OLpEN—On the Geography of Ros Ailithir. 219 
XXXVIIT.—On tur Geocrapuy or Ros Armirutr. By Rey. Tuomas 
Open, B.A. 
[Read, February 26, 1883. ] 
THE geographical poem, which is found in the Book of Leinster 
(pp. 135, 136 of the Facsimile), is there attributed to Mac Cosse 
Ferlegind of Ros Ailithir, now Ross Carbery in the south-west of 
the county of Cork. Archbishop Ussher quotes several authorities as 
to the high reputation this school enjoyed at an early period; and 
the name Ros Azlithir, or Ross of the Pilgrims, would seem to indi- 
cate that, in addition to native students, it was largely attended by 
foreigners. It is well known that natives of all parts of Europe 
north of the Alps came to Ireland for instruction ;! and this school, 
being on the sea-coast, and easily accessible from England and the 
Continent, must have had a large number. 
The Mac Cosse who is mentioned in the Annals of the Four 
Masters does not appear to have been the author of the poem, as his 
office was a different one; but a passage in the Annals of Innisfallen, 
for which I am indebted to the Dean of Armagh, notices him. It is 
found at the year a.p. 972, and is as follows :— 
‘¢The son of Imar left Waterford, and [there followed] the destruction of Ross 
of the Pilgrims by the foreigners, and the taking prisoner of the Ferlegind, i. e. 
Mac Cosse-do-brain, and his ransoming by Brian at Scattery Island’’.? 
Dr. O’Conor, who edited the Annals of Innisfallen, translates his 
official title, Ferlegind, by prelector; but perhaps his position was 
rather that of head master, in whose charge the studies of the school 
were placed. As such, he was a person of importance; and when the 
Danes carried him off, no doubt they demanded ‘‘ egregious ransom” 
from the benevolent young prince who redeemed him, and who was 
afterwards better known as the famous Brian Borumha. 
This entry helps us to ascertain the date of the poem; for we 
may assume it to have been composed before the destruction of Ross, 
and therefore it could not have been later than a.p. 991,° but it may 
have been much earlier, and we shall probably be near the truth if 
we assign it to the third quarter of the tenth century. 
It seems to have been the school geography of Ross; and as so 
little definite is known of those early schools, a notice of it with a 
1 Remains of Rey. A. W. Haddan, p. 260. 
2 Mac Imar do deruch puirt lairg, ocus indreth Ruis Ailithir do gallaibh, ocus 
in fer-leghind do gabfail] doib, 7. e. Mac Cosse-do-brain, agus a chennach do 
briain oc inis Cathaigh. 
3 The Annals of Innisfallen are antedated by nineteen years in Dr, O’Conor’s 
edition, and the correct date is therefore 991. 
