Note 125, l. 20 — INDEX. (continued 2)

The Conquests in Alban under Crimthan Mor mac Fidhaigh, and his designation as king of Erinn and Alban, have perhaps a historic foundation of a different kind. The first really historical appearance of the Scots in Britain is in the year 360, when, in conjunction with the Picts, they attacked 125the Roman province in Britain. The attack was repeated by the Scots and Picts, who were now joined by the Attacotti and Saxons in 364, and they ravaged the whole province till the year 369, when they were driven back by Theodosius, and the province restored. Now the Annals of the Four Masters place the commencement of Crimthan’s reign in 366, and he reigned twelve years. The period of his supposed conquests in North Britain synchronises with the appearance of the Scots in Britain, as recorded by the Roman historian. So also the subsequent conquests under Niall Mor and Dathi, and the supposed settlement of the Munster Scots under Corc, king of Munster, with the three devastations of the province by the Picts and Scots recorded by Gildas, the first two of which were repelled by the Roman general Stilicho, and the last by the provincial Britons themselves. The period of these attacks extended from the year 360 to 409, but it is quite clear, from the concurrent testimony of all the authorities which record them, that the Scots were driven back to Ireland, and that they effected no permanent settlement in Britain till the end of the sixth century, when the Dalriadic colony was established in the southern part of the great western district of Arregaithel or Argyll.