I have presented this investigation so as to show the steps by which I reached the conclusion, as I believe that thus it will be easier to criticise it. The reconstruction which I propose seems at least to satisfy the conditions of the problem. It may be convenient to tabulate the list of the kings, in accordance with these results, as follows:—
| Duach Galach, mac Briain | d. 424/5 |
| Amolngaid | d. 444/5. |
| Eogan Srem, son of Duach | d. 471. |
| Ailill Molt | d. 482. |
| Duach Tenga Uma | d. 502. |
15. Patrick at Rome
The evidence for a visit of Patrick to Rome A.D. 441 depends upon two records, one in the Annals, the other in Tírechán.
(1) Ann. Ult. sub a. 441: Leo ordinatus est xlii<i> Romane ecclesie episcopus et probatus est in fide catolica Patricius episcopus.
(2) Tírechán, (p. 301₆: see above, [p. 250]):
Et exiuit [sc. Sachellus] cum Patricio ad legendum xxx annis et ordinauit ilium in urbe Roma et dedit illi nomen nouum Sachellum et scripsit illi librum psalmorum quern uidi [sc. Tírechán], et portauit [sc. Sachellus] ab illo partem de reliquis Petri et Pauli Laurentii et Stefani quae sunt in Machi.
[Cp. Tírechán, 329₂₄, where Patrick is said to have given to Olcan (ordained bishop at Dunseverick) partem de reliquiis Petri et Pauli et aliorum et uclum quod custodiuit reliquias].
The ordination of Leo is wrongly placed in the Annals in 441; it belongs to 440. But its close association with the notice of St. Patrick’s probatio shows the meaning of the words probatus est;[413] and in fact there is no other conceivable meaning than formal approval by the Church, and the only form which that approval was likely to take in such a case was the approval of the Church’s chief representative, the Bishop of Rome. Such approval might have come in the shape of a formal epistle from the Roman bishop to the bishop in Ireland. But when we find in our seventh-century authority, Tírechán, a statement that Patrick was in Rome accompanied by Sachellus, and when we find that in his time there were relics of Peter and Paul and other martyrs at Armagh procured by St. Patrick; and seeing that there is nothing improbable in these records, and that, on the contrary, a visit of Patrick to Rome is antecedently probable; we may venture, I think, to combine these testimonies and conclude that Patrick did visit Rome at the beginning of Leo’s pontificate. The tradition of Sachall has all the appearance of being genuine; and Tírechán in this passage was using an older written document, as is proved by his uncertainty about a numeral (cum uiris uiii aut uiiii, 300₂₇; cp. above, [App. A, ii. 1]).