Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, fyc. 145 



ecclesiastical edifices of Armagh were burned by the incendiary hands of the 

 Northmen, though they had plundered and occupied the place for the first time 

 nine years before, as is thus stated in the Annals of the Four Masters : 



" A. D. 830. C6ona opjam Qpoamacha. Opomacha DO opjjam po cpi i n-aom th! la ^al- 

 laib, 7 ni po h-oipgeo la h-eaccap-cenela piam 50 pin." 



Thus translated by Colgan : 



" A. D. 830. Ardmacha spatio vnius mensisfuit tertio occupata fy expilata per Nortmannos seu 

 Danos. Et nunquam ante fuit per exteros occupata Trias Thaum. p. 295. 



In the next entry relative to these churches in the Irish annals, the damh- 

 liag, or great stone church, is noticed, under the name of ecclais. The notice 

 occurs in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 890, and is as follows : 



" A. D. 890. Gpomucha DO opccain la ^lumapn, 7 la ^Jallaib dcha clinch, co pucpac 

 oeicneabap 7 peace J-ceo i m-bpoio leo, lap n-oipcaoileo apaill oo'n ecclaip, 7 lap m-bpipeo 

 an oeapeai je, comb DO ip pubpao : 



Cpua, a naerh paopaicc, nap anachc c' epnaije, 

 Qn ^a'll c n-a o-cuajaib 05 bualao DO oepeaije." 



The following is the literal translation : 



" A. D. 890. Armagh was plundered by Gluniarn, and by the Danes of Dublin, and they car- 

 ried off seven hundred and ten persons into captivity with them, after having pulled down a part of 

 the church, and after having broken the derthach, [or oratory], on which was said : 



" Pity, O saint Patrick, that thy prayers did not save, 

 When the Danes with their axes were striking thy derthach." 



The substance of this passage is given by Colgan as follows : 



"A. D. 890. Ardmacha occupata Sf expilata per Gluniarnum, fy Nortmannos Dublinienses ; qui 

 ipsa summa Basilica ex parte diruta, fy diuersis sacris cedificijs solo xquatis, decem supra septingenlos 

 abduxerunt captiuos." Trias Thaum. p. 296. 



In the next notice of the sacred edifices of Armagh, which occurs in the 

 same Annals, the principal church is designated by the word till. It occurs 

 at the year 907, and is as follows : 



" A. D. 907. Sapuccao Gpoamacha la Cepnacnan mac TDuiljen, .1. cimbio DO Bpeic ap 

 in cill, 7 abaoao h-i Coch Cuip ppi h-Gpomaclia aniap." 



Thus translated by Colgan, who renders cill by ecclesia and basilica: 



" A. D. 907. Basilica Ardmachana Sacrikgam vim passa per Kernachanum filium Dulgeni ; qui 

 VOL. XX. U 



