255 



A further memorial of this alHance is said to have been preserved in the 

 ancient paintings at Versailles, where a king of Ireland is represented 

 standing in the row of princes in amity with Charlemagne, and drawn 

 with the Irish harp by his right side.* It is also perhaps worth 

 observing, that Ariosto, in the eleventh canto of his Orlando Furioso, 

 the story of which, it is scarcely necessary to say, is laid in the time 

 of Charlemagne, seems to supply an additional link to the evidence of 

 this alliance, where he mentions Oberto King of Ireland : 



" Oberto sopraviene 

 Oberto il Re d'Ibemia, c'avea inteso 

 Che'l marin, monstro era su'l lito steso." — St. 59. 



And how he immediately recognized Orlando from the intimacy of 

 their youth, which was passed together in the court of France. 



" La conoscea, perch'era stato infante 

 D'onore in Francia, e se n'era parti 

 Per pigliar la corona I'anno inante 

 Del padre suo, ch'era di vita uscito 

 Tante volte veduto e tante e tante, &c. &c." — St 62. 



To which it is only necessary to add, that Hugh, surnamed 

 Dorndighe, was the king of Ireland about this time. 



The defeat of the Danes in 812, as mentioned above, is repeated 



in Regino's Chronicle,"!* in that of Hermannus Contractus, in the 



|, Annales Mettenses and the Annales Fuldenses respectively, though 



I the Ulster Annals refer it to 810. A more successful band of these 



- marauders in 812 burned Bangor. To 8 14 Des Roches assigns that 



expedition of the celebrated Regner Lodbrog, of which Saxo Gram- 



• Kenned. Genealog. Stuart, p. 181, cited O'Conor's Dissert, p. 219. See further con- 

 lirmation of this league, in O'Conor's Rer. Hib. Script, vol. 4. p. 83. 

 f Lib. 1. adann. 



