their native land. It would require a separate volume to do justice to the history of the Irish monks, who bore the name and fame of Scotia to so many foreign countries, in which the memory of their virtues and their learning is still fondly cherished. In these pages, however, we have said enough to vindicate the right of ancient Erin to that glorious title, by which since the twelfth century she has been known to the scholars of all Europe—INSULA SANCTORUM ET DOCTORUM480—The Island of Saints and Scholars.

Footnotes

1 “It would be futile,” says O’Curry, “to attempt to give any close and detailed account of the state of education in this country before the Christian era.”—Lectures, vol. ii., page 49.

2 See Dr. O’Rorke’s excellent History of Sligo, vol. ii., page 7.

3 Cæsar, De Bello Gallico, Liber iv., c. 13 and 14.

4 Illi rebus divinis intersunt, sacrificia publica et privata procurant, religiones interpretantur.

5 Vol. ii., page 222.

6 See O’Curry’s Lectures, vol. ii., p. 203.

7 Folio 213b.

8 “Idola et immunda.”

9 “On Ireland’s folk lay darkness, the tribes worshipped fairies (side).” Line 21.

10 Tripartite, Stokes, p. 33.

11 See O’Curry, vol. ii., p. 209.

12 Tripartite, Stokes, p. 57.

13 Cæsar, De Bello Gallico.

14 Tripartite, p. 40.

15 At Tulach-na-Druadh.

16 See the account of the battle of Cuil-dreimhne.

17 See Introduction to Senchus Mor, p. 18.

18 Senchus Mor—Introduction. The ends of his fingers were probably employed to count the syllables and feet.

19 See Introduction to the Senchus Mor.

20 in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

21 Notably Ferguson and De Vere, with Mangan and T. D. M‘Gee.

22 Introduction to the Senchus Mor.

23 And also in the Book of Leinster.

24 “Ogham Inscribed Monuments.”

25 Page 373.

26 The Scottish Ogham stones, or at least some of them, certainly bear Christian symbols. See Anderson’s Lectures, 2nd Series, Lecture V.

27 Dr. Graves has proved that this score or key of the Ogham is correct by a priori reasoning, showing what ought to be the value of the symbols from the frequency of the recurrence of the letters which they represent in old Irish.

28 So vivid is the local tradition that a poor woman came and showed me the very spot on which the King was slain beside the well at which he stopped his horse to snatch a drink.

29 It was A.D. 218 according to Tighernach.

30 See O’Curry’s Lectures, vol. ii., page 14, and Keating, Reign of Tuathal Teachtmar.

31 See Petrie’s Antiquities of Tara Hill, p. 129.

32 i.e. The Book of the Ua Chongabhail. kept probably in ancient times at Kildare.

33 Lays of the Western Gael.

34 Apud Ciceronem Pro Domo Suâ, c. 3, and elsewhere.

35 Sedulius Episcopus Britanniæ (Strathclyde?) de genere Scotorum, huic constituto vobis promulgato subscripsi. Apud Labbeum. Vol. iv.

36 Dicuil, the Geographer, however, calls him ‘noster Sedulius,’ and he wrote in A.D. 825. See page 289.

37 His statement is worth quoting. “Sedulius presbyter natione Scotus, Hildeborti Scotorum Archiepiscopi ab ineunte aetate discipulus, vir in divinis scripturis exercitatus, et in saecularibus litteris eruditissimus, carmine excellens et prosa, amore discendi Scotiam relinquens, venit in Franciam, deinde Italiam perlustravit, et Asiam, postremo Achaiae finibus excedens in urbe Roma mirabili doctrina clarus eluxit.”

38 See Migne’s Patrologia Lat., vol. 19, page 440.

39 Ad Scotos in Christo credentes. Prosper (p. 43).

40 Sancto et Beatissimo patri Macedonio presbytero Sedulius in Christo salutem.

41 Jejuniis castigata, orationibus refecta, puritate mundissima.

42 In most of the MSS. copies of his works we find the following paragraph:—“Hoc opus Sedulius in certas chartulas dispersum reliquit, quod recollectum, adunatum, atque ad omnem elegantiam divulgatum est a Turcio Ruffo Asterio, viro claro, exconsule ordinario, atque patricio.”

43 “Sume, sacer meritis, veracis dicta poetae,
Quae sine figmenti condita sunt vitio.
Quo caret alma fides, quo sancti gratia Christi
Per quam justus ait talia Sedulius.”

Some critics suggest the reading:—

“Summe sacer meritis, veri accipe dicta poetae,”

which would leave no doubt that the epigram was addressed to Gelasius.

44 Liber xxvii. De Inst. Div. Lit.

45 L. 8. Carmen 9.

46 “Ambo pares lingua, florentes versibus ambo,
Fonte evangelico pocula larga ferunt,
Desine gentilibus ergo inseruisse poetis,
Dum bona tanta potes quid tibi Calliroem?”

47 Guilielmus Eysengrein in Catalogo anno 412.

48 Vol. xix.

49 The construction is too artificial to please the critics of our time, or to leave freedom of thought and language to the poet.

Primus ad ima ruit magna de luce superbus;
Sic homo cum tumuit primus ad ima ruit.

50 See Lib. ii., 1., 63 and 69. The whole passage, describing the Saviour’s miraculous birth, is very beautiful.

51 Haec tua perpetuae qui scripsi dogmata vitae
Corde, rogo, facias, Christe, manere meo;
Ut tibi quae placeant, tete faciente, requirens
Gaudia caelorum, te duce, Christe, metam.

52 O’Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints, vol. ii., p. 487.

53 Privata lectione evolvatur Sedulius antiquorum imitator, qui et verba Publii Maronis et contexendi suavitatem a seculari ad sacrum argumentum, tum scite tum pie accomodavit; indignum sane est christianos poetas adeo negligi ut ne nomen quidem juventuti scholasticae sit cognitum. Walch, His. Crit., cap. 10, n. 7.

54 Ipse mutus latrat per Albinum (in some MSS. Alpinum) canem grandem et corpulentum, et qui calcibus magis saevire possit quam dentibus; habet enim progeniem Scotticae gentis de Brittanorum vicinia.—Praef. in Lib. iii., Jeremiæ.

55 Epist. 185, No. 1.

56 Carmina.

57 Commonitorium.

58 Propter acrimoniam et facundiam.

59 “Omni Deum desideranti necessarias.”

60 Tacitus, Agricola, c. 24.

61 It is clear from his own confession that Britain (Brittaniae) was his native country (patria); but Britain then included Scotland.

62 He became familiar with the Irish language, but it was, as he himself implies, at the expense of the vernacular, which in his case was the provincial Latin, a corrupt dialect.

63 Legends of St. Patrick, by Aubrey de Vere.

64 This is manifest from the Confession—Et iterum post paucos annos eram in Britannis cum parentibus meis.

65 The Tripartite says that “Caelestinus, Abbot of Rome, read Orders over Patrick,” and the Scholiast on Fiacc’s Hymn, says that Germanus said, “Go to Caelestinus that he may confer Orders upon thee, for he is proper to confer them.”—Stoles’ Edition, vol. ii., 419.

66 Tripartite.

67 What is naturally just comes from the Holy Ghost, as the author of the Natural Law.

68 Aubrey de Vere, Legends of St. Patrick.

69 The Legends of St. Patrick, by Aubrey de Vere.

70 Almost every member of a family could play on the harp. See Gerald Barry’s Descriptio Kambriæ, p. 183.

71 Book of Armagh.

72 Tirechan’s Collections—“Et secum fuit multitudo episcoporum sanctorum, et presbiterorum, et diaconorum, ac exorcistarum, hostiarium, lectorumque, necnon filiorum quos ordinavit.”—Book of Armagh, fol. 9.

73 See Wasserschleben’s great collection, published at Leipzig, 1885.

74 See Todd’s St. Patrick, p. 457.

75 See Wasserschleben, page 61, Lib. xx., c. 5; Haddan and Stubbs, vol. ii., Part ii., page 332.

76 “Si vero in illa (Cathedra Patricii) cum suis sapientibus facile sanari non poterit causa praedictae negotionis, ad sedem Apostolicam decrevimus esse mittendam, id est, ad Petri Apostoli Cathedram, auctoritatem Romæ Urbis habentem.” “Hi sunt qui hoc decreverunt id est, Auxilius, Patricius, Secundinus, Benignus.”—See Stokes, p. 356, vol. ii.

77 See Stokes’ Tripartite, Vol. ii., page 507.

78 Tripartite, page 97.

79 Tripartite, page 75.

80 Scholiast on Fiacc’s Hymn.

81 Trip. p. 105, vol. i.

82 “Libros legis, evangelii libros, et reliquit eos in locis novis.” Book of Armagh, f. 9.

83 See “Tirechan’s Collections,” Book of Armagh, fol. 18, a2—“Ocus dubbert Patrice cumtach du Fiacc, idon, clocc, ocus menstir, ocus bachall, ocus poolire.”

84 Trip. vol. i., page 87.

85 See Du Cange, sub voce.

86 Benignus succeeded Sechnall as Coadjutor or Auxiliary Bishop.

87 For instance the Cotton MS. Nero. E. 1, fol. 171; and two in the Bodleian Fell. I., ff. 7a-11b and Fell. III., fol. 158-164.

88 “Nam sermo et loquela mea translata est in linguam alienam, sicut facile potest probari ex saliva scripturae meae.”—Confession.

89 Patrem habui Calpornum diaconum filium quendam Potiti filii Odissi presbyteri.

90 Deum verum ignorabam.

91 The strange phrase—“Repuli sugere mammellas corum”—seems to signify that he rejected the proferred intimate association with them. Mammella was used metaphorically as a term endearment, in classical Latin.

92 This is the opinion of Skene—Celtic Scotland, p 158. vol. i.

93 See Todd’s St. Patrick, p. 391.

94 “Et devastaverunt servos et ancillas domûs patris mei.”

95 The Decurio was under the Empire an official somewhat like a Mayor or Resident Magistrate.

96 Irish Preface to the Hymn.

97 It was first published in 1647 by Colgan from the Isidore MS., and then by Ware in his Opuscula S. Patritii. It is also published in Stoke’s Tripartite in the series of the Master of the Rolls.

98 For instance:—
“Maximus namque in regno cœlorum vocabitur,
Qui quod verbis docet sacris factis adimplet bonis:
Bono procedit exemplo formamque fidelium,
Mundoque in corde habet ad Deum fiduciam.”

99 See Krantz Danaiae Liber iv., c. 19.

100 “Hymnus quando Communicarent Sacerdotes.”

101 Tripartite Life.

102 We know from St. Paul that no person who has been twice married can be lawfully ordained.—1 Tim. iii. 2.

103 See Liber Hymnorum, vol. ii., page 287.

104 Scela and lini.

105 The entire passage is as follows:—“Timorem Dei habui ducem itineris mei per Gallias atque Italiam, etiam in insulis quae sunt in mari Tyrrheno—De Saeculo recessistis ad paradisum—Deo Gratias—Æcclesia Scotorum, imo Romanorum, ut Christiani ita et Romani sitis—Ut decantetur vobiscum oportet omni hora orationis vox illa laudabilis, Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison—Omnis æcclesia, quae sequitur me cantet, ‘Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Deo gratias.’”

106 In the early ages of the Church a bishop was placed over every town.

107 “Acta S. Patricii partim Latino, partim Hibernico Sermone.”

108 He says that Colgan’s argument furnishes a choice specimen of an undistributed middle term.

109 Strictly speaking, that building was a collection of cells, each of which was tenanted by three monks.

110 Petrie p. 161.

111 See Life of St. Moling, and of other saints.

112 Additional Notes, page 336.

113 Vita Brendani, cap. 14.

114 Cap. II., De Silentio.

115 “Cibus sit vilis et vespertinus.”

116 See I. Eccles. Record, Jan. 1865.

117 Regula., cap. 3.

118 “Votum Monasticum.”—Adamnan.

119 St. Patrick had, we are told, three maidens who were constantly employed on embroidery work for sacred purposes—one was his own sister, Lupait, another is called Cruimtheris, and the third was King Daire’s royal daughter.

“Beneath a pine three vestals sat close veiled:
A song these childless sang of Bethlehem’s child,
Low-toned, and worked their altar cloth, a Lamb,
All white, on golden blazon.”

Columcille, too, had his own special embroideress for working his vestments and altar cloths. She was called Coca, and has given her name to the ancient church of Kilcock, in the County Kildare, which she founded.* In the Book of Kells, too, we find examples of vestments in the ornamentation portrayed in the richest and most vivid colouring.

* See O’Curry, Manners and Customs, vol. iii., p. 123.

120 The Romans were those who enjoyed the rights of the Imperial citizenship, which at this time had come to be in reality a badge of slavery.

121 See the Salamanca MS., p. 161.

122 Benignus was, says the author of the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, an “adolescens facie decorus, vultu modestus, moribus integer, nomine uti et in re Benignus,” and his voice “cunctos oblectans.”

123 The full title of the work is De Excidio Britaniæ Liber Querulus.

124 “The penmanship is,” says Bishop Reeves, “of extreme elegance, and is admirable throughout for its distinctness and uniformity.”

125 “Ferdomnach hunc librum, dictante Torbach, herede Patricii scripsit.” The only word somewhat illegible is “Torbach.”

126 This is the only complete copy of the Scriptures of the New Testament, which has come down to our times from the Celtic Church of Ireland. The rest were all destroyed by the Danes.

127 The ornamentation is so minute and elaborate that Professor Westwood declares that he counted in the small space of three quarters of an inch long by less than half-an-inch in width, no fewer than 158 interlacements of a slender ribbon pattern!—Archæol. Journal, vol. x. p. 278.

128 If the nuns at Clonbroney, Co. Longford, were not before them.

129 Tripartite, page 37.—“Patrick went to Inver Boinde. He found a wizard in that place who mocked at Mary’s virginity. Patrick sained the earth, and it swallowed up the wizard.”

130 Aubrey de Vere, Legends of St. Patrick.

131 See O’Hanlon’s Life of St. Brigid.

132 She was in an especial manner the patroness of the ‘Sons of Reading,’ as students were then called; “and the Lord gives them, through Brigid’s prayer, every perfect good that they ask.”—Irish Life.

133 See Round Towers, page 203.

134 Dictionary of Christian Antiquities—‘Lamps.’

135 Dr. Todd was of opinion that the manuscript described by Gerald Barry must have been the Book of Kells, which might have been removed at that time to Kildare for safe custody. But there is no historical foundation for this conjecture.

136 Tripartite, p. 40.

137 O’Clery’s Martyrology.

138 Du Cange. See Dr. M‘Carthy’s able Paper in the Proceedings of the R.I.A., May, 1889. In the Tripartite (Stokes, p. 251), menister seems to mean the paten, and mias (quasi mensa) the altar-table.

139 It has been said that Ninian died A.D. 432; but as Skene observes, without any authority. See Celtic Scotland, vol. ii., p. 4.

140 “Proselytus Brito, homo sanctus, S. Patricii discipulus.” Secunda Praefatio, p. 6.

141 Four Masters, A.D. 922.

142 We believe this stream is a tributary of the Fane river, which in fact does come from the County Monaghan to Louth.

143 Ad Scotos in Christum credentos ordinatus a Papa Caelestino Palladius primus episcopus mittitur.

144 Hence the name Ailbe = ail-beo, “living under the rock.”

145 See Stokes’ Calendar of Ængus.—April 23rd.

146 In the Tripartite he is represented as founding Pallas Green in the Barony of Coonagh, co. Limerick.

147 See Kilk. Arch. Soc., vol. iv., New Series, page 90.

148 His father was son of Laei, son of Tadhg, son of Cian, son of Oilioll Olum. See Book of Rights, page 50, and page 103.

149 Others think Kilbanon was the church of ‘Benen, brother of Cethech,’ who is distinguished in the Tripartite from ‘Benen, successor of Patrick.’ This is highly probable.

150 Celtic Scotland, Book II, p. 44.

151 Histor. Eccles., Liber III., c. 4.

152 “Vade ad Brittaniam ad Rosnatum monasterium, et esto humilis discipulus Manceni, Magistri illius monasterii.” Vita S. Endei.

153 Lib. III. c. 4.

154 Primordia, page 1058.

155 Chron. Picts and Scots, page 56.

156 Trias Tham., page iii. note 67.

157 The word Rosnat simply means a sea-girt promontory, and would be equally applicable to Whithern and St. David’s Head.

158 Called also Bealagh-na-haite, from the overhanging cliffs.

159 In Irish Bealagh-na-fearback.

160 The lighthouse throws a red sector over the rock and shoal, which are also marked by a red buoy.

161 Admirably edited by Miss Stokes, to whom Irish scholars owe so much.

162 Aubrey de Vere’s Translation—Irish Odes and other Poems.

163 “In the Islands of the Tyrrhene Sea.”—Fiacc’s Hymn.

164 Confession, page 396, Vol. II., Rolls Series.

165 Loman was a Briton, and Scotha, mother of Fortchern, was also a Briton, perhaps a connection.

166 Loca Patriciana, page 152.

167 The Life in the Book of Lismore says that he was then thirty years of age, and that he had previously founded three churches in his native territory—Ross Cuire, Drumfiaid, and Magh Glass.

168 Gerald Barry seems to think the name meant the Valley of Roses, of which he says there were none—it should rather be called the Marble Valley.

169 See Itinerarium Cambriae, page 102.

170 See Tripartite, vol. ii., page 632.

171 See Loca Patriciana, page 204.

172 “His daily meal was a bit of barley bread and a drink of water. On Sundays and holidays it was wheaten bread and a piece of broiled salmon.”—Irish Life.

173 See the Irish Life in the Book of Lismore.

174 See Colgan’s Life of St. Columba of Tir-da-glas.

175 Regressus in Clonardiam
Ad cathedram lecturae,
Apponit diligentiam
Ad studium Scripturae.

—Hymn from St. Finnian’s Office.

176 Trium virorum millium
Sorte fit doctor humilis;
Verbi his fudit fluvium
Ut fons emanans rivulis.

177 The Irish Life also makes him son of Fintan.

178 The modern diocese of Meath is an aggregate of seven or eight ancient dioceses; hence it has no cathedral church, but takes its name from the ancient principality (Midhe) with which it is almost conterminous.

179 Leabhar Breac.

180 See Father D. O’Donoghue’s interesting Paper in the Journal of the R.S.A.I. for 1891, page 706.

181 Life of St. Ita.

182 See Latin Life of St. Brendan, edited by Cardinal Moran.

183 “Bute (Scotland) is said to derive its name from bothe, a cell, St. Branden having once made it the place of his retreat, and for the same reason, the natives of this isle, and also of Arran, have been sometimes styled Brandani.”—Pennant’s Tour in Scotland, vol. ii., 4th edition, Dublin, 1775, p. 164.

[This note was sent to us by the late lamented Mr. Hennessy.]

184 Annals of Clonmacnoise.

185 From the late W. M. Hennessy we received shortly before his lamented death the following note:—
“In an Irish MS. in Trinity College, Dublin (Class H. 1, 7), in a tract beginning on fol. 84, two poems are copied, the composition of which is ascribed to St. Brendan (obviously of Clonfert). The first, No. 7, begins—
An da Aodh mo dha Charaid
(The two Hughs, my two friends).

The second begins—

Beannacht an Choimhdhe chomachtaigh
(The blessing of the Almighty Lord).

This,” adds Mr. Hennessy, “is stated to be in praise of Aedh, King of Cashel; but there is no record of such a King of Cashel in the time of St. Brendan.” It is much more likely it refers to Aedh, King of Connaught, who gave Inchiquin to Brendan.

186 There are families near Clonfert, who bear this name at the present day.

187 Life of St. Tighernach.

188 Whiterne in sound for Irish ears is nearly the same as Futerne, the Latin being Futerna.

189 Some confound this St. Fursey with another Fursey, son of Lochan of the Dal-araidhe.

190 Fursey must have been very young, certainly not more than ten years of age, when Brendan died in A.D. 577.

191 We have made a minute examination of all this locality with the help of the Very Rev. J. Barrett, P.P., V.F.

192 To whom we are indebted for much information about Cummian.

193 Note to Archdall, sub voce, “Clonfert.”

194 There is a characteristic story of Cummian, Guaire, and Caimin, told by the scholiast on the Felire of Ængus. The three half brothers were at one time in Caimin’s Church of Inis Cealtra in Lough Derg. “What would you wish to have this Church filled with?” said Caimin to Guaire. “With silver and gold,” he replied, “that I might give it for my soul’s sake to saints and to churches, and to the poor.” “And you, Cummian, what would you have it filled with?” “I would have it full of books to instruct studious men, to enable them to preach the Gospel, and save souls,” said Cummian. Then they said, “But thou, Caimin, what would you wish to have in it?” “I would wish to have the full of it of diseases and sicknesses to afflict my body,” replied Caimin. And all three got their wish, “the earth to Guaire, wisdom to Cummian, and sickness and disease to Caimin;” and they all went to heaven in the way they wished.

195 Primo loco de observatione Paschae Domini, et uno die et uno tempore per omnem orbem a nobis observetur et juxta consuetudinem litteras ad omnes tu dirigas.

196 See Hefele. Councils, vol i., page 314. French Edition, 1869.

197 Was this Breacan of Dairinis, near Waterford, half-brother to Cummian? He might have been then at Hy.

198 Perhaps to Disert Chuimin, where he wrote: “Ut me ut nycticoracem in domicilio latitantem defenderem.” Epistola.

199 Skene says this “is the oldest authentic notice of St. Patrick.”—Celtic Scot., vol. ii., p. 17.

200 This is the synodical decree quoted in the Book of Armagh, and already referred to in this work at page 60. Its citation by Cummian so early as A.D. 640 is a clear proof that the Synod’s decrees are authentic.

201 Tome 87. Patr. Latina.

202 In some ancient MSS. Fada is written Fota, but it is the same word, meaning ‘Tall.’

203 Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, page 44.

204 And sometimes Ninian, because he was confounded with the original founder.

205 Book ii. c. i.

206 Le gach boin a boinin.

207 Cardinal Moran’s Essays, page 138.

208 Book of Rights, page 100, note.

209 See Chronicon Scotorum, compiled at Clonmacnoise.

210 Vita S. Ciarani.

211 This date of the Latin Life is quite accurate. The Dominical letter for that year is C.B.; therefore the 1st of January was on Friday, and the 23rd was Saturday; and the 9th of Sept. was also on Saturday. We cannot, however, now ascertain the exact day of the moon, for the old cycle was then in use.

212 Chronicon Scotorum. Anno 544.

213 Colgan says that some of the Druids continued in Ireland down to the eighth century, and were held in high esteem in certain parts of the country as poets and sheanachies.—Acta SS., page 149, n. 15.

214 See Dr. Monaghan’s interesting Records of Ardagh and Clonmacnoise.

215 One of the “Patres priores.”

216 “Cheranus Scottorum gloria gentis.”

217 This was the hide of the dun cow which Ciaran brought to Clonard where she gave milk to the Twelve Apostles of Erin.

218 Annals of Loch Cé.

219 See Lord Dunraven’s Notes.

220 See Professor Stokes’ Lectures.

221 It has been translated for Miss Stokes by Mr. O’Looney.

222 See Christian Inscriptions, page 79.

223 Epistola Albini Magistri ad Colcum Lectorem in Scotia—
Benedicto Magistro, et Pio Patri Colcuo Alcuine humilis levita salutem.

224 Acta Sanctorum, page 379.

225 Wars of the G. G. Introduction, xiv.

226 Four Masters, A.D. 840.

227 Professor Stokes repeats these mistakes in his Lectures—Celtic Church, page 200. Keating, however calls Cormac Archbishop of Cashel, which he certainly was not.

228 At his conference with Niall at Clonfert, Felim sat in the seat of the abbots as a token of his superiority over Niall, not as a bishop.

229 It is not unlikely that his family resided at Cluain Ui Braoin, now Cloonybrian, near Boyle.

230 See Lectures, page 127.

231 It was first published in 1807 by M. Walckenaer from two MSS. in the Imperial Library of Paris. In 1814, M. Letronne produced a still more learned and accurate edition, in which he shows the advantages that scholars may derive from a careful study of Dicuil’s work. It is entitled: Recherches Geographiques, et Critiques sur Le Livre “De Mensura Orbis Terrarum,” composé en Irlande au Commencement du Neuvième siècle par Dicuil.

232 It might be rendered a trustworthy brother.

233 See Smith’s Dictionary of Geography.

234 See Introd. to Celtic Scotland, page 3, vol. i.

235 See Reeves’ Adamnan, page 169, note.

236 See Bishop Reeves’ excellent edition of Adamnan’s Life of Columba.

237 See Reeves’ Adamnan, page lxix.

238 “By genealogy he had a natural right to the kingship of Ireland, and it would have been offered to him had he not put it from him for God’s sake.”—Life in the Book of Lismore.

239 It is more likely that his ordination took place after he left Glasnevin on his homeward journey.

240 This mistake led to important consequences. Columba not being himself a bishop found it necessary to have a bishop, subject to his jurisdiction, to perform episcopal functions in his monasteries. It was an unusual arrangement, as Bede declares, “Habere solet ipsa insula (Hy) rectorem semper abbatem presbyterum, cujus juri et omnis provincia, et etiam episcopi, ordine inusitato, debeant esse subjecti, juxta exemplum primi doctoris illius, qui non episcopus sed presbyter extitit et monachus.”—Bede, H.E. III. 4.

241 A.D. 545—“Daire Colum Cille fundata est” (recte, 546).

242 See the Felire of Ængus.

243 Notes to the Felire.

244 Fecerat autem priusquam Brittaniam veniret monasterium nobile in Hibernia, quod a copia roborum Dearmach linguâ Scottorum, i.e. Campus roborum cognominatur.—Book iii. 4.

245 The ‘Great House’ was perhaps the abbot’s residence. See Petrie’s Round Towers, page 431.

246 Ps. xc. verse 11.

247 See Reeves’ Adamnan, page 276.

248 Ibid, page 269.

249 Gilbert, National MSS., page 10.

[250] See Professor Stokes’ very interesting Lecture.

251 The Irish Life in the Book of Lismore indirectly implies that Kells was founded by St. Columba, as well as many other churches in Bregia.

252 Round Towers, page 437.

253 Four Masters.

254 At the Dissolution in A.D. 1539 the Book came into the hands of Gerald Plunket of Dublin, but he appears to have restored it to the monks of Kells.

255 Such is the opinion of the learned Cardinal Moran expressed to the writer in person.

256 See Reeves’ Adamnan, page 275.

257 Green Leaves, by T. D. Sullivan.

258 From an account written in A.D. 1761.

259 This cross ‘in margine viae’ is the only cross now in the island which could answer Adamnan’s description as that nigh to which Columba sat down to rest himself on his last journey from the monastic farm.—Page 231.

260 Irish Life.

261 Codex A. of Adamnan’s Vita.

262 Greek characters are found in Adamnan’s earliest MSS.

263 In the Irish Rule attributed to Columcille we find:—“Three labours in the day, i.e., prayers, work, and reading,” prescribed for all. But Adamnan’s statement is even more authoritative and explicit:—
“Nullum etiam unius horae intervallum transire poterat (Columba), quo non aut orationi, aut lectioni, vel scriptioni, vel etiam alicui operationi incumberat.”—Adamnan’s Praefatio II.

264 In the Life in the Book of Lismore it is said that “Columba had thrice fifty monks for contemplation, and sixty for the active life”—that is in their turn.

265 See Haddan and Stubbs, Vol. II., part I., page 120.

266 See the Irish Life in the Book of Lismore, which enumerates several of these churches.

267 The first part of this Vita Secunda is not the work of Cuimine the Fair.

268 Matt. x., 8.

269 “Scitote quod nullus citra Alpes compar illi in cognitione divinarum scripturarum et in magnitudine scientae reperitur.”—Salamanca MS.

270 See School of Clonfert.

271 For instance, the details of the martyrdom of St. Blaithmac of Iona by the Danes in A.D. 824, which he describes in Latin verse, and may have learned from a fugitive who was, perhaps, the bearer of this very MS.

272 “Erat enim vir bonus et sapiens, et scientia Scripturarum nobilissime instructus.”

273 “Edoctus est omnes liberales, sacras et asceticas disciplinas, linguas etiam Hebraicam et Graecam; et quicquid patria lingua (in qua tunc pleraeque scientiae et Dryadum quae non fuerant damnata dogmata) scriptum est vel artium vel legum vel historiarum.”

274 Book II., c. 45.

275 See Petrie’s Tara, page 147.

276 “Dedit legem innocentum populis.”

277 The story of Adamnan’s carrying his mother on his back originated in his well-known filial piety. Vol. III.

278 Up to the tenth century Britannia included Scotland.

279 See Haddan and Stubbs, vol. ii., part 1, p. 120.

280 Four Masters, A.D. 1034.

281 Decoro vultu, crine nitenti, ultra communem valentiam hominum, formâ erat speciosus, divinus ac humanis litteris et eloquentiâ erat praeditus.—Vita.

282 No. 1247 (Theol. 287).

283 See Transactions of the R.I.A., Vol. vii., 295.

284 The author has received from Most Rev. Dr. Donnelly, Bishop of Canea, a duly attested relic of the Blessed Marianus—Ex sepulchro S. Merchertachi Scoti.

285 Four Masters.

286 According to O’Donovan’s identification.

287 See Reeves’ Adamnan, page 405.

288 Annals of Ulster.

289 Four Masters.

290 Skene thinks that this Cellach was the Benedictine abbot Celestinus to whom the Pope granted Hy in 1203, probably after this attempt to seize the place by the authority of Ronald, Lord of the Isles.—Celtic Scotland, vol. ii., p. 417.

291 See Four Masters, A.D. 1152.

292 See the poem from the Saltair na Rann on the Patron Saints of Ireland, Cambr. Eversus, vol. ii., page 779.

293 He was born in Mourne of Antrim, near Larne, not in Mourne of Down as stated here, and belonged to the Picts of Dalaradia.

294 In the Second Life.

295 Cardinal Moran thinks he was born as early as A.D. 530.

296 Sinell himself studied at Clonard. His feast day is Nov. 12th.

297 It is said that it was in Cluains Columbanus wrote his Commentary on the Psalter, lately published by the learned Ascoli. See Stokes’ Island Monasteries. Journal of the R.S.A.I., page 663.

298 It is said that Columban when working at the spade wore leather gloves through reverence for the Holy Sacrifice which he used to offer.

299 It was a ship—“quae Scotorum commercia vexerat”—trading between Gaul and Ireland.—Vita, c. 22.

300 According to others he was nearly ninety.

301 Some writers assert that Bobbio had been founded many years previously, and that this was the second journey of Columban into Lombardy. We follow old Jonas.

302 See Migne’s Patrologia, vol. lxxx., page 210.

303 “Ergo quotidie jejunandum est, sicut quotidie orandum est, quotidie laborandum, quotidie est legendum.”

304 It appears to us more likely that the Bangor Missal has the Patrician liturgy; and that the Mass in the Stowe Missal is of Welsh origin.—See Irish Eccl. Record, Jan., 1891.

305 Inver Becne was the ancient name of Bangor Bay; the islands near the shore, in one of which is an ancient graveyard, are now called the Copeland Islands—the name of the foreigner who enjoyed the lands of Bangor Abbey. Dr. M‘Cormick, the last Abbot of Bangor, died in Maynooth, and is buried in Larahbrine.—See Laverty’s Down and Connor.

306 Quantum igitur spatii lata dimensio (Zodiaci) porrectis sideritus occupat, duabus lineis limitatum est, et tertia ducta per medium ecliptica vocatur, quia cum cursum suum in eadem linea pariter sol et luna conficiunt, alterius eorum necesse est evenire defectum; solis si ei tunc luna succedat, lunae si tunc adversa sit soli. Ideo nec sol unquam deficit nisi cum tricesimus lunae dies est; et nisi quinto decimo cursus sui die, nescit luna defectum; sic enim evenit ut aut lunae contra solem positae, ad mutuandum ab eo solidum lumen, sub eadem lineae inventus terrae conus obsistat, aut soli ipsa succedens, objectu suo ab humano aspectu lumen ejus repellat. In defectu autem sol ipse nihil patitur... luna vero circa proprium defectum laborat non accipiendo solis lumen cujus beneficio noctem colorat.—Migne’s Patrol., No. 105, page 454.

307 See Lothaire’s Capitular, De Doctrina, published by Muratori. “Primum in Papia conveniunt ad Dungalum de Mediolano, de Brixia, etc., etc.” So that Dungal may be justly regarded as the founder of the University of Pavia.

308 The authenticity of these famous Caroline Books can no longer be questioned.

309 The real number is unknown. See Hefélé, vol. v., p. 102.

310 Hefélé clearly proves that the eighty-five Capitula sent to the Pope were not exactly the same as they are in the Libri Carolini which we have. But there was no substantial difference between them.

311 Sacris etiam literis ornatum, et simul in grammaticali foro ac Prisciani deliciis enutritum, ut facile legenti constabit.—See Lanigan, vol iii., ch. 20.

312 Muratori adds, that in one of the MSS. are inscribed these words:—
“Sancte Columba tibi Scotto tuus incola Dungal
Tradidit hunc librum, quo fratrum corda beentur.
Qui leges ergo Deus pretium sit muneris, oro.”

313 Some critics have doubted if Dungal, the recluse of St. Denys, who wrote the letter on the double eclipse of the sun, were the same as Dungal of Pavia. But there is not a shadow of proof offered in support of their theory; hence, to refute it is to fight with a shadow. The unusual name, the similarity of style, the testimony of the learned, the phrase ex quo (tempore) in hanc terram (Italiam) advenerim, all point to the identity of Dungal in Paris and in Italy.

314 “Te precor Omnipotens quadrati conditor orbis,
Dungalus ut vigeat miles ubique tuus,
Sidereum ut valeat rite comprendere Olympum
Sum sanctis vitamque participare queat.”

315 St. Bernard says it was “nobilior inter caeteras regni illius.”

316 See St. Bernard’s graphic account.

317 See Vita Malachiae, c. 10.

318 “Notandum quod haec ecclesia, sicut et aliae per Hiberniam et Walliam plures, abbatem laicum habet.” Itin. Cambriae, L. II., C. 4. A similar practice existed at the same time in the Celtic Church of Scotland.

319 At a place now called Churchfield, where a disused churchyard is supposed to mark the site of a church built there in his honour.

320 Salamanca MS.

321 “All transcripts,” says Skene, “show the orthography and forms of their period” of transcription.—Four Ancient Books of Wales, p. 184.

322 “Cujus (vallis) in occidentali parte versus meridiem extensum inter duos montes repperit stagnum.”—Salamanca MS.

323 Others think it was the Reefert Church, as it is now called.

324 Petrie—Round Towers, p. 451.

325 Petrie says there were no such early dedications to the B. V. Mary; but the Life of Carthach of Lismore shows that he built and dedicated a church in honour of the B. V. Mary.

326 See page 342, where the equivocation is put in another way.

327 See O’Hanlon, Volume vi., page 714.

328 See Archdall.

329 See Life in the Salamanca MS.

330 It is likely that his first name was Cuda, and that he got the name of Carthach Junior in honour of his master.—Martyrology of Donegal.

331 Constantine, a British king, was vice-abbot of Rahan, some time between 588 when he was converted, and 596, when he was martyred in Kintyre. See Forbes’ Calendars, page 311.

332 O’Hanlon’s Lives, page 263, Vol. v.

333 In the Office of St. Cathaldus it is stated that:—

Adolescens liberalibus disciplinis eruditus ad eam brevi doctrinæ excellentiam pervenit ut ad ipsum audiendum Galli, Angli, Scoti, Theutones aliique finitimarum aliarum regionum quam plurimi Lesmoriam convenirent.

Morini tells in elegant verse of the same influx of students to Lismore from most of the countries of Europe.

Celeres, vastissima Rheni
Jam vada Teutonici, jam deseruere Sicambri;
Mittit ab extremo gelidos Aquilone Boemos,
Albis et Arverni coeunt, Batavique frequentes
Et quique colunt alta sub rupe Gebennas...
Certatim hi properant diverso tramite ad urbem
Lesmoriam, juvenis primos ubi transigit annos.

334 Ille terrarum mihi praeter omnes
Angulus ridet, ubi non Hymetto
Mella decedunt, viridique certat
Bacca Venafre.

Ver ubi longum, tepidasque praebet
Jupiter brumas, et amicus Aulon
Fertili Baccho minimum Falernis
Invidet uvis.

335 See Salamanca MS., page 931.

336 Such is Colgan’s opinion; but Skene’s opinion is more probable, that Jarnlach was abbot of the Scottish Lismore. Colman was probably abbot for 40 years.

337 See Opera Ed., Giles, p. 94. He says that the English swarmed to the Irish Schools like bees, whilst the great School of Canterbury was by no means overcrowded.

338 He is called Mailduf by Bede; but it is merely another way of rendering the Irish name—Maeldubh. Bede calls Malmesbury Maildufi urbem, that is, Mailduf’s-bury, contracted afterwards into Malmesbury. William of Malmesbury describes it as founded by Meildulf. “Natione Scotus, eruditusque philosophus, professione monachus.” See Lanigan, Vol. iii., p. 100.

339 See Christian Inscriptions. Vol. ii., p. 31.

340 Christian Inscriptions. Vol. ii., p. 118.

341 See Lectures on MS. Materials.

342 “The Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore” have been lately (1890) edited and translated into English by Dr. Whitley Stokes, and issued from the Clarendon Press at Oxford. The “Lives” are preceded by an elaborate critical Preface on the language and matter of the text. There is also a very complete Glossary of all the Irish words in the volume. The Dialogue has also been recently published in the Silva Gadelica by Mr. S. H. O’Grady.

343 Liber iii. c. 27. “Erant (in Hibernia) eo tempore multi nobilium simul et mediocrium de gente Angelorum... quos omnes Scoti libentissime suscipientes victum eis quotidianum sine pretio, libros quoque ad legendum, et magisterium gratuitum praebere curabant.”

344 Mr. Caulfield seems to think that Loch Irce was the lake since called Gougane Barra: but such does not seem to have been Colgan’s opinion. See Life of St. Barre, page iv.

345 Father Lyons says the name is derived from its being a ‘shaky’ place in St. Finbarr’s time.

346 London, 1864. There is an Irish Life in the Book of Lismore.

347 See 25th Sept.

348 See Vita S. Davidis, Lectio vi., p. 394. Rolls Series, Vol. iii.

349 This clearly shows that Loch Eirce was at Cork, not in the mountains at Gougane Barra, for they rest with Finbarr.

350 In the Annals of Ulster the death of Diarmaid and Blathmac, sons of Aedh Slaine, is marked both at A.D. 664 and 667; the former is the true date.

351 Acta SS., page 471.

352 It is not easy to see how Fachtna could have visited the School of Cork, for he died young, and the school could scarcely be founded before the last quarter of the sixth century.

353 Acta SS., page 471.

354 See Acta SS., page 607, Life of St. Talmach.

355 See the Paper by the Rev. Thomas Olden (in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Jan., 1884), who gives the text and a translation of this geographical poem of Mac Cosse.

356 Book I., c. xv.

357 Martyr. Doneg. April 13th.

358 Others say he was Kennedy, son of Maenag. Becnait, daughter of Cian, was his mother.

359 “Alio autem tempore ratis fabricatus est in insula apud S. Finanum, et missum est ab eo ad regem stagni Lein, scilicet Fedelmith, ut portaretur secum ratis.”... “Et portaverunt ratem secum (angeli) super stagnum Lugdech.”

360 History of Kerry, p. 100.

361 It contains about two acres, and is called Church Island. The ruins of both church and cell are still to be seen on the island.

362 The original entry may still be seen in the Book of Armagh, as follows: “Sanctus Patricius iens ad caelum mandavit totum fructum laboris sui tam baptismi tam causarum quam elemoisinarum deferendum esse apostolicae urbi quae Scotice nominatur Ardd-Macha. Sic reperi in Bibliothecis Scotorum. Ego scripsi, id est, Calvus Perennis in conspectu Briain imperatoris Scotorum et quod scripsi finivit pro omnibus regibus Maceriae.”

363 Lectures, MS. Materials, p. 77. Though Anmchara generally means confessor, it sometimes means counsellor. It is applied to the Angel Victor by the scholiast on Fiacc’s Hymn.

364 In a letter to Thomas Wright, 15th Jan., 1803.

365 That is, ‘Cloyne of the Caves.’

366 Lough Lein is written Loch Leighinn in an old MS., and the natives of the district explain the word as the Lake of Learning.

367 There is no foundation for O’Halloran’s statement that Mungret was founded before the time of St. Patrick.

368 Aubrey de Vere.

369 The Feast of Knock Cae.

370 On this passage Dr. M‘Carthy has kindly sent me the following note:—

That is: do not refuse what is offered, but dispense what you do not require for your own needs: ask not, but accept what is proffered, without being vainglorious thereat, or without concealing the benefaction (in order to hoard it without incurring the censure of being avaricious).

The metre is heptasyllabic, each line ending in a word of three syllables. Its name is Casbairdne.

The chief Old-Irish form is ragabae==ro-a-gabae: that is, the relative pronoun a (them) is placed (infixed) between the verbal particle ro and the verb—them you shall accept. A mediæval forger could not have coined an expression of the kind.

Plainly, the quatrain embodied a rule of the monastery of Nessan; for most of their regulations were embodied in verse, being thus easier to be remembered.

371 Nessan is expressly named amongst the saints of the Second Order; if, indeed, it be Nessan of Mungret who is referred to.

372 The Psaltair of Cashel is quoted for this statement, but that work no longer exists; Keating, however, saw it.

373 The remains of a smaller, but later church, are still to be seen a little to the south of the older and larger building.

374 Sneidhius of Disert Diarmada was Cormac’s principal tutor.

375 See the Rev. Denis Murphy in the Journal of the R. H. A. A., for July, 1889.

376 See Life of St. Fintan in this work, p. 399.

377 The ruins of a mediæval monastery may still be seen at Terryglass; and a beautiful new church has been lately erected through the munificence of Colonel Hickie of Slevoir, at a cost to him of nearly £10,000.

378 This anchorite, who died in A.D. 898, is called Cosgraich. He dwelt in the round tower, which on that account is sometimes call Cosgraich’s tower.

379 “Wars of the Gael,” page 139.

380 “Qui Propheta in scholis illiset etiam Sanctorum Hiberniae habebatur.” Vita.

381 Ad gurgitem Ruyad, perhaps Ballyshannon.

382 See Gilbert’s National Manuscripts, Vol. i., page 21.

383 See Skene’s Celtic Scotland, Introduction, page 3.

384 Bede, Liber iii., C. v.

385 See Irish Ecclesiastical Record, for April, 1887.

386 Bede, Eccles. Hist., Book iv., c. 4.

387 A.D. 644, “Navigatio Colmain episcopi cum reliquis Scotorum ad insulam Vaccae Albae in quâ fundavit ecclesiam.” Ch. Scotorum.

388 They say he came in the year in which Diarmait and Blathmac died; that is, in A.D. 664, according to the first entry.

389 See the Four Masters, the second entry in the Annals of Ulster A.D. 667, and Tighernach, who has it in A.D. 668.

390 See also O’Hanlon’s Lives of the Saints.

391 Clare was a part of Connaught, at least at an earlier date.

392 Bede, Eccles. Hist., Book.

393 See Reeves’ Adamnan, 378.

394 See Brady, Vol. ii., p. 134.

395 See Theiner, Vet. Mon., page 4.

396 See Theiner. Vet. Mon., p. 2.

397 See Acta Sanctorum, pp. 308-310.

398 Martyr. of Donegal, page 349.

399 Annals of Ulster, page 467.

400 See Loca Patriciana, page 474.

401 O’Donovan says it is another form of “Tuaim da Ghualann.”

402 In like manner Bishop O’Cattan is described in the previous year as High-bishop of Ferns, as there was as yet no Archbishop of Dublin.—See Four Masters, A.D. 1135.

403 The ancient poem ascribed to Ængus Cele De, and quoted by Colgan from the Saltair na Rann, describes the Siol Briuin of Roscommon as under the patronage of Ciaran of Clonmacnoise.

404 See Cambrensis Eversus, Vol. ii., p. 786.

405 See O’Hart’s Pedigrees, page 556.

406 Round Towers, page 317.

407 Round Towers, page 317.

408 Wilde’s Lough Corrib, pages 179, 180.

409 Early Christian Art, by Miss Stokes, page 109.

410 See Christian Inscriptions, Vol. ii., page 129.

411 See Christian Inscriptions, Vol. ii., page 129.

412 See Pro. Roy. I. Ac., vii., p. 514.

413 See Dr. Monaghan’s Records, p. 354.

414 “Protulit in lucem quem mater Hibernia primum, instituit, docuit, nutrivit... amavit.”—Poemata.

415 “Hic pater et pastor, humilis doctusque sacerdos corpore Virgilius pausat, quem Hibernia tellus, Disponente Deo, partes direxit in istas,” etc.

416 Virgilius et Sidonius religiosi viri apud Bojoarium provinciam degentes, suis apud nos litteris usi sunt, per quas intimaverunt quod tua reverenda paternitas eis injungeret Christianos denuo baptizare. Sanctissme frater, si is qui baptizavit, non errorem introducens aut heresim sed pro sola ignorantia Romanae locutionis infringendo linguam baptizans dixisset ut supra fati sumus, non possumus consentire ut denuo baptizentur.

417 There is very good reason to believe that Boniface though born in England, was himself of Irish origin. See Irish Eccles. Record for 1884, pages 115, 190.

418 “Malignatur adversum te pro eo quod confundebatur a te, erroneum se esse a Catholica doctrina.”

419 “Immissiones faciens Ottiloni duci Bojoariorum ut odium inter te et illum seminaret.”

420 “Quod a nobis esset absolutus.”

421 “Quod alius mundus et alii homines sub terra sint et sol et luna.” See Epistola xi. Zachariae ad Bonifacium, Migne’s edition, page 943.

422 “De perversa autem et iniqua doctrina ejus, qui contra Deum et animam suam locutus est; si clarificatum fuerit ita eum confiteri quod alius mundus et alii homines sub terra sint, seu sol et luna, hunc, habito concilio, ab ecclesia pelle sacerdotii honore privatum.”*

* See Zachary’s letter to Boniface loco citato.

423 It was while building this church that the saint so paid his men, that none of them could take out of the money-bag (pelle) more than his labours entitled him to. See the Lessons on the saint’s Feast.

424 The epitaph on the saint’s tomb in St. Peter’s Abbey is worth transcribing:—
“Hic pater et pastor humilis doctusque sacerdos
Corpore Virgilius pausat, quem Hibernia tellus
Disponente Deo partes direxit in istas,
Quique regebat ovans praesentis culmina sedis
Ferme quater denos, caris cum fratribus annos
A quibus ille et amatus erat, pie quos et amavit.
Interim et extruxit pulchro molimine multa
Templa, loco quaedam nunc cernuntur in isto
Insuper et miseris largus, simul omnibus aptus,
Pro quo, quisquis legis versus orare memento.”

425 See Haddan and Stubbs, Vol. ii., part i., page 7.

426 “Sedulius Episcopus Britanniæ de genere Scotorum, huic constituto a nobis promulgato subscripsi.”—Labb. vi., 1458.

427 Four Masters.

428 Palaeographia Graeca, iii.

429 See Professor Stokes’ Celtic Church, page 226.

430 “Quid Hiberniam memorem, contempto pelagi discrimine, pene toto cum grege philosophorum ad littera nostra migrantem,” “concrepantibus,” says William of Malmesbury, “undique belli fragoribus.”

431 “Non ita sum territus auctoritate, aut minus capacium animorum expavesco impetum, ut ea quæ vera ratio clare colligit indubitanterque definit aperta fronte pronuntiare confundar, praesertim cum de talibus non nisi inter sapientes tractandum sit, quibus nil suavius est ad audiendum vera ratione, nil delectabilius ad investigandum, quando quæritur, nil pulchrius ad contemplandum quando invenitur.”

432 We can only quote the headings:—
1. Quod una tantum sit prædestinatio Dei.
2. Quod liberum hominis arbitrium per gratiam sanetur.
3. Quod Deus omnes homines velit salvos fieri.
4. Quod Christus pro omnibus hominibus passus sit.

The opponents of these propositions could not be orthodox.

433 As, for instance, when he says—“Spiritualiter enim Christum immolamus, et intellectualiter eum mente, non dente, comedimus.” Scotus meant spiritualiter et realiter in the same sense precisely as St. Augustin used similar words to the exclusion of the carnal revolting meaning of the Capharnaites.

434 See Dean Cogan’s Diocese of Meath, Vol. i., page 58.

435 See Dictionary of Christian Biography, Arts. ‘Sigebert’ and ‘Dagobert,’ and the authorities there cited.

436 Book iii., chapters iv. and xxvii.

437 See Bohn’s Edition, page 163.

438 Was this the “Colman of the Britons” mentioned in the Additions to Tirechan? See Stokes’ Tripartite, Vol. ii., page 341.

439 Bede, Book iii., c. 13.

440 Agilbert may have been consecrated bishop in Ireland. The following are the words of Bede:—
“Venit in provinciam de Hibernia pontifex quidam nomine Agilberctus, natione quidem Gallus, sed tunc legendarum gratia Scripturarum in Hibernia non parvo tempore demoratus... cujus eruditionem atque industriam videns rex rogavit eum, accepta ibi (in Wessex) sede episcopali, suae genti manere pontificem.”—Haddan and Stubbs, Vol. iii., p. 91.

441 By A. G. Richey in the Introduction, for which he declares himself alone responsible. Vol. iv., c. vii.

442 Vol. iv., page 355.

443 Vol. iv., page 361.

444 See O’Curry. Lectures, page 240.

445 See Senchus Mor, p. 231.

446 See O’Curry, Lecture iii., Vol. ii., p. 53.

447 Annals of Innisfallen, anno 1127.

448 Keating.

449 See Lectures on MS. Materials.

450 Acta SS., page 5.

451 See Acta SS., page 5, n. x.

452 Fol. 58, b. a.

453 Manuscript Materials, Lecture iii., page 53, and Manners and Customs, Vol. ii., pages 90-178.

454 Irish Writers, page xlvii. to page lxxxv.

455 See O’Curry, page 29.

456 The “Tain-Quest” in the Lays of the Western Gael.

457 Page 221.

458 O’Donovan’s Four Masters, A.D. 891—note.

459 Annals of Ulster, A.D. 974 and 663.

460 See page 24 of this present work.

461 See O’Curry’s Lectures, p. 521.

462 See O’Reilly, page lxiv.

463 Its Irish title is Cogadh Gaedhil re Gallaibh.

464 See page 51.

465 See page 117.

466 It was this narrative that inspired Moore’s beautiful lyric—“Rich and Rare.”

467 Manners and Customs, Vol. ii., page 138.

468 The Annals of Lough Cé, A.D. 1024.

469 Annals of Ulster and Four Masters.

470 Chapter II., page 21.

471 Brehon Laws, Vol. iii., p. 89.

472 Grammatica, p. xxxiv.

473 “Lingua formis suis, et regulis certis, circumscripta.”

474 See O’Curry’s Lectures—Manners and Customs—Vol. ii., p. 154.

475 Lectures, Vol. i., p. 53.

476 Lectures—Manners and Customs—Vol. ii., page 157.

477 Tripartite, Rolls Series, Vol. ii., page 530.

478 Vol. ii., page 349.

479 O’Curry, M. & C.—Vol. ii., p. 33.

480 The earliest authority we know for the first part of this title is the ancient author of St. Alban’s Life:—“In hac insula tot viri eximiae sanctitatis fuerunt quod Insula Sanctorum nomine appropriato dicebatur.” The corresponding Irish form was Inis na Naomh. Marianus Scotus, in his Chronicle, also calls it by the same title—Insula Sanctorum—under date of the year 696, but which is really A.D. 589. See Reeves’ notes in the Ulster Journal of Archæology, vol. vii., p. 228.