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to the statements of the Roman historian, Amianus Marcellinus, and to the 'Annals of the Four Masters'" ("Ireland and the Celtic Church," p. 38, note).
Of the raids of King Niall into Armorica the first is the more interesting, for it proves, first, that St. Patrick was born in the year 373, and, next, that he was captured neither in North Britain, nor Wales, but in Armorican Britain.
To escape from these conclusions, Doctor Lanigan, who held that St. Patrick was born in the year 387, writes as follows: "I find in Keating but one expedition of Niall to the coast of Gaul, during which he says, in another place, that St. Patrick with two hundred of the noblest youth were brought away. . . . This event occurred in the latter end of Niall Naoigiallach's reign, and not as early as the ninth year of it. . . . We have no authority," continues Lanigan, "for his having visited Gaul at any time until the period already given, and which is clearly marked in Irish history. Our Saint's captivity may be assigned to 403, and to a time not long prior to King Niall's death. Thus the date of his birth and captivity, considering the circumstances now mentioned, help to confirm each other, and, combined with his age at consecration, authorizes his birth in 387" ("Eccl. Hist, of Ireland," vol. i., pp. 137, 138).
Contrary to what Dr. Lanigan has just stated, a close study of Keating's "History" will prove that King Niall made two raids into Armorica, the first in the ninth and the second in the twenty-seventh year of his reign, and the account of the two expeditions is clear and unmistakable. "There is an old manuscript in vellum, exceedingly curious, entitled 'The Life of St. Patrick,' which treats likewise of the lives of Muchuda Albain and other Saints, from which I," writes Keating, "shall transcribe a citation that relates to St. Patrick.
"Patrick was a Briton born and descended from religious parents," and in the same place is the following remark: "The Irish Scots, under Niall the King, wasted and destroyed many provinces in Britain in opposition to the power of the Romans. They attempted to possess themselves of the northern part of Britain, and, at length, having driven out the old inhabitants, these Irish seized upon the country and settled in it." The same author (of the manuscript) upon this occasion remarks that from henceforth Great Britain was divided into three kingdoms, that were distinguished by the names of Scotia, Anglia, and Britia.
This ancient writer likewise asserts that when Niall, the hero of the Nine Hostages, undertook the expedition for settling the tribe of the Dailraida in Scotland, the Irish fleet sailed to the place where St. Patrick resided; "At this time the fleet out of Ireland plundered the country in which St. Patrick then lived, and, according to the custom of the Irish, many captives were carried away from thence, among whom was St. Patrick, in the sixteenth year of his age, and his two sisters, Lupida and Darerca; and St. Patrick was led captive into Ireland in the ninth year of the reign of Niall, King of Ireland, who was the mighty monarch of the kingdom for seven-and-twenty years, and brought away spoils out of England, Britain, and France."
"By this expression it is supposed," continues Keating, "that Niall of the Nine Hostages waged war against Britain or Wales, and perhaps made a conquest of the country; and it is more than probable that, when the Irish Prince had finished his design upon the kingdom of Wales, he carried his arms in a fleet to France and invaded the country at the time called Armorica, but now Little Brittany, and from thence he led St. Patrick and his two sisters into captivity.
"And this I am rather induced to believe, because the mother of St. Patrick was sister of St. Martin, the Bishop of Tours in France; and I have read in an ancient Irish manuscript, whose authority I cannot dispute, that St. Patrick and his two sisters were brought captive into Ireland from Armorica, or Brittany, in the kingdom of France. It is evident likewise that when Niall, the King of Ireland, had succeeded with the Britons, he despatched a formidable fleet to plunder the coast of France, and succeeded; and that he carried away numbers of captives with him into captivity, one of which, it is reasonable to suppose, was the young Patrick, who was afterwards distinguished by the name of the Irish Saint.
"Niall, encouraged by the number of his captives and the success of his arms in France, resolved upon another expedition, and accordingly raised a grand army of his Irish subjects for that purpose, and sent a commission to the General of the Dalraida in