There is, however, another fact which must be considered. There is a presumption that the hymn Genair Patraicc, ascribed to Fíacc, was composed at Sletty, and this presumption is strengthened by the remarkable correspondence of the argument of the hymn with the argument of Muirchu’s biography. The hymn will be discussed below, and it will be pointed out that its author used either Muirchu or (part of) Muirchu’s material. In the latter case it would follow that this material existed at Sletty. But even then it need not have been derived from Fíacc or Sletty traditions contemporary with Patrick. Sletty might in the meantime have obtained copies of records existing at Armagh or elsewhere.
For these reasons I do not feel able to speak of a Sletty tradition with as much confidence as Dr. Gwynn. He traces this, or at least Leinster, tradition, not only in the narrative of Slane and Tara, but also in the Gallic portion.[308]
On the other hand, there can be no doubt that the Ulidian portions of Muirchu depend on a Ulidian or Down tradition. This has been set forth fully and lucidly by Dr. Gwynn. I think, however, that it must remain an open question whether Muirchu, as Dr. Gwynn is disposed to believe, visited Down and collected information on the spot. The local colouring might have been taken from a written source. In any case he used a written source (also used by Tírechán) for the Slemish episode.
For a full running analysis of Muirchu’s work I may refer to Dr. Gwynn’s Introduction (chaps, ii. and iii.); but I must indicate the remarkable construction of Book II., which he was the first to explain. The theme with which it opens is Patrick’s diligence in prayer (sect. 1), which is illustrated (sect. 2) by the story of the dead man and the cross, which leads to another story (sect. 3) told on the authority of the auriga of Patrick. Then the narrative passes to the circumstances connected with Patrick’s death and burial; after which there is a final section in which the author (with the words Iterum recurrat oratio) recurs to the initial subject, De diligentia orationis.[309] The sections which recount the saint’s death and burial form a separate unity within the framework, and there is external evidence which Dr. Gwynn has with great probability interpreted as showing that this narrative was a distinct document which Muirchu incorporated. The evidence consists in two numerals (ui and uiii) which occur in the MS. (fol. 8, rᵒ b), and must be explained as two of an original series of numbers which occurred in the exemplar which the scribe Ferdomnach had before him. These numbers could not have represented the numbers of the sections of the whole Book (as given in the Table of Contents), but they correspond exactly to the sections of the narrative of the death and burial. This will be best shown by a tabular arrangement.
| Sections of Book II. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| De Patr. delig. orationis | 1 | |||
| De mortuo ad se loquente | 2 | |||
| De inluminata dom. nocte, etc. | 3 | |||
| Sections of incorporated document. | ||||
| De eo quod anguelus, etc. | 4 | = | ||
| De rubo ardente, etc. | 5 | = | [ii] | |
| De quatuor Patr. petitionibus | 6 | = | [iii] | |
| De die mortis, etc. | 7 | = | [iiii] | |
| De termino contra noctem possito | } | 8 | = | |
| De caligine xii. noctium abstersa | } | |||
| [De sacrificio accepto] | 9 | = | ui | |
| De vigilis primae noctis, etc. | 10 | = | [uii] | |
| De consilio sepulturae, etc. | 11 | = | uiii | |
| De igne de sepulchro, etc. | 12 | = | [ix] | |
| De freto sussum surgente, etc. | 13 | = | [x] | |
| De felici seductione populorum | 14 | = | [xi] | |
| De diligentia orationis | 15 | |||
This incorporated document, however, with its signs of distinct numbering of its chapters, was composed (as the style testifies) by Muirchu himself; it was not a mere transcription. I therefore think that the sectional numberings did not belong to Muirchu’s source; but rather that this narrative was compiled first by Muirchu with the intention that it should form Book II. and that he numbered its sections accordingly; so that its opening words, Post uero miracula tanta, etc., were the transition from Book I. to Book II. Afterwards he changed his arrangement, by the introduction of the three chapters, which he made the beginning of Book II.; this altered the numbering of the chapters, and in transcribing his narrative of the death and burial he was obliged to leave out the numbers; but he transcribed two of them by inadvertence, and they were faithfully retranscribed by Ferdomnach.
In regard to the Tables of Contents, it might perhaps be suggested that they may have been added by an editor, and not drawn up by Muirchu himself. It is important to show that such a suggestion is untenable. A definite proof that Muirchu is responsible may be found in the last heading of the Table of Book I. There we read aduersum Coirthech regem Aloo, whereas in the text of the corresponding section, though the Irish form of the name Coroticus (MS. Corictic) occurs, he is not described as rex Aloo. Obviously the title is not due to an editor summarising the contents of the Latin text, but to Muirchu himself, who had before him an Irish document containing the legend of the metamorphosis of Coroticus. This is sufficient to establish Muirchu’s authorship for the Tables.