436 Mr. PETRIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



been proved groundless, but also from the decisive passages relative to the 

 stealing of the celebrated Book of Kells, out of the western erdam of the great 

 church of Kells, already quoted at page 55, and which is here repeated : 



" A. D. 1006. Soipccel mop Cholaim Chille DO bub^oib ip in omce ap in epoom laprhapach 

 a n-ooimltacc tnoip Cenannpa, ppim tnino lapcaip ooriiam, ap aoi an chumcai^ oaenoa, ajup 

 a pajbail ia pichec aoaij pop Oib mipaib, lap njaicc be a oip, ajup poc caipip." 



"A. D. 1006. The great book of the Gospels of St. Columbkille was stolen in the night 

 out of the western erdam in the great church of Kells, the chief relic of the western world, on account 

 of the singular cover, and was found, after twenty nights and two months, its gold having been 

 stolen off it, and a sod over it." 



The same entry is given in the Annals of Ulster, as published by Dr. 

 O'Conor ; and it is worthy of remark, that though he has previously insisted 

 that the word erdam was synonymous with doictheach, and has subsequently 

 translated it by the word turris, in this, his last work, he renders it by the 

 word sacettum. His translation and copy of the original are as follows : 



"Ann. M. vi. Soiscela mor Col. c. do dubgaith isind aidci as ind airdom iartarach in Daimliacc 

 nwir Cenannsa, prim mind iartair domain arai in comdaigh doendai. In Soiscela sin do foghbail 

 diafichetan dar dib misaib iarngait deaoir jfottairis. 



" Evangelium magnum S. Columbaj furtive direptum, tempore nocturne, ex inferiori Sacello 

 Ecclesise magnse Cathedralis Kellensis. Prsecipuum erat istud pretiosarum reliquiarum Occidentalis 

 mundi, propter eximium operhnentum. Codex iste inventus est postea sub cespitibus, post duos 

 menses, exutus auro, et coelatione." 



But, though it is thus certain that the erdam was an inferior building attached 

 to a large church, and that there were, at least occasionally, more than one such 

 inferior structure attached in this way to the larger building, it is by no means 

 easy to determine the nature or purpose of such buildings. 



I have, however, discovered in an ancient Irish authority, an example of 

 the use of the word, which will materially assist in this inquiry, and, as I hope, 

 ultimately determine the question. It is a passage in which the word erdam is 

 used to express the Latin word porticus, and occurs in a translation of Vene- 

 rable Bede's abstract of Adamnan's work, De Situ Terras Sanctce, &c., which is 

 preserved in the celebrated MS. called the Leabhar Breac. The original pas- 

 sage in Bede is as follows : 



" In platea, quse Martyrium & Golgotha continuat, exedra est, in qua calix Domini scriniolo 

 reconditus, per operculi foramen, tangi solet, & osculari. Qui argenteus calix duas hinc et inde 

 habens ansulas, sextarii Gallici mensuram capit : in quo est & ilia spongia Domini potus ministra : 



