Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 307 



taken, or, what is more probable, he gave Cormac the title of bishop in an honorary manner on 

 account of his piety and attention to ecclesiastical matters, similar to that, in which Constantine the 

 Great was styled bishop. Or, perhaps, escop indicates an allusion to his having taken a pilgrim's 

 staff at Lismore (see Not. 57 to Chap, xxvi.) 



" That Cormac Mac-Carthy was not a real bishop is evident from the Annals of Innisfallen, 

 which often make mention of him, as a king, a warrior, &c. Had he been also a bishop, it is impos- 

 sible but that we would find him so called somewhere in said Annals. Or would not St. Bernard, 

 who speaks so highly of him, have told us that he was not only a king but a bishop ? Keating re- 

 lates (History, fyc., B. 2, p. 103, Dublin ed.) his murder; and Lynch (Cambr. ever. cap. 21) treats of 

 him rather minutely ; but neither of them has a word about his having been a bishop." Ecclesias- 

 tical History of Ireland, vol. iv. p. 108. 



In reference to these remarks I may observe, that Dr. Lanigan's doubts as 

 to the meaning of the word epcop are quite puerile, for there cannot be a ques- 

 tion that it is one of the older Irish forms of the modern word eapboj, which 

 in ancient inscriptions, and manuscripts, is generally written eppcop, and which, 

 is but a corruption of the Latin episcopus. And if, as Dr. Lanigan conjectures, 

 the word escop had any allusion to Cormac's having taken a staff at Lismore, it 

 must have been to an episcopal staff, and not that of a pilgrim, unless he could 

 show that the word escop was applied to a pilgrim. Neither can the silence of 

 St. Bernard, as I have already remarked, be considered sufficient to settle the 

 question, for though Dr. Lanigan deems such silence sufficient to overturn the 

 assertions of Colgan, Ware, and Harris, in the case of the second usurpation of 

 the archbishopric of Armagh by Nigel, in opposition to St. Malachy, indeed 

 St. Bernard goes even farther, and states that Nigel was obliged to remain quiet 

 during the remainder of his life, yet the fact of that second usurpation is most 

 clearly proved by the Irish annals. 



Neither, again, can any great weight be laid on the fact that the Annals of 

 Innisfallen and the other annals are silent as to king Cormac having been a 

 bishop, because it should be recollected that the old Annals of Innisfallen, 

 which should justly be regarded as a valuable authority, are defective at the 

 period in which he flourished, and the Dublin Annals are only a compilation 

 made subsequently to the year 1459. It is, indeed, a singular fact, that in out- 

 most ancient annals, that portion of them which would have preserved to us the 

 events of Cormac's time, by a strange fate, are defective; and the oldest autho- 

 rity which I have found, namely, the continuator of Tighernach, throws no light 

 upon the subject. And it is no less remarkable that, in the annals of later age, 



2 n2 



