[Ib.]—Dichu. The proof of Dichu’s reality[349] is supplied by the petition (Muirchu 296₁₀) ut nepotes Dichon qui te benigne susceperunt misericordiam mereantur et non pereant. Nepotes Dichon means the Hy Dichon, Dichu’s tribe; and, though susceperunt may be an error for suscepit, the text is not inconsistent with the story. There is further confirmation in the independent testimony to the existence of Rus or Ros, son of Trechim, said to have been Dichu’s brother. (See [Appendix, C, 12]; on the Senchus Mór.) Rus is said to have lived at Derlus (V₂ c. 31 = V₄ c. 37, Vit. Trip. p. 38, cp. V₃ c. 33), which was at Mrechtan, now Bright. It has been conjectured that the Castle of Bright stands on the site of Derlus (O’Laverty, op. cit. i. p. 148), and the Protestant church is supposed to be on the site of the ancient church (ib. 147).
[P. 86.]—For Skerry, cp. Reeves, Eccl. Ant. pp. 83-4.
[P. 87.]—Sabul, Saul (see Reeves, op. cit. pp. 220 sqq.).
[P. 90.]—Tassach at Raholp. That he was stationed in the neighbourhood of Saul is implied in Muirchu 297₁₀. For his connexion with Rathcolpa see Mart. Dung. April 14; schol. on Genair Patraicc hymn, l. 53 (Lib. Hymn. i. p. 102). There are ruins of an ancient church, known as Church-Moyley, described in Reeves, Eccl. Antiq. p. 39.
[P. 90.]—Loarn at Bright. V. Trip. p. 38, V₄ c. 37, V₂ c. 31. It was recorded in a common source of V. Trip. (p. 40) and V₂ (c. 32) that near Bright Patrick converted Mochae, who afterwards founded a church at Noendrum, now Mahee island in L. Strangford (ob. 497, Ann. Ult. and Tigernach). O’Laverty has much to say on this, op. cit. i. 143-4. For Bright, cp. Reeves, op. cit. p. 35; for Noendrum, ib. pp. 10, 148 sqq., 187 sqq. It is a legitimate inference from the silence of our authorities, that no church at Dún Lethglasse was founded by Patrick. For its history see Reeves, op. cit. 141 sqq., 220 sqq. The first bishop recorded is Fergus, whose death is placed in Ann. Ult. at A.D. 584 or 590.
[P. 91.]—Mudebroth. Dr. W. Stokes interprets Dei mei indicium (Trip. p. 289), but cp. Atkinson, Lib. Hymn. ii. p. 179.
[Ib.]—Druimbo, Collum bouis. Cp. O’Laverty, op. cit. p. 228 note.
Chapter VI
[P. 102.]—Foundation of Trim. Additional Notes, 334-6 (translation with notes in Todd’s St. Patrick, 257 sqq.). The name of the wife of Fedilmid is given as Scoth Noe (= flos recens). Lomman is said to have been a son of a sister of Patrick (335₁₃). The legendary character of the story is obvious; but there seems no reason to doubt the Trim traditions which it involves—the co-operation of the Briton Lomman with Fedilmid and his British wife and their son Fortchernn. Lomman’s name appears in the Martyrologies (Tallaght and Donegal) under October 11.
[P. 104.]—The legend of the Easter fire at Slane and Patrick’s visit to Tara is told in the text after Muirchu, who used an older (probably Irish) source. It is very briefly summarised in Tírechán (p. 306); he differs from Muirchu as to the number and names of the Druids. Todd has the merit of having seen that the whole story is unhistorical and that it is absurd to draw any chronological inferences or treat seriously its chronological implications. On the other hand, historical motives clearly underlie the story, as I have sought to show in the text. It may be said that the celebration of Patrick’s first Easter at Slane may be a historical fact. It is evident that this was a tradition at Slane; and it is quite possible that Patrick may have spent his first Easter there for the purpose of baptizing converts, as Easter was at that time one of the chief occasions for that ceremony. We may regard this as a possibility; but we are only entitled to say that there must have been some motive for the location of the fire at Slane. It is a nice problem whether the scriptural parallels (the contest between Moses and the magicians, and the Book of Daniel), which pervade Muirchu’s account, were first introduced by Muirchu himself, or presided at the original composition of the legend. I am inclined to adopt the second alternative; and to hold, with Todd (though he does not clearly distinguish Muirchu from Muirchu’s source), that Patrick’s contest with the Druids took place “at the first Christian passover or Easter celebrated by him in Ireland,” because the similar contest of Moses occurred shortly before the first passover of the children of Israel, in the land of Goshen (as Muirchu—following his source?—points out). Zimmer’s view, that the motive of Muirchu in giving prominence to the story of Patrick’s first Easter was connected with the Easter controversy in the seventh century (Celtic Church, p. 81), has been noticed above, [Appendix A, ii. 3]; but if Muirchu was specially interested in it on that account, the Easter question had certainly nothing to do with the origin of the legend, which must be far older than the seventh century. For Beltane fires cp. Frazer, Golden Bough, iii. 259 sqq.; for fires on Easter Eve, ib. 247 sqq.