Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 437 



Lancea militis inserta habetur in cruce lignea, IN PORTICU MARTYRII, cujus hastile in duas inter- 

 cisum partes, a tota veneratur civitate." Cap. II. 



In the Leabhar Breac the following translation is given, of which I add a 

 literal translation, for the use of the English reader : 



" lp inci-pioe [.i. in eclaip TTluipe] aca coilech in Choimt>e& tap n-a cumcac, 7 cleccaic 

 oome a caoall 7 a poccao cpia roll pil i papcli na comlao ; 7 coilech apjaic h-e, 7 01 

 opolam oa cec lee app, 7 cucpuma ppia peppa h-e ; 7 ip in colech pin no canao Ipu 

 h-iopaipc 7 oipppeno. Ip in luce ceona beop aca in machoual ap a cucao in oeoch oo'n 

 Choimoio, .1. pmaicer, 7 oomblap lap na cumapc. Ocup ip ann pop aca 501 in mileo Diap 

 jonao c]iioe in Choim&eo, lap n-a inopma ip in cpoich cpamo pil a n-ipoum na h-eclaipi. Ip 

 amlaiD om aca cpano in 501 pin ap n-a poino ap bo, 7 ip mop anoip 7 caoup na pano pin oc in 

 cacpaij pin uli." Fol. Y9, b., now fol. 69, b. 



" It is in this [i. e. in the church called Golgothana], is the chalice of the Lord being covered, 

 and people are accustomed to touch and kiss it through a hole which is in the door ; it is a silver chalice, 

 with two handles, one on each side, and it is of the size of a sextarius. It is in this chalice that Jesus 

 made sacrifice and offering. In the same place, also, is the sponge, out of which the drink was given 

 to the Lord, that is, vinegar and gall mixed. It is there, also, is the lance of the soldier, by which 

 the heart of the Lord was wounded, inserted in the wooden cross, which is in the ERDAM of the 

 church. The shaft of this lance is divided into two parts, and these things are in high honour and 

 veneration with the whole city." 



Having thus ascertained that the word erdam was used by the Irish in the 

 same sense with the Latin word portions, as understood in the middle ages, it 

 follows that if we can define the sort of porch, or other building, to which the 

 latter was applied in the descriptions of churches, we shall have a tolerably 

 correct idea of the sort of structure to which the former was applied by the 

 Irish. Now, as the word porticus is of very frequent occurrence in the notices 

 of ancient Saxon churches, given by Venerable Bede and later Saxon writers, 

 and as it is in the highest degree probable, that the ancient Irish and Saxon 

 churches were often very similar to each other, it might naturally be ex- 

 pected that the inquiry would be attended with little difficulty; but this, 

 unfortunately, is far from being the case, for the word is so variously 

 applied that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to understand what 

 particular part of the church it was intended to designate. And hence 

 we find writers of the highest ability utterly opposed to each other as to 

 its application. For example, the Kev. J. Bentham, in the admirable Remarks 

 on the Saxon Churches, prefixed to his History of the Cathedral Church of 

 Ely, finding that the word was applied to some apartment, or division, within 



