246 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



question. Finally, ^lalacliy elected Edan (Aedh Cellaigh) as Gilla Criost's 

 successor ; " and when he had been consecrated Malaehy set out on his 

 journey." All these things must have been spread over a considerable, 

 though incalculable, time. We are prepared to find that Malaehy did not 

 leave Ireland till very late in 1139 or even 1140. That this was so we shall 

 soon have evidence. 



But here we come upon a difficulty. The Four Masters place the death 

 of Gilla Criost, not in 1139, but in 1138. This is a most serious discrepancy. 

 If the story told by St. Bernard is true, and if Gilla Criost died on 12 June, 

 1138, Malaehy 's scheme must have been made public, and the opposition to it 

 developed, within three weeks after the Papal schism ended.' This supposi- 

 tion may be pronounced impossible. We must choose between two alternatives. 

 We may reject the date of Gilla Criost's death as given by the annalists ; or 

 we may reject .St. Bernard's narrative. If the Annals are right, Gilla Criost's 

 death can liave had nothing to do with the opposition to Malachy's pilgrimage 

 to Rome. But St. Bernard's narrative is reasonable and consistent. And he 

 must have had information of the happenings which he records from Malaehy 

 liimself, or from his disciples, at least three of whom, including Edau, were 

 eye-witnesses of the appointment of Gilla Criost's successor. I conclude 

 therefore, with considerable confidence, that St. Bernard's chronology is here 

 more reliable than that of the Annals, and that Gilla Criost died on 12 June, 

 1139.' 



The only explicit date which St. Bernard gives us in this connexion is 

 found in § 36 of the Vita. Malaehy had got as far as York when Wallevus 

 (Wiilthcof), abbot of Kirkhani, came to visit him. Seeing that he had only 

 three horses, Waltheof pret^onled iiini with a fourth ; and the animal, we are 

 informed, ser^-ed him " till the ninth year, the year in which he died." Now 

 Malaehy died 2 Nov., 1148. It follows that his interview with Waltheof 

 Ux>k place between 3 Nov., 1139, and 2 Nov., 1140. He set out from Bangor 

 a fortnight or three weeks earlier. Hence the earliest possible date of his 

 departure is the middle of October, 1139. 



Now we have seen that Malaehy spent about forty weeks on his first two 

 joumeys. nne to and the other from IJome. On the return jouniey, apparently 

 about a week bof.ire lie landed in Irelaii'l In- met King l)avid I and his son, 



■ It slao foil.... . ..,.. .Malachy's depanurt; i. .... h v. nod did not take place till a year 



and a half after Gilla Criost's death. For, as is shown in the following paragraphs, he 

 did not start for liome earlier than the end of H.'SO. That the interval between the two 

 events was so long is highly improbable. 



■ This is the year of the obit in the .innnU of til. Mary's Abbey (Gilbert, Chart ulatien 

 of St. Mary't Alilrey, ii, 256). I5ut they are obviously not independent of St. Bernard. 

 In the record of Gilla Criost's death they (juote some words of the Vita S, Malachiae, 



