248 Proceedings of the Roijal Irish Academy. 



besides the time of his meeting with the King of Scots and of his appearance 

 at York. St. Beiiiard was at Clairvaux while he stayed there, both going and 

 returning; Pope Innocent wasatEome dui'iug the whole month of his sojourn 

 in the city ; and Malachy is not likely to have remained there during the lieat 

 of summer. Now the Pope was at Rome from 3 October, 1139, to at least 

 16 July, 1 140,^ and Malachy could have stayed there long after 2 May without 

 risk. So far, therefore, as the visit to Rome is concerned our table of dates 

 needs no alteration. Indeed, the fact that it brings Malachy to Pome just before 

 Easter (which in 1 140 fell on April 7 1 is in favour of its correctness. Again, 

 there is only one occasion on which St. Bernard is known to have been absent 

 from Clairvaux in 1140. He encountered Abelard at the Council of Sens on 

 2 June,' and there is no difficulty in supposing that lie was back in his 

 monasteiy by 24 June. But, on the other hand, Mahvchy's object was not to 

 spend Easter at Pome, but to demand palls from the Pope, which could be 

 done at any season of the year. It is probable, therefore, that he would have 

 planned his journey so as to avoid crossing the Alps at the most inclement 

 season of the year. Now our provisional itinerary makes him reach Martigny 

 on 28 February. The pass of Great St. Bernard may not have been closed 

 at that time in 1140. But anyone who has read the account which John 

 de Bremble, monk of Canterbury, gives of his sufl'erings in that " place of 

 tonneut'in Februai-)', 1188, as he tried to write a lett€r with powerless 

 hands and frozen ink, complaiuiiig the wiiile that he was in constant peril 

 of death,* or the yet more graphic story of the dire effects of avalanches 

 and storais wliich signalize<l the cros.sing of tiie pass by Pudolf, Abbot of 

 St. Trond, in January, 1129,* will probably agree that Malachy, with less 

 urgent business on hand, and jH.'riiaps less well equipped, would not take the 

 risk of conditions so uncomfortable and so dangerous. Febniary and March 

 are the woret months for uugotiating the pass. We should therefore probably 

 bring tiie date of Malachy's journey five weeks forward. We conclude that 

 he sailed from Bangor alx^ut 4 January, 1140, and ended bis "pilgrimage" 

 about 10 October in tiie same year.^ 



■ Jaffe, lU.jt»ta, p. 588 ff. 



' St. Beninrd. Ep. 187 ; Vita Prima, iii, 14. 



' .Stubbb, KfiittuUu CAkUicii'. (R.S.), (i. 181 ; Ltchtrti on the StMd\i of Mnlin, rut mul 

 Mxitrn Uiflunj, IWIO, p. 147. 



' \V. A. B. Coolidgc, SwiM Trarel a)td Swi«t Guide- Boohs, 188!t, p. off. 



' Th(»e daU>9 are oilculatcd on the liyixithf^is that Malachy travelled at the rate of 

 Iwtweeii sixteen and seventeen miles a day. If we Huppoue that his average rate was 

 twenty niile^ n day, he may have left Ban-,"ir <iu 18 .January. 1140, imd returned on 

 If September. ll-JO ; ii he walked fnurlieu miles a day, the corresponding dateH would 

 be 23 December. l\'.i'J, and (i November, 114i>. I In any of these HuppoHitions he would 

 have reached .Martijjuy about 1 April, and might have stayed a day or two in some North 



