364 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



notes on tlio first. There was certainly direct communication, apart from 

 cliurchmen,' Ijetween Florence and Ireland, while the Venetian map-makers 

 can be shown to have worked in and for the city of Dante. On the other 

 hand, most of the places marked were well known to the Anglo-Normans ; 

 but distinctive Irish and Norman names are unrecorded, though such forms as 

 le deng (Dingle), le bano (Bannow), reocolo (Youghal, Eochoill, Eochla), le ban 

 (The Bann), show a " French " (? Anglo-Norman) influence. On the other 

 hand, why do the early maps never give such characteristic Norman forms as 

 Kinsale (till 1450), Dungarvan (till 1450), Limerick (till 1385), Weiseford, 

 Wykinglo, and Drogheda ? The omission of certain names is explicable. 

 Galway was not a trading centre of much importance till too late to affect 

 the early maps, nor was Kinsale, though its harbour of Endelford was too 

 important a shelter for the traders to omit. Similarly, though Ullerford was 

 most important, Lame on its shore never became a seat of trade. After 1450 

 both appear on the maps. It is clear that the traders up the west coast went 

 direct from Dingle to Aran, on to Bofin, and thence to Achill Sound or Clew 

 Bay, passing the mouth of Galway Bay, and not going up to its head." The 

 islands were evidently regarded (so to say) as buoys to mark the channel 

 and keep ships from wandering into the dreaded outer sea. Dorsey, Skellig, 

 Blasket, Aran, and Bofin (pre-eminently suitable for this purpose) appear 

 from the beginning on all the maps. 



The customs returns from New Boss and the wine trade with Limerick 

 account for the marking of these towns on the fourteenth-century maps; 

 places like Cashel, Kilkenny, Athlone, and Armagh were disregarded by the 

 seafarers. It is only on a clerical map like Haldingham's that we find 

 Armagh, "Ai-thmacho, civitas S.Patr." ; Bangor, "civitas bencurr" ; and Kildare, 

 " Geldara, civitas H"" brigide." The appearance of Dublin, " civitas de uelin," 

 is probably due to its archbishopric, v/hile the rivers ScJiene and Bande 

 and the Welabri and Lmmi are from Orosius.' Ulster, " Ulvest," is alone 

 unexplained. Deeper study into local history should account for the additions 

 and omissions of the later (fifteenth-century) maps. The dates of building 

 of churches, monasteries, and bridges in places omitted in the earlier maps 

 show the rise of the town's prosperity, and (as in the case of Galway and 

 Kinsale) account for their later insertion. When we read of Henry IV 



I I have thought it better to pas3 by this other very important line of communication. Those 

 practieally interested in the maps were sailors and merchants. The learned classes rarely did more 

 than play with the subject. 



» Galway may have brought goods from Aran according to legend. 

 Orosius, A.D. 417, " uhi Scenae ostium est," " ubi Velabri, Lucenique consistunt." The first 

 may be Inbher Scene, not the Shannon. See Mr. Goddard Orpen's paper on Ptolemy's Map, 

 Journal Koy. Sue. Antt. Ir., xxiv, p Uo 



