[224] It is very hard to put Irish kings in their right places; but there is no doubt that this Murtagh—I take the shortest way of spelling his name—is the same as the Murtagh of Connaught, head King of Ireland, though Giraldus calls him King of Leinster, of whom we shall hear a good deal before long.
[225] It. Camb. ii. 1 (vi. 109). “Rex Rufus … Kambriam suo in tempore animose penetrans et circumdans, cum a rupibus istis Hiberniam forte prospiceret, dixisse memoratur: Ad terram istam expugnandam, ex navibus regni mei huc convocatis, pontem adhuc faciam.” The Irish king, when he hears, “cum aliquamdiu propensius inde cogitasset, fertur respondisse: Numquid tantæ comminationis verbo rex ille ‘Si Deo placuerit’ adjecit?”
[226] See vol. i. p. 166.
[227] It. Camb. u. s. “Tanquam prognostico gaudens certissimo, Quoniam, inquit, homo iste de humana tantum confidit potentia, non divina, ejus adventum non formido.”
[228] See N. C. vol. iv. p. 676.
[229] Ib. p. 526.
[230] On Bishop Wilfrith, see N. C. vol. v. p. 209, and vol. i. p. 534. We shall hear of him again.
[231] I refer to such names as Hasgard and Freystrop. The fords in this district are of course fiords. The names of Hereford and Haverfordwest have sometimes been confounded, but the ford comes from a different quarter in the two names.
[232] See N. C. vol. v. p. 75.
[233] He does justice to his birthplace in It. Camb. i. 12 (vol. vi. p. 92), and proves by a sorites “ut Kambriæ totius locus sit hic amœnissimus.” “Pembrochia” here appears as part of Demetia.