63 



' A prayer for Maelbrigid O'Maeluanaigh qui scripsit hunc librum, 

 i. e. at Armagh. And in the time of Donough O'Carroll, chief king 

 of Oriel, it was written, i. e. the year in which the 16th was on the 

 Calends of January, i. e. the year in which Cormac Mac Carty, King- 

 bishop of Munster and of Ireland generally in his time, was killed. 



' These also are the kings of Erin at this time, namely, Murcher- 

 tach son of Niall O'Lochlain, at Ailech; Cooley son of Connor, King 

 of Uladh; Murchadh OMelaghlin, King of Meath; DermodMacMur- 

 rough, King of Leinster ; Connor O'Brien, King of Munster ; Tur- 

 logh O'Connor, King of Connacht. 



' Gilla-mac-liag, the son of the son of Roory (i. e. the son of the 

 poet of the Ui-Birinn), in the successorship of Patrick. 



' A blessing on every one who will pardon the faults of this book, 

 let him say a pater for the soul of the scribe ; for it much requires 

 indulgence both in text and commentaries.' 



Dr. O'Conor has entered into a full examination of this 

 record, and has shown, by a comparison of its details with no- 

 tices in the Irish annals, what harmony exists between these 

 independent records, adding, as well he might : "A sreculo 

 inauditum esse existimo, in rebus prassertiru Septentrionalibus, 

 veritatem facti cujuscumque antiqui tanta rerum in uno anno 

 concordantium varietate, totque personarum, locorum, et cir- 

 cumstantiarum adjunctis, quae alibi quam in nostris Annalibus 

 inveniri nequeunt, possit tarn dilucide et inconcusse demon- 

 strari." 



Of the subsequent history of this manuscript nothing is 

 known till the commencement of the last century, at which 

 period it was shown as a Saxon manuscript in the Royal Li- 

 brary at Paris. This we gather from the following statement 

 of Pere Simon : " On trouve dans la Bibliotheque du Ptoi un 

 beau Manuscrit Latin des quatre Evangiles ecrit il y a pour le 

 moins 800 ans en vieux caracteres Saxons. Le Copiste qui 

 etoit un Moine Beueclictin prend le nom de Dom JElbrigte, & 

 il ajoute a la fin de son Exemplaire plusieurs lignes en langage 

 Saxon. Outre le texte des Evangiles, cet exemplaire contient 



