Olden — The Oratory of Gallerus. 565 



pedigree is given in the Book of Leinster and the Lebar Brace as 



follows : — 



Melkedar 



I 

 Ronan 



Eochaidh 



I 

 Muirdach Muinderg, 



King of Uladh, a.d. 479. 



From it we find that the king referi-ed to in the passage quoted was 

 Eochaidh, who, according to the Eour Masters, died in 503. Now, if 

 we allow thirty years for a generation, Bonan; his son, would have 

 died about 533, and Melkedar in 563. Melkedar flourished, therefore, 

 about the early part of the sixth century, and died probably a century 

 after St. Patrick. 



If I am right in these observations Dr. Petrie would seem to have 

 antedated the building of the oratories by nearly a century, as he 

 thought they belonged to a period earlier than 432. Others have erred 

 in the opposite direction by assigning Melkedar to the seventh century, 

 misled apparently by the date (636) which stands above his name in 

 the "Martyrology of Donegal"; but this date belongs not to him but to 

 Mochuda, the subject of the preceding entry. 



The name Melkedar is unique, no other having borne it, and its 

 meaning of " servant or follower of Kedar " does not follow the analogy 

 of such names, as the second member is usually the name of a saint, 

 but there is no saint of the name of Kedar. Turning, however, to the 

 Book of Leinster, which is the earliest authority on the subject, we 

 find his name spelt Moel-Celtair (facsimile p. 349), which is therefore 

 the primitive form. Now, the King of Uladh, in pagan times, resided 

 in the great fortress of Down, originally named Aras Celtchair, from 

 the pre-historic hero Celtchar, son of TJithecar, and subsequently 

 known as Dun-leth-glaise, afterwards Dun-da-leth-glas, on which I 

 shall make some remarks presently, and now termed Downpatrick. 

 I do not think it can be considered a far-fetched derivation if I in- 

 terpret Moel Celtair as the follower of this Celtchar. 



The only objection I see to it is that it assumes a Christian saint to 

 have been named after a pagan warrior. It must be remembered, how- 

 ever, that his name was chosen by his parents, and we know that his 

 father, Bonan, was brought up under pagan auspices. Bonan's father, 

 Eochaidh, was a violent opponent of Christianity ; and it is stated, in the 

 " Tripartite Life of St. Patrick," that he ordered two girls to be tied to 



