CHRONICLES OF CORNISH SAINTS. VIL—S. CRANTOCK. 275 
called the congregation of Cairnech, and who were probably 
British settlers at Dulane :— 
“The three septs of Tuilen without blemish, 
In Meath, though not Meathmen, 
Are the Tir-Hochain, distinguished among them, 
The Maini (and) the Britons of lasting fame. 
Early these men quaff their metheglin; 
They are the congregation of Cairnech.” 
Another incident may be mentioned, which shews how promi- 
nent and beneficent his position at Dulane must have been. Ina 
collection of fragments of ancient historical manuscripts, preserved 
in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and known as the 
“Yellow Book of Lecain,” it is said that* Muircheartach Mac 
Erea, monarch of Erinn, having been captivated by a Benshee, 
drove his queen and her children and her friends of the clanns of 
Conaill and Eoghain (the O’Donnells and O’Neills) out of the 
palace of Cleitech, on the Boyne, and that they fled to St. Cairnech, 
who took them all under his protection. ‘ Thereupon,” it is 
added, “‘ the saint cursed the palace, and when the queen’s friends 
departed to their own country, he gave them his blessing and 
appointed three insigniat for their war standards.” 
But further, we may trace the probable reason why Crantock 
« The original of the passage, with a translation, is published in Pro- 
fessor O’Curry’s Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish 
History; Appendix, C 1, p. 599. 
+ One of those insignia was the famous Cathach, or Book of Battles, a 
MS. containing a copy of the Psalms written by St. Columba. This precious 
relic was subsequently encased in a silver shrine, and was carried to battle 
by the O’Donnells even as late as 1497, to insure victory to their clan. Karly 
in the last century it was deposited by Daniel O'Donnell in a monastery in 
Belgium, with a written injunction that it should be kept until claimed by 
the true representative of the house of O’Donnell. In 1816 it was acci- 
dentally discovered there by an Ivish lady, who had been travelling on the 
Continent. On her return home she reported the circumstance to Sir Neal 
O'Donnell, the recognized chieftain of his name and race, and he at once 
sought and obtained the venerable treasure. His son, the present Sir 
Richard O’Donnell, of Newport, County Mayo, has placed it for Exhibition 
in the Museum of the Royal Ivish Academy. The silver shrine or case has 
several dates and inscriptions on it, and seems to have been enriched from 
time to time. The document which it now contains consists of fifty-eight 
leaves of fine vellum, written on both sides in very ancient characters, with 
some slight attempts at illumination. All the leaves before that which 
contains the 31st Psalm are gone, and also the latter part of the Psalter from 
the 106th Psalm. 
