THE Scholiast, who annotated St. Fiacc's "Metrical Life of St.
Patrick," flourished in the eleventh century, according to Professor
Bury. The scholia of the Scholiast, however, should be received with
great caution, as Lanigan points out: "The scholia of the Scholiast,"
he remarks, "are not the composition of one person. For instance, in
scholion 5, the Letha mentioned in the hymn is properly explained by
Armorica, or the maritime tract on the North-West of Gaul; while in
scholion n it is interpreted of Latium, in Italy. In scholion 9 we read
that on a certain occasion St. Patrick said, 'Dar mo dhe broth,' which
is explained, 'God is able to do this if He choose'; and yet
immediately after it is added that 'Dar mo dhe broth' was a sort of
asseveration familiar to St. Patrick, signifying 'By my God, Judge, or
judgment.' On the whole, it is evident that the scholia, as we have
them at present, are a compilation of observations, some more, some
less ancient, extracted from various writers" ("Eccl. Hist, of
Ireland," vol. L, c. iii., p. 81).
The scholion (i) on St. Fiacc's opening words: "Natus est Patritius
Nemturri"--"St. Patrick was born at Nemthur"--is as follows: "Nemthur
is a city in the Northern parts of Britain, viz. Alcluid (nempe
Alcluida)." By comparing this scholion with the scholion given later on
(c. iii.), it will be seen that the same pen has not written both
scholia. The scholion referred to is this: "The cause of St. Patrick's
captivity was this: His father, Calphurnius, and his mother, Conchessa,
and his five sisters, Lupita, Tigris, Liemania, and Darerca, Cinnena
was the name of the fifth, and his brother deacon, Senanus, all
together travelled from Britain Alcluid southwards over the Sea of
Ictium to Armorican Lethania, or Britannia Lethania, both on business
and because a certain relative of theirs dwelt there, and the mother of
the above-named children, namely Conchessa, was of the Franks, and a
near relative of St. Martin. At that time, however, seven sons of
Fachmad, King of the Britons, broke loose from Britain and plundered
Armorican Britain in the territory of Letha, where St. Patrick happened
to be living with his family. They slew Calphurnius there, and carried
off St. Patrick and his sister Lupita captives to Ireland. They sold
Lupita 'in Connallia Murthemnensi' [a territory in Ulster], and Patrick
in the northern parts of the territory of the Dal-aradia."
The contradictory nature of the accounts given by the Scholiast as to
St. Patrick's supposed birth in Alcluid, or Dumbarton, and his capture
in Armorica will be seen by comparing them with the statement made by
the Saint himself in his "Confession": "I, Patrick, a sinner and the
most uncultured and humblest of all the faithful, had a father named
Calphurnius, a deacon, the son of Potitus, a priest, who hailed from
the suburban district of Bonaven Taberniae, for he possessed a little
country seat close by from whence I was led captive." This statement of
the Saint disproves the assertion of the Scholiast that Calphurnius and
his family were on a friendly visit to Armorica when all the calamities
befell them, for the Saint distinctly states that his father hailed
from Bonaven Taberniae, and that he himself was actually residing at
his father's little country seat in the suburbs of that town at the
time when he was forced into captivity.
It is evident, therefore, from the Scholiast that Bonaven Tabernise was
situated in Armorican Britain; and from St. Patrick's "Confession,"
that the town from which he was led captive was his own native town.
The Apostle of Ireland could not, therefore, as the Scholiast suggests,
have been born at Alcluid, or Dumbarton. It is curious to observe how
unconsciously the Scholiast connects Calphurnius and his family with
Boulogne. Calphurnius and his family are made to sail from Dumbarton,
over the Sea of Itius or Ictius, to Armorica. Hersart de la Villemarque
has already identified Bonaven under its various names as Bononia or
Boulogne. It was called Itius or Ictius by Caesar, Bononia by the
Romans, and Bonauen Armorik by the Gaulish Celts. The Scholiast,
therefore, when he directs the course of Calphurnius and his family
across the Sea of Ictius, seems to be steering their ship directly to
Boulogne.
Nemthur cannot possibly be the name of the town near which St. Patrick
was born, simply because the Saint gives the name of Bonaven, or
Bononia, as the city of his birth. St. Fiacc does not name Nemthur as a
town; he simply tells us that St. Patrick was born at Nemthur, which,
as has been proved, was both the name of the Caligula's tower and of
the district in which that tower stood in the suburbs of Bonaven. The
Scholiast is the first to call Nemthur a town, and evidently puts it
down as the ancient name of Alcluid, or Dumbarton. This is the obvious
meaning of the scholion: "Nemthur est civitas in septentrional!
Britanni nempe Alcluida." Nemthur is a city in northern Britain, namely
Alcluid. The "nempe Alcluida" looks very much like an interpolation,
and if an interpolation, the statement of the Scholiast that Nemthur is
a city in northern Britain, without the addition "nempe Alcluida,"
might easily refer to Northern Britain in Gaul where, however, Nemthur
was not the name of a city, but the name both of a tower and of the
district of the city where St. Patrick was born.
Neither the Scholiast, nor those who have adopted his views as to the
Saint's birth at Dumbarton, have ever answered Lanigan's challenge, who
boldly states that the name Nemthur is not to be found in Nennius's
"List of British Towns," which Usher himself had illustrated, nor in
any of the old "Itineraries," or in Ricardus Corinensis, or in Camden,
or Horsley &c. (vol. i, b. 3, p. 91).
The learned Cardinal Moran, in the March of the _Dublin Review_, 1880,
endeavoured to take up the gauntlet and answer Lanigan's challenge by
quoting one of Taliessin's poems from the "Black Book of Carmarthen,"
which represents a Welsh hero sailing away with an army to Scotland and
recovering his lost inheritance in a battle fought and won at Nevthur
in Clydesdale.
Besides the fact that no small stretch of imagination is required to
believe that Nevthur and Nemthur are one and the same, nearly all the
poems attributed to Taliessin are regarded as spurious by learned
critics, as Chamber's "Encyclopaedia," under the heading Welsh
Literature, evidently points out.
"Mr. Nash, the author of 'Taliessin and the Bards and Druids of Wales,'
enables us to form an independent judgment on this point, for he
translates some fifty of the poems, and we find that, instead of their
exhibiting an antique Welsh character, they abound in allusions to
mediaeval theology, and frequently employ mediaeval Latin terms. It is
certainly unfortunate for the reputation of the 'Chief of Bards' that
the specimens of his poems, which are considered genuine, possess
exceedingly small merit. The life of this famous but over-rated genius
is, of course, enveloped in legend." Lanigan's challenge, therefore,
still remains unanswered, and a town mamed Nemthur is not to be found
in any ancient history, geography, or map. The error, therefore, of the
Scholiast consisted in stating that Alcluid and Nemthur were identical,
but his statement that St. Patrick was captured in Armorica is
historically true.