"Cap. I.--St. Patrick, who was also called Suchet, was a Briton by
nationality. . . . He was born in Britain [in Britanniis], being the
son of Calphurnius, a deacon, who was the son of Potitus, a priest, and
his mother was named Conchessa, in a district within the region of
Bannaue Tiburniae, not far from the Western Sea, which district, as we
have discovered beyond doubt, was situated in the province of Nentria,
where the giants are said to have formerly dwelt."
"XII.--When he was in his own country with his father Calphurnius and
his mother Conchessa, in their own seaside city [city Arimuric] there
was a great outbreak of hostilities in these parts. The sons of King
Rithmit, coming from Britain, laid Arimuric and the surrounding country
waste. They massacred Calphurnius and his wife Conchessa; but their
children, Patrick and his brother Ruchti, together with their sister
Mila, they took captives to Ireland. They sold Patrick to Prince
Milcho, but his brother Ruchti and his sister Mila to another Prince."
Colgan, in his annotations, substitutes Neutria for Nentria (4), and
Armorica for Arimuric, Caesar testifies that all the towus on the sea
coast of Armorica were called Armoricse (Britannia, vol i. p. 13). "In
his own city Armuric" has therefore been rendered "in his own seaside
city."
When Probus wrote his history there was no province in existence called
either Nentria or Neutria; but there was a province called Neustria,
which embraced Armorica or the northern sea coast of Gaul, where St.
Patrick was residing in his own native country (in patria) with his
parents, when he was made captive. It follows, likewise, that St.
Patrick's native town, "Bannaue Tiburnise," according to Probus, was
the seaside city in Armorica referred to. The Bannaue Tiburniae of
Probus and the Bonaven Taberniae of St. Patrick are evidently one and
the same as Bononia, where the Romans were encamped, which, as it has
already been proved, was called Bonauen Armorik by the Gaulish Celts.
If any other proof were needed, the description of the province given
by Probus as the country formerly inhabited by giants can leave no
doubt on the subject.
Sammes, in his "Antiquities of Ancient Britain," published in 1676,
narrates that the Scythians, or Cymri, were called the offspring of
Magog by Josephus. Pouring out in mighty hordes from Scythia, they
sacked Rome and plundered the Temple of Apollo in Greece. Some of them
settled down in Sarmatia, Germany, and Northern Gaul, generally
adopting the name of the lands in which they settled. Strabo is quoted
as saying "that the very youths (of the Cymri) were half a foot taller
than the tallest men," and Manlius for declaring "that the Cymri were a
race so exceedingly tall that other nations seemed nothing in their
eyes." The same authority narrates that "when one of the Cymri stood in
the ranks he seemed of the same proportion as the others, but when he
stepped out a few paces, and came near to the Romans, they all began to
be amazed at the sight." On that account the Roman soldiers, as Caesar
admits, were filled with consternation at the giants they were called
upon to encounter when he marched against their leader, Ariovistus. The
Cymri were also remarkable for their exceeding swiftness. Csesar
witnessed that they "could lay their hands on the manes of horses and
keep pace with them in the race." Tully testifies that it was "their
joy and delight to die on the battlefield, and that nothing so
tormented them as to die idly in their beds." "No wonder," says Sammes,
"that they conquered many nations; distressed the Romans themselves,
and were a constant thorn in the side of the Gauls" ("Antiquities of
Ancient Britain," cap. 2).
Dr. Smith, in his "History of France," narrates that the Cymri
"acquired permanent possession of an extensive territory north of the
Loire, including the peninsula of Armorica" (p. 13). Bononia, or
Boulogne, St. Patrick's native town, was, therefore, situated in Belgic
Gaul during the days of Julius Caesar; but, later on, when the
descendants of the Cymri, the Belgic Gauls, were almost annihilated in
their fierce contests with the Romans, the same province came to be
called Armorica. Sulpicius Severus, as we shall see presently, named
the same country Britannia at the time of the Council of Ariminium in
the year 359--just fourteen years before St. Patrick was born.
In the year 597 Armorica, or Britannia, became absorbed in the province
of Neustria, when the kingdom of the Franks was sub-divided into three
separate kingdoms, as Dr. Smith relates: "Sigebert became King of
Austrasia (in the Prankish tongue, Oster-rike), or the kingdom of the
Eastern Franks; Chilperic was recognised as King Neustria (Ne-oster-
rike), the land of the Western Franks. The limits of the two kingdoms
are somewhat uncertain; but the river Meuse and the Forest of Ardennes
may be taken generally as the line of demarcation. Austrasia extended
from the Meuse to the Rhine; Neustria extended from the Meuse to the
ocean. Gouthran ruled over the division of Gaul which now acquired the
name of Burgundy" ("History of France," p. 42).
Neustria, extending from the Meuse to the ocean, necessarily embraced
the whole province of Britannia, or Armorica. That province still
retained the name of Neustria when Probus, in the tenth century, wrote
the "History of St. Patrick."
The change of the name Armorica to Britannia, and from Britannia to
Neustria, together with the fact that the name Britannia, or Brittany,
as applied to that particular province in Gaul was forgotten for
centuries before any of the old Latin "Lives" of St. Patrick, except
the first, were written, must have induced some old biographers of the
Saint to interpret the name Britain, mentioned in the "Lives" and in
the "Confession," as referring only to the Island of Britain,
With the exception of Probus, who had travelled abroad, the old
biographers of St. Patrick, on account of their very limited sources of
information, had very little knowledge of the histories of foreign
countries, and it is not surprising to find them erroneously supposing
that St. Patrick was born in Great Britain, because he mentioned in his
"Confession" that he was born in Britain, and had relatives among the
Britons.
St. Patrick, according to Probus, was one of the Gaulish Britons, being
born at Bonaven, or Boulogne-sur-Mer. Although the Saint, according to
Canon O'Hanlon, was a little man, he was descended from a race of
giants--the bold Cymri, or Celts. That fact established a relationship
of race between the Saint and the nation which he converted.
Camden and Keating narrate that King Milesius and his bold Scots, who
successfully invaded Ireland, were descended from the Cymri; and it is
remarkable that a fierce battle was fought between the Irish Scots and
the Tautha de Danans at Mount Slemish, not far from Tralee, in Kerry,
which is identical in name with Mount Slemish, in Antrim--the scene of
the Saint's captivity ("Britannia," vol. ii., p. 123; "History of
Ireland," vol. i., p. 123).
Eochaid O'Flin, a poet quoted by Keating, has left a record of this
historical battle:
"The stout Gadalians first the courage try
At Sliabh-mis, and rout the enemy:
Where heroes pierced with many a deadly wound,
Choked in their blood, lay gasping on the ground:
Heroes whose brave exploits may justly claim
Triumphant laurels and immortal fame."
Scota, the relict of King Milesius and mother of Heber and Heremon,
Kings of Ireland, was slain while fighting in this battle, and buried
in the valley at the foot of Mount Sleabh-mis, which after her
interment was called Glean Scoithin, or the Valley of Scota. From her
the Irish Scots derived their name. The same old bard has sung a
lamentation over her grave:--
"Beneath, the vale its bosom doth display,
With meadows green, with flowers profusely gay,
Where Scota lies, unfortunately slain,
And with her royal tomb gives honour to the plain.
Mixed with the first the fair virago fought,
Sustained the toil of arms and danger sought:
From her the fruitful valley hath the name
O Glean Scoith, and we may trust to fame."