177 



the ensuing Period. Caradoc of Lhancarvan alludes to it where he 

 says, " maximam Hiberniae partem populati, Rechreyn quoque vas- 

 taverunt." 



SECTION 11. 



Government, Constitution, Legislation, ^c. 



According to the native annals, the battle of Ocha, (County 

 Meath,) fought in 483, " put an end to the regal succession in the 

 provincial kings,"* for then "the family of Niall the Great became 

 so powerful, as to exclude the provincial princes for near 600 years, 

 and confine the sovereignty entirely to themselves." * These are cir- 

 cumstances, however, which can only be established by internal evi- 

 dence. 



The practice of ordaining the kings of Ireland, by the imposition 

 of hands, appears to have been early introduced with Christianity, 

 and so Adamnan writes of the coronation of King Aidan by Co- 

 lumba, (" Columba Aidanum in regem ordinavit, ***** 

 imponensque manum super caput ejus, ordinans benedixit.")"!* This 

 is certainly the oldest evidence on the subject of Christian royal ordi- 

 nation known ; the most ancient cited by Selden for the coronations 

 of Christian emperors and kings, being all subsequent to the age of 

 Adamnan. The Irish kings are, therefore, the oldest consecrated 

 kings in Europe. l]; 



Relative to legislation, the example offered by Ethelbert, at the 

 close of the sixth century, was soon followed in Ireland, and as he 



* O'Conor's Dissertation, p. xxxiv. f Vita S. Columbae, lib. 3. c. 5. 



i See further on this subject, O'Conor's Catal. Stow. MSS., v. 1. pp. 125-6. 



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