Patrick of Lecale

In 398 AD St Ninian is said to have established the first Christian Church in the British kingdom of Rheged, part of what is now known as Scotland, at Candida Casa (now Whithorn) in Galloway. Although little is known about this great Christian Saint of the Novantes, or the earliest history of his foundation, it is clear that in the fifth and sixth centuries Candida Casa was an important centre of evangelism to both Britain and the northern part of Ireland.To the Irish, however, the main credit for the introduction of Christianity to Ireland belongs to St Patrick. He, St. Patrick that is, was born in northern Roman Great Britain. Calpurnius, his father, was a decurion and deacon, his grandfather Potitus a priest, from Banna Venta Berniae .

Yet, despite Patrick’s pre-eminent place in the history of the Irish Church, we do not know just how much of his story is historically accurate. Ironically, the only first-hand accounts of Patrick come from two works which he reputedly wrote himself, the Confession and the Epistle to Coroticus (Ceretic Guletic of Alt Clut, modern Dumbarton). Further, the reference to his arrival in the Annals cannot be taken as necessarily factual either, as it is now believed that the Annals only became contemporary in the latter part of the sixth century, and fifth century entries were therefore ‘backdated’. The question of Palladius and his mission from Rome leads to still more uncertainty, with some scholars even proposing the idea that there could have been ‘two’ Patricks. Francis Byrne suggested that “we may suspect that some of the seventh-century traditions originally referred to Palladius and have been transferred, whether deliberately or as a result of genuine confusion, to the figure of Patrick.”

This uncertainty must be borne in mind when we come to look at his story. Patrick was first brought to Ireland as a slave from Romanised Great Britain, or Albion, and sold to a Cruthinic or Pretani chieftain called Milchu , who used him to tend livestock around Mount Slemish in County Antrim. Milchu’s territory was in what was to become known as the Kingdom of Dalaradia. After six years of servitude Patrick managed to escape from Ireland, first going by boat to the Continent, then two years later returning to his parents in Great Britain. Despite his parents being anxious that he would now remain at home, Patrick had a vision of an angel who had come from Ireland with letters, in one of which was relayed the message: “We beg you, Holy youth, to come and walk amongst us once again.” To Patrick, the letters “completely broke my heart and I could read no more and woke up.”

Tradition tells that Patrick eventually made the journey back to Ireland, finally landing in County Down in the territory of Dichu (of the Ulaid) who became his first convert. Dichu’s barn (sabhall or Saul) near Downpatrick was the first of his churches. Among Patrick’s first converts were Bronagh, daughter of Milchu, and her son Mochaoi (Mahee). St Mochaoi was to found the great monastery of Nendrum on Mahee Island in Loch Cuan (Strangford Lough), and is associated with the saint in the legends which grew around Patrick’s name. These legends firmly place Down as the cradle of Christianity in Ireland. The most enduring of such fictions however was that of Patrick and Tara, making him a national entity. At Nendrum were first educated Colman, who was of the Cruthin, and Finnian, who was of the Ulaid. Colman founded in the early sixth century the famous See of Dromore in Iveagh, while Finnian, British Uinnian, following a visit to Candida Casa, founded the great school of Movilla (Newtownards) in Down. Finnian is also notable for bringing the first copy of the Scriptures to Ireland.

Patrick himself is said to have founded Armagh around 444, and the selection of a site so close to Emain Macha would strongly suggest that the Ulster capital was still the most powerful over-kingdom in Ireland at that time. But while some modern historians accept the earlier date of c. 460 for Patrick’s death, scholars of early Irish history tend to prefer a later date, c. 493. As far as Nendrum is concerned, the picture of its development is much clearer in the 7th century, for no excavated finds have been found earlier than this. But from 639 onwards the Annals record the deaths of Nendrum clergy, including bishops, abbots and a scribe..This would suggest an active, populous monastery, and an early litany says ”nine times fifty monks laboured under the authority of Mochaoi of Noendruim”.   From Down the Cult of Patrick spread to Connor in Dalaradia, Antrim and then to Armagh, which became the ecclesiastical centre of Ireland.

At least as far back as the Iron Age, Dumbarton Rock, which the Dalaradia Historical group have visited with Pretani Associates, has been the site of a strategically important settlement. Its early residents were known to have traded with the Romans. The presence of a settlement is first recorded in a letter  Patrick wrote to King Ceretic of Alt Clut in the late 5th century. Dumbarton was the Cair Brithon (“Fort of the Britons”) listed by the British monk Nennius among the 28 cities of Sub-Roman Britain. From the fifth century until the ninth, the castle was the centre of the independent British Kingdom of Strathclyde. Alt Clut or Alcluith (Gaelic: Alt Chluaidh, lit. “Rock of the Clyde”), the Brittonic name for Dumbarton Rock, became a metonym for the kingdom. The king of the Britons of Dumbarton in about AD 570 was Riderich Hoel, who features in Welsh and Latin works.

During his reign Merlin was said to have stayed at Alt Clut. The medieval Scalaccronica of Sir Thomas Grey records the legend that “Arhur left Hoël of Little Britain his nephew sick at Alcluit in Scotland.” Hoël made a full recovery, but was besieged in the castle by the Scots and Picts (Caledonian Pretani). The story first appeared in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae. Amongst lists of three things, in the triads of the Red Book of Hergest, the third “Unrestrained Ravaging” was Aeddan Fradog (the Wily, perhaps Áedán mac Gabráin), coming to the court of Rhydderch the Generous at Alclud, who left neither food nor drink nor beast alive. This battle also appears in stories of Myrddin Wylit, the Merlin of Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Vita Merlini, perhaps conflated with the battle of Arfderydd, located as Arthuret by some authors.

In 756, the first (and second) losses of Dumbarton Rock were recorded. A joint force of Picts and Northumbrians captured Alcluith after a siege, only to lose it again a few days later. By 870, Dumbarton Rock was home to a tightly packed Brittonic settlement, which served as a fortress and as the capital of Alt Clut. The Vikings laid siege to Dumbarton for four months, eventually defeating the inhabitants when they cut off their water supply. The Norse king Olaf returned to the Viking city of Dublin in 871, with two hundred ships full of slaves and looted treasures. Olaf came to an agreement with Constantine I of Scotland, and Artgal of Alt Clut. Strathclyde’s independence may have come to an end with the death of Owen the Bald, when the dynasty of Kenneth mac Alpin began to rule the region.