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



pallnupraip Sipe h6 aimpip na v. pij n-aup- of the reign of Loeghaire, son of Niall, at Temur. 

 oepc po panopac Gipe ecappu hi coic .i. He was the thirteenth king, who governed Ireland 

 Concobap, Cfillil, Coipppe, Gochu, Cupi. since the period of the five famous kings, who di- 

 Qla bliaoam ap cccc. lap pin ho cpoich vided Ireland between them into five parts, viz. : 

 Cpipc ; ocup qiep bliaoain xxx. ap cccccc. Conchobhar, Aillil, Coirpre, Eochu, [and] Curi. 

 cqi V. mfle o chiip Domain. This was the four hundred and second year from 



pin-ic, Qmen. the crucifixion of Christ, and the three and thirtieth 



year above six hundred and five thousand from 

 the beginning of the world. 



Finit, Amen. 



The age of the preceding document, which has not been hitherto published, 

 or even noticed, may be ascertained with tolerable accuracy from a catalogue of 

 the successors of St. Patrick, in the see of Armagh, which immediately follows 

 it in the same MS. and which is constructed on the same scheme of chronology, 

 and appears to be the composition of the same writer. The last archbishop 

 named in this catalogue, and in whose time it was obviously drawn up, is 

 Domhnall, the son of Amhalghaidh, who succeeded in 1091 or 1092, and died 

 in 1105 ; and as the writer allows only eight years to his episcopacy, it is clear 

 that he wrote about the year 1100. That the chronology of these documents 

 was drawn up in accordance with, as well as to sustain the popular belief of the 

 period respecting the important eras of the saint's life, is sufficiently obvious ; 

 and it may, therefore, be regarded as the best existing authority in support of the 

 system which it was intended to uphold. That its chronology is almost entirely 

 erroneous in whatever precedes the assumed period of Patrick's mission, has been 

 shewn in the preceding notes, as well as its general accuracy from that period 

 forward. The inaccuracies in the former are, however, of small importance in 

 this inquiry, as the only question to be investigated is, whether the dates usually 

 assigned to Patrick's birth, mission, &c., can be sustained by historical evidences 

 or not, and to this inquiry the subject now naturally turns. 



1. With respect to the period of Patrick's birth, it may be briefly stated that 

 Ussher assigns it to the year 372, and Colgan to 373. For either of these dates, 

 however, no record has been found in the Irish Annals, and it rests solely on the 

 authority of the Chronicle of Florence of Worcester, compiled in the twelfth cen- 

 tury. The BoUandists assign his birth, conjecturally, to the year 377, and Dr. 

 J^anigan thinks he settles the point by placing it ten years later, and this solely on 



