Lawi.or— 77ic Ancient List of the Conrhs of Vntrick. .355' 



suggested, probably stood in the same positioH in llic, iliptyclis ' If this is 

 Correct, we have in the end of the List exactly as it appeared in the auto- 

 graph, so far as the names are concerned. Thus the original T^ist of coarbs 

 ended with Mael Muire. When in the other copies additional names of 

 coarbs were added, the names of the three who were not coarbs would be 

 omitted, as they are in LYB. But if the original List ended witli ,\rael Muire, 

 there can be little doubt that it was compiled during the incumbency of 

 Amalgaid, between 1020 and 1049. Between 1020 and 1120 the practice of 

 reciting the diptychs probably ceased. 



There is no need to say much about the fourth section of the 1 ^ist 

 (nos. 57-62). It does not rest on the authority of the diptychs — a remark, 

 as we now know, which might be made with equal truth of the latter part 

 of the third section (nos. 51-56). Our only authorities for it are the MSS. 

 L and Y, the latter of which gi\'es us no more than three names. But those 

 facts rather enhance than diminisli its worth. In L the last name is certainly 

 a later addition ; and it is not improbable that from Cellach onwards tlie 

 name of each archbishop was written during his period of office." If so, this 

 portion of L is an autograph contemporary record ; and, for that reason, much 

 more valuable, as far as it extends, than the Annals of the Four Xfasters, the 

 only chronicle which covers the whole period — of greater value indeed than 

 the more trustworthy Annals which are available at its beginning and end. 

 Y, too, has special value, in one sense, indeed, it is not contemporary, for 

 it is the work of a foui'teenth-century scribe. But the exemplar from which 

 the List in it was ultimately, or perhaps immediately, derived was probably 

 written in the time of the last coarb whom it mentions, Gilla Meic Liac, i.e- 

 not long after 1137. The scribe of the exemplar was therefore a con- 

 temporary of Muirchertach (f 11 34) and iiael Maedhoc (,f 1148), and may 

 have had first-hand knowledge of the important and stirring events of the 

 years 1129-1137. 



The period of three years which Y assigns to Muirchertach (no. 57) is 

 reckoned from the death of Cellach (1129) to the year 1132, in which, as the 

 Four Masters tell us, Mael Maedhoc " sat in the chair of Patrick." The 

 two following years, during which, according to St. Bernard,' Muirchertach 

 remained in Armagh, while Mael Maedhoc administered his office outside the 

 city, are regarded as part of Mael Maedhoc's incumbency. L, on the other 

 hand, disagreeing with St. Bernard, the Annals, and Y, omits Muirchertach. 

 The scribe was plainly a partisan of Mael Maedhoc. 



' See. p. 333. = See below, p. 358. 



' Vita *'. Malachiitc, § 21. Y differs from St. Bernard (§ 20) in making MuirchertACira 

 term of oUice three iustead of live years. 



