83 Mr. Petrie on the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill. 



The Annals of Ulster, in the reign of this prince, record, from various 

 ancient authorities, the celebration of the Feis, or supposed triennial assembly 

 of Tara, as having occurred, according to some, in the year 467 ; according to 

 others, in 469 ; and according to others, in 470 ; but as It can scarcely admit of 

 doubt, that these entries, as the statements of the annalist imply, refer to the one 

 meeting only, and as no subsequent record Is found of the assembling of the 

 Feis in this prince's reign, either In these or any other ancient authorities, it 

 would appear certain that the meetings of Tara, If they were ever triennial, ceased 

 to be so subsequently to the introduction of Christianity, and that these assem- 

 blies were held but once in the reign of each prince, or, if oftener, upon some 

 important emergencies. Thus also. In the reign of Laoghaire, the same Annals 

 record only one celebration of the Feis Teamhrach, namely, at the year 454 ; 

 and that this was the only assembly of the kind held in his reign Is clearly 

 proved from the following entry at the year 461 : — " Leogaire Jilius Neill post 

 Ceana [caenam] Teamro, annis vii. et mensibus vii. et diebus vii. vixit." Indeed 

 these records sufficiently Indicate that such assemblies were of rare and irregular 

 occurrence ; for. If they had been held annually, or in a triennial cycle. It is 

 highly probable that the circumstance would not have been considered remark- 

 able enough to require a distinct record. Hence, it may be remarked, a historical 

 doubt worthy of attention must arise, as to the truth of the statement found 

 in so many of the old lives of St. Patrick, that It was during the Feis Teamh- 

 rach, in 433, that the saint made his famous attempt to convert the monarch and 

 nobility of Ireland. It should be stated, however, that In the oldest lives of 

 St. Patrick, those preserved in the Book of Armagh, as well as in the original 

 Irish MS. copies of the Tripartite Life, preserved in the Leabhar Breac and 

 Book of LIsmore, this meeting is no where called the Feis ; and the statements 

 made in all the lives, that the time at which It was held was the eve of 

 Easter Sunday, sufficiently shew that it was not the great national assembly so 

 ■called, which, according to all the ancient authorities, was always held at the feast 

 •of Samhan, or ] st of November. It may be further stated that the accounts 

 given of this meeting concur In shewing that it was not a political assembly, as 

 the Feis Is stated to have been, but rather a religious festival for the celebration 

 of the Bel-tine, or fire oiBaal. Thus, to adduce one of many testimonies, there 

 occurs in the Life of Patrick, by Mocutenius, the following passage : 



