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FACSIMILES
IX COLLOTYPE
BOOK OF ARMAGH
THE PATRICIAN DOCUMENTS
With Introduction
1;V
EDWARD
GWYNN
PUBLISHED
To be purchased directly from the GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS SALE OFFICE, 5 NASSAU STREET. Dl'ULIN. C.2, or through any Bookseller Price Fifteen Shilling*.
is known of the history of the Book of Armagh may be briefly summarised. It was written in and about the year 807 A.D. at Armagh by a scribe named Ferdomnach. In the year 937, the Four Masters tell us, a case was made for it by order of the High King, Donnchad mac Flainn. When Brian Boroime visited Armagh in the year 1004 an entry was made in the Book in his presence, confirming certain privileges of the Armagh clergy. The Annalists record that in 1134 and again in 1177 the Book was removed for a short time from Armagh, but on each occasion it was soon restored to its proper place. On account of the Patrician documents which it contains, and its connection with the Patrician see of Annagh, it came to be known as the Cani Ptraic ; and it was placed in the care of a custodian known as Maer na Canine, or in Latin Baiulator Canonis, ' Steward of the Canon.' This office became hereditary in a family who thus acquired the name of Mac Maeir (anglicised as Mac Moyre). They also held, in virtue of their office, certain lands in Armagh, known as Baile Maeir, which remained in their possession down to the seventeenth century. The last of the Stewards was the infamous Florence Mac Moyre, who pawned the Book in the year 1680 for five pounds. The Welsh scholar Edward Lhuyd wrote an account of the Book in 1707 : it was then in the possession of Arthur Brownlow, in whose family it remained until 1853, when it was offered for sale and bought in by William Reeves (then a country rector, afterwards Bishop of Down) for 300. Primate Lord John George Beresford took it off his hands and presented it to the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, where it now remains. The codex is of exceptional interest, both on account of its contents and also as being one of the very few manuscripts surviving from the early ages of Irish history that can be dated with precision and certainty. That this is so is due to the scribe who wrote the entire volume* and made personal entries in several places. All of these were later rendered almost completely illegible by careful erasures. This was no doubt done in order to get rid of evidence conflicting with the popular belief that the Cani Ptraic was the handwork of S. Patrick himself. This belief gave the Book a peculiar sanctity in the public estimation which naturally enhanced its value. The name of the scribe consequently remained unknown until the year 1846, when Charles Graves succeeded in deciphering two of the erased entries. One of these yielded only the name Ferdomnach ; the other, written in Greek characters, proved to be partly legible, and by collating the indications which it offered with data supplied by the Annalists. Graves was able to restore all the original entry, excepting one word, with
* E. A. Lowe, however, thinks that three scribes were employed (Codices Latini Antiquiores, part II. pp. 42, 53).
What
INTRODUCTION
II
INTRODUCTION
virtual certaint y . It runs as follows : Ferdomnach hunc librum . . . c dictante Torbach heretic Patricii scripsit, that is, Ferdomnach wrote this book . . . at the dictation (or perhaps ' under the orders ') of Torbach, heir of Patrick.' Graves was able to show that this note must have been written in the year 807 : and he afterwards deciphered another entry, in which the scribe has noted that the day on which he completed the Gospel according to S. Matthew was the feast of that saint, September 21st. The discovery of this date is of very great interest to scholars, not only because it settles the age of this Book, but also because it serves as a fixed point with reference to which the age of other manuscripts may be approximately determined by comparing the characteristics of their script with those of the Book of Armagh. Ferdomnach was an accomplished scribe ; his work shows Irish minuscule at its best, fine, elegant, regular and easily legible. It is occasionally diversified by the use of large ornate capitals and other devices of penmanship. Colour is sparingly employed. Another feature of interest in the Book is that it contains long passages in Irish which are among the earliest extant examples of the older language, and also Irish glosses on various parts of the New Testament. The contents of the Book fall into three main divisions : the Patrician documents, the New Testament, and a Life of S. Martin of Tours. The second division contains the only complete copy of the New Testament made by an Irish scribe that now survives ; most of the other well-known biblical codices, such as the Book of hells, the Book of Durrow, the Book of Moling and the Book of Dimma, contain only the four Gospels. The separate books are arranged in an unusual order : Gospels, Pauline Epistles, Catholic Epistles, Revelation, Acts of the Apostles. Along with the genuine epistles of S. Paul is included the apocryphal Epistle to the Laodiceans. The text of the New Testament as a whole shows a mixture of the Vulgate and the Old Latin. In the present volume only the Patrician documents are reproduced. The contents are the following : 1. A life of Patrick by Muirch maccu Machtheni, in two books (ff. 2-8). It is not an orderly biography. We get an account of the saint's early life, and of part of his mission in Ireland ; the rest is occupied with his miracles and other detached incidents. Scarcely anything is known about Muirch beyond his name, except that he lived about the end of the seventh century. He tells us that he wrote his work ' at the command ' of Aed, bishop of Sletty in Leix, to whom he dedicated it in a florid preface. By some accident of transcription this preface (followed by a table of contents of book I) is found on the 20th folio of the Book of Armagh, not as one would expect on the first. The first folio is missing, but its contents can be supplied from another copy of Muirch's work in a Brussels manuscript.* Muirch's Life ends on fol. 8 v 2 : after the find are added two
* "I he Brussels text was printed by E. Hogan in Analecta Bollandiana, 1882.
INTRODUCTION notes, one on the sacred books and vessels which the saint carried, the other on his age. 2. The first column of fol. 9 r is occupied by brief notes about incidents in the saint's life, which seem to belong to Tirechn's memoir, followed by three Dicta Patricii. 3. On fol. 9 r, col. 2, begins another memoir of Patrick, written by Trechn, a native of Tirawley in Mayo and a pupil of Ultn of Ardbraccan, from whom he professes to have derived part of his materials. It seems to have been composed not much later than 668 A.D., and is therefore probably a little earlier than Muirch's Life. It has even less claim than the latter work to rank as a biography of the saint. Some account of his early life is given, but most of two books are taken up with a description of his journeying about Ireland, and of the churches which he founded. This cannot however be treated as a trustworthy record of Patrick's movements : it is rather to be regarded as a fictitious itinerary which " served the very practical purpose of providing the successors of Patrick with a list of foundations from which they could claim allegiance " (Kenney). 4. Tirechn's memoir ends on fol. 15 v, and is followed by a series of six short paragraphs about the saint, probably the work of Ferdomnach. Then comes (fol. 16 r 2) a series of memoranda concerning gifts of lands and churches, which seem to have been collected by Ferdomnach with the object of giving further support to the claims of the See of Armagh. We are told first how Lommn, one of Patrick's disciples, was left at the mouth of the Boyne with orders to proceed upstream to Trim ; how he converted and baptised Foirtchern, his mother, and his father Fedelmid, and what lands were granted to Patrick by Fedelmid and others. At this point the scribe left a blank space, in which stands the entry made in the year 1004 in the presence of Brian Boroime. After this (fol. 17 r) come further memoranda by Ferdomnach on grants made to Patrick in different parts of Connaught. Part of these are in the Irish language. The second column of fol. 17 v is left blank. On fol. 18 the writer begins in Latin, but soon changes back to Irish. The scene now shifts to Leinster. We are told how Iserninus was sent by Germanus of Auxerre to Ireland, where he met with Patrick in the territory of U Cheinnselaig. Next comes (fol. i8 r 2) an account, still in Irish, of Patrick's meeting with Dubthach maccu Lugir, and of the consecration of Fiacc Find as the first bishop in Leinster, and of his church at Sletty. There follow two more paragraphs concerning Aed, bishop of Sletty, and a certain Conchad. Then a note in Latin, explaining that the writer has used the Irish language because of the number of Irish names included, and the difficulty of making the whole intelligible in Latin. The section ends with four halting hexameters, in which the reader is invited to pray for the scribe.
IV
INTRODUCTION
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