Note 139 — Chapter III · BRITAIN AFTER THE ROMANS.

The tale told by the Irish historians is this:—Conare, son of Mogalama, chief of a tribe of Munster Scots called the Degada, became king of Ireland, and reigned eight years, from 158 to 165. He had three sons: Cairbre Musc, from whom descend all the septs of the Muscraidhe in Munster; Cairbre Baschaein, from whom descend the Baiscnidh of Corco Baiscinn in Munster; and Cairbre Riada, who established himself with his sept in Ulster, and whose possessions there were termed Dalriada. He is said to have passed over to Argyll and settled the Scots there, and is the Reuda of Bede. Pinkerton adopts this story, and dates their earliest colony in 258. He identifies it with the Attacotti, which he absurdly explains to mean—Hither Scots, and in this Mr. Burton seems disposed to follow him; but this part of his argument is based entirely upon the spurious Richard of Cirencester. Chalmers, with more judgment, rejects it, and in fact there is no authority for it in the Irish Annals. The Scotch Chronicles are opposed to it. The oldest which gives the Dalriadic history expressly says of Fergus, son of Erc, ‘ipse fuit primus qui de semine Chonare suscepit regnum Alban.’ The Albanic Duan knows of no earlier colony than that under the sons of Erc. Flann Mainistrech and Tighernac know nothing of it, nor do the Irish additions made to Nennius. Gildas, too, knows nothing of it. It is to be found in Nennius and Bede alone, and the Irish translator neutralises Nennius’s statement of a settlement of Scots in Dalrieta under Istoreth, son of Istorinus, by converting it into a settlement of Picts, while he removes the colony of Dam Hoctor, or the company of eight, from Britannia to Erin. The only Irish authority which at all points to an earlier settlement is the curious legend contained in Cormac’s Glossary, under the word Mog-Eime (a lap-dog). It is there said, ‘Cairbre Musc, son of Conaire, brought it from the east from Britain, for when great was the power of the Gael in Britain, they divided Alban between them into districts, and each knew the residence of his friend; and not less did the Gael dwell on the east side of the sea than in Scotia (Ireland), and their habitations and royal forts were built there. Inde dicitur Duin Tradui, i.e. Dun Tredui, i.e. the triple fort of Crimthan mor, son of Fidach, king of Erin and Alban, to the Mur n-Icht (Straits of Dover), et inde est Glasimpere of the Gael, i.e. a church on the borders of Mur n-Icht ... and it is in that part is Duin Map Lethain in the land of the Cornish Britons, i.e. the Fort of Mac Liathain, for Mac is the same as Map in the British. Thus every tribe divided on that side, for its property to the east was equal (to that on the west).’—Goidilica Sanas Cormaic, p. 29. But it will be remarked that in this passage the legend is attached to Cairbre Musc, and there is no mention of Cairbre Riada; there is also no allusion to a settlement of Dalriada, and it evidently points to an occupation of the whole country by the Scots. The reference to Duin Map Liathan connects it with Nennius’s list of the Scottish colonies in Britain, one of which was by the sons of Liathan, while the reference to Crimthan mor mac Fidach, king of Erin and Alban, who is said to have reigned over Ireland from 366 to 378, as clearly connects it with the invasion of the Scots who occupied Britain for eight years, from 360 to 368, when they were expelled by Theodosius. The occasional occurrence of names in their Welsh form seems to point to a British origin for this legend; and the author considers that the tradition of an earlier settlement in Dalriada is a British and not an Irish legend; that it arose when the Britons and Angles came in contact with Dalriada as a settled kingdom in Britain; that it is not older than the seventh century; and that its sole historical foundation is the temporary occupation of Britain by the Scots during the last fifty years of the Roman province.